CHAPTER ONE
Off to Alaska
Sandy Steele twisted his lanky six-foot frame in the cramped airplane seat, stretching his long legs out in the aisle. Yawning, he glanced out of the small, round window beside him. Although it was daylight now, the ground was completely hidden by a layer of dense clouds that stretched away to the horizon on all sides like fluffy marshmallow topping. The sound of the motors was a dull, monotonous throbbing in his ears.
Sandy leaned forward and ruffled the black crew cut that was just visible over the top of the seat ahead of him. “Hey, Jerry, you awake?”
“Yeah,” a voice mumbled sleepily, “I’m awake. Are we going to land yet?”
“I don’t know.” Sandy looked across the aisle at his father, who was just lighting his pipe. “How about it, Dad?”
Dr. John Steele studied his watch thoughtfully. “Oh, I’d say about another half hour.”
The steward, an army corporal, walked back from the forward compartment with a tray of paper cups. “Coffee, anyone?”
The steaming-hot black liquid cleared the cobwebs out of Sandy’s head, and he began to look forward with excited anticipation to their arrival in Canada.
“Will Professor Crowell meet us at the airport?” he asked his father.