When he identified Dawson in the distance he knew his supply of liquid fuel was pretty low. He could renew it at that town, but it would have been imprudent to do so, for his whole scheme would be disclosed. In an effort to avoid attracting the attention of the inhabitants, he veered to the right, sailing as near the ground as was safe. If Professor Morgan should learn that an aeroplane had been observed in the sky, his suspicions would be excited and he would see through the trick that had been played upon him.
Eight or ten miles to the northeast, in the direction of Schroon River, which empties into the lake of the same name, Harvey saw the village of Purvis, containing less than one-half the population of Dawson. Gasoline is so common an article that he was sure he could buy all he wished in that place and he shifted his course accordingly. He was still flying so low that he was not noticed until he descended in a large field a little way to the eastward. He had hardly come to rest, however, when he heard wild shouts and saw not only men and boys, but women and girls running toward him in a high state of excitement. Harvey was uneasy until he found that their curiosity did not decrease their friendliness.
“Say, Mister, can’t you give a feller a ride in that gimcrack?”
The questioner was a barefooted gawky youth with big projecting front teeth. He wore a ragged straw hat, and his nankeen trousers were held up by a single leathern suspender, skewered with a nail in front. Harvey thought he might win the good-will of the crowd by gratifying the applicant and perhaps several others.
“I don’t mind if you’re not afraid to trust yourself with me,” he replied, surveying the grinning, freckle-faced countryman.
“Gosh! what am I afeard of? If the blamed thing can carry you round the kentry, why can’t it tote me, eh?”
And he laughed so hard that his shoulders bobbed up and down and the wrinkles obscured his eyes.
“All right; take your seat and hold on tight; you must sit very quiet, for if you move the least bit you may upset the machine and kill us both.”
The lad, nothing abashed, climbed to his place with the help of Harvey and still grinning broadly announced that he would not so much as bat an eye while aloft.
“Let her whiz! I’m ready and I don’t keer—.”