"No, but I have had a good deal to do with dirigible balloons. If you're hunting for a man who is experienced with aëroplanes, Mr. Murgatroyd, I guess you'll have to hunt for a long time. Heavier-than-air machines are only just beginning to come to the front, and the supply of experienced drivers is limited. It was the chance to familiarize myself with flying of that kind that brought me here."
Murgatroyd continued to tap reflectively with his glasses.
"Do you know that the man who invented the aëroplane fell with one of the machines and was killed?" he inquired.
"I heard that there had been an accident here, recently," was the answer.
"That was ten days ago, over in the park. The aëroplane turned turtle, dropped fifty feet, and Traquair was badly smashed. He lived about fifteen minutes and wasn't able to speak a word. The machine may be wrong in principle, I don't know that, but I've got to get some reliable person, who's not too much afraid of risking his neck, to learn the machine and then give an exhibition for the government, up at Fort Totten. The trial is set for two weeks from to-day. There's not much time, you see, to learn the ropes."
"I believe I could learn the ropes," said the other confidently. "I seem to have a knack for picking up such things."
"If anything happens to you, your relatives may come at me for damages."
"So far as I know, Mr. Murgatroyd, I haven't any relatives."
The beady, gimlet eyes gleamed with undisguised satisfaction.
"You will have to sign a paper," went on Murgatroyd, "releasing me from all responsibility, financial or otherwise, in case any accident happens."