planes, the rudders, and
equalizing weights had been adjusted to make the strain of the wind
neutral.

"All ready?" asked Tom, when his chum and his friend were in the
enclosed car of the glider.

"As ready as I ever shall be," answered Ned.

"Bless my suspenders! Let her go, Tom, and have it over with!" cried
the odd man.

The young inventor pulled a lever, and almost instantly the glider
darted forward. A moment later it soared aloft, and the three Russians
cheered. But their voices were lost in the roar of the hurricane, as
Tom sent his craft higher and higher.

It worked perfectly, and he could direct it almost anywhere. The wind
acted as the motive power, the bending and warping wings, and the
rudders and weights controlling its force.

"I'm going higher, and see if I can remain stationary!" yelled Tom in
Ned's ear. His chum only nodded. Mr. Damon was seated on a bench,
clinging to the sides of it as if he feared he would fall off.

Higher and higher went the Vulture, ever higher, until, all at once,
Tom pulled on another lever and she was still. There she hung in the
air, the wind rushing through her planes, but the glider herself as
still and quiet as though she rested on the ground in a calm. She
hardly moved a foot in either direction, and yet the wind, as evidenced
by the anemometer was howling along at a hundred and twenty miles an
hour!

"Success!" cried Tom. "Success! Now we can lie stationary in any spot,
and spy out the land through our telescope. Now we will find the lost
platinum mine!"

"Well, I'm not deaf," responded Ned with a smile, for Tom had fairly
yelled as he had at the start, and there was no need of this now, for
though the wind blew harder than ever it was not opposed to any of the
weights or planes, and there was only a gentle humming sound as it
rushed through the open spaces of the queer craft.

Tom gave his glider other and more severe tests, and she answered every
one. Then he came to earth.

"Now we'll begin the search," he said, and preparations were made to
that end. The Russians, now that they had seen how well the craft
worked, were not afraid to trust themselves in her.

As I have explained, there was an enclosed car, capable of holding six.
In this were stores, supplies and food sufficient for several days.
Tom's plan was to leave the airship anchored on the edge of the wind
zone, as a sort of base of supplies or headquarters. From there he
intended to go off fr