In order to keep the airline going, Ned had been forced to use some of his own money which he had saved, though he did not tell Tom this for fear it would worry him. And then, when it was found that more cash was needed, Ned had spoken of the matter to Mary Nestor, having already gotten all Mr. Damon could spare. “Take all I have!” exclaimed the girl. “I’m glad to invest it in anything Tom has to do with.” “No, we won’t take it all,” Ned had replied. He knew she had quite a large sum that she had inherited from her grandmother, and it was in her own name. “But if you could lend a few thousands and not worry if it was lost for a time, we could use it nicely.” “Take it!” generously offered Mary. “But what do you mean about being lost for a time?” “I mean that even if this airline express project fails in the present instance,” replied Ned, “that Tom will eventually succeed with it and pay off his debts.” “Of course he will!” said Mary proudly. “And even if this is a complete failure,” went on Ned, “and we must, as a business proposition, take that into consideration, Tom will start something else that will pay big and he’ll get back all he loses on this. So it isn’t as if I were asking you to throw your money away.” “Take all I have!” exclaimed Mary impulsively. But Ned was content with a comparatively small sum. And it was on this money and some of his own, together with what remained from the original sale of stock, that the last two trips were financed. If they failed—well, Ned did not like to think of that. So in blissful ignorance of the sword of failure that was hanging over his head, suspended, as it were, on a thin thread of dollar bills, Tom prepared to make this last trip. It was hardly daylight when they hopped off, careful watch being kept by the men at the hangar lest, in the last moment, Schlump might slip up and toss a bomb that would kill, injure, and destroy. But nothing untoward happened, and soon the plane and its accompanying car was speeding away over the New Jersey meadows while behind the travelers the east grew lighter and lighter as the sun slowly mounted in the heavens. Aside from the anxiety of all on board to make the best time possible on this trip, nothing unusual occurred during the first lap. Tom had to stop a quarrel between Eradicate and Koku, for the colored man could not refrain from taunting the giant over letting Schlump get away. So infuriated did the big man become under the taunts of Eradicate that he might have done the latter an injury had not Tom sternly forbidden all further mention of the incident. Chicago was reached safely, almost half an hour ahead of the schedule, which fact, when Tom ascertained it, made him exclaim: “Fine! If we can keep that up we’ll do better than sixteen hours to the coast. We’re going to push the motors for all they’re capable of from now on.”