“I’m not,” declared Tom, but his manager could see that he was and that he could not get his mind down to work. At last Tom himself became aware of his nervous condition, and shortly after noon, throwing his pencil down on his desk, he exclaimed:
“I’m going out for a ride, Ned. Come along. It will clear the cobwebs out of our brains.”
“Going in the runabout?” asked Ned.
“No, in the little biplane. She’s just been tuned up and runs like a sewing machine. We’ll take a spin up in the clouds.”
Ned considered for a moment, looked at a mass of papers on his desk, and answered:
“No, thank you, I’d better not go. Besides, Mr. Plum just telephoned that he’d like to see me about dad’s case, and I want to run over there.”
“All right,” agreed Tom. “Take all the time you want, Ned. But I don’t want to go skylarking alone. I think I’ll ’phone Mary. I haven’t had her up in the biplane for some time.”
“Yes, you and Mary go for a spin,” replied Ned. “Only take care that it isn’t a tail-spin.”
“The Hummer doesn’t indulge in such antics,” replied Tom, with a laugh. “But first I’d better see if she’ll tune up as she did the other day. I don’t want to get Mary out in her and then have something go wrong. I’ll just run her out, Ned, and give her a warming up. Then, if everything’s all right, I’ll call Mary. You can look after things here, I suppose?”
“Yes, either dad or I will. He’ll be back soon, and then I’ll take a run over to Plum’s office.”