“They’re going to have some sort of a test, anyhow,” remarked Bob.
The aeroplane which was being wheeled toward the platform was like many others which you boys have either seen in pictures or actually observed. It consisted of a structure like an immense box-kite, canvas being stretched over a bamboo frame. In front of the main part was a smaller box-kite arrangement, that could be tilted, so as to cause the plane to shoot upward or downward. In the rear was a triangular rudder, and in front, below the device which governed the elevation, were two wooden propellers, worked by a small gasolene motor amidships. There was a sort of box in which the operator could sit.
“This machine,” announced the chairman of the arrangement committee, “is the invention of Professor Dundlass——”
“Seems to me everybody around here is a professor,” murmured Ned. “We’ll have to tack some titles to our names, Professor Hopkins.”
“Listen to what he says,” counseled Jerry.
“He has made successful flights with it,” went on the chairman, “and he will now attempt another. He asks your indulgence, as in a test last week he strained some of the guy wires and bent the rudder, but he will do the best he can. Later he will enter a race.”
“Seems as though there was always some excuse for these airship men,” murmured Ned. “I guess each wants to have something ready to spring on the crowd in case his machine doesn’t work.”
But the boys were now too interested in what was going on to indulge in much talk. They watched the inventor and his men wheel the aeroplane to the foot of the platform, and then, by means of ropes and pulleys, it was hoisted up to where there was a sort of inclined track, whence it could glide off.
The machine looked as if it would work. Certainly if a big box-kite can not only sustain itself in the air but also support heavy flags, banners and even dummy figures, as is often done, a machine built on the same principle, only much larger, ought to hold up a man and a small engine.
“This is more like it,” said Jerry when Professor Dundlass was adjusting his motor. “It’s a wonder Noddy didn’t try something like this.”