cried Tom with a smile. "Might have known
if I told Rad to do anything that Koku would be jealous. Well, I'll
have to go out now and give that giant something to do that will tax
his strength."

But as Tom was about to leave the room another voice was heard in the
garden.

"Now, boys, be nice," said some one soothingly. "The garden is large
enough for you both to work in. Rad, you begin at the lower end and
spade toward the middle. Koku, you begin at the upper end and work
down. Whoever gets to the middle first will win."

"Ha! Den I'll show dat giant some spade wuk as is spade wuk!" cried the
colored man. "Garden wuk is mah middle name."

"Be careful, Rad!" laughed Mr. Damon, for he it was who was trying to
act as peacemaker. "Remember that Koku is very strong."

"Yas, sah! He may be strong, but he's clumsy!" chuckled Eradicate. "You
watch me beat him!"

"Ho! Black man get stuck in mud!" challenged Koku. "I show him!"

Then there was silence, and Tom and his father, looking out, saw the
two disputants beginning to spade the soil while Mr. Damon, satisfied
that he had, for the time being, stopped a quarrel, turned toward the
house.

"I was just coming to look for you," said Tom. "Sorry I had to go off
in such a hurry and leave you, but I had promised to take Mary for a
ride, and as it was her first one, for a distance, I didn't want her to
back out."

"That's all right, Tom, that's all right!" said Mr. Damon genially.
"Ladies first every time. But I do want to see you, and it's about
something important."

"No trouble, I hope?" queried Tom, for the manner of the eccentric man
was rather grave.

"Trouble? Oh, no! Bless my frying pan, no trouble, Tom! In fact, it may
be the other way about. Tom, I have an idea, and there may be millions
in it! That's it--millions!"

"Good!" cried the young inventor. "Might as well bite off a big lump
while you're at it. So you have a new idea! Well, I have myself, but
I'll listen to yours first. What is it, Mr. Damon?"

"It's a new kind of airship, Tom. I haven't got it all worked out yet,
but I can give you a rough outline. On my way over I got to thinking
about balloons, aeroplanes and the like, and it occurred to me that the
present principles are all wrong."

"So I evolved a new type of machine. I'm going to call it the Damon
Whizzer. Maybe Demon Whizzer would be more appropriate, but we won't
decide on that now. Anyhow, it's going to be a whizzer, and I want to
ta