Mr. Lewis had seated himself in the chair and was being carried high in the air to the dock.
When he set foot on the ground, he rushed toward the others, on his face a look of intense joy.
Words fail to describe the meeting that followed. Mr. Lewis was literally mauled by his son and friends, who were overjoyed to have him again with them. Especially was Joe happy.
“I worried from the time you left Washington,” the naturalist told them, throwing an arm over Joe’s shoulder. “The more I thought about that airplane trip the more anxious I became. You didn’t have any trouble, did you?”
“It’s according to what you call trouble,” laughed Bob. “If you mean accidents, we didn’t have any. But if you mean just common bad luck, we had plenty.”
“Could have been worse, though,” his father reminded him. “And let me tell you that Karl is an excellent pilot. If he weren’t, we probably wouldn’t be here now.”
“As if I didn’t know it,” smiled Mr. Lewis, glancing at the blushing aviator. “If anyone else had offered to take you to Peru, I wouldn’t have thought much of the idea. Karl Sutman, though——”
At this moment a group of men came up, to be recognized by Mr. Lewis and Mr. Holton.
The youths, Mr. Wallace, and Karl were introduced to them as members of the archæological and geological divisions of the expedition. Dr. Rust, Professors Allan and Kelley, and Mr. Dunn, as their names were, had come to this region to search for additional Inca ruins and to study the land in the mountain section.