[CHAPTER X]
PLANNING A MOTOR SHIP
The crowd was running from all directions to get closer views of the dirigible balloons before they should be put away in the tents or sheds. The man who had spoken to Ned stood near the motor boys and their friends.
“Excuse me for intruding,” he said with a smile, “but I could not help hearing what you were talking about, and I felt that it would not be out of place to say what I did.”
“Are you a builder of airships?” asked Jerry.
“I have built one or two. I am also a balloonist. I have plans, just perfected, for a very fine motor ship, something like that one with planes attached to the gas bag, but a great improvement over it. But I need money to build it. I have a model, however.”
“Where is it?” asked Jerry.
“At my home in Middletown.”
“That’s not far from where we are,” exclaimed Ned. “We’re from Cresville,” he added for the stranger’s benefit.