aeroplane needed all his attention.

As he had told Mary, there was really nothing approaching any
great danger. But it was rather an anxious moment. If Tom had
been alone he would have thought little of it, but with Mary
along he felt a double responsibility.

What had happened was that the craft had suddenly gone into an
"air pocket" or partial vacuum, and there had been a sudden fall
and a slide slip. In trying to stop this too quickly Tom had
broken one of his controls, and he was busily engaged in putting
an auxiliary one in place and trying to reassure Mary at the same
time.

"But it's mighty hard trying to do that through a speaking tube
with a motor making a noise like a boiler factory," mused the
young inventor. Tom worked quickly and to good purpose. In a few
moments, though to Mary they seemed like hours, the machine was
again gliding along on a level keel, and Tom breathed more
easily.

"And now for my great idea!" he told himself.

But it was some time before he could give his attention to
that.



CHAPTER III
THE BIG OFFER