CHAPTER X
HEARD OVER THE WIRE
Luckily the center of interest remained around the odd looking aeroplane with the metal pontoons underneath its body, so that Frank was allowed to walk away almost unnoticed, when he had secured the important information he inquired for, and which was leading him to the drug store nearest the town green.
True, an aviator had landed in Rockford on one or two occasions, for some reason or other, in times past. Since the Bird boys could not remember having done so, possibly it may have been Percy Carberry, anxious to enjoy the stares of the good people, and pose as a great fellow.
But this was a type of air machine with which none of them were familiar; and as so much space was being taken up even in the local papers with the accounts of the wonderful doings of daring navigators of the upper currents, it was only natural that some bright boy should speedily guess what manner of craft the chance visitor to Rockford must be.
"Hey! that's a hyderplane, mister, ain't it?" demanded one sharp-eyed chap, after he had glimpsed the construction of the aluminum pontoons that were just kept from contact with the ground by the bicycle wheels.
"Have you ever seen one before?" asked Andy, desirous of keeping up friendly relations with the crowd, for he knew how important that might prove, since, as yet, no man wearing a blue uniform had put in an appearance; and should any hoodlum choose to play "rough house," or try to be too familiar with the apparatus, there was always a chance that some damage might be done.
"No, I ain't, but I seen a picture of that 'ere Coffyn feller, a-flyin' down on the Hudson river nigh New York; and she looked a heap like this here shebang," came the quick response.
"Well, you guessed right that time, for that is what it is called, a hydroplane; because it can be navigated on the water as well as in the air. And if you'll please stand back, so as not to bother with anything, because the least handling may put the whole machine out of tune, I'll be glad to tell you something about how we manage to use it as a boat."
Andy knew how to manage, and he exerted himself to entertain the crowd while Frank was absent, keeping their interest aroused by little stories of things that had happened to birdmen in recent times, and which were of course well known to him, from the fact that both the cousins kept in close touch with all that went on in the world of aviation.