aid Paul Ross, who was at the throttle; "we
can catch them when we're ready. We'll get a better current of air up
here."

Paul's maneuver had been due to the fact that heavy head-winds were
blowing, and he was quite sure if he went higher he would get above the
worst of these.

As they now shot along on an even keel, it seemed hard to realize that
they had at last started out on the important flight for which they had
been planning and working so long; and as Paul watched his instruments
and the scudding rival machine ahead, he could not help wondering what
the issue of it all might be--if the fates would be so kind as to smile
enough on the Sky-Bird to bring her in ahead of the _Clarion_ and
within schedule time. Many weary miles must be covered before they
would see Panama again. And when they would land in that air-drome
again--if in truth they ever did!--would it be as victors, or as
listeners to the jeers of the rough crew of the other plane?

It was not an ideal day for the start from a weather standpoint. In
fact, a consultation of the weather reports at the Panama Bureau before
they left had shown a prophecy of strong northeasterly winds and
possible showers. The sun was almost shut out by patches of cloud,
glinting through only occasionally; but neither crew had felt like
postponing the start, so eager were they to be off and so confident
were they in the capabilities of their respective machines to meet
almost any sort of bad weather.

Straight along the Isthmus both machines proceeded, making a bee-line
for Georgetown, which it was hoped to reach at daylight. The coastline
was low along here and very uneven, with numerous pretty little islands
on the Pacific side, the waters surrounding them sparkling like jewels
when the sun's rays would struggle through the clouds and strike the
tossing waves.

In the northern part of the Republic of Colombia they passed just to
the right of the western terminal range of the great Andes Mountains,
and within an hour's time were sailing through Quindiu Pass of the
central arm of the same mountains. At this time they were over twelve
thousand feet above sea-level. Then came the table-lands of western
Venezuela, open in places and covered with thick growths of tropical
forests in others.

As they approached the foothills of the eastern chain or arm of the
mountains, Paul took the throttle, and they steadily arose in order to
clear the high pinnacles facing them