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

by Victor Appleton

  CHAPTER XXIII

  ENTOMBED ALIVE

  For an instant Tom and his friends paused at the entrance to thewonderful cavern, and looked at the raging storm. It seemed madness toventure out into it, yet they had been driven from the cave by thosewho 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 loosenthe very mountains!"

  "Let's stay here and defy them!" murmured Tom. "If the--if what weseek--is here we have as good a right to it as they have."

  "We must go out," said Professor Bumper simply. "I recognize the rightof my rival to dispossess us."

  "He may have the right, but it isn't human," said Mr. Damon. "Bless myovershoes! If Beecher himself were here he wouldn't have the heart tosend us out in this storm."

  "I would not give him the satisfaction of appealing to him," remarkedProfessor Bumper. "Come, we will go out. We have our ponchos, and weare not fair-weather explorers. If we can't get to the lost city oneway we will another. Come my friends."

  And despite the downpour, the deafening thunder and the lightning thatseemed 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 theywent out into the terrible storm. "We'll beat 'em yet!"

  The rain fell harder than ever. Small torrents were now rushing downthe trail, and it was only a question of a few minutes before the placewhere they stood would be a raging river, so quickly does the raincollect in the mountains and speed toward the valleys.

  "We must take to the forest!" cried Tom. "There'll be some shelterthere, and I don't like the way the geography of this place isbehaving. There may be a landslide at any moment."

  As he spoke he motioned upward through the mist of the rain to thesloping side of the mountain towering above them. Loose stones werebeginning to roll down, accompanied by patches of earth loosened by thewater. Some of the patches carried with them bunches of grass andsmall 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 ofhis years, and walked on ahead. They had left their mules tetheredsome distance back, in a sheltering clump of trees, and they hoped theanimals would be safe.

  The guide found a place where they could leave the trail, though goingdown a dangerous slope, and take to the forest. As carefully aspossible they descended this, the rain continuing to fall, the wind toblow, the lightning to sizzle all about them and the thunder to boom intheir ears.

  They went on until they were beneath the shelter of the thick junglegrowth of trees, which kept off some of the pelting drops.

  "This is better!" exclaimed Ned, shaking his poncho and getting rid ofsome of the water that had settled on it.

  "Bless my overcoat!" cried Mr. Damon. "We seem to have gotten out ofthe frying pan into the fire!"

  "How?" asked Tom. "We are partly sheltered here, though had we stayedin the cave in spite of----"

  A deafening crash interrupted him, and following the flash one of thegiant 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 saferfrom the lightning in the open. Maybe----"

  Again came an interruption, but this time a different one. The veryground beneath their feet seemed to be shaking and trembling.

  "What is it?" gasped Ned, while Goosal fell on his knees and beganfervently to pray.

  "It's an earthquake!" yelled Tom Swift.

  As he spoke there came another sound--the sound of a mass of earth inmotion. It came from the direction of the mountain trail they had justleft. They looked toward it and their horror-stricken eyes saw thewhole side of the mountain sliding down.

  Slowly at first the earth slid down, but constantly gathering force andspeed. In the face of this new disaster the rain seemed to have ceasedand the thunder and lightning to be less severe. It was as though oneforce of nature gave way to the other.

  "Look! Look!" gasped Ned.

  In silence, which was broken now only by a low and ominous rumble, moremenacing than had been the awful fury of the elements, the travelerslooked.

  Suddenly there was a quicker movement of seemingly one whole section ofthe mountain. Great rocks and trees, carried down by the appallingforce of the landslide were slipping over the trail, obliterating it asthough it had never existed.

  "There goes the entrance to the cavern!" cried Ned, and as the otherslooked to where he pointed they saw the hole in the side of themountain--the mouth of the cave that led to the lost city ofKurzon--completely covered by thousands of tons of earth and stones.

  "That's the end of them!" exclaimed Tom, as the rumble of theearthquake died away.

  "Of----" Ned stopped, his eyes staring.

  "Of Professor Beecher's party. They're entombed alive!"