The Rover Boys in the Air | Page 7

on and ask one of the men about them," came from Tom; and a
little later they had a long talk with an aviator named Captain Colby,
who proved to be a relative to Larry Colby, one of their former chums
at Putnam Hall. He had heard about the Rover boys and some of their
doings, and willingly told them all they wanted to know.
The boys went home with their minds full of flying machines, and as
the Rovers were all well-to-do, and as the three lads had in the past
proved capable of taking care of themselves, it was not a very difficult
matter for them to persuade their father to let them buy a biplane. Then,
through Captain Colby, they learned where the flying machine could be
obtained, and the very next day bought the affair and had it shipped to
the farm, and also arranged with the aviator to visit them and give them
a number of lessons.
"We've got three weeks before we have to go back to college," Tom
had said. "If we are quick to learn we can have lots of fun in that time."
"Yes, and if we do learn, perhaps we can take the biplane to college
with us and astonish some of the students and the faculty," Dick had
added.

"That's the talk!" cried the youngest Rover. "We'll take it along!"
That morning Sam had gone off on an errand as already mentioned.
Then Dick and Tom had gotten out the flying machine and started up
the engine and the propellers. The ropes holding the biplane had broken
or torn loose from the ground, and now the machine had gone off with
a wild swoop, hurling poor Dick flat on his back and injuring him, how
seriously was still to be learned.
CHAPTER III
SAM BRINGS NEWS
As Tom ran over to his brother's side he could not help but give a
glance at the flying machine, which was rising higher and higher in the
air, with a noise from the engine that sounded like a battery of gattling
guns in action.
"Hi! hi! Wot's that?" came in a startled voice from the other side of the
barn, and Jack Ness, the Rovers hired man, came running into view.
"By gum, if them boys ain't gone an' flew without waitin' fer that man
to show 'em! Who's doin' it? I don't see nobuddy." And the hired man
blinked in amazement at the sight before him. "Is Sam in there?"
"Nobody is in the machine," answered Tom, who was kneeling beside
his brother. "Oh, gracious! Look at that!" he exclaimed.
"There goes the chimbley!" roared Jack Ness, as the biplane swooped
just high enough to clear the roof of the Rover homestead. One of the
wheels underneath struck a chimney a glancing blow, hurling the bricks
in all directions. As they came clattering down, from the house out ran
Mrs. Rover, followed by her husband and the hired help. Anderson
Rover was away on business.
"What is the matter--is it a--er--a cyclone?" gasped Randolph Rover.
"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Mrs. Rover. "But it's a terrible
noise."

"Look! look!" shrieked the cook, pointing upward. "Saints preserve
us!" she moaned. "'Tis the end of the world!"
"A flying machine!" murmured Randolph Rover. He gazed around
hurriedly. "Can it be the boys?"
"Oh, those boys! They will surely kill themselves!" groaned Mrs.
Rover. "They know nothing about airships!"
"Say, dar ain't nobuddy in dat contraption!" came suddenly from Aleck
Pop. "It am flyin' all by itself!"
"By itself?" repeated Randolph Rover. "Impossible, Alexander! A
flying machine cannot run itself. There must be somebody to steer, and
manipulate the engine, and----"
"Oh, maybe whoever was in it fell out!" screamed Mrs. Rover, and now
she looked ready to faint.
"We must find out about this!" returned her husband quickly. "They
had the machine in the shed back of the barn." And he ran in that
direction, followed by the colored man, and then by his wife and the
cook. In the meantime the biplane soared on and on, ever rising in the
air and moving off in the direction of the river.
When the others arrived they found that Tom had carried poor Dick to
the wagon shed and placed him on a pile of horse blankets, and was
washing his wounded head with water. At the sight of her nephew lying
there so still Mrs. Rover gave a scream.
"Oh, Tom, is he--is he----" she could not go on.
"He's only stunned, I guess, Aunt Martha," was the reply. "But he got a
pretty good crack."
"Did the flying machine do it?" queried Randolph Rover.
"Yes. We had it tied fast, but when we started the engine and the
propellers it broke loose and