“Know about it? Of course, I know about it,” was the unexpected reply. “Amos Deering, the leader, was my cousin!”
[CHAPTER XVII]
NODDY NIXON ARRIVES
The unexpected announcement of Professor Snodgrass came as a startling confirmation to the story told by the old miner. The scientist, having finished making an entry in his note-book, had come up, and listened to the recital. All eyes were now turned on him.
“Was Amos Deering your cousin?” asked Sledge Hammer Tod, thinking he might not have heard aright; then, too, he was not quite satisfied as to the perfect sanity of the bald-headed man.
“He was,” replied the scientist. “Amos was always fond of a roving life, and when he heard of a place out West where he could take up some gold claims, he organized a party to go with him. It was in the year that I discovered a five-legged frog, and wrote a book about it. Amos wanted me to go with the party, saying I could find many specimens if I did not want to hunt for gold. But I declined. However, he and a number of venturesome persons went. We waited in vain for some news, and at last it came. It was to the effect that the entire party had been led off into the mountains by the Indians, and killed. Poor Amos, to think I should meet somebody out here who knew of him!”
“Well, it’s true that the party was led off to the mountains, and by the Indians,” said Tod, “but it’s not altogether so sure that they were killed. Maybe some are living yet, though where they are is a mystery.”
“From the clews left by Mr. Bell, it would seem that they are alive,” suggested Jerry. “Mr. Bell practically says the party is alive, and in his letter to his son, the torn parts of which epistle I found in the airship, he says he is about to go to their rescue. They are in some sort of a valley, I take it, hard to get at. That’s why Mr. Bell thought of an airship, and why he started to find us, but, instead, met with Noddy Nixon. Now, the question is, can we find that valley?”
Sledge Hammer Tod shook his head doubtfully.