CHAPTER VIII.
BROUGHT TO EARTH.
If McGlory, Cameron, and Ping were delighted with the start of the newa?roplane, Motor Matt was doubly so. Matt was "at the helm" and capableof appreciating the machine's performance as his friends could not do.
Preserving an equilibrium, and riding on a more or less even keel, isthe hardest point to be met in navigating an a?roplane. The centre ofwind pressure and the centre of gravitation is constantly changing, andeach change must be instantly met by manipulating the wings. In theTraquair machine, equilibrium was preserved by expanding or contractingthe wing area, giving more resistance to the air on one side and lesson the other, as necessity demanded.
Matt, facing westward in the direction of Minnewaukon, could give noattention to his friends, every faculty being required for the runningof the flying machine. Every condition that had so far developed thea?roplane was meeting wonderfully well; but new conditions wouldconstantly crop out and Matt was still in doubt as to how the greatplanes and the motor would take care of them.
At a height of a hundred feet he steadily opened up the throttle.Faster and faster whirled the propeller, and below the machine theprairie rolled away with dizzy rapidity. Almost before Matt realized ithe was over the town of Minnewaukon, with the jubilant cheers of thecitizens echoing in his ears.
He made a half turn to lay the machine on her new course. The innerwing dipped as the a?roplane came around, but the expanding andcontracting device kept the craft from going to a dangerous angle, andit came level again on the straightaway course.
Even on a day that seems still and quiet the air is a veritablemaelstrom of conflicting currents close to the earth's surface. Barns,houses, hills, trees deflect the streams of air and send them upwardto churn and twist in numberless whirlpools. To get out of this unrulyatmosphere an a?roplane must mount.
Having made sure of the machine's performance at a lower altitude, Mattclimbed higher. Three hundred--four hundred--five hundred feet upwardhe went soaring, then rounded gracefully into a level course and wasoff at speed along the air line.
It would be hard to describe the exultation that arose in the breast ofthe king of the motor boys. It was not alone that he was doing with ana?roplane something which had not before been attempted--striking out anew line for the air navigators of the world--but it was the joy of anew sensation that thrilled him, spiced with the knowledge that he wasrubbing elbows with death every instant the machine was aloft.
On his clear brain, his steady eye, and his quick hand hung his hopeof life. A wrong twist of the lever at a critical time would oversetthe machine and fling it earthway, a fluttering mass of torn canvas,twisted wire ropes, and broken machinery, himself in the very centre ofthe wreck.
Higher above the earth the wind was stronger, but steadier, and themotor hurried the a?roplane along at its top speed.
It was difficult for Matt to estimate the rate at which he wastraveling. There were no landmarks to rush past him and give himan inkling of his speed. Once, however, he saw a farmhouse in thedistance ahead; and he barely saw it before it was swept behind andlost to his eyes under the lower plane.
Wherever he saw a road he followed it. If anything happened, and hewas obliged to descend, a flat stretch of hard earth would help him toremount into the air again.
Matt had secured his watch on the seat beside him so that he was ableto glance at its face from time to time. He had started from CampTraquair at eight o'clock. When the hands of the watch indicatednine-thirty, he made up his mind to descend at the most favorable pointon the surface below him.
He presently found the place he wanted, hard by a farmhouse, shutoff the power and glided downward. A kick at a footlever dropped thebicycle wheels into position, and the a?roplane brushed against theearth of a hard road, moved a little way on the wheels, and then cameto a stop.
A man and a boy, who had been watching the strange sky monster froma wheatfield, hurried toward the machine as soon as it had come to astop. They were full of excitement, and asked many questions, to all ofwhich Matt patiently replied while looking around to see that wings,rudders, and motor were still in perfect condition.
"How far is it to Sykestown?" Matt asked, as soon as his examinationwas finished.
"About a hundred miles," answered the man.
"And how far are you from Minnewaukon?"
"Eighty miles."
"Great spark plugs!" laughed Matt, resuming his seat in the machine;"I'm traveling some, all right. I've been only an hour and a halfcoming from Totten."
"Do tell!" gasped the man, in wonder. "Why, neighbor, them therehossless wagons couldn't travel much quicker'n that!"
"I should say not! I've some friends following me in an automobile, butthey're nowhere in sight."
Matt got the bicycle wheels to turning. When they were carrying thea?roplane at the rate of thirty miles an hour the planes took the liftof the air and swung upward clear of the earth.
A pull at the gear turned the power into the propeller, and away rushedthe machine like a new style of comet.
"I'm going to reach Sykestown in time for dinner," thought Matt, "andMcGlory and Cameron are not expecting to meet me there until to-morrowmorning. I'd have time to go to the Traquair homestead to-nightand perhaps get Mrs. Traquair out of the shack and carry her in toSykestown."
The idea appealed to Matt. Talk about a test for an a?roplane! Amanoeuvre of that sort would put the Traquair machine far and awayahead of any air craft so far invented. What heavier-than-air machinewas there that could travel away from its starting point and keepgoing, asking no odds of anything but gasoline and oil and a firmsurface for launching into the void?
This demonstration of the new a?roplane was succeeding beyond MotorMatt's wildest dreams.
"We'll not take her apart and put her in a crate to send her toWashington," thought the jubilant young motorist. "I'll fly her there.I didn't think the machine could travel and hold her own like this!"
Having plenty of time at his disposal, he began manoeuvring at variousheights, slowing down and increasing his speed, and mounting anddescending.
In the midst of this fascinating work, he caught sight of an automobilein the road below him. The car contained only two passengers--a man anda woman--and was proceeding in the direction Matt was following.
The car was traveling rapidly, but not so rapidly as the a?roplane.
Matt decided to swing the a?roplane to a point alongside the automobileand not more than a dozen feet above the ground, traveling in companywith the car and making inquiries of the man in the driver's seat.
If he carried out his plan to go to the Traquair homestead that night,it would be well to learn something about the location of the farm, andthe man in the automobile might be able to give him the information herequired.
No sooner had he made up his mind what he was going to do than heproceeded to put the plan into execution. Hovering over the automobile,he slowed down the engine, turned the small steering planes in frontand slipped down the slope of air as easily as a hawk coming to earth.
Some fifteen feet above the prairie, just far enough to the right ofthe automobile so that the left-hand wings cleared the car safely, Mattstruck into a horizontal course.
He had not had a good look at the man in the car, as yet, althoughboth the man and the girl were watching his movements with the utmostcuriosity.
"Hello!" called Matt, still keeping his eyes ahead and holding his mindto the work of attending to the air ship.
There was no answer, or, if there was, Matt did not hear it.
"Are you acquainted with the country around here?" Matt went on.
"A little," came the response from the man.
"Could you tell me where Harry Traquair used to live?"
"You'll have to bear off to the right if you go there. The Traquairhomestead is twenty miles from----"
Something in the voice drew Matt's eyes quickly to the man.
"Murgatroyd!" cried the young motorist.
"Great spark plugs!"
A twist of the rear rudder sent the a?roplane away from the road;a touch of the lever increased the machine's speed; then, the nextmoment, he would have mounted high into the air--had not somethinghappened.
The crack of a rifle came from below, followed by the crang of a bulleton metal, a woman's scream, and a sickening lurch of the a?roplane.
Matt tumbled from the lower wing, and then experienced a shock thatalmost drove his spine up through the top of his head.
Dazed and bewildered, he lay where he had fallen.