"It's simply marvelous," put in Jack, "the way the craft handles. In the fuselage is room for we four comfortably, and on occasion we can crowd in two more, with plenty of room for stores. Not an inch of space is wasted, but there is no crowding."
"To what do you attribute this wonderful lifting power and the other remarkable qualities?" inquired their friend.
"Principally to the way the planes are set and balanced," replied Jack. "That is the idea of Ned, here. He has been studying that end of it ever since he shot the eagle on the cliff in California. Really, it is remarkable! Then, with the new engine that Harry has designed, we should be able to make a twenty-four-hour flight as a matter of course, instead of considering it a remarkable matter!"
"Come, come, Jack," protested Ned, "you take none of the credit yourself, when you know full well that your share in the affair was not a small one. But let's get back to the club rooms. Jimmie The Wolf will have satisfied his appetite by this time."
Accordingly, the car was turned toward home, and in a short time the party again ascended the stairway to the club rooms.
Imagine their astonishment to find that Jimmie was not there!
For a long time they sat about the rooms discussing the equipment needed for the trip. Details of the case were gone over again and again and discussed from all angles. Intense interest was manifest on the part of all the boys as they talked.
A stumbling step on the stair interrupted their talk.
Covered with blood, his clothing in tatters, Jimmie half fell into the room, reeling toward a chair in utter exhaustion.