s was a fair
and square contest--and so it was on your part."

It must be remembered that John and Tom had had no sleep since the day
previous. They were so tired by now, especially John, that they were
very glad to retire to the hammocks, leaving Paul and Bob to take care
of the Sky-Bird. Oliver Torrey was also exhausted, and accepted with
alacrity Paul's invitation to him to jump into the spare hammock.
Within five minutes the two youths were the only ones awake.

It seemed good to the boys to feel that soon they would be at San
Cristobal, their last stop before the final hop. They flew along with
the throttle wide open for the next hour, eager to make up for the
delay caused by the storm and the rescue of Torrey. Then they reduced
the speed a little, to make sure they would not overheat the engine,
but still they made good time.

Shortly before six o'clock that afternoon they sighted a blue haze
which a little later developed into a group of several islands. These
they knew, by consulting their chart, were the Gallapagos, the home of
the largest land-turtles ever known, monsters so enormous that one of
them could walk off with two half-grown boys on his broad back.

There are over two thousand volcano cones in these islands, and soon
our friends were almost in the midst of them. On all sides and at all
distances were rugged peaks one hundred to two thousand feet high,
rising sheer from a rose-pink sea over which the declining sun played
ravishingly. Along the shores pelicans soared above the shallow
inlets, watching for unwary fish. Tiny birds darted in and out among
the cliffs. Down in the crystal depths of the sea, over shelves of
coral, vague shapes hovered and passed and repassed--sharks, dolphins,
turtles, and grunts, even the ghastly devil-fish.

All life seemed confined to water and to air; never was dry land so
desolate-looking as those myriads of barren volcanic cones. Yet one of
these islands was peopled with human beings--San Cristobal.

Which one was it? The easternmost of the group, said the chart.

Circling that way. Bob gave a yelp like a pup which sees his younger
master after he has been away all day.

"I see Dalrymple Rock!" he cried, with the binoculars to his eyes. "I
see Wreck Point, too, and a bay between 'em, with houses on the beach.
That looks like our number, all right. What more do you want, Paul?"

"Nothing," laughed Paul,--"except our landing field. Find that, wake