aircraft as calmly as though in a chair on the ground. Then Mary took
courage, and ceased to grasp the sides of the cockpit with a grip that
stiffened all her muscles. She was beginning to "find herself."

On and on, and up and up, went Mary and Tom, in this the girl's first
big sky ride. The earth below seemed farther and farther away. The
wide, green fields became little emerald squares, and the houses like
those in a toy Noah's ark.

Down below, Mr. Wakefield Damon, who had hurried over from his home in
Waterfield to see Tom Swift, gazed aloft at the fast disappearing
aeroplane and its passengers.

"Bless my coal bin!" cried the eccentric man, "but Tom is in a hurry
this morning. Too bad he couldn't have stopped and spoken to me. It
might have been greatly to his advantage. But I suppose I shall have to
wait."

"You want to see Master?" asked a voice behind Mr. Damon, and, turning,
he beheld a veritable giant.

"Yes, Koku, I did," Mr. Damon answered, and he did not appear at all
surprised at the sight of the towering form beside him. "I wanted to
see Tom most particularly. But I shall have to wait. I'll go in and
talk to Mr. Swift."

"Yaas, an' I go talk to Radicate," said the giant. "Him diggin' up
ground where Master told me to make garden. Radicate not strong enough
for dat!"

"Huh! there's trouble as soon as those two get to disputing," mused Mr.
Damon, as he went toward the house.

Meanwhile, Mary was beginning to enjoy herself. The sensation of moving
rapidly through the air in a machine as skillfully guided as was the
one piloted by Tom Swift was delightful. Up and up they went, and then
suddenly Mary felt a lurch, and the plane, which was now about a
thousand feet high, seemed to slip to one side.

Mary screamed, and began reaching for the buckle of the safety belt
that fastened her to her seat. She saw that something unusual had
occurred, for Tom was working frantically at the mechanism in front of
him.

But, in spite of this, he seemed aware that Mary was in danger, not so
much, perhaps, from what might happen to the machine, as what she might
do in her terror.

"Oh! Oh!" cried the girl, and Tom heard her above the terrific noise of
the motor, for she was speaking with her lips close to the tube that
served as a sort of inter-communicating telephone for the craft. "Oh,
we are falling! I'm going to jump!"

"Sit still! Sit still for your life!" cried Tom Swift. "I'll save you
all right! O