CHAPTER XXV
THE IDOL OF GOLD
"Forward! cried Tom Swift.
"Where?" asked Mr Damon, hanging back for an instant. "Bless mycompass, Tom! do you know where you're going?"
"I haven't the least idea, but it must lead to something, or theancients who made this revolving stone door wouldn't have taken suchcare to block the passage."
"Ask Goosal if he knows anything about it," suggested Mr. Damon to theprofessor.
"He says he never was here before," translated the savant, "but yearsago, 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 kindof door, it must lead to the same place. Ho for Kurzon and the idol ofgold!"
As they passed through the stone door, Tom and Professor Bumper triedto get some idea of the mechanism by which it worked. But they foundthis impossible, it being hidden within the stone itself or in theadjoining walls. But, in order that it might not close of itself andentomb them, the portal was blocked open with stones found in thepassage.
"It's always well to have a line of retreat open," said Tom. "There'sno telling what may lie beyond us."
For a time there seemed to be nothing more than the same passage alongwhich they had come. Then the passage suddenly widened, like the largeend of a square funnel. Upward and outward the stone walls swept, andthey saw dimly before them, in the light of their torches, a vastcavern, seemingly formed by the falling in of mountains, which, intoppling over, had met overhead in a sort of rough arch, thusprotecting, in a great measure, that which lay beneath them.
Goosal, who had brought with him some of the fiber bark torches, set abundle of them aflame. As they flared up, a wondrous sight wasrevealed to Tom Swift and his friends.
Stretching out before them, as though they stood at the end of anelevated street and gazed down on it, was a city--a large city, withstreets, houses, open squares, temples, statues, fountains, dry forcenturies--a buried and forgotten city--a city in ruins--a city of thedead, now dry as dust, but still a city, or, rather, the strangelypreserved remains of one.
"Look!" whispered Tom. A louder voice just then, would have seemed asacrilege. "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 ofKurzon, or one just like it. And now if we can find the idol of goldour 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 ancientstreets--streets where no feet but ours have trod in many centuries.Come!"
In eager silence they pressed on through this newly discoveredwonderland. For it was a wonderful city, or had been. Though much ofit was in ruins, probably caused by an earthquake or an eruption from avolcano, the central portion, covered as it was by the overtopplingmountains 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 theyseemed to be of man-monsters--doubtless ancient gods. There weresmoothly paved streets; wondrously carved fountains, some in ruins, allnow as dry as bone, but which must have been places of beauty whereyouths and maidens gathered in the ancient days.
Of the ancient population there was not a trace left. Tom and hisfriends penetrated some of the houses, but not so much as a bone or aheap of mouldering dust showed where the remains of the people were.Either they had fled at the approaching doom of the city and wereburied elsewhere, or some strange fire or other force of nature hadconsumed and obliterated them.
"What a wealth of historic information I shall find here!" murmuredProfessor Bumper, as he caught sight of many inscriptions in strangecharacters on the walls and buildings. "I shall never get to the endof them."
"But what about the idol of gold?" asked Mr. Damon, "Do you thinkyou'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 inTom.
"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 thelong-dead race which the explorers now entered. It was a buildingbeautiful in its barbaric style, and yet simple. There were massivewalls, and a great inner court, at the end of which seemed to be somesort of altar. And then, as they lighted fresh torches, and pressedforward with them and their electric lights, they saw that which causeda cry of satisfaction to burst from all of them.
"The idol of gold!"
Yes, there it squatted, an ugly, misshapen, figure, a cross between atoad and a gila monster, half man, half beast, with big redeyes--rubies probably--that gleamed in the repulsive golden face. Andthe whole figure, weighing many pounds, seemed to be of SOLID GOLD!
Eagerly the others followed Professor Bumper up the altar steps to thevery throne of the golden idol. The scientist touched it, tried toraise it and make sure of its solidity and material.
"This is it!" he cried. "It is the idol of gold! I have found-- We havefound 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 stoodabout the squat and ugly figure, which, in spite of its hideousness,was worth a fortune intrinsically and as an antique, they heard fromthe 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 mixtureof Spanish and Indian.
The cave was illuminated by the glare of other torches which seemed torush forward. A moment later it was seen that they were being carriedby a number of Indians.
"Friends," murmured Goosal, using the Spanish term, "Amigos."
"They are our own Indians!" cried Tom Swift. "I see Tolpec!" and hepointed to the native who had deserted from Jacinto's force to helpthem.
"How did they get here?" asked Professor Bumper.
This was quickly told. In their camp, where, under the leadership ofTolpec they had been left to do the excavating, the natives had heard,seen and felt the effects of the storm and the earthquake, though itdid little damage in their vicinity. But they became alarmed for thesafety of the professor and his party and, at Tolpec's suggestion, setoff in search of them.
The Indians had seen, passing along the trail, the uprooted trees, andhad noted the footsteps of the explorers going down to the stonepassage. It was easy for them to determine that Tom and his friendshad gone in, since the marks of their boots were plainly in evidence inthe soft soil.
None of the Indians was as much wrought up over the discovery of Kurzonand the idol as were the white adventurers. The gold, of course, meantsomething to the natives, but they were indifferent to the wonders ofthe underground city. Perhaps they had heard too many legendsconcerning such things to be impressed.
"That statue is yours--all yours," said old Goosal when he had talkedwith his relatives and friends among the natives. "They all say whatyou find you keep, and we will help you keep it."
"That's good," murmured Professor Bumper. "There was some doubt in mymind as to our right to this, but after all, the natives who live inthis land are the original owners, and if they pass title to us it isclear. 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. "Ishall write a whole book on this idol alone and then----"
Once more came an interruption. This time it was from anotherdirection, but it was of the same character--an approaching band oftorch-bea
rers. They were Indians, too, but leading them were a numberof whites.
And at their head was no less personage than Professor Beecher himself.
For a moment, as the three parties stood together in the ancienttemple, in the glare of many torches, no one spoke. Then ProfessorBumper found his voice.
"We are glad to see you," he said to his rival. "That is glad to seeyou alive, for we saw the landslide bury you. And we were coming todig you out. We thought this cave--the cave of the buried city--wouldlead us to you easier than by digging through the slide. We have justdiscovered this idol," and he put his hand on the grim golden image.
"Oh, you have discovered it, have you?" asked Professor Beecher, andhis voice was bitter.
"Yes, not ten minutes ago. The natives have kindly acknowledged myright 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, oneof the party who seemed the least ill-natured. "Your luck might havebeen ours, Professor Bumper. I congratulate you."
"Thank you! Are you sure your party is all right--not in need ofassistance? 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 ofus. But we got out the way we came in. We did not enter the tunnel asyou did, but came in through another entrance which was not closed bythe landslide. Then we made a turn through a gateway in a tunnelconnecting with ours--a gateway which seems to have been opened by theearthquake--and we came here, just now.
"Too late, I see, to claim the discovery of the idol of gold," went onMr. Hardy. "But I trust you will be generous, and allow us to makeobservations 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 isthe golden idol. You are at liberty to take whatever else you find inKurzon and to make what observations you like."
"That is generous of you, and quite in contrast to--er--to the conductof our leader. I trust he may awaken to a sense of the injustice hedid you."
But Professor Beecher was not there to hear this. He had stalked awayin anger.
"Humph!" grunted Tom. Then he continued: "That story about agovernment concession was all a fake, Professor, else he'd have put upa fight now. Contemptible sneak!"
In fact the story of Tom Swift's trip to the underground land ofwonders is ended, for with the discovery of the idol of gold the mainobject of the expedition was accomplished. But their adventures werenot over by any means, though there is not room in this volume torecord them.
Suffice it to say that means were at once taken to get the golden imageout of the cave of the ancient city. It was not accomplished withouthard 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 ofthe flat nose, to say nothing of one of the half dozen extra arms andlegs with which the ugly idol was furnished.
Finally it was safely taken out of the cave, and along the stonepassage to the opening formed by the overthrown trees, and thence on tocamp.
And at the camp a surprise awaited Tom.
Some long-delayed mail had been forwarded from the nearest place ofcivilization and there were letters for all, including several for ourhero. One in particular he picked out first and read eagerly.
"Well, is every little thing all right, Tom?" asked Ned, as he saw acheerful grin spread itself over his chum's face.
"I should say it is, and then some! Look here, Ned. This is a letterfrom----"
"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'tpay much of a visit to her."
"No?"
"No. Mary told him he'd better hurry along to Central America, orwherever it was he intended going, as she didn't care for him as muchas 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?" askedNed 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 whenyou 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 Nedlaughed happily.
With the idol of gold safe in their possession, Professor Bumper'sparty could devote their time to making other explorations in theburied city. This they did, as is testified to by a long list of booksand magazine articles since turned out by the scientist, dealingstrictly with archaeological subjects, touching on the ancient Mayanrace and its civilization, with particular reference to their system ofcomputing time.
Professor Beecher, young and foolish, would not consent to delve intothe riches of the ancient city, being too much chagrined over the lossof the idol. It seems he had really promised to give a part of it toMary 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 mademany valuable discoveries.
In one point Professor Bumper had done his rival an injustice. Thatwas in thinking Professor Beecher was responsible for the treachery ofJacinto. That was due to the plotter's own work. It was true thatProfessor Beecher had tentatively engaged Jacinto, and had sent word tohim to keep other explorers away from the vicinity of the ancient cityif 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 thetaking of the map, as has been seen, the loss of which, after all, wasa blessing in disguise, for Kurzon would never have been located byfollowing the directions given there, as it was very inaccurate.
In another point it was demonstrated that the old documents were atfault. This was in reference to the golden idol having been overthrownand another set up in its place, an act which had caused thedestruction of Kurzon.
It is true that the city was destroyed, or rather, buried, but thiscatastrophe was probably brought about by an earthquake. And anothergreat idol, one of clay, was found, perhaps a rival of Quitzel, but itwas this clay image which was thrown down and broken, and not thegolden 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 haveheld his own. The old manuscripts were not very reliable, it wasfound, except in general.
"Well, I guess this will hold Beecher for a while," said Tom, the nightof the arrival of Mary's letter, and after he had written one inanswer, which was dispatched by a runner to the nearest place whencemail could be forwarded.
"Yes, luck seems to favor you," replied Ned. "You've had a hand in thediscovery 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 safein his pocket.
It was several weeks later that the explorations of Kurzon came to anend--a temporary end, for the rainy season set in, when the tropics areunsuitable for white men. Tom, Professor Bumper, Ned and Mr. Damon setsail for the United States, the valuable idol of gold safe on board.
And there, with their vessel plowing the blue waters of the CaribbeanSea, we will take leave of Tom Swift and his friends.
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