CHAPTER XIX
ST. ELMO’S FIRE
“If there are mountains about it’s always best to climb.” Sparky set his plane to reach higher altitudes. When at last he felt the push of strong winds behind him he said:
“The storm took us over the mountains all right.”
“That’s something to be thankful for,” said Mary.
“Yes, but we’re still more or less lost.”
This, they discovered, was truer than they had thought, for the cold or the push and bang of the storm had damaged their radio. Try as she might, Mary could raise no one.
For a time, flying by instrument, Sparky flew across what he hoped was low, level land. Since he could not be sure of this, he still flew high among the thick clouds.
When at last, in desperation, he dropped lower and lower until they were dangerously close to the earth, they found themselves still in a dense formation of clouds.
“Where are we?” Mary asked.
“Somewhere over China.”