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XVI.

       THE MAD INVENTOR.

       Table of Contents

      Frank and Barney were strolling about the place when they came upon Professor Scudmore.

      "Ha, young gentlemen!" cried the eccentric old fellow; "come with me. I am about to start upon my trial voyage. The Eagle is inflated and ready to soar. I wish you to witness my triumph."

      He took them outside the town to a secluded glen, in which was an old cabin and a huge, odd-shaped arrangement of silk, fine wires, and wickerwork. It was, in fact, a balloon, shaped like an egg, and inflated with gas. To it was attached a large and comfortable car, and there were two huge fore and aft rudders, together with some fan-like arrangements that seemed to be sails. This strange contrivance was secured to the ground by strong ropes.

      "There!" cried Scudmore; "you now behold the Eagle, a flying-machine that will fly, or, rather, sail. With the wind it will travel at wonderful speed, and it can beat to windward like a vessel. I have been at work upon it for years. Some time ago I perfected it, and I brought it here for my trial voyage. I have set it up and inflated it without attracting attention or advertising myself. I should not have called on Professor Scotch, but I was full of enthusiasm, and thought it would be a fine thing to have an eminent man like him accompany me on my first voyage."

      The boys looked at each other.

      "Phwat do yez think av it, Frankie?" asked Barney.

      "Can't tell," was the reply. "Let's look her over."

      "That's right, look her over," urged Professor Scudmore. "I am going to start at once, but I must first get aboard a few things that are in this hut."

      So the boys examined the airship, while the inventor brought bundles from the hut and placed them in the car.

      "Phwat do yez think now?" asked Barney, when they had looked it over quite thoroughly. "Will she sail?"

      "She will rise in the air, like an ordinary balloon," said Frank; "but I am not satisfied that the rudders and sails will work."

      "I will soon satisfy you on that point," said the professor, who happened to be near enough to overhear their words.

      Immediately he set about explaining everything in connection with the handling of the singular craft, and it did not take him long to make it seem an assured thing that the Eagle could be steered in almost any direction, and that, with the aid of horizontal rudders, she could be brought to the ground or sent soaring into the air, without a change of ballast or the body of gas.

      Frank was intensely interested.

      "It is remarkable, professor!" he cried. "Scotch made a mistake when he refused to accompany you on your trial trip."

      "Ha! You are a boy of sense! Saw it the first time my eye rested on you. I will make you famous."

      Frank looked surprised.

      "How?"

      "You shall accompany me on my trial trip."

      "How long will it be?"

      "As long, or as short as we choose to make it. What do you say? Decide quickly. I am eager to be off."

      "Can you take Barney along?"

      "I can, but two is enough. I do not care for too many."

      "Can you drop us in Blake by nightfall?"

      "Yes."

      "Well, if you will take us both, we'll go along, professor."

      Scudmore considered, his right elbow resting in the hollow of his left hand, the long forefinger of his right hand touching his forehead.

      "I will do it!" he cried, with a snap. "Get in. We'll lose no more time. In a few moments we shall be sailing away like a bird."

      "Here goes, Frankie," grinned the Irish lad. "Av we're both killed, Oi want yez to tell me ould mither how Oi died."

      They entered the car, and Scudmore prepared to cast off. He was full of anxiety and excitement.

      At length but a single rope held the now swaying and surging air ship to the ground.

      "Here goes the last strand that ties us to earth!" cried the professor, as, with the slash of a knife he severed the rope.

      Up shot the air ship.

      "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the inventor. "Who said I would fail! We are off!"

      "Thot's all right," muttered Barney; "but will we ivver come back?"

      "Look!" cried Frank, pointing downward; "there is Professor Scotch! We are already passing over the town."

      It was true; in a remarkably brief space of time the air ship had sailed out of the glen and was rising above the town. Looking downward, they saw Professor Scotch and a number of persons, including Walter Clyde and two rough-looking companions, staring up at the Eagle.

      "Good-by, professor," shouted Frank, leaning out of the car and waving his hat. "We're off in search of the last of the Danites."

      They saw the professor dance wildly around and beckon to them. Then his voice came faintly to their ears:

      "Here, here, you rascals! come right back here this minute! If you don't, I shall have to——"

      They could understand no more, for the swiftly rising air ship carried them beyond the reach of his voice.

      Professor Scudmore was chuckling to himself, as he worked at the apparatus which controlled the sails and rudders.

      "It is a success, and my fortune is made!" he was saying. "I shall become richer than Jay Gould ever was! Ha! ha! ha! I shall not only be rich, but I shall be honored!"

      "Oi don't loike th' way he is actin', Frankie," whispered Barney. "Thot laugh does not sound natural at all, at all."

      "You are right," admitted Frank. "Is it possible we have started out on this kind of a cruise with a man whose brain has been turned?"

      "It may be thot."

      "The situation will not be at all pleasant if it turns out that way."

      "He is getting control av th' ship. See how he handles her now, me b'y."

      It was true that the inventor was getting control of the Eagle, and he was beginning to "put her through her paces," as it were. He ran before the wind, then luffed and took first one tack and then the other. The remarkable craft behaved very well.

      "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the professor, wildly. "I am the king of the air! I am the first man to make a successful air ship. The world and all its countries are mine! I can destroy armies and change the destiny of nations! I am the greatest man who ever lived!"

      "By Jove!" muttered Frank, in alarm; "I believe the man is going mad!"

      "It looks loike thot," admitted the Irish boy.

      "In which case, this will be the worst scrape we ever got into, Barney. That is plain enough to see."

      "Roight, me laddybuck! An' th' professor will soay it wur judgment on us fer runnin' away."

      "He will. But we ought to be able to handle this man between us, if it comes to a struggle with him."

      "We can; but can we handle th' ship afther thot, Oi dunno?"

      "That is a question we cannot answer till we try the trick. But there may be no trouble at all with Scudmore if we do not anger him."

      Below them lay a wild panorama of broken country, through which ran Green River to plunge deep into the winding mazes of Labyrinth Canyon, away to the southward.

      Away to the west, beyond the San Rafael Swell, rose the Wasatch Mountains; being much nearer than the Rockies to the eastward, and, therefore, looking nearly as lofty.

      To

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