So fast had the flyers in the Sky-Bird come across the western part of the African continent, at its greatest bulge, that, coupled with their very brief stop in Kuka, they found they were starting out for Aden, Arabia, with a gain of approximately seven hours upon their lost time of fourteen hours in Freetown.  They were now, therefore, just seven hours behind schedule--perhaps a little more than that behind their rivals,--but in the very fact that they were cutting down both items, they felt vastly encouraged, and as the airplane headed eastward across Lake Chad there was only one thing to worry them to any extent.