strongest eyes now could see the second group of three, the first pair
was far out of sight.

With Anton carefully measuring the angle of altitude and giving Tom the
figures in a low voice, Tom, watching the registering apparatus on the
reel, suddenly announced:

"Two miles up!"

The reel rattled merrily as the line was paid out, the brake keeping it
at exactly a uniform pressure under Tom's skillful guiding.

"Two miles and a half!"

The crowd began to press around the reel. Nothing was visible in the
air, now, nothing but a thin piece of wire leading up into the sky. Had
no one known that the kites were there, high above the clouds, it would
have seemed like black magic. Some of the superstitious negroes began to
mutter among themselves.

"Three miles!"

The boys yelled in delight.

"Up with her, Tom!" cried Fred.

"It's the amateur world's record!" announced the Forecaster.

The words were scarcely out of his lips when there came a sudden sharp
crack. The kite-wire snapped close by the reel and as it curled on
itself the coils appeared to run up into the sky.

"Gone! My kites are gone!" cried Tom, and a perfect howl of
disappointment went up from all the boys.

"Gone!" cried the Forecaster, "of course they're gone, but we're going
after them!"

Throwing himself on the back of an old mule which a darky had ridden to
the kite ground, he started full tilt after the disappearing wire, the
whole membership of the League streaming at his heels.

CHAPTER VI

DEFEATING THE FROST

Out across fields and woods, the Forecaster leading on the old mule, the
boys followed the direction of the kite. Bob's pocket compass held them
true to their course and Tom's keen sense told of any shift of the wind.
The boys ran fast, the mule ran faster, and Lassie and Rex ran faster
still. Only Anton, the crippled lad, had stayed behind.

Midway up the first hill, Fatty dropped out. His intentions were good,
but he was no match for the others in running. Monroe, the athlete of
the group, was swinging along in light springy strides; Bob, the silent,
ran heavily and mechanically; while Tom, eager for the recovery of his
kites, kept to the front with the other two.

The Forecaster checked his mule and let the boys come up to him.

"It's no use trying to outrace the kites, boys," he said, "they're
dropping in any case. But as they were three miles up, they were also
three miles to leeward, and as they won't fall like