"Huh? What things? On the square, I don't know, Mary V. I never told anybody to 'phone--nobody knew I was going, except a greaser that told me about the plane, and went with me to see it." "Well, I don't understand it at all. He certainly pretended he was you, and he must have 'phoned from Sinkhole, because there's no other 'phone on that wire. And the way he talked--" "Oh, I think I know who it could have been," Johnny interposed hastily, thinking of Tomaso. "He--" Just then the travois hung itself on a lava out-cropping which Sandy himself had dodged with his feet, and Johnny had a few busy minutes. By the time they were again moving forward, Mary V's curiosity had seized upon something else. She wanted to know if Johnny wasn't afraid Bland Halliday might steal his aeroplane and fly off with it in the night. "Well, he might, at that--if he got a chance," Johnny admitted. "Which he won't--take it from me." "Which he will--take it from you, if you don't keep an eye on him. From all Jerry said about him, he couldn't be honest to save his life. And I'm sure Jerry--" "Good golly! You sure do seem to bank a lot on this Jerry person. At that, he may be wrong. Bland Halliday is all right if you treat him right. I ought to know; I've worked right alongside him for over two weeks now. And I'll say, he has _worked_! I'd have been all summer doing what he's done in a couple of weeks; and then it wouldn't have been done right. This said Jerry is welcome to his opinions, and you're welcome to swallow them whole, but me, I've got to hand it to Bland Halliday for sticking right on the job and doing his level best. Why, he couldn't have gone after the job any harder if it was his own plane." "Which he probably intends that it shall be," Mary V retorted. "Before he does fly off with it, I might like to take a look at it--and a picture. May I, if you please, Mr. Jewel?" "On one condition only, Miss Selmer. You must promise that you won't show the picture to a living soul till I give the word." "Well, for gracious sake! How is the photographer going to develop and print it without seeing it?" "I mean--you know what I mean. Come on, we'll swing over this way. I've got it cached in a secret hangar, over in that ledge. I've got to haul the gas over there, anyway, and you may go along if you like." With a surprising docility Mary V accepted the somewhat patronizing invitation. Perhaps she really appreciated the fact that Johnny was proving how much confidence he had in her. Presently she urged that confidence to further disclosures. What did he really and truly intend to do with his aeroplane, after he had learned to fly?