“I’ll be on the watch, Tom. Good-bye and good luck!”
For over four hours Tom and Ned, by turns, with occasional relief from Meldrum and Dodge, kept the motors running at top speed. And it was not quite mid morning by the clock when Ned, taking an observation, cried to his friend:
“There’s Chicago below us, Tom!”
“Good!” exulted Tom Swift. “We’ll finish the first leg a little ahead of time!”
CHAPTER XIX
DENVER
Tom, by his calculations and by computing their rate of speed for the past five hours, was already pretty sure in his own mind that they would reach the City of the Lakes at least within the time limit he had set for himself. But he was, nevertheless, glad of Ned’s confirmation.
“Now if they have everything in readiness at the field, we won’t lose much time in detaching this car from the Falcon and in hitching it on to the Eagle,” Tom remarked to his chum as he prepared to make the landing.
“It wouldn’t do any harm to wireless them and make sure,” Ned suggested.
“No, you’re right. Go ahead and do it. And, by crickity grasshoppers!” cried Tom, as he looked at the gasoline and oil gages, “we’re getting in just by the skin of our teeth, too.”
“How come?” asked Ned.