Ethel Morton at Chautauqua Part 26

Ethel Brown read from the _Daily_ at breakfast one morning.

"Don't I wish I could get it!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Roger.

"Or I!" "Or I!" "Or I!" came from Helen and Ethel Brown and Ethel Blue.

"It was d.i.c.ky's notion. He suggested it to Mr. Graham by asking him what the name of his bird was. He ought to give a prize to d.i.c.ky for putting the idea into his head," said Roger.

"Or to some member of d.i.c.ky's family who would enjoy the ride more,"

added Mr. Emerson slyly.

"What would be a good name for it?" wondered Mrs. Emerson.

"Hummer," said Roger. "It makes such a humming noise."

"Buzz-saw," suggested Grandfather Emerson.

"b.u.mble-bee," offered Mrs. Morton.

"Humming bird," suggested Helen.

"Swallow," "_Hirondelle_," cried both Ethels at once.

"_Hirondelle?_ That means 'swallow,'" translated Grandfather Emerson.

"You two had the same idea at the same moment."

"It's prettier than a noisy name," defended Ethel Brown.

"The swallow is prettier than the b.u.mble bee or the humming bird,"

defended Ethel Blue at the same moment. "I'd rather give the machine a name that made you think of its graceful motion rather than one that makes you think of its horrid noise."

"I withdraw 'Buzz-saw.' You've convinced me," said Mr. Emerson.

"Mr. Graham says here," Ethel Brown picked up the newspaper again, "that he'd like to have the suggestions sent him by mail and that he'll decide to-morrow, and that the prize will be a ride in his hydroplane."

"Me for pen and ink," shouted Roger as he rose promptly from the table.

"Let's send ours in together," said both Ethels at once.

They often spoke together in this way. It seemed as if their being constantly together made them think the same thoughts at the same time.

"We'll tell him that we called out Swallow and _Hirondelle_ at the same instant and so we're applying for the prize together, and we hope it will please him because it's the name of one of the most graceful birds there is and we think his airship is the most graceful one we ever saw."

"Perfectly true, considering it's the only one you ever saw," giggled Helen.

"Never mind," said Mrs. Morton soothingly. "Write him just that note and it will please him that you like his machine even if he doesn't care for the name you suggest."

Mrs. Morton had thought seriously about the possibility of one of the children's going up with Mr. Graham ever since the airman had come to the grounds. At first she had dismissed the thought as of something too dangerous for her to think of permitting. Then, as she watched Mr.

Graham day by day and saw his extreme care and learned from his mechanician that he never failed personally to test every wire and nut before he started out, she grew to have such confidence in him that she was almost as disappointed as Roger when she learned the fee for a fifteen minute trip in the air. Now there was at least a chance that some member of the family might have the opportunity, so she made no objection to the sending in of the suggestions.

There was a great writing of letters, a mighty flurry of envelopes, a loud calling for postage stamps, and a march in procession of the younger members of the household up the hill to the Post Office.

"Mr. Graham flies to Mayville every morning to carry a special bag of Chautauqua postcards to the mail there," said Roger. "Let's go to the hangar when he starts. He always brings the bag down the hill himself and perhaps he'll have his own mail at the same time and we can sit off on the dock somewhere and watch him open it."

"Oh, I don't think we'd better do that," said Ethel Blue shrinkingly.

"It would seem like intruding on him."

"Perhaps it might," agreed Roger. "The truth is, I'm so perfectly crazy to go up I'm losing my manners."

"Let's write postcards to Father and Uncle Richard, any way," suggested Ethel Brown. "You know they're stamped 'Aerial Delivery' or some such words and it will interest them awfully at Vera Cruz to know their mail started on its way to Mexico by airship."

They went into the writing room at the Post Office and prepared the special postcards, and had the pleasure of nodding to Mr. Graham when he came for the bag. They had slipped their own letters into the regular letter drop and they watched him receive a handful of personal letters, among which were their own, with a vivid interest because they felt that in a few hours their fate would be decided.

"I'm going to feel sorry if I don't get the prize," confessed Helen, "but not more than one of us can get it--unless he should take up the Ethels together because they're little--and I'll be glad if one of us has the chance to go."

"Me, too," said Roger stoutly. "But I wish he had an ark and could take the whole family."

"We needn't be so sure that a member of our family will take the prize,"

suggested Mrs. Morton when they came home. "There are one or two other families on the grounds and I've no doubt the poor man will regret his offer when he has to open his mail."

"He had some crop this morning," said Roger. "I dare say it will grow all day long."

It was the next day but one before the exciting question was decided.

Then Mr. Graham inserted a card in the _Daily_. Ethel Brown read it again at the breakfast table.

"'Mr. Graham desires to announce,'" she read, "'that two young ladies have suggested the name he has been most pleased with--Swallow and _Hirondelle_. He prefers the French form but he will be glad to discharge his obligations to both the persons who suggested practically the same name.'"

"It's _us_," murmured Ethel Blue, too surprised to speak aloud.

"'If Miss Ethel Brown Morton and Miss Ethel Blue Morton will be at the hangar at six o'clock this evening Mr. Graham will redeem his offer.'"

"Isn't it too wonderful!" gasped Helen.

"I'm glad of it," declared Roger bravely and he tweaked each Ethel's hair as he left the room.

"I'm almost sorry," whispered Ethel Blue; "Roger wants it so much."

Mrs. Morton smiled at her.

"You've won it fairly," she said. "We'll all be at the dock to see you go this afternoon."

There could not have been a better evening for a first flight. There was not a breath of air to cause any anxiety either to pa.s.sengers or to observers. The sun had sunk far enough for its rays not to be disturbing unless the aviator flew much higher than he was in the habit of doing.

The crowd on the sh.o.r.e was the only upsetting feature to rather timid girls.

"We mustn't mind them," whispered Ethel Blue.

"There's always something disagreeable about everything nice; this time it's the people," agreed Ethel Brown.

"They're kind and interested. Forget all about them," advised Mrs.

Morton.