he's gone to New York."

"Ha! Another sinful and useless waste of money! I never did see the
beat!"

"He had to go, on business," answered Dick.

"Humph! Couldn't he write? A two cent stamp is a heap sight cheaper
than an excursion ticket to New York. But Mortimer never did know the
value of money," sighed Uncle Ezra.

Grit growled again.

"Nephew Richard, if your dog bites me I'll make you pay the doctor
bills," warned Mr. Ezra Larabee.

"Here, Grit! Quiet!" cried Dick, and the animal came inside, looking
very much disgusted.

Uncle Ezra looked in at the door of the shed, and saw the outlines of
the airship.

"What foolishness is this?" he asked, seeming to take it for granted
that all Dick did was foolish.

"It's my new airship," answered the young millionaire.

"An airship! Nephew Richard Hamilton! Do you mean to tell me that you
are sinfully wasting money on such a thing as that--on something that
will never go, and will only be a heap of junk?" and Uncle Ezra, of
Dankville, looked as though his nephew were a fit subject for a lunatic
asylum.

CHAPTER X

BUILDING THE AIRSHIP

Grit growled in a deep, threatening voice, and Uncle Ezra looked around
with startled suddenness.

"I guess I'd better chain him up before I answer you," said Dick,
grimly. "Here, old boy!"

The bulldog came, unwillingly enough, and was made secure.

"An--an airship!" gasped Uncle Ezra, as though he could not believe it.
"An airship, Nephew Richard. It will never go. You might a good deal
better take the money that you are so foolishly wasting, and put it in
a savings bank. Or, I would sell you some stock in my woolen mill.
That would pay you four per cent, at least."

"But my airship is going to go," declared the young millionaire. "It's
on the same model as one I've ridden in, and it's going to go. We're
sure of it; aren't we, Mr. Vardon?"

"Oh, it will GO all right," declared the aviator. "I'm sure of that.
But I don't guarantee that you'll win the prize money."

"What's that? What's that?" asked Uncle Ezra in surprise. He was all
attention when it came to a matter of money. "What prize did you speak
of?"

"Didn't you hear, Uncle Ezra?" inquired Dick. "Why, the United States
government, to increase the interest in aviation, and to encourage
inventors, has offered a prize of twenty thousand dollars to the first
person who takes his airship from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or
rather, from New