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@@ -0,0 +1,6147 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders, by Victor Appleton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders + or, The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold + +Author: Victor Appleton + +Posting Date: July 13, 2008 [EBook #499] +Release Date: March 11, 2002 +[Last updated: July 3, 2014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller. + + + + + + + + + +TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS + +or + +The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold + + +BY + +VICTOR APPLETON + + + + AUTHOR OF + "TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTORCYCLE," + "TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL," + "THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES," + "THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS SERIES," ETC. + + + + + THE TOM SWIFT SERIES + + 1 TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE + 2 TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT + 3 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP + 4 TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT + 5 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT + 6 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE + 7 TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS + 8 TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE + 9 TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER + 10 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE + 11 TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD + 12 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER + 13 TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY + 14 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA + 15 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT + 16 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON + 17 TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE + 18 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP + 19 TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL + 20 TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS + 21 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK + 22 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT + 23 TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH + 24 TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS + 25 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE + 26 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT + 27 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER + 28 TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS + 29 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS + + + + + +Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders + + + + +CONTENTS + + I A WONDERFUL STORY + II PROFESSOR BUMPER ARRIVES + III BLESSINGS AND ENTHUSIASM + IV FENIMORE BEECHER + V THE LITTLE GREEN GOD + VI UNPLEASANT NEWS + VII TOM HEARS SOMETHING + VIII OFF FOR HONDURAS + IX VAL JACINTO + X IN THE WILDS + XI THE VAMPIRES + XII A FALSE FRIEND + XIII FORWARD AGAIN + XIV A NEW GUIDE + XV IN THE COILS + XVI A MEETING IN THE JUNGLE + XVII THE LOST MAP + XVIII "EL TIGRE!" + XIX POISONED ARROWS + XX AN OLD LEGEND + XXI THE CAVERN + XXII THE STORM + XXIII ENTOMBED ALIVE + XXIV THE REVOLVING STONE + XXV THE IDOL OF GOLD + + + + +TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A WONDERFUL STORY + + +Tom Swift, who had been slowly looking through the pages of a magazine, +in the contents of which he seemed to be deeply interested, turned the +final folio, ruffled the sheets back again to look at a certain map and +drawing, and then, slapping the book down on a table before him, with a +noise not unlike that of a shot, exclaimed: + +"Well, that is certainly one wonderful story!" + +"What's it about, Tom?" asked his chum, Ned Newton. "Something about +inside baseball, or a new submarine that can be converted into an +airship on short notice?" + +"Neither one, you--you unscientific heathen," answered Tom, with a +laugh at Ned. "Though that isn't saying such a machine couldn't be +invented." + +"I believe you--that is if you got on its trail," returned Ned, and +there was warm admiration in his voice. + +"As for inside baseball, or outside, for that matter, I hardly believe +I'd be able to tell third base from the second base, it's so long since +I went to a game," proceeded Tom. "I've been too busy on that new +airship stabilizer dad gave me an idea for. I've been working too +hard, that's a fact. I need a vacation, and maybe a good baseball +game----" + +He stopped and looked at the magazine he had so hastily slapped down. +Something he had read in it seemed to fascinate him. + +"I wonder if it can possibly be true," he went on. "It sounds like the +wildest dream of a professional sleep-walker; and yet, when I stop to +think, it isn't much worse than some of the things we've gone through +with, Ned." + +"Say, for the love of rice-pudding! will you get down to brass tacks +and strike a trial balance? What are you talking of, anyhow? Is it a +joke?" + +"A joke?" + +"Yes. What you just read in that magazine which seems to cause you so +much excitement." + +"Well, it may be a joke; and yet the professor seems very much in +earnest about it," replied Tom. "It certainly is one wonderful story!" + +"So you said before. Come on--the 'fillium' is busted. Splice it, or +else put in a new reel and on with the show. I'd like to know what's +doing. What professor are you talking of?" + +"Professor Swyington Bumper." + +"Swyington Bumper?" and Ned's voice showed that his memory was a bit +hazy. + +"Yes. You ought to remember him. He was on the steamer when I went +down to Peru to help the Titus Brothers dig the big tunnel. That +plotter Waddington, or some of his tools, dropped a bomb where it might +have done us some injury, but Professor Bumper, who was a fellow +passenger, on his way to South America to look for the lost city of +Pelone, calmly picked up the bomb, plucked out the fuse, and saved us +from bad injuries, if not death. And he was as cool about it as an +ice-cream cone. Surely you remember!" + +"Swyington Bumper! Oh, yes, now I remember him," said Ned Newton. "But +what has he got to do with a wonderful story? Has he written more +about the lost city of Pelone? If he has I don't see anything so very +wonderful in that." + +"There isn't," agreed Tom. "But this isn't that," and Tom picked up +the magazine and leafed it to find the article he had been reading. + +"Let's have a look at it," suggested Ned. "You act as though you might +be vitally interested in it. Maybe you're thinking of joining forces +with the professor again, as you did when you dug the big tunnel." + +"Oh, no. I haven't any such idea," Tom said. "I've got enough work +laid out now to keep me in Shopton for the next year. I have no notion +of going anywhere with Professor Bumper. Yet I can't help being +impressed by this," and, having found the article in the magazine to +which he referred, he handed it to his chum. + +"Why, it's by Bumper himself!" exclaimed Ned. + +"Yes. Though there's nothing remarkable in that, seeing that he is +constantly contributing articles to various publications or writing +books. It's the story itself that's so wonderful. To save you the +trouble of wading through a lot of scientific detail, which I know you +don't care about, I'll tell you that the story is about a queer idol of +solid gold, weighing many pounds, and, in consequence, of great value." + +"Of solid gold you say?" asked Ned eagerly. + +"That's it. Got on your banking air already," Tom laughed. "To sum it +up for you--notice I use the word 'sum,' which is very appropriate for +a bank--the professor has got on the track of another lost or hidden +city. This one, the name of which doesn't appear, is in the Copan +valley of Honduras, and----" + +"Copan," interrupted Ned. "It sounds like the name of some new floor +varnish." + +"Well, it isn't, though it might be," laughed Tom. "Copan is a city, +in the Department of Copan, near the boundary between Honduras and +Guatemala. A fact I learned from the article and not because I +remembered my geography." + +"I was going to say," remarked Ned with a smile, "that you were coming +it rather strong on the school-book stuff." + +"Oh, it's all plainly written down there," and Tom waved toward the +magazine at which Ned was looking. "As you'll see, if you take the +trouble to go through it, as I did, Copan is, or maybe was, for all I +know, one of the most important centers of the Mayan civilization." + +"What's Mayan?" asked Ned. "You see I'm going to imbibe my information +by the deductive rather than the excavative process," he added with a +laugh. + +"I see," laughed Tom. "Well, Mayan refers to the Mayas, an aboriginal +people of Yucatan. The Mayas had a peculiar civilization of their own, +thousands of years ago, and their calendar system was so involved----" + +"Never mind about dates," again interrupted Ned. "Get down to brass +tacks. I'm willing to take your word for it that there's a Copan +valley in Honduras. But what has your friend Professor Bumper to do +with it?" + +"This. He has come across some old manuscripts, or ancient document +records, referring to this valley, and they state, according to this +article he has written for the magazine, that somewhere in the valley +is a wonderful city, traces of which have been found twenty to forty +feet below the surface, on which great trees are growing, showing that +the city was covered hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago." + +"But where does the idol of gold come in?" + +"I'm coming to that," said Tom. "Though, if Professor Bumper has his +way, the idol will be coming out instead of coming in." + +"You mean he wants to get it and take it away from the Copan valley, +Tom?" + +"That's it, Ned. It has great value not only from the amount of pure +gold that is in it, but as an antique. I fancy the professor is more +interested in that aspect of it. But he's written a wonderful story, +telling how he happened to come across the ancient manuscripts in the +tomb of some old Indian whose mummy he unearthed on a trip to Central +America. + +"Then he tells of the trouble he had in discovering how to solve the +key to the translation code; but when he did, he found a great story +unfolded to him. + +"This story has to do with the hidden city, and tells of the ancient +civilization of those who lived in the Copan valley thousands of years +ago. The people held this idol of gold to be their greatest treasure, +and they put to death many of other tribes who sought to steal it." + +"Whew!" whistled Ned. "That IS some yarn. But what is Professor +Bumper going to do about it?" + +"I don't know. The article seems to be written with an idea of +interesting scientists and research societies, so that they will raise +money to conduct a searching expedition. + +"Perhaps by this time the party may be organized--this magazine is +several months old. I have been so busy on my stabilizer patent that I +haven't kept up with current literature. Take it home and read it! +Ned. That is if you're through telling me about my affairs," for Ned, +who had formerly worked in the Shopton bank, had recently been made +general financial manager of the interests of Tom and his father. The +two were inventors and proverbially poor business men, though they had +amassed a fortune. + +"Your financial affairs are all right, Tom," said Ned. "I have just +been going over the books, and I'll submit a detailed report later." + +The telephone bell rang and Tom picked up the instrument from the desk. +As he answered in the usual way and then listened a moment, a strange +look came over his face. + +"Well, this certainly is wonderful!" he exclaimed, in much the same +manner as when he had finished reading the article about the idol. "It +certainly is a strange coincidence," he added, speaking in an aside to +Ned while he himself still listened to what was being told to him over +the telephone wire. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PROFESSOR BUMPER ARRIVES + + +"What's the matter, Tom? What is it?" asked Ned Newton, attracted by +the strange manner of his chum at the telephone. "Has anything +happened?" + +But the young inventor was too busy listening to the unseen speaker to +answer his chum, even if he heard what Ned remarked, which is doubtful. + +"Well, I might as well wait until he is through," mused Ned, as he +started to leave the room. Then as Tom motioned to him to remain, he +murmured: "He may have something to say to me later. But I wonder who +is talking to him." + +There was no way of finding out, however, until Tom had a chance to +talk to Ned, and at present the young scientist was eagerly listening +to what came over the wire. Occasionally Ned could hear him say: + +"You don't tell me! That is surprising! Yes--yes! Of course if it's +true it means a big thing, I can understand that. What's that? No, I +couldn't make a promise like that. I'm sorry, but----" + +Then the person at the other end of the wire must have plunged into +something very interesting and absorbing, for Tom did not again +interrupt by interjected remarks. + +Tom Swift, as has been said, was an inventor, as was his father. Mr. +Swift was now rather old and feeble, taking only a nominal part in the +activities of the firm made up of himself and his son. But his +inventions were still used, many of them being vital to the business +and trade of this country. + +Tom and his father lived in the village of Shopton, New York, and their +factories covered many acres of ground. Those who wish to read of the +earliest activities of Tom in the inventive line are referred to the +initial volume, "Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle." From then on he and +his father had many and exciting adventures. In a motor boat, an +airship, and a submarine respectively the young inventor had gone +through many perils. On some of the trips his chum, Ned Newton, +accompanied him, and very often in the party was a Mr. Wakefield Damon, +who had a curious habit of "blessing" everything that happened to +strike his fancy. + +Besides Tom and his father, the Swift household was made up of +Eradicate Sampson, a colored man-of-all-work, who, with his mule +Boomerang, did what he could to keep the grounds around the house in +order. There was also Mrs. Baggert, the housekeeper, Tom's mother +being dead. Mr. Damon, living in a neighboring town, was a frequent +visitor in the Swift home. + +Mary Nestor, a girl of Shopton, might also be mentioned. She and Tom +were more than just good friends. Tom had an idea that some day----. +But there, I promised not to tell that part, at least until the young +people themselves were ready to have a certain fact announced. + +From one activity to another had Tom Swift gone, now constructing some +important invention for himself, as among others, when he made the +photo-telephone, or developed a great searchlight which he presented to +the Government for use in detecting smugglers on the border. + +The book immediately preceding this is called "Tom Swift and His Big +Tunnel," and deals with the efforts of the young inventor to help a +firm of contractors penetrate a mountain in Peru. How this was done +and how, incidentally, the lost city of Pelone was discovered, bringing +joy to the heart of Professor Swyington Bumper, will be found fully set +forth in the book. + +Tom had been back from the Peru trip for some months, when we again +find him interested in some of the work of Professor Bumper, as set +forth in the magazine mentioned. + +"Well, he certainly is having some conversation," reflected Ned, as, +after more than five minutes, Tom's ear was still at the receiver of +the instrument, into the transmitter of which he had said only a few +words. + +"All right," Tom finally answered, as he hung the receiver up, "I'll be +here," and then he turned to Ned, whose curiosity had been growing with +the telephone talk, and remarked: + +"That certainly was wonderful!" + +"What was?" asked Ned. "Do you think I'm a mind reader to be able to +guess?" + +"No, indeed! I beg your pardon. I'll tell you at once. But I couldn't +break away. It was too important. To whom do you think I was talking +just then?" + +"I can imagine almost any one, seeing I know something of what you have +done. It might be almost anybody from some person you met up in the +caves of ice to a red pygmy from the wilds of Africa." + +"I'm afraid neither of them would be quite up to telephone talk yet," +laughed Tom. "No, this was the gentleman who wrote that interesting +article about the idol of gold," and he motioned to the magazine Ned +held in his hand. + +"You don't mean Professor Bumper!" + +"That's just whom I do mean." + +"What did he want? Where did he call from?" + +"He wants me to help organize an expedition to go to Central +America--to the Copan valley, to be exact--to look for this somewhat +mythical idol of gold. Incidentally the professor will gather in any +other antiques of more or less value, if he can find any, and he hopes, +even if he doesn't find the idol, to get enough historical material for +half a dozen books, to say nothing of magazine articles." + +"Where did he call from; did you say?" + +"I didn't say. But it was a long-distance call from New York. The +Professor stopped off there on his way from Boston, where he has been +lecturing before some society. And now he's coming here to see me," +finished Tom. + +"What! Is he going to lecture here?" cried Ned. "If he is, and spouts +a whole lot of that bone-dry stuff about the ancient Mayan civilization +and their antiquities, with side lights on how the old-time Indians +used to scalp their enemies, I'm going to the moving pictures! I'm +willing to be your financial manager, Tom Swift, but please don't ask +me to be a high-brow. I wasn't built for that." + +"Nor I, Ned. The professor isn't going to lecture. He's only going to +talk, he says." + +"What about?" + +"He's going to try to induce me to join his expedition to the Copan +valley." + +"Do you feel inclined to go?" + +"No, Ned, I do not. I've got too many other irons in the fire. I +shall have to give the professor a polite but firm refusal." + +"Well, maybe you're right, Tom; and yet that idol of +gold--GOLD--weighing how many pounds did you say?" + +"Oh, you're thinking of its money value, Ned, old man!" + +"Yes, I'd like to see what a big chunk of gold like that would bring. +It must be quite a nugget. But I'm not likely to get a glimpse of it +if you don't go with the professor." + +"I don't see how I can go, Ned. But come over and meet the delightful +gentleman when he arrives. I expect him day after to-morrow." + +"I'll be here," promised Ned; and then he went downtown to attend to +some matters connected with his new duties, which were much less +irksome than those he had had when he had been in the bank. + +"Well, Tom, have you heard any more about your friend?" asked Ned, two +days later, as he came to the Swift home with some papers needing the +signature of the young inventor and his father. + +"You mean----?" + +"Professor Bumper." + +"No, I haven't heard from him since he telephoned. But I guess he'll +be here all right. He's very punctual. Did you see anything of my +giant Koku as you came in?" + +"Yes, he and Eradicate were having an argument about who should move a +heavy casting from one of the shops. Rad wanted to do it all alone, +but Koku said he was like a baby now." + +"Poor Rad is getting old," said Tom with a sigh. "But he has been very +faithful. He and Koku never seem to get along well together." + +Koku was an immense man, a veritable giant, one of two whom Tom had +brought back with him after an exciting trip to a strange land. The +giant's strength was very useful to the young inventor. + +"Now Tom, about this business of leasing to the English Government the +right to manufacture that new explosive of yours," began Ned, plunging +into the business at hand. "I think if you stick out a little you can +get a better royalty price." + +"But I don't want to gouge 'em, Ned. I'm satisfied with a fair profit. +The trouble with you is you think too much of money. Now----" + +At that moment a voice was heard in the hall of the house saying: + +"Now, my dear lady, don't trouble yourself. I can find my way in to +Tom Swift perfectly well by myself, and while I appreciate your +courtesy I do not want to trouble you." + +"No, don't come, Mrs. Baggert," added another voice. "Bless my hat +band, I think I know my way about the house by this time!" + +"Mr. Damon!" ejaculated Ned. + +"And Professor Bumper is with him," added Tom. "Come in!" he cried, +opening the hall door, to confront a bald-headed man who stood peering +at our hero with bright snapping eyes, like those of some big bird +spying out the land from afar. "Come in, Professor Bumper; and you +too, Mr. Damon!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BLESSINGS AND ENTHUSIASM + + +Greetings and inquiries as to health having been passed, not without +numerous blessings on the part of Mr. Damon, the little party gathered +in the library of the home of Tom Swift sat down and looked at one +another. + +On Professor Bumper's face there was, plainly to be seen, a look of +expectation, and it seemed to be shared by Mr. Damon, who seemed eager +to burst into enthusiastic talk. On the other hand Tom Swift appeared +a bit indifferent. + +Ned himself admitted that he was frankly curious. The story of the big +idol of gold had occupied his thoughts for many hours. + +"Well, I'm glad to see you both," said Tom again. "You got here all +right, I see, Professor Bumper. But I didn't expect you to meet and +bring Mr. Damon with you." + +"I met him on the train," explained the author of the book on the lost +city of Pelone, as well as books on other antiquities. "I had no +expectation of seeing him, and we were both surprised when we met on +the express." + +"It stopped at Waterfield, Tom," explained Mr. Damon, "which it doesn't +usually do, being an aristocratic sort of train, not given even to +hesitating at our humble little town. There were some passengers to +get off, which caused the flier to stop, I suppose. And, as I wanted +to come over to see you, I got aboard." + +"Glad you did," voiced Tom. + +"Then I happened to see Professor Bumper a few seats ahead of me," went +on Mr. Damon, "and, bless my scarfpin! he was coming to see you also." + +"Well, I'm doubly glad," answered Tom. + +"So here we are," went on Mr. Damon, "and you've simply got to come, +Tom Swift. You must go with us!" and Mr. Damon, in his enthusiasm, +banged his fist down on the table with such force that he knocked some +books to the floor. + +Koku, the giant, who was in the hall, opened the door and in his +imperfect English asked: + +"Master Tom knock for him bigs man?" + +"No," answered Tom with a smile, "I didn't knock or call you, Koku. +Some books fell, that is all." + +"Massa Tom done called fo' me, dat's what he done!" broke in the +petulant voice of Eradicate. + +"No, Rad, I don't need anything," Tom said. "Though you might make a +pitcher of lemonade. It's rather warm." + +"Right away, Massa Tom! Right away!" cried the old colored man, eager +to be of service. + +"Me help, too!" rumbled Koku, in his deep voice. "Me punch de lemons!" +and away he hurried after Eradicate, fearful lest the old servant do +all the honors. + +"Same old Rad and Koku," observed Mr. Damon with a smile. "But now, +Tom, while they're making the lemonade, let's get down to business. +You're going with us, of course!" + +"Where?" asked Tom, more from habit than because he did not know. + +"Where? Why to Honduras, of course! After the idol of gold! Why, bless +my fountain pen, it's the most wonderful story I ever heard of! You've +read Professor Bumper's article, of course. He told me you had. I +read it on the train coming over. He also told me about it, and---- +Well, I'm going with him, Tom Swift. + +"And think of all the adventures that may befall us! We'll get lost in +buried cities, ride down raging torrents on a raft, fall over a cliff +maybe and be rescued. Why, it makes me feel quite young again!" and +Mr. Damon arose, to pace excitedly up and down the room. + +Up to this time Professor Bumper had said very little. He had sat +still in his chair listening to Mr. Damon. But now that the latter had +ceased, at least for a time, Tom and Ned looked toward the scientist. + +"I understand, Tom," he said, "that you read my article in the +magazine, about the possibility of locating some of the lost and buried +cities of Honduras?" + +"Yes, Ned and I each read it. It was quite wonderful." + +"And yet there are more wonders to tell," went on the professor. "I +did not give all the details in that article. I will tell you some of +them. I have brought copies of the documents with me," and he opened a +small valise and took out several bundles tied with pink tape. + +"As Mr. Damon said," he went on while arranging his papers, "he met me +on the train, and he was so taken by the story of the idol of gold that +he agreed to accompany me to Central America." + +"On one condition!" put in the eccentric man. + +"What's that? You didn't make any conditions while we were talking," +said the scientist. + +"Yes, I said I'd go if Tom Swift did." + +"Oh, yes. You did say that. But I don't call that a condition, for of +course Tom Swift will go. Now let me tell you something more than I +could impart over the telephone. + +"Soon after I called you up, Tom--and it was quite a coincidence that +it should have been at a time when you had just finished my magazine +article. Soon after that, as I was saying, I arranged to come on to +Shopton. And now I'm glad we're all here together. + +"But how comes it, Ned Newton, that you are not in the bank?" + +"I've left there," explained Ned. + +"He's now general financial man for the Swift Company," Tom explained. +"My father and I found that we could not look after the inventing and +experimental end, and money matters, too, and as Ned had had +considerable experience this way we made him take over those worries," +and Tom laughed genially. + +"No worries at all, as far as the Swift Company is concerned," returned +Ned. + +"Well, I guess you earn your salary," laughed Tom. "But now, Professor +Bumper, let's hear from you. Is there anything more about this idol of +gold that you can tell us?" + +"Plenty, Tom, plenty. I could talk all day, and not get to the end of +the story. But a lot of it would be scientific detail that might be +too dry for you in spite of this excellent lemonade." + +Between them Koku and Eradicate had managed to make a pitcher of the +beverage, though Mrs. Baggert, the housekeeper, told Tom afterward that +the two had a quarrel in the kitchen as to who should squeeze the +lemons, the giant insisting that he had the better right to "punch" +them. + +"So, not to go into too many details," went on the professor, "I'll +just give you a brief outline of this story of the idol of gold. + +"Honduras, as you of course know, is a republic of Central America, and +it gets its name from something that happened on the fourth voyage of +Columbus. He and his men had had days of weary sailing and had sought +in vain for shallow water in which they might come to an anchorage. +Finally they reached the point now known as Cape Gracias-a-Dios, and +when they let the anchor go, and found that in a short time it came to +rest on the floor of the ocean, some one of the sailors--perhaps +Columbus himself--is said to have remarked: + +"'Thank the Lord, we have left the deep waters (honduras)' that being +the Spanish word for unfathomable depths. So Honduras it was called, +and has been to this day. + +"It is a queer land with many traces of an ancient civilization, a +civilization which I believe dates back farther than some in the far +East. On the sculptured stones in the Copan valley there are +characters which seem to resemble very ancient writing, but this +pictographic writing is largely untranslatable. + +"Honduras, I might add, is about the size of our state of Ohio. It is +rather an elevated tableland, though there are stretches of tropical +forest, but it is not so tropical a country as many suppose it to be. +There is much gold scattered throughout Honduras, though of late it has +not been found in large quantities. + +"In the old days, however, before the Spaniards came, it was plentiful, +so much, so that the natives made idols of it. And it is one of the +largest of these idols--by name Quitzel--that I am going to seek." + +"Do you know where it is?" asked Ned. + +"Well, it isn't locked up in a safe deposit box, of that I'm sure," +laughed the professor. "No, I don't know exactly where it is, except +that it is somewhere in an ancient and buried city known as Kurzon. If +I knew exactly where it was there wouldn't be much fun in going after +it. And if it was known to others it would have been taken away long +ago. + +"No, we've got to hunt for the idol of gold in this land of wonders +where I hope soon to be. Later on I'll show you the documents that put +me on the track of this idol. Enough now to show you an old map I +found, or, rather, a copy of it, and some of the papers that tell of +the idol," and he spread out his packet of papers on the table in front +of him, his eyes shining with excitement and pleasure. Mr. Damon, too, +leaned eagerly forward. + +"So, Tom Swift," went on the professor, "I come to you for help in this +matter. I want you to aid me in organizing an expedition to go to +Honduras after the idol of gold. Will you?" + +"I'll help you, of course," said Tom. "You may use any of my +inventions you choose--my airships, my motor boats and submarines, even +my giant cannon if you think you can take it with you. And as for the +money part, Ned will arrange that for you. But as for going with you +myself, it is out of the question. I can't. No Honduras for me!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FENIMORE BEECHER + + +Had Tom Swift's giant cannon been discharged somewhere in the vicinity +of his home it could have caused but little more astonishment to Mr. +Damon and Professor Bumper than did the simple announcement of the +young inventor. The professor seemed to shrink back in his chair, +collapsing like an automobile tire when the air is let out. As for Mr. +Damon he jumped up and cried: + +"Bless my----!" + +But that is as far as he got--at least just then. He did not seem to +know what to bless, but he looked as though he would have liked to +include most of the universe. + +"Surely you don't mean it, Tom Swift," gasped Professor Bumper at +length. "Won't you come with us?" + +"No," said Tom, slowly. "Really I can't go. I'm working on an +invention of a new aeroplane stabilizer, and if I go now it will be +just at a time when I am within striking distance of success. And the +stabilizer is very much needed." + +"If it's a question of making a profit on it, Tom," began Mr. Damon, "I +can let you have some money until----" + +"Oh, no! It isn't the money!" cried Tom. "Don't think that for a +moment. You see the European war has called for the use of a large +number of aeroplanes, and as the pilots of them frequently have to +fight, and so can not give their whole attention to the machines, some +form of automatic stabilizer is needed to prevent them turning turtle, +or going off at a wrong tangent. + +"So I have been working out a sort of modified gyroscope, and it seems +to answer the purpose. I have already received advance orders for a +number of my devices from abroad, and as they are destined to save +lives I feel that I ought to keep on with my work. + +"I'd like to go, don't misunderstand me, but I can't go at this time. +It is out of the question. If you wait a year, or maybe six months----" + +"No, it is impossible to wait, Tom," declared Professor Bumper. + +"Is it so important then to hurry?" asked Mr. Damon. "You did not +mention that to me, Professor Bumper." + +"No, I did not have time. There are so many ends to my concerns. But, +Tom Swift, you simply must go!" + +"I can't, my dear professor, much as I should like to." + +"But, Tom, think of it!" cried Mr. Damon, who was as much excited as +was the little bald-headed scientist. "You never saw such an idol of +gold as this. What's its name?" and he looked questioningly at the +professor. + +"Quitzel the idol is called," supplied Professor Bumper. "And it is +supposed to be in a buried city named Kurzon, somewhere in the Sierra +de Merendon range of mountains, in the vicinity of the Copan valley. +Copan is a city, or maybe we'll find it only a town when we get there, +and it is not far from the borders of Guatemala. + +"Tom, if I could show you the translations I have made of the ancient +documents, referring to this idol and the wonderful city over which it +kept guard, I'm sure you'd come with us." + +"Please don't tempt me," Tom said with a laugh. "I'm only too anxious +to go, and if it wasn't for the stabilizer I'd be with you in a minute. +But---- Well, you'll have to get along without me. Maybe I can join +you later." + +"What's this about the idol keeping guard over the ancient city?" asked +Ned, for he was interested in strange stories. + +"It seems," explained the professor, "that in the early days there was +a strange race of people, inhabiting Central America, with a somewhat +high civilization, only traces of which remained when the Spaniards +came. + +"But these traces, and such hieroglyphics, or, to be more exact +pictographs, as I have been able to decipher from the old documents, +tell of one country, or perhaps it was only a city, over which this +great golden idol of Quitzel presided. + +"There is in some of these papers a description of the idol, which is +not exactly a beauty, judged from modern standards. But the main fact +is that it is made of solid gold, and may weigh anywhere from one to +two tons." + +"Two tons of gold!" cried New Newton. "Why, if that's the case it +would be worth----" and he fell to doing a sum in mental arithmetic. + +"I am not so concerned about the monetary value of the statue as I am +about its antiquity," went on Professor Bumper. "There are other +statues in this buried city of Kurzon, and though they may not be so +valuable they will give me a wealth of material for my research work." + +"How do you know there are other statues?" asked Mr. Damon. + +"Because my documents tell me so. It was because the people made other +idols, in opposition, as it were, to Quitzel, that their city or +country was destroyed. At least that is the legend. Quitzel, so the +story goes, wanted to be the chief god, and when the image of a rival +was set up in the temple near him, he toppled over in anger, and part +of the temple went with him, the whole place being buried in ruins. +All the inhabitants were killed, and trace of the ancient city was lost +forever. No, I hope not forever, for I expect to find it." + +"If all the people were killed, and the city buried, how did the story +of Quitzel become known?" asked Mr. Damon. + +"One only of the priests in the temple of Quitzel escaped and set down +part of the tale," said the professor. "It is his narrative, or one +based on it, that I have given you." + +"And now, what I want to do, is to go and make a search for this buried +city. I have fairly good directions as to how it may be reached. We +will have little difficulty in getting to Honduras, as there are fruit +steamers frequently sailing. Of course going into the interior--to the +Copan valley--is going to be harder. But an expedition from a large +college was recently there and succeeded, after much labor, in +excavating part of a buried city. Whether or not it was Kurzon I am +unable to say. + +"But if there was one ancient city there must be more. So I want to +make an attempt. And I counted on you, Tom. You have had considerable +experience in strange quarters of the earth, and you're just the one to +help me. I don't need money, for I have interested a certain +millionaire, and my own college will put up part of the funds." + +"Oh, it isn't a question of money," said Tom. "It's time." + +"That's just what it is with me!" exclaimed Professor Bumper. "I +haven't any time to lose. My rivals may, even now, be on their way to +Honduras!" + +"Your rivals!" cried Tom. "You didn't say anything about them!" + +"No, I believe I didn't. There were so many other things to talk about. +But there is a rival archaeologist who would ask nothing better than to +get ahead of me in this matter. He is younger than I am, and youth is +a big asset nowadays." + +"Pooh! You're not old!" cried Mr. Damon. "You're no older than I am, +and I'm still young. I'm a lot younger than some of these boys who are +afraid to tackle a trip through a tropical wilderness," and he +playfully nudged Tom in the ribs. + +"I'm not a bit afraid!" retorted the young inventor. + +"No, I know you're not," laughed Mr. Damon. "But I've got to say +something, Tom, to stir you up. Ned, how about you? Would you go?" + +"I can't, unless Tom does. You see I'm his financial man now." + +"There you are, Tom Swift!" cried Mr. Damon. "You see you are holding +back a number of persons just because you don't want to go." + +"I certainly wouldn't like to go without Tom," said the professor +slowly. "I really need his help. You know, Tom, we would never have +found the city of Pelone if it had not been for you and your marvelous +powder. The conditions in the Copan valley are likely to be still more +difficult to overcome, and I feel that I risk failure without your +young energy and your inventive mind to aid in the work and to suggest +possible means of attaining our object. Come, Tom, reconsider, and +decide to make the trip." + +"And my promise to go was dependent on Tom's agreement to accompany +us," said Mr. Damon. + +"Come on!" urged the professor, much as one boy might urge another to +take part in a ball game. "Don't let my rival get ahead of me." + +"I wouldn't like to see that," Tom said slowly. "Who is he--any one I +know?" + +"I don't believe so, Tom. He's connected with a large, new college +that has plenty of money to spend on explorations and research work. +Beecher is his name--Fenimore Beecher." + +"Beecher!" exclaimed Tom, and there was such a change in his manner +that his friends could not help noticing it. He jumped to his feet, +his eyes snapping, and he looked eagerly and anxiously at Professor +Bumper. + +"Did you say his name was Fenimore Beecher?" Tom asked in a tense voice. + +"That's what it is--Professor Fenimore Beecher. He is really a learned +young man, and thoroughly in earnest, though I do not like his manner. +But he is trying to get ahead of me, which may account for my feeling." + +Tom Swift did not answer. Instead he hurried from the room with a +murmured apology. + +"I'll be back in about five minutes," he said, as he went out. + +"Well, what's up now?" asked Mr. Damon of Ned, as the young inventor +departed. "What set him off that way?" + +"The mention of Beecher's name, evidently. Though I never heard him +mention such a person before." + +"Nor did I ever hear Professor Beecher speak of Tom," said the +bald-headed scientist. "Well, we'll just have to wait until----" + +At that moment Tom came back into the room. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I have reconsidered my refusal to go to the +Copan valley after the idol of gold. I'm going with you!" + +"Good!" cried Professor Bumper. + +"Fine!" ejaculated Mr. Damon. "Bless my time-table! I thought you'd +come around, Tom Swift." + +"But what about your stabilizer?" asked Ned. + +"I was just talking to my father about it," the young inventor replied. +"He will be able to put the finishing touches on it. So I'll leave it +with him. As soon as I can get ready I'll go, since you say haste is +necessary, Professor Bumper." + +"It is, if we are to get ahead of Beecher." + +"Then we'll get ahead of him!" cried Tom. "I'm with you now from the +start to the finish. I'll show him what I can do!" he added, while Ned +and the others wondered at the sudden change in their friend's manner. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LITTLE GREEN GOD + + +"Tom how soon can we go?" asked Professor Bumper, as he began arranging +his papers, maps and documents ready to place them back in the valise. + +"Within a week, if you want to start that soon." + +"The sooner the better. A week will suit me. I don't know just what +Beecher's plans are, but, he may try to get on the ground first. +Though, without boasting, I may say that he has not had as much +experience as I have had, thanks to you, Tom, when you helped me find +the lost city of Pelone." + +"Well, I hope we'll be as successful this time," murmured Tom. "I +don't want to see Beecher beat you." + +"I didn't know you knew him, Tom," said the professor. + +"Oh, yes, I have met him, once," and there was something in Tom's +manner, though he tried to speak indifferently, that made Ned believe +there was more behind his chum's sudden change of determination than +had yet appeared. + +"He never mentioned you," went on Professor Bumper; "yet the last time +I saw him I said I was coming to see you, though I did not tell him +why." + +"No, he wouldn't be likely to speak of me," said Tom significantly. + +"Well, if that's all settled, I guess I'll go back home and pack up," +said Mr. Damon, making a move to depart. + +"There's no special rush," Tom said. "We won't leave for a week. I +can't get ready in much less time than that." + +"Bless my socks! I know that," ejaculated Mr. Damon. "But if I get my +things packed I can go to a hotel to stay while my wife is away. She +might take a notion to come home unexpectedly, and, though she is a +dear, good soul, she doesn't altogether approve of my going off on +these wild trips with you, Tom Swift. But if I get all packed, and +clear out, she can't find me and she can't hold me back. She is +visiting her mother now. I can send her a wire from Kurzon after I get +there." + +"I don't believe the telegraph there is working," laughed Professor +Bumper. "But suit yourself. I must go back to New York to arrange for +the goods we'll have to take with us. In a week, Tom, we'll start." + +"You must stay to dinner," Tom said. "You can't get a train now +anyhow, and father wants to meet you again. He's pretty well, +considering his age. And he's much better I verily believe since I +said I'd turn over to him the task of finishing the stabilizer. He +likes to work." + +"We'll stay and take the night train back," agreed Mr. Damon. "It will +be like old times, Tom," he went on, "traveling off together into the +wilds. Central America is pretty wild, isn't it?" he asked, as if in +fear of being disappointed on that score. + +"Oh, it's wild enough to suit any one," answered Professor Bumper. + +"Well, now to settle a few details," observed Tom. "Ned, what is the +situation as regards the financial affairs of my father and myself? +Nothing will come to grief if we go away, will there?" + +"I guess not, Tom. But are you going to take your father with you?" + +"No, of course not." + +"But you spoke of 'we.'" + +"I meant you and I are going." + +"Me, Tom?" + +"Sure, you! I wouldn't think of leaving you behind. You want Ned +along, don't you, Professor?" + +"Of course. It will be an ideal party--we four. We'll have to take +natives when we get to Honduras, and make up a mule pack-train for the +interior. I had some thoughts of asking you to take an airship along, +but it might frighten the Indians, and I shall have to depend on them +for guides, as well as for porters. So it will be an old-fashioned +expedition, in a way." + +Mr. Swift came in at this point to meet his old friends. + +"The boy needs a little excitement," he said. "He's been puttering +over that stabilizer invention too long. I can finish the model for +him in a very short time." + +Professor Bumper told Mr. Swift something about the proposed trip, +while Mr. Damon went out with Tom and Ned to one of the shops to look +at a new model aeroplane the young inventor had designed. + +There was a merry party around the table at dinner, though now and then +Ned noticed that Tom had an abstracted and preoccupied air. + +"Thinking about the idol of gold?" asked Ned in a whisper to his chum, +when they were about to leave the table. + +"The idol of gold? Oh, yes! Of course! It will be great if we can +bring that back with us." But the manner in which he said this made Ned +feel sure that Tom had had other thoughts, and that he had used a +little subterfuge in his answer. + +Ned was right, as he proved for himself a little later, when, Mr. Damon +and the professor having gone home, the young financial secretary took +his friend to a quiet corner and asked: + +"What's the matter, Tom?" + +"Matter? What do you mean?" + +"I mean what made you make up your mind so quickly to go on this +expedition when you heard Beecher was going?" + +"Oh--er--well, you wouldn't want to see our old friend Professor Bumper +left, would you, after he had worked out the secret of the idol of +gold? You wouldn't want some young whipper-snapper to beat him in the +race, would you, Ned?" + +"No, of course not." + +"Neither would I. That's why I changed my mind. This Beecher isn't +going to get that idol if I can stop him!" + +"You seem rather bitter against him." + +"Bitter? Oh, not at all. I simply don't want to see my friends +disappointed." + +"Then Beecher isn't a friend of yours?" + +"Oh, I've met him, that is all," and Tom tried to speak indifferently. + +"Humph!" mused Ned, "there's more here than I dreamed of. I'm going to +get at the bottom of it." + +But though Ned tried to pump Tom, he was not successful. The young +inventor admitted knowing the youthful scientist, but that was all, Tom +reiterating his determination not to let Professor Bumper be beaten in +the race for the idol of gold. + +"Let me see," mused Ned, as he went home that evening. "Tom did not +change his mind until he heard Beecher's name mentioned. Now this +shows that Beecher had something to do with it. The only reason Tom +doesn't want Beecher to get this idol or find the buried city is +because Professor Bumper is after it. And yet the professor is not an +old or close friend of Tom's. They met only when Tom went to dig his +big tunnel. There must be some other reason." + +Ned did some more thinking. Then he clapped his hands together, and a +smile spread over his face. + +"I believe I have it!" he cried. "The little green god as compared to +the idol of gold! That's it. I'm going to make a call on my way home." + +This he did, stopping at the home of Mary Nestor, a pretty girl, who, +rumor had it, was tacitly engaged to Tom. Mary was not at home, but +Mr. Nestor was, and for Ned's purpose this answered. + +"Well, well, glad to see you!" exclaimed Mary's father. "Isn't Tom +with you?" he asked a moment later, seeing that Ned was alone. + +"No, Tom isn't with me this evening," Ned answered. "The fact is, he's +getting ready to go off on another expedition, and I'm going with him." + +"You young men are always going somewhere," remarked Mrs. Nestor. +"Where is it to this time?" + +"Some place in Central America," Ned answered, not wishing to be too +particular. He was wondering how he could find out what he wanted to +know, when Mary's mother unexpectedly gave him just the information he +was after. + +"Central America!" she exclaimed. "Why, Father," and she looked at her +husband, "that's where Professor Beecher is going, isn't it?" + +"Yes, I believe he did mention something about that." + +"Professor Beecher, the man who is an authority on Aztec ruins?" asked +Ned, taking a shot in the dark. + +"Yes," said Mr. Nestor. "And a mighty fine young man he is, too. I +knew his father well. He was here on a visit not long ago, young +Beecher was, and he talked most entertainingly about his discoveries. +You remember how interested Mary was, Mother?" + +"Yes, she seemed to be," said Mrs. Nestor. "Tom Swift dropped in +during the course of the evening," she added to Ned, "and Mary +introduced him to Professor Beecher. But I can't say that Tom was much +interested in the professor's talk." + +"No?" questioned Ned. + +"No, not at all. But Tom did not stay long. He left just as Mary and +the professor were drawing a map so the professor could indicate where +he had once made a big discovery." + +"I see," murmured Ned. "Well, I suppose Tom must have been thinking of +something else at the time." + +"Very likely," agreed Mr. Nestor. "But Tom missed a very profitable +talk. I was very much interested myself in what the professor told us, +and so was Mary. She invited Mr. Beecher to come again. He takes +after his father in being very thorough in what he does. + +"Sometimes I think," went on Mr. Nestor, "that Tom isn't quite steady +enough. He's thinking of so many things, perhaps, that he can't get +his mind down to the commonplace. I remember he once sent something +here in a box labeled 'dynamite.' Though there was no explosive in it, +it gave us a great fright. But Tom is a boy, in spite of his years. +Professor Beecher seems much older. We all like him very much." + +"That's nice," said Ned, as he took his departure. He had found out +what he had come to learn. + +"I knew it!" Ned exclaimed as he walked home. "I knew something was in +the wind. The little green god of jealousy has Tom in his clutches. +That's why my inventive friend was so anxious to go on this expedition +when he learned Beecher was to go. He wants to beat him. I guess the +professor has plainly shown that he wouldn't like anything better than +to cut Tom out with Mary. Whew! that's something to think about!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +UNPLEASANT NEWS + + +Ned Newton decided to keep to himself what he had heard at the Nestor +home. Not for the world would he let Tom Swift know of the situation. + +"That is, I won't let him know that I know," said Ned to himself, +"though he is probably as well aware of the situation as I am. But it +sure is queer that this Professor Beecher should have taken such a +fancy to Mary, and that her father should regard him so well. That is +natural, I suppose. But I wonder how Mary herself feels about it. +That is the part Tom would be most interested in. + +"No wonder Tom wants to get ahead of this young college chap, who +probably thinks he's the whole show. If he can find the buried city, +and get the idol of gold, it would be a big feather in his cap. + +"He'd have no end of honors heaped on him, and I suppose his hat +wouldn't come within three sizes of fitting him. Then he'd stand in +better than ever with Mr. Nestor. And, maybe, with Mary, too, though I +think she is loyal to Tom. But one never can tell. + +"However, I'm glad I know about it. I'll do all I can to help Tom, +without letting him know that I know. And if I can do anything to help +in finding that idol of gold for Professor Bumper, and, incidentally, +Tom, I'll do it," and he spoke aloud in his enthusiasm. + +Ned, who was walking along in the darkness, clapped his open hand down +on Tom's magazine he was carrying home to read again, and the resultant +noise was a sharp crack. As it sounded a figure jumped from behind a +tree and called tensely: + +"Hold on there!" + +Ned stopped short, thinking he was to be the victim of a holdup, but +his fears were allayed when he beheld one of the police force of +Shopton confronting him. + +"I heard what you said about gettin' the gold," went on the officer. +"I was walkin' along and I heard you talkin'. Where's your pal?" + +"I haven't any, Mr. Newbold," answered Ned with a laugh, as he +recognized the man. + +"Oh, pshaw! It's Ned Newton!" exclaimed the disappointed officer. "I +thought you was talkin' to a confederate about gold, and figured maybe +you was goin' to rob the bank." + +"No, nothing like that," answered Ned, still much amused. "I was +talking to myself about a trip Tom Swift and I are going to take +and----" + +"Oh, that's all right," responded the policeman. "I can understand it, +if it had anything to do with Tom. He's a great boy." + +"Indeed he is," agreed Ned, making a mental resolve not to be so public +with his thoughts in the future. He chatted for a moment with the +officer, and then, bidding him good-night, walked on to his home, his +mind in a whirl with conglomerate visions of buried cities, great +grinning idols of gold, and rival professors seeking to be first at the +goal. + +The next few days were busy ones for Tom, Ned and, in fact, the whole +Swift household. Tom and his father had several consultations and +conducted several experiments in regard to the new stabilizer, the +completion of which was so earnestly desired. Mr. Swift was sure he +could carry the invention to a successful conclusion. + +Ned was engaged in putting the financial affairs of the Swift Company +in shape, so they would practically run themselves during his absence. +Then, too, there was the packing of their baggage which must be seen to. + +Of course, the main details of the trip were left to Professor Bumper, +who knew just what to do. He had told Tom and Ned that all they and +Mr. Damon would have to do would be to meet him at the pier in New +York, where they would find all arrangements made. + +One day, near the end of the week (the beginning of the next being set +for the start) Eradicate came shuffling into the room where Tom was +sorting out the possessions he desired to take with him, Ned assisting +him in the task. + +"Well, Rad, what is it?" asked Tom, with businesslike energy. + +"I done heah, Massa Tom, dat yo' all's gwine off on a long trip once +mo'. Am dat so?" + +"Yes, that's so, Rad." + +"Well, den, I'se come to ast yo' whut I'd bettah take wif me. Shall I +took warm clothes or cool clothes?" + +"Well, if you were going, Rad," answered Tom with a smile, "you'd need +cool clothes, for we're going to a sort of jungle-land. But I'm sorry +to say you're not going this trip." + +"I---- I ain't gwine? Does yo' mean dat yo' all ain't gwine to take +me, Massa Tom?" + +"That's it, Rad. It isn't any trip for you." + +"Is certain not!" broke in the voice of Koku, the giant, who entered +with a big trunk Tom had sent him for. "Master want strong man like a +bull. He take Koku!" + +"Look heah!" spluttered Eradicate, and his eyes flashed. "Yo'--yo' +giant yo'--yo' may be strong laik a bull, but ya' ain't got as much +sense as mah mule, Boomerang! Massa Tom don't want no sich pusson wif +him. He's gwine to take me." + +"He take me!" cried Koku, and his voice was a roar while he beat on his +mighty chest with his huge fists. + +Tom, seeing that the dispute was likely to be bothersome, winked at Ned +and began to speak. + +"I don't believe you'd like it there, Rad--not where we're going. It's +a bad country. Why the mosquitoes there bite holes in you--raise bumps +on you as big as eggs." + +"Oh, good land!" ejaculated the old colored man. "Am dat so Massa Tom?" + +"It sure is. Then there's another kind of bug that burrows under your +fingernails, and if you don't get 'em out, your fingers drop off." + +"Oh, good land, Massa Tom! Am dat a fact?" + +"It sure is. I don't want to see those things happen to you, Rad." + +Slowly the old colored man shook his head. + +"I don't mahse'f," he said. "I---- I guess I won't go." + +Eradicate did not stop to ask how Tom and Ned proposed to combat these +two species of insects. + +But there remained Koku to dispose of, and he stood smiling broadly as +Eradicate shuffled off. + +"Me no 'fraid bugs," said the giant. + +"No," said Tom, with a look at Ned, for he did not want to take the big +man on the trip for various reasons. "No, maybe not, Koku. Your skin +is pretty tough. But I understand there are deep pools of water in the +land where we are going, and in them lives a fish that has a hide like +an alligator and a jaw like a shark. If you fall in it's all up with +you." + +"Dat true, Master Tom?" and Koku's voice trembled. + +"Well, I've never seen such a fish, I'm sure, but the natives tell +about it." + +Koku seemed to be considering the matter. Strange as it may seem, the +giant, though afraid of nothing human and brave when it came to a +hand-to-claw argument with a wild animal, had a very great fear of the +water and the unseen life within it. Even a little fresh-water crab in +a brook was enough to send him shrieking to shore. So when Tom told of +this curious fish, which many natives of Central America firmly believe +in, the giant took thought with himself. Finally, he gave a sigh and +said: + +"Me stay home and keep bad mans out of master's shop." + +"Yes, I guess that's the best thing for you," assented Tom with an air +of relief. He and Ned had talked the matter over, and they had agreed +that the presence of such a big man as Koku, in an expedition going on +a more or less secret mission, would attract too much attention. + +"Well, I guess that clears matters up," said Tom, as he looked over a +collection of rifles and small arms, to decide which to take. "We +won't have them to worry about." + +"No, only Professor Beecher," remarked Ned, with a sharp look at his +chum. + +"Oh, we'll dispose of him all right!" asserted Tom boldly. "He hasn't +had any experience in business of this sort, and with what you and +Professor Bumper and Mr. Damon know we ought to have little trouble in +getting ahead of the young man." + +"Not to speak of your own aid," added Ned. + +"Oh, I'll do what I can, of course," said Tom, with an air of +indifference. But Ned knew his chum would work ceaselessly to help get +the idol of gold. + +Tom gave no sign that there was any complication in his affair with +Mary Nestor, and of course Ned did not tell anything of what he knew +about it. + +That night saw the preparations of Ned and Tom about completed. There +were one or two matters yet to finish on Tom's part in relation to his +business, but these offered no difficulties. + +The two chums were in the Swift home, talking over the prospective +trip, when Mrs. Baggert, answering a ring at the front door, announced +that Mr. Damon was outside. + +"Tell him to come in," ordered Tom. + +"Bless my baggage check!" exclaimed the excitable man, as he shook +hands with Tom and Ned and noted the packing evidences all about. +"You're ready to go to the land of wonders." + +"The land of wonders?" repeated Ned. + +"Yes, that's what Professor Bumper calls the part of Honduras we're +going to. And it must be wonderful, Tom. Think of whole cities, some +of them containing idols and temples of gold, buried thirty and forty +feet under the surface! Wonderful is hardly the name for it!" + +"It'll be great!" cried Ned. "I suppose you're ready, Mr. Damon--you +and the professor?" + +"Yes. But, Tom, I have a bit of unpleasant news for you." + +"Unpleasant news?" + +"Yes. You know Professor Bumper spoke of a rival--a man named Beecher +who is a member of the faculty of a new and wealthy college." + +"I heard him speak of him--yes," and the way Tom said it no one would +have suspected that he had any personal interest in the matter. + +"He isn't going to give his secret away," thought Ned. + +"Well, this Professor Beecher, you know," went on Mr. Damon, "also +knows about the idol of gold, and is trying to get ahead of Professor +Bumper in the search." + +"He did say something of it, but nothing was certain," remarked Tom. + +"But it is certain!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Bless my toothpick, it's +altogether too certain!" + +"How is that?" asked Tom. "Is Beecher certainly going to Honduras?" + +"Yes, of course. But what is worse, he and his party will leave New +York on the same steamer with us!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TOM HEARS SOMETHING + + +On hearing Mr. Damon's rather startling announcement, Tom and Ned +looked at one another. There seemed to be something back of the simple +statement--an ominous and portending "something." + +"On the same steamer with us, is he?" mused Tom. + +"How did you learn this?" asked Ned. + +"Just got a wire from Professor Bumper telling me. He asked me to +telephone to you about it, as he was too busy to call up on the long +distance from New York. But instead of 'phoning I decided to come over +myself." + +"Glad you did," said Tom, heartily. "Did Professor Bumper want us to +do anything special, now that it is certain his rival will be so close +on his trail?" + +"Yes, he asked me to warn you to be careful what you did and said in +reference to the expedition." + +"Then does he fear something?" asked Ned. + +"Yes, in a way. I think he is very much afraid this young Beecher will +not only be first on the site of the underground city, but that he may +be the first to discover the idol of gold. It would be a great thing +for a young archaeologist like Beecher to accomplish a mission of this +sort, and beat Professor Bumper in the race." + +"Do you think that's why Beecher decided to go on the same steamer we +are to take?" asked Ned. + +"Yes, I do," said Mr. Damon. "Though from what Professor Bumper said I +know he regards Professor Beecher as a perfectly honorable man, as well +as a brilliant student. I do not believe Beecher or his party would +stoop to anything dishonorable or underhand, though they would not +hesitate, nor would we, to take advantage of every fair chance to win +in the race." + +"No, I suppose that's right," observed Tom; but there was a queer gleam +in his eye, and his chum wondered if Tom did not have in mind the +prospective race between himself and Fenimore Beecher for the regard of +Mary Nestor. "We'll do our best to win, and any one is at liberty to +travel on the same steamer we are to take," added the young inventor, +and his tone became more incisive. + +"It will be all the livelier with two expeditions after the same golden +idol," remarked Ned. + +"Yes, I think we're in for some excitement," observed Tom grimly. But +even he did not realize all that lay before them ere they would reach +Kurzon. + +Mr. Damon, having delivered his message, and remarking that his +preparations for leaving were nearly completed, went back to +Waterfield, from there to proceed to New York in a few days with Tom +and Ned, to meet Professor Bumper. + +"Well, I guess we have everything in pretty good shape," remarked Tom +to his chum a day or so after the visit of Mr. Damon. "Everything is +packed, and as I have a few personal matters to attend to I think I'll +take the afternoon off." + +"Go to it!" laughed Ned, guessing a thing of two. "I've got a raft of +stuff myself to look after, but don't let that keep you." + +"If there is anything I can do," began Tom, "don't hesitate to----" + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Ned. "I can do it all alone. It's some of the +company's business, anyhow, and I'm paid for looking after that." + +"All right, then I'll cut along," Tom said, and he wore a relieved air. + +"He's going to see Mary," observed Ned with a grin, as he observed Tom +hop into his trim little roadster, which under his orders, Koku had +polished and cleaned until it looked as though it had just come from +the factory. + +A little later the trim and speedy car drew up in front of the Nestor +home, and Tom bounded up on the front porch, his heart not altogether +as light as his feet. + +"No, I'm sorry, but Mary isn't in," said Mrs. Nestor, answering his +inquiry after greeting him. + +"Not at home?" + +"No, she went on a little visit to her cousin's at Fayetteville. She +said something about letting you know she was going." + +"She did drop me a card," answered Tom, and, somehow he did not feel at +all cheerful. "But I thought it wasn't until next week she was going." + +"That was her plan, Tom. But she changed it. Her cousin wired, asking +her to advance the date, and this Mary did. There was something about +a former school chum who was also to be at Myra's house--Myra is Mary's +cousin you know." + +"Yes, I know," assented the young inventor. "And so Mary is gone. How +long is she going to stay?" + +"Oh, about two weeks. She wasn't quite certain. It depends on the +kind of a time she has, I suppose." + +"Yes, I suppose so," agreed Tom. "Well, if you write before I do you +might say I called, Mrs. Nestor." + +"I will, Tom. And I know Mary will be sorry she wasn't here to take a +ride with you; it's such a nice day," and the lady smiled as she looked +at the speedy roadster. + +"Maybe--maybe you'd like to come for a spin?" asked Tom, half +desperately. + +"No, thank you. I'm too old to be jounced around in one of those small +cars." + +"Nonsense! She rides as easily as a Pullman sleeper." + +"Well, I have to go to a Red Cross meeting, anyhow, so I can't come, +Tom. Thank you, just the same." + +Tom did not drive back immediately to his home. He wanted to do a bit +of thinking, and he believed he could do it best by himself. So it was +late afternoon when he again greeted Ned, who, meanwhile, had been kept +very busy. + +"Well?" called Tom's chum. + +"Um!" was the only answer, and Tom called Koku to put the car away in +the garage. + +"Something wrong," mused Ned. + +The next three days were crowded with events and with work. Mr. Damon +came over frequently to consult with Tom and Ned, and finally the last +of their baggage had been packed, certain of Tom's inventions and +implements sent on by express to New York to be taken to Honduras, and +then our friends themselves followed to the metropolis. + +"Good-bye, Tom," said his father. "Good-bye, and good luck! If you +don't get the idol of gold I'm sure you'll have experiences that will +be valuable to you." + +"We're going to get the idol of gold!" said Tom determinedly. + +"Look out for the bad bugs," suggested Eradicate. + +"We will," promised Ned. + +Tom's last act was to send a message to Mary Nestor, and then he, with +Ned and Mr. Damon, who blessed everything in sight from the gasoline in +the automobile to the blue sky overhead, started for the station. + +New York was reached without incident. The trio put up at the hotel +where Professor Bumper was to meet them. + +"He hasn't arrived yet," said Tom, after glancing over the names on the +hotel register and not seeing Professor Bumper's among them. + +"Oh, he'll be here all right," asserted Mr. Damon. "Bless my galvanic +battery! he sent me a telegram at one o'clock this morning saying he'd +be sure to meet us in New York. No fear of him not starting for the +land of wonders." + +"There are some other professors registered, though," observed Ned, as +he glanced at the book, noting the names of several scientists of whom +he and Tom had read. + +"Yes. I wonder what they're doing in New York," replied Tom. "They +are from New England. Maybe there's a convention going on. Well, +we'll have to wait, that's all, until Professor Bumper comes." + +And during that wait Tom heard something that surprised him and caused +him no little worry. It was when Ned came back to his room, which +adjoined Tom's, that the young treasurer gave his chum the news. + +"I say, Tom!" Ned exclaimed. "Who do you think those professors are, +whose names we saw on the register?" + +"I haven't the least idea." + +"Why, they're of Beecher's party!" + +"You don't mean it!" + +"I surely do." + +"How do you know?" + +"I happened to overhear two of them talking down in the lobby a while +ago. They didn't make any secret of it. They spoke freely of going +with Beecher to some ancient city in Honduras, to look for an idol of +gold." + +"They did? But where is Beecher?" + +"He hasn't joined them yet. Their plans have been changed. Instead of +leaving on the same steamer we are to take in the morning they are to +come on a later one. The professors here are waiting for Beecher to +come." + +"Why isn't he here now?" + +"Well, I heard one of the other scientists say that he had gone to a +place called Fayetteville, and will come on from there." + +"Fayetteville!" ejaculated Tom. + +"Yes. That isn't far from Shopton." + +"I know," assented Tom. "I wonder--I wonder why he is going there?" + +"I can tell you that, too." + +"You can? You're a regular detective." + +"No, I just happened to overhear it. Beecher is going to call on Mary +Nestor in Fayetteville, so his friends here said he told them, and his +call has to do with an important matter--to him!" and Ned gazed +curiously at his chum. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OFF FOR HONDURAS + + +Just what Tom's thoughts were, Ned, of course, could not guess. But by +the flush that showed under the tan of his chum's cheeks the young +financial secretary felt pretty certain that Tom was a bit apprehensive +of the outcome of Professor Beecher's call on Mary Nestor. + +"So he is going to see her about 'something important,' Ned?" + +"That's what some members of his party called it." + +"And they're waiting here for him to join them?" + +"Yes. And it means waiting a week for another steamer. It must be +something pretty important, don't you think, to cause Beecher to risk +that delay in starting after the idol of gold?" + +"Important? Yes, I suppose so," assented Tom. "And yet even if he +waits for the next steamer he will get to Honduras nearly as soon as we +do." + +"How is that?" + +"The next boat is a faster one." + +"Then why don't we take that? I hate dawdling along on a slow +freighter." + +"Well, for one thing it would hardly do to change now, when all our +goods are on board. And besides, the captain of the _Relstab_, on +which we are going to sail, is a friend of Professor Bumper's." + +"Well, I'm just as glad Beecher and his party aren't going with us," +resumed Ned, after a pause. "It might make trouble." + +"Oh, I'm ready for any trouble HE might make!" quickly exclaimed Tom. + +He meant trouble that might be developed in going to Honduras, and +starting the search for the lost city and the idol of gold. This kind +of trouble Tom and his friends had experienced before, on other trips +where rivals had sought to frustrate their ends. + +But, in his heart, though he said nothing to Ned about it, Tom was +worried. Much as he disliked to admit it to himself, he feared the +visit of Professor Beecher to Mary Nestor in Fayetteville had but one +meaning. + +"I wonder if he's going to propose to her," thought Tom. "He has the +field all to himself now, and her father likes him. That's in his +favor. I guess Mr. Nestor has never quite forgiven me for that mistake +about the dynamite box, and that wasn't my fault. Then, too, the +Beecher and Nestor families have been friends for years. Yes, he +surely has the inside edge on me, and if he gets her to throw me +over---- Well, I won't give up without a fight!" and Tom mentally +girded himself for a battle of wits. + +"He's relying on the prestige he'll get out of this idol of gold if his +party finds it," thought on the young inventor. "But I'll help find it +first. I'm glad to have a little start of him, anyhow, even if it +isn't more than two days. Though if our vessel is held back much by +storms he may get on the ground first. However, that can't be helped. +I'll do the best I can." + +These thoughts shot through Tom's mind even as Ned was asking his +questions and making comments. Then the young inventor, shaking his +shoulders as though to rid them of some weight, remarked: + +"Well, come on out and see the sights. It will be long before we look +on Broadway again." + +When the chums returned from their sightseeing excursion, they found +that Professor Bumper had arrived. + +"Where's Professor Bumper?" asked Ned, the next day. + +"In his room, going over books, papers and maps to make sure he has +everything." + +"And Mr. Damon?" + +Tom did not have to answer that last question. Into the apartment came +bursting the excited individual himself. + +"Bless my overshoes!" he cried, "I've been looking everywhere for you! +Come on, there's no time to lose!" + +"What's the matter now?" asked Ned. "Is the hotel on fire?" + +"Has anything happened to Professor Bumper?" Tom demanded, a wild idea +forming in his head that perhaps some one of the Beecher party had +tried to kidnap the discoverer of the lost city of Pelone. + +"Oh, everything is all right," answered Mr. Damon. "But it's nearly +time for the show to start, and we don't want to be late. I have +tickets." + +"For what?" asked Tom and Ned together. + +"The movies," was the laughing reply. "Bless my loose ribs! but I +wouldn't miss him for anything. He's in a new play called 'Up in a +Balloon Boys.' It's great!" and Mr. Damon named a certain comic moving +picture star in whose horse-play Mr. Damon took a curious interest. +Tom and Ned were glad enough to go, Tom that he might have a chance to +do a certain amount of thinking, and Ned because he was still boy +enough to like moving pictures. + +"I wonder, Tom," said Mr. Damon, as they came out of the theater two +hours later, all three chuckling at the remembrance of what they had +seen, "I wonder you never turned your inventive mind to the movies." + +"Maybe I will, some day," said Tom. + +He spoke rather uncertainly. The truth of the matter was that he was +still thinking deeply of the visit of Professor Beecher to Mary Nestor, +and wondering what it portended. + +But if Tom's sleep was troubled that night he said nothing of it to his +friends. He was up early the next morning, for they were to leave that +day, and there was still considerable to be done in seeing that their +baggage and supplies were safely loaded, and in attending to the last +details of some business matters. + +While at the hotel they had several glimpses of the members of the +Beecher party who were awaiting the arrival of the young professor who +was to lead them into the wilds of Honduras. But our friends did not +seek the acquaintance of their rivals. The latter, likewise, remained +by themselves, though they knew doubtless that there was likely to be a +strenuous race for the possession of the idol of gold, then, it was +presumed, buried deep in some forest-covered city. + +Professor Bumper had made his arrangements carefully. As he explained +to his friends, they would take the steamer from New York to Puerto +Cortes, one of the principal seaports of Honduras. This is a town of +about three thousand inhabitants, with an excellent harbor and a big +pier along which vessels can tie up and discharge their cargoes +directly into waiting cars. + +The preparations were finally completed. The party went aboard the +steamer, which was a large freight vessel, carrying a limited number of +passengers, and late one afternoon swung down New York Bay. + +"Off for Honduras!" cried Ned gaily, as they passed the Statue of +Liberty. "I wonder what will happen before we see that little lady +again." + +"Who knows?" asked Tom, shrugging his shoulders, Spanish fashion. And +there came before him the vision of a certain "little lady," about whom +he had been thinking deeply of late. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +VAL JACINTO + + +"Rather tame, isn't it, Tom?" + +"Well, Ned, it isn't exactly like going up in an airship," and Tom +Swift who was gazing over the rail down into the deep blue water of the +Caribbean Sea, over which their vessel was then steaming, looked at his +chum beside him. + +"No, and your submarine voyage had it all over this one for +excitement," went on Ned. "When I think of that----" + +"Bless my sea legs!" interrupted Mr. Damon, overhearing the +conversation. "Don't speak of THAT trip. My wife never forgave me for +going on it. But I had a fine time," he added with a twinkle of his +eyes. + +"Yes, that was quite a trip," observed Tom, as his mind went back to +it. "But this one isn't over yet remember. And I shouldn't be +surprised if we had a little excitement very soon." + +"What do you mean?" asked Ned. + +Up to this time the voyage from New York down into the tropical seas +had been anything but exciting. There were not many passengers besides +themselves, and the weather had been fine. + +At first, used as they were to the actions of unscrupulous rivals in +trying to thwart their efforts, Tom and Ned had been on the alert for +any signs of hidden enemies on board the steamer. But aside from a +little curiosity when it became known that they were going to explore +little-known portions of Honduras, the other passengers took hardly any +interest in our travelers. + +It was thought best to keep secret the fact that they were going to +search for a wonderful idol of gold. Not even the mule and ox-cart +drivers, whom they would hire to take them into the wilds of the +interior would be told of the real object of the search. It would be +given out that they were looking for interesting ruins of ancient +cities, with a view to getting such antiquities as might be there. + +"What do you mean?" asked Ned again, when Tom did not answer him +immediately. "What's the excitement?" + +"I think we're in for a storm," was the reply. "The barometer is +falling and I see the crew going about making everything snug. So we +may have a little trouble toward this end of our trip." + +"Let it come!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "We're not afraid of trouble, Tom +Swift, are we?" + +"No, to be sure we're not. And yet it looks as though the storm would +be a bad one." + +"Then I am going to see if my books and papers are ready, so I can get +them together in a hurry in case we have to take to the life-boats," +said Professor Bumper, coming on deck at that moment. "It won't do to +lose them. If we didn't have the map we might not be able to find----" + +"Ahem!" exclaimed Tom, with unnecessary emphasis it seemed. "I'll help +you go over your papers, Professor," he added, and with a wink and a +motion of his hand, he enjoined silence on his friend. Ned looked +around for a reason for this, and observed a man, evidently of Spanish +extraction, passing them as he paced up and down the deck. + +"What's the matter?" asked the scientist in a whisper, as the man went +on. "Do you know him? Is he a----?" + +"I don't know anything about him," said Tom; "but it is best not to +speak of our trip before strangers." + +"You are right, Tom," said Professor Bumper. "I'll be more careful." + +A storm was brewing, that was certain. A dull, sickly yellow began to +obscure the sky, and the water, from a beautiful blue, turned a slate +color and ran along the sides of the vessel with a hissing sound as +though the sullen waves would ask nothing better than to suck the craft +down into their depths. The wind, which had been freshening, now sang +in louder tones as it hummed through the rigging and the funnel stays +and bowled over the receiving conductors of the wireless. + +Sharp commands from the ship's officers hastened the work of the crew +in making things snug, and life lines were strung along deck for the +safety of such of the passengers as might venture up when the blow +began. + +The storm was not long in coming. The howling of the wind grew louder, +flecks of foam began to separate themselves from the crests of the +waves, and the vessel pitched, rolled and tossed more violently. At +first Tom and his friends thought they were in for no more than an +ordinary blow, but as the storm progressed, and the passengers became +aware of the anxiety on the part of the officers and crew, the alarm +spread among them. + +It really was a violent storm, approaching a hurricane in force, and at +one time it seemed as though the craft, having been heeled far over +under a staggering wave that swept her decks, would not come back to an +even keel. + +There was a panic among some of the passengers, and a few excited men +behaved in a way that caused prompt action on the part of the first +officer, who drove them back to the main cabin under threat of a +revolver. For the men were determined to get to the lifeboats, and a +small craft would not have had a minute to live in such seas as were +running. + +But the vessel proved herself sturdier than the timid ones had dared to +hope, and she was soon running before the blast, going out of her +course, it is true, but avoiding the danger among the many cays, or +small islands, that dot the Caribbean Sea. + +There was nothing to do but to let the storm blow itself out, which it +did in two days. Then came a period of delightful weather. The cargo +had shifted somewhat, which gave the steamer a rather undignified list. + +This, as well as the loss of a deckhand overboard, was the effect of +the hurricane, and though the end of the trip came amid sunshine and +sweet-scented tropical breezes, many could not forget the dangers +through which they had passed. + +In due time Tom and his party found themselves safely housed in the +small hotel at Puerto Cortes, their belongings stored in a convenient +warehouse and themselves, rather weary by reason of the stress of +weather, ready for the start into the interior wilds of Honduras. + +"How are we going to make the trip?" asked Ned, as they sat at supper, +the first night after their arrival, eating of several dishes, the +red-pepper condiments of which caused frequent trips to the water +pitcher. + +"We can go in two ways, and perhaps we shall find it to our advantage +to use both means," said Professor Bumper. "To get to this city of +Kurzon," he proceeded in a low voice, so that none of the others in the +dining-room would hear them, "we will have to go either by mule back or +boat to a point near Copan. As near as I can tell by the ancient maps, +Kurzon is in the Copan valley. + +"Now the Chamelecon river seems to run to within a short distance of +there, but there is no telling how far up it may be navigable. If we +can go by boat it will be much more comfortable. Travel by mules and +ox-carts is slow and sure, but the roads are very bad, as I have heard +from friends who have made explorations in Honduras. + +"And, as I said, we may have to use both land and water travel to get +us where we want to go. We can proceed as far as possible up the +river, and then take to the mules." + +"What about arranging for boats and animals?" asked Tom. "I should +think----" + +He suddenly ceased talking and reached for the water, taking several +large swallows. + +"Whew!" he exclaimed, when he could catch his breath. "That was a hot +one." + +"What did you do?" asked Ned. + +"Bit into a nest of red pepper. Guess I'll have to tell that cook to +scatter his hits. He's bunching 'em too much in my direction," and Tom +wiped the tears from his eyes. + +"To answer your question," said Professor Bumper, "I will say that I +have made partial arrangements for men and animals, and boats if it is +found feasible to use them. I've been in correspondence with one of +the merchants here, and he promised to make arrangements for us." + +"When do we leave?" asked Mr. Damon. + +"As soon as possible. I am not going to risk anything by delay," and +it was evident the professor referred to his young rival whose arrival +might be expected almost any time. + +As the party was about to leave the table, they were approached by a +tall, dignified Spaniard who bowed low, rather exaggeratedly low, Ned +thought, and addressed them in fairly good English. + +"Your pardons, Senors," he began, "but if it will please you to avail +yourself of the humble services of myself, I shall have great pleasure +in guiding you into the interior. I have at my command both mules and +boats." + +"How do you know we are going into the interior?" asked Tom, a bit +sharply, for he did not like the assurance of the man. + +"Pardon, Senor. I saw that you are from the States. And those from +the States do not come to Honduras except for two reasons. To travel +and make explorations or to start trade, and professors do not usually +engage in trade," and he bowed to Professor Bumper. + +"I saw your name on the register," he proceeded, "and it was not +difficult to guess your mission," and he flashed a smile on the party, +his white teeth showing brilliantly beneath his small, black moustache. + +"I make it my business to outfit traveling parties, either for +business, pleasure or scientific matters. I am, at your service, Val +Jacinto," and he introduced himself with another low bow. + +For a moment Tom and his friends hardly knew how to accept this offer. +It might be, as the man had said, that he was a professional tour +conductor, like those who have charge of Egyptian donkey-boys and +guides. Or might he not be a spy? + +This occurred to Tom no less than to Professor Bumper. They looked at +one another while Val Jacinto bowed again and murmured: + +"At your service!" + +"Can you provide means for taking us to the Copan valley?" asked the +professor. "You are right in one respect. I am a scientist and I +purpose doing some exploring near Copan. Can you get us there?" + +"Most expensively--I mean, most expeditionlessly," said Val Jacinto +eagerly. "Pardon my unhappy English. I forget at times. The charges +will be most moderate. I can send you by boat as far as the river +travel is good, and then have mules and ox-carts in waiting." + +"How far is it?" asked Tom. + +"A hundred miles as the vulture flies, Senor, but much farther by river +and road. We shall be a week going." + +"A hundred miles in a week!" groaned Ned. "Say, Tom, if you had your +aeroplane we'd be there in an hour." + +"Yes, but we haven't it. However, we're in no great rush." + +"But we must not lose time," said Professor Bumper. "I shall consider +your offer," he added to Val Jacinto. + +"Very good, Senor. I am sure you will be pleased with the humble +service I may offer you, and my charges will be small. Adios," and he +bowed himself away. + +"What do you think of him?" asked Ned, as they went up to their rooms +in the hotel, or rather one large room, containing several beds. + +"He's a pretty slick article," said Mr. Damon. "Bless my check-book! +but he spotted us at once, in spite of our secrecy." + +"I guess these guide purveyors are trained for that sort of thing," +observed the scientist. "I know my friends have often spoken of having +had the same experience. However, I shall ask my friend, who is in +business here, about this Val Jacinto, and if I find him all right we +may engage him." + +Inquiries next morning brought the information, from the head of a +rubber exporting firm with whom the professor was acquainted, that the +Spaniard was regularly engaged in transporting parties into the +interior, and was considered efficient, careful and as honest as +possible, considering the men he engaged as workers. + +"So we have decided to engage you," Professor Bumper informed Val +Jacinto the afternoon following the meeting. + +"I am more than pleased, Senor. I shall take you into the wilds of +Honduras. At your service!" and he bowed low. + +"Humph! I don't just like the way our friend Val says that," observed +Tom to Ned a little later. "I'd have been better pleased if he had +said he'd guide us into the wilds and out again." + +If Tom could have seen the crafty smile on the face of the Spaniard as +the man left the hotel, the young inventor might have felt even less +confidence in the guide. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IN THE WILDS + + +"All aboard! Step lively now! This boat makes no stops this side of +Boston!" cried Ned Newton gaily, as he got into one of the several tree +canoes provided for the transportation of the party up the Chamelecon +river, for the first stage of their journey into the wilds of Honduras. +"All aboard! This reminds me of my old camping days, Tom." + +It brought those days back, in a measure, to Tom also. For there were +a number of canoes filled with the goods of the party, while the +members themselves occupied a larger one with their personal baggage. +Strong, half-naked Indian paddlers were in charge of the canoes which +were of sturdy construction and light draft, since the river, like most +tropical streams, was of uncertain depths, choked here and there with +sand bars or tropical growths. + +Finding that Val Jacinto was regularly engaged in the business of +taking explorers and mine prospectors into the interior, Professor +Bumper had engaged the man. He seemed to be efficient. At the +promised time he had the canoes and paddlers on hand and the goods +safely stowed away while one big craft was fitted up as comfortably as +possible for the men of the party. + +As Ned remarked, it did look like a camping party, for in the canoes +were tents, cooking utensils and, most important, mosquito canopies of +heavy netting. + +The insect pests of Honduras, as in all tropical countries, are +annoying and dangerous. Therefore it was imperative to sleep under +mosquito netting. + +On the advice of Val Jacinto, who was to accompany them, the travelers +were to go up the river about fifty miles. This was as far as it would +be convenient to use the canoes, the guide told Tom and his friends, +and from there on the trip to the Copan valley would be made on the +backs of mules, which would carry most of the baggage and equipment. +The heavier portions would be transported in ox-carts. + +As Professor Bumper expected to do considerable excavating in order to +locate the buried city, or cities, as the case might be, he had to +contract for a number of Indian diggers and laborers. These could be +hired in Copan, it was said. + +The plan, therefore, was to travel by canoes during the less heated +parts of the day, and tie up at night, making camp on shore in the +net-protected tents. As for the Indians, they did not seem to mind the +bites of the insects. They sometimes made a smudge fire, Val Jacinto +had said, but that was all. + +"Well, we haven't seen anything of Beecher and his friends," remarked +the young inventor as they were about to start. + +"No, he doesn't seem to have arrived," agreed Professor Bumper. "We'll +get ahead of him, and so much the better. + +"Well, are we all ready to start?" he continued, as he looked over the +little flotilla which carried his party and his goods. + +"The sooner the better!" cried Tom, and Ned fancied his chum was +unusually eager. + +"I guess he wants to make good before Beecher gets the chance to show +Mary Nestor what he can do," thought Ned. "Tom sure is after that idol +of gold." + +"You may start, Senor Jacinto," said the professor, and the guide +called something in Indian dialect to the rowers. Lines were cast off +and the boats moved out into the stream under the influence of the +sturdy paddlers. + +"Well, this isn't so bad," observed Ned, as he made himself comfortable +in his canoe. "How about it, Tom?" + +"Oh, no. But this is only the beginning." + +A canopy had been arranged over their boat to keep off the scorching +rays of the sun. The boat containing the exploring party and Val +Jacinto took the lead, the baggage craft following. At the place where +it flowed into the bay on which Puerto Cortes was built, the stream was +wide and deep. + +The guide called something to the Indians, who increased their stroke. + +"I tell them to pull hard and that at the end of the day's journey they +will have much rest and refreshment," he translated to Professor Bumper +and the others. + +"Bless my ham sandwich, but they'll need plenty of some sort of +refreshment," said Mr. Damon, with a sigh. "I never knew it to be so +hot." + +"Don't complain yet," advised Tom, with a laugh. "The worst is yet to +come." + +It really was not unpleasant traveling, aside from the heat. And they +had expected that, coming as they had to a tropical land. But, as Tom +said, what lay before them might be worse. + +In a little while they had left behind them all signs of civilization. +The river narrowed and flowed sluggishly between the banks which were +luxuriant with tropical growth. Now and then some lonely Indian hut +could be seen, and occasionally a craft propelled by a man who was +trying to gain a meager living from the rubber forest which hemmed in +the stream on either side. + +As the canoe containing the men was paddled along, there floated down +beside it what seemed to be a big, rough log. + +"I wonder if that is mahogany," remarked Mr. Damon, reaching over to +touch it. "Mahogany is one of the most valuable woods of Honduras, and +if this is a log of that nature---- + +"Bless my watch chain!" he suddenly cried. "It's alive!" + +And the "log" was indeed so, for there was a sudden flash of white +teeth, a long red opening showed, and then came a click as an immense +alligator, having opened and closed his mouth, sank out of sight in a +swirl of water. + +Mr. Damon drew back so suddenly that he tilted the canoe, and the black +paddlers looked around wonderingly. + +"Alligator," explained Jacinto succinctly, in their tongue. + +"Ugh!" they grunted. + +"Bless my--bless my----" hesitated Mr. Damon, and for one of the very +few times in his life his language failed him. + +"Are there many of them hereabouts?" asked Ned, looking back at the +swirl left by the saurian. + +"Plenty," said the guide, with a shrug of his shoulders. He seemed to +do as much talking that way, and with his hands, as he did in speech. +"The river is full of them." + +"Dangerous?" queried Tom. + +"Don't go in swimming," was the significant advice. "Wait, I'll show +you," and he called up the canoe just behind. + +In this canoe was a quantity of provisions. There was a chunk of meat +among other things, a gristly piece, seeing which Mr. Damon had +objected to its being brought along, but the guide had said it would do +for fish bait. With a quick motion of his hand, as he sat in the +awning-covered stern with Tom, Ned and the others, Jacinto sent the +chunk of meat out into the muddy stream. + +Hardly a second later there was a rushing in the water as though a +submarine were about to come up. An ugly snout was raised, two rows of +keen teeth snapped shut as a scissors-like jaw opened, and the meat was +gone. + +"See!" was the guide's remark, and something like a cold shiver of fear +passed over the white members of the party. "This water is not made in +which to swim. Be careful!" + +"We certainly shall," agreed Tom. "They're fierce." + +"And always hungry," observed Jacinto grimly. + +"And to think that I--that I nearly had my hand on it," murmured Mr. +Damon. "Ugh! Bless my eyeglasses!" + +"The alligator nearly had your hand," said the guide. "They can turn +in the water like a flash, wherefore it is not wise to pat one on the +tail lest it present its mouth instead." + +They paddled on up the river, the dusky Indians now and then breaking +out into a chant that seemed to give their muscles new energy. The +song, if song it was, passed from one boat to the other, and as the +chant boomed forth the craft shot ahead more swiftly. + +They made a landing about noon, and lunch was served. Tom and his +friends were hungry in spite of the heat. Moreover, they were +experienced travelers and had learned not to fret over inconveniences +and discomforts. The Indians ate by themselves, two acting as servants +to Jacinto and the professor's party. + +As is usual in traveling in the tropics, a halt was made during the +heated middle of the day. Then, as the afternoon shadows were waning, +the party again took to the canoes and paddled on up the river. + +"Do you know of a good place to stop during the night?" asked Professor +Bumper of Jacinto. + +"Oh, yes; a most excellent place. It is where I always bring +scientific parties I am guiding. You may rely on me." + +It was within an hour of dusk--none too much time to allow in which to +pitch camp in the tropics, where night follows day suddenly--when a +halt was called, as a turn of the river showed a little clearing on the +edge of the forest-bound river. + +"We stay here for the night," said Jacinto. "It is a good place." + +"It looks picturesque enough," observed Mr. Damon. "But it is rather +wild." + +"We are a good distance from a settlement," agreed the guide. "But one +can not explore--and find treasure in cities," and he shrugged his +shoulders again. + +"Find treasure? What do you mean?" asked Tom quickly. "Do you think +that we----?" + +"Pardon, Senor," replied Jacinto softly. "I meant no offense. I think +that all you scientific parties will take treasure if you can find it." + +"We are looking for traces of the old Honduras civilization," put in +Professor Bumper. + +"And doubtless you will find it," was the somewhat too courteous answer +of the guide. "Make camp quickly!" he called to the Indians in their +tongue. "You must soon get under the nets or you will be eaten alive!" +he told Tom. "There are many mosquitoes here." + +The tents were set up, smudge fires built and supper quickly prepared. +Dusk fell rapidly, and as Tom and Ned walked a little way down toward +the river before turning in under the mosquito canopies, the young +financial man said: + +"Sort of lonesome and gloomy, isn't it, Tom?" + +"Yes. But you didn't expect to find a moving picture show in the wilds +of Honduras, did you?" + +"No, and yet-- Look out! What's that?" suddenly cried Ned, as a great +soft, black shadow seemed to sweep out of a clump of trees toward him. +Involuntarily he clutched Tom's arm and pointed, his face showing fear +in the fast-gathering darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE VAMPIRES + + +Tom Swift looked deliberately around. It was characteristic of him +that, though by nature he was prompt in action, he never acted so +hurriedly as to obscure his judgment. So, though now Ned showed a +trace of strange excitement, Tom was cool. + +"What is it?" asked the young inventor. "What's the matter? What did +you think you saw, Ned; another alligator?" + +"Alligator? Nonsense! Up on shore? I saw a black shadow, and I didn't +THINK I saw it, either. I really did." + +Tom laughed quietly. + +"A shadow!" he exclaimed. "Since when were you afraid of shadows, Ned?" + +"I'm not afraid of ordinary shadows," answered Ned, and in his voice +there was an uncertain tone. "I'm not afraid of my shadow or yours, +Tom, or anybody's that I can see. But this wasn't any human shadow. +It was as if a great big blob of wet darkness had been waved over your +head." + +"That's a queer explanation," Tom said in a low voice. "A great big +blob of wet darkness!" + +"But that just describes it," went on Ned, looking up and around. "It +was just as if you were in some dark room, and some one waved a wet +velvet cloak over your head--spooky like! It didn't make a sound, but +there was a smell as if a den of some wild beast was near here. I +remember that odor from the time we went hunting with your electric +rifle in the jungle, and got near the den in the rocks where the tigers +lived." + +"Well, there is a wild beast smell all around here," admitted Tom, +sniffing the air. "It's the alligators in the river I guess. You know +they have an odor of musk." + +"Do you mean to say you didn't feel that shadow flying over us just +now?" asked Ned. + +"Well, I felt something sail through the air, but I took it to be a big +bird. I didn't pay much attention. To tell you the truth I was +thinking about Beecher--wondering when he would get here," added Tom +quickly as if to forestall any question as to whether or not his +thoughts had to do with Beecher in connection with Tom's affair of the +heart. + +"Well it wasn't a bird--at least not a regular bird," said Ned in a low +voice, as once more he looked at the dark and gloomy jungle that +stretched back from the river and behind the little clearing where the +camp had been made. + +"Come on!" cried Tom, in what he tried to make a cheerful voice. "This +is getting on your nerves, Ned, and I didn't know you had any. Let's +go back and turn in. I'm dog-tired and the mosquitoes are beginning to +find that we're here. Let's get under the nets. Then the black +shadows won't get you." + +Not at all unwilling to leave so gloomy a scene, Ned, after a brief +glance up and down the dark river, followed his chum. They found +Professor Bumper and Mr. Damon in their tent, a separate one having +been set up for the two men adjoining that of the youths. + +"Bless my fountain pen!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, as he caught sight of Tom +and Ned in the flickering light of the smudge fire between the two +canvas shelters. "We were just wondering what had become of you." + +"We were chasing shadows!" laughed Tom. "At least Ned was. But you +look cozy enough in there." + +It did, indeed, look cheerful in contrast to the damp and dark jungle +all about. Professor Bumper, being an experienced traveler, knew how +to provide for such comforts as were possible. Folding cots had been +opened for himself, Mr. Damon and the guide to sleep on, others, +similar, being set up in the tent where Tom and Ned were to sleep. In +the middle of the tent the professor had made a table of his own and +Mr. Damon's suit cases, and on this placed a small dry battery electric +light. He was making some notes, doubtless for a future book. Jacinto +was going about the camp, seeing that the Indians were at their duties, +though most of them had gone directly to sleep after supper. + +"Better get inside and under the nets," advised Professor Bumper to Tom +and Ned. "The mosquitoes here are the worst I ever saw." + +"We're beginning to believe that," returned Ned, who was unusually +quiet. "Come on, Tom. I can't stand it any longer. I'm itching in a +dozen places now from their bites." + +As Tom and Ned had no wish for a light, which would be sure to attract +insects, they entered their tent in the dark, and were soon stretched +out in comparative comfort. Tom was just on the edge of a deep sleep +when he heard Ned murmur: + +"I can't understand it!" + +"What's that?" asked the young inventor. + +"I say I can't understand it." + +"Understand what?" + +"That shadow. It was real and yet----" + +"Oh, go to sleep!" advised Tom, and, turning over, he was soon +breathing heavily and regularly, indicating that he, at least, had +taken his own advice. + +Ned, too, finally succumbed to the overpowering weariness of the first +day of travel, and he, too, slept, though it was an uneasy slumber, +disturbed by a feeling as though some one were holding a heavy black +quilt over his head, preventing him from breathing. + +The feeling, sensation or dream--whatever it was--perhaps a +nightmare--became at last so real to Ned that he struggled himself into +wakefulness. With an effort he sat up, uttering an inarticulate cry. +To his surprise he was answered. Some one asked: + +"What is the matter?" + +"Who--who are you?" asked Ned quickly, trying to peer through the +darkness. + +"This is Jacinto--your guide," was the soft answer. "I was walking +about camp and, hearing you murmuring, I came to your tent. Is +anything wrong?" + +For a moment Ned did not answer. He listened and could tell by the +continued heavy and regular breathing of his chum that Tom was still +asleep. + +"Are you in our tent?" asked Ned, at length: + +"Yes," answered Jacinto. "I came in to see what was the matter with +you. Are you ill?" + +"No, of course not," said Ned, a bit shortly. "I--I had a bad dream, +that was all. All right now." + +"For that I am glad. Try to get all the sleep you can, for we must +start early to avoid the heat of the day," and there was the sound of +the guide leaving and arranging the folds of the mosquito net behind +him to keep out the night-flying insects. + +Once more Ned composed himself to sleep, and this time successfully, +for he did not have any more unpleasant dreams. The quiet of the +jungle settled down over the camp, at least the comparative quiet of +the jungle, for there were always noises of some sort going on, from +the fall of some rotten tree limb to the scream or growl of a wild +beast, while, now and again, from the river came the pig-like grunts of +the alligators. + +It was about two o'clock in the morning, as they ascertained later, +when the whole camp--white travelers and all--was suddenly awakened by +a wild scream. It seemed to come from one of the natives, who called +out a certain word ever and over again. To Tom and Ned it sounded like: + +"Oshtoo! Oshtoo! Oshtoo!" + +"What's the matter?" cried Professor Bumper. + +"The vampires!" came the answering voice of Jacinto. "One of the +Indians has been attacked by a big vampire bat! Look out, every one! +It may be a raid by the dangerous creatures! Be careful!" + +Notwithstanding this warning Ned stuck his head out of the tent. The +same instant he was aware of a dark enfolding shadow passing over him, +and, with a shudder of fear, he jumped back. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FALSE FRIEND + + +"What is it? What's the matter?" cried Tom springing from his cot and +hastening to the side of his chum in the tent. "What has happened, +Ned?" + +"I don't know, but Jacinto is yelling something about vampires!" + +"Vampires?" + +"Yes. Big bats. And he's warning us to be careful. I stuck my head +out just now and I felt that same sort of shadow I felt this evening +when we were down near the river." + +"Nonsense!" + +"I tell you I did!" + +At that instant Tom flashed a pocket electric lamp he had taken from +beneath his pillow and in the gleam of it he and Ned saw fluttering +about the tent some dark, shadow-like form, at the sight of which Tom's +chum cried: + +"There it is! That's the shadow! Look out!" and he held up his hands +instinctively to shield his face. + +"Shadow!" yelled Tom, unconsciously adding to the din that seemed to +pervade every part of the camp. "That isn't a shadow. It's substance. +It's a monster bat, and here goes for a strike at it!" + +He caught up his camera tripod which was near his cot, and made a swing +with it at the creature that had flown into the tent through an opening +it had made for itself. + +"Look out!" yelled Ned. "If it's a vampire it'll----" + +"It won't do anything to me!" shouted Tom, as he struck the creature, +knocking it into the corner of the tent with a thud that told it must +be completely stunned, if not killed. "But what's it all about, +anyhow?" Tom asked. "What's the row?" + +From without the tent came the Indian cries of: + +"Oshtoo! Oshtoo!" + +Mingled with them were calls of Jacinto, partly in Spanish, partly in +the Indian tongue and partly in English. + +"It is a raid by vampire bats!" was all Tom and Ned could distinguish. +"We shall have to light fires to keep them away, if we can succeed. +Every one grab up a club and strike hard!" + +"Come on!" cried Tom, getting on some clothes by the light of his +gleaming electric light which he had set on his cot. + +"You're not going out there, are you?" asked Ned. + +"I certainly am! If there's a fight I want to be in it, bats or +anything else. Here, you have a light like mine. Flash it on, and +hang it somewhere on yourself. Then get a club and come on. The +lights will blind the bats, and we can see to hit 'em!" + +Tom's plan seemed to be a good one. His lamp and Ned's had small hooks +on them, so they could be carried in the upper coat pocket, showing a +gleam of light and leaving the hands free for use. + +Out of the tents rushed the young men to find Professor Bumper and Mr. +Damon before them. The two men had clubs and were striking about in +the half darkness, for now the Indians had set several fires aglow. +And in the gleams, constantly growing brighter as more fuel was piled +on, the young inventor and his chum saw a weird sight. + +Circling and wheeling about in the camp clearing were many of the black +shadowy forms that had caused Ned such alarm. Great bats they were, +and a dangerous species, if Jacinto was to be believed. + +The uncanny creatures flew in and out among the trees and tents, now +swooping low near the Indians or the travelers. At such times clubs +would be used, often with the effect of killing or stunning the flying +pests. For a time it seemed as if the bats would fairly overwhelm the +camp, so many of them were there. But the increasing lights, and the +attacks made by the Indians and the white travelers turned the tide of +battle, and, with silent flappings of their soft, velvety wings, the +bats flew back to the jungle whence they had emerged. + +"We are safe--for the present!" exclaimed Jacinto with a sigh of relief. + +"Do you think they will come back?" asked Tom. + +"They may--there is no telling." + +"Bless my speedometer!" cried Mr. Damon, "If those beasts or +birds--whatever they are--come back I'll go and hide in the river and +take my chances with the alligators!" + +"The alligators aren't much worse," asserted Jacinto with a visible +shiver. "These vampire bats sometimes depopulate a whole village." + +"Bless my shoe laces!" cried Mr. Damon. "You don't mean to say that +the creatures can eat up a whole village?" + +"Not quite. Though they might if they got the chance," was the answer +of the Spanish guide. "These vampire bats fly from place to place in +great swarms, and they are so large and blood-thirsty that a few of +them can kill a horse or an ox in a short time by sucking its blood. +So when the villagers find they are visited by a colony of these +vampires they get out, taking their live stock with them, and stay in +caves or in densely wooded places until the bats fly on. Then the +villagers come back. + +"It was only a small colony that visited us tonight or we would have +had more trouble. I do not think this lot will come back. We have +killed too many of them," and he looked about on the ground where many +of the uncanny creatures were still twitching in the death struggle. + +"Come back again!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my skin! I hope not! I've +had enough of bats--and mosquitoes," he added, as he slapped at his +face and neck. + +Indeed the party of whites were set upon by the night insects to such +an extent that it was necessary to hurry back to the protection of the +nets. + +Tom and Ned kicked outside the bat the former had killed in their tent, +and then both went back to their cots. But it was some little time +before they fell asleep. And they did not have much time to rest, for +an early start must be made to avoid the terrible heat of the middle of +the day. + +"Whew!" whistled Ned, as he and Tom arose in the gray dawn of the +morning when Jacinto announced the breakfast which the Indian cook had +prepared. "That was some night! If this is a sample of the wilds of +Honduras, give me the tameness of Shopton." + +"Oh, we've gone through with worse than this," laughed Tom. "It's all +in the day's work. We've only got started. I guess we're a bit soft, +Ned, though we had hard enough work in that tunnel-digging." + +After breakfast, while the Indians were making ready the canoes, +Professor Bumper, who, in a previous visit to Central America, had +become interested in the subject, made a brief examination of some of +the dead bats. They were exceptionally large, some almost as big as +hawks, and were of the sub-family _Desmodidae_, the scientist said. + +"This is a true blood-sucking bat," went on the professor. "This," and +he pointed to the nose-leaves, "is the sucking apparatus. The bat +makes an opening in the skin with its sharp teeth and proceeds to +extract the blood. I can well believe two or three of them, attacking +a steer or mule at once, could soon weaken it so the animal would die." + +"And a man, too?" asked Ned. + +"Well a man has hands with which to use weapons, but a helpless +quadruped has not. Though if a sufficient number of these bats +attacked a man at the same time, he would have small chance to escape +alive. Their bites, too, may be poisonous for all I know." + +The Indians seemed glad to leave the "place of the bats," as they +called the camp site. Jacinto explained that the Indians believed a +vampire could kill them while they slept, and they were very much +afraid of the blood-sucking bats. There were many other species in the +tropics, Professor Bumper explained, most of which lived on fruit or on +insects they caught. The blood-sucking bats were comparatively few, +and the migratory sort fewer still. + +"Well, we're on our way once more," remarked Tom as again they were in +the canoes being paddled up the river. "How much longer does your +water trip take, Professor?" + +"I hardly know," and Professor Bumper looked to Jacinto to answer. + +"We go two more days in the canoes," the guide answered, "and then we +shall find the mules waiting for us at a place called Hidjio. From +then on we travel by land until--well until you get to the place where +you are going. + +"I suppose you know where it is?" he added, nodding toward the +professor. "I am leaving that part to you." + +"Oh, I have a map, showing where I want to begin some excavations," was +the answer. "We must first go to Copan and see what arrangements we +can make for laborers. After that--well, we shall trust to luck for +what we shall find." + +"There are said to be many curious things," went on Jacinto, speaking +as though he had no interest. "You have mentioned buried cities. Have +you thought what may be in them--great heathen temples, idols, perhaps?" + +For a moment none of the professor's companions spoke. It was as +though Jacinto had tried to get some information. Finally the +scientist said: + +"Oh, yes, we may find an idol. I understand the ancient people, who +were here long before the Spaniards came, worshiped idols. But we +shall take whatever antiquities we find." + +"Huh!" grunted Jacinto, and then he called to the paddlers to increase +their strokes. + +The journey up the river was not very eventful. Many alligators were +seen, and Tom and Ned shot several with the electric rifle. Toward the +close of the third day's travel there was a cry from one of the rear +boats, and an alarm of a man having fallen overboard was given. + +Tom turned in time to see the poor fellow's struggles, and at the same +time there was a swirl in the water and a black object shot forward. + +"An alligator is after him!" yelled Ned. + +"I see," observed Tom calmly. "Hand me the rifle, Ned." + +Tom took quick aim and pulled the trigger. The explosive electric +bullet went true to its mark, and the great animal turned over in a +death struggle. But the river was filled with them, and no sooner had +the one nearest the unfortunate Indian been disposed of than another +made a dash for the man. + +There was a wild scream of agony and then a dark arm shot up above the +red foam. The waters seethed and bubbled as the alligators fought +under it for possession of the paddler. Tom fired bullet after bullet +from his wonderful rifle into the spot, but though he killed some of +the alligators this did not save the man's life. His body was not seen +again, though search was made for it. + +The accident cast a little damper over the party, and there was a +feeling of gloom among the Indians. Professor Bumper announced that he +would see to it that the man's family did not want, and this seemed to +give general satisfaction, especially to a brother who was with the +party. + +Aside from being caught in a drenching storm and one or two minor +accidents, nothing else of moment marked the remainder of the river +journey, and at the end of the third day the canoes pulled to shore and +a night camp was made. + +"But where are the mules we are to use in traveling to-morrow?" asked +the professor of Jacinto. + +"In the next village. We shall march there in the morning. No use to +go there at night when all is dark." + +"I suppose that is so." + +The Indians made camp as usual, the goods being brought from the canoes +and piled up near the tents. Then night settled down. + +"Hello!" cried Tom, awakening the next morning to find the sun +streaming into his tent. "We must have overslept, Ned. We were to +start before old Sol got in his heavy work, but we haven't had +breakfast yet." + +"I didn't hear any one call us," remarked Ned. + +"Nor I. Wonder if we're the only lazy birds." He looked from the tent +in time to see Mr. Damon and the professor emerging. Then Tom noticed +something queer. The canoes were not on the river bank. There was not +an Indian in sight, and no evidence of Jacinto. + +"What's the matter?" asked the young inventor. "Have the others gone +on ahead?" + +"I rather think they've gone back," was the professor's dry comment. + +"Gone back?" + +"Yes. The Indians seem to have deserted us at the ending of this stage +of our journey." + +"Bless my time-table!" cried Mr. Damon. "You don't say so! What does +it mean? What has becomes of our friend Jacinto?" + +"I'm afraid he was rather a false friend," was the professor's answer. +"This is the note he left. He has gone and taken the canoes and all +the Indians with him," and he held out a paper on which was some +scribbled writing. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FORWARD AGAIN + + +"What does it all mean?" asked Tom, seeing that the note was written in +Spanish, a tongue which he could speak slightly but read indifferently. + +"This is some of Beecher's work," was Professor Bumper's grim comment. +"It seems that Jacinto was in his pay." + +"In his pay!" cried Mr. Damon. "Do you mean that Beecher deliberately +hired Jacinto to betray us?" + +"Well, no. Not that exactly. Here, I'll translate this note for you," +and the professor proceeded to read: + + +"Senors: I greatly regret the step I have to take, but I am a +gentleman, and, having given my word, I must keep it. No harm shall +come to you, I swear it on my honor!" + + +"Queer idea of honor he has!" commented Tom, grimly. + +Professor Bumper read on: + + +"Know then, that before I engaged myself to you I had been engaged by +Professor Beecher through a friend to guide him into the Copan valley, +where he wants to make some explorations, for what I know not, save +maybe that it is for gold. I agreed, in case any rival expeditions +came to lead them astray if I could. + +"So, knowing from what you said that you were going to this place, I +engaged myself to you, planning to do what I have done. I greatly +regret it, as I have come to like you, but I had given my promise to +Professor Beecher's friend, that I would first lead him to the Copan +valley, and would keep others away until he had had a chance to do his +exploration. + +"So I have led you to this wilderness. It is far from the Copan, but +you are near an Indian village, and you will be able to get help in a +week or so. In the meanwhile you will not starve, as you have plenty +of supplies. If you will travel northeast you will come again to +Puerto Cortes in due season. As for the money I had from you, I +deposit it to your credit, Professor Beecher having made me an +allowance for steering rival parties on the wrong trail. So I lose +nothing, and I save my honor. + +"I write this note as I am leaving in the night with the Indians. I +put some harmless sedative in your tea that you might sleep soundly, +and not awaken until we were well on our way. Do not try to follow us, +as the river will carry us swiftly away. And, let me add, there is no +personal animosity on the part of Professor Beecher against you. I +should have done to any rival expedition the same as I have done with +you. + +JACINTO." + + +For a moment there was silence, and then Tom Swift burst out with: + +"Well, of all the mean, contemptible tricks of a human skunk this is +the limit!" + +"Bless my hairbrush, but he is a scoundrel!" ejaculated Mr. Damon, with +great warmth. + +"I'd like to start after him the biggest alligator in the river," was +Ned's comment. + +Professor Bumper said nothing for several seconds. There was a strange +look on his face, and then he laughed shortly, as though the humor of +the situation appealed to him. + +"Professor Beecher has more gumption than I gave him credit for," he +said. "It was a clever trick!" + +"Trick!" cried Tom. + +"Yes. I can't exactly agree that it was the right thing to do, but he, +or some friend acting for him, seems to have taken precautions that we +are not to suffer or lose money. Beecher goes on the theory that all +is fair in love and war, I suppose, and he may call this a sort of +scientific war." + +Ned wondered, as he looked at his chum, how much love there was in it. +Clearly Beecher was determined to get that idol of gold. + +"Well, it can't be helped, and we must make the best of it," said Tom, +after a pause. + +"True. But now, boys, let's have breakfast, and then we'll make what +goods we can't take with us as snug as possible, until we can send the +mule drivers after them," went on Professor Bumper. + +"Send the mule drivers after them?" questioned Ned. "What do you mean +to do?" + +"Do? Why keep on, of course. You don't suppose I'm going to let a +little thing like this stand between me and the discovery of Kurzon and +the idol of gold, do you?" + +"But," began Mr. Damon, "I don't see how--" + +"Oh, we'll find a way," interrupted Tom. "It isn't the first time I've +been pretty well stranded on an expedition of this kind, and sometimes +from the same cause--the actions of a rival. Now we'll turn the tables +on the other fellows and see how they like it. The professor's +right--let's have breakfast. Jacinto seems to have told the truth. +Nothing of ours is missing." + +Tom and Ned got the meal, and then a consultation was held as to what +was best to be done. + +"We can't go on any further by water, that's sure," said Tom. "In the +first place the river is too shallow, and secondly we have no canoes. +So the only thing is to go on foot through the jungle." + +"But how can we, and carry all this stuff?" asked Ned. + +"We needn't carry it!" cried Professor Bumper. "We'll leave it here, +where it will be safe enough, and tramp on to the nearest Indian +village. There we'll hire bearers to take our stuff on until we can +get mules. I'm not going to turn back!" + +"Good!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my rubber boots! but that's what I +say--keep on!" + +"Oh, no! we'll never turn back," agreed Tom. + +"But how can we manage it?" asked Ned. + +"We've just got to! And when you have to do a thing, it's a whole lot +easier to do than if you just feel as though you ought to. So, lively +is the word!" cried Tom, in answer. + +"We'll pack up what we can carry and leave the rest," added the +scientist. + +Being an experienced traveler Professor Bumper had arranged his baggage +so that it could be carried by porters if necessary. Everything could +be put into small packages, including the tents and food supply. + +"There are four of us," remarked Tom, "and if we can not pack enough +along with us to enable us to get to the nearest village, we had better +go back to civilization. I'm not afraid to try." + +"Nor I!" cried Mr. Damon. + +The baggage, stores and supplies that were to be left behind were made +as snug as possible, and so piled up that wild beasts could do the +least harm. Then a pack was made up for each one to carry. + +They would take weapons, of course, Tom Swift's electric rifle being +the one he choose for himself. They expected to be able to shoot game +on their way, and this would provide them food in addition to the +concentrated supply they carried. Small tents, in sections, were +carried, there being two, one for Tom and Ned and one for Mr. Damon and +the professor. + +As far as could be learned from a casual inspection, Jacinto and his +deserting Indians had taken back with them only a small quantity of +food. They were traveling light and down stream, and could reach the +town much more quickly than they had come away from it. + +"That Beecher certainly was slick," commented Professor Bumper when +they were ready to start. "He must have known about what time I would +arrive, and he had Jacinto waiting for us. I thought it was too good +to be true, to get an experienced guide like him so easily. But it was +all planned, and I was so engrossed in thinking of the ancient +treasures I hope to find that I never thought of a possible trick. +Well, let's start!" and he led the way into the jungle, carrying his +heavy pack as lightly as did Tom. + +Professor Bumper had a general idea in which direction lay a number of +native villages, and it was determined to head for them, blazing a path +through the wilderness, so that the Indians could follow it back to the +goods left behind. + +It was with rather heavy hearts that the party set off, but Tom's +spirits could not long stay clouded, and the scientist was so +good-natured about the affair and seemed so eager to do the utmost to +render Beecher's trick void, that the others fell into a lighter mood, +and went on more cheerfully, though the way was rough and the packs +heavy. + +They stopped at noon under a bower they made of palms, and, spreading +the nets over them, got a little rest after a lunch. Then, when the +sun was less hot, they started off again. + +"Forward is the word!" cried Ned cheerfully. "Forward!"' + +They had not gone more than an hour on the second stage of their tramp +when Tom, who was in the lead, following the direction laid out by the +compass, suddenly stopped, and reached around for his electric rifle, +which he was carrying at his back. + +"What is it?" asked Ned in a whisper. + +"I don't know, but it's some big animal there in the bushes," was Tom's +low-voiced answer. "I'm ready for it." + +The rustling increased, and a form could be seen indistinctly. Tom +aimed the deadly gun and stood ready to pull the trigger. + +Ned, who had a side view into the underbrush, gave a sudden cry. + +"Don't shoot, Tom!" he yelled. "It's a man!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A NEW GUIDE + + +In spite of Ned Newton's cry, Tom's finger pressed the switch-trigger +of the electric rifle, for previous experience had taught him that it +was sometimes the best thing to awe the natives in out-of-the-way +corners of the earth. But the young inventor quickly elevated the +muzzle, and the deadly missile went hissing through the air over the +head of a native Indian who, at that moment, stepped from the bush. + +The man, startled and alarmed, shrank back and was about to run into +the jungle whence he had emerged. Small wonder if he had, considering +the reception he so unwittingly met with. But Tom, aware of the +necessity for making inquiries of one who knew that part of the jungle, +quickly called to him. + +"Hold on!" he shouted. "Wait a minute. I didn't mean that. I thought +at first you were a tapir or a tiger. No harm intended. I say, +Professor," Tom called back to the savant, "you'd better speak to him +in his lingo, I can't manage it. He may be useful in guiding us to +that Indian village Jacinto told us of." + +This Professor Bumper did, being able to make himself understood in the +queer part-Spanish dialect used by the native Hondurians, though he +could not, of course, speak it as fluently as had Jacinto. + +Professor Bumper had made only a few remarks to the man who had so +unexpectedly appeared out of the jungle when the scientist gave an +exclamation of surprise at some of the answers made. + +"Bless my moving picture!" cried Mr. Damon. + +"What's the matter now? Is anything wrong? Does he refuse to help us?" + +"No, it isn't that," was the answer. "In fact he came here to help us. +Tom, this is the brother of the Indian who fell overboard and who was +eaten by the alligators. He says you were very kind to try to save his +brother with your rifle, and for that reason he has come back to help +us." + +"Come back?" queried Tom. + +"Yes, he went off with the rest of the Indians when Jacinto deserted +us, but he could not stand being a traitor, after you had tried to save +his brother's life. These Indians are queer people. They don't show +much emotion, but they have deep feelings. This one says he will +devote himself to your service from now on. I believe we can count on +him. He is deeply grateful to you, Tom." + +"I'm glad of that for all our sakes. But what does he say about +Jacinto?" + +The professor asked some more questions, receiving answers, and then +translated them. + +"This Indian, whose name is Tolpec, says Jacinto is a fraud," exclaimed +Professor Bumper. "He made all the Indians leave us in the night, +though many of them were willing to stay and fill the contract they had +made. But Jacinto would not let them, making them desert. Tolpec went +away with the others, but because of what Tom had done he planned to +come back at the first chance and be our guide. Accordingly he jumped +ashore from one of the canoes, and made his way to our camp. He got +there, found it deserted and followed us, coming up just now." + +"Well I'm glad I didn't frighten him off with my gun," remarked Tom +grimly. "So he agrees with us that Jacinto is a scoundrel, does he? I +guess he might as well classify Professor Beecher in the same way." + +"I am not quite so sure of that," said Professor Bumper slowly. "I can +not believe Beecher would play such a trick as this, though some +over-zealous friend of his might." + +"Oh, of course Beecher did it!" cried Tom. "He heard we were coming +here, figured out that we'd start ahead of him, and he wanted to +side-track us. Well, he did it all right," and Tom's voice was bitter. + +"He has only side-tracked us for a while," announced Professor Bumper +in cheerful tones. + +"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Damon. + +"I mean that this Indian comes just in the nick of time. He is well +acquainted with this part of the jungle, having lived here all his +life, and he offers to guide us to a place where we can get mules to +transport ourselves and our baggage to Copan." + +"Fine!" cried Ned. "When can we start?" + +Once more the professor and the native conversed in the strange tongue, +and then Professor Bumper announced: + +"He says it will be better for us to go back where we left our things +and camp there. He will stay with us to-night and in the morning go on +to the nearest Indian town and come back with porters and helpers." + +"I think that is good advice to follow," put in Tom, "for we do need +our goods; and if we reached the settlement ourselves, we would have to +send back for our things, with the uncertainty of getting them all." + +So it was agreed that they would make a forced march back through the +jungle to where they had been deserted by Jacinto. There they would +make camp for the night, and until such time as Tolpec could return +with a force of porters. + +It was not easy, that backward tramp through the jungle, especially as +night had fallen. But the new Indian guide could see like a cat, and +led the party along paths they never could have found by themselves. +The use of their pocket electric lights was a great help, and possibly +served to ward off the attacks of jungle beasts, for as they tramped +along they could hear stealthy sounds in the underbush on either side +of the path, as though tigers were stalking them. For there was in the +woods an animal of the leopard family, called tiger or "tigre" by the +natives, that was exceedingly fierce and dangerous. But watchfulness +prevented any accident, and eventually the party reached the place +where they had left their goods. Nothing had been disturbed, and +finally a fire was made, the tents set up and a light meal, with hot +tea served. + +"We'll get ahead of Beecher yet," said Tom. + +"You seem as anxious as Professor Bumper," observed Mr. Damon. + +"I guess I am," admitted Tom. "I want to see that idol of gold in the +possession of our party." + +The night passed without incident, and then, telling his new friends +that he would return as soon as possible with help, Tolpec, taking a +small supply of food with him, set out through the jungle again. + +As the green vines and creepers closed after him, and the explorers +were left alone with their possessions piled around them, Ned remarked: + +"After all, I wonder if it was wise to let him go?" + +"Why not?" asked Tom. + +"Well, maybe he only wanted to get us back here, and then he'll desert, +too. Maybe that's what he's done now, making us lose two or three days +by inducing us to return, waiting for what will never happen--his +return with other natives." + +A silence followed Ned's intimation. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +IN THE COILS + + +"Ned, do you really think Tolpec is going to desert us?" asked Tom. + +"Well, I don't know," was the slowly given reply. "It's a possibility, +isn't it?" + +"Yes, it is," broke in Professor Bumper. "But what if it is? We might +as well trust him, and if he proves true, as I believe he will, we'll +be so much better off. If he proves a traitor we'll only have lost a +few days, for if he doesn't come back we can go on again in the way we +started." + +"But that's just it!" complained Tom. "We don't want to lose any time +with that Beecher chap on our trail." + +"I am not so very much concerned about him," remarked Professor Bumper, +dryly. + +"Why not?" snapped out Mr. Damon. + +"Well, because I think he'll have just about as hard work locating the +hidden city, and finding the idol of gold, as we'll have. In other +words it will be an even thing, unless he gets too far ahead of us, or +keeps us back, and I don't believe he can do that now. + +"So I thought it best to take a chance with this Indian. He would +hardly have taken the trouble to come all the way back, and run the +risks he did, just to delay us a few days. However, we'll soon know. +Meanwhile, we'll take it easy and wait for the return of Tolpec and his +friends." + +Though none of them liked to admit it, Ned's words had caused his three +friends some anxiety, and though they busied themselves about the camp +there was an air of waiting impatiently for something to occur. And +waiting is about the hardest work there is. + +But there was nothing for it but to wait, and it might be at least a +week, Professor Bumper said, before the Indian could return with a +party of porters and mules to move their baggage. + +"Yes, Tolpec has not only to locate the settlement," Tom admitted, "but +he must persuade the natives to come back with him. He may have +trouble in that, especially if it is known that he has left Jacinto, +who, I imagine, is a power among the tribes here." + +But there were only two things left to do--wait and hope. The +travelers did both. Four days passed and there was no sign of Tolpec. +Eagerly, and not a little anxiously, they watched the jungle path along +which he had disappeared. + +"Oh, come on!" exclaimed Tom one morning, when the day seemed a bit +cooler than its predecessor. "Let's go for a hunt, or something! I'm +tired of sitting around camp." + +"Bless my watch hands! So am I!" cried Mr. Damon. "Let's all go for a +trip. It will do us good." + +"And perhaps I can get some specimens of interest," added Professor +Bumper, who, in addition to being an archaeologist, was something of a +naturalist. + +Accordingly, having made everything snug in camp, the party, Tom and +Ned equipped with electric rifles, and the professor with a butterfly +net and specimen boxes, set forth. Mr. Damon said he would carry a +stout club as his weapon. + +The jungle, as usual, was teeming with life, but as Ned and Tom did not +wish to kill wantonly they refrained from shooting until later in the +day. For once it was dead, game did not keep well in that hot climate, +and needed to be cooked almost immediately. + +"We'll try some shots on our back trip," said the young inventor. + +Professor Bumper found plenty of his own particular kind of "game" +which he caught in the net, transferring the specimens to the boxes he +carried. There were beautiful butterflies, moths and strange bugs in +the securing of which the scientist evinced great delight, though when +one beetle nipped him firmly and painfully on his thumb his involuntary +cry of pain was as real as that of any other person. + +"But I didn't let him get away," he said in triumph when he had dropped +the clawing insect into the cyanide bottle where death came painlessly. +"It is well worth a sore thumb." + +They wandered on through the jungle, taking care not to get too far +from their camp, for they did not want to lose their way, nor did they +want to be absent too long in case Tolpec and his native friends should +return. + +"Well, it's about time we shot something, I think," remarked Ned, when +they had been out about two hours. "Let's try for some of these wild +turkeys. They ought to go well roasted even if it isn't Thanksgiving." + +"I'm with you," agreed Tom. "Let's see who has the best luck. But +tone down the charge in your rifle and use a smaller projectile, or +you'll have nothing but a bunch of feathers to show for your shot. The +guns are loaded for deer." + +The change was made, and once more the two young men started off, a +little ahead of Professor Bumper and Mr. Damon. Tom and Ned had not +gone far, however, before they heard a strange cry from Mr. Damon. + +"Tom! Ned!" shouted the eccentric man, "Here's a monster after me! Come +quick!" + +"A tiger!" ejaculated Tom, as he began once more to change the charge +in his rifle to a larger one, running back, meanwhile, in the direction +of the sound of the voice. + +There were really no tigers in Honduras, the jaguar being called a +tiger by the natives, while the cougar is called a lion. The presence +of these animals, often dangerous to man, had been indicated around +camp, and it was possible that one had been bold enough to attack Mr. +Damon, not through hunger, but because of being cornered. + +"Come on, Ned!" cried Tom. "He's in some sort of trouble!" + +But when, a moment later, the young inventor burst through a fringe of +bushes and saw Mr. Damon standing in a little clearing, with upraised +club, Tom could not repress a laugh. + +"Kill it, Tom! Kill it!" begged the eccentric man. "Bless my insurance +policy, but it's a terrible beast!" + +And so it was, at first glance. For it was a giant iguana, one of the +most repulsive-looking of the lizards. Not unlike an alligator in +shape, with spikes on its head and tail, with a warty, squatty +ridge-encrusted body, a big pouch beneath its chin, and long-toed +claws, it was enough to strike terror into the heart of almost any one. +Even the smaller ones look dangerous, and this one, which was about +five feet long, looked capable of attacking a man and injuring him. As +a matter of fact the iguanas are harmless, their shape and coloring +being designed to protect them. + +"Don't be afraid, Mr. Damon," called Tom, still laughing. "It won't +hurt you!" + +"I'm not so positive of that. It won't let me pass." + +"Just take your club and poke it out of the way," the young inventor +advised. "It's only waiting to be shoved." + +"Then you do it, Tom. Bless my looking glass, but I don't want to go +near it! If my wife could see me now she'd say it served me just right." + +Mr. Damon was not a coward, but the giant iguana was not pleasant to +look at. Tom, with the butt of his rifle, gave it a gentle shove, +whereupon the creature scurried off through the brush as though glad to +make its escape unscathed. + +"I thought it was a new kind of alligator," said Mr. Damon with a sigh +of relief. + +"Where is it?" asked Professor Bumper, coming up at this juncture. "A +new species of alligator? Let me see it!" + +"It's too horrible," said Mr. Damon. "I never want to see one again. +It was worse than a vampire bat!" + +Notwithstanding this, when he heard that it was one of the largest +sized iguanas ever seen, the professor started through the jungle after +it. + +"We can't take it with us if we get it," Tom called after his friend. + +"We might take the skin," answered the professor. "I have a standing +order for such things from one of the museums I represent. I'd like to +get it. Then they are often eaten. We can have a change of diet, you +see." + +"We'd better follow him," said Tom to Ned. "We'll have to let the +turkeys go for a while. He may get into trouble. Come on." + +Off they started through the jungle, trailing after the impetuous +professor who was intent on capturing the iguana. The giant lizard's +progress could be traced by the disturbance of the leaves and +underbrush, and the professor was following as closely as possible. + +So fast did he go that Ned, Tom and Mr. Damon, following, lost sight of +him several times, and Tom finally called: + +"Wait a minute. We'll all be lost if you keep this up." + +"I'll have him in another minute," answered the professor. "I can +almost reach him now. Then---- Oh!" + +His voice ended in a scream that seemed to be one of terror. So sudden +was the change that Tom and Ned, who were together, ahead of Mr. Damon, +looked at one another in fear. + +"What has happened?" whispered Ned, pausing. + +"Don't stop to ask--come on!" shouted Tom. + +At that instant again came the voice of the savant. + +"Tom! Ned!" he gasped, rather than cried. + +"I'm caught in the coils! Quick--quick if you would save me!" + +"In the coils!" repeated Ned. "What does he mean? Can the giant +iguana----" + +Tom Swift did not stop to answer. With his electric rifle in +readiness, he leaped forward through the jungle. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A MEETING IN THE JUNGLE + + +Before Tom and Ned reached the place whence Professor Bumper had +called, they heard strange noises, other than the imploring voice of +their friend. It seemed as though some great body was threshing about +in the jungle, lashing the trees, bushes and leaves about, and when the +two young men, followed by Mr. Damon, reached the scene they saw that, +in a measure, this really accounted for what they heard. + +Something like a great whip was beating about close to two trees that +grew near together. And then, when the storm of twigs, leaves and +dirt, caused by the leaping, threshing thing ceased for a moment, the +onlookers saw something that filled them with terror. + +Between the two trees, and seemingly bound to them by a great coiled +rope, spotted and banded, was the body of Professor Bumper. His arms +were pinioned to his sides and there was horror and terror on his face, +that looked imploringly at the youths from above the topmost coil of +those encircling him. + +"What is it?" cried Mr. Damon, as he ran pantingly up. "What has +caught him? Is it the giant iguana?" + +"It's a snake--a great boa!" gasped Tom. "It has him in its coils. +But it is wound around the trees, too. That alone prevents it from +crushing the professor to death. + +"Ned, be ready with your rifle. Put in the heaviest charge, and watch +your chance to fire!" + +The great, ugly head of the boa reared itself up from the coils which +it had, with the quickness of thought, thrown about the man between the +two trees. This species of snake is not poisonous, and kills its prey +by crushing it to death, making it into a pulpy mass, with scarcely a +bone left unbroken, after which it swallows its meal. The crushing +power of one of these boas, some of which reach a length of thirty +feet, with a body as large around as that of a full-grown man, is +enormous. + +"I'm going to fire!" suddenly cried Tom. He had seen his chance and he +took it. There was the faint report--the crack of the electric +rifle--and the folds of the serpent seemed to relax. + +"I see a good chance now," added Ned, who had taken the small charge +from his weapon, replacing it with a heavier one. + +His rifle was also discharged in the direction of the snake, and Tom +saw that the hit was a good one, right through the ugly head of the +reptile. + +"One other will be enough to make him loosen his coils!" cried Tom, as +he fired again, and such was the killing power of the electric bullets +that the snake, though an immense one, and one that short of +decapitation could have received many injuries without losing power, +seemed to shrivel up. + +Its folds relaxed, and the coils of the great body fell in a heap at +the roots of the two trees, between which the scientist had been +standing. + +Professor Bumper seemed to fall backward as the grip of the serpent +relaxed, but Tom, dropping his rifle, and calling to Ned to keep an eye +on the snake, leaped forward and caught his friend. + +"Are you hurt?" asked Tom, carrying the limp form over to a grassy +place. There was no answer, the savant's eyes were closed and he +breathed but faintly. + +Ned Newton fired two more electric bullets into the still writhing body +of the boa. + +"I guess he's all in," he called to Tom. + +"Bless my horseradish! And so our friend seems to be," commented Mr. +Damon. "Have you anything with which to revive him, Tom?" + +"Yes. Some ammonia. See if you can find a little water." + +"I have some in my flask." + +Tom mixed a dose of the spirits which he carried with him, and this, +forced between the pallid lips of the scientist, revived him. + +"What happened?" he asked faintly as he opened his eyes. "Oh, yes, I +remember," he added slowly. "The boa----" + +"Don't try to talk," urged Tom. "You're all right. The snake is dead, +or dying. Are you much hurt?" + +Professor Bumper appeared to be considering. He moved first one limb, +then another. He seemed to have the power over all his muscles. + +"I see how it happened," he said, as he sat up, after taking a little +more of the ammonia. "I was following the iguana, and when the big +lizard came to a stop, in a little hollow place in the ground, at the +foot of those two trees, I leaned over to slip a noose of rope about +its neck. Then I felt myself caught, as if in the hands of a giant, +and bound fast between the two trees." + +"It was the big boa that whipped itself around you, as you leaned +over," explained Tom, as Ned came up to announce that the snake was no +longer dangerous. "But when it coiled around you it also coiled around +the two trees, you, fortunately slipping between them. Had it not been +that their trunks took off some of the pressure of the coils you +wouldn't have lasted a minute." + +"Well, I was pretty badly squeezed as it was," remarked the professor. +"I hardly had breath enough left to call to you. I tried to fight off +the serpent, but it was of no use." + +"I should say not!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my circus ring! one might +as well try to combat an elephant! But, my dear professor, are you all +right now?" + +"I think so--yes. Though I shall be lame and stiff for a few days, I +fear. I can hardly walk." + +Professor Bumper was indeed unable to go about much for a few days +after his encounter with the great serpent. He stretched out in a +hammock under trees in the camp clearing, and with his friends waited +for the possible return of Tolpec and the porters. + +Ned and Tom made one or two short hunting trips, and on these occasions +they kept a lookout in the direction the Indian had taken when he went +away. + +"For he's sure to come back that way--if he comes at all," declared +Ned; "which I am beginning to doubt." + +"Well, he may not come," agreed Tom, who was beginning to lose some of +his first hope. "But he won't necessarily come from the same direction +he took. He may have had to go in an entirely different way to get +help. We'll hope for the best." + +A week passed. Professor Bumper was able to be about, and Tom and Ned +noticed that there was an anxious look on his face. Was he, too, +beginning to despair? + +"Well, this isn't hunting for golden idols very fast," said Mr. Damon, +the morning of the eighth day after their desertion by the faithless +Jacinto. "What do you say, Professor Bumper; ought we not to start off +on our own account?" + +"We had better if Tolpec does not return today," was the answer. + +They had eaten breakfast, had put their camp in order, and were about +to have a consultation on what was best to do, when Tom suddenly called +to Ned, who was whistling: + +"Hark!" + +Through the jungle came a faint sound of singing--not a harmonious air, +but the somewhat barbaric chant of the natives. + +"It is Tolpec coming back!" cried Mr. Damon. "Hurray! Now our troubles +are over! Bless my meal ticket! Now we can start!" + +"It may be Jacinto," suggested Ned. + +"Nonsense! you old cold-water pitcher!" cried Tom. "It's Tolpec! I can +see him! He's a good scout all right!" + +And then, walking at the head of a band of Indians who were weirdly +chanting while behind them came a train of mules, was Tolpec, a +cheerful grin covering his honest, if homely, dark face. + +"Me come back!" he exclaimed in gutteral English, using about half of +his foreign vocabulary. + +"I see you did," answered Professor Bumper in the man's own tongue. +"Glad to see you. Is everything all right?" + +"All right," was the answer. "These Indians will take you where you +want to go, and will not leave you as Jacinto did." + +"We'll start in the morning!" exclaimed the savant his own cheerful +self again, now that there was a prospect of going further into the +interior. "Tell the men to get something to eat, Tolpec. There is +plenty for all." + +"Good!" grunted the new guide and soon the hungry Indians, who had come +far, were satisfying their hunger. + +As they ate Tolpec explained to Professor Bumper, who repeated it to +the youths and Mr. Damon, that it had been necessary to go farther than +he had intended to get the porters and mules. But the Indians were a +friendly tribe, of which he was a member, and could be depended on. + +There was a feast and a sort of celebration in camp that night. Tom +and Ned shot two deer, and these formed the main part of the feast and +the Indians made merry about the fire until nearly midnight. They did +not seem to mind in the least the swarms of mosquitoes and other bugs +that flew about, attracted by the light. As for Tom Swift and his +friends, their nets protected them. + +An early start was made the following morning. Such packages of goods +and supplies as could not well be carried by the Indians in their head +straps, were loaded on the backs of the pack-mules. Tolpec explained +that on reaching the Indian village, where he had secured the porters, +they could get some ox-carts which would be a convenience in traveling +into the interior toward the Copan valley. + +The march onward for the next two days was tiresome; but the Indians +Tolpec had secured were as faithful and efficient as he had described +them, and good progress was made. + +There were a few accidents. One native fell into a swiftly running +stream as they were fording it and lost a box containing some +much-needed things. But as the man's life was saved Professor Bumper +said it made up for the other loss. Another accident did not end so +auspiciously. One of the bearers was bitten by a poisonous snake, and +though prompt measures were taken, the poison spread so rapidly that +the man died. + +In due season the Indian village was reached, where, after a day spent +in holding funeral services over the dead bearer, preparations were +made for proceeding farther. + +This time some of the bearers were left behind, and ox-carts were +substituted for them, as it was possible to carry more goods this way. + +"And now we're really off for Copan!" exclaimed Professor Bumper one +morning, when the cavalcade, led by Tolpec in the capacity of head +guide, started off. "I hope we have no more delays." + +"I hope not, either," agreed Tom. "That Beecher may be there ahead of +us." + +Weary marches fell to their portion. There were mountains to climb, +streams to ford or swim, sending the carts over on rudely made rafts. +There were storms to endure, and the eternal heat to fight. + +But finally the party emerged from the lowlands of the coast and went +up in among the hills, where though the going was harder, the climate +was better. It was not so hot and moist. + +Not wishing to attract attention in Copan itself, Professor Bumper and +his party made a detour, and finally, after much consultation with Tom +over the ancient maps, the scientist announced that he thought they +were in the vicinity of the buried city. + +"We will begin test excavations in the morning," he said. + +The party was in camp, and preparations were made for spending the +night in the forest, when from among the trees there floated to the +ears of our friends a queer Indian chant. + +"Some one is coming," said Tom to Ned. + +Almost as he spoke there filed into the clearing where the camp had +been set up, a cavalcade of white men, followed by Indians. And at the +sight of one of the white men Tom Swift uttered a cry. + +"Professor Beecher!" gasped the young inventor. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE LOST MAP + + +The on-marching company of white men, with their Indian attendants, +came to a halt on the edge of the clearing as they caught sight of the +tents already set up there. The barbaric chant of the native bearers +ceased abruptly, and there was a look of surprise shown on the face of +Professor Fenimore Beecher. For Professor Beecher it was, in the lead +of the rival expedition. + +"Bless my shoe laces!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. + +"Is it really Beecher?" asked Ned, though he knew as well as Tom that +it was the young archaeologist. + +"It certainly is!" declared Tom. "And he has nerve to follow us so +closely!" + +"Maybe he thinks we have nerve to get here ahead of him," suggested +Ned, smiling grimly. + +"Probably," agreed Tom, with a short laugh. "Well, it evidently +surprises him to find us here at all, after the mean trick he played on +us to get Jacinto to lead us into the jungle and desert us." + +"That's right," assented Ned. "Well, what's the next move?" + +There seemed to be some doubt about this on the part of both +expeditions. At the sight of Professor Beecher, Professor Bumper, who +had come out of his tent, hurriedly turned to Tom and asked him what he +thought it best to do. + +"Do!" exclaimed the eccentric Mr. Damon, not giving Tom time to reply. +"Why, stand your ground, of course! Bless my house and lot! but we're +here first! For the matter of that, I suppose the jungle is free and we +can no more object to his coming here than he can to our coming. +First come, first served, I suppose is the law of the forest." + +Meanwhile the surprise occasioned by the unexpected meeting of their +rivals seemed to have spread something like consternation among the +white members of the Beecher party. As for the natives they evidently +did not care one way or the other. + +There was a hasty consultation among the professors accompanying Mr. +Beecher, and then the latter himself advanced toward the tents of Tom +and his friends and asked: + +"How long have you been here?" + +"I don't see that we are called upon to answer that question," replied +Professor Bumper stiffly. + +"Perhaps not, and yet----" + +"There is no perhaps about it!" said Professor Bumper quickly. "I know +what your object is, as I presume you do mine. And, after what I may +term your disgraceful and unsportsmanlike conduct toward me and my +friends, I prefer not to have anything further to do with you. We must +meet as strangers hereafter." + +"Very well," and Professor Beecher's voice was as cold and +uncompromising as was his rival's. "Let it be as your wish. But I +must say I don't know what you mean by unsportsmanlike conduct." + +"An explanation would be wasted on you," said Professor Bumper stiffly. +"But in order that you may know I fully understand what you did I will +say that your efforts to thwart us through your tool Jacinto came to +nothing. We are here ahead of you." + +"Jacinto!" cried Professor Beecher in real or simulated surprise. +"Why, he was not my 'tool,' as you term it." + +"Your denial is useless in the light of his confession," asserted +Professor Bumper. + +"Confession?" + +"Now look here!" exclaimed the older professor, "I do not propose to +lower myself by quarreling with you. I know certainly what you and +your party tried to do to prevent us from getting here. But we got out +of the trap you set for us, and we are on the ground first. I +recognize your right to make explorations as well as ourselves, and I +presume you have not fallen so low that you will not recognize the +unwritten law in a case of this kind--the law which says the right of +discovery belongs to the one who first makes it." + +"I shall certainly abide by such conduct as is usual under the +circumstances," said Professor Beecher more stiffly than before. "At +the same time I must deny having set a trap. And as for Jacinto----" + +"It will be useless to discuss it further!" broke in Professor Bumper. + +"Then no more need be said," retorted the younger man. "I shall give +orders to my friends, as well as to the natives, to keep away from your +camp, and I shall expect you to do the same regarding mine." + +"I should have suggested the same thing myself," came from Tom's +friend, and the two rival scientists fairly glared at one another, the +others of both parties looking on with interest. + +Professor Bumper turned and walked defiantly back to his tent. +Professor Beecher did the same thing. Then, after a short consultation +among the white members of the latter's organization, their tents were +set up in another clearing, removed and separated by a screen of trees +and bushes from those of Tom Swift's friends. The natives of the +Beecher party also withdrew a little way from those of Professor +Bumper's organization, and then preparations for spending the night in +the jungle went on in the rival headquarters. + +"Well, he certainly had nerve, to deny, practically, that he had set +Jacinto up to do what he did," commented Tom. + +"I should say so!" agreed Ned. + +"How do you imagine he got here nearly as soon as we did, when he did +not start until later?" asked Mr. Damon. + +"He did not have the unfortunate experience of being deserted in the +jungle," replied Tom. "He probably had Jacinto, or some of that +unprincipled scoundrel's friends, show him a short route to Copan and +he came on from there." + +"Well, I did hope we might have the ground to ourselves, at least for +the preliminary explorations and excavations. But it is not to be. My +rival is here," sighed Professor Bumper. + +"Don't let that discourage you!" exclaimed Tom. "We can fight all the +better now the foe is in the open, and we know where he is." + +"Yes, Tom Swift, that is true," agreed the scientist. "I am not going +to give up, but I shall have to change my plans a little. Perhaps you +will come into the tent with me," and he nodded to Tom and Ned. "I +want to talk over certain matters with you and Mr. Damon." + +"Pleased to," assented the young inventor, and his financial secretary +nodded. + +A little later, supper having been eaten, the camp made shipshape and +the natives settled down, Tom, Ned, Mr. Damon and Professor Bumper +assembled in the tent of the scientist, where a dry battery lamp gave +sufficient illumination to show a number of maps and papers scattered +over an improvised table. + +"Now, gentlemen," said the professor, "I have called you here to go +over my plans more in detail than I have hitherto done, now we are on +the ground. You know in a general way what I hope to accomplish, but +the time has come when I must be specific. + +"Aside from being on the spot, below which, or below the vicinity +where, I believe, lies the lost city of Kurzon and, I hope, the idol of +gold, a situation has arisen--an unexpected situation, I may say--which +calls for different action from that I had counted on. + +"I refer to the presence of my rival, Professor Beecher. I will not +dwell now on what he has done. It is better to consider what he may +do." + +"That's right," agreed Ned. "He may get up in the night, dig up this +city and skip with that golden image before we know it." + +"Hardly," grinned Tom. + +"No," said Professor Bumper. "Excavating buried cities in the jungle +of Honduras is not as simple as that. There is much work to be done. +But accidents may happen, and in case one should occur to me, and I be +unable to prosecute the search, I want one of you to do it. For that +reason I am going to show you the maps and ancient documents and point +out to you where I believe the lost city lies. Now, if you will give +me your attention, I'll proceed." + +The professor went over in detail the story of how he had found the old +documents relating to the lost city of Kurzon, and of how, after much +labor and research, he had located the city in the Copan valley. The +great idol of gold was one of the chief possessions of Kurzon, and it +was often referred to in the old papers; copies and translations of +which the professor had with him. + +"But this is the most valuable of all," he said, as he opened an +oiled-silk packet. "And before I show it to you, suppose you two young +men take a look outside the tent." + +"What for?" asked Mr. Damon. + +"To make sure that no emissaries from the Beecher crowd are sneaking +around to overhear what we say," was the somewhat bitter answer of the +scientist. "I do not trust him, in spite of his attempted denial." + +Tom and Ned took a quick but thorough observation outside the tent. +The blackness of the jungle night was in strange contrast to the light +they had just left. + +"Doesn't seem to be any one around here," remarked Ned, after waiting a +minute or two. + +"No. All's quiet along the Potomac. Those Beecher natives are having +some sort of a song-fest, though." + +In the distance, and from the direction of their rivals' camp, came the +weird chant. + +"Well, as long as they stay there we'll be all right," said Tom. "Come +on in. I'm anxious to hear what the professor has to say." + +"Everything's quiet," reported Ned. + +"Then give me your attention," begged the scientist. + +Carefully, as though about to exhibit some, precious jewel, he loosened +the oiled-silk wrappings and showed a large map, on thin but tough +paper. + +"This is drawn from the old charts," the professor explained. "I +worked on it many months, and it is the only copy in the world. If it +were to be destroyed I should have to go all the way back to New York +to make another copy. I have the original there in a safe deposit +vault." + +"Wouldn't it have been wise to make two copies?" asked Tom. + +"It would have only increased the risk. With one copy, and that +constantly in my possession, I can be sure of my ground. Otherwise +not. That is why I am so careful of this. Now I will show you why I +believe we are about over the ancient city of Kurzon." + +"Over it!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my gunpowder! What do you mean?" +and he looked down at the earthen floor of the tent as though expecting +it to open and swallow him. + +"I mean that the city, like many others of Central and South America, +is buried below the refuse of centuries," went on the professor. "Very +soon, if we are fortunate, we shall be looking on the civilization of +hundreds of years ago--how long no one knows. + +"Considerable excavation has been done in Central America," went on +Professor Bumper, "and certain ruins have been brought to light. Near +us are those of Copan, while toward the frontier are those of Quirigua, +which are even better preserved than the former. We may visit them if +we have time. But I have reason to believe that in this section of +Copan is a large city, the existence of which has not been made certain +of by any one save myself--and, perhaps, Professor Beecher. + +"Certainly no part of it has seen the light of day for many centuries. +It shall be our pleasure to uncover it, if possible, and secure the +idol of gold." + +"How long ago do you think the city was buried?" asked Tom. + +"It would be hard to say. From the carvings and hieroglyphics I have +studied it would seem that the Mayan civilization lasted about five +hundred years, and that it began perhaps in the year A. D. five +hundred." + +"That would mean," said Mr. Damon, "that the ancient cities were in +ruins, buried, perhaps, long before Columbus discovered the new world." + +"Yes," assented the professor. "Probably Kurzon, which we now seek, +was buried deep for nearly five hundred years before Columbus landed at +San Salvadore. The specimens of writing and architecture heretofore +disclosed indicate that. But, as a matter of fact, it is very hard to +decipher the Mayan pictographs. So far, little but the ability to read +their calendars and numerical system is possessed by us, though we are +gradually making headway. + +"Now this is the map of the district, and by the markings you can see +where I hope to find what I seek. We shall begin digging here," and he +made a small mark with a pencil on the map. + +"Of course," the professor explained, "I may be wrong, and it will take +some time to discover the error if we make one. When a city is buried +thirty or forty feet deep beneath earth and great trees have grown over +it, it is not easy to dig down to it." + +"How do you ever expect to find it?" asked Ned. + +"Well, we will sink shafts here and there. If we find carved stones, +the remains of ancient pottery and weapons, parts of buildings or +building stones, we shall know we are on the right track," was the +answer. "And now that I have shown you the map, and explained how +valuable it is, I will put it away again. We shall begin our +excavations in the morning." + +"At what point?" asked Tom. + +"At a point I shall indicate after a further consultation of the map. +I must see the configuration of the country by daylight to decide. And +now let's get some rest. We have had a hard day." + +The two tents housing the four white members of the Bumper party were +close together, and it was decided that the night would be divided into +four watches, to guard against possible treachery on the part of the +Beecher crowd. + +"It seems an unkind precaution to take against a fellow scientist," +said Professor Bumper, "but I can not afford to take chances after what +has occurred." + +The others agreed with him, and though standing guard was not pleasant +it was done. However the night passed without incident, and then came +morning and the excitement of getting breakfast, over which the Indians +made merry. They did not like the cold and darkness, and always +welcomed the sun, no matter how hot. + +"And now," cried Tom, when the meal was over, "let us begin the work +that has brought us here." + +"Yes," agreed Professor Bumper, "I will consult the map, and start the +diggers where I think the city lies, far below the surface. Now, +gentlemen, if you will give me your attention----" + +He was seeking through his outer coat pockets, after an ineffectual +search in the inner one. A strange look came over his face. + +"What's the matter?" asked Tom. + +"The map--the map!" gasped the professor. "The map I was showing you +last night! The map that tells where we are to dig for the idol of +gold! It's gone!" + +"The map gone?" gasped Mr. Damon. + +"I--I'm afraid so," faltered the professor. "I put it away carefully, +but now----" + +He ceased speaking to make a further search in all his pockets. + +"Maybe you left it in another coat," suggested Ned. + +"Or maybe some of the Beecher crowd took it!" snapped Tom. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +"EL TIGRE!" + + +The four men gazed at one another. Consternation showed on the face of +Professor Bumper, and was reflected, more or less, on the countenances +of his companions. + +"Are you sure the map is gone?" asked Tom. "I know how easy it is to +mislay anything in a camp of this sort. I couldn't at first find my +safety razor this morning, and when I did locate it the hoe was in one +of my shoes. I'm sure a rat or some jungle animal must have dragged it +there. Now maybe they took your map, Professor. That oiled silk in +which it was wrapped might have appealed to the taste of a rat or a +snake." + +"It is no joking matter," said Professor Bumper. "But I know you +appreciate the seriousness of it as much as I do, Tom. But I had the +map in the pocket of this coat, and now it is gone!" + +"When did you put it there?" asked Ned. + +"This morning, just before I came to breakfast." + +"Oh, then you have had it since last night!" Tom ejaculated. + +"Yes, I slept with it under my clothes that I rolled up for a pillow, +and when it was my turn to stand guard I took it with me. Then I put +it back again and went to sleep. When I awoke and dressed I put the +packet in my pocket and ate breakfast. Now when I look for it--why, +it's gone!" + +"The map or the oiled-silk package?" asked Mr. Damon, who, once having +been a businessman, was sometimes a stickler for small points. + +"Both," answered the professor. "I opened the silk to tie it more +smoothly, so it would not be such a lump in my pocket, and I made sure +the map was inside." + +"Then the whole thing has been taken--or you have lost it," suggested +Ned. + +"I am not in the habit of losing valuable maps," retorted the +scientist. "And the pocket of my coat I had made deep, for the purpose +of carrying the long map. It could not drop out." + +"Well, we mustn't overlook any possible chances," suggested Tom. "Come +on now, we'll search every inch of the ground over which you traveled +this morning, Professor." + +"It MUST be found," murmured the scientist. "Without it all our work +will go for naught." + +They all went into the tent where the professor and Mr. Damon had slept +when they were not on guard. The camp was a busy place, with the +Indians finishing their morning meal, and getting ready for the work of +the day. For word had been given out that there would be no more long +periods of travel. + +In consequence, efforts were being directed by the head men of the +bearers to making a more permanent camp in the wilderness. Shelters of +palm-thatched huts were being built, a site for cooking fires made, +and, at the direction of Mr. Damon, to whom this part was entrusted, +some sanitary regulations were insisted on. + +Leaving this busy scene, the four, with solemn faces, proceeded to the +tent where it was hoped the map would be found. But though they went +through everything, and traced and retraced every place the professor +could remember having traversed about the canvas shelter, no signs of +the important document could be found. + +"I don't believe I dropped it out of my pocket," said the scientist, +for perhaps the twentieth time. + +"Then it was taken," declared Tom. + +"That's what I say!" chimed in Ned. "And by some of Beecher's party!" + +"Easy, my boy," cautioned Mr. Damon. "We don't want to make +accusations we can't prove." + +"That is true," agreed Professor Bumper. "But, though I am sorry to +say it of a fellow archaelogist, I can not help thinking Beecher had +something to do with the taking of my map." + +"But how could any of them get it?" asked Mr. Damon. "You say you had +the map this morning, and certainly none of them has been in our camp +since dawn, though of course it is possible that some of them sneaked +in during the night." + +"It does seem a mystery how it could have been taken in open daylight, +while we were about camp together," said Tom. "But is the loss such a +grave one, Professor Bumper?" + +"Very grave. In fact I may say it is impossible to proceed with the +excavating without the map." + +"Then what are we to do?" asked Ned. + +"We must get it back!" declared Tom. + +"Yes," agreed the scientist, "we can not work without it. As soon as I +make a little further search, to make sure it could not have dropped in +some out-of-the-way place, I shall go over to Professor Beecher's camp +and demand that he give me back my property." + +"Suppose he says he hasn't taken it?" asked Tom. + +"Well, I'm sure he either took it personally, or one of his party did. +And yet I can't understand how they could have come here without our +seeing them," and the professor shook his head in puzzled despair. + +A more detailed search did not reveal the missing map, and Mr. Damon +and his friend the scientist were on the point of departing for the +camp of their rivals, less than a mile away, when Tom had what really +amounted to an inspiration. + +"Look here, Professor!" he cried. "Can you remember any of the details +of your map--say, for instance, where we ought to begin excavating to +get at the wonders of the underground city?" + +"Well, Tom, I did intend to compare my map with the configuration of +the country about here. There is a certain mountain which serves as a +landmark and a guide for a starting point. I think that is it over +there," and the scientist pointed to a distant snow-capped peak. + +The party had left the low and marshy land of the true jungle, and were +among the foothills, though all about them was dense forest and +underbush, which, in reality, was as much a jungle as the lower plains, +but was less wet. + +"The point where I believe we should start to dig," said the professor, +"is near the spot where the top of the mountain casts a shadow when the +sun is one hour high. At least that is the direction given in the old +manuscripts. So, though we can do little without the map, we might +make a start by digging there." + +"No, not there!" exclaimed Tom. + +"Why not?" + +"Because we don't want to let Beecher's crowd know that we are on the +track of the idol of gold." + +"But they know anyhow, for they have the map," commented Ned, puzzled +by his chum's words. + +"Maybe not," said Tom slowly. "I think this is a time for a big bluff. +It may work and it may not. Beecher's crowd either has the map or they +have not. If they have it they will lose no time in trying to find the +right place to start digging and then they'll begin excavating. + +"Very good! If they do that we have a right to dig near the same place. +But if they have not the map, which is possible, and if we start to dig +where the professor's memory tells him is the right spot, we'll only +give them the tip, and they'll dig there also." + +"I'm sure they have the map," the professor said. "But I believe your +plan is a good one, Tom." + +"Just what do you propose doing?" asked Ned. + +"Fooling 'em!" exclaimed Tom quickly. "We'll dig in some place remote +from the spot where the mountain casts its shadow. They will think, if +they haven't the map, that we are proceeding by it, and they'll dig, +too. When they find nothing, as will also happen to us, they may go +away. + +"If, on the other hand, they have the map, and see us digging at a spot +not indicated on it, they will be puzzled, knowing we must have some +idea of where the buried city lies. They will think the map is at +fault, perhaps, and not make use of it. Then we can get it back." + +"Bless my hatband!" cried Mr. Damon. "I believe you're right, Tom. +We'll dig in the wrong place to fool 'em." + +And this was done. Search for the precious map was given up for the +time being, and the professor and his friends set the natives to work +digging shafts in the ground, as though sinking them down to the level +of the buried city. + +But though this false work was prosecuted with vigor for several days, +there was a feeling of despair among the Bumper party over the loss of +the map. + +"If we could only get it back!" exclaimed the professor, again and +again. + +Meanwhile the Beecher party seemed inactive. True, some members of it +did come over to look on from a respectful distance at what the diggers +were doing. Some of the rival helpers, under the direction of the head +of the expedition, also began sinking shafts. But they were not in the +locality remembered by Professor Bumper as being correct. + +"I can't imagine what they're up to," he said. "If they have my map +they would act differently, I should think." + +"Whatever they're up to," answered Tom, "the time has come when we can +dig at the place where we can hope for results." And the following day +shafts were started in the shadow of the mountain. + +Until some evidence should have been obtained by digging, as to the +location beneath the surface of a buried city, there was nothing for +the travelers to do but wait. Turns were taken in directing the +efforts of the diggers, and an occasional inspection was made of the +shafts. + +"What do you expect to find first?" asked Tom of Professor Bumper one +day, when the latter was at the top of a shaft waiting for a bucket +load of dirt to be hoisted up. + +"Potsherds and artifacts," was the answer. + +"What sort of bugs are they?" asked Ned with a laugh. He and Tom were +about to go hunting with their electric rifles. + +"Artifacts are things made by the Indians--or whatever members of the +race who built the ancient cities were called--such as household +articles, vases, ornaments, tools and so on. Anything made by +artificial means is called an artifact." + +"And potsherds are things with those Chinese laundry ticket scratches +on them," added Tom. + +"Exactly," said the professor, laughing. "Though some of the +strange-appearing inscriptions give much valuable information. As soon +as we find some of them--say a broken bit of pottery with hieroglyphics +on--I will know I am on the right track." + +And while the scientist and Mr. Damon kept watch at the top of the +shaft, Tom and Ned went out into the jungle to hunt. They had killed +some game, and were stalking a fine big deer, which would provide a +feast for the natives, when suddenly the silence of the lonely forest +was broken by a piercing scream, followed by an agonized cry of +"El tigre! El tigre!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +POISONED ARROWS + + +"Did you hear that, Tom?" asked Ned, in a hoarse whisper. + +"Surely," was the cautious answer. "Keep still, and I'll try for a +shot." + +"Better be quick," advised Ned in a tense voice. "The chap who did +that yelling seems to be in trouble!" + +And as Ned's voice trailed off into a whisper, again came the cry, this +time in frenzied pain. + +"El tigre! El tigre!" Then there was a jumble of words. + +"It's over this way!" and this time Ned shouted, seeing no need for low +voices since the other was so loud. + +Tom looked to where Ned had parted the bushes alongside a jungle path. +Through the opening the young inventor saw, in a little glade, that +which caused him to take a firmer grip on his electric rifle, and also +a firmer grip on his nerves. + +Directly in front of him and Ned, and not more than a hundred yards +away, was a great tawny and spotted jaguar--the "tigre" or tiger of +Central America. The beast, with lashing tail, stood over an Indian +upon whom it seemed to have sprung from some lair, beating the +unfortunate man to the ground. Nor had he fallen scatheless, for there +was blood on the green leaves about him, and it was not the blood of +the spotted beast. + +"Oh, Tom, can you--can you----" and Ned faltered. + +The young inventor understood the unspoken question. + +"I think I can make a shot of it without hitting the man," he answered, +never turning his head. "It's a question, though, if the beast won't +claw him in the death struggle. It won't last long, however, if the +electric bullet goes to the right place, and I've got to take the +chance." + +Cautiously Tom brought his weapon to bear. Quiet as Ned and he had +been after the discovery, the jaguar seemed to feel that something was +wrong. Intent on his prey, for a time he had stood over it, gloating. +Now the brute glanced uneasily from side to side, its tail nervously +twitching, and it seemed trying to gain, by a sniffing of the air, some +information as to the direction in which danger lay, for Tom and Ned +had stooped low, concealing themselves by a screen of leaves. + +The Indian, after his first frenzied outburst of fear, now lay quiet, +as though fearing to move, moaning in pain. + +Suddenly the jaguar, attracted either by some slight movement on the +part of Ned or Tom, or perhaps by having winded them, turned his head +quickly and gazed with cruel eyes straight at the spot where the two +young men stood behind the bushes. + +"He's seen us," whispered Ned. + +"Yes," assented Tom. "And it's a perfect shot. Hope I don't miss!" + +It was not like Tom Swift to miss, nor did he on this occasion. There +was a slight report from the electric rifle--a report not unlike the +crackle of the wireless--and the powerful projectile sped true to its +mark. + +Straight through the throat and chest under the uplifted jaw of the +jaguar it went--through heart and lungs. Then with a great coughing, +sighing snarl the beast reared up, gave a convulsive leap forward +toward its newly discovered enemies, and fell dead in a limp heap, just +beyond the native over which it had been crouching before it delivered +the death stroke, now never to fall. + +"You did it, Tom! You did it!" cried Ned, springing up from where he +had been kneeling to give his chum a better chance to shoot. "You did +it, and saved the man's life!" And Ned would have rushed out toward the +still twitching body. + +"Just a minute!" interposed Tom. "Those beasts sometimes have as many +lives as a cat. I'll give it one more for luck." Another electric +projectile through the head of the jaguar produced no further effect +than to move the body slightly, and this proved conclusively that there +was no life left. It was safe to approach, which Tom and Ned did. + +Their first thought, after a glance at the jaguar, was for the Indian. +It needed but a brief examination to show that he was not badly hurt. +The jaguar had leaped on him from a low tree as he passed under it, as +the boys learned afterward, and had crushed the man to earth by the +weight of the spotted body more than by a stroke of the paw. + +The American jaguar is not so formidable a beast as the native name of +tiger would cause one to suppose, though they are sufficiently +dangerous, and this one had rather badly clawed the Indian. +Fortunately the scratches were on the fleshy parts of the arms and +shoulders, where, though painful, they were not necessarily serious. + +"But if you hadn't shot just when you did, Tom, it would have been all +up with him," commented Ned. + +"Oh, well, I guess you'd have hit him if I hadn't," returned the young +inventor. "But let's see what we can do for this chap." + +The man sat up wonderingly--hardly able to believe that he had been +saved from the dreaded "tigre." His wounds were bleeding rather +freely, and as Tom and Ned carried with them a first-aid kit they now +brought it into use. The wounds were bound up, the man was given water +to drink and then, as he was able to walk, Tom and Ned offered to help +him wherever he wanted to go. + +"Blessed if I can tell whether he's one of our Indians or whether he +belongs to the Beecher crowd," remarked Tom. + +"Senor Beecher," said the Indian, adding, in Spanish, that he lived in +the vicinity and had only lately been engaged by the young professor +who hoped to discover the idol of gold before Tom's scientific friend +could do so. + +Tom and Ned knew a little Spanish, and with that, and simple but +expressive signs on the part of the Indian, they learned his story. He +had his palm-thatched hut not far from the Beecher camp, in a small +Indian village, and he, with others, had been hired on the arrival of +the Beecher party to help with the excavations. These, for some +reason, were delayed. + +"Delayed because they daren't use the map they stole from us," +commented Ned. + +"Maybe," agreed Tom. + +The Indian, whose name, it developed, was Tal, as nearly as Tom and Ned +could master it, had left camp to go to visit his wife and child in the +jungle hut, intending to return to the Beecher camp at night. But as +he passed through the forest the jaguar had dropped on him, bearing him +to earth. + +"But you saved my life, Senor," he said to Tom, dropping on one knee +and trying to kiss Tom's hand, which our hero avoided. "And now my +life is yours," added the Indian. + +"Well, you'd better get home with it and take care of it," said Tom. +"I'll have Professor Bumper come over and dress your scratches in a +better and more careful way. The bandages we put on are only +temporary." + +"My wife she make a poultice of leaves--they cure me," said the Indian. + +"I guess that will be the best way," observed Ned. "These natives can +doctor themselves for some things, better than we can." + +"Well, we'll take him home," suggested Tom. "He might keel over from +loss of blood. Come on," he added to Tal, indicating his object. + +It was not far to the native's hut from the place where the jaguar had +been killed, and there Tom and Ned underwent another demonstration of +affection as soon as those of Tal's immediate family and the other +natives understood what had happened. + +"I hate this business!" complained Tom, after having been knelt to by +the Indian's wife and child, who called him the "preserver" and other +endearing titles of the same kind. "Come on, let's hike back." + +But Indian hospitality, especially after a life has been saved, is not +so simple as all that. + +"My life--my house--all that I own is yours," said Tal in deep +gratitude. "Take everything," and he waved his hand to indicate all +the possessions in his humble hut. + +"Thanks," answered Tom, "but I guess you need all you have. That's a +fine specimen of blow gun though," he added, seeing one hanging on the +wall. "I wouldn't mind having one like that. If you get well enough +to make me one, Tal, and some arrows to go with it, I'd like it for a +curiosity to hang in my room at home." + +"The Senor shall have a dozen," promised the Indian. + +"Look, Ned," went on Tom, pointing to the native weapon. "I never saw +one just like this. They use small arrows or darts, tipped with wild +cotton, instead of feathers." + +"These the arrows," explained Tal's wife, bringing a bundle from a +corner of the one-room hut. As she held them out her husband gave a +cry of fear. + +"Poisoned arrows! Poisoned arrows!" he exclaimed. "One scratch and the +senors are dead men. Put them away!" + +In fear the Indian wife prepared to obey, but as she did so Tom Swift +caught sight of the package and uttered a strange cry. + +"Thundering hoptoads, Ned!" he exclaimed. "The poisoned arrows are +wrapped in the piece of oiled silk that was around the professor's +missing map!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AN OLD LEGEND + + +Fascinated, Tom and Ned gazed at the package the Indian woman held out +to them. Undoubtedly it was oiled silk on the outside, and through the +almost transparent covering could be seen the small arrows, or darts, +used in the blow gun. + +"Where did you get that?" asked Tom, pointing to the bundle and gazing +sternly at Tal. + +"What is the matter, Senor?" asked the Indian in turn. "Is it that you +are afraid of the poisoned arrows? Be assured they will not harm you +unless you are scratched by them." + +Tom and Ned found it difficult to comprehend all the rapid Spanish +spoken by their host, but they managed to understand some, and his +eloquent gestures made up the rest. + +"We're not afraid," Tom said, noting that the oiled skin well covered +the dangerous darts. "But where did you get that?" + +"I picked it up, after another Indian had thrown it away. He got it in +your camp, Senor. I will not lie to you. I did not steal. Valdez +went to your camp to steal--he is a bad Indian--and he brought back +this wrapping. It contained something he thought was gold, but it was +not, so he----" + +"Quick! Yes! Tell us!" demanded Tom eagerly. "What did he do with the +professor's map that was in the oiled silk? Where is it?" + +"Oh, Senors!" exclaimed the Indian woman, thinking perhaps her husband +was about to be dealt harshly with when she heard Tom's excited voice. +"Tal do no harm!" + +"No, he did no harm," went on Tom, in a reassuring tone. "But he can +do a whole lot of good if he tells us what became of the map that was +in this oiled silk. Where is it?" he asked again. + +"Valdez burn it up," answered Tal. + +"What, burned the professor's map?" cried Ned. + +"If that was in this yellow cloth--yes," answered the injured man. +"Valdez he is bad. He say to me he is going to your camp to see what +he can take. How he got this I know not, but he come back one morning +with the yellow package. I see him, but he make me promise not to +tell. But you save my life I tell you everything. + +"Valdez open the package; but it is not gold, though he think so +because it is yellow, and the man with no hair on his head keep it in +his pocket close, so close," and Tal hugged himself to indicate what he +meant. + +"That's Professor Bumper," explained Ned. + +"How did Valdez get the map out of the professor's coat?" asked Tom. + +"Valdez he very much smart. When man with no hair on his head take +coat off for a minute to eat breakfast Valdez take yellow thing out of +pocket." + +"The Indian must have sneaked into camp when we were eating," said Tom. +"Those from Beecher's party and our workers look all alike to us. We +wouldn't know one from the other, and one of our rival's might slip in." + +"One evidently did, if this is really the piece of oiled silk that was +around the professor's map," said Ned. + +"It certainly is the same," declared the young inventor. "See, there +is his name," and he stretched out his hand to point. + +"Don't touch!" cried Tal. "Poisoned arrows snake poison--very +dead-like and quick." + +"Don't worry, I won't touch," said Tom grimly. "But go on. You say +Valdez sneaked into our camp, took the oiled-silk package from the coat +pocket of Professor Bumper and went back to his own camp with it, +thinking it was gold." + +"Yes," answered Tal, though it is doubtful if he understood all that +Tom said, as it was half Spanish and half English. But the Indian knew +a little English, too. "Valdez, when he find no gold is very mad. +Only papers in the yellow silk-papers with queer marks on. Valdez +think it maybe a charm to work evil, so he burn them up--all up!" + +"Burned that rare map!" gasped Tom. + +"All in fire," went on Tal, indicating by his hands the play of flames. +"Valdez throw away yellow silk, and I take for my arrows so rain not +wash off poison. I give to you, if you like, with blow gun." + +"No, thank you," answered Tom, in disappointed tones. "The oiled silk +is of no use without the map, and that's gone. Whew! but this is +tough!" he said to his chum. "As long as it was only stolen there was +a chance to get it back, but if it's burned, the jig is up." + +"It looks so," agreed Ned. "We'd better get back and tell the +professor. It he can't get along without the map it's time he started +a movement toward getting another. So it wasn't Beecher, after all, +who got it." + +"Evidently not," assented Tom. "But I believe him capable of it." + +"You haven't much use for him," remarked Ned. + +"Huh!" was all the answer given by his chum. + +"I am sorry, Senors," went on Tal, "but I could not stop Valdez, and +the burning of the papers----" + +"No, you could not help it," interrupted the young inventor. "But it +just happens that it brings bad luck to us. You see, Tal, the papers +in this yellow covering, told of an old buried city that the +bald-headed professor--the-man-with-no-hair-on-his-head--is very +anxious to discover. It is somewhere under the ground," and he waved +to the jungle all about them, pointing earthwards. + +"Paper Valdez burn tell of lost city?" asked Tal, his face lighting up. + +"Yes. But now, of course, we can't tell where to dig for it." + +The Indian turned to his wife and talked rapidly with her in their own +dialect. She, too, seemed greatly excited, making quick gestures. +Finally she ran out of the hut. + +"Where is she going?" asked Tom suspiciously. + +"To get her grandfather. He very old Indian. He know story of buried +cities under trees. Very old story--what you call legend, maybe. But +Goosal know. He tell same as his grandfather told him. You wait. +Goosal come, and you listen." + +"Good, Ned!" suddenly cried Tom. "Maybe, we'll get on the track of +lost Kurzon after all, through some ancient Indian legend. Maybe we +won't need the map!" + +"It hardly seems possible," said Ned slowly. "What can these Indians +know of buried cities that were out of existence before Columbus came +here? Why, they haven't any written history." + +"No, and that may be just the reason they are more likely to be right," +returned Tom. "Legends handed down from one grandfather to another go +back a good many hundred years. If they were written they might be +destroyed as the professor's map was. Somehow or other, though I can't +tell why, I begin to see daylight ahead of us." + +"I wish I did," remarked Ned. + +"Here comes Goosal I think," murmured Tom, and he pointed to an Indian, +bent with the weight of years, who, led by Tal's wife, was slowly +approaching the hut. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE CAVERN + + +"Now Goosal can tell you," said Tal, evidently pleased that he had, in +a measure, solved the problem caused by the burning of the professor's +map. "Goosal very old Indian. He know old stories--legends--very old." + +"Well, if he can tell us how to find the buried city of Kurzon and +the--the things in it," said Tom, "he's all right!" + +The aged Indian proceeded slowly toward the hut where the impatient +youths awaited him. + +"I know what you seek in the buried city," remarked Tal. + +"Do you?" cried Tom, wondering if some one had indiscreetly spoken of +the idol of gold. + +"Yes you want pieces of rock, with strange writings on them, old +weapons, broken pots. I know. I have helped white men before." + +"Yes, those are the things we want," agreed Tom, with a glance at his +chum. "That is--some of them. But does your wife's grandfather talk +our language?" + +"No, but I can tell you what he says." + +By this time the old man, led by "Mrs. Tal"--as the young men called +the wife of the Indian they had helped--entered the hut. He seemed +nervous and shy, and glanced from Tom and Ned to his grandson-in-law, +as the latter talked rapidly in the Indian dialect. Then Goosal made +answer, but what it was all about the boys could not tell. + +"Goosal say," translated Tal, "that he know a story of a very old city +away down under ground." + +"Tell us about it!" urged Tom eagerly. + +But a difficulty very soon developed. Tal's intentions were good, but +he was not equal to the task of translating. Nor was the understanding +of Tom and Ned of Spanish quite up to the mark. + +"Say, this is too much for me!" exclaimed Tom. "We are losing the most +valuable part of this by not understanding what Goosal says, and what +Tal translates." + +"What can we do?" asked Ned. + +"Get the professor here as soon as possible. He can manage this +dialect, and he'll get the information at first hand. If Goosal can +tell where to begin excavating for the city he ought to tell the +professor, not us." + +"That's right," agreed Ned. "We'll bring the professor here as soon as +we can." + +Accordingly they stopped the somewhat difficult task of listening to +the translated story and told Tal, as well as they could, that they +would bring the "man-with-no-hair-on-his-head" to listen to the tale. + +This seemed to suit the Indians, all of whom in the small colony +appeared to be very grateful to Tom and Ned for having saved the life +of Tal. + +"That was a good shot you made when you bowled over the jaguar," said +Ned, as the two young explorers started back to their camp. + +"Better than I realized, if it leads to the discovery of Kurzon and the +idol of gold," remarked Tom. + +"And to think we should come across the oiled-silk holding the poisoned +arrows!" went on Ned. "That's the strangest part of the whole affair. +If it hadn't been that you shot the jaguar this never would have come +about." + +That Professor Bumper was astonished, and Mr. Damon likewise, when they +heard the story of Tom and Ned, is stating it mildly. + +"Come on!" exclaimed the scientist, as Tom finished, "we must see this +Goosal at once. If my map is destroyed, and it seems to be, this old +Indian may be our only hope. Where did he say the buried city was, +Tom?" + +"Oh, somewhere in this vicinity, as nearly as I could make out. But +you'd better talk with him yourself. We didn't say anything about the +idol of gold." + +"That's right. It's just as well to let the natives think we are only +after ordinary relics." + +"Bless my insurance policy!" gasped Mr. Damon. "It does not seem +possible that we are on the right track." + +"Well, I think we are, from what little information Goosal gave us," +remarked Tom. "This buried city of his must be a wonderful place." + +"It is, if it is what I take it to be," agreed the professor. "I told +you I would bring you to a land of wonders, Tom Swift, and they have +hardly begun yet. Come, I am anxious to talk to Goosal." + +In order that the Indians in the Bumper camp might not hear rumors of +the new plan to locate the hidden city, and, at the same time, to keep +rumors from spreading to the camp of the rivals, the scientist and his +friends started a new shaft, and put a shift of men at work on it. + +"We'll pretend we are on the right track, and very busy," said Tom. +"That will fool Beecher." + +"Are you glad to know he did not take your map Professor Bumper?" asked +Mr. Damon. + +"Well, yes. It is hard to believe such things of a fellow scientist." + +"If he didn't take it he wanted to," said Tom. "And he has done, or +will do, things as unsportsmanlike." + +"Oh, you are hardly fair, perhaps, Tom," commented Ned. + +"Um!" was all the answer he received. + +With the Indians in camp busy on the excavation work, and having +ascertained that similar work was going on in the Beecher outfit, +Professor Bumper, with Mr. Damon and the young men, set off to visit +the Indian village and listen to Goosal's story. They passed the place +where Tom had slain the jaguar, but nothing was left but the bones; the +ants, vultures and jungle animals having picked them clean in the night. + +On the arrival of Tom and his friends at the Indian's hut, Goosal told, +in language which Professor Bumper could understand, the ancient legend +of the buried city as he had had it from his grandfather. + +"But is that all you know about it, Goosal?" asked the savant. + +"No, Learned One. It is true most of what I have told you was told to +me by my father and his father's father. But I--I myself--with these +eyes, have looked upon the lost city." + +"You have!" cried the professor, this time in English. "Where? When? +Take us to it! How do you get here?" + +"Through the cavern of the dead," was the answer when the questions +were modified. + +"Bless my diamond ring!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, when Professor Bumper +translated the reply. "What does he mean?" + +And then, after some talk, this information came out. Years before, +when Goosal was a young man, he had been taken by his grandfather on a +journey through the jungle. They stopped one day at the foot of a high +mountain, and, clearing away the brush and stones at a certain place, +an entrance to a great cavern was revealed. This, it appeared, was the +Indian burial ground, and had been used for generations. + +Goosal, though in fear and trembling, was lead through it, and came to +another cavern, vaster than the first. And there he saw strange and +wonderful sights, for it was the remains of a buried city, that had +once been the home of a great and powerful tribe unlike the +Indians--the ancient Mayas it would seem. + +"Can you take us to this cavern?" asked the professor. + +"Yes," answered Goosal. "I will lead to it those who saved the life of +Tal--them and their friends. I will take you to the lost city!" + +"Good!" cried Mr. Damon, when this had been translated. "Now let +Beecher try to play any more tricks on us! Ho! for the cavern and the +lost city of Kurzon." + +"And the idol of gold," said Tom Swift to himself. "I hope we can get +it ahead of Beecher. Perhaps if I can help in that--Oh, well, here's +hoping, that's all!" and a little smile curved his lips. + +Greatly excited by the strange news, but maintaining as calm an air +outwardly as possible, so as not to excite the Indians, Tom and his +friends returned to camp to prepare for their trip. Goosal had said +the cavern lay distant more than a two-days' journey into the jungle. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE STORM + + +"Now," remarked Tom, once they were back again in their camp, "we must +go about this trip to the cavern in a way that will cause no suspicion +over there as to what our object is," and he nodded in the direction of +the quarters of his rival. + +"Do you mean to go off quietly?" asked Ned. + +"Yes. And to keep the work going on here, at these shafts," put in the +scientist, "so that if any of their spies happen to come here they will +think we still believe the buried city to be just below us. To that +end we must keep the Indians digging, though I am convinced now that it +is useless." + +Accordingly preparations were made for an expedition into the jungle +under the leadership of Goosal. Tal had not sufficiently recovered +from the jaguar wounds to go with the party, but the old man, in spite +of his years, was hale and hearty and capable of withstanding hardships. + +One of the most intelligent of the Indians was put in charge of the +digging gangs as foreman, and told to keep them at work, and not to let +them stray. Tolpec, whose brother Tom had tried to save, proved a +treasure. He agreed to remain behind and look after the interests of +his friends, and see that none of their baggage or stores were taken. + +"Well, I guess we're as ready as we ever shall be," remarked Tom, as +the cavalcade made ready to start. Mules carried the supplies that +were to be taken into the jungle, and others of the sturdy animals were +to be ridden by the travelers. The trail was not an easy one, Goosal +warned them. + +Tom and his friends found it even worse than they had expected, for all +their experience in jungle and mountain traveling. In places it was +necessary to dismount and lead the mules along, sometimes pushing and +dragging them. More than once the trail fairly hung on the edge of +some almost bottomless gorge, and again it wound its way between great +walls of rock, so poised that they appeared about to topple over and +crush the travelers. But they kept on with dogged patience, through +many hardships. + +To add to their troubles they seemed to have entered the abode of the +fiercest mosquitoes encountered since coming to Honduras. At times it +was necessary to ride along with hats covered with mosquito netting, +and hands encased in gloves. + +They had taken plenty of condensed food with them, and they did not +suffer in this respect. Game, too, was plentiful and the electric +rifles of Tom and Ned added to the larder. + +One night, after a somewhat sound sleep induced by hard travel on the +trail that day, Tom awoke to hear some one or something moving about +among their goods, which included their provisions. + +"Who's there?" asked the young inventor sharply, as he reached for his +electric rifle. + +There was no answer, but a rattling of the pans. + +"Speak, or I'll fire!" Tom warned, adding this in such Spanish as he +could muster, for he thought it might be one of the Indians. No reply +came, and then, seeing by the light of the stars a dark form moving in +front of the tent occupied by himself and Ned, Tom fired. + +There was a combined grunt and squeal of pain, then a savage growl, and +Ned yelled: + +"What's the matter, Tom?" for he had been awakened, and heard the +crackle of the electrical discharge. + +"I don't know," Tom answered. "But I shot something--or somebody!" + +"Maybe some of Beecher's crowd," ventured his chum. But when they got +their electric torches, and focused them on the inert, black object, it +was found to be a bear which had come to nose about the camp for dainty +morsels. + +Bruin was quite dead, and as he was in prime condition there was a +feast of bear meat at the following dinner. The white travelers found +it rather too strong for their palates, but the Indians reveled in it. + +It was shortly after noon the next day, when Goosal, after remarking +that a storm seemed brewing, announced that they would be at the +entrance to the cavern in another hour. + +"Good!" cried Professor Bumper. "At last we are near the buried city." + +"Don't be too sure," advised Mr. Damon, "We may be disappointed. +Though I hope not for your sake, my dear Professor." + +Goosal now took the lead, and the old Indian, traveling on foot, for he +said he could better look for the old landmark that way than on the +back of a mule, walked slowly along a rough cliff. + +"Here, somewhere, is the entrance to the cavern," said the aged man. +"It was many years ago that I was here--many years. But it seems as +though yesterday. It is little changed." + +Indeed little did change in that land of wonders. Only nature caused +what alterations there were. The hand of man had long been absent. + +Slowly Goosal walked along the rocky trail, on one side a sheer rock, +towering a hundred feet or more toward the sky. On the other side a +deep gash leading to a great fertile valley below. + +Suddenly the old man paused, and looked about him as though uncertain. +Then, more slowly still, he put out his hand and pulled at some bushes +that grew on a ledge of the rock. They came away, having no depth of +earth, and a small opening was disclosed. + +"It is here," said Goosal quietly. "The entrance to the cavern that +leads to the burial place of the dead, and the city that is dead also. +It is here." + +He stood aside while the others hurried forward. It took but a few +minutes to prove that he was right--at least as to the existence of the +cavern--for the four men were soon peering into the opening. + +"Come on!" cried Tom, impetuously. + +"Wait a moment," suggested the professor, "Sometimes the air in these +places is foul. We must test it." But a torch one of the Indians +threw in burned with a steady glow. That test was conclusive at least. +They made ready to enter. + +Torches of a light bark, that glowed with a steady flame and little +smoke, had been provided, as well as a good supply of electric +dry-battery lamps, and the way into the cavern was thus well lighted. +At first the Indians were afraid to enter, but a word or two from +Goosal reassured them, and they followed Professor Bumper, Tom, and the +others into the cavern. + +For several hundred feet there was nothing remarkable about the cave. +It was like any other cavern of the mountains, though wonderful for the +number of crystal formations on the roof and walls--formations that +sparkled like a million diamonds in the flickering lights. + +"Talk about a wonderland!" cried Tom. "This is fairyland!" + +A moment later, as Goosal walked on beside the professor and Tom, the +aged Indian came to a pause, and, pointing ahead, murmured: + +"The city of the dead!" + +They saw the niches cut in the rock walls, niches that held the +countless bones of those who had died many, many years before. It was +a vast Indian grave. + +"Doubtless a wealth of material of historic interest here," said +Professor Bumper, flashing his torch on the skeletons. "But it will +keep. Where is the city you spoke of, Goosal?" + +"Farther on, Senor. Follow me." + +Past the stone graves they went, deeper and deeper into the great cave. +Their footsteps echoed and re-echoed. Suddenly Tom, who with Ned had +gone a little ahead, came to a sudden halt and said: + +"Well, this may be a burial place sure enough, but I think I see +something alive all right--if it isn't a ghost." + +He pointed ahead. Surely those were lights flickering and moving +about, and, yes, there were men carrying them. The Bumper party came +to a surprised halt. The other lights advanced, and then, to the great +astonishment of Professor Bumper and his friends, there confronted them +in the cave several scientists of Professor Beecher's party and a score +or more of Indians. Professor Hylop, who was known to Professor +Bumper, stepped forward and asked sharply: + +"What are you doing here?" + +"I might ask you the same thing," was the retort. + +"You might, but you would not be answered," came sharply. "We have a +right here, having discovered this cavern, and we claim it under a +concession of the Honduras Government. I shall have to ask you to +withdraw." + +"Do you mean leave here?" asked Mr Damon. + +"That is it, exactly. We first discovered this cave. We have been +conducting explorations in it for several days, and we wish no +outsiders." + +"Are you speaking for Professor Beecher?" asked Tom. + +"I am. But he is here in the cave, and will speak for himself if you +desire it. But I represent him, and I order you to leave. If you do +not go peaceably we will use force. We have plenty of it," and he +glanced back at the Indians grouped behind him--scowling savage Indians. + +"We have no wish to intrude," observed Professor Bumper, "and I fully +recognize the right of prior discovery. But one member of our party +(he did not say which one) was in this cave many years ago. He led us +to it." + +"Ours is a government concession!" exclaimed Professor Hylop harshly. +"We want no intruders! Go!" and he pointed toward the direction whence +Tom's party had come. + +"Drive them out!" he ordered the Indians in Spanish, and with muttered +threats the dark-skinned men advanced toward Tom and the others. + +"You need not use force," said Professor Bumper. + +He and Professor Hylop had quarreled bitterly years before on some +scientific matter, and the matter was afterward found to be wrong. +Perhaps this made him vindictive. + +Tom stepped forward and started to protest, but Professor Bumper +interposed. + +"I guess there is no help for it but to go. It seems to be theirs by +right of discovery and government concession," he said, in disappointed +tone. "Come friends"; and dejectedly they retraced their steps. + +Followed by the threatening Indians, the Bumper party made its way back +to the entrance. They had hoped for great things, but if the cavern +gave access to the buried city--the ancient city of Kurzon on the chief +altar of which stood the golden idol, Quitzel--it looked as though they +were never to enter it. + +"We'll have to get our Indians and drive those fellows out!" declared +Tom. "I'm not going to be beaten this way--and by Beecher!" + +"It is galling," declared Professor Bumper. "Still he has right on his +side, and I must give in to priority, as I would expect him to. It is +the unwritten law." + +"Then we've failed!" cried Tom bitterly. + +"Not yet," said Professor Bumper. "If I can not unearth that buried +city I may find another in this wonderland. I shall not give up." + +"Hark! What's that noise?" asked Tom, as they approached the entrance +to the cave. + +"Sounds like a great wind blowing," commented Ned. + +It was. As they stood in the entrance they looked out to find a fierce +storm raging. The wind was sweeping down the rocky trail, the rain was +falling in veritable bucketfuls from the overhanging cliff, and +deafening thunder and blinding lightning roared and flashed. + +"Surely you would not drive us out in this storm," said Professor +Bumper to his former rival. + +"You can not stay in the cave! You must get out!" was the answer, as a +louder crash of thunder than usual seemed to shake the very mountain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ENTOMBED ALIVE + + +For an instant Tom and his friends paused at the entrance to the +wonderful cavern, and looked at the raging storm. It seemed madness to +venture out into it, yet they had been driven from the cave by those +who had every right of discovery to say who, and who should not, +partake of its hospitality. + +"We can't go out into that blow!" cried Ned. "It's enough to loosen +the very mountains!" + +"Let's stay here and defy them!" murmured Tom. "If the--if what we +seek--is here we have as good a right to it as they have." + +"We must go out," said Professor Bumper simply. "I recognize the right +of my rival to dispossess us." + +"He may have the right, but it isn't human," said Mr. Damon. "Bless my +overshoes! If Beecher himself were here he wouldn't have the heart to +send us out in this storm." + +"I would not give him the satisfaction of appealing to him," remarked +Professor Bumper. "Come, we will go out. We have our ponchos, and we +are not fair-weather explorers. If we can't get to the lost city one +way we will another. Come my friends." + +And despite the downpour, the deafening thunder and the lightning that +seemed ready to sear one's eyes, he walked out of the cave entrance, +followed by Tom and the others. + +"Come on!" cried Tom, in a voice he tried to render confident, as they +went out into the terrible storm. "We'll beat 'em yet!" + +The rain fell harder than ever. Small torrents were now rushing down +the trail, and it was only a question of a few minutes before the place +where they stood would be a raging river, so quickly does the rain +collect in the mountains and speed toward the valleys. + +"We must take to the forest!" cried Tom. "There'll be some shelter +there, and I don't like the way the geography of this place is +behaving. There may be a landslide at any moment." + +As he spoke he motioned upward through the mist of the rain to the +sloping side of the mountain towering above them. Loose stones were +beginning to roll down, accompanied by patches of earth loosened by the +water. Some of the patches carried with them bunches of grass and +small bushes. + +"Yes, it will be best to move into the jungle," said the professor. +"Goosal, you had better take the lead." + +It was wonderful to see how well the aged Indian bore up in spite of +his years, and walked on ahead. They had left their mules tethered +some distance back, in a sheltering clump of trees, and they hoped the +animals would be safe. + +The guide found a place where they could leave the trail, though going +down a dangerous slope, and take to the forest. As carefully as +possible they descended this, the rain continuing to fall, the wind to +blow, the lightning to sizzle all about them and the thunder to boom in +their ears. + +They went on until they were beneath the shelter of the thick jungle +growth of trees, which kept off some of the pelting drops. + +"This is better!" exclaimed Ned, shaking his poncho and getting rid of +some of the water that had settled on it. + +"Bless my overcoat!" cried Mr. Damon. "We seem to have gotten out of +the frying pan into the fire!" + +"How?" asked Tom. "We are partly sheltered here, though had we stayed +in the cave in spite of----" + +A deafening crash interrupted him, and following the flash one of the +giant trees of the forest was seen to blaze up and then topple over. + +"Struck by lightning!" yelled Ned. + +"Yes; and it may happen to us!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "We were safer +from the lightning in the open. Maybe----" + +Again came an interruption, but this time a different one. The very +ground beneath their feet seemed to be shaking and trembling. + +"What is it?" gasped Ned, while Goosal fell on his knees and began +fervently to pray. + +"It's an earthquake!" yelled Tom Swift. + +As he spoke there came another sound--the sound of a mass of earth in +motion. It came from the direction of the mountain trail they had just +left. They looked toward it and their horror-stricken eyes saw the +whole side of the mountain sliding down. + +Slowly at first the earth slid down, but constantly gathering force and +speed. In the face of this new disaster the rain seemed to have ceased +and the thunder and lightning to be less severe. It was as though one +force of nature gave way to the other. + +"Look! Look!" gasped Ned. + +In silence, which was broken now only by a low and ominous rumble, more +menacing than had been the awful fury of the elements, the travelers +looked. + +Suddenly there was a quicker movement of seemingly one whole section of +the mountain. Great rocks and trees, carried down by the appalling +force of the landslide were slipping over the trail, obliterating it as +though it had never existed. + +"There goes the entrance to the cavern!" cried Ned, and as the others +looked to where he pointed they saw the hole in the side of the +mountain--the mouth of the cave that led to the lost city of +Kurzon--completely covered by thousands of tons of earth and stones. + +"That's the end of them!" exclaimed Tom, as the rumble of the +earthquake died away. + +"Of----" Ned stopped, his eyes staring. + +"Of Professor Beecher's party. They're entombed alive!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE REVOLVING STONE + + +Stunned, not alone by the realization of the awfulness of the fate of +their rivals, but also by the terrific storm and the effect of the +earthquake and the landslide, Tom and his friends remained for a moment +gazing toward the mouth of the cavern, now completely out of sight, +buried by a mass of broken trees, tangled bushes, rocks and earth. +Somewhere, far beyond that mass, was the Beecher party, held prisoners +in the cave that formed the entrance to the buried city. + +Tom was the first to come to a realization of what was needed to be +done. + +"We must help them!" he exclaimed, and it was characteristic of him +that he harbored no enmity. + +"How?" asked Ned. + +"We must get a force of Indians and dig them out," was the prompt +answer. + +At Tom's vigorous words Professor Bumper's forces were energized into +action, and he stated: "Fortunately we have plenty of excavating tools. +We may be in time to save them. Come on! the storm seems to have +passed as suddenly as it came up, and the earthquake, which, after all +did not cover a wide area, seems to be over. We must start the work of +rescue at once. We must go back to camp and get all the help we can +muster." + +The storm, indeed, seemed to be over, but it was no easy matter to get +back over the soggy, rain-soaked ground to the trail they had left to +take shelter in the forest. Fortunately the earthquake had not +involved that portion where they had left their mules, but most of the +frightened animals had broken loose, and it was some little time before +they could all be caught. + +"It is no use to try to get back to camp tonight," said Tom, when the +last of the pack and saddle animals had been corralled. "It is getting +late and there is no telling the condition of the trail. We must stay +here until morning." + +"But what about them?" and Mr. Damon nodded in the direction of the +entombed ones. + +"We can help them best by waiting until the beginning of a new day," +said the professor. "We shall need a large force, and we could not +bring it up to-night. Besides, Tom is right, and if we tried to go +along the trail after dark, torn and disturbed as it is bound to be by +the rain, we might get into difficulties ourselves. No, we must camp +here until morning and then go for help." + +They all decided finally this was best. The professor, too, pointed +out that their rivals were in a large and roomy cave, not likely to +suffer from lack of air nor food or water, since they must have +supplies with them. + +"The only danger is that the cave has been crushed in," added Tom; "but +in that event we would be of no service to them anyhow." + +The night seemed very long, and it was a most uncomfortable one, +because of the shock and exertions through which the party had passed. +Added to this was the physical discomfort caused by the storm. + +But in time there was the light in the east that meant morning was at +hand, and with it came action. A hasty breakfast, cups of steaming +coffee forming a most welcome part, put them all in better condition, +and once more they were on their way, heading back to the main camp +where they had left their force of Indians. + +"My!" exclaimed Tom, as they made their way slowly along, "it surely +was some storm! Look at those big trees uprooted over there. They're +almost as big as the giant redwoods of California, and yet they were +bowled over as if they were tenpins." + +"I wonder if the wind did it or the earthquake," ventured Mr. Damon. + +"No wind could do that," declared Ned. "It must have been the +landslide caused by the earthquake." + +"The wind could do it if the ground was made soft by the rain; and that +was probably what did it," suggested Tom. + +"There is no harm in settling the point," commented Professor Bumper. +"It is not far off our trail, and will take only a few minutes to go +over to the trees. I should like to get some photographs to accompany +an article that perhaps I shall write on the effects of sudden and +severe tropical storms. We will go to look at the overturned trees and +then we'll hurry on to camp to get the rescue party." + +The uprooted trees lay on one side of the mountain trail, perhaps a +mile from the mouth of the cave which had been covered over, entombing +the Beecher party. Leaving the mules in charge of one of the Indians, +Professor Bumper and his friends, accompanied by Goosal, approached the +fallen trees. As they neared them they saw that in falling the trees +had lifted with their roots a large mass of earth and imbedded rocks +that had clung to the twisted and gnarled fibers. This mass was as +large as a house. + +"Look at the hole left when the roots pulled out!" cried Ned. "Why, +it's like the crater of a small volcano!" he added. And, as they stood +on the edge of it looking curiously at the hole made, the others agreed +with Tom's chum. + +Professor Bumper was looking about, trying to ascertain if there were +any evidences of the earthquake in the vicinity, when Tom, who had +cautiously gone a little way down into the excavation caused by the +fallen trees, uttered a cry of surprise. + +"Look!" he shouted. "Isn't that some sort of tunnel or underground +passage?" and he pointed to a square opening, perhaps seven feet high +and nearly as broad, which extended, no one knew where, downward and +onward from the side of the hole made by the uprooting of the trees. + +"It's an underground passage all right," said Professor Bumper eagerly; +"and not a natural one, either. That was fashioned by the hand of man, +if I am any judge. It seems to go right under the mountain, too. +Friends, we must explore this! It may be of the utmost importance! +Come, we have our electric torches, and we shall need them, for it's +very dark in there," and he peered into the passage in front of which +they all stood now. It seemed to have been tunneled through the earth, +the sides being lined by either slabs of stone, or walls made by a sort +of concrete. + +"But what about the rescue work?" asked Mr. Damon. + +"I am not forgetting Professor Beecher and his friends," answered the +scientist. + +"Perhaps this may be a better means of rescuing them than by digging +them out, which will take a week at least," observed Tom. + +"This a better way?" asked Ned, pointing to the tunnel. + +"That's it," confirmed the savant. "If you will notice it extends back +in the direction of the cave from which we were driven. Now if there +is a buried city beneath all this jungle, this mountain of earth and +stones, the accumulation of centuries, it is probably on the bottom of +some vast cavern. It is my opinion that we were only in one end of +that cavern, and this may be the entrance to another end of it." + +"Then," asked Mr. Damon, "do you mean that we can enter here, get into +the cave that contains the buried city, or part of it, and find there +Beecher and his friends?" + +"That's it. It is possible, and if we could it would save an immense +lot of work, and probably be a surer way to save their lives than by +digging a tunnel through the landslide to find the mouth of the cave +where we first entered." + +"It's a chance worth taking," said Mr. Damon. "Of course it is a +chance. But then everything connected with this expedition is; so one +is no worse than another. As you say, we may find the entombed men +more easily this way than any other." + +"I wonder," said Tom slowly, "if, by any chance, we shall find, through +this passage, the lost city we are looking for." + +"And the idol of gold," added Ned. + +"Goosal, do you know anything about this?" asked Professor Bumper. +"Did you ever hear of another passage leading to the cave where you saw +the ancient city?" + +"No, Learned One, though I have heard stories about there being many +cities, or parts of a big one, beneath the mountain, and when it was +above ground there were many entrances to it." + +"That settles it!" cried the professor in English, having talked to +Goosal in Spanish. "We'll try this and see where it leads." + +They entered the stone-lined passage. In spite of the fact that it had +probably been buried and concealed from light and air for centuries, as +evidenced by the growth of the giant trees above it, the air was fresh. + +"And this is one reason," said Tom, in commenting on this fact, "why I +believe it leads to some vast cavern which is connected in some fashion +with the outer air. Well, perhaps we shall soon make a discovery." + +Eagerly and anxiously the little party pressed forward by the light of +the pocket electric lamps. They were obsessed by two thoughts--what +they might find and the necessity for aiding in the rescue of their +rivals. + +On and on they went, the darkness illuminated only by the torches they +carried. But they noticed that the air was still fresh, and that a +gentle wind blew toward them. The passage was undoubtedly artificial, +a tunnel made by the hands of men now long crumbled into dust. It had +a slightly upward slope, and this, Professor Bumper said, indicated +that it was bored upward and perhaps into the very heart of the +mountain somewhere in the interior of which was the Beecher party. + +Just how far they went they did not know, but it must have been more +than two miles. Yet they did not tire, for the way was smooth. + +Suddenly Tom, who, with Professor Bumper, was in the lead, uttered a +cry, as he held his torch above his head and flashed it about in a +circle. + +"We're blocked!" he exclaimed. "We're up against a stone wall!" + +It was but too true. Confronting them, and extending from side to side +across the passage and from roof to floor, was a great rough stone. +Immense and solid it seemed when they pushed on it in vain. + +"Nothing short of dynamite will move that," said Ned in despair. "This +is a blind lead. We'll have to go back." + +"But there must be something on the other side of that stone," cried +Tom. "See, it is pierced with holes, and through them comes a current +of air. If we could only move the stone!" + +"I believe it is an ancient door," remarked Professor Bumper. + +Eagerly and frantically they tried to move it by their combined weight. +The stone did not give the fraction of the breadth of a hair. + +"We'll have to go back and get some of your big tunnel blasting powder, +Tom," suggested Ned. + +As he spoke old Goosal glided forward. He had remained behind them in +the passage while they were trying to move the rock. Now he said +something in Spanish. + +"What does he mean?" asked Ned. + +"He asks that he be allowed to try," translated Professor Bumper. +"Sometimes, he says, there is a secret way of opening stone doors in +these underground caves. Let him try." + +Goosal seemed to be running his fingers lightly over the outer edge of +the door. He was muttering to himself in his Indian tongue. + +Suddenly he uttered an exclamation, and, as he did so, there was a +noise from the door itself. It was a grinding, scraping sound, a +rumble as though rocks were being rolled one against the other. + +Then the astonished eyes of the adventurers saw the great stone door +revolve on its axis and swing to one side, leaving a passage open +through which they could pass. Goosal had discovered the hidden +mechanism. + +What lay before them? + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE IDOL OF GOLD + + +"Forward! cried Tom Swift. + +"Where?" asked Mr Damon, hanging back for an instant. "Bless my +compass, Tom! do you know where you're going?" + +"I haven't the least idea, but it must lead to something, or the +ancients who made this revolving stone door wouldn't have taken such +care to block the passage." + +"Ask Goosal if he knows anything about it," suggested Mr. Damon to the +professor. + +"He says he never was here before," translated the savant, "but years +ago, when he went into the hidden city by the cave we left yesterday, +he saw doors like this which opened this way." + +"Then we're on the right track!" cried Tom. "If this is the same kind +of door, it must lead to the same place. Ho for Kurzon and the idol of +gold!" + +As they passed through the stone door, Tom and Professor Bumper tried +to get some idea of the mechanism by which it worked. But they found +this impossible, it being hidden within the stone itself or in the +adjoining walls. But, in order that it might not close of itself and +entomb them, the portal was blocked open with stones found in the +passage. + +"It's always well to have a line of retreat open," said Tom. "There's +no telling what may lie beyond us." + +For a time there seemed to be nothing more than the same passage along +which they had come. Then the passage suddenly widened, like the large +end of a square funnel. Upward and outward the stone walls swept, and +they saw dimly before them, in the light of their torches, a vast +cavern, seemingly formed by the falling in of mountains, which, in +toppling over, had met overhead in a sort of rough arch, thus +protecting, in a great measure, that which lay beneath them. + +Goosal, who had brought with him some of the fiber bark torches, set a +bundle of them aflame. As they flared up, a wondrous sight was +revealed to Tom Swift and his friends. + +Stretching out before them, as though they stood at the end of an +elevated street and gazed down on it, was a city--a large city, with +streets, houses, open squares, temples, statues, fountains, dry for +centuries--a buried and forgotten city--a city in ruins--a city of the +dead, now dry as dust, but still a city, or, rather, the strangely +preserved remains of one. + +"Look!" whispered Tom. A louder voice just then, would have seemed a +sacrilege. "Look!" + +"Is it what we are looking for?" asked Ned in a low voice. + +"I believe it is," replied the professor. "It is the lost city of +Kurzon, or one just like it. And now if we can find the idol of gold +our search will be ended--at least the major part of it." + +"Where did you expect to find the idol?" asked Tom. + +"It should be in the main temple. Come, we will walk in the ancient +streets--streets where no feet but ours have trod in many centuries. +Come!" + +In eager silence they pressed on through this newly discovered +wonderland. For it was a wonderful city, or had been. Though much of +it was in ruins, probably caused by an earthquake or an eruption from a +volcano, the central portion, covered as it was by the overtoppling +mountains that formed the arching roof, was well preserved. + +There were rude but beautiful stone buildings. There were archways; +temples; public squares; and images, not at all beautiful, for they +seemed to be of man-monsters--doubtless ancient gods. There were +smoothly paved streets; wondrously carved fountains, some in ruins, all +now as dry as bone, but which must have been places of beauty where +youths and maidens gathered in the ancient days. + +Of the ancient population there was not a trace left. Tom and his +friends penetrated some of the houses, but not so much as a bone or a +heap of mouldering dust showed where the remains of the people were. +Either they had fled at the approaching doom of the city and were +buried elsewhere, or some strange fire or other force of nature had +consumed and obliterated them. + +"What a wealth of historic information I shall find here!" murmured +Professor Bumper, as he caught sight of many inscriptions in strange +characters on the walls and buildings. "I shall never get to the end +of them." + +"But what about the idol of gold?" asked Mr. Damon, "Do you think +you'll find that?" + +"We must hurry on to the temple over there," said the scientist, +indicating a building further along. + +"And then we must see about rescuing your rivals, Professor," put in +Tom. + +"Yes, Tom. But fortunately we are on the ground here before them," +agreed the professor. + +Undoubtedly it was the chief temple, or place of worship, of the +long-dead race which the explorers now entered. It was a building +beautiful in its barbaric style, and yet simple. There were massive +walls, and a great inner court, at the end of which seemed to be some +sort of altar. And then, as they lighted fresh torches, and pressed +forward with them and their electric lights, they saw that which caused +a cry of satisfaction to burst from all of them. + +"The idol of gold!" + +Yes, there it squatted, an ugly, misshapen, figure, a cross between a +toad and a gila monster, half man, half beast, with big red +eyes--rubies probably--that gleamed in the repulsive golden face. And +the whole figure, weighing many pounds, seemed to be of SOLID GOLD! + +Eagerly the others followed Professor Bumper up the altar steps to the +very throne of the golden idol. The scientist touched it, tried to +raise it and make sure of its solidity and material. + +"This is it!" he cried. "It is the idol of gold! I have found-- We have +found it, for it belongs to all of us!" + +"Hurray!" cried Tom Swift, and Ned and Mr. Damon joined in the cry. + +There was no need for silence or caution now; and yet, as they stood +about the squat and ugly figure, which, in spite of its hideousness, +was worth a fortune intrinsically and as an antique, they heard from +the direction of the stone passage a noise. + +"What is it?" asked Tom Swift. + +There was a murmur of voices. + +"Indians!" cried Professor Bumper, recognizing the language--a mixture +of Spanish and Indian. + +The cave was illuminated by the glare of other torches which seemed to +rush forward. A moment later it was seen that they were being carried +by a number of Indians. + +"Friends," murmured Goosal, using the Spanish term, "Amigos." + +"They are our own Indians!" cried Tom Swift. "I see Tolpec!" and he +pointed to the native who had deserted from Jacinto's force to help +them. + +"How did they get here?" asked Professor Bumper. + +This was quickly told. In their camp, where, under the leadership of +Tolpec they had been left to do the excavating, the natives had heard, +seen and felt the effects of the storm and the earthquake, though it +did little damage in their vicinity. But they became alarmed for the +safety of the professor and his party and, at Tolpec's suggestion, set +off in search of them. + +The Indians had seen, passing along the trail, the uprooted trees, and +had noted the footsteps of the explorers going down to the stone +passage. It was easy for them to determine that Tom and his friends +had gone in, since the marks of their boots were plainly in evidence in +the soft soil. + +None of the Indians was as much wrought up over the discovery of Kurzon +and the idol as were the white adventurers. The gold, of course, meant +something to the natives, but they were indifferent to the wonders of +the underground city. Perhaps they had heard too many legends +concerning such things to be impressed. + +"That statue is yours--all yours," said old Goosal when he had talked +with his relatives and friends among the natives. "They all say what +you find you keep, and we will help you keep it." + +"That's good," murmured Professor Bumper. "There was some doubt in my +mind as to our right to this, but after all, the natives who live in +this land are the original owners, and if they pass title to us it is +clear. That settles the last difficulty." + +"Except that of getting the idol out," said Mr. Damon. + +"Oh, we'll accomplish that!" cried Tom. + +"I can hardly believe my good luck," declared Professor Bumper. "I +shall write a whole book on this idol alone and then----" + +Once more came an interruption. This time it was from another +direction, but it was of the same character--an approaching band of +torch-bearers. They were Indians, too, but leading them were a number +of whites. + +And at their head was no less personage than Professor Beecher himself. + +For a moment, as the three parties stood together in the ancient +temple, in the glare of many torches, no one spoke. Then Professor +Bumper found his voice. + +"We are glad to see you," he said to his rival. "That is glad to see +you alive, for we saw the landslide bury you. And we were coming to +dig you out. We thought this cave--the cave of the buried city--would +lead us to you easier than by digging through the slide. We have just +discovered this idol," and he put his hand on the grim golden image. + +"Oh, you have discovered it, have you?" asked Professor Beecher, and +his voice was bitter. + +"Yes, not ten minutes ago. The natives have kindly acknowledged my +right to it under the law of priority. I am sorry but----" + +With a look of disgust and chagrined disappointment on his face, +Professor Beecher turned to the other scientists and said: + +"Let us go. We are too late. He has what I came after." + +"Well, it is the fortune of war--and discovery," put in Mr. Hardy, one +of the party who seemed the least ill-natured. "Your luck might have +been ours, Professor Bumper. I congratulate you." + +"Thank you! Are you sure your party is all right--not in need of +assistance? How did you get out of the place you were buried?" + +"Thank you! We do not require any help. It was good of you to think of +us. But we got out the way we came in. We did not enter the tunnel as +you did, but came in through another entrance which was not closed by +the landslide. Then we made a turn through a gateway in a tunnel +connecting with ours--a gateway which seems to have been opened by the +earthquake--and we came here, just now. + +"Too late, I see, to claim the discovery of the idol of gold," went on +Mr. Hardy. "But I trust you will be generous, and allow us to make +observations of the buildings and other relics." + +"As much as you please, and with the greatest pleasure in the world," +was the prompt answer of Professor Bumper. "All I lay sole claim to is +the golden idol. You are at liberty to take whatever else you find in +Kurzon and to make what observations you like." + +"That is generous of you, and quite in contrast to--er--to the conduct +of our leader. I trust he may awaken to a sense of the injustice he +did you." + +But Professor Beecher was not there to hear this. He had stalked away +in anger. + +"Humph!" grunted Tom. Then he continued: "That story about a +government concession was all a fake, Professor, else he'd have put up +a fight now. Contemptible sneak!" + + +In fact the story of Tom Swift's trip to the underground land of +wonders is ended, for with the discovery of the idol of gold the main +object of the expedition was accomplished. But their adventures were +not over by any means, though there is not room in this volume to +record them. + +Suffice it to say that means were at once taken to get the golden image +out of the cave of the ancient city. It was not accomplished without +hard work, for the gold was heavy, and Professor Bumper would not, +naturally, consent to the shaving off of so much as an ear or part of +the flat nose, to say nothing of one of the half dozen extra arms and +legs with which the ugly idol was furnished. + +Finally it was safely taken out of the cave, and along the stone +passage to the opening formed by the overthrown trees, and thence on to +camp. + +And at the camp a surprise awaited Tom. + +Some long-delayed mail had been forwarded from the nearest place of +civilization and there were letters for all, including several for our +hero. One in particular he picked out first and read eagerly. + +"Well, is every little thing all right, Tom?" asked Ned, as he saw a +cheerful grin spread itself over his chum's face. + +"I should say it is, and then some! Look here, Ned. This is a letter +from----" + +"I know. Mary Nestor. Go on." + +"How'd you guess?" + +"Oh, I'm a mind-reader." + +"Huh! Well, you know she was away when I went to call to say good-bye, +and I was a little afraid Beecher had got an inside edge on me." + +"Had he?" + +"No, but he tried hard enough. He went to see Mary in Fayetteville, +just as you heard, before he came on to join his party, but he didn't +pay much of a visit to her." + +"No?" + +"No. Mary told him he'd better hurry along to Central America, or +wherever it was he intended going, as she didn't care for him as much +as he flattered himself she did." + +"Good!" cried Ned. "Shake, old man. I'm glad!" + +They shook hands. + +"Well, what's the matter? Didn't you read all of her letter?" asked +Ned when he saw his chum once more perusing the epistle. + +"No. There's a postscript here." + + +"'Sorry I couldn't see you before you left. It was a mistake, but when +you come back----'" + + +"Oh, that part isn't any of your affair!" and, blushing under his tan, +Tom thrust the letter into his pocket and strode away, while Ned +laughed happily. + +With the idol of gold safe in their possession, Professor Bumper's +party could devote their time to making other explorations in the +buried city. This they did, as is testified to by a long list of books +and magazine articles since turned out by the scientist, dealing +strictly with archaeological subjects, touching on the ancient Mayan +race and its civilization, with particular reference to their system of +computing time. + +Professor Beecher, young and foolish, would not consent to delve into +the riches of the ancient city, being too much chagrined over the loss +of the idol. It seems he had really promised to give a part of it to +Mary Nestor. But he never got the chance. + +His colleagues, after their first disappointment at being beaten, +joined forces with Professor Bumper in exploring the old city, and made +many valuable discoveries. + +In one point Professor Bumper had done his rival an injustice. That +was in thinking Professor Beecher was responsible for the treachery of +Jacinto. That was due to the plotter's own work. It was true that +Professor Beecher had tentatively engaged Jacinto, and had sent word to +him to keep other explorers away from the vicinity of the ancient city +if possible; but Jacinto, who did not return Professor Bumper's money, +as he had promised, had acted treacherously in order to enrich himself. +Professor Beecher had nothing to do with that, nor had he with the +taking of the map, as has been seen, the loss of which, after all, was +a blessing in disguise, for Kurzon would never have been located by +following the directions given there, as it was very inaccurate. + +In another point it was demonstrated that the old documents were at +fault. This was in reference to the golden idol having been overthrown +and another set up in its place, an act which had caused the +destruction of Kurzon. + +It is true that the city was destroyed, or rather, buried, but this +catastrophe was probably brought about by an earthquake. And another +great idol, one of clay, was found, perhaps a rival of Quitzel, but it +was this clay image which was thrown down and broken, and not the +golden one. + +Perhaps an effort had been made, just before the burying of the city, +to change idols and the system of worship, but Quitzel seemed to have +held his own. The old manuscripts were not very reliable, it was +found, except in general. + +"Well, I guess this will hold Beecher for a while," said Tom, the night +of the arrival of Mary's letter, and after he had written one in +answer, which was dispatched by a runner to the nearest place whence +mail could be forwarded. + +"Yes, luck seems to favor you," replied Ned. "You've had a hand in the +discovery of the idol of gold, and----" + +"Yes. And I discovered something else I wasn't quite sure of," +interrupted Tom, as he felt to make sure he had a certain letter safe +in his pocket. + +It was several weeks later that the explorations of Kurzon came to an +end--a temporary end, for the rainy season set in, when the tropics are +unsuitable for white men. Tom, Professor Bumper, Ned and Mr. Damon set +sail for the United States, the valuable idol of gold safe on board. + +And there, with their vessel plowing the blue waters of the Caribbean +Sea, we will take leave of Tom Swift and his friends. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders, by +Victor Appleton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS *** + +***** This file should be named 499.txt or 499.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/9/499/ + +Produced by Charles Keller. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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