t why do you say good luck?" demanded his cousin, suspiciously.

"Oh! well, we are now in the land of tomorrow, you remember," laughed
Frank.

"You mean where they put off everything they can, saying 'no hurry;
plenty of time, senors all; the world was not made in a day'? Is that
it?" Andy went on.

"Partly. I was also thinking of another thing," admitted Frank.

"Yes, and I bet I can give a mighty good guess what it is, old fellow."

"Perhaps you can," Frank said, a little gravely. "Suppose you spout it
out."

"You've been pondering on what old Quito was telling us, in his broken
English, about this little revolution that has been slumbering around
the region of the Magdalena River of late. You have a hunch that we may
just be unlucky enough to run across some of those ragged chaps, who
want to upset the present government of Colombia, and seat some old
ex-president fossil in the chair again."

"Anyhow, you're a fine guesser, Andy," admitted Frank.

"Then that's what was on your mind?" asked the other. "I've noticed you
frown a whole lot lately, which is unusual for my cheery pard, Frank."

"Oh! well," observed Frank, calmly, "I acknowledge the corn. I was
wondering whether we might be troubled by any of those fellows while we
were navigating this river. I hope they'll just let us severely
alone. But you know, Andy, just as Colonel Josiah warned us, these
Colombians don't have any too much love for Yankees, ever since that
Panama rebellion, when, as they believe, our government openly assisted
the people of the Isthmus throw off the Colombian yoke, because we just
had to control that strip of territory for the canal."

"But why should the revolutionists want to stop us?" insisted his
cousin. "We are here only on a private quest. We seek no gold mines or
cocoa plantations. Our only object is a mission of mercy. And besides,
if these men are in open rebellion, they ought to be glad to see anybody
that their government detests, Yankees or not."

"Well," pursued Frank, with a cautious glance around, "I was thinking
that some of the people in Maracaibo took altogether too much interest
in our little monoplane. A lot of dark-faced men hovered around, and
asked many questions. They have heard and read much about the wonderful
things being done today in aeronautics, but have seen little or
nothing."

"Frank, that's so!" exclaimed Andy, quickly. "Please go on. You are
gripping my attention a heap, I admit. Tell me