Of course it was not
an entire success, but I was coming to that.
"In the biplane which was wrecked in the river I had my latest
gyroscope. It seemed to be perfect, and, with Jack and Harry, I
had made a number of beautiful flights. I even flew alone upside
down, and had no trouble.
"Before that I had made the acquaintance of Lieutenant Larson, who
is also an expert aviator. He worked for me before he went in the
army. He had his own ideas about equilibrium, and his plan, which
he wanted me to adopt, consists of tubes of mercury that can
automatically be tilted at different angles. I do not believe they
will ever work, and I told him so. I refused to use them, and he
and I parted, not the best of friends. He wanted his invention
exploited, but I refused to try it, as I thought it dangerous.
"When my gyroscope worked fairly well, I presume Lieutenant Larson
was professionally jealous. At any rate he, left me, and I am glad
of it."
"But he was around our workshop just before we made this last
flight!" insisted Jack. "He came in pretending he had left some of
his important drawings behind when he went away, but I noticed that
he hung around the airship a good bit. I saw him looking at, and
running the gyroscope, and I'm sure he did something to it that
caused it to fail to work, and so wrecked us."
"You should not say such things," chided Mr. Vardon.
"Well, I believe it's true," insisted Jack. "And you found
something wrong with the gyroscope, when you took it from the
airship; didn't you?"
"Yes, but that may have occurred in the wreck.
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