"Yo' suah can't git erlong widout me, I s'pose?" queried the darkey,
in some uncertainty. "I'se mighty busy right yere jes' now."

"And you'll be busy if we go to Alaska, Wash!" cried Jack. "Hurrah!
I am willing to start to-morrow, Professor."

"And you, Mark?" queried the old gentleman of his other adopted son.

"How will we go, sir? We shall be until fall traveling to the Arctic
Circle by any usual means."

"True," said the professor. "And haste is imperative. I cannot spend
much time in this matter. We must take unusual means of getting to the
Endicott Range."

"What do you mean?" asked the boys in chorus.

"Your _Snowbird_ is ready for flight. It can be provisioned and
will take us all quicker than by any other means. Therefore in the
_Snowbird_ we will make the journey."




CHAPTER III

THE FLIGHT OF THE SNOWBIRD

Jack Darrow and Mark Sampson were glad enough to be of the party aiming
to reach northern Alaska and the Endicott Range, if Professor Henderson