And to think I have a boy so
thoughtful as to fetch along a packet of smoking tobacco and a can of
the real Boston baked beans. Thank you, Frank, that's a heaping pannikin
you've given me, but I suspect I'm equal to the job."
They made a happy trio as they ate and chatted and laughed. Perhaps that
was the first hearty laugh Professor Bird had given utterance to since
the day he started in his ill-fated balloon from Colon on the Caribbean
coast to cross the Isthmus of Panama.
Before they went to sleep that night all preparations had been concluded
looking to getting out of the trap in the morning. Frank had made his
estimations and knew to a nicety just what his engine could do. Once
free from the valley he believed they could head direct for the distant
Magdalena, carrying two passengers and making short flights. It was true
that as yet he had never taken up any second passenger and it entailed
an additional tax upon the motor, but he had great faith in the little
Kinkaid engine and felt that it would respond nobly to any additional
demand made upon it.
But it would be advisable that he carry the professor out of the valley
and land him on that plateau where they had made their last halt, ere
going back for Andy. Then, from that elevated place they could start on
the return trip, with everything favorable for a successful flight.
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