“Oh! all right, if you say so, Frank, though I think you’re by long odds too easy on the skunks. Why, if that bag had struck us in a certain way, we might be as dead as herrings long before now. Makes me shiver every time I look down. And after a fall of more than a thousand feet, a fellow wouldn’t look good at his own funeral. But since you say forget it, I’ll try to.”
When they hovered over the big field there was a whirlwind of shouts that must have been pleasant music to these two young victorious air voyagers returning from their recent exploit.
The next half hour was filled with plenty of excitement all around. Frank had to guard his precious little monoplane from the crowds of curious and applauding people who had witnessed their plucky race.
And the silver cup was indeed a beauty, well worth all the effort they had put into their work. No one was more extravagant in praise than Colonel Josiah Whympers, who toddled around with crutch and cane, telling everybody he met what wonderful things Andy and Frank were going to do some day. While most people were of the opinion that he “put the cart before the horse” when using those two names in that fashion, still they could forgive him, because Andy was naturally everything to the doting old man.
Of course after that it was demanded that the Bird boys give a few exhibition flights, just to let the gaping crowd see to what an astonishing degree the modern aviator could guide his novel craft through the air.
So Frank ascended to a height of nearly fifteen hundred feet, boring his way upward after a fashion much in vogue among these pilots who lead the world in aerial navigation; after which he descended in spirals, being averse to attempting the risky stunt known as volplaning, until he had learned the ropes better.
But it was all a grand circus for the thousands who viewed these wonderful feats for the first time. And great was the uproarious applause that greeted the young aviators after they had landed again.
Before evening came the Bird boys once more went up, and headed for the home field, tired but satisfied.
Dr. Bird had insisted that Frank come home for the night, since he had been away so very long now.
“I guess there’s no danger about the monoplane,” Frank remarked, as they locked the doors, and Andy for the twentieth time drew out his recovered little monkey wrench to examine it carefully. “You know Chief Waller nabbed those two men, Jules and Jean, and has them locked up tight. Besides, now that the race is over, Puss and Sandy will have no reason to want to injure our machine.”