CHAPTER XXVI
PLANNING THE ESCAPE
The announcement of Professor Snodgrass seemed to add to the confusionof the aged man who stood and stared at the airship. He made no motionto return the greeting of the scientist.
"Don't you understand?" repeated the little bald-headed man. "We'vecome to save you, Amos. You are Amos Deering, aren't you? I recognizedyou at once, though it has been many years since I have seen you. Weall gave you up for dead."
"I might better be dead--I and all the rest of us, than captives as weare," 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 scarcelybelieve that. All hope of escape was given up years ago. We thoughtone of our number--Loftus by name--would bring aid, but we have heardnothing from him these three years."
"And it is due to him that we are here now!" cried Mr. Bell. "We havecome to save you!"
A gleam of interest lighted up the dull eyes of the old man. He seemedstruggling to recall some long-forgotten facts, and then, as theprofessor and Mr. Bell went over in brief the story of how they hadarrived, 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 awonderful memory, or he never could have classified so many strangeinsects. "But come into the cabin," urged the scientist. "You are justin time. We were planning how we might rescue all of your party who areyet alive, and we needed to communicate with some members of it."
"There are only eight left," was the sad answer. "Five men and threewomen. But it will seem wonderful to them when I take them word thatyou are here. Wonderful! Wonderful!"
"How is it that the Indians allowed you to come this far alone?" askedMr. Bell. "Loftus said they guarded you closely."
"They do, usually," answered aged Mr. Deering, "but now they arepreparing for the annual flying lizard feast----"
"The flying lizard feast!" interrupted the professor. "Is it possiblefor me to secure some of those wonderful insects, Amos?"
"Perhaps," was the answer. "But it will be risky, for they are muchvenerated by the savages."
"Hadn't we better rescue these poor people first?" suggested JimNestor, "and let the lizards go?"
"Of course we'll make the rescue first," agreed the scientist, "butI'm not going to leave this valley until I have one of those valuableinsects. No, not if I have to enter the temple alone and defy all theIndians in it."
"I'll help you," said Mr. Bell, who had formed a liking for theprofessor. "But suppose your cousin tells us his story."
"It is soon told," answered Mr. Deering. "As I said, the Indians arepreparing for a great feast, in connection with the annual changing ofthe flying lizard. Every year they take one lizard from the temple,and either kill it or let it fly away to the woods, and substitutea new one. There are strange ceremonies connected with this, and agreat feast. At such times they relax their vigilance over us, but notsufficiently to permit us to escape. I took advantage to-day of thefact that most of the Indians are preparing for the feast, and slippedaway. I wanted to be alone and think. You can imagine my surprise whenI 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 canwe 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 ifyou attempt it, the best time will be two nights hence, when they areat the lizard feast. Then we captives are allowed to be together andare not guarded, though at other times we are virtually slaves. I willtell my friends that you are here, and we will be in readiness."
Mr. Deering then related, in brief, the story of how he and hiscomrades, years before, had been enticed into the valley by theIndians. The story is already known to my readers, so I will not againgo over it. Sufficient to say that the aged man gave more details andtold of the numerous times they had tried to escape, and how most oftheir number had gradually died. The Indians were not specially cruelto them, he added, but kept them close prisoners. There was but oneway out of the valley, and this was known only to the Indians, thoughLoftus had managed to find a path that served him. This, however, wasnow closed.
The valley was a fertile one, and most of the things needed could beraised in it. Occasionally parties of the Indians would go out, andthen those who stayed behind, to guard the captives, would light signalfires to show their companions the way back. It was these lights ourfriends had seen.
Aside from the worship of the flying lizard, the traits of the Indianswere not greatly different from others of their kind. They had all theredman's failings and savagery.
"The feast of the lizard and the ceremonies connected with it, takeplace in a large temple, or council house, in the middle of thevillage," explained Mr. Deering. "There, two nights hence, will begathered all the savages."
"And then we will come to the rescue!" exclaimed Jerry. "Between thenand now we will form our plans. Can you come out to us again, so thatwe 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 wecaptives, unknown to the Indians, have a fortune in gold nuggets hiddenaway."
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