"What do you call that, now?" asked the old airman.

"A self starter. You see, the shaft runs forward alongside the
pilot's seat. Here's the handle of it, right at the end of the
shaft."

"Looks all right," admitted Grimshaw grudgingly. "Give me the air,
though, every time. If you want to be a sailor, why don't you
enlist the navy?"

"How about an air and water combination, Grimshaw?" called Mr. King.

"Well, that is a little better," replied Grimshaw.

"I'm dying to see that new aero-hydroplane Dave's people are getting
out," remarked the ardent Hiram.

"They wrote me it would be completed this week," said Dave.

"And you are going to run it, Dave?"

"I think so, I hope so. They claim great things for it."

"Well, give your hydroplane a spin, Dashaway," suggested Mr. King.
"I want to see how she works, and must get back to the hangars on
business."

The Reliance, the new hydroplane of the Interstate people, was
twenty feet long and had a fuel gauge and a bilge pump.