"Oh, yes," exclaimed the rancher, unable to restrain a short laugh. "How about that, Hawke?"
"He's right," responded the aviator, slapping his young pupil on the back. "He's got the dope exactly."
"Yes, but a good deal depends on the operator," chipped in Fly, who was ambitious to excel as an aviator, and could scarcely wait until the machine was finished to try his hand.
"I'm working on the box-girder," said Dunk, feeling called upon to give an account of himself.
"What's that," asked Mr. Phipps indulgently.
"It's the part that really bears the greatest weight--a sort of a beam with the weight in the center, fixed so it bears the load equally distributed. You can see one on Hawke's model."
"And one of the important things," said Jerry, not to be outdone, "is to build the plane so the guy wires remain taut, and the main spars, ribs and struts are properly placed."
"Yes, and then we have to remember to build it as light as we can and as strong as we can," put in Gray. "We want to go fast, but we don't want accidents, so we can't make it as light as we'd like. Oftentimes we have to make a part heavier to be sure it's strong enough."
Other technical information was glibly imparted when Captain Crawford dropped in occasionally. Dr. Rivers also paid the shop frequent visits, while the ladies did not neglect to show an interest in the work.
In fact, everyone in and about the fort shared the enthusiasm of the young aviators, and the aeroplane got to be the most important topic of conversation. Hawke was obliged to put a sign on the door of the shop: "NO ADMITTANCE," in order to keep away the soldiers, Greasers, loafers, and even Indians who had a habit of dropping in and interrupting the work.
About eight days after construction started they were ready for a hangar. As Mr. Phipps sent over two of his idle Greasers to erect this, work on the aeroplane was not stopped. The shed was erected just north of the machine shop, facing the old parade grounds, which was an ideal spot for the first try-out.
"I'm anxious to test my new feature of equalizing the stress and distribution of weight," Hawke explained to Mr. Phipps, who had come over with the Greasers. "I want to be able to carry all of the boys, if possible, and this is a difficult feat, for the greater the number of passengers carried the greater is the tax on the stability of the machine. The boys have shown such unusual ability in carrying out my ideas, however, that I think I am going to be able to perfect the device and prove its efficiency in a flight or two."