than usual, so that they could give the
Sky-Bird II a general going over before it came time for her to make
her initial flight.

Of course all three young men were a good deal excited, although they
were careful not to let each other know it, for fear of being the
target for a little fun from the others. In this effort at reserve,
the irrepressible Tom was the least successful of the trio, as might be
expected, and when he caught John and Paul slyly winking at each other
and glancing in his direction as he nervously tried the same control
for the third time, he blurted out: "Oh, you fellows needn't laugh at
me! You're just as much on edge as I am, now that we're really going
to fly this old bird!"

"Come, Tom, don't try to cover up your nervousness by accusing us of
the same thing," protested Paul.

"You're as agitated as a young kid with his first electric toy train,
Tom," laughed John. "How much gasoline have we got in the tanks now?"

"The gauge shows ten gallons," said Tom, bending down and looking at
the instrument-board in front of the pilot's seat.

"That isn't enough for a decent flight," declared John. "We'll
probably be out for at least an hour, and we may use as much as fifteen
gallons in that time; that's about half the consumption of ordinary
airplanes, you know. We'll shove in twenty gallons more so as to be on
the safe side."

"We haven't put in any oil yet," reminded Tom. "We'd better put in
about two gallons, I should say. Most planes use about a half-gallon
to the hour; if we use half as much, that will give us plenty of
grease."

The tanks were in the lower part of the forward fuselage. With the
caps removed, a hose was inserted by Paul, and then John forced the
gasoline up by a small but powerful handpump until the gauge told that
the required additional twenty gallons were in. The same pump would
work with the oil also, and soon the viscid fluid had been transferred
from the storage can on the hangar floor to its proper tank in the
airplane. Thence it would feed itself up into the carbureter of the
working engine by a force-pump attached to the engine, as with the
gasoline.

The boys had just finished putting in the fuel when Mr. Giddings and
Bob drove up in the former's automobile.

"I expect this is a great day for you young men?" said the publisher,
with a smile of greeting to all. "I know it is a time I have looked
forward to myself for a good many months,--ever since I