As Kit and Jimmie had left the camp two or three hours previous in the machine they had repaired, of course no one was seen about the place. Ben and Carl ran eagerly over the surface of the green bowl with their flashlights, but no trace of their chums could be found. Even the shelter tents had been taken away by the boys.
Discouraged at last, the boys returned to the machine, and the three mounted upward through the clouds, now thinning fast. The moon was rising, too, laying a silver floor over the upper surface of the moving clouds.
“Now there’s the peak!” Ben said, pointing. “And there’s an aeroplane on it, too! And also a scrap!”
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE CLUE ABOVE THE CLOUDS.
“I’ll tell you what I think,” Jimmie exclaimed as the boys gazed toward the peak. “I believe that gink had busted up the Louise, not knowing how to run her, and that they’ve abandoned her there.”
“Wouldn’t it be a joke if we could sail over and pick her up again?” asked Kit with a grin.
“Sure it would!” answered Jimmie. “Suppose we try it.”
In a moment the impulsive and foolhardy boys were starting the machine along an incline with the motors going at full speed. When she lifted it was within a few rods of the opposite peak.
Naturally the boys scrutinized the summit before them very closely, as there was still time to lift again should anything like peril appear. However, everything seemed quiet and peaceful below.