The Louise took kindly to the landing, and in ten minutes more the boys were moving cautiously in the direction of the old fort, now lying dark and silent under the starlight. It seemed to Jimmie that his heart was in his throat as the possible solution of the mystery of the Andes drew near!
CHAPTER XXIII.
TWO RUNAWAY AVIATORS!
Half an hour after the departure of the Louise, Sam awoke with a start and moved over to where the millionaire aviator was sleeping.
“Time to be moving!” he whispered in his ear.
Mr. Havens yawned, stretched himself, and threw his blanket aside.
“I don’t know,” he said with a smile, “but we’re doing wrong in taking all the credit of this game. The boys have done good work ever since leaving New York, and my conscience rather pricks me at the thought of leaving them out of the closing act.”
“Well,” Sam answered, “the boys are certainly made of the right material, if they are just a little too much inclined to take unnecessary risks. I wouldn’t mind having them along, but, really, there’s no knowing what one of them might do.”
“Very well,” replied Mr. Havens, “we’ll get underway in the Ann and land on top of the fortress before the occupants of that musty old fortification know that we are in the air.”
“That’s the talk!” Sam agreed. “We’ll make a wide circuit to the west and come up on that side of the summit which rises above the fort. I’m certain, from what I saw this afternoon, that there is a good landing-place there. Most of these Peruvian mountain chains,” he went on, “are plentifully supplied with good landings, as the shelves and ledges which lie like terraces on the crags were formerly used as highways and trails by the people who lived here hundreds of years ago.”
“We must be very careful in getting away from the camp,” Mr. Havens suggested. “We don’t want the boys to suspect that we are going off on a little adventure of our own.”