Taking hold, for the “ground crew,” required some argument with parents. Mr. Whiteside seemed to have some magical way of overcoming objections to possible night activity, however; and the next morning found the two reinstated assistants riding with Mr. Whiteside on a ’bus bound for the town nearest to the old Everdail estate.

Their morning work consisted of investigating the hangar, outside and inside.

The caretaker raised no objections. He seemed entirely satisfied that Mr. Whiteside was exactly what he claimed to be, and so Dick, who had held some misgivings, accepted the man as a detective and worked with a will to discover some clue to the means used by the “ghost” for getting in and out of the hangar.

In that the trio failed, and had to give up until night would let them return and establish a keen guard over the haunted structure.

Larry fared much better.

He found Tommy Larsen much improved in health, with his nerves again steady.
191

“I don’t feel uneasy about short hops,” the pilot informed him. “I don’t think I’d want to take a long control job just yet, though. Now let’s see what Jeff put into you. Before I go up with you, tell me what you’d do if you were really starting off alone.”

“First of all,” Larry said, “I’d go over to the weather display board, to see what the flying conditions would be.”

“You did learn!” Tommy was pleased. “Yep! That’s important. Then——”

“I’d notice the windsock, while I’d go to my crate. If it wasn’t already running, I’d start the engine—being sure to repeat every syllable of the ‘mech’s’ words when he turned the prop.”

“You wouldn’t want any mistake on your part to have the juice on when he swung that prop to suck in the charge—good!”

“Of course, if the airplane was on a cement apron in front of the hangar, it would be all right to start the engine there. But in sandy ground, or on a dusty apron, I’d be sure the tail wasn’t pointed so the propeller blast would throw dust on ’planes or on people.”

Pilot Tommy Larsen nodded vigorously.

“Don’t intend to be a dusting pilot, do you?”

“No, sir. Then I’d warm up the engine—by granny-golly-gracious! I forgot something——”
192

“What?”

“Well, unless I’d seen him do it, before even the engine was started, I’d want to be sure the ‘rigger’ of my crew would go over the crate and wipe it with a soft rag, so any frayed wires would be noticed—and I’d want to be sure he had inspected the ’plane either when it landed last or before I’d take off.”

“Jeff was a good teacher, I see. Go ahead.”

Larry went through the explanation of his method of taxiing, with the elevators up enough to keep the tail on the ground as he used the throttle to regulate speed, and the ailerons to govern the wings and keep them from being tipped up or down by wind or uneven ground, as well as his idea of using the rudder to hold the ship on its straight travel to the point of take-off and how he would turn.

“All right! If you know all that about getting set, you might as well let me see you do it!” Thus Larry began his tenth hour of instruction.
193

That completed, and with a quiet compliment for the way he had made his final check of the engine and instruments while the chocks were still under the wheels, with a word of advice about not trying to lift the ship off the ground in a cross-wind until a safe margin of speed was assu............