And he proved to be a true prophet, for no sooner had Andy lifted up his voice to call that the meal was ready than the professor broke through the bushes and hastened to take his place.
Frank lost not a second in filling a tin cup of the amber liquid and handing it to the late prisoner of the valley.
He tasted and then nodded his head.
"Nectar for the gods, my boys!" he declared. "One never knows how little things like this go to make up a portion of one's life until a cruel fate has deprived him of them all. And to think I have a boy so thoughtful as to fetch along a packet of smoking tobacco and a can of the real Boston baked beans. Thank you, Frank, that's a heaping pannikin you've given me, but I suspect I'm equal to the job."
They made a happy trio as they ate and chatted and laughed. Perhaps that was the first hearty laugh Professor Bird had given utterance to since the day he started in his ill-fated balloon from Colon on the Caribbean coast to cross the Isthmus of Panama.
Before they went to sleep that night all preparations had been concluded looking to getting out of the trap in the morning. Frank had made his estimations and knew to a nicety just what his engine could do. Once free from the valley he believed they could head direct for the distant Magdalena, carrying two passengers and making short flights. It was true that as yet he had never taken up any second passenger and it entailed an additional tax upon the motor, but he had great faith in the little Kinkaid engine and felt that it would respond nobly to any additional demand made upon it.
But it would be advisable that he carry the professor out of the valley and land him on that plateau where they had made their last halt, ere going back for Andy. Then, from that elevated place they could start on the return trip, with everything favorable for a successful flight.
The night passed at length, though it must have seemed interminable to Andy. Frank knew that often his chum would rise up on his elbow and put out a hand gently, just to touch the form of his sleeping father close to him. And Frank did not wonder at it, for there were times when even he found it difficult to realize that their remarkable mission had actually proven successful.
At length the day came.
They were early astir, for much remained to be done. And there would needs be deft manipulation of the gallant little monoplane by its clever pilot, if two separate flights out of the enclosed valley were to be undertaken.