s again.
Suddenly a bright glare shot up against the night from below, and a
little ahead of them. It died down almost instantly, only to flash up
once more.

"Gid Gibbons's forge!" exclaimed Roy. "Let's fly over by there and see
what he's doing."

"All right," agreed Peggy; "ever since my visit there I have felt a great
interest in Mr. Gibbons. But we'll have to make haste, there's some wind
coming before long."

The girl was right. A filmy mist, like a veil, had spread over the stars,
dimming their bright lamps, and a wind was beginning to sigh in the trees
under them.

But they had not reached Gid Gibbons's place, or rather a location above
it, when an astonishing thing happened. From the ground a red light and a
green light set at some distance apart began to rise. Up and up they
climbed through the night in long, swinging circles. Between them was
dimly visible the dark outlines of some fabric.

"An aeroplane!" cried the boy and girl, simultaneously.

"Fan Harding's aeroplane!" cried Peggy, an instant later.

"And--oh, Roy--it can fly!" she added, admiringly.

"No doubt of that," was the rather grudging reply, as the red and green
lights soared up and up.

"Keep clear of it, sis, we don't want a collision," warned Roy.

"Oh, I'd like to get close and see it," breathed Peggy. "I never would
have credited Fan Harding with being able to do it."

"Nor I," exclaimed Roy, his dislike of Fan Harding giving place to
admiration--genuine admiration--of the other's ingenuity.

"Well, he's beaten me out at my own particular specialty," he exclaimed
presently, after an interval in which the lights had climbed far above
the Golden Butterfly. "That's a better machine than ours, Peg."

"I guess we'll have to admit that," rejoined the girl, with a sigh. "I
wonder if he'll enter for the prize?"

"Of course. With a craft like that he'd be foolish if he didn't. Odd that
he's trying it out at night, though."

"I suppose he wants to keep secret what it can do and then spring it on
an astonished world," rejoined Peggy. "Good gracious!" she broke off
hurriedly.

The aeroplane had given a sudden lurch, and at the same instant a sharp
puff of wind struck them both in the face. Peggy's hands fairly flashed
among her levers, and she averted what might have been a bad predicament.

Involuntarily, at the same instant, Roy had glanced up at the other
aeroplane to see how it was faring. To his astonishment the lights did
not