distances with his eye. "We are up pretty high, and can cover a
tremendous range, you know, so we first glimpsed the lake when we were a
long ways off. It may be all of forty miles away right now; and as we
must be clipping along at the rate of eighty, with the breeze favorable
behind us, why, half an hour ought to see us there."

Andy fell silent again.

Many times did his eyes travel from the distant water to the earth below
them; and then follow this up with an uneasy stare at the other
aeroplane that was flying along far ahead of them. The whole solution of
the problem of course lay in the hands of the man who controlled the
destinies of that stolen biplane. Would he really have the nerve to
attempt a flight across that great body of fresh water, aiming to land
on foreign shores, from which he could not easily be extradited?

Frank seemed to think that such was undoubtedly the intention of Casper
Blue, the little man who had been actor, aviator, and yeggman in turn,
during the course of his adventurous life.

He had already proven beyond any doubt that he was a capable airman,
even though he did have a crippled arm. Never had the Bird boys seen an
aeroplane handled with more extraordinary skill and dash than was the
one that had been stolen from the hangar of Percy Carberry.

No, unless something unexpected happened to disturb the plans of the
fugitive yeggmen inside the next half hour, they plainly meant to launch
out on a voyage across the lake, possibly thousands of feet above its
surface, and perhaps among the very clouds.

Not once did Andy dream of asking his cousin whether in this event he
considered it the part of wisdom for them to follow the men who were
doubly risking their lives in this mad effort to escape with their
booty.

He knew Frank only too well to doubt his willingness to undertake such a
trip as this. In times gone by, and especially when they were down in
South America with their aeroplane, seeking Professor Bird, who had been
lost, with the balloon in which he was conducting experiments on the
isthmus, they had bravely faced just as serious perils as this promised
to be; yes, and wrenched victory from the jaws of apparent defeat more
than once.

Hence, it was a foregone conclusion that if Casper Blue attempted the
difficult feat of flying across the lake, after being in the air several
long hours, the two Bird boys were determined to keep following after
him. It seemed like a game