“No,” exclaimed the captain, “we’ll go the limit. When we get that shaft rigging in and the chain drives and the propellers on, I want to see the engine hooked up to ’em. I want to see those wheels move, if we’ve got to tie her to the dock to keep her from flyin’ away. And we’ll fit on the rudder and the front balance, too, just to see what the whole thing looks like.”
“I’m goin’ to make her let me do it,” broke in Andy impulsively. “Mother won’t have the heart to refuse me when she sees it all out there ready to fly.”
The captain took a long puff at his pipe and laughed.
“Anyway,” he said slowly, “she looks like the real thing to me. If your mother’ll let you, go the limit. If she won’t fly, bust her. I don’t care.”
[CHAPTER XI]
ROY OSBORNE REACHES VALKARIA
Andy had fallen into the habit of strolling up the sandy road each evening about the time for the Lake Worth Express to go south. But not once did he catch the sound of the warning whistle or the grinding brakes. Even the Friday night train went by without slackening speed, and the boy was almost ready to abandon hope that Roy Osborne might come to his rescue.
“The automobile races were ended this afternoon,” said Andy when he returned to the house after a vain visit to the box-car depot Friday evening. “If he don’t come to-morrow evening, I’ll give up.”
Although neither Andy nor Captain Anderson talked much about the new aeroplane this evening, the machine being practically complete, they could not resist making it the subject of some comment.