started after the air-ship, were speedily distanced.

After a short run, Frank jerked forward his control wheel, and the
Golden Eagle, amid a cheer that was of course inaudible to the boys
above the uproar of the engine, shot upward into the blue.

A few seconds later there was another roar of applause as the black
Buzzard darted forward, and was soon soaring upward in pursuit of the
speedy Golden Eagle. Old Schmidt in his monoplane was the next
off--the crowd howling with mirth as the queer green contrivance
scuttled over the ground in a series of spasmodic hops, just like its
grasshopper namesake. Then came Gladwin, the novice, and a half dozen
others. Presently the air above the plains was full of ambitious air
craft, but with the exception of old Schmidt, who rose to a height of
about a hundred feet and contented himself with circling about the
grounds, none of them made any but the shortest of flights.

The attention of the crowd, therefore, naturally centered on the two
rivals--as they were universally conceded to be--the Golden Eagle and
the Buzzard. There was no difficulty in telling the craft apart, as
they circled about high above the now crowded grounds. The spirit of
emulation seemed to have seized on Malvoise. He followed the boys
closely, and every feat they performed he attempted to imitate.

Frank at first contented himself with practicing swoops and glides,
but after a while, tiring of this, he headed his craft due east and
the Golden Eagle was soon a diminishing speck against the sky. The
crowd watched till the big 'plane became a pin point and then vanished
altogether. The Buzzard was off after them in a flash and the crowd
cheered her just as impartially as they had the boys, as the graceful,