"That certainly means me," exclaimed Bob, and both boys clambered below. With Alan's help Bob made his first examination of the store room.
The meal was rather haphazard, as the boys, carried away by the excitement of their new flight, had neglected to eat when it was light. But water and hardtack were easily accessible, and Alan, taking the first two cans at hand, found happily that they contained sardines and veal loaf.
"We'll eat on deck," suggested Ned, as he set the wheel and had another look at the engine, which had not missed a revolution.
The night that greeted them was magnificent. The moon was not yet up, but the stars were scintillating in the inky sky and the deep silence of the clouds and desert was about them. Bob gazed as if spellbound. The charm of the night appealed to him as it did to Ned and Alan; but with it his brain formed phrases—"cloudland by night," "a dash to the stars." The reporter in him was thinking "copy."
"Hey, there, wake up!" cried practical Ned.
Bob flew to his task; with a turn he had the veal loaf can open and had dumped its contents in the wooden plate held by Alan.
In another moment he would have thrown the empty can overboard but the watchful Ned, ready for another lesson in aeronautics, caught his hand.
"Don't you like the route we are taking?" laughed Ned.
Bob's face showed he did not understand.
"The loss of the weight of that can might send us sparing upward a thousand feet," explained Ned dryly, "so don't cast over ballast until you get orders."