"Don't be too long now!" called Tom to the girl, as she hurried
toward the house. "Never mind about your hair, or whether your
hat's on straight. You're going to wear a cap, anyhow, and tuck
your hair up under that. It's hot down here, but it will be cold
up above; so tell Mrs. Baggert to see that you're warmly
dressed."

"All right," and gaily she waved her hand to him. Now that she
had made her decision, and was really going up, she was not half
so frightened as she had been in the contemplation of it.

As Tom climbed out of the machine, to give it a careful
inspection, though he was certain there was nothing wrong, an
aged colored man shuffled toward him.

"Yo'--yo'll be mighty careful ob Miss Nestor now, won't yo',
Massa Tom?" asked the man.

"Of course I will, Eradicate," was the young inventor's answer.

"Case we ain't got many laik her no mo', an' dat's de truf,
Massa Tom," went on the old man. "So be mighty careful laik!"

"That's what I will, Rad! And, while I'm up in the air, don't
you and Koku have any trouble."

"Ho! Trouble wif dat onery no-'count giant! I guess not!" and
the colored man limped off, highly indignant.

Satisfied, from an inspection of his machine, that it was as