endent_, following which Bob drove Paul and John out to some of
the city's beautiful parks. Late in the afternoon they again stopped
at the newspaper building and picked up Bob's father, thereupon turning
the car in the direction of Yonkers. Altogether they had passed a very
pleasant holiday.

"Robert tells me that your plans for the new airplane, the Sky-Bird II,
are just about finished, John," remarked Mr. Giddings, as they sped
northward along the smooth surface of Riverside Drive, with its
beautiful greenery on the left and its fine residences at the right.

"Yes, sir," said John; "we have been devoting every spare moment to
them. Of course a good many changes had to be made to adapt conditions
from the little airplane to the big fellow, and to incorporate the
extra pet features we all agreed upon were desirable. You know it
never pays to start building an important and costly affair like an
airplane without having every detail thoroughly planned out, and
perfect working drawings in hand. I think Paul will complete the
drawings early next week, including copies for accompanying the
specifications when we apply to Washington for patent rights. As soon
as the drawings are done, we will drop in at your home in the evening
and show them to you."

"Good!" said Mr. Giddings. "I shall await them with great interest. I
suppose as soon as I approve these drawings, you fellows will all pitch
into the actual work."

"We surely will, sir," laughed Paul, while Bob, at the wheel in front,
having caught some of the conversation, called back with energy:
"That's just the size of it, dad."

"We have everything all ready," continued Paul. "The balsa-wood and
spruce we ordered some time ago is on hand, and that will keep us busy
until other needed materials arrive. We have repaired the big
exhibition building in the old fair-grounds, put on new double doors
and purchased a good Yale lock for them. John and I have taken our
workbench and tools over there, and Bob has helped us rig up a nice
little five-horse power motor and small handsaw, also a circular saw,
home-made sand-drum, a small planer, and a boring-machine. That
building is dry, and has lots of room in it for housing the new
airplane as it grows to maturity. When cold weather comes we can
easily install a couple of heating-stoves to keep ourselves comfortable
and protect our materials and the machine from frost damage."

Mr. Giddings expressed himself as w