han when he's
walking."

Alfred meekly suggested that the fellow with the circus walked the
tight-rope blindfolded. Node admitted this fact; "But he had a
foothold. If I'd had a foothold all hell wouldn't held me, I'd been
flyin' yet."

Often did they settle on a date for the next flight only to have
something unforeseen interfere. Node desired a cloudy day with moderate
wind. Furthermore, the next flight the course was to be laid out.

Node declared with decision: "I want to have the starting and the
stopping points definitely in mind, I want to know just what I am doing.
I know this machine will do the work; I've got more strength in my arms
than I ever had afore," and here Node would bare his spare arms and
fling them about for exercise. "Yes, sir, if my arms hold out I can fly
anywhere. I'll start from Town Hill, light on Krepp's Knob an' pick
about a bit, rest my wings and fly back agin." Then Node would look down
on the river which flowed between--he couldn't swim--and with less
enthusiasm add: "But I won't do that yet; I'll wait till I get more used
to the machine and the air currents. A man to fly right must understand
the air currents jes as a sailor understands the course of the winds.
There are currents and cross currents; sometimes they git all tangled
up, then I'll just quit flappin' my wings, sink below the disturbance,
and fly about below until I git out of them. The main thing is to get
the rise."

"Well, I'll give you a lift," suggested Alfred.

"I want no more of your lifts," quickly answered Node.

Finally it was decided that the next flight be made from the roof of the
old barn in which the flying machine was housed.

In answer to Lin's query as to what he was doing on the roof of the barn
so early in the morning, Alfred carelessly answered: "Oh, I'm making a
pigeon box."

Lin said it looked as if they were going to build a mighty big pigeon
house.

Alfred declared it would be the proper thing to do to invite a half
dozen or more friends to witness the ascension. Node dissented: "Wait
until we get the rear extension to working as perfectly as the side
propellers and we'll give an exhibition. If you invite anybody in this
town to see me fly and anything goes the least bit wrong, they'll walk
off and sneer and say: 'He'll never fly.' That's the way they did when I
was working on the perpetual motion machine. I had it just about goin',
and I invited two or three who I thought were my friends