--er--bur-r-r-r! It's--it's mighty ticklish, Massa Tom--dat's
de word--it suah am mighty ticklish!"

Tom Swift laughed and increased the speed. The Butterfly darted
forward like some hummingbird about to launch itself upon a flower,
and, indeed, the revolutions of the propeller were not unlike the
vibrations of the wings of that marvelous little creature.

"Now for some corkscrew twists!" cried the young inventor. "Here we
go, Rad!"

With that he began a series of intricate evolutions, making figures
of eight, spirals, curves, sudden dips and long swings. It was
masterwork in handling a monoplane, but Eradicate Sampson, as he sat
crouched in the seat, gripping the uprights until his hands ached,
was in no condition to appreciate it. Gradually, however, as he saw
that the craft remained up in the air, and showed no signs of falling,
the fears of the colored man left him. He sat up straighter.

"Don't you like it, Rad?" cried Tom.

This time the answer came with more decision.

"It suah am great, Massa Tom! I'm--I'm beginnin' t' like it. Whoop!
I guess I do like it! Now if some of dem stuck-up coons could see
me--"

"They'd think YOU were stuck up; eh, Rad? Stuck up in the air!"

"Dat's right, Massa Tom. Ha! Ha! I suah am stuck up in de air! Ha!
Ha!"

By this time Tom had guided the machine away from the village, and
they were flying over the fields, some distance from his house. The
colored man was beginning to enjoy his experience very much.

Suddenly, just as Tom was trying to get a bit more speed out of the
motor, the machine stopped. The cessation of the racket was almost
as startling as a loud explosion would have been.

"Just my luck!" cried Tom.

"What's de matter?" asked Eradicate, anxiously.

"Motor's stalled," replied the young inventor.

"An', by golly, we's falling!" yelled the colored man.

Naturally, with the stopping of the propeller, there was no further
straight, forward motion to the monoplane, and, following the law of
nature, it began to drop toward the earth on a slant.

"We's fallin'! We'll be killed!" yelled the negro.

"It's all right, I'll just vol-plane back to earth," spoke Tom,
calmly. "I've often done it before, higher up than this. Sit still,
Rad, I'm volplaning back to the ground."

"An' I'll JUMP back to de ground; dat's what I'll do. I ain't goin'
t' wait until I falls, no sah! An' I ain't gwine t' do none ob dat
ball-playin' yo' speak ob, Massa Swift. It's no time