Thorne suggested that they get out of their flying clothes, and that he would take them to a place where they could rest up.
As Jack was removing his suit, Thorne and one or two of the others spoke up:
“Well—here’s the Navy! There’s a whole crowd of your fellows here, and no doubt you’ll find many friends among them.”
They had started off toward the edge of the field when the Skipper stopped and asked if something could not be done for their plane. Thorne waved him aside with, “Oh, it’s all right where it stands. Don’t worry about it.”
As they were walking along, Thorne became interested in Kiwi, and asked him how he liked flying. Kiwi, who had admired Thorne immensely from the first, chattered to him of their adventures in the clouds and of their narrow escape from the iceberg.
Arriving at the edge of the field they were made comfortable. Then a message came for Jack that a crowd of his Navy friends, hearing of his arrival, would be landing soon at a nearby field, and would he come over and join them.
Jack left, saying that he would return later.
The Skipper now took this opportunity to ask Thorne more about this flying world in which they had landed.
Then Thorne began:
“This little kingdom of which you and Jack and Kiwi are now a part is composed entirely of aviators who, in the other world, gave their lives for the advancement of aviation. Among us here are men who made experiments with the earliest gliders, who tried to fly crazy contraptions built by the rule of thumb and flown more by confidence than by knowledge. There are also among us pioneers who tried to find ways and means of doing impossible things in the air. The last war contributed hundreds who were the founders of traditions for the use of aircraft in battle. Some were sacrificed in order that the need for parachutes for every pilot should be recognized. Many whose names are even now unknown in aviation, here have found their place and here their merits have been recognized. Test pilots, those unsung heroes of experimentation, form a large part of our numbers. Beginning with the legendary Icarus and continuing up to the present time, a steady stream of recruits have flowed into our kingdom, and they mark the progress of man’s conquest of the air.”