"Bless my--" began Mr. Damon, but in the excitement he really
didn't know what to bless, so he stopped short.

A moment later, feeling that the momentum had been checked enough to
make it safe to land, Tom directed the craft downward again and came
gracefully to earth, a short distance away from his eccentric
friend.

"Whew!" gasped the young inventor, as he leaped from his seat. "That
was a scary time while it lasted."

"I should say so!" agreed Ned.

"Bless my straw hat!" cried Mr. Damon. "What happened? Did you lose
control of her, Tom,"

"No, the deflecting rudder got jammed, and I couldn't move it. I
must look and see what's the matter."

"I thought it was all up with you," commented Mr. Damon, as he
followed Tom and Ned to the front end of the craft, where the
deflecting mechanism was located.

Tom glanced quickly over it. His quick eye caught something, and he
uttered an exclamation.

"Look!" the young inventor cried. "No wonder it jammed!" and from a
copper sleeve, through which ran the wire that worked the rudder, he
pulled a small iron bolt. "That got between the sleeve and the wire,
and I couldn't move it," he explained. "But when I pulled hard I