"Have you a launch?"
"Yes, but the other boat has half an hour's start, and I'd never catch her in a thousand years. But there's a hydroplane a little above here. You might interest the feller that runs it."
"Thanks!"
But the aviator would not listen.
"A life may hang in the balance, man!" expostulated Norton, longing to pommel the stubborn man.
"What proof have I of that?"
Norton showed his card and badge.
"Oh, I see!" jeered the aviator. "A little newspaper stunt in which I am to be the goat. It can't be done, Mr. Norton; it can't be done."
"A hundred dollars!"
"Not for five hundred," and the aviator callously turned away toward the young woman with whom he had been conversing prior to Norton's approach. The two walked a dozen yards away.