ll mow ye down like a mowin' machine!"

"Clear the track!" cried Sam, and then, with the usual rush and roar,
the _Dartaway_ leaped over the village green and arose in the air,
leaving the gaping and wondering crowd behind.

It was an easy run up to the blasted tree, and sighting this, Dick
headed the biplane along the road that led to Shepleytown.

"How far is that place?" asked Sam.

"I think it is about six or seven miles," answered Tom. "I was there
once, on a bicycle--went after nuts with Stanley and Songbird."

"What, to the town?" questioned Sam, with a grin.

"No, the woods back of the town, Sam. Say, that's one on me,--as bad as
that countryman's struck-by-lightning corner," and Tom grinned, too.

On and on swept the flying machine, the boys watching every rod of the
winding road below. Once Tom gave a cry, as they saw a turnout at a
distance. But it proved to be nothing but a tinware peddler's wagon. On
the ground lay various pieces of tinware, scattering over a distance of
fifty feet.

"Look at that!" cried Sam. "He must have had an accident."

"Say, maybe that auto struck his wagon," exclaimed Tom.

"It looks that way," was Dick's comment.

"Shall we land and question him?"

"What's the use? We know the machine came this way. That's enough for
the present. We don't want to lose a minute more than is necessary."

"Say, we were chumps that we didn't telephone ahead from Beechwood!"
cried Sam. "We might have had that auto stopped when it went through
Shepleytown."

"It couldn't be done, for there is no line from Beechwood to
Shepleytown," answered Dick. "The line only runs the other way."

The route was now over a dense woods and the boys had to sail slowly,
for fear of passing the automobile while the latter was running under
the overhanging trees. Once they saw something that looked like an
automobile and Dick had to sail in a circle and come back, to make sure.
But it proved to be only a two-seated carriage; and they passed on.

Shepleytown proved to be quite a place, with a main street containing a
dozen stores. It connected by stage with Chaplet, which was a railroad
center, five miles away.

The coming of the boys created as much of a sensation as had their
arrival at Beechwood, and once more the biplane was surrounded.

"Sure, I saw that 'mobile you are after," said one man, in answer to
their questions. "It was running putty lively an' no mistake. It went
past the mill an' took the