CHAPTER XXII
THE STORM
"Now," remarked Tom, once they were back again in their camp, "we mustgo about this trip to the cavern in a way that will cause no suspicionover there as to what our object is," and he nodded in the direction ofthe 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 thescientist, "so that if any of their spies happen to come here they willthink we still believe the buried city to be just below us. To thatend we must keep the Indians digging, though I am convinced now that itis useless."
Accordingly preparations were made for an expedition into the jungleunder the leadership of Goosal. Tal had not sufficiently recoveredfrom the jaguar wounds to go with the party, but the old man, in spiteof his years, was hale and hearty and capable of withstanding hardships.
One of the most intelligent of the Indians was put in charge of thedigging gangs as foreman, and told to keep them at work, and not to letthem stray. Tolpec, whose brother Tom had tried to save, proved atreasure. He agreed to remain behind and look after the interests ofhis 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, asthe cavalcade made ready to start. Mules carried the supplies thatwere to be taken into the jungle, and others of the sturdy animals wereto be ridden by the travelers. The trail was not an easy one, Goosalwarned them.
Tom and his friends found it even worse than they had expected, for alltheir experience in jungle and mountain traveling. In places it wasnecessary to dismount and lead the mules along, sometimes pushing anddragging them. More than once the trail fairly hung on the edge ofsome almost bottomless gorge, and again it wound its way between greatwalls of rock, so poised that they appeared about to topple over andcrush the travelers. But they kept on with dogged patience, throughmany hardships.
To add to their troubles they seemed to have entered the abode of thefiercest mosquitoes encountered since coming to Honduras. At times itwas 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 notsuffer in this respect. Game, too, was plentiful and the electricrifles of Tom and Ned added to the larder.
One night, after a somewhat sound sleep induced by hard travel on thetrail that day, Tom awoke to hear some one or something moving aboutamong their goods, which included their provisions.
"Who's there?" asked the young inventor sharply, as he reached for hiselectric rifle.
There was no answer, but a rattling of the pans.
"Speak, or I'll fire!" Tom warned, adding this in such Spanish as hecould muster, for he thought it might be one of the Indians. No replycame, and then, seeing by the light of the stars a dark form moving infront of the tent occupied by himself and Ned, Tom fired.
There was a combined grunt and squeal of pain, then a savage growl, andNed yelled:
"What's the matter, Tom?" for he had been awakened, and heard thecrackle 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 gottheir electric torches, and focused them on the inert, black object, itwas found to be a bear which had come to nose about the camp for daintymorsels.
Bruin was quite dead, and as he was in prime condition there was afeast of bear meat at the following dinner. The white travelers foundit rather too strong for their palates, but the Indians reveled in it.
It was shortly after noon the next day, when Goosal, after remarkingthat a storm seemed brewing, announced that they would be at theentrance 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 hesaid he could better look for the old landmark that way than on theback 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 asthough yesterday. It is little changed."
Indeed little did change in that land of wonders. Only nature causedwhat 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 adeep 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 bushesthat grew on a ledge of the rock. They came away, having no depth ofearth, and a small opening was disclosed.
"It is here," said Goosal quietly. "The entrance to the cavern thatleads 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 fewminutes to prove that he was right--at least as to the existence of thecavern--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 theseplaces is foul. We must test it." But a torch one of the Indiansthrew 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 littlesmoke, had been provided, as well as a good supply of electricdry-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 fromGoosal reassured them, and they followed Professor Bumper, Tom, and theothers 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 thenumber of crystal formations on the roof and walls--formations thatsparkled 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, theaged 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 thecountless bones of those who had died many, many years before. It wasa vast Indian grave.
"Doubtless a wealth of material of historic interest here," saidProfessor Bumper, flashing his torch on the skeletons. "But it willkeep. 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 hadgone a little ahead, came to a sudden halt and said:
"Well, this may be a burial place sure enough, but I think I seesomething alive all right--if it isn't a ghost."
He pointed ahead. Surely those were lights flickering and movingabout, and, yes, there were men carrying them. The Bumper party cameto a surprised halt. The other lights advanced, and then, to the greatastonishment of Professor Bumper and his friends, there confronted themin the cave several scientists of Professor Beecher's party and a scoreor more of Indians. Professor Hylop, who was known to ProfessorBumper, 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 aright here, having discovered this cavern, and we claim it under aconcession of the Honduras Government. I shall have to ask you towithdraw."
"Do you mean leave here?" asked Mr Damon.
"That is it, exactly. We first discovered this cave. We have beenconducting explorations in it for several days, and we wish nooutsiders."
"Are you speaking for P
rofessor Beecher?" asked Tom.
"I am. But he is here in the cave, and will speak for himself if youdesire it. But I represent him, and I order you to leave. If you donot go peaceably we will use force. We have plenty of it," and heglanced back at the Indians grouped behind him--scowling savage Indians.
"We have no wish to intrude," observed Professor Bumper, "and I fullyrecognize 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 usto it."
"Ours is a government concession!" exclaimed Professor Hylop harshly."We want no intruders! Go!" and he pointed toward the direction whenceTom's party had come.
"Drive them out!" he ordered the Indians in Spanish, and with mutteredthreats 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 somescientific matter, and the matter was afterward found to be wrong.Perhaps this made him vindictive.
Tom stepped forward and started to protest, but Professor Bumperinterposed.
"I guess there is no help for it but to go. It seems to be theirs byright of discovery and government concession," he said, in disappointedtone. "Come friends"; and dejectedly they retraced their steps.
Followed by the threatening Indians, the Bumper party made its way backto the entrance. They had hoped for great things, but if the caverngave access to the buried city--the ancient city of Kurzon on the chiefaltar of which stood the golden idol, Quitzel--it looked as though theywere never to enter it.
"We'll have to get our Indians and drive those fellows out!" declaredTom. "I'm not going to be beaten this way--and by Beecher!"
"It is galling," declared Professor Bumper. "Still he has right on hisside, and I must give in to priority, as I would expect him to. It isthe unwritten law."
"Then we've failed!" cried Tom bitterly.
"Not yet," said Professor Bumper. "If I can not unearth that buriedcity I may find another in this wonderland. I shall not give up."
"Hark! What's that noise?" asked Tom, as they approached the entranceto the cave.
"Sounds like a great wind blowing," commented Ned.
It was. As they stood in the entrance they looked out to find a fiercestorm raging. The wind was sweeping down the rocky trail, the rain wasfalling in veritable bucketfuls from the overhanging cliff, anddeafening thunder and blinding lightning roared and flashed.
"Surely you would not drive us out in this storm," said ProfessorBumper to his former rival.
"You can not stay in the cave! You must get out!" was the answer, as alouder crash of thunder than usual seemed to shake the very mountain.
Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders; Or, The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold Page 22
