Only for a second did Terry lose hope of victory. There was a sputtering of the engine that her trained ear heard. It sent a chill to her heart. Her hand shook. She gave a frantic glance back to see if Prim had heard that menacing sound. And that one look showed her a clear space in the dark masses.
The storm was passing. Terry held to the controls, praying that the engine would hold out until the wind ceased.
Suddenly Terry was able to put her plane into a steep climb that brought her above the storm. Coming out of that black cloud Terry saw Allan’s plane ahead of her. She followed it, her heart singing for joy. A mist came to her eyes as she realized that it was only by a miracle that both planes had gone through the storm and survived.
Terry signalled with the wings of her plane and was answered in the same manner. She followed Allan's lead, hoping that her engine would not go back on her. At intervals she heard a sputter that terrified her, but now the sky was clearing. She felt hopeful.
Allan finally headed east. This was strange. Terry looked at her compass and a frown came to her face. What was Allan doing? He was going far out of his way. At last she understood. Away in the distance was an island. He was going to land. She wondered if he were having engine trouble.
Terry did not dare to open her throttle wide. Any extra strain might be her undoing. But, as she neared the small island the plane ahead banked, circled and signalled, then went into a dive for landing on the far side of the island.
Terry tried to follow but the engine was sputtering once more. She made a long dive which brought her amphibian into the water at the near side of the island. There was a broad strip of sand and Terry sent her plane cutting through the spray on to the beach.
“We’re safe!” cried Prim as she nimbly stepped from the cockpit, followed by her sister. “Wasn’t that an awful storm?”
“It’s just luck that we’re alive. Now let’s go over and see the boys. It looks as if they might be having engine trouble, too,” replied Terry.
After making fast their plane by a rope to a palm tree at the water’s edge, the two girls scrambled up over the rocky ridge to the low summit. The island was narrow at this end and soon they were looking straight down upon a sheltered cove where the boys had landed and saw the amphibian floating on the water. A launch shot out from the shore and when it reached the plane, several bundles were dropped into the boat by the aviator, who then got out of the plane and was taken ashore.