could not
master the overbalanced machine.

"He is lost!" breathed Roy, every nerve athrill.

And then the next minute:

"Cracky! He's got it. No, he's falling again--ah!"

There was a note of horror in the exclamation. The aeroplane in front
of Roy dived wildly, then fairly somersaulted. The strain was too great.
A wing parted.

"It's the end of him!" exclaimed Roy, in a whisper.

Down shot the broken aeroplane with the velocity of lightning. It just
dodged the trees on the little island and then it plunged into the lake,
first spilling Speedwell out. Then down on top of him came the smother
of canvas, wood and wires.

"He'll be suffocated if I don't go to his rescue," murmured Roy; "it
will put me out of the race, but I must save him."

There was a clear spot on the island, and toward this the boy dived. In
the meantime men were putting out from shore in a small boat. But the
boy knew that they could not reach the unfortunate Speedwell in time to
save his life.

Roy made a clever landing on the island and then lost no time in wading
out to the half floating, half submerged wreckage. In the midst of it
lay Speedwell. Roy dragged him ashore. The man's face was purple, his
limbs limp and lifeless and he choked gaspingly. Another minute in the
water would have been his last, as Roy realized.

He did what he could for the man, rolling him on his face to get out the
water he had swallowed. By this time the boat from the shore landed on
the island. The two men got out.

"Is he alive?" they asked of Roy.

"Yes, and he'll get better, too, I guess. Lucky he fell in the water. No
limbs are broken."

"Well, you're a pretty decent sort of fellow to get out of the race to
help an injured man," said one of the men.

"Well, I'll leave him to you now," rejoined Roy; "is there a hospital
near here?"

"There's one 'bout a mile away. We can phone for an ambulance."

"Good! Well, good-bye."

With a whirr and a buzz the boy was gone, and speedily became a speck in
the sky.

In the meantime the aviation field was in an uproar. Dashing toward it
had come the two leading aeroplanes. From dots in the sky no bigger than
shoe buttons they speedily became manifest as two aeroplanes aquiver
with speed. Blue smoke poured from their exhausts. Evidently the two
aviators were straining their craft to the utmost.

"It's that Cuban woman and the young girl flyer!" yelled a man who had a
pair of field glasses.

The uproar red