Two other men completed the personnel of the expedition. They were Mr. Buenagel, assistant, and Dr. Brown, physician, both of whom had been on numerous expeditions with the others. They now came up and received the same hearty welcome.
“Now that we’re all together,” began Dr. Rust, “we want to decide where we’ll make our headquarters. Is everyone in favor of having our base in or near Cuzco?”
“I should say yes,” came from Professor Kelley. “Cuzco, after all, is a very strategic point, and is quite easily accessible from all parts of this section. So why not locate there?”
As everyone agreed, the question was settled. Now came the problem of transporting the expedition’s supplies, of which there were many.
Karl generously offered the services of the monoplane in getting the trunks and bags over to Cuzco. He explained that he would be glad to do this for them, even though it might be necessary to make two or three trips.
But Dr. Rust, leader of the expedition, stoutly refused.
“We don’t wish to put you to that trouble,” he said. “As long as there is a railroad running up to Cuzco, we’ll make use of it and have our stuff shipped, even though it may take a few days longer.”
Karl wondered afterwards if the scientist secretly feared an accident. The tall young man remarked to Bob and Joe several days later that perhaps Dr. Rust did not wish to take a chance on the monoplane crashing with the expedition’s supplies on board.
As had been suggested, the supplies, including those of Mr. Holton and Mr. Lewis, were placed on board the first train that left for Cuzco. The boxes and trunks would not reach their destination until several days later, however, since it was necessary for them to be changed around several times.