"We'll go up and try it," answered Dick, at last. "If she works all right, I'll head her for the seminary; otherwise I'll bring her down again;" and so it was arranged.
A number of the students had come out to see the flight and they gave a cheer as the big biplane rushed over the campus and then arose like a bird in the air. As the machine went up, Tom looked to one side and saw Dudd Flockley standing on the campus, in company with a student named Andy Yates. Both were sneering at the Rovers and their friends.
"The pair that tried to damage the machine," muttered Tom to himself. He knew that since Larkspur and Koswell had left Brill, Flockley and Yates had become quite friendly, and he also knew that Yates was a spendthrift and had a reputation far from good.
Up and up went the biplane, guided by the steady hand and keen eye of Dick. The wind rushed over the canvas planes and sang merrily through the wire stays. The engine banged away steadily, and the propellers left only a blur in the air as they kept whizzing around and around.
"How is it, Dick?" asked Sam, after a full minute had passed, and they were turning in a big circle.
"Can't tell yet—pretty gusty and full of holes," was the answer, and Dick gritted his teeth tightly and took a firmer hold of the steering wheel. Then the Dartaway came around with a rush.
"Wow!" cried Tom, clutching at his seat. "Say, this is some slant!"
"Hold tight!" yelled Dick.
The warning came none too soon, for a gust of wind hit the biplane and all but made it "turn turtle," as the saying goes. But Dick was on the watch, and he sent the tips down, and soon the machine righted itself. Then they rushed away, over the woods beyond the college buildings.
"Going?" queried Sam.