“It’s a small space to avoid, considering the extent of the land where one can travel with safety,” said Seaman. “It happened to be on the edge of my province and I’m willing to give it a wide berth, but it does seem as if there must be some way of cleaning it up.”
“Better concentrate on cleaning up things nearer at hand,” the doctor advised, then he turned to the Buddies. “In spite of my son’s story I can see that your lids are heavy. You must not make your bodies pay too dearly because of your adventure. Get into a couple of bunks and forget the world for the next few hours.”
“Reckon you are right,” Jim replied, and he did have difficulty suppressing a yawn.
“We shall not need rocking,” Bob added, then he held out his hand to Donald. “Thanks a lot for telling us what it was all about. We have to hang around here for a few days until our plane is in ship shape again. She bumped her nose on an iceberg, or something like that, and has to have her face lifted. Hope we see you again before we leave.”
“My hope is the same. Rest as my father advises and when you have waked perhaps the Captain will send up an American flag to let us know that all is well with you—”
“Nothing of the kind,” the captain declared. “But I’ll have the boys run our own flag up and down so you’ll get the word quickly.”
CHAPTER X.
An Invitation
It was not yet sundown when the Sky Buddies finally got to bed, and as Bob said, they did not need to be rocked; they went to sleep almost as soon as their weary heads touched the pillows. Long after breakfast had been served in the Captain’s home the next morning they opened their eyes at about the same minute. Shades had been drawn to darken the rooms but through a crack Jim could see light, so his first thought was that he had probably rested about an hour, but Bob had a view of the clock which contradicted such an idea.
“Wow,” he exclaimed, seeing that his step-brother was awake, “it’s tomorrow, Old Timer.”
“G’wan,” Jim growled. “I’ve hardly been asleep.”