“No,” was the rejoinder; but the moving picture man’s keen eyes scanned the distance like those of a hawk.
It was an hour later that Nat, who had the glasses, set them down with an excited face.
“I can see a lake!” he cried. “At least, I’m almost certain it is one.”
“Where?”
The professor’s voice had caught the infection of the boy’s excitement.
“Off there—in the same direction that Mr. Tubbs saw a glitter. I only caught a glimpse of it, but it looked as if there was the glint of water in among those queer, sharp-pointed peaks off there.”
“Speed up the engine if you can, Master Bell,” said the professor, with an expression in his voice that the boys had never heard there before.
“We must investigate this at once and lose no time,” he went on. “The old documents say that the lost city is on an island in a lake set in the midst of mountains, over which there is no way of climbing but by the lost and secret roads of the Incas.”
“I guess you get the rifle, Nat,” said Joe, without a trace of envy in his voice, though.
“I w-w-w-wish I’d s-s-seen it f-f-first,” sputtered Ding-dong, who was leaning far out over the rail.