greasy."

"Don't worry, Deveaux," advised John quickly. "We won't feel bad over
a little thing like that."

"That your plane over there?" asked the swarthy fellow.

"That's it; quite a strong resemblance to yours here," said John with
cutting sarcasm.

"That's so," was Deveaux's comment, casting a quick look toward Mr.
Wrenn. Apparently he was as anxious to drop the subject as a chicken
would a red-hot kernel of corn, for he immediately observed, with an
ill-concealed sneer: "I suppose you guys think you're going to leave us
a good ways behind in this race?"

"We're not telling what we think," put in Paul; "but one thing is sure:
we're going to keep you hustling some."

"Oh, that's too bad, now, ain't it?" drawled Oliver Torrey, as he
leered out of one eye.

"Say, kid, we'll beat youse so bad you'll be squallin' before you're
half-way round the globe," put in Sam Lane.

"You bet! Ain't no use o' flying against such veterans as us,"
supplemented Chuck Crossman, with a wag of his frowsy head.

Mr. Wrenn frowned. While these might be his own men, it was hard to
countenance such bragging.

CHAPTER XV

THE START

By eleven o'clock the tanks of the Sky-Bird II had been filled with
gasoline and oil, and the radiator of each engine supplied with twelve
gallons of water. In addition to this, its crew had carefully gone
over every brace, control, bolt, and nut to make sure that everything
was tight, the engines had been run detached from the propeller for a
few minutes to warm them up, and every bearing not reached by the
lubricating system was well oiled by hand.

Mr. Giddings had appeared about an hour earlier, bringing with him the
two special correspondents of the _Daily Independent_, as well as
several other newspaper men representing various prominent foreign
publications. As soon as our boys had finished shaking hands with
these, they were introduced to a number of well-known Government
officials and aviation representatives, who added their good wishes for
the success of the big undertaking. Then came Mr. Wrenn with a party
of his own distinguished friends, which called for more hand-shaking.

At twelve-fifteen the rival machines were pushed out of the hangar and
took up positions in the field, ready for the signal to "hop." At
twelve-fifty both crews, with the exception of their respective
crankers-up, entered their machines, and a heavy hush fell over the
great crowd which had assembled