"Well, I felt I just had to come, Dick, after all you wrote and telegraphed me," replied Mr. Hamilton. "I thought we could do better by having a talk than by correspondence. But, I tell you, frankly, I don't approve of what you are going to do." Dick's chums looked curiously at him. "I may as well confess," laughed the young millionaire, "I'm thinking of buying an airship, fellows." "Whew!" whistled Paul. "That's going some, as the boys say," commented Innis. "Tell us all about it." "I will," said Dick, frankly. "It's been on my mind the last few days, and--" "So that's been your worry!" interrupted Paul. "I knew it was something, but I never guessed it was that. Fire ahead." "Ever since your cousin came here, Innis, in his craft, and since the colonel has arranged for aviation instruction, I've been thinking of having an airship of my own," Dick resumed. "I wrote to dad about it, but he didn't seem to take to the idea very much." "No, I can't say that I did," said Mr. Hamilton, decidedly. "I consider it dangerous." "It's getting more safe every day, Dad. Look how dangerous automobiling was at the start, and yet that's nearly perfect now, though of course there'll always be accidents. But I won't go in for this thing, Dad, if you really don't want me to." "Well, I won't say no, and I'll not say yes--at least not just yet," said Mr. Hamilton slowly. "I want to think it over, have a talk with some of these 'birdmen' as you call them, and then you and I'll consider it together, Dick. That's why I came on. I want to know more about it before I make up my mind." Mr. Hamilton became the guest of the colonel, as he had done on several occasions before, and, in the following days, he made as careful a study of aviation as was possible under the circumstances. He also had several interviews with Mr. Vardon. "Have you decided to let your son have an airship of his own?" the colonel asked, when the millionaire announced that he would start for New York the following morning. "Well, I've been thinking pretty hard about the matter," was the answer. "I hardly know what to do. I'm afraid it's only another one of Dick's hare-brained ideas, and if he goes in for it, he'll come a cropper. "And, maybe, on the whole, it wouldn't be a bad idea to let him go in for it, and make a fizzle of it. It would be a good lesson to him, though I would certainly regret, exceedingly, if he were even slightly injured. "On the other hand Dick is pretty lucky. He may come out all right. I suppose he'll go in and try to win some prizes at these aviation meets they hold every once in a while." "Yes, there are to be several," spoke the colonel. "I heard something about the government offering a big prize for a successful trans-continental flight--from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but I know nothing of the details."