Grace Harlowes Sophomore Year at High School | Page 9

key from his pocket and opening the door in the stone wall. "This was about the best place I could think of for experiments, partly because it's such a lonesome place, and partly because there is a clear open space of several hundred yards back here without a tree or bush on it."
It was dark inside until he had opened the double doors in the opposite wall, when the slanting light showed them an a?roplane; not a little gymnasium model this time, but a full-fledged flying machine, a trim and graceful object, even at close view.
"David," cried Anne joyously, "you don't mean to say you've gone and done it at last?"
"I have," answered David gravely; "and I've made two trips with pretty good success each time."
Then everyone talked at once. David was the hero of the hour.
"David, my dear boy," cried Mrs. Gray. "To think that I should live to see you an aviator!"
"I'm a long way from being one, yet, Mrs. Gray," answered David. "My bird doesn't always care to fly. There are times when she'd rather stay in her nest with her wings folded. Of course, I haven't nearly perfected her yet, so I don't want it mentioned in town until I get things in shape. But I couldn't wait until then to show it to you, my dear friends, because you were all interested in it last year."
"Well, well, come on and fly," cried Hippy. "My heart is palpitating so with excitement that I am afraid it will beat once too often if something doesn't happen."
"I was waiting for my helper," answered David, "but he appears to be late. You boys will do as well."
"Who is your helper, David?" asked Anne.
"You could never guess," he replied smiling, "so I'll have to tell you. It's old Jean, the hunter."
"Why, the dear old thing!" cried Grace. "To think of him leaving his uncivilized state to do anything so utterly civilized and modern as to help with a flying machine."
"And he does it well, too," went on David. "He is not only thoroughly interested but he keeps guard out here in case any one should try to break in. There are his cot and things in the corner. He sleeps in the open unless it rains. Then he sleeps inside."
As the old hunter did not put in an appearance David decided to wait no longer.
"Why can't we all help?" asked Grace. "What must we do? Please tell us."
"All right," answered David, "just give it a shove into the open space, and you'll see how she gradually rises for a flight."
After making a careful examination of all the parts of the a?roplane, and starting the engine, David took his seat in the machine.
Then the two boys, assisted by Grace and Nora, pushed it swiftly out into the broad open space back of the ruin.
Suddenly the machine began to rise. Slowly, at first, then seeming to gather strength and confidence like a young bird that has learned to fly at last, it soared over the apple trees. David, white, but very calm, quietly worked the levers that operated the little engine. When he had risen about a hundred feet, he began to dip and soar around the orchard in circles. He appeared to have forgotten his friends, watching anxiously below. He did not notice that little Mrs. Gray's knees had suddenly refused to support her, nor that she had sat flat on the ground in a state of utter bewilderment at the sight of his sudden flight. David looked far across at the beautiful rolling meadows, and fields dotted with farmhouses and cottages. How he loved the fertile valley, with its little river winding in and out between green banks! It was all so beautiful, but it was time to descend. He must not give his pet too much liberty, or he might rue his indiscretion. He headed his machine for the open space back of the Omnibus House, and began the descent. Then, something snapped, and he fell. He remembered as he fell the look of horror on the up-raised faces of his friends, and then everything became a blank.
It all happened in a flash, much too quickly to do anything but stand and wait until the a?roplane had crashed to the ground, but it seemed much longer, and Anne remembered later that she had felt a curious impulse to run away and hide. If David were to meet his death through this new toy, she could not endure to stay and see it happen.
But David was far from dead. He was only stunned and dizzy from the swift descent. He had not been high enough from the ground when the accident occurred to sustain serious injuries. They lifted him from the machine and laid him upon the grass, while Reddy