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 it with Selby and Kent. She had wings built to stand it."

"Stand what?"

"Smashing another and holding the air herself. She did it, anyway."

There was no arguing with him; what was done had been deliberate, he knew; and by the girl who had worn the gauntlet in his hand. He thrust it under his jacket and set to unbuckling his harness and collecting his parachute. He succeeded, I noticed, in holding his hands almost, but not quite, steady.

Overhead and behind us beat an airscrew and out from under the sun appeared a monoplane with pontoons for water landing. Pete ceased to haul at his parachute.

The monoplane was light blue, matching the morning sky. The leading edge of the wings was peculiar, making me imagine the possibility of individual design to survive a smash in midair. Otherwise the plane was trim and neat and narrow, modelled for quick as and speed.

Pete swore softly. "There she is."

The monoplane dropped out of the sky,