“That would be great,” Sandy said. “How about it?”
Charley appeared to consider the proposition for a moment, then looked gravely at Sandy from beneath his black eyebrows. “Charley like to go to Kodiak. But better not. I stay and look out for professor.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Off to Hunt Kodiak Bears
At quarter after twelve the Norseman put down on the outskirts of Cordova, and the three geologists disembarked along with Tagish Charley.
“You’ll be in Kodiak before dark,” Dr. Steele told the boys before he left them. “The pilot will radio ahead so Professor Stern can be on hand to meet you when you land. Be sure and bring us back a bearskin.”
“We will,” Sandy promised. “And we’ll see you back here on the third of January.”
“Goodbye, Doctor,” Jerry said. “And Happy New Year.”
“Thank you, Jerry, and the same to you.” Dr. Steele winked. “Don’t eat too much muk-tuk.”
As soon as the plane was refueled, they took off again. When Jerry began to nod drowsily, Sandy went up front and sat down in the copilot’s seat.
Russell Parker, the pilot, was a chunky, gray-haired man in his late forties, a veteran of the World War II Air Corps. “I was stationed in the Aleutians for four years,” he told Sandy. “The place sort of grew on me. There was this girl in Anchorage, too. Well, as soon as the war was over we were married, and I decided to settle here permanently. I had no family ties back in the States, so the transition was easy.” He smiled. “You might say I found a home here.”