THE STOLEN FLYING-MACHINE "You vas a vonder-child!" said Herr Schlugst.

"You know dat machine as good as me!" And his goggle eyes stared out of his round, good-natured face at Hildebrand Anne in a wondering admiration.
"Yes; I think I have got the hang of her," said Hildebrand Anne with some pride, looking up at the great cigar-shaped balloon which hung motionless in the still air.
"Vat for do dey call thee Tinkar?
You vas not look like a tinkar; and you vas not haf--do not haf de tinkar brain." "Well, I've been called Tinker ever since I can remember; and one name's as good as another," said Hildebrand Anne indifferently.

"But you'll let me cross over to Paris with you to-morrow, won't you ?" "I vill not! I vill not! Dere is de danger! De great danger! We must vant de calm dat ees dead! I take no von vith me but mine own self! And I vas not vould go, not for nodings; but I vas vant de tousand pounds.

Dere is my leetle girl to be lived and educate." "But I do so want to be one of the first to cross the Channel in a flying-machine," said Tinker plaintively.
"Ach, to be vurst! to be vurst! Dat is you English top and toe! Do I vas hunt de orchid to be vurst discoverer?
Not mooch.

I hunt him for money.