sight down here," Frank remarked.

"Sure," laughed his cousin, "but all the same I fail to hear any
bang. You remember the Irish immigrant who heard the sunset gun at a
military post in America for the first time and on being told that it
denoted sunset, innocently exclaimed, 'Sure, the sun niver goes down in
Ould Ireland wid a bang like thot!" But already the dusk is creeping
out of the dense woods on to the river. And I'm getting hungry. It must
be near supper time. I wonder what the folks up home are doing right
now?"

"Just what we are, likely--waiting to hear a welcome sound that will
call them in to feed. And there comes little Pepito to blow the conch
shell that he uses for a dinner bell. Come, Andy, get a move on
you. Another night and then we are going to do business at the old
stand. It will be just fine to soar above this strange country and see
for miles and miles--mountains, valleys, rivers, tropical forests, and
everything that we've never looked down on before."

The two young aviators went into the cabin for supper. They fared very
well insofar as food was concerned. Of course, both of them missed the
home cookery. The native who attended to this part of the program did
his level best to please, and he certainly had plenty to work with. But
his Spanish style of serving even the most ordinary dishes of tinned
meats with a dash of garlic was beginning to pall upon the taste of the
American lads.

Frank had even started to show him other ways of cooking, and they had
hopes of converting the cook by slow degrees.

The night was in one sense a repetition of the preceding one. True, they
would not have to consider being halted by a gathering army of the
revolutionists, and that was a comfort all around. At the same time
Frank deemed it necessary that he and his cousin keep watch. And Andy
was perfectly willing to sacrifice some of his personal comfort for the
sake of insuring the safety of the precious aeroplane.

It proved just as well that they had so determined. During Frank's
second term on guard and somewhere around four o'clock, while darkness
covered the land, he thought he caught a glimpse of a shadow crossing
the deck, headed in the direction of the lazerette.

He had been lazily reclining on a soft cushion made of several blankets
and looking up at the silvery stars, but immediately he became fully
aroused. This might mean danger in some shape toward the aeroplane. And
no matter, it behooved