At least one thing was in his favor as he turned back to make the second circuit, as Andy believed; the air currents were from the west, and they faced them now; hence the biplane was in the proper shape to effect a landing; birds almost invariably drop to earth facing the breeze, and not with it.
"I'm going to land on top, Andy!" he shouted, knowing that the other would be panic-stricken by the fact that he had shut off nearly all the power.
"Oh! why?" cried his cousin.
"It's our only chance; we could never get to the ground! Be ready to jump like you did before! Watch out, now, Andy!"
"I'm ready, Frank!"
Andy tried to control his voice when he shouted this; but it was quavering sadly, what with his fright, and belief that the very end of all things had probably come for them. The lightning was flashing savagely, and the boom of the thunder down below sounded like the discharge of tons of dynamite.
It was just in between these sounds, when a silence of a few seconds happened to brood over the wild scene, that Frank heard loud cries. They came from the top of the rock close by, just where they were heading for at that very moment.
"They've struck the rock, and been smashed!" shrieked Andy, whose face was undoubtedly the color of a piece of yellow parchment, if the horrible state of his feelings was any index.
Frank had already guessed as much himself; but just then it became necessary that he give his whole and undivided attention to their own chances for making a landing; or else, if a flaw of wind came just at the wrong time their aeroplane might also meet with the same fate that had overtaken that of Percy.
"Now! jump, Andy!" he called, as the bicycle wheels struck the surface of the rocky plateau.