“Sounds mighty interesting to me,” Bob told her.
“Then it is settled that we go. Donald will come and let us know when they are ready to start,” Mrs. Seaman explained.
Half an hour later the Indian lad, neat as a pin in his fresh white suit, arrived to escort the party to the launch. They drove from the barracks, out though the little white town with its conglomeration of ancient and modern dwellings and small stores, along the shore road where they had a wonderful view of the water, blue as a sapphire, and finally stopped on the wharf where the doctor, his wife and the rest of the party had already assembled. Mrs. Manwell was a kindly looking woman, somewhat younger than her husband, and she presented two young friends, Phyllis and Barbara Harding and their mother.
“We have been planning to take the trip to the ‘bug settlement’ for some time,” Mrs. Harding told the Flying Buddies with a cordial smile, “but we residents of the islands are the greatest procrastinators in the world; it is only when we have guests with us that we exert ourself to show off our country.”
“Bob is a bug-nut; crazy about insect and plant life, so he’ll have a whale of a time,” Jim told her. “I enjoy seeing what people are studying, but I haven’t got as much brains for it as Buddy.”
“We’ll have a picnic lunch and you can see Dr. Manwell’s clinic. He takes care of both the natives and whites, babies and all,” said Phyllis, who was a jolly sort of girl.
“It’ll be great,” Bob declared enthusiastically.
“I suppose you would prefer traveling by plane,” Mrs. Manwell said.
“It’s quicker, but we like to be on the earth sometimes and have a good look at her. Look at those fishes!” A whole school went scooting past, some of them darting out of the water as if they too were thoroughly enjoying themselves.
The boat made its way about a quarter of a mile from the coast, its nose plowing a deep trough and its stern leaving a wide triangular trail of rollers and foam. There was just enough breeze to make the trip delightful and the picnickers jollied each other at a lively rate as they sped along. It took nearly an hour to reach the mouth of the small river they expected to go up, and when they finally turned inland the change from the vast expanse to the narrower waterway, with its swamps, extravagant growths and forests, made the Flying Buddies exclaim with wonder.