plan, as explained by Jimmie, who lingered about the Nelson while
the others were at the hotel.

When it was explained to the doubters that the Nelson was capable of
making a hundred miles an hour against a stiff breeze, the natives
seemed to doubt the veracity of the boys. The Peruvians knew little
of airships, and when Jimmie exhibited to them daily newspapers
showing how Germany was building a fleet of three hundred airships
to use in case of war, they still looked incredulous.

"Look here, fellers," Jimmie explained to them, later in the
afternoon of the arrival, as a group of curious ones stood about the
roped-in enclosure where the Nelson lay, "I guess you don't know
much about the navigation of the air. It used to be risky; now it
is no more so than riding on a railroad train."

"You say it well!"

The words were spoken in good English, seemingly in a boy's voice,
and Jimmie peered through his audience in order to catch a glimpse
of the speaker. Presently, above the heads which surrounded him,
the boy saw a hand and arm extended. The palm was out, the thumb
and little finger flat and crossed, the three remaining fingers held
straight out. The full salute of the Boy Scouts.

"Say, you!" the lad cried out, greatly pleased at finding a Boy
Scout there. "Where did you get that?"

"Scouted for it!" was the reply.