of outline; a vague
ghost of a curve that reflected a silvery contour to the watching eyes
below.

There had been a wider space in the road that McGuire had passed; he
backed carefully till he could swing his car and turn it to head once
more at desperate speed toward the mountain top. And it was less than
an hour since he had left when he was racing back along the narrow
footpath to slam open the door where Professor Sykes looked up in
amazement at his abrupt return.

The aviator's voice was hoarse with excitement as he shouted: "It's
here--the ship! It's here! Where's your phone?--I must call the field!
It's right overhead--descending slowly--no lights, but I saw it--I saw
it!"

He was working with trembling fingers at the phone where Sykes had
pointed. "Long distance!" he shouted. He gave a number to the
operator. "Make it quick," he implored. "Quick!"

CHAPTER III

Back at Maricopa Flying Field the daily routine had been disturbed.
There were conferences of officers, instructions from Colonel Boynton,
and a curiosity-provoking lack of explanations. Only with Captain
Blake did the colonel indulge in any discussion.

"We'll keep this under our hats," he said, "and out of the newspapers
as long as we can. You can imagine what the yellow journals would do
with a scarehead like that. Why, they would have us all wiped off the
map and the country devastated by imaginary fleets in the first three
paragraphs."

Blake regarded his superior gravely. "I feel somewhat the same way,
myself. Colonel," he admitted. "When I think what this can mean--some
other country so far ahead of us in air force that we are back in the
dark ages--well, it doesn't look any too good to me if they mean
trouble."

"We will meet it when it comes," said Colonel Boynton. "But, between
ourselves, I am in the same state of mind.

"The whole occurrence is so damn mysterious. Washington hasn't a
whisper of information of any such construction; the Secretary
admitted that last night. It's a surprise, a complete surprise, to
everyone.

"But, Blake, you get that new ship ready as quickly as you can.
Prepare for an altitude test the same as we planned, but get into the
air the first minute possible. She ought to show a better ceiling than
anything we have here, and you may have to fly high to say 'Good
morning' to that liner you saw. Put all the mechanics on it that can
work to advantage. I think they have it pretty well along now."

"Engine