re not ten minutes behind your schedule,
as we have it in the London papers and also in our own Colombian
newspaper. My only regret is that you do not represent England instead
of America." He laughed good-naturedly as he made the last remark.

"It was quite a task for the governor and myself to get up at this
early hour to receive you, but the occasion is well worth the effort,"
observed Mr. Young, smiling. "Here we usually sleep very late, often
as late as nine o'clock. Even the Singhalese and Burghers are not yet
generally up from their beds, though those who work at the wharves have
appeared. If you had arrived a few hours later there would be
thousands of the population here to see you."

"We are well satisfied with the hour, then," said John. "The fewer
natives we have around the Sky-Bird, the better we like it, both for
working and taking off. How long has that other crew been in, sir?"

"Not more than a half-hour. They are taking on their fuel now, being
assisted by a couple of Burghers. They advised us that they would
probably remain here until noon, being tired from their long flight
from Aden. I don't know; why, but the slender man with the dark skin
and mustache particularly requested me to see that you knew this
intention of theirs."

The flyers thought this was rather strange. Why should the _Clarion's_
crew remain so long in Colombo, when their interests in the race
demanded as much time put into flying as possible? It was still more
incomprehensible what object they would have in wishing the Sky-Bird's
flyers to understand this intention, as by so doing our boys could make
their plans to gain a heavy lead.

It was too much of a puzzle for them to work out, so Bob and Paul,
aided by two Burghers (naturalized Europeans), went to work overhauling
the machine and storing fuel, while John and Tom made their way into
town with Sir Henry Hurst to transact their business. When they
returned they found the two younger members of their crew in a heated
discussion with the _Clarion_ fellows.

"What's the matter here, anyhow?" demanded John, as he and Tom pushed
their way through the little ring of natives who had gathered about the
principals.

"It's just this way," said Pete Deveaux, with a grin meant to be very
cool and indifferent, although his eyes roved uneasily; "We fellows
were working on our machine here, minding our own business, when these
two kids of yours came up and demanded to kno