ld soon leave on their long flight.

"Oh, so they are! I hardly thought they'd come down," observed Paul,
as he waved to the three pretty girls with whom they had danced the
night before.

"I wish we were going with you!" cried Mabel, as she greeted Dick.

"Oh, Mabel! You do not!" rebuked Irene.

"Well, I just do!" was the retort. "It's so stupid just staying at a
summer resort during the hot weather."

"We'll come back, after we win the prize, and do the 'aeroplane glide'
with you," promised Innis.

"Will you?" demanded Irene. "Remember now, that's a promise."

Final arrangements were made, and everything was in readiness for the
start for the Pacific. The army officers had inspected the craft, and
congratulated the young owner and the builder on her completeness.

"Well, good-bye, girls," said Dick, as he and his chums shook hands
with their friends who had come to see them off. The aviators took
their places in the cabin. A hasty inspection showed that everything
was in readiness.

"Well, here we go!" murmured Dick.

He turned the switch of the electric starter, and, an instant later,
the Abaris shot forward over the ground, rising gracefully on a long,
upward slant.

Then Dick, who was at the steering wheel, headed his craft due West.

From the parade ground below them came cheers from the army men and
other spectators, the shrill cries of the three girls mingling.

"I wonder what will happen before we dance with them again?" spoke
Paul, musingly.

"You can't tell," answered Innis, as he looked down for a last sight of
a certain pretty face.

"Well, we can only hit the ground twice between here and San
Francisco," remarked Dick, as he turned on more power. "If we have to
come down the third time--we lose the prize."

"We're not going to lose it!" asserted Mr. Vardon, earnestly.

Of course there were many more entrants for the prize than Dick
Hamilton. Two airships had started that morning before he got off in
his craft, and three others were to leave that afternoon. One
prominent birdman from the West was due to start the next day, and on
the following two from the South were scheduled to leave. There were
also several well-known foreigners who were making a try for the fame,
honor and money involved.

But this story only concerns Dick Hamilton's airship, and the attempt
of himself, and his Uncle Ezra, to win the prize, and I have space for
no more than a mere mention of the other c