"It's mighty strange," mused Jack, as he kept on. "I don't think Mark did just right, and yet, perhaps, when it's all explained, he may have good reasons for what he did. Maybe I'm wrong to worry about him, and, just as likely as not, he's safe home, wondering what kept me. But he might have known that I'd come back to the barn where I said I'd meet him. Of course that dog-fight delayed me a little, but not much."
It was quite dark when Jack reached the house where he and his chum lived with the two professors. There was a cheerful light glowing from many windows, and Jack also noticed an illumination in the shed where the projectile was housed.
"Guess they're working on it, to get it in shape for the trip, sooner than they expected," he mused.
Jack was met at the door by Washington White.
"Hello, Wash!" greeted the lad.
"Good land a' massy! Where hab yo' been transmigatorying yo'se'f during de period when the conglomeration of carbohydrates and protoids hab been projected on to de interplanetary plane ob de rectangle?"
"Do you mean where have I been while supper was getting ready?" asked
Jack.
"Dat's 'zackly what I means, Massa Jack."
"Then why don't you say it?"
"I done did. Dat's what I done. Supper's cold. But where am Massa Mark?"