e actually fell off his
wheel, allowing the same to drop in a heap on the turf.

"That's me; what d'ye want, Nat?" asked the one addressed; as he
assumed a reassuring air, knowing what a terrible mess the wretched
stutterer often made of his attempt at speech, especially when he
happened to be excited.

Nat was breathing hard. He always did things with a whirlwind method;
and of course the exertion added to his difficulty in forming such
words as he wanted.

"D-d-did y-y-you k-k-k-," he started, with a rush; and then seemed to
lose his grip entirely; for all he could do was to make a sharp,
hissing sound, get red in the face under the strain and tremble all
over.

"I s-s-say, d-d-do y-y-y-," he went on, when there came another full
stop, and as Larry said, a further escape of gas to account for that
hissing noise from between his partly closed lips.

The contortions of his face when poor Nat worked himself into this sort
of a fever were simply agonizing. Some boys made it a habit of
laughing coarsely at the afflicted boy. But Frank always felt sorry,
and tried the best he knew how to break the spell that seemed to bind
up Nat's vocal faculties. For strange to say, there were other times
when Nat could really speak calmly and evenly, as if he had never
stammered in his life.

As though utterly despairing of ever being able to get out what he so
eagerly wished to say, the boy suddenly snatched a pencil from one
pocket, and a pad of paper from another. These necessities he always
carried along with him, though hating to have to make use of such a
silly trick at all.

Rapidly dashing a line or so upon the little pad, Nat tore the sheet
off, and thrust it into Frank's hand.

Andy had come out of the shop by that time, dressed in dry garments;
and bending over his cousin's shoulder he read these words:

"Percy's new aeroplane has arrived at the station. He's down there
right now, seeing about having it put on a cart and pulled to his
shack."

"Just about what we expected; eh, Frank?" asked Andy, handing the scrap
of paper to Larry, so that he and the runt could read what news Nat had
brought in such a tremendous hurry.

It was as if the stammering boy had judged, that of all the people in
Bloomsbury who would be interested in knowing that Percy had received a
new aeroplane, the Bird boys took front rank. For was not Percy
Carberry the old-time rival of Frank; and on numerous occasions had he
not striven