“Oh, I won’t tell,” promised Tom with a laugh, and he worked away harder than ever, for there were many little details to perfect.  The weather was now getting warm, as there was an early spring, and it was pleasant out of doors.

The moving picture camera was gotten in readiness.  Extra rolls of films were on hand, and the big airship, in which they were to go up, for their first test of taking pictures from high in the air, had been wheeled out of the shed.

“Are you going up very far?” asked Mr. Nestor of Tom, and the young inventor thought that Mary’s father was a trifle nervous.  He had not made many flights, and then only a little way above the ground, with Tom.

“Not very high,” replied our hero.  “You see I want to get pictures that will be large, and if I’m too far away I can’t do it.”

“Glad to hear it, replied Mr. Nestor, with a note of relief in his voice.  “Though I suppose to fall a thousand feet isn’t much different from falling a hundred when you consider the results.”

“Not much,” admitted Tom frankly.

“Bless my feather bed!” cried Mr. Damon.  “Please don’t talk of falling, when we’re going up in an airship.  It makes me nervous.”

“We’ll not fall!” declared Tom confidently.

Mr. Period sent his regrets, that he could not be present at the trial, stating in his letter that he was the busiest man in the world, and that his time was worth about a dollar a minute just at present.  He, however, wished Tom all success.  Tom’s first effort was to sail along, with the lens of the camera pointed straight toward the earth.  He would thus get, if successful, a picture that, when thrown on the screen, would give the spectators the idea that they were looking down from a moving balloon.  For that reason Tom was not going to fly very high, as he wanted to get all the details possible.

“All aboard!” cried the young inventor, when he had seen to it that his airship was in readiness for a flight.  The camera had been put aboard, and the lens pointed toward earth through a hole in the main cabin floor.  All who were expected to make the trip with Tom were on hand, Koku taking the place of Eradicate this time, as the colored man was too aged and feeble to go along.

“All ready?” asked Ned, who stood in the steering tower, with his hand on the starting lever, while Tom was at the camera to see that it worked properly.

“All ready,” answered the young inventor, and, an instant later, they shot upward, as the big propellers whizzed around.

Tom at once started the camera to taking pictures rapidly, as he wanted the future audience to get a perfect idea of how it looked to go up in a balloon, leaving the earth behind.  Then as the Flyer moved swiftly over woods and fields, Tom moved the lens from side to side, to get different views.

“Say!  This is great!” cried Mr. Nestor, to whom air-riding was much of a novelty.  “Are you getting good pictures, Tom?”