Quackenboss; well, we do just the same, only instead of flapping our
wings, we start the engine, and skim along the surface for a little
distance, then elevate the planes, and immediately begin to soar upward.
And it does the stunt as gracefully as anything you ever saw. Some time
I hope to give you a chance to see how it works. When we leave here, of
course we'll use the bicycle wheels you see underneath, and run along
the ground until going fast enough to soar. But I think I see Frank
coming, away down the road there."

"That's right," declared the farmer; "I know my Bob as far as I can see
him, and his gallop in the bargain."

Frank was evidently coming at full speed, and Andy presently got the
idea in his head that his cousin seemed to be strangely in a hurry for
him. He wondered whether anything could have happened at home, and if
Frank would prove to be the bearer of bad news.

The other dashed into the narrow road leading from the pike to the barns
of the Quackenboss farm. Hitching the horse to a post, he started toward
the spot in the big field where the two boys and the farmer awaited his
coming, close beside the stranded aeroplane.

Frank was carrying the little part he had expected to knock together at
the workshop; but as he drew nearer, his chum could readily see that he
was considerably excited.

"Is everything all right here, Andy?" he called out, even before
reaching them.

"Yes," replied the other Bird boy, promptly, "though we did have a call