"Well, if it is, maybe I'll get money enough to buy a new one," said Uncle Ezra. "Mind, I'm not saying for sure," he added, cautiously, "but maybe." "Why, how you talk!" cried Aunt Samantha. "That carpet ought to last us until we die! A new carpet! I never heard tell of such a thing! Never in all my born days! The idea!" Uncle Ezra chuckled grimly. It was clear that he was acting in a new role, and he was a surprise, even to himself. At last Aunt Samantha could stand the suspense no longer. One night, after a rather restless period, she awakened Uncle Ezra who had, most unusually, been talking in his sleep. "Ezra! Ezra! Wake up!" she demanded in a loud whisper, at the same time vigorously shaking him. "Eh! What is it? Burglars?" he asked, sitting up in bed. "No, Ezra. Nothin' like that!" "Oh, cats, eh? Well, if it's only cats go to sleep. I don't mind 'em." "No, Ezra, I didn't say cats. But you're talkin' in your sleep. That is, you were." "I was?" "Yes." "What'd I say?" and he seemed anxious. "Why you were talkin' a lot about flyin' in the air, and goin' up to the clouds, and bein' in a race, and winnin' twenty thousand dollars! Oh, Ezra, if you care for me at all, tell me what mystery this is!" she pleaded. "Did I say all that?" he asked, scratching his head. "Yes, and a lot more! You said something about an airship." "Humph! Well, that's it!" "What is?" "An airship! I might as well tell you, I reckon. I'm having one of them contraptions made." "What contraptions? Oh, Ezra!" "An airship," he answered. "I'm going to have one, and win a twenty thousand dollar prize from the government. Then I'll go into the airship business and sell 'em. I'll get rich, Samantha!" "Oh Ezra! Do you mean to say you're goin' in for any such foolishness as that?" "'Tain't 'foolish!" "'Tis so! And--and are you--are you goin' to go up in one of them things--them airships?" "Well, I reckon I might. It's my machine, and I'm not going to let them aviary fellers monkey too much with it unless I'm on board. They might bust something, and want me to pay for it. Yes, I reckon I'll do some flying myself." "Ezra Larabee!" cried his horror-stricken wife. "Be you plumb crazy?" "I hope not, Samantha." "But goin' up in an airship! Why it's flyin' in the face of Providence!" "Well, it'll be flying in the air, at the same time," he chuckled. Clearly this was a different Uncle Ezra than his wife had ever known. She sighed. "The idea!" Aunt Samantha murmured. "Goin' up in an airship. You'll fall and be killed, as sure as fate."