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.”