“You are right; we were sitting on this very log with the Duke, all three smoking and talking of nothing in particular, when the Duke caught sight of the thing well over toward the other side of the lake. He dived into the tent, brought out his binoculars and we all took a squint at it. It was going very fast and the man on the driving seat sat up very straight with his hands on the wheel and his feet down in front.”
“That was the Professor,” said Harvey.
“We couldn’t make out whether the one sitting beside him was colored or not. He must have fancied we were watching him, for he waved his cap at us and we returned the salute.”
“That was Bunk: he always does that. Now, how long did you watch the monoplane?”
“As long as it was in sight. It returned later in the day and went back over the same course, but it carried only one person.”
“That confirms the theory I formed some time ago. Professor Morgan was afraid to have Bunk with him at his workshop, because he might change his mind and run away, or could be found more readily by his friends. So he took him to some place out yonder, where he intends he shall stay until he is ready to start on the maddest trip an aviator ever dreamed of. Now can you tell me how far the Professor went with his machine?”
“I had the glass and was standing right here watching him,” replied Wadsworth. “Up among those rocks and trees which you see a little to the left and six or eight miles away, the machine seemed to come to a stop and to hang motionless in the air, but that could not be.”
“That is exactly what you saw; the Professor has invented what he calls an ‘uplifter,’ which is nothing more than a horizontal propeller under the engine, by which he can hold himself stationary when he wishes.”
“I was so puzzled by the sight that I handed the glass to the Duke, who laughed at what he called my fancy. But when he had looked it was his turn to be surprised, for he couldn’t see any aeroplane at all. It had vanished as completely as if it had dived into a hole in the ground. He passed the glass back to me, but I was no more successful than he. Then Val tried it with the same result.”
“You knew what that meant?” said Harvey inquiringly. “There was no mystery about it.”