“That is just what we will do,” Stanley said that night as they were eating their supper. “We have not lost a thing, only there will be a slight delay in carrying out our original plans. To-morrow we shall start back to Cuzco for the dynamite. The rest will be easy.” Stanley had never been more mistaken in his life. CHAPTER II SKY HIGH When the two reached Cuzco, after the long, difficult climb up the mountain-sides, they found news of a startling character awaiting them. Their own country had become involved in the World War. And with this intelligence came to them the realization of their duty. The two lost no time in returning to the coast, and took the next steamer bound northward. Arrived in their homes, Ted applied for and was accepted in one of the officers’ training-camps, while Stanley enlisted in the aviation branch of the service. Before long Ted began to regret his decision to join the infantry. It happened late one October afternoon when the company was returning, under full packs, from a lengthy hike into the country. The dust rose in clouds that threatened to suffocate the men and the sun still blazed unrelentingly on the weary, tramping forms. But even as they marched along the men sang with a good deal of spirit, although any one who had heard them outward bound that morning could have easily recognized the difference in the vigor of their song. From afar came a droning, buzzing sound, hard to locate but drawing rapidly nearer. A moment later some one shouted “airplane,” and a hundred and fifty pairs of eyes were eagerly scanning the sky; soon they succeeded in making out a small, dark speck high in the heavens, and as they gazed it grew larger and larger, until finally the trim outlines of the graceful craft could be distinguished clearly. Something seemed to go wrong with the machine when it was directly overhead. The steady purr of the motor stopped and the great speed at which the ship had been travelling began to slacken. Every one held his breath in anticipation of the tragedy that was about to take place. After a second’s pause, during which the airplane seemed to stand still, it plunged toward the earth in a bewildering succession of turns, nose down, tail pointed into the sky. Its antics gave one the impression that it might be sliding down some gigantic aerial corkscrew, and how long the craft continued in its spinning fall to destruction no one knew, but to the spectators below it seemed like minutes. Just as it appeared as if the next few turns must bring the fatal crash the machine stopped spinning, started into a graceful, straight dive, and then with a startled roar of the exhausts swooped upward and away. “I’d give anything in the world to be able to fly like that,” Ted confided to the cadet by his side. “You are covering a lot of territory,” he replied. “The ground is good enough for me.”