of a select, private party at the Omnibus House
to-morrow."

CHAPTER IV

AN UNFORTUNATE AVIATOR

It was an unusual entertainment that David had provided for his little
circle of intimate friends in the old orchard surrounding the Omnibus
House. There was a look of intense excitement in his eyes, as he stood
awaiting his guests, the following afternoon. Mrs. Gray had already
arrived, and, leaving her carriage to wait for her near the entrance, now
stood by David and helped him receive.

"It's good to see all my children together again," she exclaimed, giving
Anne a gentle hug; for ever since her Christmas house party she had
acquired a sort of proprietary feeling toward these young people. "I only
wish Tom Gray were to be with us to-day. I should like him to have a share
in the surprise; for you may be sure there is to be a surprise. David
would never have asked us to this lonely place for nothing."

"David is a good old reliable, Mrs. Gray," cried Hippy. "Certainly if I
had imagined for a moment that he would disappoint us, I never should have
dragged my slight frame all this distance."

"Good, loyal old Hippy," replied David. "The surprise is ready, but even
if it had not been, there is no exercise so beneficial to stout people as
walking."

"Well, bring it on, bring it on," exclaimed Reddy. "We are waiting
patiently."

"Curb your impatience, Sorrel Top," said David. "Just follow me, and see
what I have to show you."

They helped little Mrs. Gray, who was nimble in spite of her years,
through a broken gap in the wall of the Omnibus House. The old ruin was
more picturesque than, ever in its cloak of five-leafed ivy which the
autumn had touched with red and gold. A lean-to had been built against the
back wall of the building, fitted with a stout door on the inside and a
pair of doors on the outside.

"I rented this plot of land from the farmer who owns the orchard,"
explained David, taking a key from his pocket and opening the door in the
stone wall. "This was about the best place I could think of for
experiments, partly because it's such a lonesome place, and partly because
there is a clear open space of several hundred yards back here without a
tree or bush on it."

It was dark inside until he had opened the double doors in the opposite
wall, when the slanting light showed them an aeroplane; not a little
gymnasium model this time, but a full-fledged flying machine, a trim and
graceful object, eve