Part 22 (2/2)

”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 airs.h.i.+p 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 vanis.h.i.+ng 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.

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