I'll be there to meet you."
"All right, guv'ner; we'll be, thar. Till then we'll bid yer 'oliver oil,'
as ther French say. Come on, Joey."
The worthy pair shuffled off up the road, while Mortlake turned to Harding
with a shrug.
"There are two tools made to our hand. We may find them very useful."
"I agree with you," was the dry and rasping reply; "at least, they have
put us in possession of one valuable bit of knowledge, hey?"
CHAPTER IX.
THE FLIGHT OF THE "SILVER COBWEB."
A week rolled slowly by. A week of suspense, during which they had one or
two calls from Lieut. Bradbury, who had been busy down at the Mortlake
plant. But the officer was naturally noncommittal concerning his opinion
of the comparative merits of the two types of aeroplanes. Equally
naturally, of course, the young Prescotts had not questioned him
concerning them.
But during this week they had had a glimpse of the Mortlake machine in
flight. One still, breathless morning, the air had been filled, soon after
dawn, with a vibrant buzzing sound, which Peggy's trained ear had
recognized as the song of an aeroplane engine.
She hastened to her brother's room and rapped upon the door. In reply to
his sleepy query, the girl rapidly told him of what she had heard. Roy's
window faced on the road, and a glance satisfied him that the Mortlake
machine was to have its first try-out.
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