“Pardon me, but may I ask if you saw an aeroplane fly past a little while ago?”
Before Billie, generally the spokesman, could reply, the young stranger broke in:
“We saw one, but it is out of sight now.”
“Ah? Then it didn’t fall. I thought I saw it drop. It looked very much as if he had lost control, but I was too far away to tell.”
The man waited, but the four girls and Miss Campbell remained discreetly silent, and the wrecked aeroplanist leaned out and looked up skyward, as if he were searching the heavens for the lost airship.
“Although aeroplanes are not very apt to fly about in great numbers,” went on the man sarcastically, “I see you are not very observant when they are about. I bid you good-day,” and touching his cap with his hand like a salute, he leaped on his motor cycle and sped down the road in a cloud of dust.
“Dear me,” exclaimed Miss Campbell, “what a crusty individual! But why not have told him?”
“Because he happens to be my rival,” answered the young man. “You see, a prize has been offered for the one who flies across the continent from San Francisco to Chicago in the shortest time. Most of the aeroplanists think the prize is too small for the risk, and so far only a few have entered. This fellow, Duval, doesn’t want any rivals, and he has done everything he could to disqualify me for the race. He didn’t recognize me, because he’s only seen me in leather clothes with goggles and a cap on. You see, I decided at the last moment this morning to fly westward as far as I could. I suppose I am a good deal like the Irishman who was challenged to drink a pail of beer, and went into another room and drank one first to see if he could.”
“But now you have no aeroplane,” observed Nancy sadly.
“I have two. The other one was shipped to San Francisco. Duval has a great many reasons for keeping an eye on me. He wants to find out what kind of machine I’m going to use. I have kept that a profound secret, and he wants to know how good I am at flying. You see, no one has ever heard of me. I have never been to any public meets. I have only practised—at—at our place.”