oughfares, with electric cars passing every hour,
and seen by all the people living in the neighborhood for miles around,
and by several hundred others, yet these flights have been made by some
newspapers the subject of a great "mystery."

A practical flyer having been finally realized, we spent the years 1906
and 1907 in constructing new machines and in business negotiations. It
was not till May of this year that experiments (discontinued in October,
1905) were resumed at Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina. The recent
flights were made to test the ability of our machine to meet the
requirements of a contract with the United States Government to furnish
a flyer capable of carrying two men and sufficient fuel supplies for a
flight of 125 miles, with a speed of 40 miles an hour. The machine used
in these tests was the same one with which the flights were made at
Simms Station in 1905, though several changes had been made to meet
present requirements. The operator assumed a sitting position, instead
of lying prone, as in 1905, and a seat was added for a passenger. A
larger motor was installed, and radiators and gasoline reservoirs of
larger capacity replaced those previously used. No attempt was made to
make high or long flights.

In order to show the general reader the way in which the machine
operates, let us fancy ourselves ready for the start. The machine is
placed upon a single-rail track facing the wind, and is securely
fastened with a cable. The engine is put in motion, and the propellers
in the rear whir. You take your seat at the center of the machine beside
the operator. He slips the cable, and you shoot forward. An assistant
who has been holding the machine in balance on the rail starts forward
with you, but before you have gone 50 feet the speed is too great for
him, and he lets go. Before reaching the end of the track the operator
moves the front rudder, and the machine lifts from the rail like a kite
supported by the pressure of the air underneath it. The ground under you
is at first a perfect blur, but as you rise the objects become clearer.
At a height of 100 feet you feel hardly any motion at all, except for
the wind which strikes your face. If you did not take the precaution to
fasten your hat before starting, you have probably lost it by this
time. The operator moves a lever: the right wing rises, and the machine
swings about to the left. You make a very short turn, yet you do not
feel the sensation of bei