“Yours, Nicodemus Beere.”
Frank at once answered that he would pick the captain up at New Orleans on the way to the Gulf. Then he hastened preparations for the start.
It was not long before the air-ship was rolled out into the great yard and was all ready for the start.
Then the people of Readestown rose en masse to give their distinguished fellow-citizen an ovation and a grand farewell to speed him on his journey.
The fame of the undertaking had traveled far and wide and from every part of the country people flocked to Readestown.
Their curiosity was most powerful to see the man who had mastered so easily the great problem of aerial navigation.
Frank was obliged to decline all invitations to events given in his honor. His full time was occupied in preparations for the start.
And at last all was ready.
Frank wired Beere at New Orleans and then went aboard the air-ship. Barney and Pomp accompanied him.