We continued to follow the Fokker, rising over range after range of mountains. Some of the peaks must have been about eleven thousand feet above the former sea level and stood out now bare and bleak with no covering mantle of trees and vegetation. From the earliest history of the world, they had been covered by the ice-cap, which had now melted. There were great rivers and waterfalls in the valleys, and in sheltered spots we could see masses of green which might be vegetation, though we were too high in the air to distinguish details.
Suddenly Jim touched me on the arm and pointed ahead to a spot he had been watching through field glasses. At first I could not see what had attracted his attention in the wide valley down which a river flowed. Then a moment later I saw houses.
The Fokker began to descend. We were passing over a fairly large settlement and making for what was certainly a landing field. There were hangars and dozens of planes in the open. Men began running toward us as presently we taxied down the field.
They paid no attention to the big Fokker, which made a good landing a hundred yards away, but raced toward us. Almost before we had stopped I threw open the cabin door and Jim and I climbed out. We had felt for some time the possibility that we were the only men left alive in the world. Now the mere sight of other men had become a wildly exciting adventure.
There was something familiar about the man nearest to us when we landed. I looked at him again.
"Billy Matthews!" I shouted. "How did you get here?"
I had gone to college with Billy and we had been in the same company in France. He had been connected with the government air mail service during the past few years.
He threw his arm around my shoulders. "I was afraid you'd gone like most of the boys, young fella." He stood off and looked me over. "You look pretty fit," he said.
"Oh, I'm all right," I said impatiently. "I want to know what happened? I've been stuck up in Labrador and don't know anything. This is Jimmy Nelson, by the way. He was wireless operator where I was stationed."
The two men shook hands. Meanwhile a crowd had gathered around us.