The Rover Boys in the Air | Page 8

ran right over Dick."

"I dun tole you boys to be careful," burst out Aleck. "It's a suah wondah
yo' ain't bof killed. Wot kin I do, Massa Tom?" And he got down on his
knees beside Dick, for he loved these lads, who had done so much for
him in the past.
"He's only stunned, I think--and he's coming around now," answered
Tom, and at that moment Dick commenced to stir. Then he gave a gasp,
opened his eyes, and suddenly sat up.
"Stop her! Stop her, Tom!" he murmured.
"Dick! Dick, my poor, dear boy!" burst out Mrs. Rover, and got down
beside him. "Oh, I am so thankful that you weren't killed!"
"Why--er--why!" stammered the oldest Rover boy. "Say, what's
happened?" he went on, looking from one to another of the group.
"Where's the biplane?"
"Flew away," answered Tom. "You got struck and knocked down, don't
you remember?"
"Ah!" Dick drew a deep breath. "Yes, I remember now. Oh, how my
head aches!" He put up his hand and noticed the blood. "Got a pretty
good rap, didn't I? What did the machine do, Tom; go to smash?"
"I don't know. The last I saw of her she was sailing over the house."
"She kept right on a-sailin'," answered Aleck. "Went on right ober de
woods along de ribber."
"You don't say! Then we'll have a time of it getting her back." Dick
gritted his teeth. "Phew! how my head hurts!"
"Bring him to the house, and we'll bind his head up," said Mrs. Rover.
"I'll wash the wound first and we can put on some witch hazel."
"Yes, that or some peroxide of hydrogen," added Randolph Rover, who
was a scientific farmer and something of a chemist. "That will kill any
germs that may lodge there."

Dick was half led and half carried to the house and placed on a couch in
the sitting room, and then his aunt went to work to make him
comfortable. The cut was not a deep one, and the youth was suffering
more from shock than from anything else.
"I'll be all right by to-morrow," he assured his Aunt Martha. "I only got
a knock-down blow, that's all."
"The machine didn't fight fairly," added Tom, who had to have his little
joke. "It hit Dick before he was ready."
"Well, I am thankful it was no worse," answered Mrs. Rover. "But it is
bad enough."
"And we'll have to have a mason here to mend the chimney," added
Randolph Rover.
"I'll get a man from the Corners to-morrow," said Tom. "But say, I'd
like to know where the biplane went to," he continued anxiously.
"Maybe it landed on some other house," mused Randolph. "If it did you
may have more to pay for than a dismantled chimney."
"Oh, houses are few and far between in that direction, Uncle Randolph.
What I am afraid of is, that the biplane came down in the trees or on the
rocks and got smashed. That would be a big loss."
"That is true."
"I can send Jack Ness and Aleck Pop out to look for the machine," went
on Tom. "And I can go out myself with Sam, when he returns."
"Yes, you'd better do that," answered Dick. "And I'll go out with you
to-morrow, if you can't locate the machine to-day."
"Better take it easy, Dick," cautioned his aunt.
"Oh, I'll be all right by to-morrow, Aunt Martha. A good night's sleep
will be sure to set me on my feet again. And I can fix this cut up with a

bit of adhesive plaster."
"Did you have much gasoline on board?" queried Randolph Rover.
"The tank was full," answered Tom. "Oh, the Dartaway could go a
good many miles, if she wanted to," he added, dubiously.
"The Dartaway? Was that the name of the craft?"
"Yes, and she did dart away, didn't she?" and Tom grinned.
"For all we know, she may have gone fifty or a hundred miles,"
continued Dick. "But I doubt it. With nobody to steer she'd be bound to
turn turtle or something before long."
"Well, if she's busted, she's busted, that's all," answered Tom,
philosophically. Yet the thought of the beautiful biplane being a wreck
caused him to sigh.
A few minutes later the honk of an automobile horn was heard in the
lane leading to the house, and Sam Rover appeared, driving the family
car. He was alone on the front seat and in the tonneau had a variety of
things purchased in the village for his aunt and the others.
"Hello! what does this mean?" cried Sam, as he came into the sitting
room and saw Dick with his head bound up. "What did you do? Did
you get that fussing with the biplane?"
"I did, Sam," was