about noon
The pursuit of the enemy -LRB- which they all believed to be the smuggler , manned by Bainbridge and his friends -RRB- was not kept up for long . By eight o'clock the _ Snowbird _ had dropped the other machine below the horizon , and the swift pace at which they had driven the _ Snowbird _ was rapidly bringing them once more toward Canada . The storm had broken , but the clouds still hovered below them . They descended about noon , passing harmlessly through the vapor which had so long hidden the earth from them , and so came to within a thousand feet of the ground , where they swung along at fair speed for some hours . They crossed the line , but did not descend until near St. Thomas . They went out of their way a good bit to land near this town on the shore of the St. Lawrence , for the flying machine had been so shaken in its struggle with the thunderstorm that some repairs were needed . They descended in a field on the edge of the town , gave the farmer who owned the place a five-dollar bill to allow the machine to stand on his land , and then engaged him to drive Professor Henderson and the boys into town .