Harvey glanced over his shoulder at his brother, who smiled back, but his face was as white as a sheet and he decisively shook his head. He did not like it and longed to be back on firm ground. He did not shout, but had the good sense to know that Harvey understood the situation better than he and would meet it as best he could.
In its descent the biplane had hardly touched the earth and was still running when Dick made a flying leap from his seat.
“Thank the Lord!” he exclaimed; “I’m with ye once again. No more for me!”
His friends laughed and rallied him. But he was insistent.
“Terra firma is good enough for me; you may try to reach heaven before your time, but I’m through.”
Then Wadsworth suggested that Hunter should take the next turn. The Southerner couldn’t rob his friend of the honor; he would wait until his comrade had enjoyed the treat. In the end, though, Harvey and even Bunk joined in urging them to accept Harvey’s invitation, they sturdily refused, because of what they had witnessed a few minutes before.
Harvey stayed through the next day in camp, hoping to overcome the fears of the two, but did not succeed. Even Dick held out and the young aviator ceased his urgings. He and Bunk went on several tramps and had some hours of fine fishing. Then they bade their friends good-bye and headed southward down the Hudson. They replenished their gasoline and oil at Albany, again at Poughkeepsie, as Glenn Curtiss had done before them, and by easy stages finally landed at their home near Mootsport. Harvey had sent a telegram from Albany to his father giving him the news of the rescue of Bunk, so the arrival of the couple was expected.
Bunk was distrustful as to the reception that awaited him, but Mr. Hartley was as sensible as his neighbor and did not utter a word of reproof. They understood the slow-witted lad better than he did himself.
And here it is well to close our story. Harvey and Bunk made other excursions, some of which were attended by interesting experiences; but enough has been told. Throughout the weeks that followed all waited anxiously for news of Professor Morgan and his helicopter, but as has been said none ever came and as the months passed all doubt of his tragic fate was removed.
Dick Hamilton returned to Yale in due course, but secured a short leave for a visit to the Adirondacks early in October. His heart was set upon procuring those magnificent antlers which had been within his grasp more than once. He hunted persistently under the lead of Guide Akers, but was obliged to go back to the university disappointed. In his letter making this known to his father he said: