“You people can make all the fun you want,” shouted Noddy, as he and some men he had hired began to wheel the Firefly out of the tent. “But you’ll soon see something that will astonish you.”
The flying machine was wheeled out into the open. It rested on a small truck, and Noddy presently busied himself about the motor.
“Go borrow a balloon somewhere, and maybe you’ll go up,” was a suggestion from a red-haired man.
“You mind your own business!” fired back Noddy.
A fat man waddled through the crowd until he stood in the front rank, close to the machine. The four boys were near him.
“Is that the Firefly?” the fat man asked of no one in particular.
“That’s what it is. It’s my machine,” replied Noddy proudly.
“What’s it for—plowing?”
“Plowing! This is an airship,” answered Noddy indignantly.
“An airship! Good land, that’ll never rise one inch off the earth. It’s too heavy,” declared the fat man.