antic above them! Below them shone the sun! The direction of up and
down was changed by the terrific speed! The needle of the speedometer
was wavering at 7.8 miles a second. Now it held steady!

"I thought you were going to take it up to eight miles a second, Dick?"

"Air resistance is too great! I'll have to go higher!"

At a height of fifty miles they continued at 8.1 miles a second. It
seemed hours before they reached the spot where the pirate's machine
should be flying directly above them, and they searched the black sky
for some sign of the shining dot of light. With the aid of field glasses
they found it, far ahead, and nearly one hundred miles above.

"Well, here we go! I'm going to fall up the hundred miles or so, till
we're right in his path; the work done against gravity will slow us down
a little, so I'll have to use the power units somewhat. Did you notice
what I did to them?"

"Yes, they're painted a dull black. What's the idea?"

"We'll have no air from which to get heat for power out here, so we'll
have to depend on the sunlight they can absorb. I'm using it now to slow
us down as much as possible."

At last the tiny silver dot had grown till it became recognizable as the
pirate plane. They were drawing up to it now, slowly, but steadily. At
last the little machine was directly beneath them, and a scant hundred
yards away. They had long since been forced to run the machine on the
storage batteries, and now they applied a little power to the vertical
power units. Sluggishly, as they absorbed the sun's heat, the machine
was forced lower, nearer to the machine below. At last a scant ten feet
separated them.

"All right, Morey."

There was a snap, as the temporary switch was closed, and the current
surged into the big magnet on the keel. At once they felt the ship jump
a little under the impulse of the magnet's pull on the smaller machine.
In a moment the little plane had drifted up to the now idle magnet,
touched it and was about to bounce off, when Morey again snapped the
switch shut and the two machines were locked firmly together!

"I've got him, Dick!" Morey exclaimed. "Now slow down till it falls.
Then we can go and wait for it. Being a glider, it ought to be quite
manageable!"

Now the energy of the power units on the roof of the machine began to
slow down the two machines, the magnet grinding slightly as the momentum
of the plane was thrust upon it. They watched the speedometer drop. The