the steel cable by
two ropes, ten feet long, ending in pulleys which ran along the cable.
Each of these two ropes was looped up and the loop secured with thin
twine: this was an infallible way of ascertaining if the aerobike weighed
down upon them or if it was supporting itself in the air; the two cords
acted as a spring balance registering the tension in the rope. Should the
twine break, because the aerobike rested on the ropes, then the ropes
would unloop and the machine remain hanging without any danger for Lily.
This was the way in which Jimmy had worked when learning "his trade as a
bird," as he called it; and Lily, he had no doubt, would succeed even
better than he did, being more supple, lighter and quite as plucky.

Oh, the rapture with which Lily bestrode the aerobike for the first
flight!

Jimmy and two confidential assistants hauled up the machine to the top of
the inclined plane that gave it its impetus. Jimmy spent an endless time
in verifying and testing everything. The electric wire that set the
propeller in motion also caused him uneasiness. It had to unroll behind
and follow the aerobike without weighing upon it, without retarding its
flight; for the machine, which was necessarily a small one, to be able to
move within a confined space, did not carry the additional load of a
motor, but only a wire, as wireless transmission of power was not yet
available. At last, when everything was provided for, Jimmy allowed Lily
to make her trial. He trembled; not that she ran any danger, for a fall
was impossible: the machine was stopped, up above, automatically, by a
cable stretched crosswise and fastened to a strong spring, which slowed
and stayed the flight within the space of a few yards. But if the two
pieces of twine broke suddenly and if this happened several times in
succession, the shocks might come to frighten Lily, for all her
self-control.

And Jimmy went on explaining.

"I know," said Lily. "I quite understand. It's like this, like this, yes,
I know. It's only a matter of trying! It's a trick I've got to do and
that's all about it! Daisy would kill herself on it and so would the fat
freaks, but I shan't! I shall succeed."

"Well, then, steady!" cried Jimmy, and his voice rang through the empty
theater. "Go!"

The machine ran down with a swoop, the propeller whirred, Lily gave a
magnificent back push, when she reached the bottom of the inclined plane;
then she went straight up and the two pieces