They watched the strange lights for some time, as the luminous shafts flickered up to the sky and died out. Then, when the last of them had vanished, the adventurers went back to bed.
In the morning various plans were talked over, but the one finally decided on was this:
The airship would be sent over the valley, traversing it along its entire length, but sufficiently high so that the Indians down below—or, for that matter, their white captives—could not discern it. For the rescue party wanted to remain in seclusion.
By means of powerful telescopes the valley would be carefully inspected, and, if possible, a place would be picked out where the airship could land.
“For we’ve got to go down sooner or later, if we expect to rescue those poor people,” said Jerry. “We can’t keep in the air all the while, and lower ropes to them so that they can climb up. That would answer for sailors, but not for old men and women. We will have to land, and if we pick out a secluded spot we may be able to descend without attracting the attention of the Indians. Then we can plan further to make the rescue.”
This was decided on, and they sailed slowly onward, Jerry and Jim Nestor and Mr. Bell taking turns at scanning the deep chasm through the telescope. They saw that the valley was a fertile place, and that many fields for crops were laid out, showing that the Indians or their white captives were industrious. Small houses or huts could be observed, built in some sort of order, like a small village. All these were in the centre of the valley through which ran a small stream, giving plenty of water. At either end of the big chasm there were wild and desolate spots, and it could be seen that the sides of the place were so steep and rugged that climbing them was out of the question. Yet the Indians had a path in and out, but they guarded the secret well, since only one man in all those years had been able to discover it. Later it was learned that the pass, by which Mr. Loftus escaped was not the one the Indians used, and soon after he left it was located and closed by the redmen, thus making it impossible for any other of the captives to take advantage of it.
“Can you see any persons moving about in the valley?” asked Jerry, as he handed the telescope to Jim Nestor.
“I thought I could, the last time I looked,” was the answer, “but I’m not sure. I’ll look again.”
He peered long and earnestly through the glass, and then uttered an exclamation.
“There are some of the red beggars!” cried the mine superintendent. “They are having a regular procession, and seem to be going in some sort of a church.”
“Probably they are going to worship the flying lizard,” observed Mr. Bell. “Mr. Loftus said they hold services several times during the day and night.”
“The flying lizard!” exclaimed Professor Snodgrass. “Let’s descend at once, and get some of those most valuable specimens! They are worth five hundred dollars each.”
“And our lives wouldn’t be worth five cents apiece,” spoke Sledge Hammer Tod quickly, “if we went down there among those savages now. It would be all up with us!”
“Can you see any white persons?” inquired Mr. Bell anxiously, as Jerry finished his observation through the telescope.
“No,” answered the lad. “It’s hard to distinguish any figures at all, and I don’t want to go lower, for fear they may sight us. I can’t tell whether those I see are Indians or whites. Can you, Jim?”
“No. Very likely the white people are nearly like the redmen now, from having lived among them so long.”
Over the whole length of the valley went the airship, but nothing more was disclosed. There were no indications that the presence of the Comet was observed, and, having gotten to the end of the big defile, the craft was sent back.
It was decided that a place just inside, but at the lower end of the valley, and near the spot where they had first landed after sighting the chasm, would be the best place on which to descend. As they neared it, on their return trip, a wall of fog shut it from view, but as its location had been carefully observed on the first trip, little apprehension was felt.
The adventurers returned to the place of their first camp in the mountains, just outside the valley, and prepared to stay there until it should be dark enough to make the descent into the abode of the prisoners.
“If we could only drop some message to the poor captives,” suggested Bob, “then they would know we were coming for them.”
“It wouldn’t be safe,” declared Jerry. “The Indians might get it and decipher it. We’ll have to take our chances at notifying them suddenly.”
After it grew dark the same mysterious lights were observed that had puzzled the travelers the first night. The adventurers decided to wait until the flickering gleams died away before venturing on a descent.
It was nearly three o’clock before this time came, and then Jerry, who had been on the watch, awakened the others. The airship was in readiness for a quick and silent move. The restraining ropes were cast off, and it rose high in the air. Then, running the motor at half-speed, to reduce the noise, Jerry guided the craft over the valley. The searchlight was brought into play to locate the landing place. There was a certain risk in this, but it could not be avoided, and it was hoped that the gleams from the big lantern would be taken for the flashing of some of the Indians’ own signal fires.
Lower and lower sank the Comet, into the mysterious valley. Lower and lower, until, with no alarm having been sounded by the Indians, it came to rest in the secluded and wildly desolate spot that had been picked out that day. In the darkness it landed, and Ned opened the gas valve so that there would be no necessity for fastening the ship to the earth.
“Well, here we are,” said Bob in a low voice, as he tried to penetrate the darkness. “And land sakes! how sleepy I am. I had a good rest, too, but it seems as if I’d been awake two nights.”
“I’m sleepy, too,” admitted Jerry; while as for Ned, no sooner had he finished helping Jerry make a landing than he tumbled into his bunk and was snoring.
“What’s that funny smell?” asked Jim Nestor, sniffing the air. “Don’t you notice it, Tod?”
“I do notice something peculiar,” replied the old miner. “But I’m too sleepy to care. I’m going to turn in.”
“I guess we’d all better do that,” added Jerry, stifling a yawn. “I don’t know when I’ve been so sleepy. I s’pose it’s on account of having been up so much nights lately.”
Professor Snodgrass, who had been peering about in the darkness, sniffing vigorously on various sides of the airship, suddenly entered the cabin. The sight that met his eyes was a curious one. Stretched out on the bunks were all the members of the party save himself. Everyone was either asleep or preparing to slumber. The bald-headed scientist once more breathed the peculiar odor on the night air, then he cried out:
“Jerry! Ned! Bob! Wake up, everyone! Don’t go to sleep!”
“Why not?” asked Bob drowsily.
“Because we have landed in a thicket of the bushes of death!”
“The bushes of death?” asked Jerry, almost too sleepy to know what he was saying. “What are they?”
“Bushes that give off a peculiar odor,” answered the scientist. “It is death to breathe it—death by a slow languor that begins with a sleep. No wonder the Indians avoid this end of the valley. It is death to sleep here! We must all keep awake until morning, and then move to some other location. Wake up, everyone!” and he began shaking the sleepers vigorously, for they all were stretched out, with closed eyes. The bushes of death had already begun to exert an influence over them.