gracefully to earth, a short distance away from his eccentric friend.
"Whew!" gasped the young inventor, as he leaped from his seat. "That was a scary time while it lasted."
"I should say so!" agreed Ned.
"Bless my straw hat!" cried Mr. Damon? "What happened? Did you lose control of her, Tom."
"No, the deflecting rudder got jammed, and I couldn't move it. I must look and see what's the matter."
"I thought it was all up with you," commented Mr. Damon, as he followed Tom and Ned to the front end of the craft, where the deflecting mechanism was located.
Tom glanced quickly over it. His quick eye caught something, and he utered an exclamation.
"Look!" the young inventor cried. "No wonder it jammed!" and from a copper sleeve, through which ran the wire that worked the rudder, he pulled a small iron bolt. "That got between the sleeve and the wire, and I couldn't move it," he explained. "But when I pulled hard I loosened it."
"How did it fall in there?" asked Ned.
"It didn't fall there," spoke Tom quietly. "It was put there."
