Jimmie gave another whoop and sat down flat on the ground.
“And you lost your bag, and bought one of the porter, and he brought you this? That’s all there is to it, is it?”
“What’s the mystery about the garments in the bag?” asked the Englishman without answering the question.
“Look here,” Ben explained, “if we should climb that peak to the east at sunrise to-morrow morning, and find Noah’s ark resting there, with all the animals wearing white aprons and cooking breakfasts for each other, and Noah listening to a talking machine which was invented only last year, that wouldn’t be any stranger than is the appearance of that coat, those whiskers, and the dickey in this camp!”
The Englishman eyed the boy as if rather inclined to doubt his sanity.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, don’t you know,” he said.
Before Ben could make any explanation, Carl, who had passed out of the tent to look after the supper, came rushing in, declaring that a strange flying machine was hovering over the valley.
“She’s headed toward the shelf where the signals were shown last night,” the boy added, “and she’s making signals of some kind herself!”
“Perhaps they’ve got Colleton up in the air!” grinned Jimmie.