At eight-fifty local time the Sky-Bird took off for her long hop to Apia, principal city of Upolu, an island of the Samoan group.  It was the beginning of their long flight across the big Pacific, an ocean so wide, so fraught with perils, that no aircraft had ever before attempted to negotiate it.  Some eight thousand miles away over those great waters lay Panama, their goal.  Would they reach it ahead of their rivals?  Would they reach it within their schedule of ten days?