"It is a planet—of course it is a planet," admitted the professor, going back to his telescope with eagerness.
"And how light it is getting—almost like day," said Jack. "No moonlight was ever like this."
"Why, we're not as far away from that planet as the moon is from the earth," said Mark. "Suppose it bumps us?"
"All the more reason for our getting the Snowbird into flying shape," responded Jack. "Maybe we'll be able to escape the bump!"
"You can laugh," grumbled Mark. "But I don't like the look of that thing."
"Evidently the professor does not like it, either," agreed Jack. "See him now."
Professor Henderson was gazing first into the telescope and then drawing upon a paper before him. For several minutes he was thus engaged. Finally he beckoned the boys to him.
"What do your eyes tell you that looks like?" he demanded of Jack and
Mark, pointing to the outline he had drawn upon the paper.
The boys gazed on his drawing in surprise. It was Jack who exclaimed:
"Why, Professor, that looks a whole lot like an outline map of the Hudson Bay Territory, Canada, and Newfoundland. There's the mouth of the St. Lawrence, sure! What are you doing?"