“Yes, you told me you did,” admitted Ned. “But I didn’t quite grasp the idea.”
“Simply providing for emergencies,” went on Tom. “The Air Monarch may have a breakdown when we get over the United States again, and if an Express machine is waiting for me I can just hop aboard her and complete the trip—on time I hope.”
Ned turned again to the route map, and then glanced out of the cabin windows.
“We seem to be having it all our own way for the present. Nothing else is in sight,” he stated.
“It’s getting a bit hazy,” remarked Tom as he glanced at several gages and distance indicators on the wall. “We’re over the ocean now.”
“Over the Atlantic so soon?” cried Ned. “That’s right, quite a way out too, I hope,” he added. “Let’s see what Peltok says.”
They went to the steering compartment where the man who spoke so many languages was guiding the craft.
“We are a hundred miles out from the end of Long Island,” Peltoc stated, after making some computations.
“Whew!” whistled Ned. “A hundred miles and we haven’t been going an hour.”
“Oh, yes, it’s a little longer than that,” said Peltok, with a smile. “But we are making fairly good time. I have increased the speed a little,” he said to Tom.