“Go right on, the same as if Dashaway and the Ariel were ready for the contest.”
CHAPTER XIX
ARIEL II
“Hold me, Bruce! I’m seeing things!” gasped Hiram Dobbs, half whimsically.
“You’re seeing Dave Dashaway. Both of us are. Oh, hooray!”
“And the Ariel——”
“A new Ariel—Ariel II; don’t you see? Brace up—hurry! Don’t you understand that everything has come out all right at last?”
It was nine o’clock in the morning of the great day. All the entrants were expected to report within the ensuing sixty minutes. On the Saturday previous those who had not qualified fully had been ruled out of the competition. Some had not supplied the required data. Some had not been able to promise the delivery of their machines on the grounds before the contest began. Others were mere amateurs in aviatics, with no demonstrated records.
Those had been anxious, unsatisfactory days for Hiram and Bruce that succeeded the strange, yet definite message from Mr. Brackett. There was a ray of hope in his explicit direction to go right on, just as if there had been no break in the programme laid out by Dave the day they arrived at the International grounds. Both Hiram and Bruce were very secretive. They took a flight each day in the Scout. They mingled with the crowds at headquarters. They picked up all the information possible and kept in touch with everything going on.