“Oh, only long enough to buy some food off me and take on water, then they soared away again.”
“Headed west?” asked Tom.
“Headed west,” answered Mr. Kimball.
The farmer remained, an interested observer, while Tom and Ned made the slight repairs needed. When they had finished and were about to go on, Mr. Kimball, with a glance toward the giant, asked:
“Is he yours?”
“Yes, in a way,” replied Tom. “Why?”
“Um! I only want to say if you ever want to get rid of him I’d like to hire him. What a hired man he’d make! My, the chores he could do without getting tired! He’d be worth three ordinary hired men—and they’re so hard to get now. But I don’t suppose you want to let him go?”
“No,” answered Tom, with a laugh and a glance at Koku, who, to amuse himself, was tossing up great rocks and catching them in his bare hands.
“Well, I don’t know as I blame you,” said Mr. Kimball.
Having made repairs and gotten some unexpected and valuable information, Tom and Ned called to the giant, took their places in the machine again, and, after Koku had spun the propeller, once more were off.