“Jest let me git ma’ hand on a few sparklers an’ I’ll quit work!” exclaimed Washington.
“I have told him,” the scientist went on, “that we will take advantage of his kind offer. We will start on our trip in a day or so, after we have looked over the ship to see if it is not damaged. He tells me the gold and sparkling stones are several thousand miles away, on top of a high mountain. We will make that our objective point.”
The interview between the king and Mr. Henderson having ended, the former waved his sword in the air and the swarm of big men came back. They had been hiding back in the woods. Now their manner was very different. They carefully, removed the rollers and ropes, and soon there was brought to the adventurers an immense pile of fine fruits. If our friends had stayed there a year they could not have eaten it all. The giants were judging the appetites of the travelers by their own.
That night the adventurers slept more soundly than they had since entering the strange world. They felt they had nothing to fear from the giants. In the morning they were not molested, though big crowds gathered to look at the ship. But they kept back a good distance. The machinery was found to be in good shape, save for a few repairs, and when these were made, the professor announced he would start on a long journey.
For several weeks after that the travelers swung about in their ship, sometimes sailing in the air and again on big seas and lakes viewing the wonders of the inner world. They were many and varied, and the professor collected enough material for a score of books which he said he would write when he got back to the outer world once more.
One afternoon, as they were sailing over a vast stretch of woodland, which did not seem to be inhabited, Mr. Henderson, looking at one of the gages on the wall, asked:
“Boys do you know how far you have traveled underground?”
“How far?” asked Jack, who hated to guess riddles.
“More than four thousand miles,” was the answer.
“But we haven’t come to that mountain of gold and diamonds,” said Mark. “I am anxious to see that.”