But no Prescott. The names the various machines bore were
weird: The _Sky Pilot_, the _Cloud Chaser_, the _Star Bug_, the _Moon
Mounter_, the _Aerial Auto_, the _Heavenly Harvester_, and some titles
even more far-fetched graced the sheds, so that it was small wonder that
in this maze of high-sounding names a shed at the far end of the row
bearing the obscure title of Nameless missed the scrutiny of Mortlake and
his aide.
"We've beaten them to a standstill this time," said Mortlake with intense
conviction, "I feel that the _Motor Hornet_ has the contest cinched."
The _Motor Hornet_ was the name that had been bestowed on the machine
which Roy had poetically dubbed the _Silver Cobweb_.
The shed of the mysterious Nameless was the only one of the long row that
did not buzz with activity all that day, which was one assigned to
preparation for the contests of the morrow. All the other aeroplane hives
fairly radiated activity. Freakish-looking men hovered about their weird
helicopters and lovingly polished brass and tested engines. The reek of
gasolene and burning lubricants hung heavily over the field. Reporters
darted here and there followed by panting photographers bearing
elephantine cameras and bulging boxes of plates, for the metropolitan
press was "playing up" the tests which were expected to produce a definite
aerial type of machine for the United States Navy.
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