"All right, I will!" exclaimed the youth.

"All right, then I'll come!" she retorted with a laugh, and a few
minutes later the two were in the Arrow, making a pretty picture as
they speeded up the lake.

CHAPTER VI

BUILDING THE CAR

"Well," remarked Tom to himself, about two hours later, when he had
left Mary Nestor at her dock, and was on his way home, "I feel better
than I did, and now I must do some hard thinking about my runabout. I
want to get it the right shape to make the least resistance." He began
to make some sketches when he got home, and at dinner he showed them to
his father and Mr. Sharp. He said he had gotten an idea from looking
at the airship.

"I'm going to make the front part, or what corresponds to the
engine-hood in a gasolene car, pointed," he explained. "It will be just
like the front of the aluminum gas container of the airship, only built
of steel. In it will be a compartment for a set of batteries, and there
will be a searchlight there. From the top of some supporters in front
of the two rear seats, a slanting sheet of steel will come right down
to meet the sloping nose of the car. First I was going to have curtains
close over the top of the driver's seat, but I think a steel covering,
with a celluloid opening will be better and make less wind resistance.
I'll use leather side curtains when it rains. Under the front seats
will be a compartment for more batteries, and there will be a third
place under the rear seats, where I will also carry spare wheels and a
repair kit. The motors will be slung under the body of the car,
amidships, and there will also be room for some batteries there."

"How are you going to drive the car?" asked Mr. Sharp. "By a shaft?"

"Chain drive," explained Tom. "I can get more power that way, and it
will be more flexible under heavy loads. Of course it will be steered
in the usual way, and near the wheel will be the starting and reversing
levers, and the gear handle."

"Gears!" exclaimed the aged inventor. "Are you going to gear an
electric auto? I never heard of that. Usually the motor directly
connected is all they use."

"I'm going to have two gears on mine," decided Tom.

"That's a new idea," commented the aeronaut.

"It is," admitted the lad, "and that's why my car is going to be so
speedy. I'll make her go a hundred miles an hour, if necessary!"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed his father.

"I will!" cried the young inventor, enthusiastically. "Y