e come down any other way? Ain't much to 'em, is
there, 'ceptin' sticks an' cloth."

"The engine weighs several hundred pounds."

"Gee shoo! Several hundred pounds! Say, if thet's so, it's great how
they kin stay up!" burst out the farmer in admiration. "Ain't no bird as
weighs as much as thet!"

As they advanced through the woods, all of the party looked to the right
and the left for some sign of the missing biplane.

"Here's a tree top down!" cried Tom, when they were close to the river
on which the old saw mill was located. "This looks as if it might have
been done by the machine."

"Gracious, I wonder if the airship went into the river!" burst out Sam.

"That might be a good thing, if it did," answered Dick. "It might save
it from being wrecked, and we might be able to tow it ashore."

In a moment more they came to a halt at the edge of the river, which was
broad and smooth at this point. In the middle the stream was ten to
twelve feet deep, and the bottom was of sand and smooth rocks.

"I don't see anything that looks like a flying machine," said Sam after
a long look around.

"Maybe after all it went over into the woods on the other side,"
returned Dick.

"That must be it," said Peter Marley. "I'm afraid we'll have to go up
the stream a bit to get across. We can't ford here."

"How far to a good ford?" asked Dick.

"About quarter o' a mile tudder side o' the old mill."

"Say, look over there!" cried Tom at this moment. "What does that look
like to you, Sam?"

He pointed with his hand, and all in the party gazed in the direction
indicated, a point close to the opposite shore, where some brushwood
overhung the river.

"Why that looks to me like one of the planes of the flying machine!"
cried the youngest Rover.

"Just what I thought," exclaimed Tom. "What do you say, Dick?"

"It certainly does look like one of the planes," answered the older
brother. "But don't be too sure, or we may be disappointed."

"Too bad we can't get over here," murmured Sam. "Supposing I swim it?"
he continued.

"No, don't bother, Sam," replied Dick. "We'll all go around by way of
the ford. You can't do anything alone anyway."

"But I might make sure if it was the machine," insisted Sam.

"Never mind; we want to get over there anyway--to continue the
search--if that isn't the machine."

Again Peter Marley led the way, along a trail that ran past the old
mill. The boys came close at his heels, and as they advanced