"Ah, Senor," replied Miranda, his mobile features expressing hopeless bewilderment, "I do not know. It is just so as I tell you; he disappear, he vanish, he is gone. If I know where, I find him--I would not be here." "So, there are two disappearances to account for," summed up Leighton. "Foreigners visiting Bogota seem to have the trick of vanishing. What do you make of it, Mr. Arthur?" "I am as much at a loss as you." "Hardly that, I should think. You, at least, know all about this mysterious lake. You know what happened there three years ago, for instance. And then you know----" "You credit me with a great deal more knowledge than I can lay claim to," interrupted Raoul. "I never heard of this man who has been lost, as your excitable friend tells us, in such a singular manner--this Mr. Andrew----" "Parmelee," supplied the other. "Andrew Parmelee, schoolmaster, of Rysdale, Connecticut. He is a very excellent person who, through his devotion to my niece and myself, has fallen, I fear, a victim to some strange plot. You will join us, I have no doubt, in his rescue. I am ignorant of the psychology of Guatavita. However, as I have already told you, I am here to add to my stock of psychological knowledge, and I fancy there are few who could teach me more, in cases of this kind, than you." The sarcasm was not lost on Miranda, who shrugged his shoulders, muttered some unintelligible Spanish imprecation and exchanged a comprehending glance with General Herran. Raoul Arthur, on the other hand, ignored the tone Leighton had adopted in addressing him. In his reply he dropped the irritation and suspicion with which he had first regarded the old savant, and there was even cordiality in the manner and look accompanying his somewhat ceremonious acceptance of the task imposed upon him. "If I thought it possible of so profound a scholar, Professor Leighton," he laughed, "I would say you were chaffing me. As it is, I feel the honor in your proposal that I should join you in solving these mysterious disappearances. Perhaps I can be of some help. At any rate, depend on me for whatever I can do." "Two Americans unaccountably disappear in the heart of Colombia," mused Leighton. "If it were not for certain odd circumstances, I should say the country's indignation over the loss of Panama had something to do with it." Against this suggestion Miranda impatiently protested. "Impossible!" he shouted. "Always these people fight with the gun, the machete, if they are angry. They make much noise and talk; never they steal the enemies of their country and say nothing. It is one plot--and perhaps this senor will know," he concluded, darting an accusing glance at Raoul. But Raoul, now thoroughly composed, smiled disdainfully, although agreeing in Doctor Miranda's rejection of Leighton's half-formed theory.