about midnight
Daring aviators now venture in all directions and at all altitudes above the solid earth , but they are still cautious about proceeding far out over the merciless waters of the oceans which rim the continent of North America . So , yielding to the wishes of the lieutenant , the Nelson had been directed by her navigators across California , Arizona , New Mexico , Texas and Louisiana until the great city of the South lay spread out before them . The distance covered by the airship in this flight was not far from thirty-five hundred miles , and the Nelson , leaving the coast city on Monday morning , August 7 , had covered the run so as to reach New Orleans late Wednesday afternoon . The boys might , it is true , have speeded up and made the distance in thirty-six hours , or less but they realized the necessity of taking good care of themselves , and so they had rested in quiet places both Monday and Tuesday night , landing about midnight and sleeping until long after daylight . Having provisions with them , they had not found it necessary to land except when gasoline was obtained at Santa Fe . The machine had attracted little attention on the route , for it was painted a dull gray , and its aluminum motors gave forth little sound . It was two merits of the machine , which had been invented by young Leroy , that it could navigate in a clear sky a mile up without being observed from below , and could also run to within a short distance of the earth without making herself conspicuous by the popping of her motors .