"No danger of that," Frank continued. "A condor is like our vulture or buzzard, a scavenger; and he lacks the bravery of the bald-headed eagle that attacked us when we came near his nest on the tip of Old Thunder Top. Look there, he's off, Andy, and at a good lively clip, too. Good-bye, old chap, and good luck!"
Andy had lost all interest in the great bird of the western Andes. He was focusing his attention upon the place that he had marked as a likely spot.
"Frank," he said, presently, in a husky voice, "could you drop a little lower and slow down some?"
"That's easy," replied his chum, readily enough. "What has struck you now, Andy?"
"It looks more and more promising to me," came the slow reply, as Andy kept the glasses up to his eyes.
"Then you can glimpse something like cliffs?" asked Frank.
"Yes, and there's no doubt about that part. I'm waiting now to see if the wide valley is wholly enclosed!"
"It must be the place! Oh, Frank! What if we are near the spot? Would he still be alive, or has he given up the fight? That condor perched up on the pinnacle--was he only waiting for the time to come when he could fly down? Perhaps--oh! what is that moving yonder? Look, Frank, Frank, something is coming up above the top of the mountain! Can you see it? If you could only take the glasses and tell me, for my hands are shaking so I can't hold them!"
"Brace up, Andy. I can see what you mean without the glasses. There, now it has risen above the line of rocks--something that bobs to and fro like no bird ever flew--something that floats, now this way and now that, just as the wind blows. Andy, upon my word I believe it is, it must be--"
"Oh, say it for me, please, because I just can't find words!" cried the other.
It was a wonder that in their tremendous excitement something disastrous did not happen to the aeroplane, but Frank had wisely cut off some of the power, so that they were just making fair headway at the time.
"It is a little parachute balloon, just like the one that carried that message into the cocoa grove of Carlos Mendoza!" ejaculated Frank.
"Then it means that we have found the valley prison!" gasped Andy.
"Sure, that's a fact. The cliffs yonder are on one side of it!" Frank cried.