It was still early in the day. Terry and Allan had consulted their maps and decided to head for Tela on the Gulf of Honduras. If possible they wanted to get over to the Pacific side by night. There they would feel safe.
Flying in a northwesterly course, they left the high rocky coast of Honduras that lay exposed to the Caribbean storms, and made a landing at Tela. But they did not stay long, a heavy mist had come in from the sea. Within an hour they had made a check-up on their aircraft, refueled and were taking off for Salvador on the Pacific where fair weather was reported.
A low-lying cloud made Terry nose her plane up to a height of ten thousand feet. There was a brilliant sky and sunlight overhead. Below it looked as if they were still flying over the ocean. The broad sheet of fog spread beneath them like a blanket. But when they neared the Pacific late that afternoon, the mist began to thin and they could see the ranch houses with their cultivated fields. Leaving the cloud behind, they flew over Salvador. From that height they could see far north to the towering Guatemalan plateau, with here and there a cone-shaped volcanic peak. Plumes of blue smoke shot from the craters.
Prim gave an exclamation of astonishment, then was still. Both girls felt the overpowering majesty of the outlook over that vast panorama. Soon they saw the red and green roofs of Salvador City and a lofty Gothic spire. Terry circled over the town and came down on the flying field.
Here they intended to spend the night and have their planes thoroughly overhauled for the trip down the Pacific. The air was clear and dry, perfect flying weather.
But Terry was restless. While she enjoyed seeing the foreign city, she was fearful that Joe Arnold might still be pursuing them. Now he had a still greater reason for finding them. In the plane Terry had discovered a large legal envelope with several important looking papers marked “Confidential.” Looking at them hurriedly, Terry gasped. Among them was the will of Colonel Roger Fairfax, a document that disposed of millions of dollars worth of property.
At the hotel when she showed them to the boys they agreed that they were extremely valuable. Yet they saw that the possession of these papers would add to the peril of the girls. Joe Arnold would not rest easy until he had caught up with Skybird and recovered the documents which he had stolen, no doubt, and expected to sell for a huge sum.
Terry did not sleep well. She wanted morning to come so that she could be on her way, and long before daybreak she was up and ready to go. After a hasty breakfast, the four flyers took off and were under way by the time the sun was rising.
It was a long day. The flight down the Nicaraguan coast was jumpy, for the cool air from the high mountains poured down to meet the warm air from the plains. They passed near to some of the volcanoes and once they could see into the crater with its boiling lava and clouds of steam and smoke.
“We’ve been lucky!” said Prim through the earphones. “From now on it’s clear sailing!”