CHAPTER XXII
A TERRIBLE MOMENT ON OLD THUNDER TOP.
That settled it!
Andy had been holding in his breath while this short conversation was being held between the rival pilots of the aircraft, with voices raised to shouts.
"Are you going to give it up, Frank?" he questioned anxiously, as the other once more let his new Kinkaid engine out to its utmost, so that they began to forge to the front again.
Frank hardly knew what to do. Prudence dictated that he decline to risk his life and that of his cousin in such a foolhardy attempt to fulfill the conditions of the race. And yet he did hate most unmercifully to show the white feather. What lad with red blood in his veins does not? And then there was Andy, who, seeing his state of wavering uncertainty, began to plead with him to try the thing.
"Frank, don't let 'em crow over us!" he went on, the fever still in his blood. "We can do it, all right, you know. It'd only take a few minutes to wheel around that bald old peak three times; and then a long dip will carry us clear to the campus. Frank, head for Old Thunder Top! Show him he ain't the only Bloomsbury aviator that's got nerve!"
And so Frank decided. Possibly he might regret his choice when it was too late; but having taken the jump, he began to gradually rise, so as to get on a level with the high peak.
"He's right after us, Frank!" commented Andy, seeking by that means to keep the determination of his cousin from growing slack.
"So is the storm!" thought Frank, as he realized that already some of the advance couriers of the cloud bank had raced up, and were even then around them.