Almost a Tragedy
Rather nervously Joe unfolded the paper, hastily read it, and then
gave a sigh of relief.
"Nothing wrong," he told his friends. "Take a look."
"H'm," observed Bob. "He only says he's going to land in a level field
about a mile from here, and that he'd better take us up with him from
there, instead of waiting till we get to Pasaje. No other place near
to land on. Closes by saying everything is all right."
"So he wants us to go up with him now," mused Joe. "Doesn't want to
wait till we get to Pasaje. I hate to do that. I don't like to leave
Dr. Rander till we get to the town. It doesn't seem right to come with
him all this distance and then go off and leave him here in the
mountains."
"Don't worry about me," said the old explorer quickly. "I have been
through these mountains alone many times. I can manage the mules all
right. And the town can't be far away."
"We'd go with you anyway," Bob told him, "only Karl says there isn't
another landing place near."
Without loss of time the three continued toward the level spot on
which the aviator had landed, at length coming in sight of the
monoplane.
Karl rushed out to meet them, his face bright at finding that all were
alive and well.
"You old rascal!" cried Joe, shaking the young man's hand warmly.
"How'd you know we were here?" asked Bob, who was also very glad to
see the aviator.
"I saw you," Karl Sutman explained. "I thought I'd take a short flight
over this section to see if I could locate you."
"You did, all right." Joe was delighted. "Found us away out here in
the wilds." He hesitated a moment and glanced at Dr. Rander. But the
latter had already been introduced to Karl Sutman, and needed no
introduction by the youths.
There was one question in the aviator's mind that he could wait no
longer to ask.
"The treasure you were searching for--did you find any?" he inquired.
"And the Inca secrets, too. How about them?"
Bob smiled happily.
"We did," he answered. "Found both the treasure and the secrets."
When shown the little box of gold trinkets, Karl gasped in
astonishment.
"Is that all you found?" he demanded. "I thought there might have been
some gold statues, or the like."
"If there were we couldn't locate them," Joe said. "We considered
ourselves lucky in finding what we did. They are worth many hundreds
of dollars, maybe thousands."
"Dad and Mr. Lewis and the others--are they all right?" Bob was
anxious to learn if any misfortune had befallen his father and
friends.
"They're still hunting for specimens," returned the aviator. "Mr.
Wallace fell down a mountain and hurt himself slightly, but he's about
all right now. And you should see the large collection of birds and
animals they have."
"We have something that may interest them," declared Joe, and showed
Karl the huge condor, at the same time telling about his narrow escape
from death.
"Wow!" Karl exclaimed when the youth had finished. "And Bob and Doc
Rander came to your rescue, did they? Good for them."
It was later decided that Bob and Joe accompany Karl at once in the
monoplane to the Comberciato River, where the chums' fathers were
collecting specimens. The old man explained that he did not mind going
on alone to Pasaje, where he had business.
"But before you leave," Dr. Rander began, "I want to divide the
treasure with you fellows," addressing Bob and Joe.
"Don't give us half," Joe said pleadingly. "After all, it was your
efforts that located the secret mountain cavern."
The old man held up a hand for silence.
"You forget that I owe my life to you," he reminded them. "If it had
not been for your coming to my rescue, I would not be here to enjoy
the treasure."
"But----" began Joe.
"Say no more," Dr. Rander silenced him. "Half of the gold is yours."
He spent the next half-hour in dividing the treasure, giving the boys
a good share. They thanked him warmly, then turned to Karl Sutman.
"Can we get started before long?" asked Joe. "I'm anxious to see
everybody."
"Sure." The aviator was willing. "Let's get your stuff loaded in the
'plane."
They worked steadily until noon, at which time everything that
belonged to the youths was packed in the supply compartment of the
monoplane.
After the meal they bade Dr. Rander an affectionate farewell and
stepped into the cabin. Karl started the engine, and then, with a roar
and a rush, they started rolling over the field.
The old man waved as they left the ground and headed toward the north.
The last the air travelers saw of him he was getting the pack animals
ready to finish the journey to Pasaje.
"I suppose we've seen the last of him," remarked Bob, as they left the
ground. "We may hear from him later, though. He has our addresses."
"Rather an odd character, isn't he?" said Joe. "Seems strange that
he'd want to remain in these mountains all his life."
During the next few hours Karl sent the airplane ahead over mountains
that were more rugged than any the youths had ever seen before. He was
steering the machine near Mount Panta and the locality in which were
Dr. Rust and the other archæologists when suddenly he found himself
almost unconsciously entering a heavy cloud.
A second later, when he realized what he had done, the aviator saw
that it was too late. Already the 'plane was in the midst of a heavy
opaque atmosphere of white.
"I was a nut for getting in a place like this," Karl said through the
telephone. "And there's no way of getting out now only to go on
through it."
Karl well knew that they were in grave danger of crashing into the
side of some lofty peak. They were in a region of tall mountains, and
some high summit might easily loom up before them.
For the next few minutes the youths' hearts were in their mouths. They
knew that Karl was an excellent pilot, but they also knew that he
could do nothing if sudden tragedy might come upon them.
"What's that?" cried Bob quickly. He had seen something that looked
like a huge black mass directly before them.
Joe sat on the edge of his seat, expecting every moment to feel a
terrible crash and then.... For the first time he wondered what death
was like.
Cries of relief came from the youths as they saw that instead of
crashing into the black mass, they were passing through it.
"As if a million pounds were lifted off my back," gasped Joe. "I
thought we were goners sure."
"Would be if that were a mountain," Bob said. "As it is, we're no
worse off than before. It's a lot darker, though."
Karl sought to pass out of the cloud by gaining altitude, but he soon
saw that this was useless. Still, he thought it best to fly higher.
There was a limit to the height he could safely reach, however, for
neither himself nor the youths were using oxygen, and the high rare
air was not sufficient to supply enough necessary to the human body.
"I'll have to trust to luck, I guess," he said through the telephone.
"We may make it all right."
"Karl didn't say that any too hopefully," remarked Joe. "Do you
suppose he really fears disaster?"
"It seems like it." Bob was terribly worried. He did not have much
hope of getting out unharmed.
Then suddenly the air travelers received a surprise. The cloud that
had a few seconds before been so heavy and dense quickly thinned out
until it passed from view. Once more the blue sky was visible.
The explorers could hardly believe their eyes. Had they actually
emerged from what seemed like certain disaster? It was some time
before anyone spoke.
"What do you think of that one?" Karl Sutman's voice was the first to
break the silence. "Couldn't have been much worse suspense, could
there?"
"We didn't see that we had much chance," said Joe gravely. "And when
we saw that black mass----"
"We're out of it now, though," the aviator said. "So why not dismiss
it from your mind?"
He was put out to think that the monoplane was several miles off its
course, but he refused to let that worry him, since they had had such
a miraculous escape.
It did not take long, however, to make up for the lost time, for the
young pilot well exceeded the hundred-and-fifty-mile-an-hour cruising
speed of the monoplane.
As best he could he kept the machine as near the mountain tops as was
safe, so as to make it unnecessary to use oxygen. Getting out the
masks and tanks would require much time, and that was what they did
not want to spare.
"There's Mount Panta," observed Joe, his eyes on a massive peak. "Why
can't we stop and see the archæologists--for only a few minutes, I
mean? I suppose they're still looking for Inca ruins in this region,
aren't they?"
"Yes and no," laughed Karl. "I mean this: they're still searching for
ruins, all right, but not in this part of the Andes. I stopped to see
them just before I flew after you fellows, and they told me they were
going to leave for another section over to the east."
"Wish we could have got in touch with them," said Bob. "We have
information about Inca secrets that would make them jump up and down
with joy. Maybe we can tell them later, though."
A half-hour of flying from Mount Panta brought them within sight of
the Comberciato River, along whose banks somewhere the youths' fathers
and Mr. Wallace were staying.
Suddenly Bob and Joe cried out in delight.
"Dad! Mr. Lewis! Mr. Wallace!" said Bob happily.