rps across
the Atlantic when men's souls thrilled with frequent contacts in the
line of equally daring Hun war pilots.

Now they had shot past the twin points and were out upon the open gulf,
their speed increasing every second as Jack pulled the stick closer
against his chest. Then the experienced pilot lifted her in a zoom that
was simply magnificent, and they were off on their adventure at last.

Rising fast, the boat was soon at a good ceiling for flying. So too the
night promised all manner of favorable things for men of their
calling--up where they were the wind did not amount to much but it was
blowing at quite a lively rate closer to the earth and doubtless the
broad palmetto leaves must be making a considerable slashing as they
struck one another, dead and withered ones sawing like some giant violin
bow.

This, with the wash of the waves upon the pebbled beach, would make
enough noise to effectually deaden the whirr of the propeller--the new
and novel muffler or silencer, fashioned very much on the order of such
a contraption as successfully applied to small firearms, was doing
wonderfully, and Perk every little while made motions as though shaking
hands with himself because of this addition to their security, for under
the usual conditions prevailing anything like secrecy in a noisy airship
had been unknown to the sky detectives.

Perk had been under a strange hallucination when that other plane was
soaring overhead--in fact he was once again back in the Argonne, with
his boat hugging the earth, and an enemy swooping in circles
overhead--he had even gone so far as to imagine the German war ace might
be maneuvering so as to drop one of his bombs straight down on the
stranded craft, with results that must spell a complete wipeout.

When they did not have their handy earphones in service Jack and his
right bower had arranged a secret alphabet of signals, consisting of all
manner of pokes and nudges, by means of which they were enabled to
communicate along professional lines at least. If it seemed necessary to
Perk to ask questions not down on the brief list thus worked out, all he
had to do was to adjust Jack's harness and then his own little outfit,
enabling him to chatter away to his heart's content--and often to the
annoyance of his less talkative chum.

But first of all he proceeded to make good use of the binoculars upon
which so much depended. From side to side he would swing the glasses and
search f