VICKI AND DEAN WERE up at five the next morning, and off in Marietta, in a sky just turning pink with sunrise.
They flew the hundred miles to Slick Pond, aided by favorable winds. They were eager to arrive as early as possible, for not a great deal of their free time was left. Both of them had to report back to New York on Monday. This was Saturday, and they still had unfinished business with Jim Badger.
Vicki did not know what to expect next. But Mr. Purnell’s bewilderment and Joan’s pitiful face rose up before her eyes and drove out any fear of Jim Badger.
The Cub buzzed steadily ahead. The sun rose, the pink glow strengthened then faded, the sky grew bluer. Below them, towns began to awaken and trucks and cars appeared on the white thread of highway. As they flew northward, the fores
