Chester backed away.
"Not for me," he declared. "I would lose my head sure, if I got up
there."
Hal laughed.
"You don't want to pay any attention to him when he talks like that," he
told Fritz. "I never saw anything yet he was afraid to do."
"After what I saw in the house to-day, I can well believe that," replied
the young German. "Would you like to go up?" to Hal. "You know the
machine will only carry two."
"Why, yes," answered Hal; "I would like it."
"Climb in, then," ordered Fritz.
Not without some misgiving Hal obeyed.
Once more the huge machine skimmed gracefully over the ground, and again
went sailing into space.
As the plane rose from the ground, Hal grabbed the side of the seat and
hung on for dear life. Looking down and seeing the ground dropping
rapidly away, he experienced a choking sensation in his throat.
As the machine stopped rising, however, and stretched itself out for a
straight flight, Hal's composure came back to him, and he looked around
with interest.
Then Fritz explained the mechanism of the machine to him. He showed him
how to stop, how to increase the speed of the plane; how to rise and how
to glide to earth. He also showed him how to work the steering wheel.
While they were sailing about in the air he told Hal that, if necessary,
his craft could make a speed of one hundred miles an hour for hours. He
declared it could attain an altitude of a mile. Practically the only
danger, he said, came from conflicting air currents.
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