All at once Roy gave a shout and pointed. Dead ahead, and not more than a
few miles distant, lay a silvery, gleaming streak.
"The sea!"
The exclamation came simultaneously from Peggy and Roy.
They had been traveling due south across the island, and now the broad
Atlantic lay stretched beyond the land, shimmering in the sunlight. Far
off, they could make out the black smoke of a steamer, hovering above the
ocean.
"A mail boat, making for New York," announced Roy.
So fast were they traveling that by this time they could plainly make out
the ocean, which, from a silvery streak, was now changed into a dark-blue
rolling expanse of salt water.
And still the _Silver Cobweb_ kept on, and gave no sign of turning. Nor,
for that matter, had her speed diminished appreciably. The rival aeroplane
was now skimming above the water at a height of about a thousand feet. The
_Golden Butterfly_ maintained about the same altitude, but the gap between
the two aerial craft was not closing up.
"Mortlake's taking a desperate chance to show Lieut. Bradbury what the
_Cobweb_ can do," exclaimed Roy. "With a new engine, he's risking too
much."
"I guess he's seen us and means to beat us out at all hazards,"
conjectured Peggy.
And she was right. Mortlake, glancing back a short time before the sea
appeared on the horizon, had seen the other aeroplane, and guessing at
once what its appearance meant, had determined to keep on, even at the
risk of plunging himself and his passenger into the sea.
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