water supply.

The flyers saw many gowned figures, some on camels, pause to look
upward at them, as they began to circle the town in quest of their
landing field. Bob was the first to discern it--a fairly level stretch
in the southern end of the valley or basin, marked in the way agreed
upon, and containing two small buildings, neither of which was large
enough to admit the machine.

But they cared nothing for shelter for the Sky-Bird, as they did not
purpose staying any longer than necessary for fuel replenishment and
news dissemination by telegraph and letter. So they quickly settled
down in the midst of a wondering ring of Arabs.

Mr. Griggs, the American consul here, now came forward with a couple of
British military officers, and the flyers met with a hearty reception.
It seemed good to run upon one of their own countrymen again, after
seeing so many strange faces since leaving Panama. Mr. Griggs insisted
upon their going to his home with him for breakfast, and to this they
consented as soon as they found he had made full arrangements for
having some British workmen at the garrison refill the Sky-Bird's tanks.

They found that their rivals had arrived just after daylight, and had
departed for Colombo, Ceylon, less than twenty minutes before their own
appearance. This was cheering news. They had gained a lot on them in
crossing the African continent.

CHAPTER XXII

ABOVE THE CLOUDS

Mr. Griggs, the American consul at Aden, proved an affable, pleasant
entertainer. His little wife was also very genial and painstaking for
their comforts, declaring at their protests that she was doing no more
for them than she had done for the other flyers when they came through,
a short time before. The couple had two children, a boy and a girl,
and both of these plied the boys with innumerable questions about their
journey, expressing the greatest interest and excitement when they
worked out of Paul the story of the adventure with the gorilla and
python.

After the meal, which was very appetizing and refreshing, they spent a
short time preparing their reports to the _Daily Independent_, and then
accompanied their host to the post-office, where the letter and roll of
films were mailed. At the telegraph office they received a pleasant
surprise in the shape of a message from Mr. Giddings, which stated
their reports were coming in to the newspaper all right, and that the
greatest interest was being manifested in t