ap his chain
last night and we found him careening around the fields this morning.
Don't color up, my boy," for poor Roy's face had turned very red, as the
hired men guffawed loudly; "older men than you have been startled at far
less. And now, here's the farm, and I'll bet mommer has a fine breakfast
all ready for you."

The half-famished boy ate hungrily of the substantial farmhouse fare Mrs.
Ingalls provided for him, and as he ate he made inquiries about the
distance to the aviation grounds, which, he found to his dismay, were
further distant than he had imagined.

"I'll never be able to make it in time without an automobile," moaned Roy
to himself; "what shall I do?"

He cast about in his mind for some way out of his difficulty, but he
could find none. Nor could the farmer help him. There were no automobiles
in that part of the country, and in a horse-drawn vehicle he would never
be able to make it in time.

All at once a queer sound filled the air. The atmosphere seemed to
vibrate with it as it does on a still summer day when a threshing machine
is buzzing away in a distant field.

"Land o' Goshen, what's that?" cried Mrs. Ingalls running to the door.

"Lish! Lish! come here quick!" she shouted the next instant.

Followed by the old hermit and Roy, Mr. Ingalls ran to the door. But his
exclamations at the sight he saw were drowned by Roy's amazed cry:

"It's the Golden Butterfly!"

"An aeroplane!" shouted the farmer. "By gosh, she's like a pretty bird."

"It's my--our aeroplane," went on Roy; "who can be in it? Oh, if it's
only Peggy I may not be too late after all."

He ran out into the door yard of the farm house and, snatching off his
coat, began waving it desperately. Would the occupant of the aeroplane
see his frantic signals? With a beating heart Roy watched the winged
machine as it droned far above him.

All at once he gave a delighted shout. The aeroplane was beginning to
descend. Down it came in big circles, while the farmer, his wife and the
old hermit gazed open mouthed at it, as if half inclined to run.

But as it drew closer to the ground Roy noted a puzzling thing. A
helmeted and goggled person was driving it, evidently a boy or man and
not Peggy at all. Who could it be? For an instant a queer thought flashed
through his head. Possibly somebody had stolen it and was making off
across country with it so as to put it out of the race.

More and more rapidly the aeroplane began to drop as it