great flying animal, covering fifty feet from a standing jump.

"Say, that's great!" yelled Mark. "Here I come, and I'll beat----"

He did not finish, for a cry of horror came from Jack.

"I'm going to fall into a crater--a bottomless pit! I'm on the edge of
it!" yelled the lad who had jumped.

And, with horror-stricken eyes, Mark saw his chum disappear from sight
beyond a pile of rugged rocks, toward which he had leaped. The last
glimpse Mark had was of the life-torch, which Jack held up in the air,
close to his head.

"Jack--in a crater!" gasped Mark, as he ran forward, holding his own
life-torch close to his mouth and nose.




CHAPTER XXI

WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST


Advancing by leaps and bounds, and getting over the ground in a manner
most surprising, Mark soon found himself on the edge of the great,
yawning crater, into which his chum Jack had started to slide. I say
started, for, fortunately, the lad had been saved from death but by a
narrow margin.