e smashed plane again.

"Nothing so very much, I think; but I seem to be all twisted up in this
broken gear, and can hardly move," came the answer.

Tom secretly hoped it was not a broken arm or leg instead. He started to
feel around, and soon managed to get the other free from the broken ends
of the wire stays that had somehow hindered his escape. Together they
crawled out, to find Lieutenant Beverly feeling himself all over as if
trying to discover what the extent of his damages were.

"Try to see if you've been injured any way seriously, Jack," begged his
anxious chum, still unconvinced.

An investigation disclosed the marvelous fact that all of them had
managed to come through the smashing landing with but a small amount of
damage. When this was ascertained without any doubt Jack started to
prance around, unable to contain himself within bounds.

"Excuse me if I act a little looney, fellows!" he begged. "Fact is, I'm
just keyed up to topnotch and something will give way unless I let off
steam a bit."

With that he yelled and laughed and cheered until his breath gave out.
Neither of the others felt any inclination to try to stop his antics.
Truth to tell, they were tempted to egg Jack on, because he was really
expressing in his own fashion something of the same exultation that all
of them felt.

The great flight had been carried through, and here they were landed on
the soil of America, three young aviators who but a few days before had
been serving their country on the fighting-front in Northern France. Yes,
the Atlantic had been successfully bridged by a heavier-than-air plane,
and from the time of leaving France until this minute their feet had not
once pressed any soil; for that ice-pack in mid-Atlantic could not be
counted against them, since it too was nothing but congealed water.

"But the poor old bomber! It's ruined, Colin, I'm afraid," Jack finally
managed to say, when he sank down from his exertions.

"That's a small matter," Beverly assured him. "The main thing is that we
did what we set out to do, and proved that the dream of all real airmen
could be made to come true. We may live to see a procession of monster
boats of the air setting out for over-seas daily, carrying passengers, as
well as mail and express matter."

"Yes," said Tom gravely, and yet with a pardonable trace of pride in
voice and manner, "the Atlantic has been conquered, and saddled, and
bridled, like any wild broncho of the pl