h and hold on with all his might. He knew that the strap
passed about his body held him so firmly that he could not fall out.
Still, it shortened his breath and made his pulses bound, rather than
beat.

Up! up they went into the thinner air, the nose of the _Arrow_ again
turned toward the south. Lannes did not look back. His mind and soul
were absorbed in the flight of his machine, and his heart throbbed with
exaltation as he knew that it was flying beautifully. But he called upon
John to note the pursuers.

"They're curving up, too," said John. "They're very steady, and I think
they're still gaining."

"Daring men! Yes, the Germans have good flyers, and we'll have a hard
time in shaking them off. Still, we may lose them among the clouds."

"I think they're rising at a sharper angle than we are."

"Trying to get above us! Ah, I know what that means! Why did I not think
of it at first? We must not permit it! Never for a moment!"

"Why not?"

But Lannes did not reply. Apparently he had not heard him, and John did
not repeat the question.

"Watch! John! Watch!" said Lannes, "and tell me every movement of
theirs!"

"You can depend on me!"

The nose of the _Arrow_ was still tilted upward, and John knew that they
had come to a great height, as the cold struck to his very bones. The
air also was darker and damper, and he saw that they were in the region
of mists of vapors. Mentally he already used terms of land as terms of
the air. Before them lay banks of cloud which were the same as
mountains.

"One Taube is directly behind us and it seems to me a little higher," he
announced. "The other has cut off to the right and also a little higher,
if I see right."

"Then we must rise fast! We can't let them get above us!"

The nose of the _Arrow_ tilted up yet farther, and shot into colder and
darker regions. John saw mists and vapors below, but the earth was
invisible. He was truly hanging between a planet and the stars, and this
was the void, dark and thin, cold and infinite.

"Steady again!" said Lannes. "We're going to descend for a while."

The nose of the _Arrow_ dropped down many degrees, and then they seemed
to John to slide through space, although they slid like lightning. The
air felt damper and thicker, and the area of vision contracted fast.
They had plunged into a bank of vapor, and search as he would with both
eye and glass he could see no sign of the Taubes.

"We've lost them for the time at least,"