The Rover Boys in the Air | Page 2

thank
my many young friends for their cordial reception of what I have
written for them. I trust the present story will interest them and prove of
benefit.
Affectionately and sincerely yours,
ARTHUR M. WINFIELD.

THE ROVER BOYS IN THE AIR
CHAPTER I
THE BOYS AND THE BIPLANE
"Fo' de land sakes, Massa Dick, wot am dat contraption yo' boys dun
put togedder back ob de bahn yesterday?"
"Why, Aleck, don't you know what that is?" returned Dick Rover, with
a smile at the colored man. "That's a biplane."
"A biplane, eh?" repeated Alexander Pop, the colored helper around the
Rover homestead. He scratched his woolly head thoughtfully. "Yo'
don't mean to say it am lak a plane a carpenter man uses, does yo',
Massa Dick? 'Pears lak to me it was moah lak some ship sails layin'
down,--somethin' lak dem ships we see over in Africy, when we went
into dem jungles to find yo' fadder."
"No, it has nothing to do with a carpenter's plane, Aleck," answered
Dick, with a laugh. "A biplane is a certain kind of a flying machine."
"Wat's dat? A flyin' machine? Shorely, Massa Dick, yo' ain't gwine to
try to fly?" exclaimed Aleck, in horror.

"That is just what I am going to do, Aleck, after I have had a few
lessons. I hope to fly right over the house, just like a bird."
"No! no! Don't you try dat, Massa Dick! You'll break yo' neck suah!
Don't yo' try it! I--I can't allow it nohow--an' yo' aunt won't allow it
neither!" And the colored man shook his head most emphatically.
"Now, don't get excited, Aleck," said Dick, calmly. "I won't go up until
I am sure of what I am doing. Why, don't you know that flying in the
air is getting to be a common thing these days? Tom and Sam and I
bought that biplane in New York last week, and a man who knows all
about flying is coming out to the farm to teach us how to run it. After
we know how to sail through the air we'll take you up with us."
"Me!" ejaculated the colored man, and rolled his eyes wildly. "Not in a
thousand years, Massa Dick, an' not fo' all dat treasure yo' dun brung
home from Treasure Isle! No, sah, de ground am good enough fo'
Aleck Pop!" And he backed away, as if afraid Dick Rover might carry
him off then and there.
"Hello, Aleck!" cried a merry voice at this moment, and Tom Rover
came into view. "Want to take a sail through the clouds for a change?"
"Massa Tom, am yo' really thinking ob goin' up in dat contraption?"
demanded the colored man, earnestly.
"Sure thing, Aleck. And you'll want to go, too, before long. Think of
flying along like a bird!" And Tom Rover spread out his arms and
moved them slowly up and down. "Oh, it's grand!"
"Yo' won't be no bird when yo' come down ker-flop!" murmured Aleck,
soberly. "Yo' will be all busted up, dat's wot yo'll be!"
"We won't fall, don't you worry," continued Tom. "This biplane is a
first-class machine, warranted in all kinds of weather."
"If it am a flyin' machine wot fo' you call it a biplane?" asked the
colored man curiously.

"Bi stands for two," explained Dick. "A bicycle means two cycles, or
two wheels. A biplane means two planes, or two surfaces of canvas.
This biplane of ours, as you can see, has two surfaces, or decks, an
upper and a lower. A monoplane has only one plane, and a triplane has
three. Now you understand, don't you, Aleck?"
"I dun reckon I do, Massa Dick. But look yeah, boys, yo' take my
advice an' don't yo' try to sail frough de air in dat bicycleplane, or wot
yo' call it. 'Tain't safe nohow! Yo' stick to de hosses, an' dat
autermobile, an' de boat on de ribber. A boy wasn't meant to be a bird
nohow!"
"How about being an angel, Aleck?" asked Tom, slyly.
"Huh! An angel, eh? Well, if yo' go up in dat bicycleplane maybe yo'
will be an angel after yo' fall out, even if yo' ain't one when yo' starts."
And with this remark Aleck Pop hurried away to his work in the house.
"That's one on you, Tom," cried Dick, with a broad smile. "Poor Aleck!
he evidently has no use for flying machines."
"Well, Dick, now the machine is together, it does look rather scary,"
answered Tom Rover, slowly. "I want to see that aviator try it out
pretty well before I risk my neck going up."
"Oh, so do I. And we'll have to have a good many lessons in running
the engine, and in steering, and all that. I begin