"You just bet he is, Andy; and we're going to be with him in three shakes of a lamb's tail!" declared the other.
Andy could not utter another word; he was too full of emotion. So he just sat there and stared and waited, his heart doubtless thumping against his ribs as it had never done before.
Of course, when Frank gave utterance to that boast he did not really mean it, and only had the encouragement of his chum in view. He knew that it was apt to prove a difficult task, landing in that enclosed valley, where the vegetation must be of a tropical order.
First of all they must circle around over the wide expanse to take in its features and discover the prisoner. Then Frank could lay his plans accordingly.
Gradually they began to see more and more of those marvelous cliffs. They seemed to stretch in an unbroken cordon completely around the valley. If they were as near like adamant as they looked it would take a man years to cut steps to the lofty top, even though he were given proper tools for the work.
And presently they cleared the near side, so that the monoplane floated directly above the valley itself.
"Careful now, Andy!" warned the cautious Frank. "Hold yourself tight while we circle around, dropping lower all the time. Suppose you shout, though I should think he'd have heard the noise of our exhaust before now!"
He had hardly uttered these last words when there came a cry from below.
"Look, look, Frank, there he is! Oh, what a blessed sight that is! My father, and alive after all! See how he runs and waves his hands! What will he say when he knows that it's his boy in this airship come to save him?"
"Call out and tell him!" said Frank, hardly able to control his own feelings, though he knew he must or they might meet with an accident in this supreme moment of victory.