"Iss all clear?" asked Herr Doodlebrod.
"Clear she is," replied his chief helper.
"Den here I goes!" exclaimed the inventor as he started the motor and threw in the clutch operating the propeller.
The big arms beat the air and hummed shrilly as they whizzed around. The new motor made the frail airship tremble. There was a moment's hesitation, as if the craft hated to leave the earth, and then, with a little jerk, it soared aloft.
"Hurrah!" yelled the crowd.
"She works! She works!" cried Dick, capering about in delight. He thought the prize already won. Even Colonel Claflin looked pleased.
Herr Doodlebrod deflected one of the rudders and the airship went up at a sharp angle. In a few seconds it was several hundred feet high. Then it started to move about in a circle.
"Wonderful!" murmured several.
"He seems to know his business," remarked Mr. Hamilton. "I didn't believe it would work. I haven't much faith in airships."
"Well, it has gone, so far," replied Colonel Claflin. "But the test is not completed. Let's watch him."