“By George,” said Mr. Hampton, “we’re in for it. Well, we may as well put a brave face on the matter. It looks dark now, yet we have found what we came to look for; and remember, you boys, the battle is never lost until defeat is admitted.”
This he said to hearten the boys. Yet the advice was unnecessary. They had listened to Don Ernesto with close attention, and as Mr. Hampton gazed from one to the other, he found their eyes alight.
“Why, I don’t believe you boys are worried at all,” he said, banteringly.
“Why worry, Dad?” said Jack. “As you said, ’the battle isn’t lost until you are counted out.’ I, for one, am tickled to death with the adventure. And I know Bob and Frank and Ferdinand are the same.”
The others nodded.
“Well, here we go, down to the boats,” said Frank. “So, as long as we may talk to each other, tell us how you fellows were captured, and we’ll give our story.”
CHAPTER XI—INTO THE MOUNTAIN
The accounts of how Mr. Hampton and Don Ernesto and Carlos, and of how Jack, Ferdinand and Pedro were captured, differed little from the tale of the capture of the camp. Each party had been surrounded by an overwhelming number of the Incas, and had seen the folly of putting up a fight and so had surrendered.