“Right in here,” urged Jerry, leading the aged man to the cabin. “We’ve been hoping against hope that we’d meet you, so that you could show us where lost valley is, and help us rescue Deering’s Band.”
“Deering’s Band? Do you know about them? Have you heard of Lost Valley?” queried Mr. Bell, who seemed dazed.
“We were on our way there when we stopped here for gasolene,” explained Bob.
“Is it possible?” murmured the former hermit. “I can’t understand it.”
“We’ll have a general explanation soon,” promised Jerry. “Come into the cabin, everyone, and we’ll have a talk. The crowd will stay outside, I guess.”
The crowd was too curious, however, to refrain from climbing all about the available parts of the Comet, but they did no harm, and as long as they kept out of the cabin the boys did not care.
“First,” began Jerry, when they were all seated, “I’ll tell Mr. Bell how we came to know about Lost Valley,” which the lad proceeded to do, from the theft of the airship, the recovery of it, the flight of Noddy, the discovery of the letter the bully let fall, and the finding of the fragments of the one left by Mr. Bell.
“I understand now,” declared the aged man. “It all fits in with what I have to tell you. I’ll make it as brief as possible, as I want to start to the rescue. An airship is the only thing that can be used to save the unfortunate people, if, indeed, any are left alive. I will begin at the beginning.
“After you boys took me away from Lost Lake,” he said, looking kindly at Jerry, Ned and Bob, “and had restored my son to me, I took up my residence in a small town not far from here. My son became a traveling salesman, going all over this country, and that is one reason for my delay in coming back from Cresville, where I went to find you. I haven’t been able to locate my son, and lost his address, and I guess he has been too busy to write to me. However, that does not matter now, as I expect to hear from him soon.