tter
than she did coming here."

"Still, our rivals will have some advantage over us," argued Tom.

"That's true--in the way of a lighter machine. But we've shown we
could outspeed them when the Sky-Bird was all right, and now we ought
to be about an even match for them," said John.

"That means a nip-and-tuck race of it, then, the rest of the way,"
commented Paul.

At this point a bright idea struck Bob. "Say, fellows," he cried, "why
can't we send a wire message from here to Mr. Giddings at Panama, and
ask him to have a fast vessel drop a tank of helium off at Nukahiva,
Marquesas Islands, for us?"

His comrades slapped Bob so hard upon the back when he made this
suggestion that he had to stagger.

"Fine idea, Bob!" declared John. "A fast boat ought to reach Nukahiva
before we do, and that will give us a full load of helium again for the
last four or five thousand miles of the race. If it's a close contest
up to that point, the new supply may save the day for us!"

They now set to work equalizing the gas supply in the wings of the
Sky-Bird and reducing that in the fuselage to the proper pressure for
perfect equilibrium, which they were able to get by the use of the
pressure-gauge and a little figuring. Then they went over all parts of
the machine, put in gasoline and oil, and attended to watering the
radiators, following which Paul and Bob departed for town.

As in Georgetown, they created a vast interest, and were considerably
annoyed by the crowds of natives which followed at their heels, many of
whom carried baskets of fruit on their heads and constantly importuned
them to buy some of their wares. Even in the windows of the houses
they passed women holding naked babies, who stared out at them, and in
the doorways stood girls, some of them beautifully gowned in silks,
their dark hair falling like a shower about their comely nut-brown
faces, while their eyes opened wide in wonder or dropped in abashment
when they saw one of the handsome young Americans look their way.

Para is directly on the equatorial line. It is also the metropolis of
the mighty Amazon, the king of all the world's rivers, whose width here
at its mouth is close to two hundred miles, and which carries into the
Atlantic so much mud from the interior of South America that it is said
the waters of that ocean are stained yellow for five hundred miles
outward. This mighty stream is formed by countless mountain creeks and
rivers draining