CHAPTER VIII

LEARNING TO FLY

It soon became noised around the town that Joe and his chums had become the proud possessors of a flying machine, and the boys were asked innumerable questions concerning where they had gotten the biplane and what they intended to do with it.

“Why, it’s dead easy to fly,” said Walter Bannister, who had been visiting some relatives out on Long Island and had attended several aviation meets there, at one of the well-known parks. “I saw scores of flights and the aviators went up and came down without the least bit of trouble.”

“I guess it is easy enough after one learns how,” answered Harry. “But the thing of it is to learn.”

“Do you know what Si Voup is saying?” put in Fred, who chanced to be present. “He is telling everybody in town that he is sure none of us will have the backbone to try to go up.”

“Some more of Si’s sour grapes,” answered Harry; nevertheless his face commenced to burn. He could not help remembering what his mother had said that very morning--that she did not wish him or Joe to think of using the flying machine.

The boys, with the aid of Mr. Darrow and a machinist, had put the biplane together and had again tested the engine. But so far nobody of the crowd had said much about flying in it.

“We’ve got a white elephant on our hands,” said Fred, dismally. “Oh, if only some aviator would come along to give us lessons!” He had made inquiries, but could learn of no birdmen excepting in the big cities, or at the aviation meets throughout the country.

Another day passed and then, just as the Westmore boys sat down to supper, their sister Laura came in, her cheeks flushed and her eyes flashing angrily.

“Oh, that horrid Si Voup, and that awful Ike Boardman!” cried the girl, as she gave a deep sigh. “I hope I never see them again!”

“Why, Laura, what’s the trouble?” asked Mrs. Westmore, pausing in the act of pouring out tea for her husband.

“They’ve been talking about Joe and Harry, that’s what’s the matter!” answered the girl. “Oh, it makes me sick! I’d just like to slap their faces for them!”

“Laura!”

“Well, I would, so there!”

“What have those boys done now?” questioned Mr. Westmore.

“They are saying that Joe and Harry are cowards!” burst out the girl. “They told Minnie Brown and Grace Shallock that Joe and Harry wouldn’t dare to try to fly in that machine. Minnie said she was sure our boys would fly some time, but Si only laughed and said, ‘Never! They haven’t the backbone!’ And Ike said, ‘They’ll never get off the ground with it, they’d be too scared.’ Oh, were ever there such boys!”

“I’d like to punch their heads for ’em!” murmured Harry.

“Why don’t Si and Ike try to do some flying on their own account?” asked Mr. Westmore, dryly.

“Oh, they haven’t any flying machine,” answered Joe. “But say, I don’t like this, father--being called a coward.”

“And I don’t like it, either!” cried Harry. “Now we have the machine everybody will expect us to do something with it.” And he looked pleadingly at his mother.

“Humph!” mused Mr. Westmore, and he looked very thoughtful.

The next day the flour and feed merchant received a call from Mr. Rush. The hardware dealer had heard the report being circulated by Si and Ike, and some others, and it pleased him no more than it did Mr. Westmore.

“Fred is just crazy to try that flying machine,” said Mr. Rush. “He says if I will only let him try it he will be very careful, and he won’t go up until he is sure he knows all about it.”

“Well, Joe and Harry are just as crazy,” answered Mr. Westmore. “But my wife doesn’t like the idea.”

“Neither does Mrs. Rush--but she doesn’t want Fred branded as a coward.”

“What does Mr. Darrow say?”

“He says he might let Link try it, if he was very careful. He thinks they might try flying over the lake--with a boat near to pick them up if they had a tumble.”

“That’s an idea. Perhaps Mrs. Westmore wouldn’t mind it so much if they flew over the water. But they ought to have somebody to give them instructions first.”

“Fred has found somebody--that’s why I came over.”

“Found somebody? Who is it?”

“The new chauffeur Mr. Corsen has engaged to run his automobile. The man, whose name is Slosson, used to work around the hangars at one of the aviation parks and told Fred he had made several short flights. He said he wouldn’t mind going up in the machine, and he’d give the boys some instructions, if Mr. Corsen was willing.”

“Hum. Well, I’ll think it over--and talk to Mrs. Westmore about it,” answered the grain merchant.

Two days later Mrs. Westmore and Mrs. Rush came home together from a meeting of the local sewing circle. Both were very thoughtful, for at the meeting something had been said about the biplane and what was to be done with it. Evidently the women as well as the men and young folks of the town had come to the conclusion that the only reason it was not being tried was because the owners were afraid to attempt it.

“I can’t stand it to have folks think my son is a coward,” declared Mrs. Rush. “Why, Fred is just as anxious to try it as he was to run that touring car!”

“It’s the same with Harry and Joe,” replied Mrs. Westmore. “Oh, if I only knew they’d get along as well with it as they did with the auto I’d not stop them another minute.”

“Mr. Rush said they might try it over the lake.”

“Yes, Mr. Westmore said that.” There was a pause. “Do you think we ought to let them do it?”

“I don’t believe we’ll have peace unless we do.”

“But they will have to be very, very careful!”

“Yes, indeed! They must have lessons first.”

That evening the boys were told that they might try the biplane, if they were very careful and learned to run it first, and that they must not fly high, and must keep over the water until they were sure of what they were doing. All could swim well, so a tumble into the lake would be far less risky than a tumble on land.

“Hurrah!” shouted Harry, as he came running out of the house. “We can fly! Oh, this is the best yet!” And he took himself over to Fred’s home.

“Yes, I got permission, too!” said the stout youth. “But we must take it slowly, so my mother made me promise her.”

Joe followed Harry; and then the three youths hurried over to the Darrow carpenter shop, where they met Link and Bart.

“Good!” cried the carpenter’s son. “I was afraid the machine would just stand here all summer. Now we can have some glorious times!”

“If we don’t break our necks,” put in the big but timid Bart.

“We’ll show Si Voup and his crowd that we are not afraid,” declared Joe.

Matters were talked over, and it was decided to communicate with the new Corsen chauffeur the next day, when Joe was to return the big touring car to its owner.

The boys had cleaned up the car, and oiled it, until it was “in apple-pie order,” to use Harry’s manner of expressing it. The Corsens were back from their trip abroad and the mansion was open once more from end to end, and likewise the big grounds.

“Well, I am glad to know you had such a nice time,” said Munroe Corsen, when Joe had delivered the touring car. “What do you young men propose to do next, fly?” And he laughed. He had heard about the biplane.

“We’ll fly if we can learn how,” answered Joe. “Your chauffeur said he knew something about a biplane, Mr. Corsen, and I wanted to ask you if you had any objections to his teaching us the trick. Of course we’ll pay for his time.”

“There will be nothing to pay, Joe. I don’t know how much Slosson knows, but what he does he can teach you. When do you want him to give you lessons?”

“Any time you say, sir; and much obliged for letting him have the time to do it.”

“Well, we seldom go riding in the morning, after he takes me to the railroad station, so supposing we say every morning from ten to twelve, for the next couple of weeks?”

“That will suit us boys very well.”

“Then let it stand at that, and I will tell my man. But be careful of what you do. He comes highly recommended as a chauffeur, but I know nothing of his ability as an aviator.”

“He told Fred he could have gotten a job to fly at the exhibitions, only his wife didn’t want him to accept.”

“Yes, he told me that, too, so maybe it’s all right--I hope for your sake it is,” answered Mr. Corsen; and there the talk came to an end.

Joe spread the news among the others who held an interest in the biplane, and as a consequence every youth was on hand the next morning, awaiting the arrival of James Slosson.

The chauffeur had already visited the carpenter shop and inspected the biplane and pronounced it a fine one. He had said that it was something of a “cross” of two well-known makes--probably a production of Andrew Akers’s brain after seeing the other machines. The motor was entirely new to him, although of the rotary type, and he had said he thought it must be patterned after some French machines,--which was the case, although Andrew Akers had added some so-called improvements of his own.

“Learning to fly is more of a trick than anything else, just like learning to ride a bicycle or learning to walk a tight-rope,” said the chauffeur, when giving the boys their first lesson. “It consists mainly in knowing how to keep your balance under any and all conditions. So long as you keep your machine on anything like an even keel you are safe; but once let it get away from you and you are apt to turn turtle and come down with a smash.”

Harry and Fred were quite disappointed to think that they could not try to fly during the first two or three lessons. But James Slosson was a careful man and he insisted upon their learning all about the motor first, and the steering gear, and how to manage the wheel and other appliances. He also superintended the repairing of the broken planes, and readjusted several of the wire stays. The biplane seat was so arranged that a passenger might be carried along.

“Well, we’ll have to take turns at flying,” said Harry. “One or two at a time.”

James Slosson was the first to try the biplane and the boys assisted him in rolling the affair down to a big field bordering the lake. Then they held the flying machine while the propellers were started and the man got aboard.

“Let her go!” called the man, a moment later, and the boys did as requested. The motor banged away loudly, the propellers buzzed around at a lively rate, and with a rush the biplane traveled over the ground. Then up it shot into the air, higher and higher, until it was far out over the lake.

“Hurrah!” shouted the boys, and waved their caps.

“She’s all right!” was Harry’s comment.

“Just wait until we run her!” put in Fred.

“We’ll show Si Voup and all the others what we can do,” added Link.

With keen interest the boys, and a crowd that had gathered, watched the aviator as he circled around over the lake. The biplane appeared to be under perfect control, the explosions of the motor sounding out with regularity.

“He’s coming back!” said Bart, presently, and a minute later the sound of the motor ceased, and like some great white bird the biplane came floating down close to the spot from which it had started.