CHAPTER IX--THE AIRSHIP INVENTOR

Morse, the inventor, made a grab for his eye-goggles. He had become a shade paler. He did not take up the goggles, however. Instead, he turned his back on Andy.

Our hero had a right to be startled. He stood staring and spellbound, for he had recognized the inventor in an instant. He was the handcuffed man he had poled down the river from Princeville the night of the flight from the Talbots, and who had given him the very watch he now carried in his pocket with such pride and satisfaction.

The man had shaved off his full beard since Andy had first met him. This made him look different. It was the large, restless eyes, however, that had betrayed his identity. Andy would know them anywhere. He at once realized that the inventor had sought to disguise himself. Probably, Andy reasoned, he had caught him off his guard with the goggles off his eyes.

"What did you say 'oh, my!' for?" suddenly demanded the inventor.

"I--I thought I recognized you--I thought I knew you," said Andy.

"Do you think so now?" inquired the inventor, turning sharply face about.

"I certainly thought I knew you."

"And suppose you was right?"

"If you were really the person I supposed," replied Andy, "I would have done just exactly what I promised to do when I last saw that person."

"And what was that?"

"To forget it."

"You'd keep your word, eh?"

"I generally try to."

The man's eyes seemed riveted on Andy in a peculiar way that made the boy squirm. There was something uncanny about it all. Andy experienced a decidedly disagreeable creeping sensation. The inventor was silent for a moment or two. Then he asked:

"Who sent you here?"

"I wasn't sent by any one. I just came."

"How?"

"With Mr. Parks--in his airship."

"Are you going to stay here?"

"He has hired me at ten dollars a week and board," proudly announced Andy.

"He's a good man," said Morse. "I don't think he'd pick you out if you were a bad boy. What time is it?"

This question was so significant that it flustered Andy. He drew out his watch in a blundering sort of a way, fancying that he detected the faint shadow of a smile on the face of his interlocutor.

"It's half-past seven," he reported.

"Watch keep good time?"

"Yes, sir. The man who gave it to me was the man whom I took you for."

"Good timepiece."

"Splendid."

"U-m. What's your name?"

"Andy Nelson."

"I'm going to trust you, Andy Nelson; I don't think I will have any reason to regret it."

"I will try to deserve your confidence, Mr. Morse."

"Oh, you know my name?"

"Yes, sir. I heard Mr. Parks speak of you."

"I see--of course. I must be cautious after this, though. I had an idea that shaving off my beard would change my appearance, but as you recognized me, I must not be seen by outsiders without my goggles. Andy, I do not wish Mr. Parks to know anything about that handcuff affair of mine."

"All right, sir."

"I suppose it struck you suspiciously."

"It did at first," confessed Andy. "When I came to think it over, though, I remembered that I was in trouble and acting suspiciously myself. I knew that I was right in my motives, and I hoped you were."

"I'll tell you something, Andy," said the inventor. "It won't be much for the present, but later I may tell you a good deal more. A bad crowd have a hold on me, a certain power that has enabled them to scare me and rob me at times. I am an inventor. They knew that I was getting up a new airship. They captured me and locked me up. They demanded a price for my liberty--that I would disclose my plan to them. I consented. They even forced me to make a working model. The night before the day I intended to complete it I made my escape, but handcuffed. You came along and helped me on the way to freedom. After I left the barge on the creek I got to the home of a friend, disguised myself, and came here and hired out with Mr. Parks."

"But your invention the rascals got away from you?"

"Let them keep it," responded the inventor, "so long as they do not trouble me again. There was a defect in the model they stole from me. Unless they are smart enough to remedy it, they may find out they haven't made so big a haul as they anticipate. Look here, Andy."

Mr. Morse beckoned our hero over to the work-bench and showed him a drawing.

"The work you see in the big room," he said, "is the skeleton of this machine. I am basing great hopes on it. I want to make a record in aviation, for I believe it will be the most promising field for inventors for many years to come. If you are going to work with us, you should know what is going on. This is my new model."

As Mr. Morse spoke, he became intent and eloquent. He lost himself in his enthusiasm as an inventor. Andy was a ready listener, and it was delightful to him to explore this marvel of machines.

"What I hope to accomplish," explained Mr. Morse, "is to construct a combined steerer and balancer on one lever. I aim to make this lever not only tilt the flyer to which it is attached on a transverse axis, but also on a longitudinal axis. It is called a double-action horizontal rudder, and if I succeed will give instantaneous control of a flying-machine under all conditions, be it a high wind or the failing of motive power. I combine with it a self-righting automatic balance. It is a brand-new idea. I thought those villains I have told you about had stolen my greatest idea, but this beats it two to one."

"Will they try to use the invention they stole from you?" inquired Andy.

"Of course they will--to their cost--if they are too rash," declared the inventor seriously. "That was a rudder idea, too."

"Tell me about it, Mr. Morse," pleaded Andy; "I am greatly interested in it all."

"I am going to tell you, Andy," responded the inventor, "because I believe the men who imprisoned me will try to enter the prize contest, and I want to keep track of them. I don't dare venture among them myself, but I may ask you to seek them out and bring me some news."

"Yes, sir," said Andy.

"The head man of the crowd is an old circus man named Duske. It is a good name for him, for he is dark in looks and deed. The idea they have stolen from me is this: In place of the conventional airship rudder, I planned to equip the aeroplane with movable rear sections of pipe, the main sections of this pipe to extend the full length of the craft. Suction wheels at each end of the main tube force the air backwards through the tube, the force of this air explosion driving the nose of the craft into the air when the movable section of the tube is raised, lowering it when it is pointed downwards, and providing for its lateral progress on the same principle. Do you follow me?"

"I can almost see the machine right before my eyes, the way you tell about it!" said Andy, with breathless enthusiasm.