Professor Featherwit nodded assent, and, after a brief chuckle,
Waldo resumed:

"You can take all those big fellows with the jaw-breaking names,
but as for me, smaller game will do. Maybe a fellow couldn't
fill his bag quite so full, nor quite so suddenly, but there
would be a great deal more sport, and a mighty sight less danger,
I take it!"

It was by no means difficult to divine that the professor had not
yet spoken all that busied his brain, but the thread was broken,
his pipe was out, and, emptying the ashes by tapping pipe-bowl
against the heel of his shoe, he rose erect, once more the man of
action.

"You will have to clear up, lads, for I must make such few
repairs as are necessary to restore the aerostat to a state of
efficiency. So long as that remains in serviceable condition, we
will always have a method of advance or retreat. Without
it--well, I'd rather not think of the alternative."

That dry tone and quiet sentence did more than all else to
impress the brothers with a sense of their unique position. Back
came the remembrance of all they had gathered concerning this
strange scope of country since first settling down fairly within
the shadows of the Olympics, there to put that strange machine
together, preparing for what was to prove a wonder-tour through
many marvellous happenings.