white, reflecting the sunlight so strongly upon
the white-capped waters below, that the sea seemed much closer to the
voyagers than it really was.

Shortly after eight o'clock they crossed over the long, low-lying island
of Cuba, dipping down close enough to get a fairly good view of the
topography. Then rising to three thousand feet, they swerved a little to
the eastward and made off across the Caribbean Sea itself.

At a few minutes of eleven they sighted the shore of Jamaica, five miles
or so to the eastward of them. Then John took the throttle, both engines
were put into the work, and they began to whizz through the air at a clip
which would have made them gasp for breath had they been in an open
cockpit. As it was, the rush of air as it swept along each side of the
fuselage and off its narrowing tail, became a veritable howl in whose
noise they found conversation very difficult. Tom Meeks, who was leaning
over John's shoulder and watching the instrument-board, triumphantly
announced presently that they were traveling at the rate of 280 miles an
hour!

For thirty minutes or more John Ross kept the Sky-Bird going at this
terrific speed, then he slowed up, and transferred into mono-engine gear,
as there was no use in unnecessarily heating the power-plants. As the
indicator of the speedometer retreated to 150 miles, he turned the
throttle over to Bob Giddings, and said: "Hold her at this rate, Bob;
it's plenty fast enough for the present."

It was a little after one o'clock when Paul and Tom announced land to the
westward. After looking at the object, which surely had the appearance
of land, Mr. Giddings laid down the glasses and consulted the chart.

"That's undoubtedly the outer point of Nicaragua," he said; and upon
taking a look themselves with the binoculars, the others all agreed with
him.

Keeping the low-lying coastline of the continent on their right, and
buffeted considerably by contrary winds which now began to make
themselves manifest, Bob threw the automatic-pilot into gear at a
suggestion from John, as this insured greater safety, and steered with
the rudder only. At once the riding became easier, for the moment a gust
of wind hit the machine on one side, the elevators and ailerons shifted
and counteracted its uneven effect.

After a while Bob turned slightly to the eastward, and about
mid-afternoon they came in sight of Colon, the Atlantic terminal city of
the great Canal. Sweeping over