“Then here goes!” he said, calmly.

Andy held his breath as he heard the engine start off at a tremendous speed.  He felt as though a giant hand had plucked them from the spot where the aeroplane had been planted for the start.  Across the glade they went speeding.  His heart almost jumped into his mouth he believed, as he felt the little craft start to leave the ground, as Frank manipulated the planes, and elevated them so as to catch the air under the broad blades.

They were rising rapidly now!  Would they manage to clear those terrible treetops that stood like a grim barrier in their path?

Higher yet did Frank throw the planes, so that they actually seemed to be climbing straight upward, according to the vivid imagination of Andy; who, clutching the upright at his side, waited for what was going to happen.

It was too late now to retreat!  They had gone too far to stop, and try again!  No matter whether for good or ill, their kite had been tossed to the winds of heaven, and they must abide by the consequences.

Andy gave one little squeal, for it could not be termed anything else under the sun.  This was when they shot past the most prominent branch of the tree that happened to stand directly in the way of the rising aeroplane.  Andy believed that the wheels below must have actually brushed through the foliage, for he always declared that he heard a fierce “swish” as they passed.

Had they caught even one little bit, something dreadful might have happened, and the precious aeroplane, on which everything depended, meet its sad fate; not to speak of the nasty fall the Bird boys would have suffered.

But Fortune was once more kind to the young adventurers.  They passed safely through the peril, and were speedily fully launched upon the wide open expanse of space!

“Hurrah!” shouted the exultant Andy; but it might be noticed that his voice was a bit husky, even as his face seemed chalky white.

“A close shave,” remarked Frank; who himself had been rigid while they were thus taking such desperate chances; “but we made it, thank goodness!  I hope that will be a lucky token of what the day has in store for us.”

“Amen!” echoed his chum; and there was no levity in his tones, either.

The sun was just rising.  Below them lay the dense foliage of the almost impenetrable forests, from which they had just made this almost miraculous escape.  And both young aviators, as if by common consent, started to sweep the horizon around with their eyes.

“See anything of it?” asked Andy, eagerly.

“I thought I did away over yonder toward the mountains; but I guess it must be a big bird hovering high up, a condor perhaps,” Frank replied.

“Well, there isn’t any sign of the biplane, that’s sure,” Andy went on in a relieved voice.  “Perhaps they didn’t have as good luck in landing as we did, and had a nasty spill.  Don’t I hope they busted some of the planes, or part of the little old Gnome engine, so we won’t have to be bothered with ’em again?”