t he was willing to stand by his
former agreement to allow the _Independent_ to select the route, and
said it was entirely satisfactory to him, and that he would at once
take steps to have fuel supplies on hand at the various airports for
his crew when they should arrive. He made no comments as to his own
airplane, but agreed that the advertising plan his caller had worked
out was a capital one, stating that he would co-operate heartily with
him in carrying it to a successful conclusion.

Mr. Giddings was considerably surprised that Mr. Wrenn made no
objection to the longest "hops" on the route, which were of greater
extent than the average airplane could make, and was ready to modify
the arrangement if there had been any objection. But even when he
particularly called this matter to the other publisher's attention, Mr.
Wrenn only smiled serenely, saying, "Those hops are perfectly
satisfactory to us," leaving Mr. Giddings with a deep wonderment as to
what sort of aircraft the _Clarion_ proposed using.

"I am under the impression that our contemporary has something up his
sleeve, but I cannot conceive what it can be," Mr. Giddings confided to
his son that evening upon reaching home; and when Bob repeated this to
the Ross boys and Tom Meeks next day, they too began to wonder more
than ever what type of an airplane the _Clarion_ proposed using against
them, and who the crew might be.

"Did your father and Mr. Wrenn decide upon a date for the start?" asked
Paul.

"Yes," replied Bob; "they made it the 20th of July, this summer,
weather permitting. We start from Panama at one o'clock in the
afternoon."

"Our curiosity as to the identity of our competitors will be satisfied
then, at least," laughed John.

"And their curiosity, too!" put in Tom. "I'll stake my last cent
they're just as much in the dark about us and the Sky-Bird II as we are
about their outfit."

"We'll hope so, anyhow," remarked Bob; "but ever since we had those
blue-prints stolen, and found we had a stranger sneaking around the
hangar, I've been uneasy."

At this reference, all the young men felt a strange oppression. They
had talked over it more than once, and each time it had left them with
a sense of peril to their interests, why they could not tell. As
before, they now tried to laugh it off, and began to talk about other
subjects.

There was still considerable to do in the way of preparing the Sky-Bird
and themselves for the long trip, a