“Hiram means he’s engineering a sort of climax,” explained Andy; “but the rest of us will be as mad as hops if he pulls the thing off without giving us a chance to see the fun.”
“You wouldn’t be so mean as that, I hope, Hiram?” pleaded Tubby.
“What d’ye take me for?” the other had exclaimed, in seeming indignation. “Guess I ought to know what my duty to my chums is. You’ll all have front seats on the band wagon when the music begins. Consider that as good as settled, Tubby. I’m having an extra big chair fixed for you, too, so you’ll be comfy.”
Tubby beamed his gratitude, and as they had arrived at the turnstile by that time the subject was dropped.
It was decided that they should keep together, for a while at least, though anyone could see that Hiram was wild to hurry over to where the Golden Gate Aviation Supply Company had its headquarters adjoining the field where the airships gave frequent exhibitions.
The crowd had not begun to make itself felt as yet, so that they found splendid opportunities to inspect numerous things that attracted their attention in some of the many immense Fair buildings.
An hour was spent among the pictures in the art building. Rob enjoyed this, for he was very fond of paintings, and at some future date he meant to put in a whole morning here.
Tubby soon tired of it, and as for Hiram it seemed to be pretty much of a bore. One whose heart and mind were wrapped up with all sorts of inventions could not be expected to content himself gazing upon works of art; they were too tame for his spirit; what Hiram delighted in was the whirr of machinery, the clack of the aëroplane propeller, and kindred objects that meant real work for him.
Just how it happened that about the middle of the morning they found themselves once more treading the devious ways of the Amusement Zone neither Rob nor Tubby nor Hiram could somehow understand. They dimly suspected, however, that the artful Andy must have managed to coax them in that quarter under a specious plea that he wanted to show them something wonderful.
The first thing they knew they were seated in chairs on the moving platform, and viewing the scenery along the stretch of the Panama Canal, which had a very realistic look for those who had been there themselves.