Part 12 (2/2)
CHAPTER X.
THE RIVAL AEROPLANE.
In the meanwhile, the exciting race against time had resulted in overheating the Golden b.u.t.terfly's cylinders, and a stop of an hour or more at the junction was necessary. Thus it was quite dark when the young Prescotts were ready to make for home. A small crowd had gathered to see them start, for there was a little community of houses scattered about the junction.
They decided to go the way they had come, namely, to follow the tracks to the crossing and then turn off for home. It was their first experience in night piloting, and when they were ready Peggy switched on the tiny shaded bulb that illuminated the compa.s.s. This done, she started the engine, and the Golden b.u.t.terfly shot into the air under its reduced load with an almost buoyant sense of freedom.
The crossing was reached in several minutes less than it had taken them to reach the junction on the going trip. Peggy turned off as she marked the glowing lights beneath her, and presently the Golden b.u.t.terfly was skimming along above dark woodlands and gloom-enshrouded meadows. There was something awe inspiring about this night flying. Above them the canopy of the stars stretched like a mantle spangled with silver sequins.
Below, the earth showed as a black void.
They were flying slowly to avoid overheating the cylinders again.
Suddenly a bright glare shot up against the night from below, and a little ahead of them. It died down almost instantly, only to flash up once more.
”Gid Gibbons's forge!” exclaimed Roy. ”Let's fly over by there and see what he's doing.”
”All right,” agreed Peggy; ”ever since my visit there I have felt a great interest in Mr. Gibbons. But we'll have to make haste, there's some wind coming before long.”
The girl was right. A filmy mist, like a veil, had spread over the stars, dimming their bright lamps, and a wind was beginning to sigh in the trees under them.
But they had not reached Gid Gibbons's place, or rather a location above it, when an astonis.h.i.+ng thing happened. From the ground a red light and a green light set at some distance apart began to rise. Up and up they climbed through the night in long, swinging circles. Between them was dimly visible the dark outlines of some fabric.
”An aeroplane!” cried the boy and girl, simultaneously.
”Fan Harding's aeroplane!” cried Peggy, an instant later.
”And--oh, Roy--it can fly!” she added, admiringly.
”No doubt of that,” was the rather grudging reply, as the red and green lights soared up and up.
”Keep clear of it, sis, we don't want a collision,” warned Roy.
”Oh, I'd like to get close and see it,” breathed Peggy. ”I never would have credited Fan Harding with being able to do it.”
”Nor I,” exclaimed Roy, his dislike of Fan Harding giving place to admiration--genuine admiration--of the other's ingenuity.
”Well, he's beaten me out at my own particular specialty,” he exclaimed presently, after an interval in which the lights had climbed far above the Golden b.u.t.terfly. ”That's a better machine than ours, Peg.”
”I guess we'll have to admit that,” rejoined the girl, with a sigh. ”I wonder if he'll enter for the prize?”
”Of course. With a craft like that he'd be foolish if he didn't. Odd that he's trying it out at night, though.”
”I suppose he wants to keep secret what it can do and then spring it on an astonished world,” rejoined Peggy. ”Good gracious!” she broke off hurriedly.
The aeroplane had given a sudden lurch, and at the same instant a sharp puff of wind struck them both in the face. Peggy's hands fairly flashed among her levers, and she averted what might have been a bad predicament.
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