Whether the boys who handled the biplane were more alert, or it was really true that they started a fraction of a second before the signal was given, as some afterward affirmed—no matter, the one result was that Puss and Sandy left the ground just a trifle in advance of their competitors.
Perhaps this trifling advantage might prove of great benefit to them ere the end of the race came—no one dared prophesy just then.
But now both airships were rapidly rising, and heading in almost a direct line for the distant mountain. A roar of shouts arose from all over the wide territory, where thousands of intensely interested people clustered. Hats and handkerchiefs were wildly waved in the air, and some of the more enthusiastic boys threw their head gear as high as they could.
There was no answer from either of the whizzing air craft. Those who navigated the upper regions of space had learned long before now that under no circumstances must they allow their attention to be diverted for even a second from the business in hand.
Even Andy had his duties to perform. Frank had exercised his inventive genius, and arranged some sort of pendulum contrivance underneath the body of the monoplane, that in a measure did away with the dizzy rolling motion of which his companion had formerly complained. It had been tested on the preceding day, and appeared to work well; so that Andy was now able to attend strictly to business, and not spend most of his time trying to keep an equilibrium.
The biplane had kept on rising, even after Frank brought his craft on an even keel. He wondered what the meaning of this movement could be. At the moment all he could think of was that Puss believed he would be able to make better direct time if he kept just fifty feet above the line of flight adopted by his rival.
The shouts became dimmer as they left the aviation field further in their wake. Still they knew that every eye was focused on their movements, and hundreds of glasses brought into use to note every little movement of the two rival craft.
Frank seemed just as calm and collected as though he had been going off on an ordinary little trip, to give the engine a warming-up. From where he sat he could watch the working of the wonderful little Kinkaid engine; for in a monoplane it is always secured before the pilot. Some aviators incline to call this an advantage, because with a biplane the engine must of necessity be back of the navigator.
He and Andy could converse without trouble, should the spirit move them. True, with the little engine doing its liveliest, and the muffler not throttled in the least, there arose a necessity for raising the voice a trifle in order to be heard even a foot away; but Andy had good lungs.
“Frank, they’re holding the advantage!” he exclaimed, when they had been moving along for another minute, and heading almost straight for the summit of the high mountain.