The crabbed
old man seemed strangely excited.
"No, there ain't nothing going to blow up," he said, after a pause.
"But don't you come in here. I warn you away! You can go in any
other part of my factory you want to, but not in here."
"Well, I certainly don't want to come where I'm not wanted, Uncle
Ezra," said Dick, with dignity. "But I hear you are building an
airship, and I thought I'd like to get a look at it."
"And that's just what I don't want you to get--none of you," went
on Mr. Larabee, looking at Dick's chums. "I don't want to be mean
to my dead sister's boy," he added, "but my airship ain't in shape
yet to be inspected."
"Well, if it isn't finished, perhaps we can give you some advice,"
said Dick, with a smile.
"Huh! I don't want no advice, thank you," said Uncle Ezra, stiffly.
"I calkerlate Lieutenant Larson knows as much about building
airships as you boys do."
"Larson!" cried Dick. "Is he here?"
"He certainly is, and he's working hard on my craft. I'm going to
be an aviator, and win that twenty-thousand-dollar government
prize!" Mr. Larabee said, as though it were a certainty.
"Whew!" whistled Dick. "Then we'll be rivals, Uncle Ezra."
"Humph! Maybe you might think so, but I'll leave you so far behind
that you won't know where you are!" boasted the crabbed old man.
"Building an airship; eh?" mused Dick. "Well, that's the last thing
I'd ever think of Uncle Ezra doing." Then to his relative he added:
"But if you're going to compete for the prize your airship will have
to be seen.
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