ard, expecting to see Node
soaring through the air. Curses and struggles from a point twenty feet
down the hill disclosed the whereabouts of the inventor. Node was lying
there, the apparatus in a tangled heap. It was with considerable labor,
made more difficult as he was weak from laughter, that Alfred released
Node. Criminations and recriminations followed. Node swore he had
started on a beautiful flight; he could feel himself going up as light
as a soap bubble, just then Alfred's damn fool head-piece flopped down
over his eyes, blinding him so he couldn't see what he was doing. He
quit flapping his wings and fell like a log. If it hadn't been for the
head dress there's no telling where he would have flown to.

Alfred contended that the tailpiece caught on one of his ears and pulled
the bird-man back out of the air. As proof he exhibited the lacerated
ear. Alfred had assured Node that there were no witnesses. However, the
aeronauts had an audience. Jake Beeca and Strap Gaines stood in the road
below; Pete Williams, Billy Brubaker and a couple of strangers were
looking down from the pike above; Johnny Johnson and Widdy Gould were
gazing on the wreck from their back yards. Mary Hart, Jim Hart and Mrs.
Smith were at the front gate, inquiring of Lin and Alfred's mother the
cause of the strange procession then passing.

[Illustration: The End of the Flight]

Node came first. He had forgotten his hat and shoes, laid aside to
lighten him for his flight, his clothes were literally bespattered with
soft, brown earth, his nose scratched, one of his hands bleeding; on his
head the bedraggled feather cap. Following behind came Alfred, one ear
bleeding, his clothing covered with dirt. In his arms he carried the
wrecked flying machine, the rear extension dragging, the beautifully
colored peacock feathers trailing the dirt.

Node, with bowed head and abashed manner, walked as though going to his
execution. Alfred could scarcely walk at all, the ludicrous ending of
the flight, appealed so to his mirth.

Lin gazed curiously at the two as they passed. She scrutinized the
flying machine closely, the feathers, the head-dress on Node. She
entered the house: "Well, Mary," (addressing the mother), "I've seed a
good many funny sights sence Alfurd's been ole enuf tu run aroun' but
I'll be durned ef this one ain't the cap sheaf."

"What's happened now?" anxiously queried the mother.

"Well, I ain't seed enuf tu jes zackly say what it is