CHAPTER XX
THE CITY OF GOLD
"Well, I guess this is the end of it," remarked Ned ruefully, asthey stood contemplating the roaring stream by the gleam of theirelectric flash lamps. "We can't go on to the city of gold unless weswim that river, and--"
"And none of us is going to try that!" interrupted Tom sharply. "Thestrongest swimmer in the world couldn't make a yard against thatcurrent. He'd be carried down, no one knows where."
"Bless my bathing suit, yes!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "But what are weto do? Can't we make a raft, or get a boat, or something like that?"
"Hab t' be a mighty pow'ful boat t' git across dat ribber obJordan," spoke Eradicate solemnly.
"That's right," agreed Ned. "But say, Tom, don't you think we couldgo back, get a lot of trees, wood and stuff and make some sort of abridge? It isn't so very wide--not more than thirty or forty feet.We ought to be able to bridge it."
"I'm afraid not," and Tom shook his head. "In the first place anytrees that would be long enough are away at the far edge of the bigplain, and we'd have a hard job getting them to the temple, to saynothing of lugging them down the tunnel. Then, too, we don't knowmuch about building a bridge, and with no one on the other side tohelp us, we'd have our hands full. One slip and we might be alldrowned. No, I guess we've got to go back," and Tom spokeregretfully. "It's hard luck, but we've got to give up and go back."
"Den I's pow'ful glad I got ma golden image when I did, dat's suah!"exclaimed Eradicate. "Ef we doan't git no mo' I'll hab one. But I'llsell it and whack up wid yo' all, Massa Tom."
"You'll do nothing of the sort, Rad!" exclaimed the young inventor."That image is yours, and I'm sorry we can't get more of them."
He turned aside, and after another glance at the black undergroundriver which flowed along so relentlessly he prepared to retrace hissteps along the tunnel.
"Say, look here!" suddenly exclaimed Ned. "I'm not so sure, afterall that we've got to turn back. I think we can go on to the city ofgold, after all."
"How do you mean?" asked Tom quickly. "Do you think we can bring theballoon down here and float across?"
"Bless my watch chain!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, "but that WOULD be away. I wonder--"
"No, I don't mean that way at all," went on Ned. "But it seems to meas if this river isn't a natural one--I mean that it flows alongbanks of smooth stone, just as if they were cut for it, a canal youknow."
"That's right," said Tom, as he looked at the edge of the channel ofthe underground stream. "These stones are cut as cleanly as the restof the tunnel. Whoever built that must have made a regular channelfor this river to flow in. And it's square on the other side, too,"he added, flashing his lamp across.
"Then don't you see," continued Ned, "that this river hasn't alwaysbeen here."
"Bless my gaiters!" gasped Mr. Damon, "what does he mean? The rivernot always been here?"
"No," proceeded Tom's chum. "For the ancients couldn't have cut thechannel out of stone, or made it by cementing separate stonestogether while the water was here. The channel must have been dry atone time, and when it was finished they turned the water in it."
"But how is that going to help us?" asked Tom. "I grant you that theriver may not have been here at one time, but it's here NOW, whichmakes it all the worse for us."
"But, Tom!" cried his chum, "if the river was turned aside from thischannel once it can be done again. My notion is that the ancientscould make the river flow here or not, just as they choose. Probablythey turned it into this channel to keep their enemies from crossingto the city of gold, like the ancient moats. Now if we could onlyfind--"
"I see! I see!" cried Tom enthusiastically. "You mean there must besome way of shutting off the water."
"Exactly," replied his chum. "We've got to shut that stream of wateroff, or turn it into some other channel, then we can cross, and keepon to the city of gold. And I think there must be some valve--somelever, or handle or something similar to the one that moved thealtar-near here that does the trick. Let's all look for it."
"Bless my chopping block!" cried Mr. Damon. "That's the strangestthing I ever heard of! But I believe you're right, Ned. We'll lookfor the handle to the river," and he laughed gaily.
Every one was in better spirits, now that there seemed a way out ofthe difficulty, and a moment later they were eagerly flashing theirlamps on the sides, floor and ceiling of the tunnel, to discover themeans of shutting off the water. At first they feared that, afterall, Ned's ingenious theory was not to be confirmed. The walls,ceiling and floor were as smooth near the edge of the river aselsewhere.
But Eradicate, who was searching as eagerly as the others, went backa little, flashing his lamp on every square of stone. Suddenly heuttered a cry.
"Look yeah, Massa Tom! Heah's suffin' dat looks laik a big doorknob. Maybe yo' kin push it or pull it."
They rushed to where he was standing in front of a niche similar tothe one where he had found the golden image. Sunken in the wall wasa round black stone. For a moment Tom looked at it, and then he saidsolemnly:
"Well, here goes. It may shut off the water, or it may make it risehigher and drown us all, or the whole tunnel may cave in, but I'mgoing to risk it. Hold hard, everybody!"
Slowly Tom put forth his hand and pushed the knob of stone. It didnot move. Then he pulled it. The result was the same--nothing.
"Guess it doesn't work any more," he said in a low tone.
"Twist it!" cried Ned. "Twist it like a door knob."
In a flash Tom did so. For a moment no result was apparent, then,from somewhere far off, there sounded a low rumble, above the roarof the black stream.
"Something happened!" cried Mr. Damon.
"Back to the river!" shouted Tom, for they were some distance awayfrom it now. "If it's rising we may have a chance to escape."
They hurried to the edge of the stone channel, and Ned uttered a cryof delight.
"It's going down!" he yelled, capering about. "Now we can go on!"
And, surely enough, the river was falling rapidly. It no longerroared, and it was flowing more slowly.
"The water is shut off," remarked Tom.
"Yes, and see, there are steps which lead across the channel," spokeNed, pointing to them as the receding water revealed them."Everything is coming our way now."
In a short time the water was all out of the channel, and they couldsee that it was about twenty feet deep. Truly it would have been aformidable stream to attempt to swim over, but now it had completelyvanished, merely a few little pools of water remaining indepressions on the bottom of the channel. There were steps leadingdown to the bottom, and other steps ascending on the other side,showing that the river was used as a barrier to further progressalong the tunnel.
"Forward!" cried Tom gaily, and they went on.
They went down into the river channel, taking care not to slip onthe wet steps, and a few seconds later they had again ascended tothe tunnel, pressing eagerly on.
Straight and true the tunnel ran through the darkness, the onlyillumination being their electric flash lamps. On and on they went,hoping every minute to reach their goal.
"Dish suah am a mighty long tunnel," remarked Eradicate. "Dey oughtt' hab a trolley line in yeah."
"Bless my punching bag!" cried Mr. Damon, "so they had! Now if thoseancients were building to-day--"
He stopped suddenly, for Tom, who was in the lead, had uttered acry. It was a cry of joy, there was no mistaking that, andinstinctively they all knew that he had found what he had sought.
All confirmed it a moment later, for, as they rushed forward, theydiscovered Tom standing at the place where the tunnel broadenedout--broadened out into a great cave, a cave miles in extent, for allthey could tell, as their lamps, powerful as they were, onlyilluminated for a comparatively short distance.
"We're here!" cried Tom. "In the city of gold at last!"
"The city of gold!" added Ned. "The underground city of gold!"
"And gold there is!" fairly shout
ed Mr. Damon. "See it's all over!Look at the golden streets--even the sides of the buildings areplated with it--and see, in that house there are even gold chairs!Boys, there is untold wealth here!"
"An' would yo' all look at dem golden statues!" cried Eradicate,"dey mus' be millions ob 'em! Oh, golly! Ain't I glad I comedalong!" and he rushed into one of the many houses extending alongthe street of the golden city where they stood, and gathered up afairly large statue of gold--an image exactly similar to the one healready had, except as to size.
"I never would have believed it possible!" gasped Tom. "It's a cityof almost solid gold. We'll be millionaires a million times over!"
Tom Swift in the City of Gold; Or, Marvelous Adventures Underground Page 20
