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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77606 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: "A NEW YORK PAPER!" EXCLAIMED JERRY, AS HE LOOKED AT
+THE HEADING.  'Lost Over Greenland.'  (See page 118)]
+
+
+
+  SLIM TYLER AIR STORIES
+
+
+  LOST OVER
+  GREENLAND
+
+  OR
+
+  Slim Tyler's Search for Dave Boyd
+
+
+  BY
+
+  RICHARD H. STONE
+
+  Author of "Sky Riders of the Atlantic," "An Air
+  Cargo of Gold," Etc.
+
+
+  _ILLUSTRATED._
+
+
+  NEW YORK
+  CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+SLIM TYLER AIR STORIES
+
+_By_ RICHARD H. STONE
+
+12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
+
+SKY RIDERS OF THE ATLANTIC
+  OR SLIM TYLER'S FIRST TRIP IN THE CLOUDS
+
+LOST OVER GREENLAND
+  OR SLIM TYLER'S SEARCH FOR DAVE BOYD
+
+AN AIR CARGO OF GOLD
+  OR SLIM TYLER, SPECIAL BANK MESSENGER
+
+_(Other Volumes in Preparation)_
+
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1930, BY
+  CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
+
+  LOST OVER GREENLAND
+
+  Printed in the U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER
+
+  I. The Onrushing Train
+  II. A Bitter Dose
+  III. The Tramp's Notebook
+  IV. A Slender Chance
+  V. The Flight to the Frozen North
+  VI. Balking a Rascal
+  VII. A Hazardous Landing
+  VIII. The Missing Aviators
+  IX. On the Wing
+  X. The Howl of the Wolf
+  XI. The Pack Closes In
+  XII. A Fearful Dilemma
+  XIII. Treed
+  XIV. A Close Call
+  XV. Singing Arrows
+  XVI. In Deadly Peril
+  XVII. At Risk of Life
+  XVIII. In the Grip of the Storm
+  XIX. Threatening Doom
+  XX. The Crash
+  XXI. Lost
+  XXII. The Shot
+  XXIII. A Joyous Reunion
+  XXIV. At Grips with a Monster
+  XXV. Down the Slope
+  XXVI. The Brink of the Abyss
+  XXVII. Speeding Homeward
+  XXVIII. Nat Shaley Gets a Jolt
+
+
+
+
+LOST OVER GREENLAND
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ONRUSHING TRAIN
+
+"Go in and win, Slim."
+
+"Good luck to you, old boy!"
+
+"We're rooting for you, Slim Tyler."
+
+A chorus of these and similar good wishes came from a host of throats
+as Slim Tyler, with an embarrassed grin on his freckled face, made
+his way toward his plane through the crowd of people on the North
+Elmwood flying field.  The crowd had gathered to witness the take-off
+on the great refueling endurance flight, in which Slim Tyler was a
+competitor and which, it was hoped, would establish a new world's
+record.
+
+The interest in the contest was intense and had attracted spectators
+from all over the country.  Four teams of the most celebrated
+aviators in America had entered for the prize, and their machines,
+groomed to the minute and gleaming in the sun, stood quivering on the
+field, as eager, apparently, to go aloft as were their masters.
+
+As Slim Tyler reached his plane in which Jerry Marbury, his assistant
+pilot, was already seated, the famous aviator, Dave Boyd, the ace of
+all the world's flyers, came up to him for a final word.
+
+"Go to it, my boy," said Dave, as he wrung Slim's hand.  "I'm backing
+you to the limit.  I've been bragging to everyone that you're the
+finest airman of your age in America and I'm depending on you to make
+my boast good."
+
+"I'll do my best, both for your sake and my own," promised Slim.
+"But it isn't going to be any cinch, considering the fellows I'll be
+against."
+
+"Righto," agreed Dave Boyd.  "But there'll be all the more glory in
+winning.  It wouldn't be any fun if you were fighting against dubs.
+They'll give you a run for your money, all right.  All the same,
+you're going to lick them.  You have the stamina, you have the skill,
+and, above all, you have the bulldog stick-to-itiveness that's going
+to count."
+
+"I hope you're a true prophet," said Slim, as he drew on his helmet,
+adjusted his goggles, and jumped into the plane.
+
+The luck of the draw had placed him last in the order of ascent, and
+he and Jerry Marbury watched with keen interest as one after another
+the competing planes were drawn to the head of the runway and soared
+into the air.
+
+"Those boys know their business," murmured Jerry, as he noted the
+grace and celerity of the three take-offs.
+
+"They sure do," agreed Slim.  "It won't be an easy job to pluck their
+feathers.  But if we don't do it, it won't be for lack of trying."
+
+Generous applause greeted all the pilots as they mounted into the
+air.  But it was nothing compared to the thunderous shout that rose
+when the _Lightning Flash_, the plane of Slim Tyler and Jerry
+Marbury, roared down the runway and darted up into the sky.
+
+"Seems as though they rather like us down there," remarked Slim to
+Jerry, as he brought the plane to an even keel at an altitude of
+about fifteen hundred feet.
+
+"Sure does," agreed Jerry.  "Of course, it's our home crowd and they
+want to see us win just as a matter of local pride.  Then, too, they
+know that Dave Boyd is backing us, and anything that Dave wants
+everybody else in this burg wants."
+
+"That's my own chief reason for wanting to win," declared Slim.  "I'd
+far rather please Dave Boyd that win the two thousand dollars they've
+hung up as a prize."
+
+"Same here," assented Jerry.  "But, oh boy, those two thousand
+berries look awfully good to me!  A thousand apiece for a few days in
+the air!  Not bad, is it?"
+
+"Not to mention the five thousand dollars we'll divide between us if,
+in addition to beating these fellows, we make a new world's record,"
+added Slim.
+
+Faintly to their ears came the music of the band, which regaled the
+ears of the spectators with a medley of popular tunes, though without
+diverting their attention from the four planes that circled about the
+field in a variety of graceful evolutions, occasionally indulging in
+stunts that made the spectators gasp.
+
+"Whom do you think we have to beat?" asked Jerry, as he watched the
+movements of their three rivals.
+
+"All three of them," replied Slim, grinning.
+
+"Of course," rejoined Jerry.  "What I mean is, which of these bozos
+is likely to give us the most trouble?"
+
+"Hard to tell," judged Slim.  "They're all good.  Ellison and
+McCarthy in the _Comet_, Braxton and Deimer in the _Scout_, Axtell
+and Wilson in the _Speed King_.  None of them's to be sneezed at.  If
+I were picking any of them, though, I'd fix on Braxton and Deimer as
+the most dangerous.  They won a flight of this kind out in
+California, you know, and they're veterans."
+
+He pulled the stick and the _Lightning Flash_ darted up to an
+altitude of three thousand feet.  At the same time he reduced his
+speed from sixty to about fifty miles an hour.
+
+Gradually the crowd below thinned out, although some of the most
+enthusiastic of the flying fans camped there permanently for the
+whole duration of the flight.  There was always the chance of
+something sensational happening to one or more of the four competing
+planes.
+
+Soon the time came for refueling.  The supply of gas was running low
+and the aviators, too, were beginning to feel the pangs of hunger.
+
+Slim gave the preconcerted signal, and their supply plane, manned by
+Biff Donovan and Tom Ellsworth, rose swiftly from the ground.
+
+"Here comes our flying wagon," murmured Jerry with satisfaction.
+
+"And here's the crucial test of the whole thing," added Slim Tyler as
+he watched keenly the approaching plane.  "I'll tend to the controls
+while you show me what a perfect contact you can make."
+
+He gradually went lower as the other plane came higher, and the two
+planes maneuvered until the supply ship was almost directly over the
+_Lightning Flash_.
+
+"Let her go, Tom!" shouted and signaled Jerry.
+
+"Here she comes!" called Tom, and a long hose, like a great serpent,
+came shooting down directly behind the propeller.
+
+Jerry grabbed it deftly before it had time to touch the plane and
+connected it with the main tank, which immediately began to fill.
+
+"Smart work, Jerry!" exclaimed the young pilot.  "Cut her off when
+we've taken on about seventy gallons."
+
+Jerry Marbury complied and then unscrewed the hose and cast it off.
+
+Aluminum cans, three feet long, containing sandwiches, fruit, and
+coffee, in addition to a bottle of distilled water, were then swung
+down to them by Tom Ellsworth.
+
+Jerry received them with marked enthusiasm, which was fully shared by
+Slim.
+
+"They've sent us plenty, I hope," remarked Slim Tyler.
+
+"They have," declared Jerry, as an avalanche of good things slid from
+the container that he turned upside down.  "If we fail in this
+flight, it won't be because they've let us starve to death.  Sink
+your teeth into that," and he flipped a lettuce and egg sandwich to
+his companion, who caught it deftly in his left hand and ate it
+eagerly.  The supply plane slid down in long spirals to the ground,
+and Jerry, after a copious meal, relieved Slim at the controls so
+that the latter could follow his example.
+
+They ate with appetite, for it was now nearly night, and in the
+feverish excitement of the preparations for the flight neither had
+tasted food since early morning.
+
+The sun went down, dusk deepened into night, and gradually the
+heavens were studded with stars.  The moon would not rise till late,
+but with the brightly lighted field beneath them and the searchlights
+that kept sweeping the skies, there was no difficulty in avoiding
+contact with the rival planes.
+
+Slim had throttled the motor down to about twelve hundred
+revolutions, and the _Lightning Flash_ maintained a pace which, while
+it would have been fast for an express train, was slow for an
+airplane.  They were not going anywhere, and it did not matter
+whether they loafed or sped, as long as they remained aloft.
+
+"We'll work this thing on three-hour spells," decided Slim.  "Suppose
+you get some sleep now, Jerry, and I'll call you three hours from
+now."
+
+"Suits me all right," acceded Jerry.  "Talk about an outdoor sleeping
+porch!  This lies all over that.  All the ventilation you want and
+then some."
+
+He stretched out on his narrow mattress and in a few minutes was fast
+asleep.  At the appointed time Slim Tyler woke him and took his
+place, and thus they alternated through the night.
+
+A slight haze lay low on the ground when morning broke and shut out
+the sight of the field.  It made flying hazardous, also, and had the
+rival planes been flying at the same altitude, there would have been
+great danger of collision.
+
+But it had been previously arranged that in case of bad weather
+conditions they should fly at different heights, so that the pilots
+had little worry on that account.
+
+About ten o'clock the haze lifted and the circling planes were bathed
+in sunlight.
+
+Slim Tyler and Jerry Marbury cast a glance about for their rivals.
+
+"Look at the _Scout_!" exclaimed Jerry.  "She seems to be coming
+down."
+
+"Wonder what the trouble is," said Slim, with quickened interest.
+
+Braxton could be seen at the controls while Deimer was on the narrow
+catwalk working desperately to adjust some trouble with the motor.
+
+"Seem to be making heavy weather of it," remarked Jerry.  "Something
+gone wrong with the engine."
+
+Whatever the difficulty was, it seemed unconquerable, for Deimer at
+last threw up his hands in a gesture of despair, got into his seat,
+where he sat with drooping head, and Braxton in long spirals brought
+the plane to the ground.  The _Scout_ was definitely out of the race.
+
+Slim Tyler and Jerry Marbury looked at each other, the same thought
+in the mind of each.  The dropping out of one of the contestants
+marked a step toward their own final triumph.  They had only two to
+beat now, instead of three.  They could not help a feeling of
+elation, but blended with this was a feeling of sympathy for the
+discomfited aviators.  They knew how they would have felt in a
+similar position.
+
+There were no more casualties on that day.  But on the following
+morning, Ellison and McCarthy in the _Comet_ were forced to quit
+because of a split in the propeller that had developed during the
+night.
+
+"Falling like autumn leaves," murmured Jerry.  "I can see those two
+thousand berries coming nearer.  We have now only the _Speed King_ to
+beat and the race is ours."
+
+"They're saying the same thing about us," observed Slim.  "Everything
+seems to be all serene with them so far.  Listen to their motors.
+They're working like a dream."
+
+A little later Slim Tyler himself had a scare.  His own motors began
+to miss.
+
+Jerry's face paled when he heard the ominous knocking.
+
+"Gas giving out?" he asked in alarm.
+
+"No, we have plenty," replied Slim, as he tapped the tank.  "It must
+be that the feed pipe is clogged.  Hustle, Jerry, and get it cleared."
+
+Jerry worked like a madman and adjusted the trouble while Slim, with
+consummate skill, so maneuvered the plane, which for the time was
+practically motorless, as to keep it from descending.
+
+Even at that, it was dangerously near the ground before the engines
+resumed their usual hum and Slim Tyler gave her the gun and mounted
+to a realm of safety.
+
+"Close call that!" exclaimed Jerry, with a gasp of relief as he wiped
+his streaming brow.
+
+"Sure was," agreed Slim.  "It simply shows what an assortment of
+chances there is in this game."
+
+This was illustrated an hour later when the _Speed King_ was seen to
+falter and go into a tail spin.
+
+"She's going down!" cried Jerry excitedly.  "Here's where we win."
+
+But his excitement was premature, for by a herculean effort the
+_Speed King_ was brought out of her spin and to a level keel.
+
+"Now where's your two thousand?" chaffed Slim.
+
+"Only postponed a little while," replied Jerry.  "Be all the more fun
+counting it when it comes."
+
+Slim Tyler in his moments of leisure was thinking of far more than
+two thousand dollars.  He was mulling over in his mind the twenty
+thousand dollars out of which he believed his father had been
+swindled by the old skinflint, Nat Shaley.
+
+Would he ever get it?  Could he ever pin the crime on Shaley and
+compel him to make restitution?
+
+His last interview with the miserly old lumber dealer had convinced
+Slim of the man's guilt.  But moral certainty was one thing and legal
+proof was quite another.  He had not a shred of real evidence that
+would stand up for a moment in a court of law.
+
+If the tramp, High Hat Frank, who knew so much about the matter had
+not died so soon!  If----
+
+But what was the use of "ifs?"  Slim Tyler put the matter in the back
+of his mind and devoted himself to the task in hand.
+
+In the afternoon, to vary the scene of action a little, Slim Tyler
+sailed in a wider circle that carried his plane over the railroad
+tracks skirting the mountains.
+
+A long whistle came faintly to the ears of the two airmen, and,
+looking up the tracks, they saw a freight train winding its way down
+the grade.
+
+Jerry touched Slim's arm.
+
+"Look at the auto coming down that mountain road!" he exclaimed,
+pointing to the right.  "Looks as if the driver had lost control.
+And that road crosses the railroad tracks!"
+
+"Brakes won't work, I guess," cried Slim in alarm.  "Looks as if he
+were heading for a smashup."
+
+The auto went plunging crazily along, made a wild skid as it
+approached the roadbed, and turned over on its side on the track,
+throwing out the driver, who lay stunned across the rails.
+
+"And the train's coming!" cried Slim, with blanched face.  "Because
+of the curve, they won't see him until it's too late to stop.  We'll
+have to go down and save him, contest or not!"
+
+"But the money--" began Jerry, and then added hastily: "All right.
+I'm with you."
+
+There was an open field near by, and Slim Tyler made the quickest
+landing of his life.  Before the plane stopped, Slim and Jerry had
+jumped from the cockpit and were racing at full speed toward the
+wrecked car.
+
+As they neared the track the prostrate man rose and staggered toward
+them.  A shock ran through Slim Tyler as he saw the man's face.
+
+It was the face of Nat Shaley!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A BITTER DOSE
+
+Nat Shaley!  The worst enemy Slim Tyler had on earth!  The man who
+had cheated him out of his wages!  The man who had hounded him on
+false charges and had had him arrested!  The man who, in Slim's
+belief, had swindled his father out of twenty thousand dollars!
+
+And for the sake of this miserable rascal, Slim had thrown away his
+chance of winning fame and money and possibly of hanging up a new
+world's record!  And not only his own chance, but that of his loyal
+friend and companion, Jerry Marbury!
+
+A wave of bitterness swept over Slim Tyler as he looked at the mean,
+wizened face of the old skinflint.
+
+"So it's you, is it, Nat Shaley?" exclaimed Slim.
+
+"Yes, it's me," snarled Shaley.  "Why do you fellers stand here with
+your mouths open, lookin' so dumb when the train's comin'?  Hurry up
+an' pull that car of mine off the tracks, an' be quick about it."
+
+The indignant response that flew to Slim's lips at the man's brusque
+order was lost in the grinding of brakes as the freight train rounded
+the curve and the engineer noted the obstruction on the track.
+
+But the train was heavy and the grade steep, and despite the
+engineer's utmost efforts the locomotive struck the car and hurled
+it, a twisted mass of wood and metal, to the side of the tracks.
+
+"There, drat it!" cried Shaley, "they've smashed my car, all because
+you lazy lummoxes wuz as slow as molasses instead of hustlin'.  But
+somebody'll pay fer this, by gravy!"
+
+"Oh, shut up!" commanded Jerry, stung beyond endurance by the
+fellow's arrogance.  "Who do you think you are, to order us about?"
+
+"You ought to be glad you saved your miserable life," declared Slim.
+"The old car was a rattletrap, anyway.  It ought to have been in the
+junk heap five years ago."
+
+"What's all this about?" demanded the engineer of the locomotive, who
+had descended from the cab and approached them, accompanied by his
+fireman, while the conductor was hurrying from the caboose.  "Whose
+car was that on the track?"
+
+"Mine!" shrieked Nat Shaley.  "An' you've got yourself in a pretty
+mess by smashin' it.  I'll sue the company, by heck, an' you'll be
+lookin' fer another job."
+
+"Cut out that kind of guff," growled the engineer.  "What was the car
+doing on the track?"
+
+"That ain't neither here nor there," retorted Shaley.  "You got eyes
+in your head, ain't you?  Why didn't you stop your train when you
+seed it there?"
+
+"Couldn't stop in time," replied the engineer curtly.
+
+"That's because you don't know your business," snarled Shaley.  "You
+ain't heerd the last of this yet.  That car wuz worth twelve hundred
+dollars, an' your company'll pay every last cent of it.  I've got
+witnesses here," and he pointed to Slim and Jerry.
+
+"Don't call on me," put in Jerry.
+
+"Nor me," added Slim bitterly.  "The old car wasn't worth twenty
+dollars.  I've heard you say that you'd had it for fifteen years and
+it was second hand when you bought it."
+
+"'Tain't so," snarled Shaley vehemently.  "You lyin'----"
+
+He stopped abruptly and stepped back as Slim Tyler took a quick step
+forward.
+
+"Look here, you old rascal," said the young aviator, his eyes
+blazing, "no man calls me a liar and gets away with it.  I won't hit
+you, because you're too old.  But another word like that and I'll
+take you by the scruff of the neck and shake you till your false
+teeth drop out."
+
+"Aw, go on," said Shaley sullenly, taking care to keep his distance.
+"Anyways, I'll make the company pay----"
+
+"How did the car come to get on the tracks?" asked the conductor, who
+by this time had joined the excited group.
+
+"Because there must have been somethin' wrong in the right of way,"
+replied Shaley.  "Part of the rail stickin' out or somethin' that
+upset it.  Why don't your company keep the tracks in order?  I wuz
+joggin' along nice an' peaceable, everything shipshape, an' I struck
+somethin' at the track that upset the car quick as a wink.  Wonder I
+wuzn't killed.  Your company'll have to pay me fer personal damages,
+as well as fer the car----"
+
+While this farrago of lies was being reeled off, Slim Tyler and Jerry
+Marbury had been looking at each other in stupefaction.
+
+"You infernal old crook!" Jerry finally burst forth.  "The whole
+thing was your own fault, or the fault of the car.  You'd lost
+control of it, brakes out of order or something, and you were coming
+down that hill lickety-split."
+
+Shaley glared at him, bursting with rage.
+
+"Well, we can't stay here all day chewing the rag," interrupted the
+conductor, looking at his watch.  "I'll take the names of you two
+gentlemen," he said, taking out a notebook and doing some hasty
+scribbling.  "As for you," he said to Shaley, "you can put your claim
+in the regular way, though I don't think you'll get anything.  Get
+into the cab, Jim," he directed the engineer, "and start her going."
+
+A minute or two more and the train was under way.
+
+Slim Tyler had gained his nickname because of his tall, lanky figure.
+He had been christened Ross Joseph, and was the son of Stillwell and
+Mary Tyler.  Both had now been dead for years.  Mr. Tyler had once
+been possessed of considerable means, but most of it had been swept
+away in the later years of his life by unfortunate investments.
+
+There was practically nothing left for the orphan lad, and he knocked
+about, supporting himself as best he could, until he got a job in Nat
+Shaley's lumberyard at Centerville.
+
+Slim worked early and late, hard and faithfully, but Shaley, whose
+dislike he had incurred because of an accident that had been wholly
+Shaley's fault, discharged him abruptly, owing him forty dollars in
+wages.  Shaley offered him twelve dollars in full settlement, but
+Slim Tyler insisted on getting the forty that were due him.  High
+words took place and Slim declared that he would get square with
+Shaley for cheating him.  The threat was thrown out in the heat of
+anger and really meant nothing.
+
+But that night Shaley's yards burned, and Slim, friendless and
+moneyless, realized the deadly significance that would be attached to
+his threat, which had been overheard by the foreman.  In bewilderment
+and consternation he "hopped" a freight train that same night.  In
+the car where he had ensconced himself he came in contact with a
+half-drunken tramp who called himself High Hat Frank and who referred
+to the fire, chuckling tipsily.
+
+In his wanderings Slim Tyler finally brought up at North Elmwood,
+where he found employment with Carl Stummel, a good-natured old
+German keeper of a "hot dog" stand.  It was a great relief for Slim
+to have his livelihood provided for, but his chief satisfaction rose
+from the fact that the hot dog stand directly faced the North Elmwood
+flying field, one of the great aviation fields of the country.
+
+Slim Tyler, from his earliest boyhood, had been fascinated by the
+idea of flying.  He would have given the world to be an airman.  But
+without money to go to a flying school it seemed that this ambition
+would never be realized.
+
+It was a great delight, however, to watch the planes circling about
+and to see the pilots and mechanics at work.  He picked up many
+acquaintances among the aviators, and every spare hour he had he
+spent on the flying field.  He looked with reverence on the famous
+airmen and especially on Dave Boyd, the most famous aviator in the
+United States and, for that matter, in the world.
+
+Slim's great chance came when he found in the road, where it had been
+jolted from an automobile, a satchel containing two thousand dollars
+in cash.  To his delight this proved to belong to Dave Boyd, and Slim
+hurried to him with the money.
+
+The great aviator was so struck with the boy's honesty that he
+insisted on giving him a substantial reward, and finding that Slim
+was interested in flying, he gave him employment in his own hangar.
+The lad was in the seventh heaven and was learning rapidly all that
+was to be known about airplanes when one day, just on the eve of a
+South American flight by Boyd, he found himself confronted on the
+crowded flying field by Nat Shaley.
+
+The latter clamored instantly for Slim's arrest.  In the hue and cry
+that followed Slim took refuge in the tail of the _Shooting Star_,
+the plane that was to carry Boyd and his party to Buenos Aires,
+Argentina, the goal of the flight.  While hiding there, he overheard
+Shaley say something inadvertently that led him to associate the old
+miser with his, Slim's, father's lumber deal.
+
+Then, to the lad's surprise and consternation, the _Shooting Star_
+rose in the air, and he found himself an unwilling stowaway on the
+great South American flight.
+
+What thrilling adventures he met with on that voyage, the stern
+disfavor with which Boyd and his assistants met him when he emerged
+from his hiding place, the way in which he conquered their respect
+and admiration by his courage and quick wit in desperate emergencies,
+his arrest by Shaley on his return and his exoneration; all this is
+told in the first volume of this series, entitled: "Sky Riders of the
+Atlantic."
+
+The wrongs he had suffered at the hands of Shaley were in Slim
+Tyler's mind as he gave vent to his bitter denunciation of the
+wizened old rascal.
+
+"You'd better look out what you're sayin', you boys had," bristled
+Shaley.  "Them words is actionable at law.  You can't go aroun'
+callin' people names an' not get caught up with, let me tell you."
+
+"Oh, close your face!" exclaimed Jerry, in profound disgust.  "Slim
+knows you're a crook.  I know you're a liar.  I wish you were younger
+so that I could take a swing at you.  Gosh, Slim," he added as he
+turned to his comrade, "if I'd known that it was this old rascal in
+that car I'd never have agreed to come down."
+
+"Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk," said Slim sadly.  "We
+are down, and that's the end of it.  Come along and leave this old
+crab to stew in his own juice.  Gee, I hate to face Dave Boyd, but we
+might as well get the agony over with."
+
+They left Shaley glaring after them malignantly, climbed into the
+cockpit, and lifted the plane into the air.
+
+"Feel as if I were going to my own funeral," muttered Jerry
+dejectedly.
+
+"It's a blow right between the eyes," admitted Slim.  "But I really
+don't see what else we could have done.  We didn't know that Shaley
+was going to recover in time to stagger off the tracks.  And we would
+never have forgiven ourselves if, for the sake of money, we'd let a
+human being be crushed to death, as it seemed likely he would be."
+
+"Of course not," agreed Jerry.  "Oh, I'm not beefing because we came
+down.  I'd do the same thing over again under the same circumstances.
+But I'd rather we'd gone to the help of anyone else in the world than
+that old miser.  And how grateful he was!  Thanked us a lot, didn't
+he?  Called us 'lazy lummoxes' because we didn't get that old bunch
+of junk off the track."
+
+They reached the flying field to find the crowds in a great state of
+excitement.  It was known that the _Lightning Flash_ had come down
+and all were agog to know the reason.
+
+The _Speed King_ was still gracefully flying over the field, and
+Jerry looked at it with eyes bleak with disappointment.
+
+"They win," he said bitterly, "and all because a wretched old crook
+happened to be in this part of the country at the wrong time.  This
+sure has been our unlucky day!"
+
+Slim brought the plane down to a perfect landing, to be surrounded
+immediately by a clamoring crowd.
+
+Dave Boyd pushed his way to the side of the plane.
+
+"What in thunder made you come down?" he demanded.  "Engine trouble?"
+
+In a few words Slim Tyler explained the cause of the disaster.
+Boyd's disappointment was bitter, but he bore it like the sportsman
+he was.
+
+"Of course you had to do what you did," he conceded, when Slim had
+finished.  "It's just a bit of awfully bad luck.  And the fact that
+it was Nat Shaley you did it for adds the finishing touch.  We've
+just got to grin and bear it.
+
+"By the way," he added to Slim, as the young aviator and Jerry
+climbed dispiritedly out of the cockpit, "speaking of Shaley reminds
+me that a little while ago a trampish-looking man was around here
+looking for you.  Said he'd known High Hat Frank."
+
+Slim pricked up his ears.
+
+"Where is he now?" he asked eagerly.
+
+"Haven't the least idea," replied Boyd.  "Probably hanging round
+somewhere.  Probably he'll be hunting you up, now that he knows your
+plane's come down."
+
+He turned to give directions to have the _Lightning Flash_ drawn into
+her hangar, and Slim Tyler made his way wearily through the crowd.
+The reason for his descent had spread like wildfire, and he received
+many congratulations for having made such a sacrifice for the sake of
+saving a life that seemed to be in danger.
+
+These, however, failed to cheer him greatly.  His heart was sore.  He
+had entered the race with the highest of hopes.  He had hoped to
+write his name on the scroll of fame.  His success would have meant
+not only money, but reputation.  His name and the story of his
+exploit would have been in every newspaper in the United States.  It
+would have been the opening wedge of a great flying career.
+
+But he had lost!  And lost for the sake of whom?  That was the
+bitterest drop in his cup of misery.  Lost for the sake of his worst
+enemy, a man who had cheated him, a man who hated him, a man who had
+not thanked him, a man who would even chuckle when he read the papers
+and learned the extent of Slim's loss!  It was surely the irony of
+fate.
+
+He made his way across to Stummel's hot dog stand and dropped wearily
+on a stool.
+
+The old German spotted him at once and was so agitated that he
+dropped the cup of coffee he was handling.
+
+"Himmel!  It vos Shlim!" he cried, as he hurried toward him.  "Vy iss
+it dot you iss not yet oop in der air alretty?  Iss it dot you haf a
+fall gehabt?"
+
+Slim smiled wryly.
+
+"No go, Carl," he replied.  "I had to come down."
+
+"Und dot two tausend dollars iss ausgespielt?" asked Carl, in
+consternation.  "It iss geflopt gangen?"
+
+"All gone," assented Slim.  "I don't get a red cent."
+
+"Und I haf lost der fife tollers dot I bet on you," continued Carl.
+"But dot iss nuddings.  It iss for you dot I feel badt.  Poor Shlim!"
+
+A rough-looking man on an adjoining stool turned about sharply.
+
+"Are you Slim Tyler?" he asked.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE TRAMP'S NOTEBOOK
+
+Slim Tyler nodded cautiously in answer to the stranger's question.
+He was not impressed by the man's appearance.
+
+"That's what they call me," he replied.  "What can I do for you?"
+
+The fellow leered at Slim over his hot dog.  His look became sly and
+calculating.
+
+"Well, now," he said, "it ain't so much what you can do for me, young
+feller, as what I may be able to do for you."
+
+Slim grinned.
+
+"All right.  I never yet shot a fellow for wanting to do me a favor.
+What's on your mind?"
+
+The last words gained in interest, for it occurred to Slim that this
+might be the fellow that Dave Boyd had mentioned, the
+trampish-looking man that had claimed acquaintanceship with High Hat
+Frank.
+
+Perhaps the tramp noticed his quickened interest and guessed at the
+cause.  At any rate, when he spoke again it was with increased
+assurance.
+
+"Well, now, I ain't exactly throwin' my favors round reckless like.
+There's folks might think that this here favor I've got for you was
+worth spendin' a few bucks to get."
+
+"I supposed you were after money," said Slim.  "Tell me what you have
+for me and how much you want for it."
+
+The look of cunning grew in the eyes of the tramp.
+
+"Yeah, I should tell you!" he jeered.  "And after you got my
+information I'd like to know how much of a chance I'd have of
+collecting on it."
+
+Slim turned his back on the fellow.
+
+"Keep your information," he said curtly, and added to Carl Stummel:
+"One hot dog, please, with plenty of mustard."
+
+"Ach!" replied Carl, his eyes twinkling, "you talk like I don't know
+alretty how you like dem--me who votched you spreadt on der mustard
+so dick alretty it iss a vender vot you dond burn oudt your insides
+yet."
+
+"I like plenty of mustard," grinned Slim.  "It kills the taste of the
+dog."
+
+As he accepted the wienie from Carl's stubby fingers he felt a touch
+on his shoulder.  He turned to find the stranger gazing anxiously at
+him.
+
+"What, you here yet?" asked Slim, with a fine affectation of
+carelessness and smothering a yawn.
+
+"I knew High Hat Frank," whispered the fellow, his ugly countenance
+twisted into an expression of amiability.  "It will be worth your
+while to listen to what I have to say.  Take it from one who knows."
+
+Slim eyed the man speculatively.
+
+"How much do you want and what have you got?" he asked.
+
+"I have a notebook that once belonged to High Hat Frank," the fellow
+replied.  "I was in a camp with three other guys, gentlemen of the
+road like me," with a leer.  "One day when all the rest had cleared
+out I found a notebook.  It had High Hat Frank's name on it."
+
+"Well," said Slim, "what has that to do with me?"
+
+"It has your name in it, that's what it's got to do with you," was
+the reply.  "And it has other things in it, this notebook has--things
+you might like to know."
+
+"Let me see it," demanded Slim.
+
+"For a price," replied the tramp.  "My name's Dan Mooney and you can
+see for yourself that I ain't got much of this world's goods.  I'm a
+poor man, I am, and I got to make my money where I can."
+
+"You don't expect me to buy a pig in a poke, do you?" asked Slim.
+
+"You've got to take a chance on that," replied Mooney.  "It'll cost
+you ten dollars in advance to get a squint at it.  Maybe it'll be
+worth a hundred times that to you.  I dunno.  But you ought to be
+willing to gamble that much on it."
+
+Slim himself was of the same opinion.  He reached into his pocket,
+pulled out some bills, counted out a five and five ones and shoved
+them toward the tramp.  Mooney seized them eagerly in his dirty
+fingers and shoved them into an inside pocket of his ragged coat.
+
+"All right," he said.  "Now, you being a sport and me being an honest
+man, I'm giving you a fair return for your money."
+
+He thrust his hand deep into a back pocket and drew out a shabby old
+notebook which he handed to the young aviator.  The book was so
+filthy with dirt and grease that Slim handled it gingerly by one
+corner.
+
+"Looks like you vos got schwindled alretty," observed Carl Stummel,
+who had watched the proceeding with disapproval.  "For sooch a book
+ich vould nicht ten cents geben, to say nuddings oof ten tollers."
+
+"Go take a back seat, grandpa," remarked the tramp, with a lofty wave
+of his dirty hand.  "Believe me when Mr. Tyler here gets a look at
+the inside sheets of that there little book he'll think he got it
+dirt cheap.  Now give me two wienies with mustard and make it snappy.
+I got money now and I want service."
+
+The old German's indignant snort was lost on Slim Tyler, as he rose
+and strolled away, the notebook still held between thumb and
+forefinger.  He wanted to find a secluded spot where he could peruse
+High Hat Frank's notebook without fear of interruption.
+
+He found such a spot in the yard back of the hot dog stand.  He sat
+down on a tree stump and opened the greasy notebook.
+
+His fingers shook with eagerness.
+
+How much, if anything, had High Hat Frank known of Nat Shaley and his
+swindling lumber schemes?  How much, if anything, had he known of
+that Oregon deal in which Slim's own father had been involved?
+
+Almost fearfully Slim Tyler leafed the pages of the book.
+
+The first few pages on which his eye fell held little of personal
+interest for him.  They were memoranda of trips made and people
+encountered by the dead tramp, of private grudges and vows on the
+part of the writer to even the score with certain persons unknown to
+Slim.
+
+The lad was becoming increasingly disappointed when a certain
+notation caught his eye.  He read with eagerness the almost illegible
+writing that lay scrawled across the pages.
+
+"Guess this is worth ten dollars, all right," he muttered to himself.
+
+The paragraph that so interested him began with some decidedly
+uncomplimentary remarks concerning the character of Nat Shaley, and
+continued with some generalities relative to an Oregon lumber deal.
+
+These references were vague and had evidently been jotted down only
+as aids to High Hat Frank's memory, which was probably becoming
+dimmed by excessive drinking.
+
+Several names, however, were mentioned that Slim felt might serve him
+as clues.  The real name of High Hat Frank himself, Frank Larrapoo,
+was the first that Slim came across.  Two other men, Hugh Garrabrant
+and Cameron Flood seemed to have been involved in the deal.  The man
+named Flood, it appeared, had a claim amounting to forty thousand
+dollars.
+
+There was a notation relative to this last fact which made Slim's
+pulses quicken:
+
+
+"Flood and Tyl--" here a bit of the paper had crumpled away--"both
+swindled.  Looks like that crook, Shaley, got all the money while
+they were left holding the bag."
+
+
+"Tyl--"!  It was maddening that just at that point the paper was
+crumpled.  What had originally been on that missing bit.  Was it the
+syllable "er," completing the name "Tyler?"  Slim felt sure of it.
+
+This was all in the book that bore on the Oregon transaction, all, as
+a matter of fact, that had the slightest interest for Slim Tyler.
+
+However, Slim felt that it was a great deal.  It was the first
+written statement he had yet seen in which Nat Shaley had been
+accused of swindling.  And it was the first time that in writing
+Slim's father's name had been linked with the transaction.
+
+If only the paper had not worn away just there!  If, in addition, the
+full name "Stillwell Tyler" had been there!
+
+High Hat Frank could have made the identification definite.  But High
+Hat Frank was dead.  But, even if he were alive, how far would his
+evidence have weight?
+
+"He was only a tramp," thought Slim.  "Who would have taken his word
+against that of a man like Nat Shaley, who has the power of influence
+and money behind him?"
+
+Thinking these thoughts, the first fine edge of Slim's enthusiasm was
+dulled.  He figured that as evidence in court High Hat Frank's dirty,
+grease-soaked notebook would not be worth the paper in it.
+
+"The judge and jury would laugh," he thought, "and so would Nat
+Shaley.  What I need are facts--facts that the crook can't laugh off.
+But how I'm going to get them--that's another question."
+
+He consulted the notebook again.
+
+"Hugh Garrabrant and Cameron Flood," he said aloud.  "I'd like to
+meet one or both of them.  I reckon they might be able to tell me
+some interesting things about that transaction--things that High Hat
+Frank neglected to put down in his notebook."
+
+There was the thunderous rumble of an airplane directly overhead.
+
+Slim Tyler looked up absently, but instantly his attention became
+fixed.
+
+The plane was the _Speed King_, the last of the four in the contest
+remaining aloft.
+
+His practiced glance told him at once that the _Speed King_ was in
+trouble and preparing to descend.
+
+"Lots of good that does me, though, now that Jerry and I are out of
+it," he said to himself bitterly.
+
+He hurried over to the flying field, thrusting the notebook into his
+pocket.
+
+The plane was flying low.  Its engines barked wearily.  It dropped
+and fluttered like a tired bird.
+
+Slim made his way through the crowd to a place beside the Boyd
+hangar, where Jerry was in earnest conversation with Henry Cusack,
+the superintendent of the field, and several of Boyd's mechanics.
+
+Jerry waved to Slim and pointed to the plane.
+
+"One of the engines has passed out altogether," he said.  "She's got
+to come down.  That knocks out all their chances of breaking the
+record."
+
+"Yes," replied Slim.  "But they've beaten us just the same in the
+individual contest."
+
+"And got the two thousand berries that would have been ours if it
+hadn't been for that confounded Nat Shaley," groaned Jerry.
+
+The plane touched the ground, bounded along for several hundred feet,
+and came to a standstill.
+
+Slim was about to join the crowd that surged about the _Speed King_
+when a familiar voice caught his ear.  He glanced back over his
+shoulder.
+
+Carl Stummel elbowed and pushed his way through the crowd toward him
+in a state of great excitement.
+
+"Dere he iss, alretty!" cried Carl.  "I tell you dot dis Shlim Tyler,
+dere iss nuddings dot he candt do vunst.  Shlim!  Vait a minute yet!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A SLENDER CHANCE
+
+Slim Tyler whirled about, curious to know what had so stirred his
+good friend.
+
+Carl Stummel's glasses were pushed far up on his forehead.  His hair
+stood up in bushy wisps about his head as though he had grasped it in
+some extremity of tragic emotion.  His eyes were wild and he was
+panting heavily.
+
+The German was not alone.  By the hand he led a man whose girth was
+as generous as his own.  There, however, the resemblance ended.  The
+stranger had a scholarly, sensitive face with near-sighted eyes that
+peered uncertainly from steel-rimmed spectacles.  He appeared not to
+see Slim until he was almost upon him.
+
+"Dis iss Shlim Tyler," panted Carl to his companion.  "Dere is
+nuddings he candt do alretty.  He vill your leetle poy save.  Shlim,
+dis iss Henry Traut."
+
+The newcomer peered up at the tall young aviator.  He clutched at
+Slim's sleeves.
+
+"Ach, yes, I have heard of you," he said.  "Can you once save my
+little boy, I will be your friend for life."
+
+Slim was touched by the pleading in the father's eyes.
+
+"I'll be glad to do anything I can," he said earnestly.  "Where is
+your boy and what's wrong with him?"
+
+Carl broke in to explain.
+
+"Der leetle poy in an accident it iss dot he vos been alretty.  He
+lif in Ernestville, fifty miles from here it iss.  He must an
+oberation haf kevick.  He--he----"
+
+Carl was getting so excited that his friend took up the tale.
+
+"My wife has phoned me," he said in husky accents, "that the doctor
+there says we must get Dr. Aaron Wills, the specialist who lives
+here, to perform the operation.  I understand he is a wonderful
+surgeon.  But he must come at once.  Else my baby will die--my little
+boy, he is only six years old----"
+
+His voice broke and he wrung his hands distractedly.
+
+"Eef you der doctor could get und fly mit him to Ernestville, Shlim,"
+Carl said pleadingly.
+
+"I'll do it," promised Slim.
+
+He made his way through the press of people toward the row of cars
+parked about the field.
+
+He knew the famous specialist by sight, and remembered having seen
+him on the field only a few minutes before.
+
+"It would be too good luck to find him there still," Slim thought to
+himself.  "Just the same, it's possible."
+
+When he reached the farther side of the field he caught a glimpse of
+the surgeon's car about to pull away to the road.
+
+Slim began to run, his long legs covering the ground swiftly.
+
+"Doctor Wills!" he called.  "Doctor Wills!  Wait a minute!"
+
+The car was already rolling smoothly along the road and Slim's call
+was unheard.
+
+Slim set his teeth and sprinted.  His legs moved like pistons.
+
+The heavy traffic of vehicles along the road decided the race in
+Slim's favor.  He came up with the doctor's car and flung himself
+upon the running board.
+
+Doctor Wills looked surprised.  Perhaps he thought for a fleeting
+second that he was the victim of a hold-up.
+
+He recognized the young aviator almost instantly, however, and drew
+up at the side of the road.
+
+"What can I do for you, my boy?" he asked, a smile transforming
+features that in repose were serious, almost stern.  "You scarcely
+look as though you needed the services of a doctor."
+
+"Not yet, doctor," replied Slim.  "Although it's a lucky fellow in my
+line of work who doesn't need the services of a surgeon to patch him
+up now and then."
+
+He explained hurriedly the plight of Henry Traut and the six-year-old
+child, whose life the skill of Dr. Aaron Wills was depended on to
+save.
+
+Doctor Wills listened intently, his face growing increasingly serious.
+
+"Ernestville is more than fifty miles away," he observed.  "If the
+child is as badly hurt as you say, we probably couldn't get there in
+time."
+
+Slim smiled confidently.
+
+"We could make it by plane," he declared.
+
+"Ah!" the stern face relaxed again.  Slim's youth and enthusiasm
+possessed a strong appeal for this man of many cares and ceaseless
+responsibilities.  "I see."
+
+He turned his car in the direction of the flying field.
+
+"Get your plane ready," he said.  "While you're doing it, I'll call
+up my office, tell them where I'm going, and leave directions
+concerning a few matters with my assistant."
+
+They found Henry Traut where Slim had left him.  Carl had been forced
+to go back to his hot dog stand, for on a day like this business was
+brisk.
+
+Slim introduced the doctor, and the German grasped his hand
+convulsively.
+
+"It is so good of you, doctor," he said tremulously.  "Our little
+boy, he is all we have.  If he should leave us, I too should die."
+
+"I'll do my best," said the doctor, as he and Traut hastily got into
+the flying togs that Slim handed them.
+
+A hasty word to Jerry from Slim had apprised him of the state of
+affairs and he had hauled out a speedy plane from the hangar so that
+in an incredibly short time everything was ready for the flight.
+
+Carl Stummel rushed over again for a parting word with his friend.
+There were tears in the eyes of the good old fellow as he wrung
+Traut's hand.
+
+"It vill be alles recht," Carl assured him.  "You shoost leave it mit
+dot Shlim Tyler.  He iss vun great poy.  He vill get you dere in der
+jig dime yet."
+
+Slim met the quizzical glance of the famous surgeon and grinned
+sheepishly.
+
+"Mr. Stummel is an old friend of mine, Doctor," he said.  "I'm afraid
+he has too much confidence in me."
+
+"Any man may count himself fortunate to possess one friend with
+implicit confidence in his ability," said Dr. Wills gravely.
+"Besides, I think we're all inclined to share his confidence.  Let's
+see now how quickly you can take us to Ernestville."
+
+"Watch our smoke," said Slim, as he motioned to one of the mechanics
+to turn the propeller.
+
+The engines sang their song of speed as the plane rushed down the
+runway and darted upward into the air.
+
+Higher and higher it rose until it was at an elevation of about a
+thousand feet.  Then Slim brought it to an even keel and set its nose
+in the direction of Ernestville, fifty miles away.
+
+Before Slim's mind rose the vision of a six-year-old child, inert,
+helpless, dependent for life itself on the speed of the plane and the
+skill of the surgeon.
+
+"A race with death perhaps," Slim muttered to himself.  "But I have a
+feeling that we'll win."
+
+He gave the plane full throttle and clove the air like a comet.  He
+was racing not for a money prize, not for glory or reputation, but
+for a life.
+
+He covered the fifty miles in something less than twenty minutes, and
+came down on a small flying field in the outskirts of Ernestville.
+
+There, through a previous arrangement made over the telephone by
+Jerry Marbury before the take-off, a car was waiting.
+
+Into this hurried Dr. Wills, followed by Henry Traut and by Slim
+himself, who had lingered behind just for a moment to give a few
+directions regarding the plane.
+
+"To my house, quick!" urged Traut.
+
+"No, to the hospital," directed the doctor.  "I talked to your doctor
+before we left North Elmwood and he arranged for the transfer.  With
+the facilities there, a successful outcome to the operation is far
+more probable than if it were performed at your home.  Set your mind
+at rest.  Everything will be done for your child that it is possible
+to do."
+
+"Ach, Gott!" murmured the stricken father.  "I pray that it will be
+enough."
+
+The car stopped at the hospital, and the doctor hurried up the steps.
+Henry Traut kept beside him, his fingers twining and intertwining in
+agonized helplessness.
+
+Slim Tyler brought up the rear, increasingly conscious of being an
+outsider, yet unwilling to desert the party until he had learned more
+concerning the fate of the little lad.
+
+Inside the hospital they were greeted by the clean antiseptic odor
+common to all such institutions.
+
+The great surgeon was met by the nurse in charge, who summoned the
+head of the hospital, who in turn offered all the facilities of his
+domain to his distinguished colleague.
+
+Doctor Wills gave a crisp direction and turned toward the stairs.  It
+was evident that he had completely forgotten both the father of his
+"case" and Slim Tyler, who had been chiefly responsible for bringing
+him there.
+
+Henry Traut, however, was not willing to be ignored.  He followed the
+surgeon and plucked nervously at his sleeve.
+
+"My boy, I can see him, yes?"
+
+Without pausing in his swift stride, Doctor Wills said over his
+shoulder:
+
+"Better wait in the reception room with young Tyler.  I'll have word
+sent to you as soon as you can see the boy."
+
+With this small comfort the distracted father was forced to content
+himself.  He walked irresolutely into the waiting room and paced up
+and down, up and down, his hands behind his back, his glazed stare
+fixed, his mouth set in a line of pain.
+
+Slim watched him uncomfortably for a few minutes, wondering if he
+should try to say something comforting, but finally deciding against
+it.
+
+"How can I say anything consoling when his poor little kid may be
+dying this minute for all I know?  I doubt if he'd even hear me.  He
+has his ears strained for some sound from upstairs."
+
+He turned restlessly to the window and tried to interest his thoughts
+by the sights of the street.
+
+"The worst fix I ever was in," he muttered to himself.  "Who'd think
+I'd get so cut up about some one else's kid?  Wonder what they're
+doing to the poor little beggar, anyhow."
+
+As though in answer to his question, a soft-footed nurse entered.
+
+"Mr. Traut," she said, "I have come from Doctor Wills.  He says that
+you can see your little boy."
+
+Henry Traut paused in his restless pacing.  He regarded the nurse,
+his face working.  He peered at her and gripped her arm with
+imploring fingers.
+
+"My little boy--my little son," he whispered.  "Tell me--will he
+live?"
+
+The nurse nodded, a smile on her face.
+
+"Doctor Wills says that he is out of danger."
+
+Henry Traut sat down with great suddenness.  Slim had the impression
+that his legs had given out under him.  Traut felt in his pocket and
+drew out a handkerchief, which he applied to his eyes.
+
+"Lieber Gott!" he murmured, "I give thanks."
+
+Slim felt an unaccustomed emotion swelling up in him and turned
+sharply to the window.  He remained there until he was conscious of a
+presence near him and turned to find the white-garbed nurse beside
+him.
+
+"Are you Mr. Tyler?" she asked.
+
+Slim admitted his identity.
+
+"I brought Doctor Wills and Mr. Traut here in a plane," he added
+awkwardly.  "I haven't really any business here, but I thought I'd
+sort of like to hang around until I found out how the little codger
+was getting along.  I--I guess I'll be going now."
+
+"I guess you'll do nothing of the kind," said the nurse smilingly.
+"Not if I have anything to say about it--or Doctor Wills.  You see
+the little Traut boy has been asking for you--seems he's seen your
+picture in the papers and heard a lot about your flying--and he won't
+take no for an answer."
+
+"How does he know I'm here?" asked Slim.
+
+"He heard Doctor Wills speak of you to Doctor Morton the anæsthetist.
+He must have understood then that you were still downstairs, for you
+were the first one he asked for when he came out of the ether.
+You're quite a hero to the little boy, Mr. Tyler."
+
+Slim fidgeted uncomfortably, wondering whether the nurse was laughing
+at him.
+
+He was ashamed of the suspicion a moment later when very seriously
+and gently she placed her hand upon his arm.
+
+"You undoubtedly saved the little fellow's life, Mr. Tyler.  I heard
+Doctor Wills say that if he had been half an hour later, he could
+have done nothing.  If you can carry your kindness a little further
+and come up to see the boy just for a moment.  It will keep him from
+fretting and----"
+
+"I'll be glad to," said Slim promptly.  "I'm glad to do anything I
+can."
+
+The nurse said nothing further, but led the way from the room.
+
+Mr. Traut had already been taken to the room in which his boy lay.
+
+Slim had never been in a hospital before, except on the one occasion
+when he had visited High Hat Frank.  The smell of antiseptics and the
+rows of narrow beds all had a depressing effect upon him.
+
+"Might as well get used to it, though," he thought.  "Here's where
+I'll come--or to a place like this--after my first crack-up.  All the
+fellows do, sooner or later."
+
+The nurse led him to a room at the far end of the corridor.  On the
+bed lay a little lad, a lad so white and thin that the dark eyes
+gazing up at Slim seemed enormous in the small face.
+
+Henry Traut had been sitting beside the bed, the child's small hand
+in his.
+
+Now, at a sign from the nurse, he rose as though to quit the room.
+He bent over the small figure and the child reached up and patted his
+face.
+
+As the father retired reluctantly, Slim took his place beside the bed.
+
+"Only a word or two," the nurse whispered.  "Then you must go."
+
+The child reached out a brown little hand, and Slim took it with a
+strange sensation of tenderness.  He felt as he had in the waiting
+room below, a bit choky in the throat.
+
+"You're big flying man," murmured the child.  "I saw your picture.
+You go up in the sky.  I like you."
+
+"That's good," said Slim clearing his throat.  "I like you, too.  And
+now you're going to hurry up and get well and pretty soon you'll be
+playing around again."
+
+The little face flushed and the lips moved.  Slim bent closer to
+catch the whisper.
+
+"Will you come again?"
+
+"Sure thing," promised Slim.  "When I come again I'll bring you a toy
+airplane and show you how to fly it."
+
+Slim felt a touch on his arm.  It was the nurse.
+
+"Time's up," she whispered.
+
+With difficulty Slim released his hand from the little fellow's
+grasp.  Tears started to the child's eyes, but the nurse soothed him.
+
+Outside in the corridor, it seemed to Slim that he could still feel
+the pressure of the small fingers.  He wanted to go back and reassure
+him, tell him there was nothing to be frightened about.  Gee, it was
+tough to be flat on your back with all sorts of pains and aches
+inside of you when you were only six years old!
+
+Doctor Wills emerged from a room where he had been washing after the
+operation.
+
+"I hear it's all right, Doctor," said Slim.
+
+"Yes," replied the great surgeon.  "But it wouldn't have been if you
+hadn't whisked me here as swiftly as you did.  A little while longer
+and the child would have been beyond help.  You've done a good day's
+work, my boy."
+
+"I'm glad," said Slim simply.  "I'll take you back when you're ready,
+Doctor."
+
+"Thanks," said the doctor.  "But I'm going to stay here a few hours
+to watch developments.  I'll have my man bring the car over."
+
+"You surely are not going home to-night, Mr. Tyler," put in Henry
+Traut.  "You must be my guest.  My wife would never forgive me if I
+did not bring you to her so that she can thank you.  You must come."
+
+There was really no reason for refusing, and Slim Tyler accompanied
+his host to the Traut home, where Mrs. Traut, who had been in a state
+of nervous collapse and was under the care of a trained nurse,
+received him with joy and gratitude that were beyond all words.  They
+were so insistent on his staying that nearly a week elapsed before
+they would let him go.  Slim yielded the more readily because of his
+growing attachment to the little fellow, whom he visited daily and
+who in turn fairly worshipped his deliverer.
+
+The child grew stronger rapidly, and the nurse declared that Slim's
+visits helped the little lad more than all the medicines.
+
+At last Slim Tyler had to tear himself away.  To him who had had so
+little of home life it was a wrench to go from these kindly people.
+Yet it was with a thrill of elation that he mounted into the cockpit
+and felt once more the stick in his hand.
+
+When, after his return flight, he came down on the North Elmwood
+flying field, Jerry Marbury detached himself from a group and hurried
+over to him.
+
+"You old stick-in-the-mud!" he called, "where have you been all this
+time?"
+
+"Didn't Dave Boyd tell you?" asked Slim, in some surprise.  "I phoned
+to him and asked him to pass the word along."
+
+"Dave has been so busy that he's hardly had time to breathe," replied
+Jerry, "and thereby hangs a tale.  Slim, old scout, you and I are out
+of luck."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE FLIGHT TO THE FROZEN NORTH
+
+Jerry Marbury's statement was uttered so ruefully that Slim Tyler
+shot a sharp glance at his chum.
+
+"How come?" he asked.
+
+"While you've been away," replied his friend, "Dave has accepted an
+offer from a group of scientists--oh, you'd know their names fast
+enough, if you heard them, Franz, Burke, Lewis, a lot of highbrows
+with all the letters of the alphabet tucked behind their names--to
+pilot an expedition into the wilds of Greenland.  Some sort of
+exploring expedition."
+
+"My name isn't up as a member of the expedition, I suppose,"
+conjectured Slim wistfully.
+
+"Not that you can notice," returned Jerry, with a gloomy nod.
+"That's what I meant when I said we were out of luck."
+
+"You're not in it, either?" asked Slim, genuinely surprised.
+
+"Guess there isn't room for me on the trip," was the reply.  "I can't
+expect to be in on everything, you know."
+
+"Who is going with Dave, then?" queried Slim.
+
+"Biff Donovan for one.  And I understand that Sardine Brown is going
+along.  If they've got any one else, I haven't heard of him."
+
+Slim Tyler could not help feeling envious of the lucky flyers.  He
+would have given almost everything he owned to have been included in
+the plans for this expedition into Greenland.  But common sense told
+him that Dave would want only the more experienced flyers for this
+kind of work.
+
+"My time will come yet," he assured himself, trying to banish the
+disappointment that he could not help feeling.  "There's no use
+getting sore over nothing."
+
+Aloud he said:
+
+"Does the expedition start from here?"
+
+"I think so," replied Jerry, "although I understand Dave expects to
+pick up one or two others in Canada on his way to the Far North."
+
+"When do they start?" asked Slim.
+
+Jerry chuckled.
+
+"According to latest reports from the Boyd hangar, in just about
+thirty-five minutes."
+
+"So soon?" exclaimed Slim.  "Things must have been humming while I
+was away."
+
+"You don't know the half of it.  Come with me and I'll show you."
+
+Approaching the Boyd hangar, they found everything in a bustle of
+preparation.
+
+The plane that was to be used for the expedition, the _Flying Cloud_,
+was being inspected for the last time in regard to its mechanical
+perfection, fueling, and provisioning.
+
+The stir and excitement of the scene got into Slim's blood and
+intensified his sense of disappointment in not being included in it.
+
+He and Jerry forced their way through the crowd that surrounded the
+hangar and were greeted jovially by Henry Cusack.
+
+"Bet you boys wish you were going along," he remarked.
+
+Slim Tyler grinned ruefully.
+
+"Nothing else but," he agreed.
+
+"Where's Dave?" asked Jerry.
+
+"Around somewhere talking to the scientists.  I ain't got any use for
+those fellers," the rotund boss of the hangar confided in a lowered
+tone.  "Seems they always know so much that ain't so, and in the end
+they always come around to facts that common folks have known all
+along."
+
+Jerry Marbury chuckled.
+
+"Once in a while, though, they do succeed in turning up something,
+Henry.  There's Edison.  What about him?"
+
+"Oh, well," admitted Henry grudgingly, "he's what you call a
+practical scientist.  I was talking about the kind that go around
+with their heads in the clouds and never notice whether it's dry or
+muddy underfoot.  That sort makes me tired."
+
+Slim and Jerry found Dave Boyd surrounded by a distinguished group of
+men--that type of star-gazing scientists of which Henry Cusack so
+heartily disapproved.
+
+The great aviator greeted the young men cordially.
+
+"How's the little sick boy in Ernestville?" he asked Slim.  It was
+one of the pleasant attributes of the great flyer that, no matter how
+deeply he might be absorbed in matters of importance, he never failed
+to keep in mind events that were of interest to his associates.  He
+had a capacity for friendliness that was a never ending source of
+pleasure to those who admired and loved him.
+
+"Coming along well, thanks," answered Slim.  But his mind just then
+was not on the little Traut boy.  He was thinking wistful things of
+Greenland and what he might do there if he had the chance.
+
+Dave Boyd seemed to divine his thoughts.
+
+"Sorry we haven't room for you and Jerry on this trip," he said.  "I
+was asked to take Biff and Brown.  But there will be other trips, and
+then you will get your chance."
+
+"Much good that does me now," thought Slim to himself, still fighting
+his disappointment.
+
+He loitered about the hangar during the final arrangements for the
+start of the expedition.  The excitement infected him.  The call to
+adventure was in his blood.  He wandered about, nurturing a wild hope
+that at the last moment someone would be unable to go and he, Slim
+Tyler, would be called upon to take his place.
+
+This flickering possibility received its death blow when the great
+plane that was to carry the expedition to Greenland was trundled out
+and the members of the party began to take their places in it.
+
+One by one Slim counted them.  They were all there!  No hope of a
+vacancy at the last moment.
+
+Police were on hand to prevent crowding and to give the plane a fair
+space for the take-off.
+
+Dave Boyd was the last to board the plane.  In the act of settling
+his heavy goggles in place, he turned to Slim and Jerry and held out
+his hand.
+
+"Wish us luck, boys," he said.  "We will keep you folks back here
+informed of our progress, as far as it is possible to do so.  We have
+radio along and all the up-to-the-minute appliances.  You should hear
+from us often."
+
+"Good-by, sir," said Slim.  "I don't have to wish any expedition luck
+when you're along," he added, with a smile.  "I just wish them Dave
+Boyd."
+
+The aviator laughed, shook Slim's hand again, and climbed into the
+plane.
+
+The propeller whirled, the engine hummed, and the great plane swept
+down the field like a gigantic beetle.
+
+But it did not rise as soon as they expected.
+
+Jerry and Slim watched it with increasing anxiety.
+
+"Too heavily weighted," muttered Slim.
+
+Jerry nodded.
+
+"They may have to ditch some of the duffle," he observed.
+
+"No!" cried Slim.  "There she goes!  Look at her!  See her lift!  Now
+I ask you, what could be sweeter?"
+
+He wandered about aimlessly for a while, trying to chide himself into
+a more cheerful mood.  He was turning a corner of the Boyd hangar
+when he saw approaching him and evidently about to speak to him the
+person he most loathed in all the world.
+
+He regarded Nat Shaley frigidly.
+
+"Well," he said, not trying to hide his distaste, "what do you want?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BALKING A RASCAL
+
+Nat Shaley, undismayed by Slim Tyler's reception of him, tried to
+force his unpleasant countenance into a look of amiability.
+
+"I figger to have a talk with you, son," said Shaley, in a tone which
+astonished Slim because it was so friendly and had the effect of
+putting him instantly on his guard.  "I say now, can't we go
+somewhere where nobody'll be buttin' in to bother us?"
+
+Slim hesitated.  He abominated the man and wanted to have nothing to
+do with him.
+
+On the other hand, he was anxious to find out all that he could about
+the mysterious Oregon lumber deal in which he now felt certain his
+father had been swindled by the old miser.
+
+Of course, Shaley would never admit anything.  But there was a chance
+that some unguarded utterance of his might give Slim a clue that
+could be followed up with profit.
+
+"If you must be private," Slim said brusquely, "come over there with
+me back of Stummel's hot dog stand.  We're not apt to be interrupted
+there."
+
+Nat Shaley's small eyes gleamed assent.  He wore a satisfied smirk.
+
+"All right, son," he said in his new manner.  "You lead the way an'
+I'll follow."
+
+When they had reached the vacant patch of land back of Carl Stummel's
+place, Slim Tyler turned and faced the man who was his worst enemy
+and had probably been his father's evil genius.
+
+"Well," he said crisply, "out with it.  I'm no friend of yours, Nat
+Shaley.  I won't pretend to be.  If you have anything to say to me,
+say it quickly and get it over with."
+
+"Not so fast, not so fast," protested Shaley, who seemed a bit
+disconcerted by the boy's uncompromising attitude.  "Mebbe when you
+hear what I have to say, you won't talk so loud about us bein'
+enemies----"
+
+"All right," Slim interrupted impatiently.  "Get on with it.  What do
+you want?"
+
+"I don't want nothin'," said Shaley, his own tone beginning to rasp.
+"I come here to give you somethin'.  Howsomever, if you don't want
+it, you don't have to take it."
+
+"Give me something!" replied Slim contemptuously.  "That doesn't seem
+to be in your line, Nat Shaley.  From what I've seen of you you're
+the taking, not the giving sort."
+
+For a moment the mask of good nature dropped from the old miser's
+face and his eyes glowed venomously.  He started to speak and stopped
+with his mouth half open.  It was evident that he controlled himself
+by a gigantic effort.
+
+"You ain't helpin' me to be nice to you," said the old scoundrel,
+with a leer.  "But I got a forgivin' disposition an' I ain't to be
+turned from my purpose by no hot-headed young feller that don't know
+what side his bread's buttered on.  Now look here, Slim, I got some
+money for you."
+
+"Money!"  Slim's mind leaped to the twenty thousand dollars out of
+which his father had been swindled.  Was it possible?  Was a miracle
+happening?  No.  The age of miracles was past.
+
+Well, then, what was the old villain up to?
+
+"I got to thinkin' about how I treated you that time at the railroad
+when you came down thinkin' to save my life," went on Shaley.  "You
+tried to help me, an' I ain't properly thanked you fer it."
+
+Slim was more than ever suspicious.  Gratitude was not one of
+Shaley's outstanding traits.
+
+"Is that what you brought me here for?" Slim asked guardedly.  "To
+say 'thank you'?"
+
+"Well, yes an' no.  But there's a more important part.  I aim to pay
+you the back wages you say I owe you."
+
+"Not only what I say you owe me, but what you know you owe me,"
+corrected Slim.  "It's about time you dug it up.  Knowing you, I'd
+kissed it good-by."
+
+Again Nat Shaley's face became purple with rage.  He reigned in his
+temper with a great effort.
+
+"What does the old rascal want of me," thought Slim, eying his
+one-time employer keenly.  "He isn't loosening up with any forty
+dollars just for the fun of it--not Nat Shaley."
+
+He stretched out his hand.
+
+"Let me see the color of the money," he challenged.
+
+Nat Shaley drew back.  A crafty expression marred the labored
+amiability of his face.
+
+"All right, all right, I'll give it to you.  All in good time.  I
+ain't deceivin' you, even if you seem to think I am.  Look here!"
+
+He thrust his hand into his pocket and drew out a big roll of bills.
+Before Slim's doubting eyes he counted out four, crisp, new tens.
+
+Nevertheless, when Slim again stretched out his hand, desirous to
+prove to himself that he was not dreaming, Shaley still held the
+bills clutched in his scrawny fingers.
+
+"Now that you have the proof that I'm tryin' to be your friend, mebbe
+you won't mind doin' me a little favor."
+
+The suggestion was thrown off carelessly, as though it had no bearing
+whatever upon the payment of the forty dollars of back wages.
+
+Slim Tyler was not fooled for an instant.
+
+"I knew you wouldn't loosen up on that forty dollars unless you were
+out to get your money's worth," he said bitingly.  "Speak up, Shaley,
+and let's get this over with.  What's on your mind?"
+
+Nat Shaley's face assumed an innocent air which was comical on that
+villainous countenance.
+
+"It's jest about that there little accident up at the railroad," he
+said smoothly.  "You seen fer yourself how the engine smashed my car.
+But I can't fix it up to collect damages unless I have a witness to
+prove that the company was wrong."
+
+Light broke upon Slim Tyler.
+
+"And you want me to be that witness.  Is that it?" he asked, with
+misleading calm.
+
+Shaley nodded.  He leered up at Slim hopefully.  It was his belief
+that anything could be bought with money.  Had he not just offered
+Slim Tyler forty dollars?
+
+"Sure," he said.  "All you'll have to do is to say that I was drivin'
+all right till the car seemed to hit somethin' stickin' from the
+tracks an' turned over.  An' you can say, too, that there was plenty
+of time fer the train to stop before it smashed into the car."  He
+held the forty dollars conspicuously displayed, so that it would be
+the greater temptation for the young aviator.  "What's more, I'm
+willin' to take your word fer it.  All you have to say is that you're
+sure the accident was the fault of the railroad and--here's your
+forty dollars."
+
+Nat Shaley had failed to note Slim's ominous quiet.  Now the young
+man spoke, still quietly.
+
+"You low-down skunk!"
+
+Nat Shaley shrank back as though he had been struck.  His thin lips
+fell back from his teeth in a snarl.  Fury gleamed in his eyes.
+
+"So that's the way you treat me when I offer you money!" he
+ejaculated.
+
+"You offer me money if I'll lie for you!" cried Slim, his rage slowly
+mastering him.  It was with difficulty that he restrained himself
+from leaping at Shaley's throat.  "You rat!  You thief!  Trying to
+bribe me to do your dirty work for you!  Get away from here before I
+forget myself and give you what's coming to you."
+
+"So that's your line, is it?" snarled Shaley.  "Let me tell you that
+you ain't foolin' me--no, not fer a minute.  You ain't so innocent as
+you try to make me think.  You ain't jest got the spunk to pull off
+the deal, that's all.  You never was no good."
+
+"You crook!" Slim was white with rage.  "I ought to wipe up the
+ground with you.  Not content to steal twenty thousand dollars from
+my father, you have to come out here and try to bribe me with your
+measly little forty dollars back pay that's mine by right.  Get out
+of here, you hound.  If you were a younger man, you'd get my fist on
+the point of your jaw."
+
+At mention of the twenty thousand dollars, Nat Shaley began to back
+slowly away.
+
+"I never stole a cent from your father," he growled.  "You're hipped,
+that's what you are."
+
+"I suppose you never heard of Cameron Flood either," snapped Slim.
+"Never heard of Hugh Garrabrant."
+
+A look of fright came into Shaley's eyes.
+
+"You're crazy," snarled Shaley, all the color ebbing from his face.
+"What fool nonsense is it flingin' them names at me?  They don't mean
+nothin'.  Never heerd of 'em."
+
+"You will hear of them plenty of times before I'm through with you,"
+replied Slim.  "Now get away from here as fast as your legs can carry
+you.  And if you bring any more of your slimy propositions to me,
+you'll wish you hadn't."
+
+"You young fool," growled Shaley, as he beat a final retreat.
+"You'll be sorry some day.  Nat Shaley ain't a good enemy to have,
+an' don't you fergit it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A HAZARDOUS LANDING
+
+During the days directly following Dave Boyd's departure for the
+North, news came in daily regarding the Greenland expedition and its
+whereabouts.
+
+Dave Boyd and his co-pilots had met with favorable weather; they had
+made even better progress than they had anticipated.  So far, so good.
+
+Slim Tyler and Jerry Marbury kept in close touch with the progress of
+the _Flying Cloud_.  Though neither of them had fully recovered from
+the disappointment of not having been included in the party, they
+nevertheless drew a vicarious excitement from the story of the doings
+of Dave Boyd and his distinguished company.
+
+They flew daily, not only because they loved it, but to keep in
+practice and to test occasional new devices that were constantly
+coming up for trial in aviation.
+
+"If we get smashed up," said Jerry jokingly, as they were taking a
+spin one day over the country surrounding North Elmwood, "Dave Boyd
+will be sorry that he didn't take us along.  Two of his most
+enterprising young aviators gone to waste!"
+
+"You must think we're going to land in the ash heap," laughed Slim.
+
+"That's the chance we're taking every day," said Jerry.
+
+They had made a wide circuit and were returning to the North Elmwood
+field when, looking down, they saw some of the mechanics and pilots
+looking up at them and gesticulating wildly.
+
+"What's all the shooting about, I wonder?" asked Jerry in some
+surprise.
+
+"Search me," replied Slim.  "They seem to be urging us not to come
+down.  Don't you see that they're pointing to the sky?"
+
+"I'm not an expert at the sign language," said Jerry.  "Why shouldn't
+we go down?  No cops waiting to nab us, I hope."
+
+"I don't know," replied Slim, his bewilderment increasing.  "All the
+same they have some reason.  What's Cusack doing there with that big
+paint brush?"
+
+"Spilling a lot of paint, anyhow," observed Jerry.  "Marking down a
+lot of big letters.  Henry's all stirred up about something.  And
+there's Tom Ellsworth running toward his plane.  What in thunder is
+up?"
+
+They saw Tom jump into the cockpit, while Cusack handed to him a
+bespattered sheet of canvas.  Tom gave her the gun and shot up into
+the air until he was nearly abreast of Slim's plane.
+
+He held out the canvas strip, on which Cusack had painted in
+sprawling letters:
+
+  YOUR LEFT WHEEL IS GONE
+
+
+Slim Tyler and Jerry Marbury started as though from an electric
+shock.  For the message spoke of terrible danger.
+
+They would have to land on one wheel, and that was a thing that could
+not be accomplished one time in twenty without a crack-up!  Even Dave
+Boyd himself would have had hard work to do it.
+
+Slim Tyler felt all the blood leave his face.  Then he gritted his
+teeth and set himself to his task.
+
+There was no more gesticulating from the field.  The men below stood
+in anxious silence.  They knew that Slim Tyler had read and
+understood the message.  Now it was up to him.  No one could help him
+but himself.
+
+"Think you can make it, Slim?" asked Jerry soberly.
+
+"Can tell better when we hit," returned Slim grimly.  "But I'm going
+to do an awful lot of trying."
+
+He figured that they would hit the ground at the rate of about thirty
+miles an hour.  Then they would have to run along for several hundred
+feet on that one wheel.
+
+If the wheel were only in the center of the plane, it would be fairly
+easy to maintain an even keel.  But it was on one side, and the
+tendency of the plane would be to turn over on the unsupported side.
+That would mean that the wing would strike the ground on that side
+and the whole thing would crumple up, while the occupants would
+probably be maimed or killed in the crash.
+
+"Throw everything in the plane that you can move over to the right
+side, and keep yourself over there too," directed Slim.  "We've got
+to get all the weight there we can."
+
+Jerry did as directed, and Slim, moving in great, sweeping spirals,
+drew gradually nearer to the ground.
+
+Down, down, he went, seeming to do scarcely more than float.
+
+Down still lower, until the one wheel touched the ground.  It dipped
+a trifle toward the unsupported side, and a groan went up from the
+anxious spectators.
+
+With a lightning turn of the wrist, Slim Tyler righted her, at the
+same time throwing the weight of his own body as far as he could to
+the right.  By the most delicate manipulation and balancing, he kept
+the plane upright on the one wheel until the momentum of the run had
+spent its force.
+
+The plane came to rest quiveringly, and only then yielded to the
+force of gravitation and sank gently over on the left wing, so gently
+that it would not have broken a pane of glass.
+
+A roar of relief and delight went up from the watchers and a rush was
+made for the plane.  Slim Tyler, drenched with perspiration from the
+awful strain of that struggle, was pulled from the plane and pounded
+and mauled by his enthusiastic friends until he begged for mercy.
+
+"Gee, that was a wonderful landing!" exclaimed Henry Cusack.  "I've
+been on this landin' field for years and never seen anything like it.
+Shouldn't wonder if Dave Boyd was right when he said that you were
+the greatest flyer for your age in the world."
+
+"Great work, Slim!" declared Tom Ellsworth.  "I thought you were in
+for a crack-up, sure.  I wouldn't have given a plugged nickel for
+your chances."
+
+"Such judgment!  Such balancing!  Such stick work!" applauded Jerry
+Marbury.  "Slim, I take off my hat to you.  I was already figuring up
+whether I had money enough to pay for my funeral expenses."
+
+"Just sheer luck," returned Slim Tyler modestly.  "But you bet that
+the next time I go up, particular attention will be given to the
+wheels.  A few experiences like this would give me gray hairs."
+
+He was leaving the grounds half an hour later when he was accosted by
+one of the mechanics.
+
+"A couple of letters over at the office for you, Slim," he said.
+"Better get them before the old stick-in-the-mud in charge there
+tries to read them through the envelopes."
+
+Slim thanked the young fellow and made straight for the office.
+
+He was looking eagerly for mail these days.  Since the notebook
+containing the entries by High Hat Frank had fallen into his hands,
+he had written to several places concerning Hugh Garrabrant and
+Cameron Flood, but so far had received no word in return.
+
+He was exceedingly anxious to hear from one or both of them, for he
+was hotly embarked now on Nat Shaley's trail and hoped the miser's
+other victims could aid him in his search for facts.
+
+He waited with scarcely concealed impatience for Anthony Litwell, the
+gossipy clerk in charge of the affairs of Boyd's office, to sort over
+the mail and find his letters for him.
+
+He got them at last.  One was postmarked from a city in California,
+where he had written for news of Garrabrant.  The other was from a
+town in Ohio, where he had hoped to obtain information concerning
+Cameron Flood.
+
+Back of the hot dog stand where some time before he had perused the
+greasy, thumbed notebook of High Hat Frank, Slim Tyler opened one of
+his two letters.
+
+This was from the Garrabrants' lawyer and proved a distinct
+disappointment.
+
+Hugh Garrabrant was dead and had left no heirs as far as could be
+ascertained.  He had left, however, a claim against the Mt. Sunwa
+Lumber Company which had operated in Oregon and was, Slim felt sure,
+the one with which Nat Shaley had been connected.
+
+The fact that Garrabrant was no longer living was a sharp setback to
+Slim's hopes in that quarter.  To get into touch with Hugh Garrabrant
+himself, that was what he wanted, not a talk with a lawyer or an
+unsatisfactory delving into long past facts.
+
+He put the letter back into its envelope and shoved it into his
+pocket.
+
+"One lead gone," he said to himself.  "Now I'll see what news the
+other letter gives me.  If Cameron Flood is dead, too, I might just
+as well give up the investigation."
+
+Almost in the first sentence of the letter he was informed that
+Cameron Flood was indeed dead.  However, he had left a son, Cameron
+Flood, Jr., who would, the lawyer surmised, be glad to meet Mr. Tyler
+and discuss this matter of mutual interest.
+
+"This is better," crowed Slim.  "Now I'm getting somewhere!"
+
+He read on for a paragraph or two and his jubilant expression died.
+
+"Now what do you know about that?" he muttered.  "Isn't that just
+rotten luck?"
+
+The news that had caused Slim's swift change of expression was to the
+effect that although Cameron Flood, Jr., was alive, he was
+unfortunately no longer in his home town, but had left the city for
+upper Canada, where he was about to join an exploring expedition by
+airplane.
+
+The expedition, the writer went on to explain, was bound for
+Greenland.
+
+"Can you beat that?" muttered Slim.  "He must be one of those two
+scientists slated to join Dave Boyd in Canada."
+
+Now his disappointment at not being a member of the party was
+redoubled.
+
+"What a talk Flood and I would have had!" mourned Slim.  "We'd have
+had plenty of time to compare notes and map out a plan of campaign.
+I sure am the original hard luck kid!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE MISSING AVIATORS
+
+Slim Tyler smothered the bitterness at his heart as well as he could
+and continued his reading of the letter.
+
+Cameron Flood, Jr., the lawyer went on to explain, had inherited a
+claim for a large amount against the Mt. Sunwa Lumber Company and a
+certain Nathaniel Shaley, who seemed to have been the leading figure
+in the concern.
+
+There had been some grave irregularity and probably actual crime
+attending the winding up of the company, the writer stated.  In fact,
+Cameron Flood, Senior, had been about to take up the cudgels in a
+contest that would undoubtedly have had sensational features when
+death put an end to his activities.
+
+"All very interesting, but not much use to me, now that I won't be
+able to get in touch with the younger Flood for many months to come,"
+sighed Slim.  "Talk about getting the hot end of the poker!  I've got
+nothing else but."
+
+Depression was a frequent guest of Slim Tyler in the days that
+followed.  From the papers he learned that two scientists, one of
+them Flood, had joined the expedition in upper Canada.
+
+There the _Flying Cloud_ had laid up for a couple of days for
+refueling and supplies.
+
+Then came the news that Dave Boyd and his party had left Canada and
+embarked on the last and most perilous lap of the journey to the
+uncharted wastes of Greenland.
+
+Up to that time good weather had been the rule.  But now the public,
+eagerly following the course of the flight by means of the newspapers
+and radio, learned that the plane was meeting with inclement flying
+conditions.
+
+Snow and hail and terrible winds prevailed in the regions of the air
+through which the _Flying Cloud_ was painfully forcing its way.
+
+Slim Tyler and Jerry Marbury devouring every scrap of information
+they could get, agonized together over the possible fate of the
+flyers.
+
+"Under such weather conditions it's wonderful that the plane could
+have stayed in the air so long," observed Jerry.
+
+"No one but Dave Boyd could have managed it," said Slim loyally.
+
+Jerry shook his head dubiously.
+
+"Even Dave Boyd can't keep aloft much longer with such odds against
+him.  A forced landing among the ice-coated mountains of Greenland--"
+he did not finish the sentence, but in his eyes was the premonition
+of disaster.
+
+A day later a screaming headline in the press informed the public
+that what it had been dreading had probably occurred.
+
+No word had been received from the Boyd plane for eighteen hours!
+
+This fact, coupled with the increased severity of the weather
+conditions in the region where the plane had last been heard of, gave
+rise to the most dire prophecies.  In all probability, it was
+generally thought, the plane had been forced down among the mountain
+gorges of the desolate land, in which event the situation of the
+members of the expedition was, to say the least, of the utmost
+gravity.
+
+With the paper in his hand that gave the disheartening report, Slim
+Tyler dashed into Jerry's room.
+
+"Look here, old boy!" he exclaimed.  "This is rotten news."
+
+"Couldn't be much worse," agreed Jerry gloomily.
+
+He also had been studying the paper.
+
+"Of course the papers may be all wrong," went on Slim, with a
+desperate effort at optimism.  "Because no news has come from the
+_Flying Cloud_ for many hours, they've jumped at conclusions.  It may
+be only that something has gone wrong with the radio."
+
+Jerry looked at his chum curiously.
+
+"I guess you should have read on a little farther, Slim.  It says
+here that two trappers report that they saw a giant plane flying over
+Greenland, that she seemed to be in distress and was trying to make a
+landing among the mountains.  Didn't you see that?"
+
+Slim shook his head.
+
+"It isn't in my paper.  Let me see yours."
+
+The story of the Greenland trappers added to the anxiety that had
+taken possession of Slim Tyler as to the fate of the man whom he
+cared for most in all the world.
+
+He put down the paper and looked at Jerry.
+
+"When Dave Boyd took me up," he said, "I was nothing but a poor
+homeless kid, battered about from pillar to post, with hardly a cent
+to my name and no future to boast about.  Dave Boyd gave me a chance
+to make something of myself."
+
+"You've more than justified the faith he put in you," returned Jerry.
+
+"That doesn't change the fact that I owe everything to him," Slim
+persisted.  "I tell you, Jerry, if we don't get good news of the
+plane within the next few days, I'm going after him."
+
+Jerry grinned and thrust out his hand.
+
+"Take me with you, kid?"
+
+"You bet," replied Slim, and they shook hands on it.
+
+Days passed with no news whatever of Dave Boyd and his expedition.
+The worst was feared and there was much talk about sending out
+searching planes for the missing flyers.
+
+Then Slim Tyler leaped to the front.  He came out boldly with the
+announcement that he and Jerry Marbury were anxious to go in search
+of the _Flying Cloud_ and its occupants, and asked for a plane and
+funds to finance the relief expedition.
+
+The response was immediate, and it astonished Slim by its enthusiasm.
+Nothing could demonstrate better the position Dave Boyd held in the
+hearts of his countrymen than the promptness with which funds began
+to pour in from all parts of the nation.
+
+Money was collected by newspapers in the great cities.  A plane of
+the newest type and possessing all the latest mechanical improvements
+was presented to Slim by one of the largest plane manufacturers in
+the country.
+
+Slim Tyler himself flew the plane from the Mid-Western manufacturing
+town to North Elmwood.
+
+He landed amid a heavy downpour of rain, which, however, did not
+deter a large crowd from assembling to greet him.  They pressed close
+about the beautiful plane and the daring pilot who was about to
+undertake such a perilous adventure.
+
+Jerry Marbury shoved his way through to Slim's side.  His eyes were
+shining.
+
+"She's a peach, boy!  What are we going to name her?"
+
+"The _Hope_," said Slim.
+
+He regarded Jerry steadily and the two young men gripped hands.
+
+"We've got a new recruit," stated Jerry, as, after the plane had been
+put in its hangar, they started across the field together.  "He wants
+to go on the relief flight with us.  I like him and I think you will,
+too.  Suppose you take a squint at him."
+
+"Sure," agreed Slim.  "Where is he?"
+
+"Over at Leslie's boarding house.  He has taken a room there.  He
+says whether he goes with us or not, he's bound to see the start of
+the expedition.  He's a nice chap, and I think he may make himself
+useful to us."
+
+At the door of the boarding house they ran into Dick Mylert, the
+young man in question, who was just coming out.
+
+"Hello!" the latter exclaimed, staring.  "Slim Tyler, isn't it?  Just
+the man I want to see."
+
+"Ditto," said Slim smilingly.
+
+"Two souls with but a single thought," grinned Mylert cheerfully.
+"We ought to get along famously together.  Come right in," and he led
+the way into the sitting room.
+
+"Not beautiful," he said, with a glance around the plainly furnished
+room, "but clean and comfortable.  The hotel was crowded and I had to
+put up here.  Anyway, the landlady serves real butter with meals."
+
+"That's a help," remarked Slim.
+
+"You tell 'em.  Now to get down to brass tacks.  Do I get a chance to
+go along with you and Mr. Marbury here on your relief expedition to
+Greenland?"
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," returned Slim, who had taken an immediate liking
+to the breezy young fellow.  "If you'll just tell me----"
+
+"Sure.  You want to know my qualifications for the job.  To start
+with, I'm a newspaper reporter on--"  He named the great New York
+paper that had been chiefly instrumental in raising the funds for the
+expedition.  "I'm white, unmarried, twenty-eight, and have never been
+convicted of a crime, although traffic cops have sometimes spoken
+harshly to me."
+
+Following this unconventional self-introduction, Mylert became a bit
+more serious and gave Slim and Jerry a brief but comprehensive
+description of his activities up to date.  The more he talked, the
+more Slim liked him.
+
+It appeared that he had had a most varied experience.  He had
+traveled over a great part of the world, sometimes as a sailor before
+the mast, at others as assistant navigator; had been with a
+scientific expedition as a geographer; and was conversant with a
+number of languages.  He had even tried flying for a while before
+settling on a newspaper career.
+
+"So you see I'm qualified in more ways than one to be of use to you
+on your expedition," the young man remarked.  "By the way, I have
+papers here to prove my statements--if you need any other proof than
+my open and ingenuous countenance," he ended with a grin.
+
+As a matter of form, Slim looked over the credentials that Mylert
+handed him.  Then he turned them over to Jerry.
+
+"Your open and ingenuous countenance is a good reference," laughed
+Slim.  "But these others seem to be all right, and as far as I am
+concerned clinch the matter.  What do you say, Jerry?"
+
+"It's all right with me," said Jerry heartily.  "If it's O.K. with
+you, Slim, Mr. Mylert will be the third member of the party without
+any further argument."
+
+"O.K. with me," assented Slim.
+
+The three young men shook hands gravely.  Dick Mylert beamed
+gratification.
+
+"I've always had a terrific admiration for Dave Boyd," he confessed.
+"When you boys started plans for this relief expedition I had a
+yearning to go that I couldn't resist.  Glad you fellows like me, for
+I've certainly taken a shine to you."
+
+This important detail settled, preparations for the flight went on
+with great rapidity.  The young aviators kept hoping that every day
+would bring them news of Boyd's safety and make their trip
+unnecessary.
+
+But nothing of the kind occurred.  Not a signal came from the Arctic
+wastes to tell that the intrepid adventurers lived.
+
+Slim and Jerry worked day and night with a force of helpers, and in
+an incredibly short space of time the _Hope_ was ready for her flight.
+
+"To-morrow," said Slim, two nights later, "we make our start."
+
+"The weather prophecies from Washington are good," observed Jerry.
+"That doesn't hurt any."
+
+"It isn't the weather here that bothers me much," replied Slim.
+"It's what we may run into farther north."
+
+The next day justified the optimistic weather prophecies.  The sky
+was a uniform bright blue.  There was no suggestion of fog or
+threatened storm.
+
+The three members of the relief expedition were in a mood of hope to
+match the name of the plane.  They were eager to be off, and grudged
+the time that was taken up by the persistent reporters and
+photographers, all anxious to get stories and pictures for their
+papers.
+
+There was a confused sound of altercation on the edge of the crowd.
+Slim Tyler heard a familiar voice.
+
+"I toldt you I got somedings for him alretty.  Gif me der room to get
+dere vonst."
+
+Slim chuckled and faced about as Carl Stummel shoved his way through
+the crowd.
+
+"Blenty hot togs, alretty," panted Carl, as he handed Slim a large
+paper bundle.  "Cooked shoost der vay you like dem, mit blenty oof
+mustard.  Vere you're going you might maybe haf a hardt dime getting
+sooch goot vuns, yes?"
+
+"There aren't such good ones anywhere," declared Slim, as he accepted
+the gift.  "Your mustard is hot enough to keep us warm even in
+Greenland."
+
+"If dey last dot long, den I am a bum cook, alretty," replied Carl.
+"I betcher dey vill be et before dis night koomt.  Goot luck, Shlim!
+Und bring back dot Dave Boydt."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ON THE WING
+
+As the flyers climbed aboard the plane, a spontaneous cheer arose
+from the crowd that increased steadily until it swelled into a roar.
+
+Slim Tyler took his place at the controls.  A mechanic twirled the
+propeller, the motors sang, and the _Hope_ moved forward, gathering
+speed as it swept down the long runway.
+
+At two hundred yards it lifted easily, despite the heavy weight it
+carried, and soared into the air like a bird.
+
+Again arose the thunderous cheering.  Hundreds of handkerchiefs
+fluttered and hats were thrown into the air.
+
+The _Hope_ circled once around the field, and then Slim Tyler laid
+her nose toward the north.
+
+Soon she had passed from the gaze of the multitude, fairly embarked
+on her long and perilous journey.
+
+At the controls, Slim exulted.
+
+"Flies like a dream!" he exclaimed.  "Just listen to those motors!
+Ever hear sweeter music?  And see the way she responds to the least
+touch of the stick."
+
+For the first few hours the weather was perfect, and the _Hope_ ate
+up space at the rate of a hundred and twenty miles an hour.
+
+Then a haze began gradually to gather and presently shut out the
+sight of the land below.  Before long it thickened into a fog that
+grew ever denser and denser, until the young pilot was reduced to
+flying entirely by his instruments.
+
+Dick Mylert, who proved, together with his reputation as a mascot, to
+be blessed with an excellent appetite, remembered the hot dogs
+donated by Carl Stummel and suggested that they try them.
+
+Nothing had ever tasted better than those frankfurters.  Carl had
+been generous, but the sandwiches disappeared before the husky
+appetites of the three young men like magic.
+
+The wind began to rise in fierce gusts that grew ever stronger, and
+the _Hope_ was soon flying in the teeth of half a gale.
+
+"Guess I'll edge off a little to the west and try for altitude,"
+remarked Slim.
+
+"My sentiments exactly," agreed Jerry.  "You took the words right out
+of my mouth."
+
+"Maybe I read your mind."
+
+Slim Tyler pulled the stick and the _Hope_ shot upward for a couple
+of thousand feet.  There a quieter strata of air was found and the
+plane made rapid progress.
+
+But if the _Hope_ had escaped the gale, she had not succeeded in
+freeing herself from the all-enveloping mist.
+
+A roar came from in front.
+
+"Another plane!" cried Jerry, his eyes straining through the
+darkness.  "And it's coming straight toward us!"
+
+Probably the pilot of the approaching plane sensed the presence of
+the _Hope_ at the same moment that Slim Tyler and his companions
+became aware of their own peril.  For in that mist-enshrouded
+vastness of space began a weird duel, such as the young aviators
+could never afterward recall without a thrill of horror.
+
+When Slim turned the nose of his plane upward in an attempt to gain
+altitude swiftly and so avoid a collision, the pilot of the other
+plane did likewise.
+
+When the _Hope_ swooped downward like a swallow, it was evident from
+the sound that the other plane had also resorted to the same maneuver.
+
+The ghost ship was not yet visible through the enshrouding mist, but
+Slim Tyler knew that at any second it would tear the veil asunder and
+charge down on them, a Juggernaut of destruction.
+
+Slim sat grim, determined, rigid as a creation of steel, ready with a
+lightning movement to send the plane to right or left, up or down, as
+the emergency might demand.
+
+Like some fabulous monster of prehistoric times, the rival plane
+loomed up in the fog.
+
+Slim dropped the _Hope_ like a plummet, turning sharply to the right.
+
+With a wild throb of engines the ghostly ship swept by overhead,
+missing the _Hope_ by the smallest possible margin.
+
+Slim Tyler's breath whistled through his teeth.
+
+"Gee, that was close!" he muttered.  "A few inches less, and there
+would have been no one left to tell the story."
+
+"Great shift that was of yours, Slim!" exclaimed Jerry.  "You could
+run rings around lightning."
+
+"Do you usually act as quickly as that?" asked Dick Mylert, looking
+at Slim with an admiration he took no pains to conceal.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," replied Slim, a trifle embarrassed.  "In this
+business you've got to be quick or be dead."
+
+"I wish Dave Boyd could have seen that," remarked Jerry.  "He'd have
+been more than ever proud of his pupil."
+
+As though fate had played its last card and was a bit discouraged,
+the fog began to lift.  Slowly, at first, it shredded away.  The
+earth came into view, the sky became visible, and the young aviators
+felt as though they had been released from prison, no less a prison
+because the walls were soft and insubstantial.
+
+One thing that had pleased the young pilot in the episode of the
+threatened collision had been the nerve displayed by Dick Mylert.  In
+those few awful moments when he knew that death might claim him at
+any moment he had not blenched nor made a sound.  He was game, Slim
+decided.
+
+They had crossed the United States border now and were flying over
+Canada.  The air was getting cooler, cold in fact, and the growing
+change from the temperature toward the frigid zone was met by the
+young aviators by a consistent increase in articles of wearing
+apparel.
+
+With every hundred miles they flew farther north, the air grew
+keener, but no sign of trouble came until Dick Mylert found a
+snowflake on his hand.
+
+"Snowing," murmured Jerry dubiously.  "You know what that means in
+this part of the country.  It may be that before long we'll run head
+on into a blizzard."
+
+"One little snowflake doesn't make a winter," Dick reminded him.
+"Wait for a while and see.  It may be only a flurry."
+
+Some hours later they found themselves in the midst of a furious
+snowstorm, which enabled Jerry to say with the condescension of a
+successful prophet:
+
+"Here's your flurry, Dick.  How do you like it?"
+
+"Less abundant, thank you," returned the young journalist unabashed.
+"Still, it started with a flurry.  You have to admit that."
+
+The snow fell heavily, hemming them in.  It seemed to form an almost
+solid white wall, against which the _Hope_ drove endlessly.  The wall
+gave way, only to close up again, pressing more relentlessly.
+
+The _Hope_ gradually became covered with the clinging white stuff.
+It weighted the wings, the tail, and the body of the fuselage.
+
+The wings lost buoyancy.  The engines began to labor.  The plane was
+no longer a joy to handle.  She became heavy, clumsy, responding
+sluggishly to the hand at the controls.
+
+"I'll let her down," observed Slim, "though we may have to come
+dangerously near the tops of the trees before we can see the ground."
+
+With the increasing weight of snow on the wings it became absolutely
+necessary that a landing should be sought.  If the aviators did not
+go down of their own accord, they would be forced down.
+
+Slim Tyler chose the lesser of the two evils.
+
+He flew down gradually in long, sweeping spirals, while Jerry and
+Dick kept field glasses glued to their eyes.
+
+"Tree tops beneath!" cried Jerry.  "'Ware!"
+
+Slim pulled the stick and cleared the threatened peril.
+
+It seemed an almost interminable time before they found a place that
+could by the remotest possibility answer their purpose.
+
+The district was for the most part heavily wooded.  On the rare
+occasions when clearings presented themselves, they were dotted so
+thickly with hummocks, underbrush, and the half-rotted stumps of
+trees that landing was out of the question.
+
+At last Dick Mylert cried out jubilantly:
+
+"There it is, right below us!  The very thing we've been looking for!
+Some sort of frozen lake, I should say at a guess."
+
+"If it's a lake, let's hope that it isn't deep or that the ice is
+frozen clear through," muttered Slim Tyler.  "Else we're headed for a
+ducking."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE HOWL OF THE WOLF
+
+The lake was small and it was closely surrounded by a ring of
+guardian trees.  In that limited space it would take first class
+airmanship to make a safe landing.
+
+Slim Tyler encircled the clearing several times, checking the speed
+of the plane and judging the distance by his eyes.
+
+Then he made up his mind, shifted the controls, and the plane swept
+downward, the wheels crunching in the snow to the heavy ice beneath.
+
+The _Hope_ teetered uncertainly for a moment, righted, and swept on
+toward the trees on the bank.
+
+For a flashing fraction of a second it seemed that she would rush
+into the trees and be wrecked.  But once more Dave Boyd's faith in
+his pupil was justified.
+
+With consummate skill Slim Tyler swung the plane around and sped
+about the lake in a circle, until the momentum lessened and the tired
+bird came finally to rest.
+
+The young aviators climbed stiffly from the plane, slapping their
+numbed hands together to restore the circulation.  They pounded their
+feet on the ice, only now beginning to realize how bitterly cold they
+were.
+
+"A fire would feel mighty good," said Jerry Marbury, brushing the
+snow from his eyes.  "My ears feel frostbitten."
+
+"Same here," echoed Dick.  "I'm all for Jerry's suggestion."
+
+"Suits me," agreed Slim.  "Only if we have to camp here all night,
+which seems very likely, it might be a good idea to find a more
+sheltered place to build our fire."
+
+They tramped off into the surrounding woods, hoping to find a cave or
+overhanging rocks that would serve as partial shelter from the
+severity of the storm.
+
+But something better than that was in store for them.  They had not
+gone far before they discovered a tumbledown shack that had probably
+been occupied at some time by a trapper or a party of trappers.
+
+It was dilapidated enough, in all conscience, but to the cold and
+weary travelers a palace could scarcely have provided a more
+attractive sight.  It meant at least shelter from the snow and a
+barrier against the wind.
+
+The hut had a roof, though there were gaping holes in it.  The one
+window had been boarded up.  The door hung loosely on its rusted
+hinges.
+
+"Guess we won't have to knock," observed Slim lightly, as he placed
+his hand on the knob of the door.  "Looks as though there had been
+nobody at home here for a long, long time."
+
+The door yielded easily.
+
+The young men crowded in, stamping the snow from their boots, and
+looked around them.
+
+They found that the cabin consisted of one fair-sized room, with a
+lean-to adjoining; a typical trappers' abode.
+
+Bunks stretched along two sides of the room; beneath the boarded
+window on the third side was a rough table of logs with a pine top;
+on the fourth side was a fireplace which looked as though it had been
+in disuse for a long time and a couple of rude chairs.
+
+The fireplace, in the estimation of the young adventurers, was by far
+the most important object in the place.
+
+"Now if we can only find some dry wood," observed Dick, "everything
+will be great."
+
+He pushed open the door at the farther end of the cabin and disclosed
+a well-stocked lean-to.  One end of it was packed almost to the roof
+with log blocks and smaller pieces of wood.
+
+There were two shelves, upon which were some unopened packages of
+canned goods.
+
+"Looks as though we'd neither starve nor freeze while we're here,"
+exulted Jerry.
+
+He fell upon the wood, scooping up an armful and carried it into the
+main room.
+
+His companions followed his example, and it was not long before a
+comforting fire roared in the fireplace.
+
+"I'll be chef, fellows," said Slim, as he went to the lean-to door.
+"Come and name your poison."
+
+They decided upon beans and tinned corn beef.  The beans they warmed
+over the fire and ate out of the can.  The beef they picked up with
+their fingers and ate with relish, smacking their lips over the
+impromptu meal.
+
+The storm was now much less severe than it had been when they first
+stumbled upon the cabin.  The snow had almost stopped, and the heavy
+clouds in the east had lifted perceptibly.
+
+"I was afraid the _Hope_ might be snowed under," Slim remarked.  "I
+guess there's no danger of that now."
+
+They walked back to the lake and found the plane as they had left it,
+except that the coating of ice and snow on the wings was heavier.
+They scraped this off and covered the wings with tarpaulins.
+
+They debated starting again at once, but more prudent counsel
+prevailed.  The night had now fully come.
+
+"Bad enough to take off from here in full daylight, let alone at
+night," judged the young leader of the expedition.  "We'll start off
+at the first streak of dawn if conditions permit."
+
+Slim Tyler came to this decision with the utmost reluctance, for he
+was consumed with anxiety to reach his destination at the earliest
+possible moment.  But this was a case where caution promised
+decidedly better results than precipitate courage.
+
+"Better take our guns with us," Slim counseled, as he reached into
+the plane and drew out his own rifle.  "Little likelihood that we'll
+have to use them, but they're handy things to have."
+
+His companions also secured their weapons, and the little party
+retraced its steps to the cabin.
+
+The night would have been one of Egyptian darkness had it not been
+for the faint glimmer of the snow, for the clouds effectively barred
+the rays of moon or stars.
+
+The forest seemed suddenly a dangerous and menacing place.  Behind
+the trees that stood like gaunt sentinels above the snow, any furtive
+thing might lurk.  There was something sinister and repellent in
+their very silence.
+
+Once Slim Tyler stopped short and stared at a clump of bushes.
+
+"What's wrong?" asked Jerry.
+
+"There was something behind those bushes.  I distinctly saw it move,"
+declared Slim.
+
+Seeing that Dick and Jerry were inclined to scoff, Slim did not
+insist.  In his own mind, however, he was convinced that he had not
+been mistaken.  His eyes had always been reliable, and he saw no
+reason to doubt them now.
+
+When Dick Mylert paused before the door of the cabin to examine some
+freshly made tracks in the snow, Slim was not surprised.
+
+"Dog tracks!" cried the young newspaperman.
+
+"Timber wolves!" corrected Slim.
+
+At those ominous words Jerry came up to Slim and Dick, and also bent
+to examine the tracks in the snow.  He gave a long whistle as he
+straightened up and glanced uneasily about him.
+
+"By Jove, Slim!" he cried, "I believe you're right.  Timber wolves,
+and savage, I'll be bound!  This snow has made it hard for them to
+find game.  Probably regard us as a godsend."
+
+"Lucky we brought our firearms along," observed Slim.  "We'll be safe
+enough inside the cabin with the door barricaded."
+
+The interior of the cabin in the flickering of the firelight offered
+a cheering contrast to the dark and menacing forest that surrounded
+it.
+
+The young men fitted the rather unstable door into place and dropped
+the wooden bar that served as bolt.  Then they moved the heavy table
+against the door as an additional barrier.
+
+"That door as a door may not be worth much," commented Dick, "but it
+would take a life-sized pack of wolves to shove that table away."
+
+"The roof isn't much as a roof, either," added Slim.  "But I guess,
+if it can hold all that weight of snow, it will stand a few extra
+pounds of wolf, if they should try to get in that way."
+
+"They can't come down the chimney as long as we keep a fire going,
+and the window is already boarded up," Jerry comforted himself.  "All
+we have to do now is to sit down and wait for the show to commence."
+
+To sit and wait, however, was a more nerve-racking business than they
+had anticipated.  As the darkness settled down more thickly over the
+forest, the intense silence about the cabin became oppressive.  Now
+and then the sharp crackling of a frost-snapped twig or a slide of
+snow from the roof would cause them to start involuntarily and then
+exchange apologetic glances.
+
+"If we could strike a light, it would be a little more cheerful,"
+remarked Jerry.
+
+A lantern depended from a hook on the wall, but upon examination they
+found that this was innocent of oil.
+
+They searched the lean-to for kerosene and failed to find any, though
+they did come across two fat tallow candles.
+
+They lighted these, using the drip to fasten them to the rough top of
+the table.
+
+The light was faint and flickering and seemed to accentuate the
+shadows in the corners of the room.  No one cared to mention the
+fact, however, for fear of betraying his own restlessness.
+
+"I only hope Dave Boyd to-night is as warm and sheltered as we are,"
+remarked Slim, from whom the thought of his benefactor was seldom
+absent.
+
+"I suppose there are plenty of poor fellows out in the Arctic night
+that would give their souls for a fire and a meal of hot food,"
+conjectured Dick.  He paused, hand raised.
+
+"What's that?" he cried.
+
+From the depths of the forest came the blood-curdling howl of a wolf!
+
+From a distance the cry of the wolf was answered, now from one
+direction, then from another.
+
+"The pack is gathering," remarked Jerry Marbury grimly.  "Well, let
+'em come.  We're ready for them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE PACK CLOSES IN
+
+The isolated howls of the distant wolves soon swelled into a chorus.
+The beasts were assembling for the kill.
+
+The noise came nearer, growing more vibrant and eager as it
+approached the men the wolves had marked for their prey.
+
+But the anticipated victims had other ideas.  During the time of
+waiting they had carefully examined their weapons and made sure that
+they had an abundant supply of cartridges on hand.
+
+They sat there, intent and determined, fully aware of the danger that
+was coming on apace and yet with their hearts aflame with high
+courage.
+
+They had no definite plan of campaign.  They could not have.  They
+would have to meet every emergency as it arose.
+
+Then the howls ceased abruptly.  In their stead could be heard the
+rustling made by bodies thrusting themselves through the brushwood,
+the scufflings of padded feet in the snow.  The enemy was massing for
+the attack.
+
+A long-drawn savage howl just beneath the boarded-up window brought
+those within the cabin to their feet.  At the same moment a heavy
+body flung itself at the cabin door.
+
+The boards of the door bent inward under the shock, but the heavy
+table shoved against it prevented them from breaking.
+
+"That was the first gun on their side," remarked Slim Tyler.  "Well,
+here's the first gun on ours."
+
+He fired through the door at a height of about a foot above the floor.
+
+But the yelp that would have told that the brute was struck did not
+come.  The shot had not found a target.  Nor had it seemed to
+intimidate the aviators' assailants, for a moment later not one, but
+three of the beasts, as though by a preconcerted signal, hurled
+themselves against the door with a force that made the cabin tremble.
+
+This time one of the planks was splintered, and a wolf thrust his
+nose in the gap tearing with his claws to enlarge the opening.
+
+Jerry's gun and Dick's spoke at the same instant, and this time a
+howl of pain told that one or both of the shots had struck.  The wolf
+fell back and a hideous hubbub ensued.
+
+"My wolf," cried Dick, with a grin.  "I saw him first."
+
+"You may claim him," replied Jerry.  "The main thing is that he's put
+out of commission."
+
+"He may be only wounded," surmised Slim.
+
+"Then he's as good as dead," declared Dick.  "Wolves don't take their
+crippled companions to a hospital.  Listen!"
+
+There was a frightful snarling as the wolves tore their unfortunate
+companion to pieces.
+
+"That gives us at least a breathing spell," murmured Jerry.
+
+"Not for long," warned Slim.  "There'll be nothing of that wolf left
+in ten minutes but the bones, and the taste of blood will make the
+pack ravenous for more."
+
+Slim Tyler's prediction proved correct, for the onslaught was soon
+renewed.  This time the boarded window was the target for attack.
+
+Time after time the brutes dashed their heavy bodies against it, and
+as often as they did so the besieged fired their rifles.  But they
+had to do this by guesswork, and several rounds were fired without
+any evidence of damage.
+
+"We're wasting ammunition going it blind this way," cried Slim in
+disgust.  "We've got to do now what we ought to have done before and
+cut loopholes in the sides of the walls.  Then we'll have a fair
+target when we shoot.  I'll stand guard while you fellows--Ah, you
+will, will you?"
+
+The exclamation was caused by the sight of a wolf which threw itself
+with such force against the hole in the door where his companion had
+met its fate that not only his head, but his shoulders and front paws
+protruded into the room.
+
+Almost as he spoke Slim Tyler fired, and the bullet penetrated the
+animal's brain.
+
+A howl came from the slavering jaws and the head slumped forward.
+
+"That makes two less to worry about!" exclaimed Slim.
+
+"Good work!" commended Jerry.  "Don't do that, Dick," he cried, as
+Mylert made a motion to kick the dead body through the opening.  "Let
+it stay there to plug up the hole.  It'll be all the harder for the
+next one to force its way in."
+
+"The fellows outside will drag the body out, anyway," replied Dick.
+
+"Perhaps they won't know he's dead," conjectured Jerry.
+
+"Trust them," said Dick.  "They know a death howl when they hear it.
+Look, they're at it now!"
+
+There was a fierce tugging at the animal's body, and in a trice it
+was drawn from the opening and the cannibal feast was renewed.
+
+The pulling and tearing had still more enlarged the opening, and the
+young aviators viewed it with dismay.
+
+"That last one got halfway through," observed Slim.  "The next one
+may make the whole distance.  If he does, he'll be followed by
+others.  A few of them rampaging around inside would give us a tough
+job."
+
+"And we haven't a thing to bar the hole with!" exclaimed Jerry, as
+his eyes ranged swiftly around the room.
+
+"I have it!" cried Slim, as he rushed to the fireplace and pulled out
+a blazing brand.  "They're as afraid as death of fire.  Let's see how
+this works."
+
+He hurled the burning torch through the opening.
+
+There was a chorus of frightened snarls as the beasts scurried from
+the vicinity of the door, abandoning their bloody feast with
+reluctance, but abandoning it nevertheless.
+
+"Got 'em all right," chuckled Slim.  "They don't like it for a cent.
+We'll give them some more of the same kind.  We'll keep the home
+fires burning, and not one of them will cross the blaze to get at the
+hole."
+
+They hurriedly threw out some more of the burning logs until there
+was quite a bonfire in front of the door.
+
+"Lucky we have plenty of wood in the lean-to," exulted Dick, as he
+hurried to get a fresh supply with which to replenish the fire.  "We
+can keep this up all night, if we have to."
+
+"It will serve a double purpose," put in Jerry.  "It will light up
+the place outside so that we can see what we're aiming at."
+
+"Yes, if they'll only stay in front," replied Dick dubiously.  "But
+they'll soon sense that there's nothing doing in that quarter, and
+they'll try us on the other three sides."
+
+"All the more reason why we should hurry up with those loopholes,"
+suggested Slim.  "Let's hustle now, fellows, so that we can see
+what's doing on every side of the cabin."
+
+They laid aside their guns for the moment and dug away with their
+knives with feverish energy until they had made apertures large
+enough to thrust rifle barrels through and turn them in any desired
+direction.
+
+During all the time they were working, there had come no sound from
+without.  The lonely forest seemed wholly untenanted.
+
+"Think they've had enough of our game and drawn off?" asked Jerry,
+the wish father to the hope.
+
+"Not by a jugful!" affirmed Dick.  "A couple of dead ones make no
+difference to them.  Judging from the snarling, there must have been
+twenty at the least.  They won't give up as easily as that.  Just now
+they're planning what to do next."
+
+If this were so, there must have been a confusion of counsels, for
+the silence continued for a long time.
+
+The besieged scanned the space without from every side, but no
+slinking figures stood out against the background of the snow, no
+green eyes gleamed from the shadows of the forest.
+
+The tense waiting wore on the besieged ones' nerves.
+
+"Hanged if I don't believe that Jerry was right after all!" conceded
+Dick Mylert, wiping his brow with his handkerchief, for the fierce
+fire they were obliged to keep up made the cabin abominably warm.
+"Looks as if the brutes--Look out, fellows!  Look out!" he shouted,
+as he leaped for his gun.
+
+He aimed it at an open place in the roof and fired.
+
+In Mylert's excitement the shot went wild, and the next instant a
+great gray body came hurtling through the air and struck the floor
+with a thud.
+
+Slim Tyler and Jerry Marbury had grabbed their guns at their
+companion's shout but had had no time to aim.
+
+Like lightning, the wolf sprang at Jerry's throat!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A FEARFUL DILEMMA
+
+Slim Tyler had no time to aim at the savage brute that had launched
+itself in mid-air in the attack on Jerry Marbury.  But his trained
+muscles acted like lightning.
+
+His rifle, held by the muzzle, described a circle and came down with
+crushing force on the wolf's head.
+
+There was a sharp crack as the skull caved in, and the beast fell to
+the floor, rolling over and over in the agonies of death.
+
+The besieged youths had no time to rejoice over the narrow escape,
+for the head of another brute appeared at the opening.
+
+Before it could spring, Mylert's rifle rang out, and the body came
+tumbling to the earth floor of the cabin.
+
+It was not mortally wounded and still showed fight, but another shot
+from Jerry's gun ended its life.
+
+The young men looked at each other, pale and panting.
+
+"A pretty lively time while it lasted," commented Slim, summoning up
+a wry smile.
+
+"Sure keeps the blood in circulation," admitted Dick.
+
+"And it isn't over yet!" cried Jerry, as his rifle rang out and
+filled the cabin with echoes.
+
+A third beast at the roof opening fell back with a frightful snarl,
+and they could hear the body rolling over and over as it slithered
+along the snowy roof and finally fell to the ground.
+
+"I wonder if they'll come for any more medicine of the same kind,"
+remarked Jerry.
+
+"I don't know," replied Slim.  "It certainly takes a long time to get
+an idea through some fool heads."
+
+It did seem, though, that the savage brutes had at last learned the
+lesson that the roof was not exactly a health resort for wolves.  At
+all events, a long time elapsed before any move took place on the
+part of the besiegers that could be interpreted by the occupants of
+the cabin as an attack.
+
+An hour went by, then two, and still the assault was delayed.
+
+"Guess they've gone off now for fair," surmised Jerry.
+
+"Don't kid yourself," said Dick, from the loophole through which he
+was peering.  "Those fellows hang on like grim death.  Why shouldn't
+they?  They probably haven't any pressing engagements elsewhere, and
+they figure that luck may turn.  There!  I saw a couple just now
+slinking through the brushwood.  Oh, they're there, all right.  Hand
+me my gun, Jerry.  I think I can pot one of them right now."
+
+Jerry passed over the gun and Dick took careful aim and fired.
+
+"Winged him!" he cried exultantly, as a howl of pain and fright
+followed the shot.  "One less to count on.  The pack's on him
+already.  A minute more and all his troubles will be over."
+
+Another hour passed and still no sign of attack.
+
+"Getting near morning," remarked Slim, as he looked at his watch.
+
+"And it will never again be so welcome," sighed Jerry.  "Those
+fellows don't like the light and they'll scatter as soon as the sun
+rises."
+
+"What's that smell of smoke?" asked Dick suddenly.
+
+"Comes from the fireplace, I guess," yawned Jerry.
+
+"Don't you believe it!" cried Slim.  "It's more than that.  And
+listen to that crackling!  Boys, the cabin's on fire!"
+
+That terrible pronouncement fell on the aviators' ears like the crack
+of doom.  There was no mistaking the fact.  Smoke was beginning to
+eddy in through the hole in the door and wisps of it shredded through
+the crack in the building.  The crackling grew more pronounced, and
+the space before the building was lighted up with a lurid glare.
+
+"It's those brands we threw outside to scare off the wolves," groaned
+Slim.  "One of them must have dropped so close to the cabin that it's
+caught fire.  Fools that we were!  Why didn't we throw them farther
+away?"
+
+Red tongues of fire now began to sift through the cracks in the logs
+and fill the cabin with a ruddy flickering light.
+
+Those within looked at each other in consternation.  There was no way
+to put out the fire.  They had no water, and even if they had had,
+there would have been no way to apply it to the outside of the
+building.  The wolves would have been on them in an instant the
+moment they showed themselves outside the door.
+
+The wolves themselves seemed to realize the predicament in which the
+besieged were placed.  The cunning beasts had gathered in front of
+the cabin and squatted there, their white fangs showing, their jaws
+slavering in expectation of a feast.
+
+The young aviators looked at each other.
+
+"The cabin's doomed!" groaned Jerry.
+
+"Just a chance between being roasted or eaten alive," judged Dick
+gloomily.
+
+"See if there's a back door to the place, Jerry," directed Slim
+Tyler, whose mind had been working at lightning speed.
+
+Jerry darted into the lean-to and returned in an instant.
+
+"Nothing doing," he reported.  "Our only way of getting out is by the
+front door."
+
+The front door!  And in front of that door, only a few yards away,
+were a dozen or fifteen gaunt, hungry, savage wolves, waiting to
+launch themselves on their prey!
+
+"There's only one chance, fellows," said Slim Tyler between his
+teeth, "and I'll admit that it's a desperate one.  We've got to
+depend on surprise.  Let's move that table back from the door."
+
+This was done.
+
+"Now," said Slim, "slip your cartridges into your pockets and strap
+your rifles over your shoulders, so that they won't be in the way of
+your arms and legs."
+
+Slim's companions obeyed rapidly, not knowing yet what their leader
+had in mind, but yielding to him without hesitation.
+
+"Pick out your trees," went on Slim.  "Choose slender ones that you
+can climb rapidly and yet strong enough to support your weight.  Then
+when I give the word we'll throw the door open and make for the
+trees.  Each of us will pick out a couple of blazing brands from the
+fire and throw 'em in the faces of the pack as we run.  We'll have
+the advantage of the surprise, anyway.  It may work and it may not.
+It's a forlorn hope, but it's the only chance we have."
+
+They shook hands solemnly.  In the minds of each was the thought that
+they might never touch hands again.  With a blazing brand in each
+hand they faced the door.
+
+"All ready?" asked Slim.
+
+"Ready," came the answer.
+
+"Go!" shouted Slim, flinging open the door.
+
+They charged down on the savage horde, yelling like Indians and
+waving their fiery torches before throwing them into the faces of the
+pack.
+
+The astonished wolves, daunted by the fire, taken by surprise, and
+bewildered by finding themselves the hunted instead of the hunters,
+gave way in confusion and scattered in the woods.
+
+Before they could recover themselves, the young adventurers were
+legging it for dear life toward their chosen trees!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+TREED
+
+Slim Tyler and his companions ran as they had never run before to the
+trees that offered their only chance of safety.  How slim that chance
+was, no one knew better than themselves.
+
+Had their path been through the deep snow, they could never have made
+it.  But the constant going to and fro of the pack had trodded down
+the snow and made the running easier.
+
+By this time, the temporary panic into which the beasts had been
+thrown by the sudden sortie from the cabin had spent its force.  The
+wolves began to realize that their enemies were no longer advancing
+to the attack, but were themselves racing for their lives.
+
+With gleaming eyes and howls of fury, the brutes turned and rushed in
+the direction of the fugitives.
+
+The latter had by this time reached their respective trees, and were
+shinning up them with an agility born of desperation.
+
+Up they went like monkeys, spurred on by the certainty that if they
+slipped and fell they would be torn to pieces in an instant.
+
+Slim's long legs and arms helped him most, and he was the first to
+find himself out of reach of the ravening jaws below.  He clambered
+into the crotch of a limb and sat there panting.
+
+Dick had been almost as quick.  Jerry, however, was a fraction of a
+second slower, and that almost proved his undoing.
+
+Two wolves leaped at him at the same time.  The jaws of either one of
+them would certainly have clamped upon a foot that was within easy
+reach.  But the two collided in mid-air and tumbled snarling to the
+ground.  Before they could renew the attempt Jerry had caught at a
+lower limb and swung himself to safety.
+
+For a few minutes none of the three young men spoke a word.  They
+could not, if they had tried to.  That frightful race for life, when
+every particle of nerve and muscle had been taxed to the utmost, had
+left them utterly exhausted.
+
+It was Dick Mylert who at last broke the silence.
+
+"I take off my hat to you, Slim," he said.  "That plan of yours was
+the only possible one, and it worked.  You've got a head on your
+shoulders, old scout."
+
+"Nothing else but," affirmed Jerry.  "That brain of Slim's is always
+on the job."
+
+"We're not out of the woods yet," said Slim.  "These fellows have got
+us treed, and there's no telling how long they'll keep us here."
+
+"Lucky they can't climb," observed Jerry.  "If they were bears or
+panthers now, they'd have us just where they wanted us.  We'd be easy
+meat."
+
+"I think it's about time our rifles got busy," remarked Slim, as he
+unslung his weapon.  "Get yours ready, fellows, and when I give the
+word we'll let them have a volley."
+
+"Good idea," approved Jerry, as he got his rifle in position.  "At
+such short range it won't be possible to miss.  But let's each pick
+out a separate one.  We don't want to waste any ammunition."
+
+At Slim's signal the three rifles cracked simultaneously.  Each
+bullet found its target.  Two of the wolves fell dead, and the third
+rolled over, mortally wounded.
+
+"Once more before they scatter!" cried Slim, and again the rifles
+spoke, each claiming a victim.
+
+It was too much for the pack.  The survivors broke and ran for cover.
+How far they went the occupants of the trees did not know.  They
+might be lurking in the vicinity or have gone for good.
+
+"Guess that will hold them for a while!" exclaimed Jerry, with a sigh
+of relief as he settled back in the crotch of the limb.  "They don't
+even stay to eat their dead comrades.  They're beating it while the
+going's good."
+
+"Likely enough," assented Slim.  "Still, we'd better not bank on that
+too heavily.  We'll wait a while and see what happens."
+
+The cabin by this time was a mass of flames.  The young men
+contemplated it with a shudder.  It might have been their funeral
+pyre!
+
+"It's serving one useful purpose, anyway," remarked Dick.  "It's
+keeping us warm.  We'd be freezing to death in these trees if it
+weren't for that."
+
+In a little while the darkness began to lift.  A pearly gray streaked
+the heavens in the east, growing brighter and brighter, until at last
+the sun peeped over the horizon and shot its slanting rays through
+the forest.
+
+With the light came an upspringing of the young voyagers' spirits.
+The night of horror was over.  Death had reached for them but had not
+quite clutched them.  Now the day was here and their hearts exulted.
+
+"How about it?" asked Dick.  "I'm mighty grateful to this old tree,
+but I don't care for it as a permanent home."
+
+"Same here," chimed in Jerry.  "And maybe I'm not hungry."
+
+The youths slid down from the trees.  Now, if ever, would be the time
+for their enemies to show themselves.  But no untoward sight or sound
+came from the surrounding forest.  The wolves had gone!
+
+Still exercising caution, the young adventurers made their way toward
+the plane.
+
+"Gee!" exclaimed Jerry, as a thought struck him, "suppose the wolves
+have looted the food supplies in the plane."
+
+"Heaven forbid!" exclaimed Dick fervently.  "Still, it's possible.
+There was nothing to prevent them."
+
+Apprehension quickened their steps, until finally they were running
+at full speed in the direction of the plane.  If any such disaster
+had happened, it would mean a torturing delay in their search for
+Dave Boyd and his party.  They would have to return to civilization,
+stock up, and start off again.  The thought was intolerable.
+
+Slim Tyler reached the plane first and jumped aboard.  A glance
+sufficed.
+
+"Glory hallelujah!" he cried.  "Nothing touched!  Everything all
+right!"
+
+"Bully!" jubilated Jerry.  "Break out that grub.  Here's one wolf
+that's going to get busy.  And how!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A CLOSE CALL
+
+The sky voyagers broke out the supplies and fell to with a will,
+their appetites whetted by their long sojourn in the cold air.
+
+The snow had stopped and the weather had cleared, although there was
+a cutting wind from the northwest.
+
+"The sooner we get going the better," declared Slim Tyler, on the
+conclusion of their meal.  "The end of this day, if things go well,
+ought to find us pretty close to Greenland."
+
+"You're going to find it some job taking off from here," observed
+Jerry, scanning the small area of the lake with anxious eyes.  "It
+was hard enough making a landing, but, take it from me, it will be a
+mighty sight harder getting this bird into the air."
+
+Slim Tyler's eyes swept round the borders of the lake.
+
+At one place there was a space about a hundred and fifty feet in
+width that was free from trees.  There was a quantity of underbrush,
+but in that cold region it had not grown thickly and much of it had
+been trampled down by animals coming to the lake to drink.
+
+"That gives us a hint as to the best way out," said Slim.  "It won't
+take more than an hour's work with knives and axes to make it fairly
+level for the plane.  We'll trundle the _Hope_ in there as far as we
+can and then make our start.  By the time we get back to the lake
+she'll be going pretty fast, and I think we can lift her before she
+gets to the further shore."
+
+"Perhaps," assented Jerry dubiously.  "Even at that it's going to be
+a tight squeeze."
+
+"I know it," admitted Slim.  "But it's the only way out and I think
+we've got to take the chance."
+
+The young airmen got out their implements and set to work lustily.
+But the task was harder than they had anticipated, and it was a good
+two hours before the rude runway was in shape.
+
+They hauled the _Hope_ to the farthest possible limit, adjusted their
+goggles, and Slim and Dick climbed into the cockpit.
+
+"Give her a whirl, Jerry," directed Slim, as his hand settled on the
+controls.
+
+Jerry started the propellers and the engine began to roar.  Then
+Jerry jumped on board and the plane started down the improvised
+runway.
+
+By the time it reached the edge of the frozen lake it had attained a
+fair rate of speed, but not as much as the young pilot had hoped for.
+
+He knew he faced two dangers.  One was that the ice of the lake might
+crack and let them down.  The other was that, despite his utmost
+efforts, he might not be able to clear the trees on the further side.
+
+On he went and on, until he was nearly in the center of the lake.
+The ice still held, though it was cracking ominously.
+
+The _Hope_ quivered, lifted, and rebounded.  Then she definitely rose
+into the air and darted toward the trees.
+
+Tall trees they were, veritable forest giants, and Slim Tyler's heart
+skipped a beat as he saw how fast they seemed to be rushing toward
+him.
+
+Could he clear them?  Or would he smash?
+
+If he struck, the plane would fall to the earth a crumpled mass, and
+what would happen to its occupants the pilots did not dare think.
+
+Nearer and nearer!
+
+Slim Tyler's knuckles were white as he gripped the controls, his
+heart was beating fast, but his brain was cool and his nerves were
+steel.
+
+The _Hope_ was shooting now at the sharpest of angles toward the
+skies.  It seemed almost as though she were rearing upright in the
+air like a frightened horse.
+
+"He'll never do it," whispered Dick Mylert to Jerry.
+
+"Yes, he will," Jerry whispered back.  "You don't know Slim Tyler."
+
+"Even he can't do miracles," murmured Dick.
+
+"No," admitted Jerry.  "But he can come mighty close to doing them."
+
+Nearer and nearer!  Higher and higher!
+
+Then with a roar of her motors the _Hope_ rushed over the tree tops,
+so close that the highest tips of the branches grazed the wheels.
+
+"Great Scott he's done it!" cried Dick jubilantly.
+
+"What did I tell you?" Jerry reminded him.
+
+Slim Tyler kept the airplane whizzing upward until he had reached an
+altitude of about two thousand feet.  Then he brought her to an even
+keel and turned around with a grin to his companions.
+
+"You can't complain that you're not getting any excitement on this
+trip," he said.
+
+"That's too weak a word for it," returned Dick.  "My hair was fairly
+standing on end."
+
+"Wonderful work, Slim," commended Jerry.  "You've got this plane so
+that it'll eat out of your hand."
+
+"I wouldn't have given a thin dime for our chances," avowed Mylert.
+"I was already seeing the headlines, 'Tyler Relief Expedition Wrecked
+in a Canadian Forest'."
+
+"Well, a miss is as good as a mile," declared the young pilot.  "Our
+time hasn't come yet."
+
+He turned the nose of the _Hope_ toward the north and gradually eased
+her into three-quarter throttle, keeping her there as a rule, though
+at times he threw her into full for short distances.
+
+With every hundred miles she reeled off the weather grew colder.
+They were approaching the regions of almost perpetual ice and snow.
+The ground had put on its winter garments and the soil was completely
+hidden from sight.
+
+"We'll have to take off the wheels now and put on the skis," observed
+Slim.  "I'd have done it this morning before we started, but I wasn't
+sure that the ground would be wholly covered with snow.  It's clear
+now that it will be that way from this time on, and the sooner we get
+the runners on the better.  We'll wait, though, till late afternoon,
+for I want to take advantage of this good weather to get as far on
+our way as possible."
+
+The _Hope_ clove its way through the air, fairly eating up space.
+The motors were working beautifully, and Slim Tyler's heart sang with
+exultation.
+
+Dick slept peacefully, wrapped in his furs, tired out by the
+ceaseless vigil of the night before.  Slim and Jerry also felt the
+strain, and they relieved each other at the controls at two hour
+intervals, so that each could catch up on sleep.
+
+"Time now to think of putting on the skis," judged the young leader
+of the expedition, as the afternoon was waning.  "Country seems
+pretty flat here, and we oughtn't to have much trouble in finding a
+place to come down.  Suppose you boys get out your field glasses and
+pick out a good spot for landing."
+
+Dick and Jerry applied themselves to the task, but for some time
+without result.
+
+"I see something that hits me right," Jerry said at length.  "Looks
+almost as level as a floor.  Look!  Over there a little to the right!"
+
+"Not bad," agreed Slim, after a little scrutiny.  "I'll get down a
+little and we'll take a squint at it at close quarters."
+
+He lowered the _Hope_ to within three hundred feet of the ground.
+Closer examination confirmed the favorable first impression, and Slim
+came down to an easy landing.
+
+They jumped out, glad to stretch their cramped limbs.  Not far off
+was a patch of woodland, but in all other directions what seemed to
+be a measureless expanse stretched out as far as the eye could reach.
+
+"Bet there isn't a living creature besides ourselves within a hundred
+miles," remarked Dick.  "Hello, what's this?" and he stooped to pick
+up something that was half buried in snow.
+
+"By the great horn spoon!" he cried.  "A newspaper--or a part of one!
+How on earth did it ever get up in this desolate spot?"
+
+Slim and Jerry crowded around him as he smoothed out the crumpled,
+snow-encrusted sheet.
+
+"A New York paper!" exclaimed Jerry, as he looked at the heading.
+"What do you know about that?"
+
+"Look at the date line!" cried Slim.  "The seventeenth!  It was the
+eighteenth when Dave Boyd started on his trip.  By Jove, fellows, I
+see it now!  Dave or some member of his party had this paper in his
+pocket when he left North Elmwood.  I'll bet a dollar to a nickel
+that Dave Boyd camped on this very spot on his way to Greenland!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SINGING ARROWS
+
+The young voyagers looked at each other with amazement in their eyes.
+It seemed wholly likely that Slim Tyler's conjecture was true.
+
+Travelers in this region, by air or otherwise, were extremely few.
+No other expedition in this part of the world was known to be in
+progress.  And the date line, coinciding so closely with Dave Boyd's
+departure on his trip, deepened their confidence in their conclusions.
+
+"It's almost like a message from him," said Jerry, with a touch of
+awe in his tone.
+
+"Don't get superstitious, Jerry," laughed Dick.
+
+"Of course," remarked Slim, "it doesn't prove that Dave actually
+landed here.  The paper may have been dropped or blown from the
+plane.  But that the _Flying Cloud_ at least passed over this place,
+I feel sure.  We know that this was the general direction he intended
+to take when he started."
+
+"Seems like a good omen," remarked Jerry.  "Makes me feel, somehow,
+as though we'd got in touch with Dave."
+
+"Same here," agreed Slim.  "But now let's get busy with those skis."
+
+They brought the long runners out of the plane together with the
+necessary tools and set busily to work.
+
+They had taken off one of the wheels and were applying themselves to
+the other, when Jerry felt a rush of wind over his face, accompanied
+by a slight stinging sensation in his ear.
+
+"Jehoshaphat! what's that?" he exclaimed, as he straightened up.
+"Felt as though a bee had stung me."
+
+"You're loco," replied Dick, without looking up.  "Bees don't go
+gadding about in this kind of weather."
+
+"Why, Jerry!" cried Slim, in some alarm, "your ear is bleeding."
+
+"So it is," assented Jerry, as he put his finger to the injured
+member and brought it away reddened.  "Now what in thunder----"
+
+He stopped short and gazed transfixed at the side of the plane.
+
+An arrow was sticking there, still quivering!
+
+"Indians!" yelled the young leader, as he recovered from his
+momentary stupefaction.  "To the other side of the plane, fellows!
+Quick!"
+
+They darted to the side that was farthest from the woods and crouched
+in the shelter of the _Hope_.
+
+They were not a moment too soon, for as they did so the air became
+full of hissing sounds, and they could hear the soft thud of arrows
+as they buried themselves in the wood.
+
+This was something that had never entered into their calculations.
+Animal foes they had counted on as a possibility, more than that, a
+probability.  But human enemies, no!
+
+"I never thought of there being Indians in Canada," muttered Dick.
+"I'd always associated them with the Wild West in our own country."
+
+"There are a few scattered tribes in Canada in the upper part,"
+replied Slim.  "But I never thought of them as dangerous."
+
+"I'll say they are," grumbled Jerry, as he touched gingerly his
+injured ear.  "Here's the proof of it.  And they can shoot pretty
+straight, if you ask me."
+
+"Wonder if they'll rush us," observed Dick.
+
+"Probably not till dark, anyway," conjectured Slim.  "They won't take
+any needless risks as long as they think they can pick us off from
+the shelter of the woods."
+
+The voyagers peered over the side of the plane toward the patch of
+woods.  Not a sound came from there.  Not a figure could be seen.  If
+it had not been for those ominous arrows sticking in the side of the
+plane, it might well have seemed that the young adventurers had that
+whole region to themselves.
+
+Stealthily, Slim Tyler crept over the side of the plane, got his own
+rifle and handed other weapons to his companions.
+
+"Might as well do a little shooting on our own account," he said
+grimly, as he rejoined his mates.  "We'll send a little volley into
+the woods just to let those bozos know we're armed."
+
+At his signal all fired at once, and their bullets went whistling
+among the trees.  No cry of pain indicated that any of them had found
+a mark.  A silence as of death reigned over the darkening woods.
+
+"A little bashful about showing themselves," remarked Dick.
+
+"They're waiting patiently," replied Slim.  "They count on the dark
+as their best friend.  Then they'll try to put us out of business and
+loot the plane."
+
+"If we hadn't taken that wheel off," groaned Jerry, "we could start
+the old bus going and give these fellows the merry ha ha."
+
+"Lucky there's only one off," replied Slim.  "We can put that on in a
+jiffy.  The skis will have to wait till another time.  Here's my
+plan, fellows.  As soon as it's too dark for them to see us, we'll
+slip around to the other side and adjust the wheel.  It won't take us
+more than ten minutes, if we hurry.  Of course more arrows may come,
+but they'll be shot more or less at a venture and we've got to take
+our chance.  In the meantime we'll send them a volley every once in a
+while, just to warn them that, if they get anything from us, they'll
+have to fight for it."
+
+They followed this suggestion, shooting at intervals into the woods
+without eliciting any response from their unseen enemies.
+
+When dusk at last had deepened into dark, the three slipped silently
+to the other side of the plane and worked with desperate energy at
+replacing the wheel.
+
+It was ticklish work, for at any moment a host of arrows might come
+with their messages of death.
+
+It was done at last, however, and Slim and Dick climbed into the
+plane.
+
+Jerry gave the propeller a whirl and dashed for the cockpit.
+
+At the instant a horde of savages, with blood-curdling yells, broke
+from the shadow of the woods!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+IN DEADLY PERIL
+
+"Lie low, fellows!" shouted Slim Tyler as the engine broke into a
+roar.
+
+A cloud of arrows that came from the bows of the natives emphasized
+the injunction.  Some buried themselves in the side of the plane.
+Others whizzed over the heads of the three young aviators, crouched
+low behind their defenses.  Had they not been as quick in ducking as
+they had, some or all of them would certainly have been struck.
+
+One of the fleetest of the natives reached the side of the plane
+before it had fully gathered speed.  He grabbed the edge and tried to
+climb in.
+
+Dick's fist launched out and caught the fellow a tremendous blow in
+the jaw.  The clutching hands loosened and the savage fell back to
+the ground.
+
+"Plucky beggar!" muttered Dick.  "But I'll bet he's lost a few of his
+teeth."
+
+The _Hope_ was now in full swing and zooming down the field at high
+speed.
+
+"Let's hope she doesn't strike a stump or something," muttered Jerry
+between his teeth.  "I'd not like to be dumped into that yelling
+crowd."
+
+"Here we go," said the young pilot as he lifted the plane into the
+air.  "They'd have to have wings to get at us now."
+
+Up and up they soared until they were safely beyond the reach of the
+arrows.  Only then did they dare to breathe.
+
+"I'd like to take a pot shot at them," muttered Jerry vengefully.
+"Look at the way they're all crowded together down there!  We
+couldn't help winging some of them."
+
+"I don't think we'd better," counseled the leader of the expedition.
+"Hardly seems sporting when the poor beggars haven't a chance to get
+back at us."
+
+"They gave me a lot of a chance, didn't they, when they nicked my ear
+with that arrow?" grumbled Jerry.  "Anyway, let's give them a scare
+and send down a few flares."
+
+"That's all right," assented Slim, and a moment later four flares
+went hissing down into the crowd.
+
+The dazzling lights illumined the scene and showed the fright on the
+throng of dark faces as the mysterious flares neared the ground.  To
+their untutored minds, it seemed, perhaps, that the white men had
+plucked the stars from the skies and were hurling them down upon them.
+
+With wild yells of terror, the Indians broke and scurried like
+rabbits to the shelter of the woods.
+
+"Got that much out of them, anyway," chuckled Jerry, in high glee.
+"Doesn't pay for my ear, but it helps."
+
+In a few minutes they had left the ill-omened camping place far
+behind and the _Hope_ was roaring swiftly toward the north.
+
+Jerry got out the medicine kit and Dick bathed the wounded ear in
+iodine.  Luckily, the wound was slight, although it was painful
+enough to keep Jerry constantly reminded of his narrow escape.
+
+"No monotony on this trip, anyway," he remarked later, when an
+abundant meal had put him and his companions at peace with the world.
+"First wolves, then Indians.  Fate is certainly handing us some heavy
+jolts.  I wonder what will come next?"
+
+"For goodness' sake, don't start worrying about that," Dick Mylert
+adjured him.  "It'll be bad enough when it comes.  I'm so thankful
+now that my scalp isn't drying at some Indian's belt that I'm not
+inclined to kick about anything--especially anything that hasn't yet
+happened."
+
+"What about the skis, Slim?" asked Jerry.  "It's too bad we couldn't
+have finished that job while we were about it."
+
+"It sure was," agreed Slim Tyler thoughtfully.  "What makes it worse
+is that we're getting near the coast and will soon be over the water.
+Then it will be too late to change to the skis before we reach
+Greenland.  Of course we could wait at the coast till morning before
+we make another attempt to put on the skis.  That is, if we think
+that it's got to be done by daylight.  But if you fellows are game,
+we'll take a chance and go down now and do it as well as we can in
+the dark.  Only this time," he added, with a grin, "we'll choose a
+place where there are no woods in sight."
+
+"You bet your life!" exclaimed Mylert, with fervor.
+
+"That goes for me, too," echoed Jerry, instinctively reaching for his
+ear.  "But how are we going to find a landing place in the dark?"
+
+"It won't be dark long," replied the young pilot.  "The moon will
+rise in about an hour.  I'll fly low and we'll try to find some level
+place.  When we think we've found it, we'll drop some flares to make
+sure it's all right, and if it is I'll go down."
+
+"Rather risky, don't you think?" asked Dick dubiously.
+
+"A little, but not so much," replied Slim.  "You see it's this way.
+I judge that we'll be at the coast about midnight.  Now, if we have
+to hover about there till daylight to fix the skis, we'll have lost
+half a dozen hours or so, while if we have them fixed by the time we
+reach the water, we can keep right on and fly all night.  Time is so
+precious now that I don't want to lose an hour of it that I don't
+have to.  Savvy?"
+
+"I guess you're right," conceded Dick.  "Anyway, I'm just a passenger
+and I don't want to do any back seat driving.  Anything that you
+decide on goes with me."
+
+An hour passed and the moon arose and flooded all that wild world
+with glory.
+
+Under any other circumstances the flyers would have reveled in the
+beauty of the scene.  But just now the moon was to be admired, not
+for itself, but for the help that it might be to them in discovering
+a suitable landing field.
+
+They descried such a place half an hour later.  Like all the district
+over which they had been flying that day, it was covered with a hard
+crust of snow that had been so beaten upon by the bitter winds that
+it was packed almost to the consistency of ice.
+
+Taking every precaution, Slim Tyler let the plane down to a
+successful landing.  The moon shining on the snow made everything
+almost as light as day.  There were no woods within sight and nothing
+else that could possibly shelter an enemy.
+
+Under these conditions the changes they had in mind were easily made.
+Skis were substituted for the wheels and the latter carefully packed
+away for future use.  In less than an hour everything was in
+readiness for the resumption of their flight.
+
+They were delighted to find that the skis worked to a charm.  When
+the young pilot started the engines the plane darted along on the
+runners like a thing of life and soared into the air like a bird.
+
+It had been more or less in the nature of an experiment, for neither
+Slim Tyler nor Jerry Marbury had ever used skis before.  So they were
+relieved beyond measure when the first test proved successful.
+
+For in the place to which they were going there was practically
+nothing but ice.  The whole of Greenland, except in some strips along
+the shore and certain other places where weather conditions were
+unusual, was covered with a solid ice cap.  Wheels would be at a
+discount in that frozen region.  Skis were almost indispensable.
+
+So that it was with a feeling of intense elation that they flew on
+over the desolate wastes of Labrador and approached the shore of
+Davis Straits, on the other side of which lay Greenland.
+
+Slim gave the _Hope_ full throttle, and at about midnight, as he had
+predicted, the water came in view.
+
+The flyers heard it before they saw it.  A thunderous roar blended
+with the song of the motors.  It was the roar of breakers dashing
+against the rocky shores.
+
+"How does it sound, fellows?" asked Slim, turning toward his
+companions with a grin.
+
+"Rather fierce, if you ask me," returned Dick.
+
+"As though it were daring us to come on," put in Jerry.
+
+"Well, we're going to accept the challenge," declared Slim, as the
+raging waves came into full view.  "Say good-by to the land, fellows,
+for it will be a long time before you see land again."
+
+There was a curious feeling in the hearts of all as they said
+farewell to the American continental mass.  Land meant home.  It was
+associated with every experience of their lives.  It was secure,
+stable, solid.  While flying over it they had the comfortable feeling
+that, if anything went wrong, they could come down to safety.
+
+But the ocean, cruel, remorseless, uncaring for human life or
+pain--that was different.
+
+Now, if they came down, they would come down to death!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AT RISK OF LIFE
+
+Though the three young adventurers fully appreciated the chances they
+were taking, their hearts were high and their souls undaunted.  They
+had counted the cost before they had embarked on their enterprise,
+and they were willing to pay that cost, if an unkind fate should
+demand it of them.
+
+On they went over the wild sea, flying at an altitude of three
+thousand feet.
+
+An hour of this, and Slim Tyler relinquished the control of the plane
+to Jerry Marbury, while he snatched a little sleep.
+
+"How is she going?" he asked, a couple of hours later, when he came
+to relieve his companion.
+
+"Not very well," returned Jerry uneasily.  "She doesn't answer as she
+should.  I was just going to call you and have a talk about it.  I'm
+afraid there's something wrong with the stabilizer."
+
+"The stabilizer!" exclaimed Slim quickly, for all the meaning of that
+disaster flashed upon him at once.  "Here, give me the control and
+let me get the feel of it."
+
+It took him less than a minute to realize that Jerry was right.  The
+_Hope_ was tossing and bucking like a balky mule.
+
+"I know what it must be," declared Slim, after he had run over in his
+mind all possible reasons for the _Hope's_ eccentric behavior.  "The
+streamlined cable brace on the right side of the stabilizer has
+parted."
+
+"Parted!"
+
+To an experienced airman like Jerry, the word was like the crack of
+doom!
+
+The young aviators looked at each other.  The blood had fled from
+their faces.
+
+"Unless we fix it, we're goners," declared Slim.
+
+"Of course we are," agreed Jerry.  "But how are we going to fix it
+unless we can come down?"
+
+"I don't know how, but we've got to," affirmed Slim.
+
+"I don't believe it's ever been done on an airplane while in flight,"
+groaned Jerry.  "Looks to me, Slim, as though the jig is up."
+
+"What's all the shooting about?" asked a sleepy voice, and Dick
+Mylert, roused by the excited conversation, came forward and joined
+the pair.
+
+"Plenty," returned Slim.  "The stabilizer brace has given way."
+
+"And that means?"
+
+"It means that unless we fix it promptly we'll get a ducking,"
+replied Slim grimly.  "I can't explain it to you now.  Let me think."
+
+He needed to think and think quickly, for none knew better than he
+what was meant by the parting of that brace that put the rudder in
+jeopardy.
+
+One plan after another chased itself through his mind, to be rejected
+as impossible.
+
+At last he fastened on one that offered some glimmer of hope, though
+it was beset with manifold dangers.
+
+"Dick," he commanded, "you'll find some rosin in a bag back there.
+Break it out."
+
+Mylert hastened to obey.
+
+Slim turned to Jerry.
+
+"Get me a spare brace, Jerry," he directed.  "You know where we keep
+them."
+
+In a minute Jerry was back with the brace, a steel strut about a
+quarter of an inch thick, an inch wide, and about three feet long.
+
+"Here it is," he said.  "What's your plan, Slim?"
+
+"We're going to smash the rear bulkhead," explained Slim.  "Then I'm
+going to crawl to the tail of the ship through the fuselage.  I'll
+take a sharp knife along and slit the fabric on the top of the
+fuselage.  Then I'm going to push my head and shoulders through the
+hole, so that I can have my arms free."
+
+"But you'll be in the full blast of the propellers!" cried Jerry,
+aghast.  "It will tear you to pieces!"
+
+"I guess not," replied Slim.  "Anyhow, I've got to take the chance."
+
+"Let me do it," pleaded Jerry.  "My life isn't worth any more than
+yours.  Why should you take all the risk?"
+
+"No," said Slim.  "I've got the whole thing mapped out in my mind.  I
+won't be blown away.  That's one reason why I asked Dick for the
+rosin.  I'm going to spread it over my suit, so as to give a better
+grip on the fabric.  You stay at the controls, Jerry, and try to keep
+this bucking broncho steady until I've finished my work.  In a little
+while we'll either be riding pretty or we'll be at the bottom of the
+sea."
+
+He rubbed his clothes with the rosin that Dick brought, and with the
+latter's aid broke through the rear bulkhead and slit the fabric
+until his head and shoulders could emerge.
+
+It seemed that the blast of the propellers, as he came into its full
+force, would blow his head from his shoulders.
+
+It would have been a delicate piece of work to do, even under the
+most tranquil circumstances.  In this wild roaring and tumult it
+seemed impossible.
+
+One end of the brace was bent into a hook with a sharpened point.  A
+hole had been drilled below the point of the hook.  In the shaft of
+the strut opposite the hole in the hook was a corresponding hole.  At
+the end of the shaft was another hole, larger than either of the
+other two.
+
+Slim pulled the hook of the strut through the fabric of the
+stabilizer so as to hook the outside tubing, which was just on the
+other side of an interior steel brace.
+
+Then he put a bolt through the two holes and screwed the bolt tightly
+into place.  That proceeding clamped the strut permanently to the
+stabilizer.
+
+With a heavy pair of pliers he drew the end of the broken brace
+through the big hole in the end of the shaft of the new strut as
+tautly as he could.  Then he lashed it securely.
+
+It had been a fearful task that would have daunted a lesser soul.
+The blast of the propeller was tearing at him, taking away his
+breath, searing his eyes, threatening at any moment to wrench him
+from his precarious hold and hurl him into the raging waters beneath.
+His lungs were laboring to the bursting point with his terrible
+exertions.  His hands were so numbed by wind and cold that they had
+scarcely any feeling left in them.
+
+But he had triumphed!  He had saved the plane!  The brace was not
+quite as rigid as he would have liked to have it, but amply so for
+their present needs.
+
+That it was working well was evident from the fact that the bucking
+and balking of the plane had ceased.  She was once more answering her
+helm without protest.
+
+Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Slim Tyler drew back into the
+fuselage, got back into the cabin through the broken bulkhead, and
+made his way to the control.
+
+Jerry fairly hugged Slim in his delight at his safe return.
+
+"You did it, old boy!  You did it!" he exclaimed.  "It was a hundred
+to one chance, but you won!  A thing I don't think has ever been done
+before by a flyer--repairing a stabilizer while in flight.  Didn't I
+tell you this fellow could work miracles?" he demanded of Dick Mylert.
+
+"I'm beginning to believe you," replied the young newspaper man
+warmly.  "Gee, my heart was in my mouth while you were out there,
+Slim!  It looked as though you were up against a hopeless task."
+
+"Nothing is hopeless, unless we admit it is," replied the young
+pilot.  "I'll take a turn now at the controls while you boys finish
+the job.  You'll need a curved needle to sew up the slit in the
+fabric and then you can repair the broken bulkhead.  That will make
+everything O.K."
+
+Jerry and Dick set to work busily and soon had the repairs made,
+pending a more complete job when they should be able to land.
+
+It was bitterly cold, and grew still colder as they progressed toward
+the Greenland coast.
+
+Below them the sea was dotted here and there with huge icebergs,
+great masses that had broken off from the ice cap and were now
+floating in stately majesty toward the warmer waters of the south.
+
+With the moonlight reflected from a thousand jagged points, the bergs
+resembled gigantic diamonds.  It was like a scene from fairyland.
+
+But the aviators had not long to enjoy it, for great masses of clouds
+gradually obscured the moon, and gusts of wind, growing ever fiercer
+in intensity, presaged a coming storm.
+
+"Something brewing," remarked Jerry.  "Looks as if----"
+
+The sentence was never finished.
+
+A terrific blast struck the plane with such irresistible force that
+it turned turtle!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+IN THE GRIP OF THE STORM
+
+The attack of the wind was sudden beyond all precedent in the
+experience of the young aviators.
+
+It was as though the demon of the storm had counted on surprise and
+had hoped to accomplish the destruction of the _Hope_ at one blow
+before the aviators could rally their confused senses to combat it.
+
+One moment the _Hope_ had been flying on an even keel.  The next, it
+had completely reversed its position, and the occupants found
+themselves flying head downward.
+
+The straps that held Slim Tyler in the pilot's seat stretched and
+strained, but did not break.
+
+His comrades were not so fortunate.  Jerry Marbury was for a moment
+literally standing on his head.  Then he fell down heavily, grasping
+an iron bolt, to which he clung with the tenacity of a drowning man.
+
+Dick Mylert was flung out of the plane and would have gone hurtling
+to the waters beneath if his hands, flung about wildly, had not
+grasped the side of the fuselage.  There he hung suspended while the
+wind tore at him, trying to loosen his grasp.
+
+"Hold on, Dick!  For the love of Pete, hold on!" screamed Jerry, as
+his senses cleared and he saw his companion's frightful plight.
+
+He crawled close to his imperiled comrade, clutched his wrists, and
+by a tremendous effort pulled him in to safety.
+
+Slim Tyler was fighting desperately to regain control of the plane
+and bring her right side up.  It was a herculean task, as she had
+already started on her downward plunge.
+
+A lesser pilot would have lost his head and his doom would have been
+sealed then and there.  But Slim Tyler kept his nerve, and by
+consummate craftsmanship finally brought the plane to its normal
+position.
+
+The first onslaught had been met and repelled, but others followed,
+and the aviators found themselves in a wild turmoil of the elements.
+The wind was blowing with all the force of a tornado.  It beat and
+tore at the plane as though it would rend it into shreds.  The
+howling of the storm drowned the roar of the motors.  It was a
+terrible demonstration of nature's unbridled fury.
+
+Yet in that awful welter, Slim Tyler's hand at the control never
+faltered.  His pulses were steady, his heart undaunted.
+
+With masterly skill he jockeyed the plane, driving here, banking
+there, trying to present the least vulnerable surface to the blow,
+making the wind at times his ally, again challenging it to do its
+worst.
+
+He darted upward in an attempt to find a quieter strata of air, but
+found that he gained nothing by the change.  Then he sought lower
+altitudes, coming down at times so close to the water that he heard
+its roar and was sprinkled with its spray.
+
+But wherever he went it was the same.  The gale was out to find a
+victim, and it seemed to exercise a demoniac cunning in thwarting
+every effort of its prey to escape.
+
+To keep on their projected path was of course out of the question.
+All that mattered now was saving the plane and with it their own
+lives.  If they perished, the course did not matter.  If they
+survived, they could easily find it again.
+
+Over that great angry waste of waters, the _Hope_ flew on, a mere
+speck in immensity, while its imperiled occupants never knew what
+moment might be their last.
+
+For one thing Slim Tyler was grateful.  He had repaired the
+stabilizer before the storm started.  If he had been delayed until
+the gale was upon them, nothing on earth could have saved them from
+certain death.
+
+Luckily, there was no lightning.  They were too far north for that,
+and thus they were spared one peril that had so nearly brought to
+naught the journey to South America.
+
+For more than an hour the storm raged with the greatest fury.  Then
+it began to subside.  It died away in fitful gusts that came at
+longer and longer intervals and finally ceased altogether, although
+the agitated air rocked up and down like the waves of the ocean after
+a gale.
+
+Slim Tyler's tense grip on the controls relaxed.  Despite the bitter
+cold, he was drenched with perspiration from the terrific strain he
+had undergone.
+
+"I've been on many a ship in a gale," breathed Dick Mylert, "but I've
+never been shaken up and tossed about like this.  I feel like a
+scrambled egg."
+
+"You brought her through wonderfully, Slim," said Jerry, clapping his
+friend on the shoulder.  "Where do you think we are?"
+
+"Search me," replied Slim.  "I'll try to figure it out as soon as I
+can get my breath.  If those clouds break away and let the moon shine
+through again, you can get out your instruments and we'll check up on
+the figures.  I've tried to keep her in an easterly direction as far
+as I could, but in this hullabaloo she's been dancing round to all
+points of the compass."
+
+But the clouds obstinately refused to break away.  They had contained
+more than wind.  Half an hour had not elapsed before snow began to
+fall.
+
+The storm came first in scattered flakes, then in a thick cloud, then
+in blinding sheets.  It plastered the windows of the cockpit.  It lay
+in a heavy blanket on the body of the plane.  It coated the broad
+wings, weighing them down.
+
+Every additional ounce that weighted the plane weighted Slim Tyler's
+heart as well.
+
+For the plane was losing buoyancy and sinking lower and lower with
+every ten minutes that passed.
+
+She was like an overloaded ship, wallowing in the trough of the sea
+when she ought to have been cleaving her way through it.
+
+Slim banked and dived and rose and sideslipped in the effort to shake
+the snow from the wings.  Had it been of the powdery variety, he
+might have succeeded.  But it was wet and stuck to the wings like
+glue.
+
+"Going through a good many stunts, aren't you, Slim?" asked Dick
+Mylert lightly.  He had no idea of the gravity of the situation.
+"What is this, anyway?  A flying circus?"
+
+"Something far different from that," answered Slim soberly.  "The
+wings are carrying so much snow that the _Hope_ is getting too tired
+to fly."
+
+"Is that so?" exclaimed the reporter, his airy manner vanishing
+instantly.  "Does that mean that there's danger of her going down?"
+
+"Exactly that, if the snow keeps falling," affirmed Slim.  "I have
+all I can do now to keep her aloft.  There must be half a ton of snow
+on her wings now.  And half a ton is a thousand pounds."
+
+"If this keeps up, we'll have to throw some of our cargo overboard to
+lighten the plane," declared Jerry.
+
+"Possibly," admitted Slim.  "Spare parts, tools, even food, if
+necessary.  Lucky if we keep our shirts.  But even that is better
+than drowning."
+
+As if to emphasize that sinister word, the roar of the waves beneath
+grew louder.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THREATENING DOOM
+
+Slim Tyler's quick ears caught an unusual note in that more
+boisterous roar of the angry waves.  _Hope_ sprang anew in his heart.
+
+"Notice anything different in this sound from that we've been hearing
+for the last hour?" he asked his companions.
+
+They listened intently.
+
+"Sounds to me like breakers dashing on the shore!" exclaimed Jerry
+Marbury, and the newspaper man nodded assent.
+
+"That's what it is, I'll bet!" cried Slim.  "If that's true, fellows,
+it means that we have reached the Greenland coast!"
+
+The words went through them all like an electric shock.
+
+"Thank goodness!" ejaculated Dick Mylert fervently.
+
+"Glory hallelujah!" cried Jerry.
+
+"We don't want to crow too soon," the young pilot cautioned his
+companions.  "Break out those flares, Jerry, and throw a couple of
+them down."
+
+Jerry obeyed, and the flares went down, leaving fiery trails like the
+tails of comets in their wake.
+
+"After all," observed Dick dubiously, "what good will they do?  The
+wall of snow shuts out our sight.  We can't see whether they fall on
+the land or the sea."
+
+"Wait," advised Slim.
+
+Perhaps twenty seconds elapsed before the luminous glows left by the
+passing of the flares disappeared.
+
+"Land!" exclaimed Slim joyously.
+
+"Land!" echoed Jerry with equal jubilation.
+
+"How do you know?" asked Dick wonderingly.
+
+"If water were beneath us, the flares would have been extinguished
+immediately," explained Slim Tyler.  "As it is, you notice that they
+continued to burn.  We've reached Greenland all right.  Now if we
+have to come down, as we probably shall, we'll find land beneath us."
+
+"Or ice," suggested Jerry.
+
+"The same thing as far as making a landing is concerned," replied the
+young pilot.  "As a matter of fact, I shouldn't be surprised if we
+never see the ground itself as long as we're in Greenland.  With a
+few exceptions, it's a solid sheet of ice from end to end."
+
+"Seems to me it isn't snowing as hard as it was," observed Dick.
+
+"It isn't," affirmed Slim.  "If it will only stop altogether now, I
+can probably keep the plane afloat.  But with much more weight on her
+wings she'll go down as sure as shooting."
+
+Presently the snow stopped falling, and with its cessation an immense
+load was lifted from Slim Tyler's spirits.  The _Hope_ still labored
+heavily, but she was more or less manageable.
+
+It was imperative that they should make a landing as soon as
+possible.  They were in a mountainous region, and if they should
+suddenly come face to face with a high peak there would be no way of
+making the heavily weighted plane rise above it.
+
+It was growing lighter now, and the occupants of the plane strained
+their eyes to see something of their surroundings.
+
+They had left the sea far behind and found themselves flying over a
+high plateau, sheathed in ice and destitute of all signs of human
+habitation.  It was many miles in area, rugged and uneven and hemmed
+in on every side by mountains.
+
+At intervals it was cut through by gorges hundreds of feet in depth,
+with steep, precipitous sides.  There were no trees anywhere to break
+the landscape.  The whole scene was one of dreary desolation, and it
+sent a chill through the veins of the adventurers.
+
+"Nice place to live in--I don't think," muttered Jerry.
+
+"Not many human beings do live in it," replied Slim; "about twelve or
+fifteen thousand altogether and most of them Eskimos at that, in the
+milder places scattered along the coast."
+
+"Only fit for polar bears," commented Dick.
+
+"There are plenty of them," replied Slim.  "Perhaps we'll get a hack
+at them before we're through.  Or perhaps," he added, with a grin,
+"it will be they that take a hack at us.  Gosh, what made that Dave
+Boyd expedition come to such a rotten place?"
+
+The sun had risen now, and its rays sent back a thousand dazzling
+reflections from the ice.
+
+"Keep your eyes peeled for a landing place," Slim adjured his
+companions.  "This bird is trying to come down of her own accord, and
+I'm having all I can do to keep her in check."
+
+"There's a possible place," sang out Jerry a few minutes later.
+"Seems to be a depression in the plateau, almost like a valley.
+There's a long level strip at the bottom that may fill the bill."
+
+"Looks good to me," pronounced Slim after careful scrutiny of the
+spot that Jerry pointed out.  "Here goes!"
+
+He spiraled down into the valley, maneuvering the plane with masterly
+skill.  The skis landed gently on a comparatively smooth surface,
+skimmed along for a few hundred feet, and gradually came to a stop.
+
+A shout of delight came from the throats of all three as for the
+first time their feet touched the ice of Greenland.  They had reached
+their destination after enduring frightful perils.  They had
+negotiated the last water jump, during which they had not known but
+what the next moment might be their last.
+
+But they had triumphed!  They had achieved their goal!  They were in
+Greenland!  It was with a feeling of irrepressible exultation that,
+all past perils forgotten, they felt solid footing beneath them.
+
+"Now to find Dave Boyd!" cried Jerry.
+
+"And Cameron Flood," added Slim, from whom, through all the journey,
+the thought of Nat Shaley and the lumber claim had never been long
+absent.
+
+"Who's Cameron Flood?" asked Dick Mylert curiously.
+
+"One of the scientists in the party," replied Slim.  "There's a
+matter in which both he and I are interested.  But now for a good
+meal.  Then we'll set to work and get the snow off this baby's wings."
+
+They ate with appetite, for all through that terrible night they had
+been too oppressed and anxious to think of food, and now woke to the
+realization that they were ravenously hungry.
+
+After the meal was finished they got out scrapers and shovels and
+removed the snow from the wings of the _Hope_ and also from the body
+and struts of the machine.  In many places it had changed to ice and
+the work was long and arduous, and had to be done with extreme care.
+
+This finished at last, they made a careful inspection of the plane.
+There were some slight repairs to be made, but considering the
+conditions she had met, the _Hope_ had come through with flying
+colors.  The broken strut was made almost as good as new.
+
+Following this, Slim and Jerry brought out their instruments and took
+observations of the sun.  From these they were able to figure out
+their approximate position.
+
+"About forty miles inland," mused Slim thoughtfully.  "We know at
+least where we are.  But where in the mischief is Dave Boyd?  Any
+idea, Jerry?"
+
+"Not the least," replied Jerry.  "Ten to one he's landed somewhere he
+didn't want to.  You know that story of the trappers about seeing the
+plane forced down."
+
+"Yes, and that story didn't give the location, except that it was
+somewhere about the center of the island," rejoined Slim.  "That's a
+pretty indefinite indication, for Greenland is more like a continent
+than an island.  Thousands and thousands of square miles to fly over.
+It's almost like looking for a needle in a haystack."
+
+"Yes," said Jerry sombrely.  "Moreover, sometimes I'm afraid of what
+we'll find if we find them at all.  Only their dead bodies, perhaps.
+The plane may have been smashed to flinders."
+
+"That's a chance, of course," admitted Slim, and a pain stabbed
+through his heart at the thought.  "But we're not going to dwell on
+that.  I think we'll find them, in trouble, perhaps, but still alive
+and well."
+
+The two aviators were interrupted by a call from Dick Mylert, who,
+while the others had been making their calculations, had wandered off
+to the side of a cliff at a little distance.
+
+"Come here, fellows," cried Dick, "and take a squint at these."
+
+He held up some oval objects as they hurried toward him.
+
+"Eggs," he said, as they came up to him.  "Lallapaloozers, too.  Some
+of the biggest I've ever seen."
+
+"Where did you get them?" asked Slim, as he and Jerry examined them
+curiously.
+
+"In the side of the cliff here," replied Dick.  "Saw a cleft in the
+rock and climbed up.  Scientific curiosity," he grinned.  "We'll take
+them along and let some of the high-brows in Boyd's party--if we find
+them--tell us what they are."
+
+"I don't know," said Slim reflectively.  "Perhaps it would be wiser
+to put them back.  They're still a little warm."
+
+"What of that?" asked Dick.
+
+"It means that the mother bird hasn't been away from them long and
+may be back any minute," replied Slim.  "When she comes there may be
+ructions.  Better put them back, Dick.  We've got trouble enough
+without looking for any."
+
+The young newspaper man grumbled a little but acceded.  He climbed up
+the cliffside and was putting back the eggs when there came a sudden
+whirring of wings.
+
+"Look out, Dick!  For the love of Pete, look out!" shouted Slim Tyler.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE CRASH
+
+Startled by Slim Tyler's cry of warning, in which Jerry joined, Dick
+Mylert looked up.
+
+Two great birds were swooping down upon him with raucous cries,
+talons outspread.
+
+Dick started to clamber down, but one of the birds, bigger than an
+eagle, struck him a heavy blow with one of its wings and he fell for
+a dozen feet.
+
+His feet slipped out from under him as they touched the icy surface
+and he fell on his back.
+
+"Cover your eyes, Dick!" screamed Slim, as he saw the creatures
+making for Dick's face.
+
+Dick, though confused and bewildered, had sense enough left to follow
+the injunction and threw both arms tightly over his eyes.  The angry
+birds tore at his arms, their beaks drawing blood.
+
+Slim and Jerry launched themselves against the creatures, their arms
+and fists working like flails.  The ferocity of their onslaught drove
+the feathered assailants back for the moment, but they returned
+promptly to the attack.
+
+With their left arms shielding their eyes, Slim and Jerry yanked Dick
+to his feet and the three fought their way back to the plane, while
+again and again the maddened birds swooped down upon them, beating
+them heavily with their wings, striking at them with talons, and
+trying ever to get at their eyes with their beaks.
+
+"Hold them off for another minute," panted Slim, as he leaped over
+the side of the plane and grabbed a rifle.
+
+The gun cracked and one of the birds fell lifeless.  Another shot
+broke the wing of the other and it flopped helpless to the ground.
+Slim fired once more and killed it.
+
+Then he rejoined his comrades, who were leaning, gasping, against the
+side of the plane.
+
+"They haven't touched your eyes, have they?" he inquired anxiously.
+
+"No," panted Jerry.  "But it wasn't for the want of trying.  I'm
+bleeding like a stuck pig."
+
+"My eyes are all right," gasped Dick.  "But that fall knocked all my
+teeth loose.  I can feel each one of them move as I touch them with
+my tongue."
+
+"They'll tighten up in a day or two," Slim consoled him.  "Gee, but
+I'm glad that we've got rid of those pirates!" as he viewed the
+feathered heaps on the ice.
+
+"They were bad medicine," grunted Jerry.  "But let's break out the
+first aid kit and get some iodine and bandages."
+
+They helped to bind up each other's wounds, which were plentiful.
+But they were so relieved that their eyes were left that they bore
+the pain with philosophy.
+
+"How about that scientific curiosity of yours, Dick?" asked Slim
+quizzically.
+
+"Gone!  Squelched!" replied Dick emphatically.  "I'll never go
+bird-nesting in the Arctic again.  Gee, but those fellows were
+fierce!  What are they, anyway?"
+
+"Auks, I guess, or something of the sort," replied Slim, with a
+glance at the huge creatures.  "Mild enough when they are let alone,
+but tough bozos when it comes to defending their nests.  Can't blame
+them.  I like their spunk, and I'm sorry we had to kill them."
+
+They rested for a few minutes and then prepared for their flight of
+exploration.
+
+"Just what are your plans, Slim?" asked Dick.
+
+"Simply to keep flying as long as daylight lasts," replied Slim, as
+he climbed into the cockpit and took his seat at the controls.
+"While Jerry or I guide the plane, the others will study the ice
+beneath with the field glasses.  We'll be able to cover a good many
+hundred square miles of territory every day.  We'll fly as low as we
+dare and yet keep out of the way of the mountain peaks.  Each day
+we'll cover a separate section.  We'll go over the whole of Greenland
+as with a fine toothed comb."
+
+"How about the gasoline?" asked Jerry.  "We're using up a good many
+gallons with every day we fly."
+
+"I know," admitted Slim.  "That's a problem.  But we'll keep aloft as
+long as we can, and when the supply runs low we'll make for one of
+the Danish towns along the coast, where we can replenish.  I hope,
+though, that it won't come to that."
+
+They made an excellent take-off and mounted into the skies.
+
+The sun was still shining brightly as Slim Tyler headed toward the
+center of the island.  The visibility was fine, and they had no
+difficulty with their glasses in seeing the landscape beneath.
+
+For hours and hours they flew on their quest without detecting any
+signs of human life.  Animal life there was, reindeer, foxes,
+ermines, hares and musk oxen, though how some of them could find a
+living in those ice-covered wastes it was hard to imagine.  From time
+to time these could be seen as mere dark specks on the ice-clad
+surface.
+
+"If a fellow were lost here and had his rifle, he might live on
+game," remarked Jerry.
+
+"A slim chance," returned Dick.  "There'd be no cover, and he
+couldn't get close enough for a shot without being seen.  No, this is
+anything but a hunter's paradise.  If a fellow got stranded here, his
+best bet would be to streak it to some of the settlements along the
+coast."
+
+Time wore on until mid-afternoon with not a sign of anything human to
+reward their quest.  Then a haze began to rise and obscure their
+sight.
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed Slim suddenly, just as he was about reluctantly
+to put aside his glasses.  "I thought I saw something then that
+looked like a camp."
+
+"Where?" asked Jerry, who at the moment was guiding the plane.
+
+"Down there," replied Slim, pointing to a deep valley a little to the
+right.  "Hang it, it's fading away now as this fog grows thicker.
+We'll have to wait till it lifts.  But keep circling around in this
+vicinity, Jerry, so that we shan't get away from this spot."
+
+"Why couldn't the fog have waited a little longer?" grumbled Dick.
+"It's maddening to have it come up just now."
+
+"What did the thing look like, Slim?" asked Jerry eagerly.
+
+"Oh, it was vague enough," admitted the young aviator.  "But there
+seemed to be a lot of things scattered around and I thought I could
+see some figures moving."
+
+"Moving!" repeated Jerry, with huge satisfaction.  "That's cheering.
+Movement means life."
+
+"Of course, we don't want to let our hopes rise too high," cautioned
+Slim.  "It may have been a party of Eskimos or Danish trappers."
+
+"Even that would be something," put in Dick.  "We might get some
+valuable information from them as to the whereabouts of Boyd and his
+party."
+
+"That's true," agreed Slim.  "Gee, fellows, I feel happier now than
+at any time since we landed in Greenland!"
+
+The fog grew thicker.  It soon wrapped the plane as in a pall.  The
+_Hope_ seemed like a ghost wandering through the darkness.  The wet,
+clammy folds penetrated through everything, even the heavy clothing
+of the young aviators.
+
+Slim Tyler bent over Jerry and consulted the instruments.
+
+"Better lift her a little higher, Jerry," he said, with a touch of
+uneasiness.  "These mountains around here----"
+
+A huge black mass loomed up in front of them.  There was a crash, and
+everything went black before Slim Tyler's eyes!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+LOST
+
+How long it was before he came back to consciousness, Slim Tyler
+never knew.
+
+He woke to find himself lying on his back, with dense darkness all
+about him.  For a long time his dazed senses failed to take in the
+situation in which he found himself.
+
+"Wonder how long I've been sleeping?" he asked himself confusedly.
+"Why hasn't Jerry waked me up?  He needs sleep as much as I do.  He's
+been having a long spell at the controls.  Time I relieved the old
+boy."
+
+He tried to rise, but sank back with a groan of pain.
+
+"Must be those auk bites," he murmured.  "Hope there wasn't any
+poison in them.  Thought I used plenty of iodine, though.  Gee, but
+this bed is cold!"
+
+He put out his hand and felt ice.  The shock aroused him.
+
+"What in thunder!" he exclaimed, as he felt about him for some of the
+familiar objects of the plane.
+
+His hands encountered only empty air.
+
+Then in a flash it all came back to him--the study of the
+instruments, his suggestion to Jerry that they rise higher, the black
+mass looming up, the crash!
+
+They had struck, then.  Hit the mountain side and gone down.  The
+_Hope_ was gone.  And Jerry!  And Dick!  Good old Jerry and Dick!
+Where were they?  Slim Tyler groaned in anguish.
+
+His own awful plight for the moment hardly interested him.  It was
+the fate of his companions that tore at his soul.  He was at least
+alive.  But they?
+
+"Lying dead, perhaps," he moaned.  "Or, still worse, perhaps maimed
+for life."
+
+So this was the end of the expedition on which he had placed such
+high hopes, in the working out of which he had encountered and
+overcome so many perils!
+
+All wasted!  Sheer waste!  The bitter sarcasm of it!  Coming on a
+mission of rescue and now himself a derelict!
+
+But Slim Tyler did not spend long in these soul-searing reflections.
+His indomitable will awoke and stirred him to action.
+
+How did he know that his companions were dead?  he asked himself.  He
+himself had escaped with life.  Might not they have had equal luck?
+He must look for them, and at once.
+
+By a tremendous effort he brought himself to a sitting position.  He
+could not repress a groan as he did so.  He was bruised and sore all
+over.
+
+He flexed his arms, though the operation caused him intense agony.
+But at least they obeyed his will.  They were not broken.
+
+He felt his legs gingerly.  No broken bones there!
+
+A surge of hope thrilled through his veins.  He was not crippled,
+doomed to freeze or starve until death should come to his relief!
+
+With infinite pain and effort he managed to get upon his feet.  Then
+he applied himself to rubbing himself vigorously until the numbness
+left his limbs and he was able to move about, though haltingly.
+
+Even though he could move about, he had not found freedom of action.
+For the night wrapped about him like a blanket.  He could hardly see
+his hand before his face.  For all he knew, he might be on the brink
+of a precipice.  The first step forward might hurl him down into a
+chasm hundreds of feet deep.
+
+Inaction was maddening, but it would be sheer insanity to attempt to
+move forward in that darkness.  There was no alternative.  He must
+wait till daylight broke.
+
+How long would that be?  He had not the slightest idea how long he
+had lain there unconscious.  He took out his watch and held it to his
+ear.  It had stopped.
+
+He summoned all his stoicism and steeled himself to the hardest task
+in the world--to wait!
+
+In those dreary hours of waiting he had plenty of time to take stock
+of his situation.  The inventory was depressing.
+
+As far as he knew, he was alone--alone in thousands of square miles
+of uninhabited, ice-clad territory.
+
+Even if his strength held out, he might wander over it for months
+without coming in contact with a human soul.
+
+But how could his strength hold out?  He had no food and no way of
+getting any.  Already the pangs of hunger were assailing him.
+
+There were of course provisions in the _Hope_.  But where was the
+_Hope_?  Perhaps at the bottom of some inaccessible chasm.  Perhaps
+it had caught fire in the crash and been consumed.  It might have
+gone down one slope of the mountain, while he himself had been cast
+down another.
+
+While he was immersed in these gloomy reflections the night wore
+itself away.  With the first glimmer of light that came from the
+east, Slim Tyler looked with straining eyes about him.
+
+He found himself on an icy plateau at the bottom of a mountain slope.
+Not ten feet in front of him was a yawning crevasse leading down to
+an unknown depth.  Similar gorges were in evidence everywhere.  A
+more forbidding, dreary, desolate landscape could not have been
+imagined.
+
+Nothing familiar met Slim's eyes.  No Jerry Marbury!  No Dick Mylert!
+No plane!
+
+He was lost!  Lost in Greenland!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE SHOT
+
+Slim Tyler had cherished the hope that daylight would reveal the
+plane, or what remained of it after its collision with the cliff.
+Even if wrecked, he might recover from it provisions to keep himself
+alive for a time and weapons with which to secure game later on.
+
+The fact that he could discern no trace of it was at first a bitter
+disappointment.  Yet, as he pondered the matter, there came a slight
+upspringing of hope.
+
+How did he know that the plane had smashed?  Might not Jerry, despite
+the damage it must have sustained, have managed to keep it aloft?
+
+The shock, to be sure, had been violent enough to throw him, Slim
+Tyler, out of the fuselage.  But his companions might have had better
+luck, and the _Hope_ itself might have survived.  If this were true,
+he knew that they would search for him unceasingly until they found
+him.
+
+This was the bright side of the picture.  Down deep in his heart he
+felt almost certain that the _Hope_ had gone down.
+
+But if so, where was it?  Why had it not fallen at practically the
+same spot in which he found himself?
+
+The answer might be found in the great gorges that seamed the
+plateau.  He shuddered as he looked at them.  At the bottom of one of
+them the _Hope_ at this moment might be lying, far from human sight,
+a crumpled mass with the dead bodies of Dick Mylert and Jerry Marbury
+in the wreckage.
+
+How had he himself survived?  Why had he not been killed by his fall?
+
+A glance at the mountain side gave him the answer.  He had not fallen
+like a plummet through space.  He had been flung out on an icy slope,
+through which protruded at frequent intervals clumps of bushes and
+shrubbery that had flourished during the brief summer season.
+
+These, no doubt, had broken his fall.  His progress down the slippery
+slope had been checked at intervals until he had finally brought up
+at the bottom, horribly bruised and sore, but with all his bones
+intact.
+
+The tufts of shrubbery gave him an idea.  They might serve as hand
+holds and enable him to make his way to the top.  From there, on the
+other side of the mountain, he might discern some traces of the
+catastrophe.
+
+He girded himself for the effort and began to climb.  In his
+condition it was a frightful task.  For every three feet he went up,
+he slipped back at least one.  Every muscle of his body clamored its
+weariness and pain.
+
+But the stuff of which heroes are made was in Slim Tyler, and at last
+he reached the coveted summit.
+
+From there he could see for many miles in every direction.  It was a
+scene of magnificent grandeur that met his eyes.  As far as the eye
+could reach were ice-capped mountains, valleys and gorges, gleaming
+in the morning sun.
+
+But its sublimity made no appeal to Slim Tyler in his present state
+of mind.  To him it was only a magnificent tomb, in which he might
+find his eternal rest, as perhaps his cherished comrades had already
+found it.
+
+He strained his eyes for some sign of the _Hope_, But the region was
+a sealed book.  There was nothing in it that he could read.  If the
+mountains and gorges knew anything, they kept the secret.
+
+Bitterly disappointed, Slim Tyler left his point of vantage.  The
+cliffs on the other side of the mountain were almost perpendicular.
+He must return by the way he had come.
+
+Reaching once more the plateau, Slim tied a handkerchief to a clump
+of bushes so that its fluttering might attract attention, in case one
+of his companions or a wandering trapper should come that way.  To it
+he pinned a page of his notebook, on which he scribbled a few lines,
+telling of the disaster and urging that search should be made for him
+and his companions.
+
+Then he set out on his journeyings.  He had no plan of action.  Under
+the circumstances he could have none.  One path was as good as
+another.  All he knew was that he must keep moving.
+
+Otherwise he would freeze.  In motion there was hope.  It would
+engross his mind, keep him from going mad.  And there was always the
+chance that he might stumble on some traces of Jerry and Dick.
+
+Then, too, there was that camp that he thought he had discerned just
+before the fog closed in on the plane.
+
+Was it really a camp?  Or was it a mere figment of his imagination?
+And if it existed, in what direction did it lay?
+
+He had not the least idea.  It might be east, west, north, or south
+from where he was at present.  Every step he took might be bringing
+him nearer to it or taking him farther from it.  It was a pure
+gamble, in which he had one chance out of four.
+
+He progressed but slowly.  At times he had to make wide detours to
+get about the crevasses in the ice that criss-crossed the plateau in
+all directions.  The utmost care was necessary, for the slightest
+misstep on the slippery ice might send him into the yawning mouth of
+an abyss.
+
+Hours passed, and still Slim Tyler plodded on.  He had eaten nothing
+since the noon before, and the fast of twenty-four hours had made him
+ravenously hungry.
+
+He searched his pockets in the faint hope that he might find a bit of
+biscuit or of chocolate.  But there was not a crumb.  He plucked some
+leaves and twigs from withered shrubbery and chewed on them in the
+hope of alleviating the gnawing pangs.  But they seemed only to
+aggravate his hunger.
+
+At times he stood still and shouted, in the hope that his voice might
+carry to some human ears in that vast solitude.  The mountains echoed
+back the shout, but no other voice replied.
+
+Night fell and he perforce had to stop.  He was growing dizzy and
+lightheaded.  But he did not dare sleep.  Even that solace of the
+miserable was denied him.  He knew that, if he once closed his eyes
+in that freezing atmosphere, he would never open them again.
+
+He had no matches, or he might have gathered withered shrubs enough
+to make a tiny fire.  That at least would have brought some semblance
+of cheer.
+
+All night long he tramped to and fro in a narrow space that he had
+selected because it was free from crevasses.  When morning came he
+set out again on his quest.
+
+He still kept shouting at intervals, though his voice was weaker now.
+
+It was after one of those quavering calls that he stopped abruptly.
+
+What was that?  An answering call?  No!  He must be getting
+delirious.  He had been fearing that.  Now it had come!
+
+But no--yes--there it was again!  No mistake this time!  A voice that
+was not his own and that had a familiar ring in it!
+
+Slim Tyler summoned up his remaining strength and hurried around a
+near-by bend in the cliff.  And there was Dick Mylert running to meet
+him!
+
+Dick!  Good old Dick!  Not his ghost, but Dick in the flesh!  Dick,
+whom he had feared he would never see again!
+
+The two fairly hugged each other in the exuberance of their delight,
+babbling incoherently.
+
+"And Jerry?" asked Slim, when they had somewhat recovered their
+composure.
+
+A shadow came over Mylert's haggard face.  He shook his head sadly.
+
+"Don't know," he replied.  "The shock came and the next thing I knew
+I knew nothing.  I was just chucked out and found myself alone when I
+woke up.  Ever since I've been looking around for you and him."
+
+They exchanged experiences, which had been very much alike.  They had
+rolled down different slopes and so had become separated.
+
+"Not a scrap to eat," mourned Dick.  "Gee, I'd like to come across
+those auks we killed!"
+
+"Same here," echoed Slim.  "But now, if we starve, we'll have the
+poor comfort of starving together."
+
+"Poor is right," said the young reporter, with a grimace.  "But let's
+hope it won't come to that."
+
+They set out again on their apparently unending tramp.  Two hours
+passed, and they were steadily growing weaker.  Growing more
+hopeless, too, though each kept up a brave front.
+
+"Don't know where we're going, but we're on the way," remarked Dick,
+with a game but feeble attempt at joking.  "Geewhillikens! what's
+that?"
+
+The "that" was a shot that rang out crisply in the icy air!
+
+At the same moment a bird that had been flying overhead came whirling
+down to earth!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+A JOYOUS REUNION
+
+A shot!
+
+That meant that a human finger had touched the trigger.  Men were at
+hand!  Trappers, hunters--it mattered not who they were, they were
+men!  The starving wanderers were no longer alone in this vast icy
+wilderness.
+
+Slim Tyler and Dick Mylert looked at each other in wild rapture.
+Then they broke into as rapid a run as their weakened state permitted.
+
+Staggering, but still running, they rounded an icy hummock and came
+into view of a camp.
+
+Half a dozen figures were in sight, most of them busily engaged in
+various tasks.
+
+Nearest to the newcomers was a man working at a plane.  He looked up
+at the sound of running feet and jumped up with a startled
+exclamation when he saw the staggering figures coming toward him.
+
+Slim Tyler's heart leaped as though it would leave his body.
+
+The man was Dave Boyd!
+
+"Dave!  Dave!" shrieked Slim in wild delight, almost falling in his
+effort to reach him.
+
+Dave Boyd rushed forward and caught the youth in his arms.
+
+"By the great horn spoon!" yelled the older aviator in amazement,
+hardly able to believe his eyes.  "Slim!  Slim Tyler!  How did you
+get here?  Did you drop from the skies?"
+
+"Just that," replied Slim, smiling weakly as Dave Boyd folded him in
+a bear's embrace.  "Plane went flooey and I dropped.  So did my
+friend here, Dick Mylert.  Dick, this is Dave Boyd."
+
+The men exchanged handclasps.  By this time all the members of the
+camp had come running and surrounded the newcomers with expressions
+of wonder and welcome.  There were Biff Donovan, for once genial and
+smiling, Sardine Brown, and the scientists, Franz, Burke, Lewis,
+Thompson and another upon whom Slim looked with keen interest,
+Cameron Flood.
+
+Exclamations and questions tumbled over one another until Boyd
+intervened.
+
+"Why, you're just a rack of bones, Slim!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Not much wonder," put in Dick.  "He hasn't had anything to eat for
+two days.  Neither have I."
+
+"What?" yelled Dave.  "Lay off that questioning, you fellows.  Not
+another word till we fill these boys up.  Break out some of that
+canned soup, Biff.  Sardine, get some coffee going.  Starved, are
+you?  You poor fellows!  But we'll soon fix that."
+
+He led Slim and Dick to a shack that the party had constructed and
+snuggled them under a pile of blankets.  Then, when the soup and
+coffee were ready, he fed them with his own hands, taking care that
+they got no more than was good for them in their present weakened
+condition.
+
+"Now get to sleep," he ordered them.  "No, not a word," he commanded,
+as Slim was about to speak.  "I'm burning up with curiosity as to how
+and why you're here, but you get your sleep first."
+
+"But I must speak," persisted Slim.  "It's Jerry----"
+
+"What about Jerry?" asked Dave Boyd quickly.
+
+"He was with us," replied Slim.  "He was guiding the plane when it
+crashed.  He may be wandering around as we were.  I don't know."
+
+Dave Boyd's face paled.  He was very fond of Jerry Marbury, who had
+accompanied him on many of his flights.
+
+"Jerry!" he exclaimed.  "Poor lad!  We'll start a hunt for him at
+once, every man jack of us.  And we won't let up till we find him
+alive--or find him dead.  Trust us now and go to sleep."
+
+Slim and Dick could not have disobeyed, if they had tried.  Through
+the rest of the afternoon and all that night they were wrapped in the
+sleep of utter exhaustion.
+
+Their youth and vitality stood them in good stead, and the next
+morning they woke up enormously refreshed and almost their usual
+selves.
+
+A glance at Dave Boyd's grave face told Slim without asking that the
+quest for Jerry Marbury had been in vain.
+
+"No," said Dave.  "We went in different directions, looking for him
+and firing off guns at intervals to guide him to where we were.  At
+night we shot off Very pistols and sent up rockets in hope that he'd
+see the lights.  With no success so far.  We'll go out again to-day
+as soon as we've had breakfast."
+
+Slim sighed, but made no comment.
+
+"Now," said Dave, as they sat down at the rude table a little later,
+"tell us what we all want to hear, Slim.  What brought you to
+Greenland?"
+
+"You," replied Slim simply.
+
+"What?"
+
+"You," repeated Slim.  "We got worried when your messages ceased.  We
+got more worried when the report came that trappers had seen a plane
+in trouble forced down in the mountains.  So we raised funds, got a
+plane, and started out to look for you."
+
+"We," said Dave dazedly.  "Whom do you mean by 'we'?"
+
+"Jerry and I," replied Slim.  "Dick came along to get stuff for his
+newspaper."
+
+Dave Boyd was not an emotional man, but tears started to his eyes.
+
+"Let me get this straight," he said huskily.  "You mean that you and
+Jerry of your own volition got up this expedition and risked your
+lives just to rescue me, if you should find me in trouble?"
+
+"Why not?" replied Slim.  "You're the best friend I have in the
+world."
+
+Dave Boyd thrust his big hand across the table.
+
+"Shake, Slim!  Shake!" he said, as he grasped the lad's hand.
+"You're there, Slim!  You're all there!"
+
+A murmur of assent rose from all at the table, as, with eyes full of
+admiration, they looked at Slim Tyler.
+
+"You were right in thinking we were in trouble," resumed Dave Boyd,
+when he had released Slim's hand.  "It's a wonder that we're not all
+dead.  We got caught in a frightful blizzard that forced us down.  By
+sheer luck we were able to make a landing----"
+
+"Luck, nothing!" interrupted Biff Donovan from the other end of the
+table.  "It was because you were handling the controls.  No other
+aviator in the world could have made that landing."
+
+"Nonsense!" disclaimed Boyd.  "You could have done it just as well.
+As it was, we escaped with our lives.  But the radio was smashed and
+the plane pretty badly cracked up.  Biff and Sardine and I have been
+pretty busy since patching it up.  Our scientists here haven't done
+so badly.  They've got all kinds of information about the meteorology
+of Greenland, the precipitation, the mountain ranges, and goodness
+knows what else."
+
+"You're right in that," put in Cameron Flood, and the other
+scientists nodded their heads.  "It's been a fruitful opportunity,
+far surpassing our expectations."
+
+Slim Tyler studied the speaker closely.  What he saw pleased him.
+
+Cameron Flood was a tall, handsome young man of perhaps twenty-eight,
+frank and open in expression, with a humorous glint in his eyes.  He
+had a straight, strong nose and a jaw that bespoke determination.
+Slim judged that he would be a valuable ally in the tracking down of
+Nat Shaley.
+
+"Now," said Boyd, as he shoved back his chair, "we're off to look for
+Jerry.  Everything around here has got to stop until we find him.
+We'll divide into parties and keep in touch with each other by
+frequent rifle shots.  Flood, suppose you go with Slim and Dick.  You
+know this district well by this time."
+
+Armed with rifles, the groups scattered in different directions.
+
+Slim Tyler and his companions had been traveling about an hour when
+Slim grabbed an arm each of Dick and Flood and yanked his astonished
+comrades down behind an ice hummock.
+
+"What's up?" demanded Dick, struggling to rise.
+
+"S-sh!" warned Slim.  "Look!"
+
+Dick and Flood peered cautiously around the corner of the hummock.
+
+A huge polar bear was lumbering toward them!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+AT GRIPS WITH A MONSTER
+
+That the bear had not discovered the presence of the searching party
+was evidenced by the leisurely and unperturbed way in which he came
+swinging along.
+
+But their immunity could not last.  The creature was coming directly
+toward the hummock behind which they lay concealed.  A minute more,
+and he would have reached it.  Then discovery would be inevitable.
+
+"Looks like a fight," remarked Cameron Flood coolly, as he gripped
+his rifle tightly.
+
+"That's what," assented Slim Tyler.  "And it's always a good plan in
+a fight to get in the first blow.  Let's give him a volley."
+
+"Whenever you say the word," agreed Dick Mylert.
+
+The bear stopped abruptly.  Its air of serenity vanished.  It had
+caught the scent of man.  It growled savagely, rose on its hind legs
+and sniffed the air, looking about for its enemies.
+
+"A sockdolager!" breathed Dick.  "Eight feet tall, standing up, if
+it's an inch!"
+
+"Ready, fellows?" whispered Slim.
+
+His companions nodded.
+
+"Now!" shouted Slim.
+
+They sprang to their feet and fired.
+
+Standing up as it was, the bear offered a good target, and all the
+bullets struck.  With a frightful roar of rage and pain the animal
+staggered and toppled over.
+
+The shouts of triumph that rose from the throats of the marksmen died
+in their birth.  None of the bullets had struck a vital spot and the
+monster scrambled to its feet and rushed at its enemies with a speed
+surprising in so large a creature.
+
+The bear was no more than twenty feet away and coming toward them
+like an express train.
+
+They fired again, but failed to stop the charging beast.
+
+"Scatter!" yelled Slim, "and plug him when you get a chance."
+
+They fled like the wind in different directions.
+
+The melting away of the group disconcerted the polar bear for an
+instant, but for an instant only.  The next moment it singled out
+Slim Tyler and made for him.
+
+If Slim's long legs had ever stood him in good stead, it was then.
+He ran as if his feet had wings, spurred on by the certainty that
+death was pursuing him.
+
+Had he been on bare ground, he might have twisted and doubled and
+possibly escaped, though in the long run the superior endurance of
+the bear would probably have told.
+
+But he was handicapped because he was running on ice.  Again and
+again he slipped and almost fell, and the struggle to regain his
+footing checked his speed.  The bear's paws were made for ice, and
+the creature was at no disadvantage on that account.  Slowly but
+surely the bear was gaining on the fugitive.
+
+Shots rang out, and Slim Tyler knew that his comrades were doing all
+they could to stop his pursuer.
+
+Then his blood froze with horror, for he saw before him a yawning
+crevasse in the ice field!  It was fully twenty feet across.  He
+could not leap it.  He was trapped!  Before him the abyss!  Behind
+him the bear!
+
+Slim Tyler whirled about like lightning.  The bear reared itself up
+to grasp him with a hideous growl of triumph.
+
+Flinging his rifle to his shoulder, Slim fired.
+
+The bullet entered the monster's eye and penetrated to the brain.
+
+Slim dodged as the huge body came tumbling down and narrowly escaped
+the dreadful claws.
+
+The great bulk slid to the edge of the crevasse and went whirling
+over and over to the bottom, hundreds of feet below.
+
+The young aviator sat down suddenly, gasping for breath, utterly
+exhausted, scarcely daring to believe in his narrow escape from an
+awful death.
+
+Dick and Flood came running up to him.
+
+"Are you hurt?" asked Dick anxiously.
+
+"No," panted Slim, "but--all--in."
+
+"No wonder!" exclaimed Flood.  "You'll never be nearer death than you
+were a minute ago and live to tell about it.  My heart was in my
+mouth.  I thought it was all over with you."
+
+"It was a case of touch and go," admitted Slim, as he rose to his
+feet.  "Merest luck that shot got to the brain.  I didn't aim for the
+eye.  Just let fly at the head, hoping it would get him somewhere."
+
+"Pity we lost the hide," remarked Dick.  "It would have made a
+splendid rug for your room when you got back."
+
+"I don't want it," replied Slim.  "It would have given me the willies
+every time I looked at it.  Let's be getting on."
+
+"And let's keep a sharp lookout for the mate of that fellow,"
+cautioned Flood.  "They usually travel in pairs."
+
+The precaution proved needless, as no other bear appeared.
+
+All the morning and well into the afternoon they searched plateaus
+and valleys and mountain slopes, shouting at intervals and firing
+their rifles, without eliciting a response or finding a trace of the
+missing one.  With every hour that passed their hearts grew heavier.
+
+They had paused to rest at the edge of a long slope that extended far
+down into a valley.
+
+There came a cracking sound and a yell from Slim.
+
+"Jump back, fellows!" he shouted.  "Jump back!"
+
+Too late!
+
+A huge segment of the ice on which they were standing gave way.  The
+next moment they went whirling down the steep slope in a wild medley
+of waving arms and legs!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+DOWN THE SLOPE
+
+Sliding, rolling, tumbling, their senses as well as their bodies in a
+whirl, the three adventurers kept on in their headlong flight down
+the slippery slope, reaching out wildly in the hope of grasping
+something that would check their dizzy speed but clutching nothing
+but empty air.
+
+As far as they could think of anything in the tumult of their minds,
+they feared what would be at the end of that long slide.
+
+It might be a precipice over which they would be hurled to instant
+death.  Or they might bring up against an ice hummock or some other
+obstruction with a force that would break every bone in their bodies.
+
+As they neared the bottom, however, the slide lost its steepness and
+gradually merged into a gently rolling slope.  This served to
+moderate their speed, so that they had almost stopped rolling when
+they brought up against some object that halted their flight.
+
+They were dazed and breathless, and for some moments lay motionless
+in a heap, their predominant feeling one of intense thankfulness that
+they were still alive.  Then they began slowly to untangle themselves
+and assume a sitting position.
+
+"I--I don't know whether I've got my own legs or somebody else's,"
+gasped Dick, as he extricated those useful members from those of his
+companions.
+
+"We are pretty well scrambled," admitted Slim, "and that goes for
+brains as well as legs.  My head is spinning like a top.  Either of
+you fellows hurt?"
+
+"Feel as though I'd been drawn through a cement mixer," vouchsafed
+Flood.  "Think I'll take my meals standing up for a while.  But none
+of my bones seem out of whack."
+
+"No more such coasting parties for me!" declared Dick.  "That is, if
+I'm consulted about it beforehand.  Gee, what a dizzy whirl!"
+
+"What is it we brought up against at the end, anyway?" asked Flood.
+
+"Don't know," replied Slim, groping behind him, for at that great
+depth it was almost impossible to see anything.  "Feels like----"
+
+He broke off suddenly and sprang to his feet with a yell.
+
+"It's a plane!" he shouted.  "It's the _Hope_!  Do you hear me,
+fellows?  It's the _Hope_!"
+
+"What?" cried Dick.  "You're dreaming!"
+
+"It is, I tell you!" reiterated Slim, almost crazy with excitement
+and delight.  "Feel it!  Go over it!  Give me your flashlight, Flood."
+
+The young scientist handed it over, and Slim Tyler shot its rays over
+the object.
+
+The _Hope_!  It stood revealed from nose to tail, broken here, bent
+there, a propeller twisted, the undercarriage awry, but by no means
+an utter wreck, as Slim Tyler's eye noted at once.  If it hadn't been
+so big, Slim would have hugged it.
+
+There was the _Hope_.  But where was Jerry Marbury?
+
+With dread in his heart, Slim Tyler moved slowly toward the cockpit.
+He was afraid to flash the light into it.  What might that light
+reveal?
+
+But he had to know.  With a desperate lunge, he flung the rays into
+the cockpit, swept the fuselage and the cabin.
+
+His heart leaped.  What he had feared to see was not there!
+
+"He wasn't killed when the plane cracked up," exulted Slim, "or his
+body would be here."
+
+"That's something to be thankful for," replied Dick.  "Still, it
+doesn't really prove anything.  He may have been thrown out as the
+plane came down."
+
+A shout from a little distance made the three adventurers jump.
+
+"Hello!  Hello there!" came in a familiar voice that set Slim's and
+Dick's hearts to beating wildly.
+
+"It's Jerry!  Jerry!" cried Slim.
+
+He started running in the direction of the shout, flashing the light
+ahead of him, his companions close on his heels.
+
+Into the light came Jerry, good old Jerry, hobbling as fast toward
+them as a bandaged foot would let him!
+
+Slim and Dick swept him into their arms, pounding him, embracing him,
+mauling him, fairly delirious with relief and rapture.
+
+"Alive!  Alive!" cried Slim.  "Jerry, old boy, I wouldn't exchange
+this minute for a million dollars!"
+
+"You'd get stung, then," grinned Jerry, though his eyes were moist
+from the warmth of the welcome.  "I'm not worth that much, living or
+dead.  But I feel the same way about you fellows.  When you were
+thrown out of the plane I was afraid I'd never see you again."
+
+"You stuck to the old ship, though," said Dick, "like the brick you
+are."
+
+"No credit to me," disclaimed Jerry.  "My straps held me in my seat.
+As soon as I got over the shock, I tried to handle the old bus so
+that she'd stay aloft.  It was no go, though, and she came down at
+last where you see her.  Came down more slowly than I thought she
+would, and yet hard enough to put one of my legs out of commission."
+
+"It isn't broken, is it?" asked Slim quickly.
+
+"Not as bad as that," was the reply.  "But the knee was twisted and
+the ankle sprained so that this is the first day I've been able to
+stand on it.  Otherwise, you can bet your life, I'd have been out
+hunting for you.  But how did you fellows ever get down to the bottom
+of this gorge?"
+
+"Tumbled down, and brought up plunk against the plane," laughed Slim.
+"And we've found Dave Boyd, Jerry."
+
+"Glory be!" cried Jerry.  "Is he all right?"
+
+"Perfectly," replied Slim.  "So are the rest of his party.  Forced
+down, but nobody hurt.  They're patching up the plane now."  Then
+Slim introduced Cameron Flood.
+
+"This sure is my lucky day!" ejaculated Jerry.
+
+"There's one thing in which you were luckier than we were when we
+were chucked out," put in Dick.  "You've had plenty of grub."
+
+"Yes," grinned Jerry.  "What's more, I sure have made a hole in it."
+
+"Well, now to get out of here and back to our camp," suggested Flood.
+"The others will be worried if we don't turn up."
+
+"More easily said than done," said Dick, looking ruefully up the
+slope down which they had rolled.  "We can't go back the way we came,
+especially Jerry with his crippled leg," and he pointed to the top,
+where the segment that had broken away had left an overhanging cliff.
+
+"Sure enough," muttered Slim.  "That makes it bad."
+
+"I was just coming back from a little scouting expedition when you
+fellows met me," put in Jerry eagerly.  "I found something that
+seemed to lead out into the open--a sort of a narrow ice bridge it
+looked like from a little distance.  Maybe we could turn the trick
+with that."
+
+"We'll try anything once," decided Slim Tyler.  "Let's get moving.
+Suppose you fellows," addressing Dick and Flood, "give Jerry an arm
+each and I'll handle the flashlight."
+
+Following Jerry's directions and moving slowly because of the
+latter's injured leg, they came before long in sight of the bridge of
+ice.
+
+It was a natural formation stretching for perhaps two hundred feet
+over a deep gorge and seemed at the farther end to emerge into open
+country.
+
+In places it was thick; in others it had been hollowed out beneath by
+thaws so that its thickness could be measured only by inches.  In no
+place was it wide enough for two to go abreast.
+
+Dick Mylert eyed it dubiously as Slim flashed the light upon it.
+
+"Easiest place in the world to fall from," he commented.  "And if one
+should fall--"  He glanced at the yawning gulf below.
+
+"Mighty risky," agreed Slim.  "But I'm ready to chance it if the rest
+of you are."
+
+There was no dissent, and Slim Tyler led the way with his flashlight.
+
+"Come close behind me, Jerry, and hang on to my shoulder," Slim
+directed.  "I'll go slowly."
+
+With the utmost precaution they set their feet on the slippery
+surface, not lifting one foot till the other was firmly planted.
+They had to proceed at a snail's pace.  The slightest misstep would
+prove fatal.  It was a nightmarish journey.
+
+The voyagers' apprehensions were not lessened by the ominous cracking
+that made itself heard when they trod on the thinner places of the
+structure.
+
+More sinister still in threat was the rumbling that grew ever louder
+from the ice cliffs on either side.  This presently assumed tangible
+form when splinters of ice began to fall.
+
+They were soon more than splinters, large pieces detached from the
+cliffs falling about the adventurers and at times narrowly missing
+them.
+
+Every impulse urged hurry.  But to hurry might itself mean death.
+
+"Steady, boys, steady!" gritted Slim Tyler between his teeth.
+
+At last, after what seemed ages, Slim reached the plateau on the
+other side.  He gripped Jerry's arm and yanked him to safety.
+
+A hideous rending roar sounded from above.
+
+"Quick, fellows, quick!" yelled Slim.
+
+Dick jumped to the plateau.  Flood, who was last, gathered himself
+for a spring.
+
+A tremendous mass of ice and rock came down from above.
+
+The ice bridge broke!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE BRINK OF THE ABYSS
+
+A huge piece of the cliff had struck the bridge and the structure,
+never too strong at the best, collapsed under the blow.
+
+As Cameron Flood felt the bridge give way under him, he made a
+desperate spring for the plateau.
+
+The distance was too great.  He struck the side of the plateau with
+his chest, his outstretched hands clutching some withered grasses
+growing near the edge on the surface above, to which he clung with
+the tenacity of despair.  There he hung, swinging to and fro over the
+fearful chasm hundreds of feet in depth.
+
+It had been said of Slim Tyler that his thinking processes could run
+rings around lightning.  A fond exaggeration of his friends!  But he
+proved his quickness now.
+
+In a flash he had seen that Cameron Flood could not clear the space
+from the sinking bridge to the plateau.  Simultaneously with Flood's
+spring, Slim had thrown himself flat on the ground.
+
+"Sit on my legs," he roared to Dick and Jerry.
+
+The grasses that Flood had clutched gave way almost immediately
+beneath his weight.  But before they had completely yielded, Slim
+Tyler's hands had closed on Flood's wrists with a grip of steel.
+
+"I've got you!" he cried.  "Don't struggle.  I'll pull you up."
+
+Flood obeyed, and inch by inch Slim Tyler hauled him up.
+
+It was a terrific task, for Flood had had the breath knocked out of
+him by his impact against the side of the plateau and was a dead
+weight.
+
+Slim felt as though his arms were being wrenched from their sockets.
+If it had not been for the weight of Dick and Jerry on his legs, he
+would have been pulled over the edge, and he and Flood would have
+gone down to the depths together.
+
+Strainingly, Slim Tyler drew his burden up until Flood could rest his
+elbows on the edge of the plateau.  That helped.  Then another
+heart-breaking pull until Flood could throw one leg over.  One final
+tug and Slim had drawn him to safety.
+
+The young aviator rolled over on his back, panting, gasping, utterly
+exhausted from the terrible mental and physical strain.  The fervent
+thanks of Flood, the admiring exclamations of Dick and Jerry, seemed
+to come to him from far away.  It seemed as though he could never get
+breath enough into his laboring lungs.  Fully five minutes elapsed
+before he could speak.  Then he sat up and smiled faintly.
+
+"Guess we'd better be getting on," he said.
+
+"Just like that!" exclaimed Dick.  "Just done the quickest, nerviest,
+pluckiest thing I ever saw, and thinks no more of it than just to
+remark that he thinks 'we'd better be getting on.'  You just can't
+make a hero of that boy.  He won't let you.  Put him on a pedestal
+and he kicks the pedestal over and comes down."
+
+"Oh, shucks!" deprecated Slim.  "The chance just came to me and I
+took it.  Nothing to write home about."
+
+"He's hopeless," pronounced Jerry, shaking his head.
+
+"You saved my life, Slim," said Cameron Flood earnestly, "and I'll
+never forget it.  It was a wonderful exhibition of coolness, courage
+and swift action.  I shall be your debtor as long as I live."
+
+"I'm mighty glad I had the chance," replied Slim.  "How are you
+feeling now?  All right?"
+
+"Rather battered, but still in the ring," replied Flood, as he rose
+with the rest to continue their journey.
+
+"I think," said Slim, "it would be a good idea to fire the three
+shots in succession that we agreed upon in case Jerry were found."
+
+The suggestion was followed, and as sound carried far in that silent
+region, it was not long before answering shots told that the rest of
+the searchers were hurrying in their direction.
+
+Dave Boyd with his group was the first to reach them, and it was with
+a wild cry of delight that Dave recognized Jerry and rushed forward
+to fold him in his arms.
+
+"Thank heaven!" he cried.  "Jerry, my boy, I'd almost given you up.
+Those three shots were the sweetest music I ever heard.  Now we've
+got all the old bunch together again.  This Greenland trip would have
+been utterly spoiled for me if anything had happened to any one of
+you."
+
+"Two more might have been missing from the list every easily,"
+remarked Dick.  "A polar bear nearly nabbed Slim and Mr. Flood came
+within an ace of falling into a gorge.  But luck was with us."
+
+"I should say that Slim Tyler was with us," amended Flood.  "He shot
+the bear through the brain, making an almost impossible shot, and he
+saved me from dropping into the chasm.  Apart from that, he didn't do
+anything much."
+
+"Trust that lad to be always on the job," observed Dave Boyd.  "It
+was a lucky day when I met him.  But let's get along to the camp
+before it grows too dark to see."
+
+It was a jubilant party that gathered about the supper table that
+night and went over the events of the day.  A fearful weight had been
+lifted from the minds of all.  What was painful in the past had been
+wiped out.  The present was serene.  The future could take care of
+itself.
+
+No opportunity had yet been afforded Slim to speak to Cameron Flood
+about the lumber deal in which the father of each had been concerned.
+In the anxiety about Jerry Marbury, that had been shoved to the back
+of Slim's mind.  But after supper, as he was sitting next to Flood
+before a roaring fire that had been built outdoors, the young aviator
+broached the subject.
+
+"Mr. Flood," he said, "have you ever heard of Nat Shaley?"
+
+Flood started.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+SPEEDING HOMEWARD
+
+"Nat Shaley?" exclaimed Cameron Flood in answer to Slim Tyler's
+question.  "You bet I've heard of him, worse luck!  What on earth
+brought that old rascal to your mind?"
+
+"Rascal is right," agreed Slim.  "I see you have him sized up.  I've
+had him in my mind for a long time.  I think he swindled my father
+out of twenty thousand dollars."
+
+"Shake!" said Flood extending his hand.  "Our fathers were brothers
+in misfortune.  I have reason to think that he swindled my dad to the
+tune of forty thousand."
+
+"Have you any definite proof of that?" asked Slim eagerly.
+
+"None too definite, I'm afraid," replied Flood meditatively.  "A
+virtual certainty, but perhaps not a legal one.  There seem to be
+some links missing in the proof.  So, at any rate, our family lawyer
+seems to think."
+
+"Yes, I got a letter from him," declared Slim.
+
+"You did?" asked Flood curiously.  "What prompted you to get in touch
+with him?"
+
+"This," replied Slim, taking the thumbed, greasy notebook of High Hat
+Frank from his pocket.
+
+He told Flood of the way in which the notebook had come into his
+possession, and the two went over it with the keenest interest.
+
+"That broken word 'Tyl'," said Slim, putting his finger on it.  "I'm
+sure that it refers to my father."
+
+"I know it does," asseverated Flood emphatically.  "I can remember my
+father speaking of a Mr. Tyler who was at one time associated with
+him in business.  What was your father's first name?"
+
+"Stillwell," replied Slim.
+
+"That's it!" cried Flood.  "I remember thinking of it at the time as
+an unusual name.  What a queer coincidence it is that has thrown us
+together!"
+
+"It is, for a fact," agreed Slim.  "Doesn't it mean, perhaps, that
+we're to be partners in tracking down Nat Shaley?"
+
+"Certainly looks like it," assented Flood.  "And I'm with you in that
+till the cows come home.  But it will be no easy task.  That old fox
+has probably covered his trail pretty well.  But there's a weak point
+somewhere in every villain's plans, and you and I will do our best to
+find it.  Gee, I'd like to put the screws on the old scoundrel!"
+
+"Same here," declared Slim.  "Not only has he cheated my father, but
+he's done me dirt in every way he could.  Robbed me of my wages, had
+me arrested on a false charge, lied to me, tried to bribe me.  I have
+a heavy score to settle with him."
+
+"I'll stir up my lawyer as soon as I get back," promised Flood, "and
+see if we can't get action.  Don't worry about the funds.  I'm fairly
+well fixed financially, and all the money we need will be
+forthcoming.  Sooner or later we'll bring Nat Shaley to book and make
+him pay back every dollar he stole."
+
+"That will suit me right down to the ground," said Slim.  "Here's
+hoping!"
+
+The next morning, Dave Boyd, accompanied by Slim Tyler and Biff
+Donovan, went over to the valley where the _Hope_ had come down.  It
+took hours of searching before they found access to it through a pass
+in the mountains.
+
+"Not so bad," pronounced Dave, after the three had made a careful
+examination of the plane.  "We have spare parts enough, and she can
+be put in prime condition without too much trouble."
+
+"But she can never rise from here," remarked Biff.  "No runway for a
+take-off."
+
+"I was coming to that," said Dave.  "We'll have to disassemble her,
+carry the parts out piece by piece, take them to our camp, and put
+them together again.  It'll be a whale of a job, especially with the
+motors, but a block and tackle will work wonders."
+
+It took nearly a week of hard work before the parts were all
+transferred to the scientists' camp, and nearly two weeks more, with
+their lack of machine shop facilities, before the plane could be put
+in condition to fly.  But with Slim and Jerry it was a labor of love,
+and the other aviators joined in whole-heartedly, until at last the
+_Hope_, as good as ever, stood ready for the homeward flight.
+
+In the meantime the scientists had fully achieved the objects of
+their expedition.  They had accomplished more than they had dared
+hope and were in high feather over the results.
+
+The _Flying Cloud_ also had been fully repaired, with the exception
+of the radio sets, of which all the tubes had been smashed, including
+those designed for replacements.
+
+This had been a source of keen regret to Dave Boyd, and to the others
+as well, especially to those who had families.  No messages could be
+sent, and the outside world was wholly in ignorance as to the fate
+that had befallen the party.  For all that the world knew, the
+voyagers of both the _Flying Cloud_ and the _Hope_ had perished.
+
+One person in the party, however, had no regrets at the radio
+failure.  Dick Mylert, in his own words, was "riding high and sitting
+pretty."
+
+"Peaches and cream for me!" jubilated the young newspaper man, the
+instinct of his profession uppermost.  "Exclusive story by an
+eye-witness of the great Greenland Expedition!  Thrilling details!
+I'll write the whole thing up on the way home and be ready to put it
+hot on the wire the moment we land.  The other papers will be crazy.
+And maybe my boss won't be tickled pink!  I'll be the cream in his
+coffee.  Big jump in salary!  Bonus!  Promotion!  Blessings on that
+smashed radio!"
+
+"Go to it, old scout," laughed Slim Tyler.  "You've surely earned it."
+
+A slight change was made in the grouping of the voyagers on the
+return flight, Cameron Flood going in the _Hope_ with Slim and Jerry,
+while Dick Mylert was transferred to the _Flying Cloud_.
+
+Boyd was the first to take off, and a few minutes later Slim Tyler
+lifted the _Hope_ into the air.
+
+"Good-by, Greenland!" waved Jerry.
+
+"And Hail, Columbia!" added Flood, as the plane straightened out for
+home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+NAT SHALEY GETS A JOLT
+
+The start of the homeward flight was auspicious.  Fate, that had been
+so harsh to the voyagers on their outward trip, made amends by the
+fair winds and favorable weather that accompanied them on their
+flight over Davis Straits to the mainland of the American Continent.
+
+The voyagers had planned to make their first stop at Montreal for two
+reasons.  One was to replenish their stock of gasoline, which was
+running low in each plane and would not suffice for the entire trip.
+
+Another was to drop off Dick Mylert so that that enterprising young
+man could rush to the telegraph office and send his great exclusive
+news story over the wires to his New York paper before the rest of
+the world should have any inkling that the intrepid Greenland
+adventurers were safe and sound and on their way home.
+
+For the greater part of the flight over the Canadian wilds the planes
+kept each other in sight.  Twice they were separated, once in a fog
+and again in a storm of moderate violence, but they managed to rejoin
+each other and came down to refuel at Montreal only a few minutes
+apart.
+
+"Not a word now to anybody," implored the young newspaper man, as he
+bade his companions a cordial farewell before hastening to the
+telegraph station.
+
+"We'll be as dumb as oysters," promised Dave Boyd, and the rest
+nodded assent.  "Wouldn't spoil your story for anything.  If it isn't
+going to take you too long, we'll wait here for you."
+
+"Thanks just the same," replied Dick.  "But there's no knowing how
+long it will be before I can get a clear wire for a story of this
+length, and you'd better go along.  I'll take a train for New York as
+soon as I get through."
+
+"Run up to North Elmwood as soon as you get a chance," urged Slim.
+
+"If you don't, we'll come down and kidnap you," added Jerry.
+
+"You bet I'll come!" promised Dick.  "And out of that jump in salary
+I'm going to get I'll blow you to the best dinner that your hotel
+there can furnish."
+
+"Or better yet, we'll clean out Carl Stummel's hot dog stand,"
+laughed Slim.
+
+"That wouldn't be so bad either," replied Dick, chuckling.  "The
+memory of his hot dogs lingers."
+
+The newspaper man hurried off with a wave of his hand, and Slim Tyler
+and Jerry Marbury looked after him with keen regret at losing him.
+He had been a staunch, courageous comrade, always bright, always
+jolly, a "regular fellow" in the fullest sense of the word.
+
+The party had to parry many questions from the mechanics and pilots
+on the field while the planes were being refueled, but they avoided
+revealing their identity, and when they rose again into the air for
+the final lap home Dick Mylert's secret was still his own.
+
+"In Uncle Sam's country once more!" exclaimed Slim a little while
+later, as the _Hope_ swept over the Canadian border.
+
+"It sure looks good to me!" ejaculated Jerry.  "There have been times
+on this trip when I wouldn't have given a plugged nickel for my
+chance of ever seeing it again."
+
+It was with a thrill of exultation impossible to describe that, at
+about noon on the next day, they found themselves hovering over the
+old familiar field of North Elmwood.
+
+"Great Scott!" exclaimed Jerry in amazement.  "Here we thought we'd
+take them by surprise, and the field is black with people."
+
+"So it is," replied Slim.  "Dick got his story through all right, and
+after his paper got the first hack at it I suppose the news was
+flashed all over America."
+
+As indeed it had.  The big New York newspaper had electrified the
+world by its great first-page story with screaming headlines about
+the finding of the Greenland adventurers, and instantly the press
+associations had sent the news to every town and hamlet of America
+and to the capitals of Europe.
+
+Long before, the voyagers had been given up for lost and now it was
+like a return from the dead.  It was the sensation of the day, and
+from every part of the country reporters in shoals and the populace
+by thousands were hurrying to North Elmwood.
+
+So it was a tremendous reception that was accorded the daring
+explorers when the planes descended like weary birds to the home
+field.  The voyagers were fairly mobbed by the crowds, whose
+enthusiasm could not be held in check.
+
+There was glory enough for all, but Dave Boyd and Slim Tyler were the
+special heroes of that great homecoming, Boyd because of the
+admiration in which he was held as the greatest aviator in the world
+and Slim Tyler because of his intrepid daring in leading the mission
+of rescue.
+
+But better than all the applause and admiration showered on Slim was
+the meeting with his old friends.  They were all there, rotund Henry
+Cusack, his face beaming like a full moon; Tom Ellsworth, who nearly
+wrung his hand off; Henry Traut, with his little boy whose life Slim
+had saved, well and rosy now, who squealed with delight as Slim took
+him up in his arms; and Carl Stummel, good old Carl, who fairly
+blubbered as he threw his arms about Slim.
+
+"Und it vos deadt dot I beleefed you vos, alretty!" he exclaimed.
+"Und here you iss alife yet!"
+
+"You couldn't kill me with an axe," declared Slim.  "I'm----"
+
+He broke off suddenly, for he saw a familiar figure edging away
+through the crowd.
+
+"Just a minute, Carl," he excused himself.  He turned to Cameron
+Flood, who had been standing by, smiling.  "Come with me a minute,
+Cam."  He had long dropped the more formal "Mr. Flood."  "You'll meet
+a mutual friend of ours."
+
+The two slipped away in the wake of the retreating figure.
+
+"It's Nat Shaley," Slim explained, as they hurried along.  "I want to
+give him a shock by introducing you.  He may let slip something that
+will help us."
+
+They overtook Shaley just after he had turned into a side street,
+passed him and turned about, blocking his path.
+
+The old rascal started violently as he recognized Slim Tyler.
+
+"How are you, Mr. Shaley?" said Slim.  "I'm back again, you see."
+
+"What's that to me?" snarled Shaley.  "I wouldn't have keerd if you'd
+never come back."
+
+"I don't doubt it," replied Slim.  "You might have been saved a
+lawsuit later on.  Speaking of lawsuits, I want to introduce you to a
+friend of mine."
+
+"I don't want no truck with you nor your friends," growled Shaley.
+
+"I'm surprised," returned Slim.  "Don't you want to meet Mr. Cameron
+Flood?"
+
+The name struck Nat Shaley like a blow.  He turned pale and looked
+with fear in his eyes at the stranger.
+
+"You seem to know the name," said Flood.  "Yes, I'm the son of
+Cameron Flood, who was associated with you at one time in the Mt.
+Sunwa lumber deal."
+
+Nat Shaley staggered.  He licked his lips, tried to speak.
+
+"Never heerd of him," he managed to get out at last.  "Never heerd of
+that outlandish Mount somethin' or other you're gabbin' about.  Never
+wuz in Oregon----"
+
+"Who said anything about Oregon?" asked Flood quickly.
+
+Shaley could have bitten his tongue off for the slip.  He took refuge
+in bluster.
+
+"If you fellers is tryin' any blackmailin' on me, you'd better look
+out," he fumed.  "There's laws ag'inst that kind o' thing an' don't
+you fergit it."
+
+"There are laws against many things," agreed Flood.  "One of those
+things is swindling.  My father had a claim against you for forty
+thousand dollars.  Mr. Tyler had another for twenty thousand.  That's
+sixty thousand in all, and the interest to date will be almost as
+much more.  Those claims are going to be pressed, Mr. Shaley--do you
+get that? pressed--and you'll pay every cent!"
+
+"You ain't got proof," Shaley was beginning, when a throng of
+departing spectators from the field came round the corner and Shaley,
+thankful for the opportunity, lost himself in the swirl.
+
+"Gave him a jolt, anyway," remarked Slim.
+
+"He'll get more of a jolt before we're through with him," averred
+Flood, setting his jaw hard.  "We'll press this thing to the limit,
+and I'm pretty sure that we're going to win."
+
+That night for the first time in many weeks Slim Tyler slept between
+sheets.  It had been a crowded day, full of glory and triumph, and he
+was still tingling with the excitement of it as he slipped into bed.
+
+"That was the top notch," he murmured to himself.  "Afraid things are
+going to be rather dull after this."
+
+But he was mistaken.  Other thrilling experiences were in store for
+him, and what they were will be told in another volume, entitled: "An
+Air Cargo of Gold; or, Slim Tyler, Special Bank Messenger," in which
+we shall meet Slim in some of the most daring adventures of his life.
+
+A breezy night letter from Dick Mylert reached Slim the next morning.
+
+
+"Did you read my story?  Wasn't it a knockout?  And, say, didn't it
+hit the boss hard!  He all but gave me the business.  I'm the salt in
+his gravy.  Doubled my salary!  Five thousand bonus!  Biggest scoop
+in years!  And he thinks you're the ace of all aviators.  Told him
+how your endurance flight was knocked cock-eyed by that Shaley
+fellow.  He's going to offer a big prize for beating the present
+refueling endurance record.  There's your chance and Jerry's.  Go in
+and win."
+
+
+There was more of the same tenor, but Slim's special interest was
+caught and held by the publisher's offer.  What he and Jerry did
+regarding that offer is another story.
+
+"Vell, Shlim," said Carl that night, as the two were hobnobbing over
+the hot dog counter, "ain't id aboud time dot you vos down settling?
+Vot mit der wolfs und der bolar pears, und der shtorms in der skies
+und der smashin' der mountains against, ain'd it dot you haf enough
+ockcitement got alretty?"
+
+"I'll never have enough excitement," replied Slim.  "Excitement is
+life.  I can't do without it.  I thrive on it.  I eat it up."
+
+"Veil, eat id on der groundt den, vere you can put your feets down,"
+urged Carl.  "Gif up dot flying."
+
+"Give up flying?" cried Slim Tyler, his eyes shining.  "Never, Carl!
+Never!  The air is my home!"
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+SLIM TYLER AIR STORIES
+
+By RICHARD H. STONE
+
+_A new group of stories for boys by a new author whose excellent air
+adventures are so realistically written and so up to the minute in
+all their implications as to win ready admiration from all readers._
+
+1.  SKY RIDERS OF THE ATLANTIC
+
+_or Slim Tyler's First Trip in the Clouds_
+
+Slim Tyler though but a boy, finds himself confronted by troubles and
+by enemies that might well have dismayed a man.  By pluck and
+straight thinking he fights clear of entanglements and gains a place
+he has long coveted among flyers.
+
+2.  LOST OVER GREENLAND
+
+_or Slim Tyler's Search for Dave Boyd_
+
+Slim Tyler sets out in search of his friend and patron who is lost
+over Greenland, and in so doing has many hair-raising adventures that
+make an absorbing story.
+
+3.  AN AIR CARGO OF GOLD
+
+_or Slim Tyler, Special Bank Messenger_
+
+Quick-witted and resourceful, Slim, after strenuous efforts to gain
+the world's endurance record, faces more odds when he makes a
+perilous trip carrying a cargo of gold.
+
+4.  ADRIFT OVER HUDSON BAY
+
+_or Slim Tyler in the Land of Ice_
+
+Blazing the great Northeastern trail against great odds, this story
+will captivate the hearts of the boys.
+
+5.  AN AIRPLANE MYSTERY
+
+_or Slim Tyler on the Trail_
+
+The story of the rescue, after the flyers had been given up for lost,
+was a "whale of a story."
+
+6.  SECRET SKY EXPRESS
+
+_or Slim Tyler Saving a Fortune_
+
+A story of many episodes and thrills against great odds.
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+MYSTERY AND ADVENTURE BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+
+SOUTH FROM HUDSON BAY, by E. C. BRILL
+
+A thrilling tale of the coming of settlers from France and
+Switzerland to the wilderness of the Prairie country of the Red River
+district, and the adventures of three boys who find themselves
+entangled in the fate of the little colony.
+
+THE SECRET CACHE, by E. C. BRILL
+
+The father of two boys, a fur hunter, has been seriously injured by
+an Indian.  Before he dies he succeeds in telling the younger son
+about a secret cache of valuable furs.  The directions are incomplete
+but the boys start off to find the Cache, and with the help of men
+from a nearby settlement capture the Indian and bring him to justice.
+
+THE ISLAND OF YELLOW SANDS, by E. C. BRILL
+
+An exciting story of Adventure in Colonial Days in the primitive
+country around Lake Superior, when the forest and waters were the
+hunting ground of Indians, hunters and trappers.
+
+LOST CITY OF THE AZTECS, by J. A. LATH
+
+Four chums find a secret code stuck inside the binding of an old book
+written many years ago by a famous geologist.  The boys finally solve
+the code and learn of the existence of the remnant of a civilized
+Aztec tribe inside an extinct crater in the southern part of Arizona.
+How they find these Aztecs, and their many stirring adventures makes
+a story of tremendous present-day scientific interest that every boy
+will enjoy.
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+THE BOMBA BOOKS
+
+By ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+_Bomba lived far back in the jungles of the Amazon with a
+half-demented naturalist who told the lad nothing of his past.  The
+jungle boy was a lover of birds, and hunted animals with a bow and
+arrow and his trusty machete.  He had only a primitive education, and
+his daring adventures will be followed with breathless interest by
+thousands._
+
+   1. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY
+   2. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE MOVING MOUNTAIN
+   3. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE GIANT CATARACT
+   4. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON JAGUAR ISLAND
+   5. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE ABANDONED CITY
+   6. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON TERROR TRAIL
+   7. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE SWAMP OF DEATH
+   8. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AMONG THE SLAVES
+   9. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON THE UNDERGROUND RIVER
+  10. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE LOST EXPLORERS
+  11. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN A STRANGE LAND
+  12. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AMONG THE PYGMIES
+  13. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE CANNIBALS
+  14. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE PAINTED HUNTERS
+  15. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE RIVER DEMONS
+  16. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE HOSTILE CHIEFTAIN
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+THE GREAT ACE SERIES
+
+By NOEL SAINSBURY, JR.
+
+Author of THE CHAMPION SPORT STORIES
+
+_Here is a series of rattling good flying stories told by an expert.
+A boy-aviator's adventures in the wilds of New Guinea, Arabia, South
+America and other strange lands.  Billy Smith, son of an eminent
+explorer, learns to pilot a seaplane aboard a Naval Air Station, and
+immediately fares forth upon a series of the most exciting cruises
+and mysterious quests by air, by land and by sea that have ever
+fallen to the lot of man.  The author, a traveller and ex-naval
+aviator, brings many of his own adventures into these tales.  Every
+boy with a drop of red blood in his veins will want to join Billy
+Smith in his thrilling quests._
+
+1.  BILLY SMITH--EXPLORING ACE
+
+_or By Airplane to New Guinea_
+
+The story of a fourteen-year-old lad, taught to pilot a seaplane by
+his uncle, Lieut.-Commander on a Naval Air Station.  Together they
+are forced down at sea, and Lieut.-Com. Smith is so impressed with
+the lad's courage in this trying situation that he takes Billy with
+him to New Guinea to help search for Billy's father.
+
+2.  BILLY SMITH--SECRET SERVICE ACE
+
+_or Airplane Adventures in Arabia_
+
+Billy Smith again proves his mettle in a series of adventures that
+take him to Port Sudan on the Red Sea and the Holy City of Hejaz.
+
+3.  BILLY SMITH--MYSTERY ACE
+
+_or Airplane Discoveries in South America_
+
+Doctor Stanton, bird man of the Natural History Museum disappeared in
+the Amazon Jungles.  The Smiths, father and son are ordered to find
+him, and the trail leads to an outpost rubber plantation, where Billy
+is lost in the jungle and captured by the cannibal Mangeroma Indians.
+
+4.  BILLY SMITH--TRAIL EATER ACE
+
+_or Into the Wilds of Northern Alaska_
+
+Another exciting story.  Billy Smith and his pal, Nuky, with the aid
+of Billy's father set a trap to catch desperate gangsters which they
+succeed in doing after many thrilling adventures.
+
+5.  BILLY SMITH--SHANGHAIED ACE
+
+_or Malay Pirates and Solomon Island Cannibals_
+
+Billy shanghaied while on a search for a missing steamer and one
+passenger in particular, escapes in time to be of vast help, after
+all, and bring off a famous rescue in the South Sea Islands.
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77606 ***