"That expresses my sentiment exactly," said[p. 119] Harry. "I want to go home, it is true, but what a wonderful experience we have had here, and when I think of the remarkable progress we have made it astonishes me more than I can tell you. If I do go home it will be to come back again, because I want to be where the Professor is. I like this work, and the excitement it affords."
"You won't have any more savages to fight," responded the Professor, "and it might not be so interesting for you."
"Making guns is much more pleasant than using them against people."
George's face was a study. He was the sentimental one of the lot. He was by all odds the most emotional, and the greatest lover of home. But withal that he reechoed the sentiments of Harry. "If I could only see home again, I would be content, and when I came back it would be to know that I could return whenever I wanted to."
All the boys were enthusiastic about the trip home. Many plans were projected, and talked over.
"Won't it create a sensation," remarked Ralph, "when it is announced that three of the Investigator's lifeboats were wrecked on an island, and that the survivors arrived after an absence of—"
"Yes," broke in Tom. "How long?"
"That will depend on several things," said John. "First, to bring the Illyas to terms, and second, to build a boat big enough to take us safely to the nearest harbor which is in communication with America. As for myself, this life and the[p. 120] hopes for the future are too alluring for me to even try to get away."
With characteristic energy Blakely consulted Harry and the working force in the shop.
"Do you think we could turn out some plows?" he asked.