The Aeroplane Boys on the Wing Part 22

"I'll never give up hunting," Andy declared, as he stood there, watching his chum potter with the engine and examine things in general. "No, not as long as this fine little machine stands by us. We can get more gasoline if necessary, for we brought a good supply aboard the boat. When we've gone as far as we dare down this way we'll make another start further on."

"I'm with you, Chum Andy, and you don't need to be told that," observed Frank, quietly, while he worked on.

"As if I didn't know that and counted on you through thick and thin,"

declared the other, with a look of sincere affection.

"Well, now we're ready to go up again," remarked Frank; "and there's no use asking if you feel like it. So pile in and we'll make a flying start from the top of this rocky plateau."

"What a difference from our last start," observed Andy, with satisfaction, for they were on an elevation with a valley far below, and the air was decidedly bracing for the tropics.

"I should say it was," laughed Frank. "Do you know what it puts me in mind of?"

"I bet you're just thinking of when we won that race to the summit of Old Thunder Top, where n.o.body had ever been able to climb before, and how we had to make our start for home from that little plateau, plunging off into s.p.a.ce."

"Just what I was," declared Frank. "But here we have a longer swing and it's going to be a snap of a launch compared with some we remember."

"Ugh!" grunted Andy, "will I ever forget the one this morning. But let loose, my boy. I had just sighted a likely looking place away over yonder, at the time you said we ought to take advantage of this fine landing stage, to look things over. Just head her that way when we get going, will you?"

"Sure; anything to oblige," a.s.sented the other.

The launch was just as easy as they had antic.i.p.ated. Indeed, Frank seemed to have gotten this part of the programme down to a fine point and could accomplish it apparently as well as a Wright or a Curtiss.

Ten minutes later and the monoplane was soaring toward the region which Andy had denominated as a "likely spot."

"Look at that big bird watching us from that pinnacle yonder!" exclaimed Andy, as he lowered the gla.s.ses for a moment.

"I see him," replied his comrade. "And there's no doubt now but what that is a condor of the Andes. He thinks we must be some sort of bird, which we are, of course, and is wondering whether he ought to flap his wings and go up higher or hide behind that church steeple of rock."

"I only hope he don't take a measly notion to fight us, that's all,"

remarked the other, as he glanced anxiously toward where the Marlin was secured to the framework of the airship.

"No danger of that," Frank continued. "A condor is like our vulture or buzzard, a scavenger; and he lacks the bravery of the bald-headed eagle that attacked us when we came near his nest on the tip of Old Thunder Top. Look there, he's off, Andy, and at a good lively clip, too. Good-bye, old chap, and good luck!"

Andy had lost all interest in the great bird of the western Andes. He was focusing his attention upon the place that he had marked as a likely spot.

"Frank," he said, presently, in a husky voice, "could you drop a little lower and slow down some?"

"That's easy," replied his chum, readily enough. "What has struck you now, Andy?"

"It looks more and more promising to me," came the slow reply, as Andy kept the gla.s.ses up to his eyes.

"Then you can glimpse something like cliffs?" asked Frank.

"Yes, and there's no doubt about that part. I'm waiting now to see if the wide valley is wholly enclosed!"

"And if it is, you think--"

"It must be the place! Oh, Frank! What if we are near the spot? Would he still be alive, or has he given up the fight? That condor perched up on the pinnacle--was he only waiting for the time to come when he could fly down? Perhaps--oh! what is that moving yonder? Look, Frank, Frank, something is coming up above the top of the mountain! Can you see it? If you could only take the gla.s.ses and tell me, for my hands are shaking so I can't hold them!"

"Brace up, Andy. I can see what you mean without the gla.s.ses. There, now it has risen above the line of rocks--something that bobs to and fro like no bird ever flew--something that floats, now this way and now that, just as the wind blows. Andy, upon my word I believe it is, it must be--"

"Oh, say it for me, please, because I just can't find words!" cried the other.

It was a wonder that in their tremendous excitement something disastrous did not happen to the aeroplane, but Frank had wisely cut off some of the power, so that they were just making fair headway at the time.

"It is a little parachute balloon, just like the one that carried that message into the cocoa grove of Carlos Mendoza!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Frank.

"Then it means that we have found the valley prison!" gasped Andy.

"Sure, that's a fact. The cliffs yonder are on one side of it!" Frank cried.

"And Frank, don't you see, the fact that another of those little messengers of hope has just come up out of the valley _shows that he is alive_!"

"You just bet he is, Andy; and we're going to be with him in three shakes of a lamb's tail!" declared the other.

Andy could not utter another word; he was too full of emotion. So he just sat there and stared and waited, his heart doubtless thumping against his ribs as it had never done before.

Of course, when Frank gave utterance to that boast he did not really mean it, and only had the encouragement of his chum in view. He knew that it was apt to prove a difficult task, landing in that enclosed valley, where the vegetation must be of a tropical order.

First of all they must circle around over the wide expanse to take in its features and discover the prisoner. Then Frank could lay his plans accordingly.

Gradually they began to see more and more of those marvelous cliffs. They seemed to stretch in an unbroken cordon completely around the valley. If they were as near like adamant as they looked it would take a man years to cut steps to the lofty top, even though he were given proper tools for the work.

And presently they cleared the near side, so that the monoplane floated directly above the valley itself.

"Careful now, Andy!" warned the cautious Frank. "Hold yourself tight while we circle around, dropping lower all the time. Suppose you shout, though I should think he'd have heard the noise of our exhaust before now!"

He had hardly uttered these last words when there came a cry from below.

"Look, look, Frank, there he is! Oh, what a blessed sight that is! My father, and alive after all! See how he runs and waves his hands! What will he say when he knows that it's his boy in this airship come to save him?"

"Call out and tell him!" said Frank, hardly able to control his own feelings, though he knew he must or they might meet with an accident in this supreme moment of victory.

So Andy did shout, calling upon his father wildly and waving his cap to him. The prisoner of the enclosed valley seemed dazed at first. Perhaps he had been deceived so many times by his dreams of being saved that he feared this might prove only another delusion. They could see him stand there and put his hand to his head as he stared. It was so very wonderful, this coming of a modern aeroplane to s.n.a.t.c.h him from his living grave. And then that voice, how like the one he had never expected to hear again!

But by degrees, as the little Bleriot monoplane sank lower, and the forms could be more plainly seen, he began to grasp the truth. Again he showed the most intense excitement, waving his arms and running to keep up with them.

"Wait," said Frank, presently, as he saw that Andy was so excited he could not carry on an intelligent conversation. "I'm going to speak with him and find out if there's any clear spot where we can land."

"Uncle Philip!" he shouted presently, when Andy had subsided. "This is Frank, your nephew, and Andy, your own son. Is there any clear place where we can land?"

The aeronaut understood, because all this was right in line with the profession which he had been following at the time of his vanishing from mortal sight.

He indicated the quarter where a landing might be risked and upon investigating by hovering over the same, Frank decided that it promised success.

So the aeroplane dropped down and touched ground. It b.u.mped along for a little distance and then Andy, leaping out, managed to bring its progress to a halt. They were in the enchanted valley, from whence those wonderful messages had floated, one of which, by a strange freak of fate, had eventually reached the boy thousands of miles away, for whose eyes it had been intended!

And immediately Andy was clasped in the arms of his father. He knew him despite the long gray beard, which had grown during his many months of confinement, with hope daily choked by despair. His clothing was almost in tatters, and he seemed thin and peaked; but the look upon his drawn face now was of supreme happiness.