s discovered.

"The fire is scattered!" Dick yelled, as he rose up and took another
look in the motor-room. "I guess it was only that little tank of
gasolene that went up." Afterward this was found to be so.

The blazing liquid, however, had scattered all about the motor
compartment. Fortunately the walls were of steel, so that the fiery
stuff could burn itself out without doing much damage.

"More extinguishers!" yelled Dick, as he saw the spots of fire about
the motor. "First thing we know, some of the insulation will be burned
off, and we'll have a short circuit!"

The motor-room was almost free of smoke now, and there were only a few
scattered spots of fire. Standing in the entrance, Dick threw the
contents of several extinguishers inside, as they were passed to him,
and he had the satisfaction of seeing the flames gradually choked by
the chemical fumes thus released.

"Now I guess we're all right," said Mr. Vardon, when no more fire could
be seen. "And the marvel of it is that our motor never stopped!"

"That's the one thing that saved us from making another descent--our
last," murmured Dick. "That's sure some motor, all right."

But they were congratulating themselves too soon, it seemed. For,
hardly had Dick spoken than the monotonous whine of the powerful
machine seemed to weaken in tone. It died out--the high note sunk to a
low one, and gradually went out.

"What's up now?" asked Paul, peering over Dick's shoulder. The motor
compartment was still too hot to enter with safety, and it was also
filled with acrid vapor, from the extinguishers.

"I--I'm afraid it's going to stop," gasped Dick, for he was out of
breath from his exertions, and from the excitement of the occasion.

"Stop!" cried Paul. "If she does we'll have to go down!"

And stop the motor did. There was a sort of final groan or gasp, as if
of apology, and then the wheels stopped revolving and the big
propellers outside the cabin, which had been forcing the craft onward,
gradually ceased their motion.

"Quick?" shouted Mr. Vardon. "Throw on the self-starter, Dick! We may
catch her before she loses all her momentum!"

"All right!" answered Dick. He made one jump to the switch that put
into commission the electrical starter. But he was too late to "catch"
the motor. It had died down, and, though the young millionaire made
contact after contact with the copper knife-switch, there was no
response.

"We're falling!" cried I