"I am not a 'dare-devil,' I assure you," she said, addressing Mr. Tupper rather than his wife. "I know the newspapers call me that, and compare me with the witch on a broomstick; but in truth I am as calculating and cold as any aviator in America. Everything I do is figured out with mathematical precision and I never take a single chance that I can foresee. I know the air currents, and all their whims and peculiarities, and how to counteract them. What may seem to the spectators to be daring, and even desperate, is often the safest mode of flying, provided you understand your machine and the conditions of the air. To volplane from a height of five or ten thousand feet, for example, is safer than from a slight elevation, for the further you drop the better air-cushion is formed under your planes, and you ride as gently as when suspended from a parachute."
Madeline was listening eagerly.
"Are you afraid?" she asked.
"Afraid? Why should I be, with my brother's wonderful engine at my back and perfect control of every part of my machine?"
"Suppose the engine should some time fail you?"
"Then I would volplane to the ground."
"And if the planes, or braces, or fastenings break?"
"No fear of that. The Kane Aircraft is strong enough for any aërial purpose and I examine every brace and strut before I start my fight—merely to satisfy myself they have not been maliciously tampered with."
Then Madeline sprung her important question:
"Do you ever take a passenger?"