eeling of
exhilaration as came to them as they swooped and swung above the
glistening blue water, for all the world like some huge bird. Once or
twice motor boats went by beneath them, and the occupants looked up at
first in wonderment and then in enthusiasm at the sight the Golden
Butterfly and her three young occupants presented.

But all at once the steady song of the engine began to grow different. It
"skipped" and sputtered and coughed. Blue smoke rolled from the exhausts.
The aeroplane began to waver and sag.

Jeff Stokes turned rather pale.

"What is the matter?" he gasped, steadying his voice as much as he could
as the aeroplane began to drop steadily down toward the water beneath
them.

"The gasolene's given out," rejoined Roy in a voice which was full of
anxiety.

"Oh, Roy, what shall we do?"

Peggy gasped as the aeroplane, its propeller beating the air more and
more feebly, began to descend with greater rapidity.

"We'll have to volplane to some land if we can, and if we can't we must
take our chances for it in the water," was Roy's grim reply.

CHAPTER XII.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE ISLAND.

"Look," cried Peggy suddenly, "isn't that a small island below there?
Maybe we can make that?"

"I'll try to," was the answer, as Roy gripped the steering wheel more
firmly.

At the same instant the motor, with a gasp and a sputter, gave out
altogether. But Roy knew how to volplane; that is, to reach the earth by
swinging the aeroplane in circles so that her stability was maintained
even with the power cut off.

He began to execute this maneuver now. The island which Peggy had
indicated was a small spot of land some five miles off the shore. It was
sandy and barren looking on one side, though at the further end from them
there grew some trees and scrubby looking bushes.

If he could only keep the aeroplane from sagging down into the sea Roy
was confident he could land at the place in safety. But it was still some
distance off and the aeroplane was still dropping with much greater
rapidity than seemed comfortable. Both Roy and his sister were expert
swimmers, and the boy knew that Jeff was at home in the water. But at the
same time, if they struck the surface of the sea, there was the chance
that they might become entangled in the aeroplane and drowned before they
had an opportunity to save themselves. So it was with a keen sense of
apprehension that the boy exercised all the air craft of which he w