s he saw how desirous the
Sky-Bird's crew were of protecting his own interests as well as the
good name of his former associates. What fine fellows they were! How
he wished he could have been allied with them on this cruise, instead
of with Pete Deveaux and his bunch!

The hardships and perils of the past ten days were forgotten in the
excitement of the present. Our flyers hardly knew what they were
doing, so great was their joy. They shook hands with scores, hearts
swelling with those emotions invoked by achievement and the glamor of
the moment. It was--and always will be, perhaps,--the supreme hour of
their lives.

Almost reverently they looked over the Sky-Bird. Through every
possible climatic rigor the airplane had passed, and practically
without any attention. Not once, from the time they had left this very
airdrome until they had reached it again, after traversing close to
25,000 miles, had she been under shelter or sulked on them through
deficient construction. Given a few days to overhaul her engines, they
felt they would be quite capable of repeating their world
record-breaking achievement, if it were necessary.

These reflections were of brief duration, however; for the crowd,
having forced its way past the barriers, and having satisfied its
curiosity over the machine, directed their attention to the flyers.
Brimming with enthusiasm, they lifted every one of them shoulder high,
laughing and cheering, and conveyed them to an extemporized platform
made from a large box. From this elevation, each flyer in his turn was
called upon for a speech. The boys made these quite brief, but were
vociferously applauded; and then the two famous publishers were asked
to contribute. Following came the governor of the Zone, who very
eloquently expressed the pride the little Republic felt in starting off
and witnessing the finish of this memorable event, and he said the keys
of Panama were at the disposal of the young aviators until they should
feel it incumbent upon them to leave for the States.

For three days our friends remained, and during that time they were the
almost constant recipients of honors from civic clubs and associations
of the city, as well as from the English-speaking citizenry in general.
They were entertained at dinners, at the theater, and at sporting
events out-of-doors--and not a penny were they allowed to spend
themselves.

To the aviators it all seemed like a festival snatched from the c