Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders; Or, The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold

by Victor Appleton

  CHAPTER XVIII

  "EL TIGRE!"

  The four men gazed at one another. Consternation showed on the face ofProfessor Bumper, and was reflected, more or less, on the countenancesof his companions.

  "Are you sure the map is gone?" asked Tom. "I know how easy it is tomislay anything in a camp of this sort. I couldn't at first find mysafety razor this morning, and when I did locate it the hoe was in oneof my shoes. I'm sure a rat or some jungle animal must have dragged itthere. Now maybe they took your map, Professor. That oiled silk inwhich it was wrapped might have appealed to the taste of a rat or asnake."

  "It is no joking matter," said Professor Bumper. "But I know youappreciate the seriousness of it as much as I do, Tom. But I had themap 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 putit back again and went to sleep. When I awoke and dressed I put thepacket 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 havingbeen a businessman, was sometimes a stickler for small points.

  "Both," answered the professor. "I opened the silk to tie it moresmoothly, so it would not be such a lump in my pocket, and I made surethe map was inside."

  "Then the whole thing has been taken--or you have lost it," suggestedNed.

  "I am not in the habit of losing valuable maps," retorted thescientist. "And the pocket of my coat I had made deep, for the purposeof carrying the long map. It could not drop out."

  "Well, we mustn't overlook any possible chances," suggested Tom. "Comeon now, we'll search every inch of the ground over which you traveledthis morning, Professor."

  "It MUST be found," murmured the scientist. "Without it all our workwill go for naught."

  They all went into the tent where the professor and Mr. Damon had sleptwhen they were not on guard. The camp was a busy place, with theIndians finishing their morning meal, and getting ready for the work ofthe day. For word had been given out that there would be no more longperiods of travel.

  In consequence, efforts were being directed by the head men of thebearers to making a more permanent camp in the wilderness. Shelters ofpalm-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 thetent where it was hoped the map would be found. But though they wentthrough everything, and traced and retraced every place the professorcould remember having traversed about the canvas shelter, no signs ofthe 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 makeaccusations we can't prove."

  "That is true," agreed Professor Bumper. "But, though I am sorry tosay it of a fellow archaelogist, I can not help thinking Beecher hadsomething to do with the taking of my map."

  "But how could any of them get it?" asked Mr. Damon. "You say you hadthe map this morning, and certainly none of them has been in our campsince dawn, though of course it is possible that some of them sneakedin 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 agrave one, Professor Bumper?"

  "Very grave. In fact I may say it is impossible to proceed with theexcavating 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 Imake a little further search, to make sure it could not have dropped insome out-of-the-way place, I shall go over to Professor Beecher's campand 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 ourseeing them," and the professor shook his head in puzzled despair.

  A more detailed search did not reveal the missing map, and Mr. Damonand his friend the scientist were on the point of departing for thecamp of their rivals, less than a mile away, when Tom had what reallyamounted to an inspiration.

  "Look here, Professor!" he cried. "Can you remember any of the detailsof your map--say, for instance, where we ought to begin excavating toget at the wonders of the underground city?"

  "Well, Tom, I did intend to compare my map with the configuration ofthe country about here. There is a certain mountain which serves as alandmark and a guide for a starting point. I think that is it overthere," and the scientist pointed to a distant snow-capped peak.

  The party had left the low and marshy land of the true jungle, and wereamong the foothills, though all about them was dense forest andunderbush, 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 thesun is one hour high. At least that is the direction given in the oldmanuscripts. So, though we can do little without the map, we mightmake 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 thetrack of the idol of gold."

  "But they know anyhow, for they have the map," commented Ned, puzzledby 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 theyhave not. If they have it they will lose no time in trying to find theright 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 digwhere the professor's memory tells him is the right spot, we'll onlygive them the tip, and they'll dig there also."

  "I'm sure they have the map," the professor said. "But I believe yourplan is a good one, Tom."

  "Just what do you propose doing?" asked Ned.

  "Fooling 'em!" exclaimed Tom quickly. "We'll dig in some place remotefrom the spot where the mountain casts its shadow. They will think, ifthey 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 goaway.

  "If, on the other hand, they have the map, and see us digging at a spotnot indicated on it, they will be puzzled, knowing we must have someidea of where the buried city lies. They will think the map is atfault, 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 thetime being, and the professor and his friends set the natives to workdigging shafts in the ground, as though sinking them down to the levelof 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 ofthe map.

  "If we could only get it back!" exclaimed the professor, again andagain.

  Meanwhile the Beecher party seemed inactive. True, some members of itdid come over to look on from a respectful distance at what the diggerswere doing. Some of the rival helpers, under the direction of the headof the expedition, also began sinking shafts. But they we
re not in thelocality remembered by Professor Bumper as being correct.

  "I can't imagine what they're up to," he said. "If they have my mapthey would act differently, I should think."

  "Whatever they're up to," answered Tom, "the time has come when we candig at the place where we can hope for results." And the following dayshafts were started in the shadow of the mountain.

  Until some evidence should have been obtained by digging, as to thelocation beneath the surface of a buried city, there was nothing forthe travelers to do but wait. Turns were taken in directing theefforts of the diggers, and an occasional inspection was made of theshafts.

  "What do you expect to find first?" asked Tom of Professor Bumper oneday, when the latter was at the top of a shaft waiting for a bucketload 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 wereabout to go hunting with their electric rifles.

  "Artifacts are things made by the Indians--or whatever members of therace who built the ancient cities were called--such as householdarticles, vases, ornaments, tools and so on. Anything made byartificial means is called an artifact."

  "And potsherds are things with those Chinese laundry ticket scratcheson them," added Tom.

  "Exactly," said the professor, laughing. "Though some of thestrange-appearing inscriptions give much valuable information. As soonas we find some of them--say a broken bit of pottery with hieroglyphicson--I will know I am on the right track."

  And while the scientist and Mr. Damon kept watch at the top of theshaft, Tom and Ned went out into the jungle to hunt. They had killedsome game, and were stalking a fine big deer, which would provide afeast for the natives, when suddenly the silence of the lonely forestwas broken by a piercing scream, followed by an agonized cry of"El tigre! El tigre!"