Me an' my partner had all we wanted
of it. An airship for mine!"
"I wonder what's become of Andy?" spoke Tom, that afternoon. "I
haven't sighted him, and I've been using the powerful telescope. I
can't pick him up, though he can't be so very far ahead of us."
"Let me try," suggested Ned. "Put her up a bit, Tom, where I can
look down. Andy won't dare go very high. Maybe I can sight him."
The RED CLOUD shot upward as the young inventor shifted the
elevation rudder, and the bank clerk, with the powerful glass to his
eye, swept the space below him. For half an hour he looked in vain.
Then, with a little start of surprise he handed the glass to his
chum.
"See what you make that out to be," suggested Ned. "It looks like a
big bird, yet I haven't seen any other birds to-day."
Tom looked. He peered earnestly through the telescope for a minute,
and then cried:
"It's Andy's airship! He's ahead of us! We must catch him! Ned, you
and Mr. Damon speed up the motor! The race is on!"
In a few minutes the great airship was hurling herself through
space, and, in less than ten minutes Andy's craft could be made out
plainly with the naked eye. Fifteen minutes more and the RED CLOUD
was almost up to her. Then those aboard the ANTHONY must have caught
sight of their pursuers, for there was a sudden increase in speed on
the part of the unscrupulous Foger crowd, who sought to steal a
march on Tom and his friends.
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