"All ready?" asked Ned, who stood in the steering tower, with
his hand on the starting lever, while Tom was at the camera to
see that it worked properly.

"All ready," answered the young inventor, and, an instant
later, they shot upward, as the big propellers whizzed around.

Tom at once started the camera to taking pictures rapidly, as
he wanted the future audience to get a perfect idea of how it
looked to go up in a balloon, leaving the earth behind. Then as
the Flyer moved swiftly over woods and fields, Tom moved the lens
from side to side, to get different views.

"Say! This is great!" cried Mr. Nestor, to whom air-riding was
much of a novelty. "Are you getting good pictures, Tom?"

"I can't tell until we develop them. But the machine seems to
be working all right. I'm going to sail back now, and get some
views of our own house from up above."

They had sailed around the town of Shopton, to the neighboring
villages, over woods and fields. Now they were approaching
Shopton again.

"Bless my heart!" suddenly exclaimed Mr. Damon, who was looking
toward the earth, as they neared Tom's house.

"What is it?" asked our hero, glancing up from the picture
machine, the registering dial of which he was examining.