nt if it turns out that way."

"He is getting control av th' ship. See how he handles her now, me b'y."

It was true that the inventor was getting control of the _Eagle_, and he
was beginning to "put her through her paces," as it were. He ran before
the wind, then luffed and took first one tack and then the other. The
remarkable craft behaved very well.

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the professor, wildly. "I am the king of the air!
I am the first man to make a successful air ship. The world and all its
countries are mine! I can destroy armies and change the destiny of
nations! I am the greatest man who ever lived!"

"By Jove!" muttered Frank, in alarm; "I believe the man is going mad!"

"It looks loike thot," admitted the Irish boy.

"In which case, this will be the worst scrape we ever got into, Barney.
That is plain enough to see."

"Roight, me laddybuck! An' th' professor will soay it wur judgment on us
fer runnin' away."

"He will. But we ought to be able to handle this man between us, if it
comes to a struggle with him."

"We can; but can we handle th' ship afther thot, Oi dunno?"

"That is a question we cannot answer till we try the trick. But there
may be no trouble at all with Scudmore if we do not anger him."

Below them lay a wild panorama of broken country, through which ran
Green River to plunge deep into the winding mazes of Labyrinth Canyon,
away to the southward.

Away to the west, beyond the San Rafael Swell, rose the Wasatch
Mountains; being much nearer than the Rockies to the eastward, and,
therefore, looking nearly as lofty.

To the north were Desolation Canyon and the Roan Cliffs, the latter
rising brown and bleak at the southern boundary of the Ute Reservation.

To the south of mighty Colorado, rolling through the dark depths of
canyons which seemed to sink deep into the bowels of the earth. Farther
to the south, beyond the Fremont, which as yet could not be seen, Mount
Pennell lifted its snow-capped summit eleven thousand feet in the air.

Mount Pennell was in the very heart of the mountain region in which the
last of the Destroying Angels had found homes.

"Professor!" said Frank, speaking gently.

"Ha! ha!" muttered the inventor, as he threw over a lever and sent the
_Eagle_ scooting in a breathless sweep toward the earth. "She is like a
bird! Up or down, to the right or left, she will sail in any direction."

"Professor!"

"Don't bother me now--don't bother me!" he almost snarled.