“Get a balloon!” yelled some one in the crowd.
The owner of the stand, who had been too busy fixing up his place to pay much attention to the airship trials, now looked up. He saw coming toward him the tin fly, and he realized his danger and the danger to his stand.
“Here! Here!” he yelled. “Hold on! Stop her! You’ll run into me! Stop it, I say!”
“Move your stand! This is the Firefly limited, and it mustn’t get off the track,” said the fat man with a laugh.
Noddy was doing his best to stop the motor, but either he did not pull the right lever, or else the machine had become jammed and could not be stopped. It seemed bent on destroying the stand.
“Jump! jump!” cried several to Noddy, as they saw that he was in danger. He stood up, but his legs became tangled in some things in the bottom of the car, and he could not extricate himself.
“I—I can’t jump!” he shouted back.
“Shut off the motor!” yelled his machinist, pushing his way through the crowd.
“I can’t do that either. Something’s the matter with it! It won’t stop!”
The Firefly was approaching nearer and nearer to the lemonade stand. The proprietor was frantically jumping up and down in front of his possessions, as if he could thus ward off the attack of the airship.