"Felipe, by the way, is taking his rest now," said Frank, after a little time; "for he expects another night on duty. We still meet many tree trunks sweeping down on the current. The man at the wheel has to keep on guard constantly. Look at that tremendous one, will you, Andy? And just notice how dense the forest is ashore around here. How any one can get around at all beats me. I should think they'd have to keep their machetes busy all the time cutting the matted vines away."
"I understand they do," the other went on. "And I rather guess that there's hardly a country under the sun where an aeroplane would be of more real benefit than right here in the tropics. Think of avoiding all that tangle—of floating along, a mile a minute if you wanted, far above the tree tops and away from all such a muss."
"You're right," agreed Frank, fervently. "And it's the only way any one could ever hope to discover this strange prison of your father. From a distance of a thousand feet we can have a big range of vision. With our good glass it will not be hard to discover the cliffs, if only we figure out in which direction we can have the best chance. And I think I've got a scheme ready to manage that."
"I depend on you to do it," said Andy. "Alone by myself I would simply despair of ever learning anything worth while. But while you are along I just feel that we're going to succeed."
"I ought to thank you for saying that, but I won't," Frank declared. "Because it makes me tremble for my reputation as a prophet."
"But you have seen nothing to make you less confident, I hope?" cried the other.
"To be sure I haven't," replied Frank, readily enough. "On the other hand, I ought to feel better satisfied than ever, because we've managed to outwit every cause for trouble that has cropped up this far. We'll get through this coming night without accident, because we're ready for anything. Then, when another day dawns, we'll haul in at Magangua, to hunt José Mendoza up and hear what he can tell us about the parachute that fell among his cocoa trees."
"Hark! what ails the men forward?" exclaimed Andy just then.
They sprang to their feet and rushed to where they could see what was going on.
"Perhaps a mutiny!" exclaimed Frank, who could not tell what queer thing was ever going to happen down in this land, the people of which were so different from all whom he had ever known before.