"Touch and go!" cried Waldo, with a vast inhalation as he watched the aeromotor sail away with the swiftness of a bird on wing.
"And for a weenty bit I reckoned 'twas you and me as part of the go, too!"In company the lads enjoyed a more leisurely meal than their relative had dared wait for, knowing that, at the very least, they would have the whole of that day to themselves, so far as uncle Phaeton was concerned. As a matter of course, he would not attempt to return except under cover of night, or in the early dawn of another day.
All that had been thoroughly discussed and provided for the evening before, and was barely touched upon by the brothers now.
Their first and most natural thought was of yonder Lost City, with its inhabitants, red, white, and yellow, as Waldo put it;but being still under the foreboding fears of the professor, they finally agreed to remain where he left them until after the sun crossed its meridian.
It was a rather early meal which the brothers prepared, if the whole truth must be told; and the last fragments were bolted rather than chewed, feet keeping time with jaws, as they hastened towards the observatory.
There was pretty much the same sort of view as on the day before, the main difference being that many of the Indians were labouring in the fields, instead of watching for the air-demon.
Using the glass by turns, the lads kept eager watch for the white women whom Waldo stubbornly persisted were within the town; but hour after hour passed without the desired reward, and Bruno began to doubt whether there was any such vision to be won.
"The sun was in your eyes, and you let mad fancy run away with your better judgment, boy," he decided, at length. "If not, why--what now?"For Waldo gave a low, eager exclamation, gripping the field-glass as though he would crush in the reinforced leather case. A few moments thus, then he laughed in almost fierce glee, thrusting the glass towards his brother, speaking excitedly:
"A crazy fool lunatic, am I? Well, now, you just take a squint at the old house for yourself and see if--biting you, now, is it?"For Bruno showed even more intense interest as he caught the right line, there taking note of--yes, they surely were white women! Faces, hair, all went to proclaim that fact. And more than that, even.
"Fair--lovely as a painter's dream!" almost painfully breathed the elder Gillespie. "I never saw such a lovely--""Injun squaw, of course. Couple of 'em. Nobody but a fool would ever think different. The idea of finding white women--""They are ladies, Waldo! I never saw such--and I feel that they must be the ones lost by poor Edgecombe when that storm--""That's all right enough, old fellow," interrupted Waldo, claiming the glass once more. "No need of your playing the porker on legs, though, as I see. Give another fellow a chance to squint. But aren't they regular jo-dandies, though, for a fact?"The two women in question, clad in flowing robes of white, lit up here and there by a dash of colour, were slowly pacing to and fro upon the temple where first discovered by the keen-eyed youngster. Thanks to the excellent glass, it was possible to view them clearly in spite of the distance, and there could be no dispute upon that one point: both mother and daughter (granting that such was their relationship) were more than ordinarily fair and comely of both face and person.
For the better part of an hour that slow promenade lasted, and until the women finally passed beyond their range of vision, the brothers took eager and copious notes. Then, in spite of the fact that scores of other figures still came within their field of vision, curiosity lagged.
"It's like watching a street medicine show, after hearing Patti or seeing Irving," muttered Bruno, drawing back and stretching his wearied limbs beyond possible discovery.
"Or the A B C class playing two-old-cat, after a league game of extra innings; right you are, my hearty!" coincided Waldo, feeling pretty much the same way, "only with a difference."Shortly after this, Bruno suggested a retreat to the rendezvous, and for a wonder his brother agreed without amendment.
The brothers passed down to the gulch, which formed the easiest route to their refuge, saying very little, and that in lowered tones. The confirmation so recently won served to stir their hearts deeply, and neither boy could as yet see a way out of the labyrinth that discovery most assuredly opened up before them.
"Of course we can't leave them there to drag on such a wretched existence," declared Bruno. "We couldn't do that, even though we learned they held no relationship to Mr. Edgecombe. But--how?""I reckon it's--what?" abruptly spoke Waldo, gripping an arm and stopping short for a few seconds, but then impulsively springing onward again as wild sounds arose from no great distance.
A score of seconds later they caught sight of a huge grizzly bear in the act of falling upon a slender stripling, whose bronze hue as surely proclaimed one of the Aztec children from yonder Lost City.
What was to be done? Disobey their uncle, or leave this lad to perish?