Dick Mapes had started in as a flyer when the game was new. For years he had been an air mail pilot and then had established a field of his own for training and commercial flying.

The Dick Mapes Flying Field began with great promise, for Dick was acknowledged to be one of the best aviators in the country and people had confidence in him.

At first Dick had been terribly disappointed that he had no son to follow him in his glorious profession. But on Christmas when Terry and Prim were three years old, Alice had given them each a rosy-cheeked doll while Dick had presented them with toy airplanes. Terry took one look at the doll and thrust it aside carelessly, but the airplane she hugged in her tiny arms, and squealed with delight. The less demonstrative Prim calmly laid aside the plane and rocking back and forth sang a lullaby to her doll.

“Terry’s a chip off the old block,” said Alice with a laugh. “You’ll be trying to make a flyer out of her.”

“That’s an idea!” replied Dick as he watched the child intently. “There’s a great future for women flyers, I’m sure of it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Dick Mapes! I was only saying that in fun. One flyer in the Mapes family is plenty. Besides women will soon get tired of this dangerous sport.”

“Don’t be too sure of that, Alice. I’d like to have Terry learn to fly and know all there is to know about airplanes. That is if she takes to it.”

And Terry really started her training the next day. Dick put her into his big plane and placed her tiny hands on the controls. Although the motor was still, the child screamed with delight and pulling back on the stick cried, “Up, up!”

Dick hugged her to him. “You’ve got a great life ahead of you, little daughter,” he said. “That’s right, you are a chip off the old block. You’re like your Dad, you’re a born flyer.” And from that time on, Terry played in Dick’s big airplane whenever her father could spare the time necessary to watch her play.

Prim was her mother’s girl, more home-loving, and not nearly so full of spirit.

“We’ll make a flyer of her, too,” declared Dick, not wanting to be partial. “But I doubt if she’ll take to it the way Terry does. I think Terry has a talent for flying.”

Alice laughed heartily at this joke, for how could Dick tell at that age whether Terry would be able to fly a plane or not?

But Dick was right. As the girls grew older, Terry took to flying as a duck takes to the water, but with Prim it was always hard work and while she had done the necessary solo flying to entitle her to a pilot’s license, Dick was never quite sure of her. She did not love flying as Terry did. She had an indifference to things that frightened him.

But to Terry it was the breath of life. She had the air sense which her twin sister lacked.

At sixteen Terry not only was an expert flyer but was a good mechanic as well. And in the venture of the flying field, Dick called her his “right hand man” and declared that she could do more work and understood more about planes than Bud Hyslop, his helper.

Allan Graham and Syd Ames had been Dick’s first student flyers. And for that reason he felt as if they belonged to him. Syd was an orphan, the son of a flying buddy of Dick’s, and the boy spent most of his time in the Mapes household.

Allan was the son of a wealthy business man and the boy had persuaded his father to back Dick financially. Bennett Graham only half believed in the plan. He didn’t like flying and he wished with all his heart that Allan would choose some other profession. He even blamed Dick Mapes for encouraging the boy to continue against his will.

However Allan, this sturdy, broad shouldered youth, usually got his own way. And what he wanted now from his father was a partnership in the Dick Mapes Flying Field.

Dick had secured an option on a large tract of land belonging to Peter Langley, a strange old man, who lived at his small silver mine in Peru. He had given little thought to this strip of land that he owned, for it had been considered waste until the airplane brought about a new use for it.

With the option settled, Bennett Graham finally put up money for transport planes and agreed to stand back of Dick’s venture until success was certain.

As Dick had been a lucky pilot, he had no difficulty in getting contracts for his airplane transportation service. Everything looked good. Success was certain.

Then had come the crash!

Dick had gone over his plane thoroughly before starting out on an important trip. The plane was in order, the engine running true. Then half an hour later Dick had crashed.

At the hospital his wife and daughters looked on his still form and were given no hope of his recovery. “And if he lives, he’ll be a cripple for the rest of his life,” the doctors had predicted. “A wheel chair is all he can hope for.”

“Pray, Allan, pray that Dad will die,” Terry whispered with a sob as Allan put his arm tenderly about her. “Death would be better, far better, than a broken body. He mustn’t live! I could never bear to see Dad in a wheel chair!”

Allan caught her meaning. He could understand. A flyer who had piloted a plane through the sky, had shot up above the clouds and been alone in the heavens, would never be happy in a wheel chair. Looking down at the death-like face of his friend, Dick Mapes, Allan too prayed that he might die.

But Dick Mapes did not die. His recovery was like a miracle, so the doctors said, and while he stormed at the wheel chair, even that was only to be for a little while. A famous specialist gave him promise of being able to walk and get back to flying within a few years.

Allan Graham and Syd Ames carried on the business as well as they could, but new contracts did not come as rapidly as when Dick was in charge.

Then, for some reason, after the accident, Bennett Graham suddenly lost what little enthusiasm he had and refused any further help, even intimated that he wanted to withdraw his offer of standing behind Dick’s field.

Allan pleaded with his father. But it was no use. Then the father, in his turn, tried to persuade the son to leave the Mapes Field.

“Break loose and I’ll start you in a field of your own,” promised the father. “You’ve nothing to gain by sticking to Dick. He’s down and out, a failure, a cripple, and it’s my opinion that he’ll never be any better.”

“No!” answered Allan. “I couldn’t break away now. Anyway I want to work with him. I want to make the field a success. I’m his partner.”

“If you want a partnership, why not go in with a promising young business man like Joe Arnold whose field is next to Dick’s?” suggested Bennett Graham. “Arnold’s a good flyer and all he needs is more room out there.”

Allan snorted in disgust. “Joe Arnold! I hate that fellow! He’s not a square-shooter. No one on our field has any respect for him.”

“That’s jealousy. It’s well known that Joe Arnold is making a lot of money and will be a big man in the aviation field some day. Think it over and don’t let a big opportunity like this slip by. If you decide to go in with Joe Arnold I’ll back you for any amount you need, but I have no more faith in Dick Mapes.”

Allan thought over his father’s refusal for a long time then went straight to the point.

“What’s the matter with Dick Mapes? What have you got against him? You seem to have no confidence in him.”

“That’s right, son. I have lost faith in him. I’ve had some very unfavorable reports about him.”

“What have you heard?” Allan demanded. “It’s only fair to tell me.”

“It’s something serious, you may be sure, or I would never take the stand I do. But at the present time I do not care to say what it is. Enough for you to know is that he is incompetent.”

“That’s nonsense. Father. You know that his record in the air service has been almost perfect. This is the first serious accident. And it’s the first plane he ever crashed since he got his license.”

But even Allan could not deny that since Dick had established his field one thing after another had happened that might have come from carelessness. There had been minor accidents, forced landings with engine trouble that had delayed delivery of goods. A plane had burned on the field under suspicious circumstances.

Bennett Graham reminded the boy of these mishaps.

“But you know well enough that it was not from any carelessness of Dick’s that the plane was burned,” retorted Allan.

“Why wasn’t it? How do you explain the matter? You said yourself the circumstances were suspicious. How do you clear Dick of responsibility?” asked his father.

“Dick had nothing whatever to do with that fire. And if he’d listen to me and discharge Bud Hyslop, that good-for-nothing mechanic he has, there wouldn’t be so many accidents. I’m certain of that.”

“I’ve also made inquiries about young Hyslop,” returned the father. “He’s a rough chap but I’ve heard nothing against him. It looks as if your friend Mapes was the incompetent one.”

“I know one thing,” declared Allan excitedly. “If I were the boss out there, I’d fire Bud. He’s always making trouble. I’m half afraid of what he may do next.” Allan stormed out of the room, angry and disappointed. The boy could not bear to have his friend Dick criticized, especially now that he was down and out and needed him. Dick was the best hearted man in the world and a real pal to all boys. That accounted for his unwillingness to let Bud Hyslop go. He kept hoping that with kindness the boy could be persuaded to do his work properly.

Terry and Prim had never cared for Bud Hyslop and it was due to Bud that Terry had become the expert mechanic she was.

“Women haven’t any business around an airplane,” Bud had told Terry the first day he had come on the field. “The kitchen is where they belong, and they should be made to stay there. And if they must fly, let them do their own repair work. That’s what I say, and I’ll stick to it.”

And stick to it he did, which made Terry take up the challenge and getting into cover-alls, which were soon well daubed with grease, she mastered every detail of her plane. And she loved the work. This was in the days when she had flown one of Dick’s planes to which they had given the name of The Crate. It was an old model, patched and re-patched, but Dick declared that it was still a fine craft.

Terry and Prim had liked The Crate. It was an old friend. But they were the proudest girls in Elmwood when their father presented them with Skybird, the little blue-and-gold monoplane, a tiny amphibian. This gift was a reward of merit. Dick had been criticized for allowing his daughters to spend so much time on learning to fly, so he had talked it over with the girls and promised them that if they led their class in at least two subjects and graduated with honors they were to have a plane of their own, and would be allowed to take out their pilot licenses.

The girls buckled down to work and made good. Terry led in three subjects and Prim was a close second.

Their knowledge of planes stood them in good stead. After Dick’s accident when contracts did not come, Terry took matters into her own hands and advertised for women flying students. Dick from his wheel chair directed the lessons and Terry demonstrated and took them up for flying instruction. This had come to be their chief source of income.

Allan Graham decided that he would make a record by flying the Atlantic and in this way bring distinction to Dick’s training school. And as a famous flyer, he would be able to draw down big contracts for the field.

Terry liked to teach others to fly but she had higher ambitions than that for herself. She longed to take that flight across the ocean, and there had been a secret struggle as to whether she would start out on her own or remain with her father in his misfortune.

It was hard to give up all the time. She also had the feeling that she could make more money by getting out and doing something to bring her fame quickly.

It was with a bitter heart that she listened to Allan and Syd when they announced their intention to make the flight to Paris. Terry hastened to her room to fight it out with her rebellious heart. Why was it that Allan Graham always got everything he wanted? He and Syd both were lucky. All they had to do was desire a thing and the way was smoothed out for them to get exactly what they wanted, while she only had to wish and all the powers in the world combined to keep her from getting it, or at least so she thought.

“I always have bad breaks! I’m out of luck! Everything is against me!” she declared one day.

Yet when Allan and Syd leaped into their plane, The Comet, ready to start out for their great adventure, Terry bade them goodbye with a smile. Not for worlds would she show anyone how much she wanted to go. And she was especially careful not to let her father get any hint of her disappointment.

Only Prim, her twin sister, guessed at the truth. She was close to Terry in thought, and understood. Slipping her hand in her sister’s, she said:

“Someday Terry, we’ll take that little jump together!” The forced smile left Terry’s face and tears started to her eyes but only for a second. Then she shouted as she waved her hand toward The Comet:

“Good luck and happy landing!”