He waved
his hands, and shouted something.
"Bless my hatband! What does he want?" asked Mr. Damon,
watching him curiously.
"It sounds as if he were calling to us to come back," spoke Mr.
Parker.
"It's too late now," decided Tom. "Maybe he forgot to tell us
good-by," but, he felt a vague wonder at Eradicate's odd motions;
for the colored man was pointing toward the stern of the airship,
as if there was something wrong there. But the Red Cloud soared
on.
CHAPTER IX--A WARNING BY WIRELESS
Rapidly the airship ascended, and, when it was high over the
town of Shopton, Tom headed the craft due west. Looking down he
tried to descry Mary Nestor, in her carriage, but the trees were
in the way, their interlocking branches hiding the girl. Tom did
see crowds of other persons, though, thronging the streets of
Shopton, for, though the young inventor had made many flights,
there was always a novelty about them, that brought out the
curious.
"A good start, Tom Swift," complimented Mr. Parker. "Is it
always as easy as this?"
"Starting always is," was the answer, "though, as the Irishman
said, coming down isn't sometimes quite so comfortable."
"Bless my gizzard! That's so," cried the eccentric Mr. Damon.
"Can we vol-plane to earth in the Red Cloud, Tom?"
"Yes, but not as easily as in the Butterfly.
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