way before. What is it, old boy?" he asked soothingly.

Grit whined uneasily.

"Sometimes animals have premonitions," said Mr. Vardon. "I remember
once, in my early days of flying, I took a dog up with me.

"Everything seemed to be going along fine, but the dog showed signs of
uneasiness, though it wasn't on account of the height, for he'd been up
before. But it wasn't five minutes later before one of my propeller
blades broke off, and I nearly turned turtle before I could make a
landing."

"I hope nothing like that occurs now," said Larry. "It might make a
good story, but it would be a mighty uncomfortable feeling."

"I don't anticipate anything," said the aviator. "We seem to be doing
very well. But we are making scarcely any progress, and we are being
blown considerably off our course."

"We'll make it up when the wind stops," Dick said. "I'm determined to
win that prize!"

"This is a peculiar storm," Lieutenant McBride observed. "It seems to
be nothing but wind. I'm inclined to think there had been an area of
low pressure about this region, caused possibly by some other storm,
and the air from another region is now rushing in, filling up the
partial vacuum."

"In that case we might try to rise above it," suggested Mr. Vardon.
"I've often done that. We could go up. It would not be advisable to
go down any lower, as we don't want to run the risk of colliding with
any mountains, and we are getting pretty well to the Northwest now.
Suppose we try to go up?"

This was agreed on as a wise plan, and Dick, who was taking his turn at
the wheel, shifted the rudder to send his craft up on a long slant.

But now a new difficulty arose. It seemed that the change in angle
made a heavier wind pressure on the big planes, and the speed of the
airship was reduced to a bare ten miles an hour. In fact she seemed
almost stationary in the air, at times.

"This won't do!" cried Dick. "We've got to turn on more power, even if
we do strain the machinery. We've got to have more speed than this!"

"That's right!" cried Mr. Vardon. "I'll turn 'em up, Dick."

And with the increased speed of the big motor that was whirling the
propellers came increased danger of a break. Vigilance was redoubled,
and they had their reward for their care.

"Here's something wrong!" cried Innis, as he passed a small dynamo that
supplied current for the electric lights. "A hot bearing!" and he
pointed to where one was smoking.

"