Had they caught even one little bit, something dreadful might have happened, and the precious aeroplane, on which everything depended, meet its sad fate; not to speak of the nasty fall the Bird boys would have suffered.
But Fortune was once more kind to the young adventurers. They passed safely through the peril, and were speedily fully launched upon the wide open expanse of space!
"Hurrah!" shouted the exultant Andy; but it might be noticed that his voice was a bit husky, even as his face seemed chalky white.
"A close shave," remarked Frank; who himself had been rigid while they were thus taking such desperate chances; "but we made it, thank goodness! I hope that will be a lucky token of what the day has in store for us."
"Amen!" echoed his chum; and there was no levity in his tones, either.
The sun was just rising. Below them lay the dense foliage of the almost impenetrable forests, from which they had just made this almost miraculous escape. And both young aviators, as if by common consent, started to sweep the horizon around with their eyes.
"See anything of it?" asked Andy, eagerly.
"I thought I did away over yonder toward the mountains; but I guess it must be a big bird hovering high up, a condor perhaps," Frank replied.
"Well, there isn't any sign of the biplane, that's sure," Andy went on in a relieved voice. "Perhaps they didn't have as good luck in landing as we did, and had a nasty spill. Don't I hope they busted some of the planes, or part of the little old Gnome engine, so we won't have to be bothered with 'em again?"
Frank made no remark. While as a rule he refused to let anything like bitterness dwell in his heart, still, this was a case where everything was at stake; and if the bothersome revolutionists kept chasing them in the biplane they were apt to give a great deal of trouble. And secretly he could echo Andy's wish that the biplane might be temporarily crippled, so as to be unfit for flying.