. Dot vos a great drip you made--a great
drip!"

Tom felt a little comforted and, after a sight of his father, and a
silent prayer that God would spare his life for years to come, the
young inventor went out in the yard. He wanted to be busy about
something, for he knew, with the doctors, and a trained nurse who had
been hastily summoned, there was no immediate need for him. He wanted
to get his mind off the operation that would soon take place, and so he
decided to look over his aeroplane.

Mr. Damon came out when Tom was going over the guy wires and braces, to
see how they had stood the strain.

"Well, Tom, my lad," said the eccentric man, sadly, as he grasped our
hero's hand, "it's too bad. But hope for the best. I'm sure your father
will pull through. We will have to begin taking the Humming-Bird apart
soon; won't we, if we're going to ship it to Eagle Park?" He wanted to
take Tom's mind off his troubles.

"I don't know whether we will or not," was the answer, and Tom tried to
speak unbrokenly, but there was a troublesome lump in his throat, and a
mist of tears in his eyes that prevented him from seeing well. The
Humming-Bird, to him, looked as if she was in a fog.

"Nonsense! Of course we will!" cried Mr. Damon. "Why, bless my
wishbone! Tom, you don't mean to say you're going to let that little
shrimp Andy Foger walk away with that ten-thousand-dollar prize without
giving him a fight for it; are you?"

This was just what Tom needed, and it seemed good to have Mr. Damon
bless something again, even if it was only a wishbone.

"No!" exclaimed Tom, in ringing tones. "Andy Foger isn't going to beat
me, and if I find out he is going to race with a machine made after my
stolen plans, I'll make him wish he'd never taken them."

"But if the machine he had flying over here when he dropped that bomb
on the shed roof, and set fire to it, is the one he's going to race
with, it isn't like yours," suggested Mr. Damon, who was glad he had
turned the conversation into a more cheerful channel.

"That's so," agreed the young inventor. "We'll, we'll have to wait and
see." He was busy now, going over every detail of the Humming-Bird. Mr.
Damon helped him, and they discovered the defect in the equilibrium
weights, and remedied it.

"We can't afford to have an accident in the race," said Tom. He glanced
toward the house, and wondered if the operation had begun yet. He could
see the trained nurse hurrying here and there, Mrs.