grass or other obstacle, and with his finger on the
air-valve, said: "Practically all rubber-band motors require starting
the model airplane off by picking it up and tossing it away from you up
into the air; but I think this machine will rise from the ground like a
large plane, on account of its great lightness and unusual power. We
will now see if I am right."

To tell the truth, this being the first time he had really tried the
Sky-Bird in a flight, Paul was nervous as he turned the valve, removed
his hands from the graceful little plane, and straightened up.

With a whirr like the wings of a partridge as it is flushed out of the
grass by the huntsman's dog, the small machine shot forward a few feet
over the smooth ground, then gracefully arose in the air and started
away toward the opposite corner of the field. As it proceeded it
continued to rise, until it reached a height of possibly ninety or a
hundred feet, when it began to dip unsteadily.

"It's a gust of wind striking it," remarked John uneasily. "I hope she
weathers it. If there was only a pilot in her now, he could----"

But even as he spoke the Sky-Bird seemed to recover her balance.
Making a pretty circle, away she sped on her course, neither rising nor
falling. Like a real bird she sailed onward, the noise of her whirring
propeller now lost to her fliers, but her little pale-yellow silk wings
against the blue sky plainly tracing her course for them. Paul was
running after her now as fast as his legs could carry him. What if she
should keep right on and go over the far fence?--he might lose the
little darling!

That fence was a good half-mile away. For his pet to cover such a
distance had not seemed within the bounds of probability to either
himself or John at the start, for all of their great confidence in the
flying powers of the new model. Now, as he kept on running and the
Sky-Bird continued going with no sign of dropping, Paul really became
alarmed for her safety in landing.

But just before it reached the boundary of the grounds, the youth saw
that the airplane was slowly settling. Into the next field it flew,
and the high board fence shut it from Paul's view as he came up to it.
With a jump he caught the top boards, and scrambled up, springing down
on the opposite side. It was to see his little machine just miss the
branches of an oak tree and settle down into some long grass about a
hundred yards beyond.

He found it undamaged, an