“Now, Bob, I—” Jack began but Bob interrupted.
“Not a bit of it, son. This plan was yours and you are going to stay with the captain and help him catch that flyer.”
Bob knew how his brother had longed for a chance of this sort and was determined that he should have it. So, although Jack protested that as Bob was the eldest he ought to stay he would not hear of it, declaring that he doubted if Jack would be able to find his way back to the smugglers’ cabin.
By four o’clock Captain Brice pronounced the plane in first class condition and, to the boys’ great delight, he took them with him on a trial flight, the machine being capable of carrying three.
Although it was not the first time the boys had been in the air they had never dreamed of such speed as the plane developed, and they were thrilled as they watched the hand of the dial creep up until it touched one hundred and twenty-five miles an hour.
They remained in the air about a half hour and when they alighted the captain announced that he was well satisfied with the condition of the plane.
“I should think you would be,” Jack declared.
“I’ve made a hundred and forty in her,” the captain said.
“How fast do you suppose that other fellow can go?” Bob asked.
“Probably not much over a hundred unless he’s got something outside of the ordinary.”