really thinking ob goin' up in dat contraption?"
demanded the colored man, earnestly.

"Sure thing, Aleck. And you'll want to go, too, before long. Think of
flying along like a bird!" And Tom Rover spread out his arms and moved
them slowly up and down. "Oh, it's grand!"

"Yo' won't be no bird when yo' come down ker-flop!" murmured Aleck,
soberly. "Yo' will be all busted up, dat's wot yo'll be!"

"We won't fall, don't you worry," continued Tom. "This biplane is a
first-class machine, warranted in all kinds of weather."

"If it am a flyin' machine wot fo' you call it a biplane?" asked the
colored man curiously.

"Bi stands for two," explained Dick. "A bicycle means two cycles, or two
wheels. A biplane means two planes, or two surfaces of canvas. This
biplane of ours, as you can see, has two surfaces, or decks, an upper
and a lower. A monoplane has only one plane, and a triplane has three.
Now you understand, don't you, Aleck?"

"I dun reckon I do, Massa Dick. But look yeah, boys, yo' take my advice
an' don't yo' try to sail frough de air in dat bicycleplane, or wot yo'
call it. 'Tain't safe nohow! Yo' stick to de hosses, an' dat
autermobile, an' de boat on de ribber. A boy wasn't meant to be a bird
nohow!"

"How about being an angel, Aleck?" asked Tom, slyly.

"Huh! An angel, eh? Well, if yo' go up in dat bicycleplane maybe yo'
will be an angel after yo' fall out, even if yo' ain't one when yo'
starts." And with this remark Aleck Pop hurried away to his work in the
house.

"That's one on you, Tom," cried Dick, with a broad smile. "Poor Aleck!
he evidently has no use for flying machines."

"Well, Dick, now the machine is together, it does look rather scary,"
answered Tom Rover, slowly. "I want to see that aviator try it out
pretty well before I risk my neck going up."

"Oh, so do I. And we'll have to have a good many lessons in running the
engine, and in steering, and all that. I begin to think running a flying
machine is a good deal harder than running an auto, or a motor boat."

"Yes, I guess it is. Come on down and let us see how the engine works.
We can do that easily enough, for it's a good deal like the engine of
an auto, or a motor boat," went on Tom.

"Where is Sam?"

"He took the auto and went down to the Corners on an errand for Aunt
Martha. He said he'd be back as soon as possible. He's as crazy to get
at the biplane as either of us."

The two boys walked to where the biplane had been put tog