"Oh!" exclaimed the physician in a curious voice. They were off on their
trip to save the life of Mr. Swift.
What the sensations of the celebrated specialist were, Tom never
learned. If he was afraid, his fright quickly gave place to wonder, and
the wonder soon changed to delight as the machine rose higher and
higher, acquired more speed, and soared in the air over the country that
spread out in all directions from Kirkville.
"Magnificent! Magnificent!" murmured the doctor, and then Tom knew that
the surgeon was in the grip of the air, and was one of the "bird-men."
Every moment the Humming-Bird increased her speed. They passed over the
river near where men were working on the broken bridge. It was now no
barrier to them. Tom, noting the barograph, and seeing that they were
twenty-two hundred feet high, decided to keep at about that distance
from the earth.
"How fast are we going?" cried Dr. Hendrix, into the ear of the young
inventor.
"Just a little short of a hundred an hour!" Tom shouted back.
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