PLANNING THE ESCAPE
The announcement of Professor Snodgrass seemed to add to the confusion
of the aged man who stood and stared at the airship. He made no motion
to return the greeting of the scientist.
“Don’t you understand?” repeated the little bald-headed man. “We’ve
come to save you, Amos. You are Amos Deering, aren’t you? I recognized
you at once, though it has been many years since I have seen you. We
all gave you up for dead.”
“I might better be dead--I and all the rest of us, than captives as we
are,” was the despairing answer.
“But you are going to be saved!” cried the professor.
“Saved?” repeated Mr. Deering, for it was indeed he. “I can scarcely
believe that. All hope of escape was given up years ago. We thought
one of our number--Loftus by name--would bring aid, but we have heard
nothing from him these three years.”
“And it is due to him that we are here now!” cried Mr. Bell. “We have
come to save you!”
A gleam of interest lighted up the dull eyes of the old man. He seemed
struggling to recall some long-forgotten facts, and then, as the
professor and Mr. Bell went over in brief the story of how they had
arrived, Mr. Deering exclaimed:
“It hardly seems possible. Are we to be saved? I did not recognize you,
Uriah, when I saw you running toward me.”
“I would have known you anywhere,” said the professor. He had a
wonderful memory, or he never could have classified so many strange
insects. “But come into the cabin,” urged the scientist. “You are just
in time. We were planning how we might rescue all of your party who are
yet alive, and we needed to communicate with some members of it.”
“There are only eight left,” was the sad answer. “Five men and three
women. But it will seem wonderful to them when I take them word that
you are here. Wonderful! Wonderful!”
“How is it that the Indians allowed you to come this far alone?” asked
Mr. Bell. “Loftus said they guarded you closely.”
“They do, usually,” answered aged Mr. Deering, “but now they are
preparing for the annual flying lizard feast----”
“The flying lizard feast!” interrupted the professor. “Is it possible
for me to secure some of those wonderful insects, Amos?”
“Perhaps,” was the answer. “But it will be risky, for they are much
venerated by the savages.”
“Hadn’t we better rescue these poor people first?” suggested Jim
Nestor, “and let the lizards go?”
“Of course we’ll make the rescue first,” agreed the scientist, “but
I’m not going to leave this valley until I have one of those valuable
insects. No, not if I have to enter the temple alone and defy all the
Indians in it.”
“I’ll help you,” said Mr. Bell, who had formed a liking for the
professor. “But suppose your cousin tells us his story.”
“It is soon told,” answered Mr. Deering. “As I said, the Indians are
preparing for a great feast, in connection with the annual changing of
the flying lizard. Every year they take one lizard from the temple,
and either kill it or let it fly away to the woods, and substitute
a new one. There are strange ceremonies connected with this, and a
great feast. At such times they relax their vigilance over us, but not
sufficiently to permit us to escape. I took advantage to-day of the
fact that most of the Indians are preparing for the feast, and slipped
away. I wanted to be alone and think. You can imagine my surprise when
I saw this great airship here. I thought I had suddenly gone insane.”
“And you say there are only eight of you left?” asked Jerry. “How can
we best rescue them, for we are determined to take you and them away?”
“It will be a difficult task, I fear,” answered Mr. Deering, “but if
you attempt it, the best time will be two nights hence, when they are
at the lizard feast. Then we captives are allowed to be together and
are not guarded, though at other times we are virtually slaves. I will
tell my friends that you are here, and we will be in readiness.”
Mr. Deering then related, in brief, the story of how he and his
comrades, years before, had been enticed into the valley by the
Indians. The story is already known to my readers, so I will not again
go over it. Sufficient to say that the aged man gave more details and
told of the numerous times they had tried to escape, and how most of
their number had gradually died. The Indians were not specially cruel
to them, he added, but kept them close prisoners. There was but one
way out of the valley, and this was known only to the Indians, though
Loftus had managed to find a path that served him. This, however, was
now closed.
The valley was a fertile one, and most of the things needed could be
raised in it. Occasionally parties of the Indians would go out, and
then those who stayed behind, to guard the captives, would light signal
fires to show their companions the way back. It was these lights our
friends had seen.
Aside from the worship of the flying lizard, the traits of the Indians
were not greatly different from others of their kind. They had all the
redman’s failings and savagery.
“The feast of the lizard and the ceremonies connected with it, take
place in a large temple, or council house, in the middle of the
village,” explained Mr. Deering. “There, two nights hence, will be
gathered all the savages.”
“And then we will come to the rescue!” exclaimed Jerry. “Between then
and now we will form our plans. Can you come out to us again, so that
we can tell them to you?”
“I’ll try,” answered the old man. “I think I will be able to do so.
And another thing: you will be well paid for your trouble, for we
captives, unknown to the Indians, have a fortune in gold nuggets hidden
away.”