So swiftly did it rise that the cheers of the little crowd of Mr. Fenwick’s friends were scarcely heard.  Up and up it went, and then a little later, to the astonishment of the crowds in the streets, Tom put the airship twice in a circle around the statue of William Penn, on the top of the City Hall.

“Now you steer,” the lad invited Mr. Fenwick.  “Take her straight across the Delaware River, and over Camden, New Jersey, and then head south, for Cape May.  We ought to make it in an hour, for we are getting up good speed.”

Leaving the owner in charge of his craft, to that gentleman’s no small delight, Tom and Mr. Damon began an inspection of the electrical and other machinery.  There was much that needed attention, but Tom soon had the automatic apparatus in working order, and then less attention need be given to it.

Several times the young investor looked out of the windows with which the cabin was fitted.  Mr. Damon noticed this.

“Bless my shoe laces, Tom,” he said.  “What’s the matter?”

“I don’t like the looks of the weather,” was the answer.  “I think we’re in for a storm.”

“Then let’s put back.”

“No, it would be too bad to disappoint Mr. Fenwick, now that we have made such a good start.  He wants to make a long flight, and I can’t blame him,” spoke Tom, in a low voice.

“But if there’s danger—­”

“Oh, well, we can soon be at Cape May, and start back.  The wind is freshening rather suddenly, though,” and Tom looked at the anemometer, which showed a speed of twenty miles an hour.  However, it was in their favor, aiding them to make faster time.

The speed of the whizzer was now about forty miles an hour, not fast for an air craft, but sufficiently speedy in trying out a new machine.  Tom looked at the barograph, and noted that they had attained an altitude of seven thousand five hundred feet.

“That’s better than millionaire Daxtel’s distance of seven thousand one hundred and five feet,” remarked the lad, with a smile, “and it breaks Jackson’s climb of seven thousand three hundred and three feet, which is pretty good for your machine, Mr. Fenwick.”

“Do you really think so?” asked the pleased inventor.

“Yes.  And we’ll do better than that in time. but it’s best to go slow at first, until we see how she is standing the strain.  This is high and fast enough for the present.”

They kept on, and as Tom saw that the machinery was working well, he let it out a little, The whizzer at once leaped forward, and, a little later they came within sight of Cape May, the Jersey coast resort.

“Now to drop down and visit my friend,” said Mr. Fenwick, with a smile.  “Won’t he be surprised!”

“I don’t think we’d better do it,” said Tom.

“Why not?”

“Well, the wind is getting stronger every minute and it will be against us on the way back.  If we descend, and try to make another ascension we may fail.  We’re up in the air now, and it may be easy to turn around and go back.  Then, again, it may not, but it certainly will be easier to shift around up here than down on the ground.  So I’d rather not descend—­that is, not entirely to the ground.”