“And so—” Mary prompted.
“Let’s see, where was I?” Sparky pulled back the stick to climb a bit. “Oh, yes! And so we’ve just got to keep right on flying. Mighty little time for sleep. I had a dandy rest before we hit Africa. Now it’s your turn. I’ll do this lap. You just crawl back there, roll up in your robe, and sleep.”
All too willingly Mary rolled up in her robe and slept. When she awoke they were circling for a landing at one of the most fascinating spots she had ever known.
Looking down upon it, as they were, from ten thousand feet, it seemed a green carpet on an endless gray floor.
“An oasis!” Mary whispered. “How beautiful!”
“Yes, and I shouldn’t wonder if those dark, moving spots over there on the grasslands were giraffes or maybe elephants.”
“Yes, and there’s a camel caravan just coming in,” Mary exclaimed. “How long it is. Must be fifty camels. And the shadows seem darker than the camels. Oh! I wish we could stay a week!”
“Well, we can’t,” Sparky warned. “Few hours at best. Our right engine isn’t acting properly. Has to be tuned up for this desert air, I guess. That’ll give you a breathing spell. Make the most of it.”
The camel shadows on the desert were long. The sun was almost down when at last their plane came to rest on that long, narrow runway there in the desert.
Here again they found good American soldiers and mechanics. And Mary once more found herself creating a sensation!