guess it will work all right," remarked the young inventor, for
Torn Swift had not only built this monoplane himself, but was the
originator of it, and the craft contained many new features.

"It sho' do look all right, Massa Tom."

"Look here, Rad," spoke the lad, as a sudden idea came to him,
"you've never ridden in an airship, have you?"

"No, Massa Tom, an' I ain't gwine to nuther!"

"Why not?"

"Why not? 'Case as how it ain't healthy; that's why!"

"But I go in them frequently, Eradicate. So does my father. You've
seen us fly often enough, to know that it's safe. Why, look at the
number of times Mr. Damon and I have gone off on trips in this
little Butterfly. Didn't we always come back safely?"

"Yes, dat's true, but dere might come a time when yo' WOULDN'T come
back, an' den where'd Eradicate Sampson be? I axes yo' dat--whar'd I
be, Massa Tom?"

"Why, you wouldn't be anywhere if you didn't go, of course," and Tom
laughed. "But I'd like to take you for a little spin in this
machine, Rad. I want you to get used to them. Sometime I may need
you to help me. Come, now. Suppose you get up on this seat here, and
I promise not to go too high until you get used to it. Come on, it
will do you good, and think of what all your friends will say when
they see you riding in an airship."

"Dat's right, Massa Tom. Dey suah will be monstrous envious ob
Eradicate Sampson, dat's what dey will."

It was clear that the colored man was being pursuaded somewhat
against his will. Though he had been engaged by Tom Swift and his
father off and on for several years, Eradicate had never shown any
desire to take a trip through the air in one of the several craft
Tom owned for this purpose. Nor had he ever evinced a longing for a
trip under the ocean in a submarine, and as for riding in Tom's
speedy electric car--Eradicate would as soon have sat down with
thirteen at the table, or looked at the moon over the wrong
shoulder.

But now, somehow, there was a peculiar temptation to take his young
employer at his word. Eradicate had seen, many times, the youthful
inventor and his friends make trips in the monoplane, as well as in
the big biplane and dirigible balloon combined--the RED CLOUD. Tom
and the others had always come back safely, though often they met
with accidents which only the skill and daring of the daring
aeronaut had brought to a safe conclusion.

"Well, are you coming, Rad?" asked Tom, as he looked to see if the
oil