teddy benson gave a final twist to the propeller of his toy, model airplane.
“better not make it too tight,” suggested his chum, dick kelly.
“why not?” teddy asked, looking up as he slipped on the catch so the propeller might not start revolving before he was ready.
“you might break the rubber bands,” dick explained.
“oh, i guess they’ll take it,” answered the little lad who straightened up and wet a finger in his mouth.
“how is it?” asked dick.
2 you might have thought he was inquiring how teddy liked the taste of his finger. but anyone who has flown model airplanes could tell that teddy was just testing the wind.
“it’s blowing almost directly east,” teddy answered.
“then mason’s meadow will be the place to have the test,” suggested dick. “there’s plenty of room there.”
“yes,” teddy agreed, “if we start on the far side—away from the woods. can’t start in the middle of the meadow.”
“why not?” asked dick.
he did not glance up at his chum. dick, who was short and rather stout, was twisting the propeller blades of his own toy plane. he was winding the rubber bands which, when they untwisted, would serve as the motor of the little craft. “why can’t we begin the race in the middle of the meadow, teddy? that’s the clearest place.”
“well, if you want your plane to shoot over in the woods, and maybe get lost, let it3 go from the middle of mason’s meadow,” said teddy. he tested the rudders of his craft.
dick, who had put the clamp on his rubber engine, looked up to laugh as he said:
“say, teddy, you don’t think, that these planes of ours will fly from the middle of mason’s meadow away over to the woods on the far side, do you?”
“i don’t know about your plane, but mine will,” stated teddy confidently. “i’m not so sure,” he went on, as he carefully tested the tautness of the stretched rubber bands, “i’m not so sure but what we had better go down to the lake beach. there’s a longer stretch to fly from down there. but of course the wind is wrong. the planes would have to go over the water.”
“and since mine doesn’t happen to be a hydroplane, i’m not for that,” declared dick. “but you make me laugh when you say your plane will go all the way across mason’s meadow and into the woods.”
4 “i don’t want my plane to go into the woods,” spoke teddy calmly. “but i’m pretty sure it will if i let it have all the power i can give it. i didn’t wind it up as tight as i could.”
“well, if your plane is as good as you think it is, why don’t you enter it in the races for the johnson cup?” asked dick.
“maybe i will,” teddy answered as he made another adjustment to his craft’s rudders.
“say, don’t you know that only the very best planes go in that contest this september?” asked dick. “your little one wouldn’t have a chance!”
“maybe it would,” spoke teddy. “we’ll know more after we have our own little race today down in mason’s meadow. did you see anything of joe?”
“i passed his house on my way here,” dick answered. “he was doing something to his plane and said he’d be right over. we can wait. i’ve got to fix my rudder a little.”
5 “and i think i’ll take off one of my rubber bands and put on another,” teddy remarked. “one of ’em looks a little bit frayed. i don’t want my plane to slow up.”
“you want it to go all the way to the woods, i suppose,” laughed dick.
“oh, it’ll go there. maybe yours will, too,” said teddy. “the wind is getting stronger,” he added. again he wet his finger and held it up as a test. “it’s going to be a strong tail wind,” he went on. “i wouldn’t be surprised if all three of our planes got to the edge of the woods, anyhow.”
“you have a pretty good opinion of our planes,” chuckled dick.
“why not?” teddy asked as he let his propeller slowly unwind. he wanted to take the tension off the rubber bands in order to insert a new one.
dick did not answer his chum. but he looked up long enough to say: “here comes joe!”
“good!” exclaimed teddy. “now we can6 have the race. hurry, joe!” he shouted. “the wind’s just right and it’s getting stronger. hurry!”
“coming!” answered joe denton.
the three chums were soon busy making final adjustments to their toy planes in the yard of teddy benson’s home. most of the activities of the three centered around teddy’s home. he was the leader of his crowd, always the first to propose something new. he had done it when he suggested they have a race of their model planes. the boys had been making model planes for some time.
at first they made only small ones, which were launched by being tossed into the air. these planes went only a short distance.
the next planes the boys made had rubber bands for motors. at first, they attached only a few, small rubbers to the propeller of their craft. these bands, when twisted, would unravel, whirl the propeller and send the planes flying.
step by step the three chums had advanced7 until they now had planes with quite powerful rubber “motors,” if such they could be called. the “motors” of course, were just rubber bands or cords.
“some day,” teddy had declared, “we’ll get real miniature gasoline motors for our planes. then they’ll fly miles and miles before they come down.”
“and we’ll have to walk after ’em to bring ’em back,” sighed dick. he was too stout to care for much walking.
“golly, it would be fun to have a gas motor model plane,” remarked joe denton as he put the final touches on his rubber-motored one. “they have some dandy ones in the johnson cup races,” he added.
“yes, and they have good prizes for rubber-motored planes,” announced teddy. “well, if you fellows are ready, let’s go to mason’s meadow and see whose plane can fly farthest.”
“i guess you think yours can,” laughed dick.
8 “well, i’m not saying anything,” teddy modestly remarked.
“no, but you’re doing a lot of thinking,” said joe. “i know my plane won’t win,” he sighed. “there’s something wrong with it, i guess.”
“maybe we can find out what it is in this race,” teddy suggested, “and fix it.”
“maybe,” agreed joe, ruffling his red hair.
as the three chums started from teddy’s yard, carefully carrying their model planes, lucy benson came to the kitchen door.
“where are you going?” she asked. “may i come?”
“no, you can’t,” teddy answered. “sorry,” he added as he saw the look of disappointment on his sister’s face. “but we’re going to fly our planes and we don’t want any girls.”
“one of our planes might get tangled in your hair,” said dick.
9 “oh, is that so?” snapped lucy. “and one of ’em might get lost, too! then maybe you’ll be glad to have me help hunt it like i did the time teddy’s plane was lost before. i found it then.”
“did she?” asked joe, looking at lucy. her cheeks were flushed because of a little excitement.
“yes, she did—sort of,” teddy rather grudgingly admitted.
“oh, teddy benson!” exclaimed his sister, stamping her foot on the back porch. “how can you talk that way? you know i found your lost plane all by myself—in the woods.”
“well, there aren’t going to be any lost planes today,” said teddy. “so you can’t come. sorry. come on, fellows!” he added. “the wind may die out.”
the three boys hurried to mason’s meadow. lucy, left behind, looked after them a moment. then she said:
10 “i’ll go get margie kelly. we can go to mason’s meadow if we want to. there’s no fence around it.”
lucy hurried to the home of her chum, dick’s sister. the three boys were soon at the meadow. on the far side was a patch of woods. pointing to this dick said to joe:
“teddy expects his plane to fly there.”
“i don’t expect it,” teddy said. “but it might. come on now. get ready. the plane that goes the farthest wins the race.”
“and what’s the prize?” asked joe.
“the loser has to treat him and the other fellow to ice cream,” teddy decided.
“that means i’ve got to treat,” sighed joe. “well, let’s go!”
the rubber motors were wound up. the boys held their planes poised for a start. they stood with their backs to the wind, on the edge of the meadow farthest from the woods.
“all ready?” teddy called.
“all ready!” his chums answered.
11 “let go!”
the three little planes were launched into the air.
for a short distance all three were about even. then teddy’s began pulling ahead. close behind it was dick’s. joe’s plane was lagging and soon began to descend.
“i might have known it!” sighed the red-haired lad. “i’ll buy the ice cream.”
teddy and dick did not answer. they were running after their planes. then, dick’s began to falter. teddy’s was sailing on full and fast. it rose on a long slant.
“say! i believe teddy’s plane will reach the woods!” cried joe. he had picked up his craft from the grass.
“well, it’s going better than i thought it would,” dick had to admit.
then came a puff of wind. that and the power in teddy’s plane sent it more swiftly toward the woods. dick’s plane, having reached the limit of its flight, began coming down.
12 “teddy wins!” cried joe.
“yes! but look! his plane is sailing right into the woods!” cried dick. “you’ve done it, teddy! i didn’t think you could, but you did. there goes your plane into the woods!”
“i wish it hadn’t!” cried teddy, running after it.
“why?” asked joe.
“because i think it will be lost. it went in the woods right near that deep gully. i guess my plane is lost, fellows!”
