“I am not afraid for I pray the Mother of God for her protection. Mio! You and Arto are safe?”
They answered in Spanish, and she smiled with satisfaction, then the conversation was stopped abruptly by the sputter and roar of a motor which seemed close at the left and above them.
“Thanks, old timer,” Jim grinned.
He opened his own motor and shot up, climbing steadily until he was four thousand feet higher, and there he came out above the clouds. Here he shut off the engine and gliding quietly, listening to the commotion made by the machines below. Before they slipped down to the cloud ceiling, Jim started the motor again and soared along in exactly the opposite direction from their course. In this way the Flying Buddy hoped to rid himself of Cardow and his gang. Just beneath them the clouds were rolling, some of them with light tips made silver by the moon which had come out like a beautiful glowing ball that dimmed the stars. Mrs. Gonzalas gazed about her with lips parted in awe and wonder, and she even ventured to peep over the side at the marvelous panorama. Occasionally they passed open places and could see the sleeping globe with here and there a few feeble lights about a building or on a road winding through the mountains. The scene was so vast and wonderful that it seemed more like an amazing dream than anything real.
“When we were flying this afternoon did your brother-in-law show you about the parachute?” Jim asked her.
“Si. Jump, fall a moment and pull the ring upper.”
“That’s right. Don’t expect we are going to have to jump and if we do I’ll keep with you, but it’s just as well to be prepared.”
“Those men go to the fastness rocks, they say,” she responded.
“Yes, and we are sailing directly away from it, the opposite direction. Cardow can’t chase us and get there on time,” he explained assuringly.
“Maybe one plane will not give up,” she suggested and Jim was mighty sorry that she had thought of that probability, but after all it was just as well that she realized they were not out of danger.