But it seemed strange to Matt and McGlory that Rajah, after his fit of madness, could be so suddenly brought into subjection.
"I'll bet my spurs," remarked McGlory, early in the parade, "that Rajah will cut up a caper yet."
"If he does," answered Matt, "I hope the Comet will be out of his way. But this Dhondaram, Joe, seems to be an A One Mahout, and I believe he can hold Rajah down."
It was about half-past eleven when the dusty paraders began filing back into the show grounds, the cages pulling into the menagerie tent, the riders taking their horses to the stable annex, and Matt driving the aëroplane to the spot from which the first exhibition flight of the day was to be made.
"You and Ping go and peel off your show togs," said Matt to McGlory, as soon as the Comet had been brought to a halt and he and his friends had dropped off the machine, "and then come back and take charge of the start. I've got to fix that electric wiring, or I'll get short-circuited while I'm up with Le Bon."
He pulled off his coat while he was speaking, and dropped coat and hat on the ground; then, as McGlory and Ping made their way toward the calliope tent through a gathering throng of sightseers, the young motorist opened a tool box and stepped around toward the rear of the aëroplane to get at the battery and adjust the connections.
A sharp tent stake, carelessly dropped by one of the show's employees, lay in the way and Matt kicked it aside. He gave a look around, and saw that Dhondaram was having some trouble getting Rajah into the menagerie tent. Thinking nothing of this, Matt proceeded to the rear of the planes and threw himself across the lower wing, close to the motor and the battery.
While he was busily at work he heard a series of startled yells, apparently coming from the crowd that was massing to witness the flight of the Comet. Withdrawing hastily from his place on the lower plane of the machine, Matt dropped to the ground and ran around the ends of the right-hand wings. What he saw was enough to play havoc with the strongest nerves.
Right and left the crowd was scattering in a veritable panic, and through the lane thus made came Rajah, hurling himself along in a direct line for the Comet. There was no one on the animal's back, and the gay trappings which covered him were fluttering and snapping in the wind of his flight.
Rajah had always had a dislike for the aëroplane. Its ungainly form seemed to annoy him. In the present instance this was no doubt a fortunate thing. Had the brute not kept his attention on the air ship, he might have turned on the frightened throng and either killed or injured a dozen people.