Tom Swift and His Sky Racer or The Quickest Flight on ... - Fourmilab

106 CHAPTER 24. WON BY A LENGTH<strong>The</strong> bully gave one glance over toward his rival, <strong>and</strong> pulled a lever. <strong>The</strong>Slugger increased her speed, but <strong>Tom</strong> was not a second behind him.<strong>The</strong>re was a roaring noise in the rear, <strong>and</strong> up shot De Tromp in the Farman,<strong>and</strong> Loi Tong, the little Japanese, in the Santos-Dumont. Truly the race wasgoing to he a hotly contested one. But the end was far off yet.After the first jockeying f<strong>or</strong> a start <strong>and</strong> position, the race settled down intowhat might be termed a “grind.” <strong>The</strong> course was a large one, but so fav<strong>or</strong>ablewas the atmosphere that day, <strong>and</strong> such was the location of Eagle Park in agreat valley, that even on the far side of the great ellipse the contestants couldbe seen, dimly with the naked eye, but very plainly with glasses, with whichmany of the spectat<strong>or</strong>s were provided.Around <strong>and</strong> around they went, at no very great height, f<strong>or</strong> it was necessaryto make out the signals set up by the race officials, so that the contestants wouldknow when they were near the finish, that they might use the last atom of speed.So at varying heights the wonderful machines circled about the course.<strong>The</strong> Humming-Bird was w<strong>or</strong>king well, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Tom</strong> felt a sense of pride as hesaw the ground slipping away below him. He felt sure that he would win, evenwhen Alameda, the Spaniard, in the Antoinette, came creeping up on him, <strong>and</strong>even when Andy Foger, with a burst of speed, placed himself <strong>and</strong> his passengerin the lead.“I’ll catch him!” muttered <strong>Tom</strong>, <strong>and</strong> he opened the throttle a trifle wider,<strong>and</strong> went after Andy, passing him with ease.<strong>The</strong>y had covered about thirty miles of the course, when the humming <strong>and</strong>crackling of the wireless apparatus told <strong>Tom</strong> that a message was coming. Hesnapped the receiver to his ear, adjusting the outer covering to shut out theracket of the mot<strong>or</strong>, <strong>and</strong> listened.“Well?” asked Mr. Damon, as <strong>Tom</strong> took off the receiver.“Dad isn’t quite so well,” answered the lad. “Mr. Jackson says they havesent f<strong>or</strong> Dr. Hendrix again. But dad is game. He sends me w<strong>or</strong>d to go on <strong>and</strong>win, <strong>and</strong> I’ll do it, too, only—”<strong>Tom</strong> paused, <strong>and</strong> choked back a sob. <strong>The</strong>n he prepared to get m<strong>or</strong>e speedout of his mot<strong>or</strong>.“Of course you will!” cried Mr. Damon. “Bless my—!”But they encountered an adverse current of wind at that moment, <strong>and</strong> itrequired the attention of both of the aviat<strong>or</strong>s to manage the machine. It wassoon on an even keel again, <strong>and</strong> once m<strong>or</strong>e was shooting f<strong>or</strong>ward around thecourse.At times <strong>Tom</strong> would be in advance, <strong>and</strong> again he would have to give placeto the Curtis, the Farman, <strong>or</strong> the Santos-Dumont, as these speedy machines,fav<strong>or</strong>ed by a spurt from their mot<strong>or</strong>s, <strong>or</strong> by some current of air, shot ahead. But,in general, <strong>Tom</strong> maintained the lead, <strong>and</strong> among the spectat<strong>or</strong>s there began aseries of guesses as to how much he would win by.<strong>Tom</strong> glanced at the barograph. It registered a little over twelve hundredfeet. He looked at the speed gage. He was doing a trifle better than a hundredmiles an hour. He looked down at the signals. <strong>The</strong>re was twenty miles yet togo. It was almost time f<strong>or</strong> the spurt f<strong>or</strong> which he had been holding back. Yet