t them from the nearby
forest, before they could connect the new wires and were ready to start.

Finally they took off at a few minutes past noon, more than three hours
behind their rivals. It was disheartening, to say the least--all the
more so on account of the fact that their delay had again been caused
by the sinister acts of the other crew. They made up their minds that
if they should meet Pete Deveaux and his crowd at another stop,
something worse than a single fistic encounter would take place!

As they soared away toward Nukahiva, with Upolu growing constantly
dimmer, John, who had been studying the schedule, turned to his
companions and asked:

"Do any of you fellows know what date this is?"

"Let's see," mused Bob, at the throttle; "we left Port Darwin the
evening of the 26th; the evening of the 27th we were still at sea, and
the next morning--the 28th--"

"You're ahead of time just one day," laughed John. "This is the 27th
of the month."

"How do you make that out?" asked Bob. "Didn't we leave Port Darwin on
the 26th?"

"Yes," admitted John.

"And the following evening we were at sea?'

"Granted. That was last evening--the 27th."

"Then any dunce can see that to-day is the 28th," said Bob witheringly.

"That's what I say, too," supported Paul.

But John only laughed harder, and this time Tom joined him.

"John's right," said Tom; "to-day is the 27th."

"It _can't_ be," protested Bob. "You own up that yesterday was the
27th, don't you?"

"I certainly do," chuckled John; "but you forget one thing, young man:
that same evening, all in a moment's time, we crossed the One Hundred
and Eightieth Meridian--the date-line of the world--and while it was
Thursday, the 27th on the west side of this line, it became Wednesday,
the 26th the instant we crossed over to the east side."

"Oh, sure!" exclaimed Bob and Paul, feeling very silly. And the latter
added: "That's where we gain a day in our lives--and to think that Bob
and I were asleep at that auspicious moment!"

"I know an old maid who swears she is fifteen years younger than she
really looks," commented Tom. "I think she must have done a lot of
globe trotting, and always east!"

"There's no danger of the fair sex ever circling the globe in a
westerly direction," laughed John, "for that would make them one day
older every time."

The day could not have been better. Hardly a cloud was to be seen on
the horizon, and the regular trade-wi