L. Frank Baum

“ Cumberford and Chesty Todd sat by the rail all night, wide-eyed and alert. Once the searchlight caught the sails of a ship and they all leaped up, thinking it was the Aircraft. Again, something dark—a tangled mass of wreckage—swept by them and set their hearts throbbing until they held the light steadily upon it and discovered it to be a jumble of kelp and driftwood. Daylight came and found them wan but still wakeful, for now they were getting close to the limit of flight possible to the Aircraft. ”

“ Very soon after the Salvador started, however, nearly every one on board began to feel the presence of the youthful press agent. It was Chesty Todd who discovered the searchlight aboard and long before the conference on the deck he had primed the captain to use it during the coming night. It was Chesty Todd who sat on a coal-bunker in the hold, swinging his long legs and inspiring the engineer, by dark insinuations concerning the Salvador's ability to speed, to give her engines every pound of steam she could carry. ”

“ Captain Krell was a skillful navigator and, having taken his course in a direct line from Sealskin Island, following the flight of Orissa's Hydro-Aircraft, had not swerved a hair's breadth from it the entire voyage.
"You see," said Steve, peering ahead in the strengthening daylight, "the Salvador hasn't dodged a bit, and the Aircraft couldn't. So we're bound to strike our quarry soon."
"Wind," suggested Chesty.
"Yes; the wind might carry them a little out of their course, to be sure," admitted Steve; "but I think—I hope—not far enough to escape our range of vision." ”