* * * * *

The little party stood and watched as the aeroplane moved swiftly along
the ground, rose, and soared into the air. Higher and higher it rose,
till the features of the two occupants were almost invisible.

"Now," said Brother Frank. "Now watch. Now he's going to loop the
loop."

But the wheels of the aeroplane still pointed to the ground. It grew
smaller and smaller. It was a mere speck.

"What the dickens?"

Far away to the West something showed up against the blue of the
sky--something that might have been a bird, a toy kite, or an
aeroplane traveling rapidly into the sunset.

Four pairs of eyes followed it in rapt silence.





THE EPISODE OF THE FINANCIAL NAPOLEON

Second of a Series of Six Stories
[First published in _Pictorial Review_, June 1916]