On and on and up and up sailed Tom and Mr. Damon, and as they
left behind them the shops and the Swift homestead, the two
passengers were aware of their almost silent flight. The big
aeroplane, the exhaust of which, ordinarily, would have nearly
deafened them, was now as silent as a bird.
"Silent Sam for Uncle Sam!" cried Tom in delight, as he went on
faster. "I'm sure the government ought to be glad to get this
plane for air scout work. It's a success! A great success!"
"Yes, so it is!" agreed Mr. Damon. "You do well to speak of it
so, Tom."
For, modest as the young inventor was, he felt, in justice to
himself, that he must acknowledge the fact that his craft was a
success. For it rose and sailed almost as silently as a bat, and
a few hundred feet away no one, not seeing it, would have
believed a big aeroplane was in motion.
Tom and Mr. Damon flew about twenty miles at a swift pace, and
all the fault Tom had to find was that the machine was not as
steady in flight as she should have been.
"But I can remedy that with the use of some of dad's gyroscope
stabilizers," he told Mr.
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