s all ready for a trial flight, and Tom was glad of
the chance to test it, especially with such a pretty passenger as was
Miss Nestor.

"Bless my shoelaces!" cried Mr. Damon. "I can see where I am going to
be cut out, Tom Swift. I'll not get many more rides with you now that
Miss Nestor is taking to aeroplaning, you young rascal!" And he
playfully shook his finger at Tom.

"Oh, I don't expect to get enthusiastic over it," said Miss Nestor,
who, now that she had taken her place in one of the small seats under
the engine, appeared as if she would be glad of the chance to change
her mind. But she did not.

"Now, if you take me more than five feet up in the air, I'll never
speak to you again, Tom Swift!" she exclaimed.

"Five feet it shall be, unless you yourself ask to go higher," was the
youth's reply, as he winked at Mr. Damon. Well he knew the fascination
of aeroplaning, and he was almost sure of what would happen. "You can
take a tape measure along, and see for yourself," he added to his fair
passenger. "The barograph will hardly register such a little height."

"Well, it's as high as I want to go," said the girl. "Oh!" with a
scream, as Tom started the propeller. "Are we going?"

"In a moment," was his reply. He took his seat beside the girl. The
motor was speeded up until it sounded like the roar of the ocean surf
in a storm.

"Let her go!" cried Tom to Mr. Damon and Mr. Jackson, who were holding
back the Humming-Bird. They gave her a slight shove to over-come the
inertia, and the trim little craft darted across the ground at every
increasing speed.

Miss Nestor caught her breath with a gasp, glanced at Tom, and noted
how cool he was, and then her frantic grip of the uprights slightly
relaxed.

"We'll go up a little way in a minute!" shouted Tom in her ear as they
were speeding over the level ground.

He pulled a lever slightly, and the Humming-Bird rose a little in the
air, but only for a short distance, not more than five feet, and Tom
held her there, though he had to run the engine at a greater speed than
would have been the case had he been in the sustaining upper currents.
It was as if the Humming-Bird resented being held so closely to the
earth.

Around in a big circle, back and forth went the craft, at no time being
more than seven feet from the ground. Tom glanced at Miss Nestor. Her
cheeks were unusually red, and there was a bright sparkle in her eyes.

"It's glorious!" she cried. "Do you--do