"You say it well!" laughed Frank. "I think that fire signal was punk!"
And so the lads roasted each other all the way down the Amazon, with the Nelson sailing above them, dropping down at night and, perhaps, changing passengers each day.
"I wish I had the frame of the Vixen," Leroy said, one day. "I could make a fine aeroplane out of it. Shame to have an airship smashed like that!"
Ned pointed to the planes of the Nelson.
"You've got quite a job making this little lady look like new," he said. "Those tent canvas planes look rather cheap."
"I'll have the new planes in place in a week after we get back to
New York," said the other.
"And send the repair bill to the government," advised Ned. "It will be paid without a cross word."
At the mouth of the Amazon the Black Bear was taken apart and packed aboard a fast steamer bound for New York. The five boys accompanied her, of course, while Ned and Leroy completed the trip home in the Nelson. When the four reached the Black Bear club room they found Ned there with a mass of letters and telegrams before him.
"Look here, lads," he said, "we've got more trouble on hand. You know about the revolution in China, and all that? Well, there's a lot of gold which belongs to the republic been dumped in the sea, and I've got to go and help get it out!"
"Let 'em get their own gold," Jimmie said.