Dick, with his hand on the lever of the elevating rudder.
"Look out for yourselves, fellows!"

He gave a backward pull. A thrill seemed to go through the whole
craft. Her nose rose in the air. The forward wheels left the ground.
Then the back ones tilted up.

Up shot the Abaris at an easy angle. Up and up! Higher and higher!

"We're doing it!" cried Dick, as he looked from the pilot house window
to the earth fast falling below him. "Fellows, she's a success! We're
going up toward the clouds!"

CHAPTER XV

IN DANGER

That Dick was proud and happy, and that Mr. Vardon and the chums of the
young millionaire were pleased with the success of the airship,
scarcely need be said. There was, for the first few moments, however
such a thrill that scarcely any one of them could correctly analyze his
feelings.

Of course each one of them had been in an aeroplane before. Mr. Vardon
and his helper had made many flights, not all of them successful, and
Dick and his fellow cadets had gone up quite often, though they were,
as yet, only amateurs. Larry Dexter was perhaps less familiar with
aeroplanes than any of them, but he seemed to take it as a matter of
course.

"Say, this is great! Just great!" cried Dick, as he slipped the lever
of the elevating rudder into a notch to hold it in place. He intended
going up considerably higher.

"It sure is great, old man!" cried Paul. "I congratulate you."

"Oh, the praise belongs to Mr. Vardon," said Dick, modestly. "I
couldn't have done anything without him."

"And if it hadn't been for your money, I couldn't have done anything,"
declared the aviator. "It all worked together."

"Say, how high are you going to take us?" asked Innis.

"Not getting scared, are you?" asked Dick, with a glance at the
barograph, to ascertain the height above the earth. "We're only up
about two thousand feet. I want to make it three." He looked at Mr.
Vardon for confirmation.

"Three thousand won't be any too much," agreed the aviator. "She'll
handle better at that distance, or higher. But until we give her a
work out, it's best not to get too high."

The big propellers were whirling more and more rapidly as the motor
warmed-up to its work. The craft was vibrating with the strain of the
great power, but the vibration had been reduced to a minimum by means
of special spring devices.

"Now we'll try a spiral ascent," said Dick, as he moved the lever of
the horizontal rudder.