“Oh, yes. I have had a new style of net made, with a very long handle, to enable me to reach out and capture any curious insects I may see in the upper regions. How high do you think you will go; two or three miles?”
“Mercy, Jerry, I hope you don’t go as high as that!” exclaimed Mrs. Hopkins, who was listening to the talk.
“Don’t worry, mother. We’re not likely to go more than a few hundred feet in the trial.”
“Oh, Jerry, I wish I had never consented to this. I am afraid something will happen.”
“Don’t be alarmed, Mrs. Hopkins,” said Uriah Snodgrass. “There is really little danger with such a competent person as Mr. Glassford managing matters. It is practically impossible for the balloon to fall, with its gas bag and the planes in addition. That is a very novel combination.”
“But they may get caught in the upper air, and not be able to get down.”
“Then all we’d have to do would be to let out a little gas, mother. Oh, we have all emergencies provided for.”
“I’m sure I hope so,” murmured Jerry’s mother. “I shall be nervous until I hear that the ascent is safely made.”
“Well, you’ll know by this time to-morrow,” said Jerry. “Now I think I’ll go to bed. I want to get up early, for there’ll probably be something unexpected to do at the last minute. How about you, professor?”
“I think I shall stay up a while yet. I want to get a new specimen of a lightning-bug I noticed in the garden. It was a rare kind, and I almost had one when a mosquito bit me and I had to let the lightning-bug go. But I shall catch it. I will be with you in the morning.”