“Can you begin work at once?” asked the inventor, eagerly.

Tom shook his head.

“I can’t stay long enough on this trip,” he said.  “I promised father I would be back by to-morrow at the latest, but I will come over here again, and arrange to stay until I have done all I can.  I need to get some of my special tools, and then, too, you will require some other supplies, of which I will give you a list.  I hope you don’t mind me speaking in this way, Mr. Fenwick, as though I knew more about it than you do,” added Tom, modestly.

“Not a bit of it!” cried the inventor heartily.  “I want the benefit of your advice and experience, and I’ll do just as you say.  I hope you can come back soon.”

“I’ll return the first of the week,” promised Tom, “and then we’ll see what can be done.  Now I’ll go over the whole ship once more, and see what I need.  I also want to test the lifting capacity of your gas bag.”

The rest of the day was a busy one for our hero.  With the aid of Mr. Damon and the owner of the whizzer, he went over every point carefully.  Then, as it was too late to attempt the return flight to Shopton, he telegraphed his father, and he and Mr. Damon remained over night with Mr. Fenwick.

In the morning, having written out a list of the things that would be needed, Tom went out to Franklin Field, and repaired his own monoplane.  It was found that one of the electric wires connected with the motor had broken, thus cutting off the spark.  It was soon repaired, and, in the presence of a large crowd, Tom and Mr. Damon started on their return flight.

“Do you think you can make the whizzer work, Tom?” asked Mr. Damon, as they were flying high over Philadelphia.

“I’m a little dubious about it,” was the reply.  “But after I make some changes I may have a different opinion.  The whole affair is too big and clumsy, that’s the trouble; though the electrical part of it is very good.”

Shopton was reached without incident, in about three hours, and there was no necessity, this time, of vol-planing back to earth.  After a short rest, Tom began getting together a number of special tools and appliances, which he proposed taking back to Philadelphia with him.

The young inventor made another trip to Mr. Fenwick’s house the first of the following week.  He went by train this time, as he had to ship his tools, and Mr. Damon did not accompany him.  Then, with the assistance of the inventor of the whizzer, and several of his mechanics, Tom began making the changes on the airship.

“Do you think you can make it fly?” asked Mr. Fenwick, anxiously, after several days of labor.

“I hope so,” replied our hero, and there was more confidence in his tone than there had been before.  As the work progressed, he began to be more hopeful.  “I’ll make a trial flight, anyhow, in a few days,” he added.

“Then I must send word to Mr. Damon,” decided Mr. Fenwick.  “He wants to be on hand to see it, and, if possible, go up; so he told me.”