Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel; Or, The Hidden City of the Andes

by Victor Appleton

  Chapter XXV

  Success

  Had it not been for Tom Swift, the excited professor would have rushedpellmell over the jagged pile of rocks into the great cave which hadbeen opened by the blast, the cave in which the scientist declared wasthe lost city for which he had been searching. But the young inventorgrasped Mr. Bumper by the arm.

  "Better wait a bit," Tom suggested. "There may be powder gas in there.Some of it must have blown forward."

  "I don't care!" excitedly cried the professor. "That is the hiddencity! I'm sure of it! I have found it at last! I must go in and examineit!"

  "There'll be plenty of time," said Tom. "It isn't going to run away.Wait until I make a test Tim, hand me one of those torches."

  Some torches of a very inflammable wood were used to test for thepresence of the deadly smoke-gas. Lighting one of these, Tom tossed itinto the big excavation.

  It fell to the stone floor--to the stone street to be more exact--and,flaring up brightly, further revealed the rows of houses as they stood,silent and uninhabited.

  "It's all right," Tom announced. "There's no danger so long as thetorch burns. You can go on, Professor."

  And Professor Bumper rushed forward, scrambling over the pile ofblasted rock, followed by Tom and the others. Some of the debris fromthe explosion had fallen into the cave, and was scattered for somedistance along the main street of what had been Pelone. But beyond thatthe way was clear.

  "Yes, it is Pelone," cried Professor Bumper. "See!"

  He pointed to inscriptions in queer characters over the doorway of someof the houses, but he alone could read them.

  "I have found Pelone!" he kept repeating over and over again.

  And that is just what had happened. That last great blast Tom Swift hadset off had broken down the rock wall that hid the lost city from view.There it was, buried deep down under the mountain, where it had beencovered from sight ages ago by some mighty earthquake or landslide;perhaps both. And the earth and rocks had fallen over the main portionof the city of Pelone in such a way--in such an arch formation--thatthe greater part of it was preserved from the pressure of the mountainabove it.

  The outlying portions were crushed into dust by the awful pressure ofthe mountain--millions of tons of stone--but where the natural arch hadformed the weight was kept off the buildings, most of which were asperfect as they had been before the cataclysm came.

  The buildings were of stone block construction, mostly only one storyin height, though some were two. They were simply made, somewhat afterthe fashion of the Aztecs. A look into some of them by the light ofportable electric lamps showed that the houses were furnished with somedegree of taste and luxury. There were traces of an ancientcivilization.

  But of the inhabitants, there was not a trace: either they had fledbefore the earthquake or the volcanic eruption had engulfed the city,or the countless centuries had turned their very bones to dust.

  "Oh, what a find! What a find!" murmured Professor Bumper. "I shall befamous! And so will you, Tom Swift. For it was your blast that revealedthe lost city of Pelone. Your name will be honored by everyarcheological society in the world, and all will be eager to make youan honorary member."

  "That's all very nice," said Tom, "but what pleases me better is thatthis tunnel is a success."

  "Success!" cried Mr. Damon. "I should call it a failure, Tom Swift.Why, you've run smack into an old city, and you'll have either to curvethe tunnel to one side, or start a new one."

  "Nothing of the sort!" laughed Tom. "Don't you see? The tunnel comesright up to the main street of Pelone. And the street is as straight asa die, and just the width and height of the tunnel. All we will have todo will be to keep on blasting away, where the main street comes to anend, and our tunnel will be finished. The street is over half a milelong, I should judge, and we'll save all that blasting. The tunnel willbe finished in time!"

  "So it will!" cried Job Titus. "We can use the main street of thehidden city as part of the tunnel."

  "Use the street all you like," said Mr. Bumper, "but leave the housesto me. They are a perfect mine of ancient lore and information. At lastI have found it! The ancient, hidden city of Pelone, spoken of on thePeruvian tablets, of gold."

  The story of the discoveries the scientist made in Pelone is anenthralling one. But this is a story of Tom Swift and his big tunnel,and no place for telling of the archeological discoveries.

  Suffice it to say that Professor Bumper, though he found no gold, forwhich the contractors hoped, made many curious finds in the ancienthouses. He came upon traces of a strange civilization, though he couldfind no record of what had caused the burial of Pelone beneath themountains. He wrote many books about his discovery, giving Tom Swiftdue credit for uncovering the place with the mighty blast. Otherscientists came in flocks, and for a time Pelone was almost as busy aplace as it had been originally.

  Even when the tunnel was completed and trains ran through it, thescientists kept on with their work of classifying what they found. Anunderground station was built on the main street of the old city, andvisitors often wandered through the ancient houses, wherein was thebone-dust of the dead and gone people.

  But to go back to the story of Tom Swift. Tom's surmise was right. Heand the contractors were able to use the main street of Pelone as partof their tunnel, and a good half mile of blasting through solid rockwas saved. The flint came to an end at the extremity of Pelone, and thelast part of the tunnel had only to be dug through sand-stone and softdirt, an easy undertaking.

  So the big bore was finished on time--ahead of time in fact, and TitusBrothers received from Senor Belasdo, the Peruvian representative, alarge bonus of money, in which Tom Swift shared.

  "So our rivals didn't balk us after all," said Walter Titus, "thoughthey tried mighty hard."

  The big tunnel was finished--at least Tom Swift's work on it. All thatremained to do was to clear away the debris and lay the connectingrails. Tom and Mr. Damon prepared to go back home. The latter's workwas done. As for Professor Bumper, nothing could take him from Pelone.He said he was going to live there, and, practically, he did.

  Tom, Koku and Mr. Damon returned to Lima, thence to go to Callao totake the steamer for San Francisco. One day the manager of the hotelspoke to them.

  "You are Americans, are you not?" he asked.

  "Yes," answered Tom. "Why?"

  "Because there is another American here. He is friendless and alone,and he is dying. He has no friends, he says. Perhaps--"

  "Of course we'll do what we can for him," said Tom, impulsively. "Whereis he?"

  With Mr. Damon he entered the room where the dying man lay. He hadcaught a fever, the hotel manager said, and could not recover. Tom,catching sight of the sufferer, cried:

  "The bearded man! Waddington!"

  He had recognized the mysterious person who had been on the Bellaconda,and the man whose face had stared at him through the secret shaft ofthe tunnel.

  "Yes, the 'bearded man' now," said the sufferer in a hoarse voice, "andsome one else too. You are right. I am Waddington!"

  And so it proved. He had grown a beard to disguise himself so he mightbetter follow Tom Swift and Mr. Titus. And he had followed them,seeking to prevent the completion of the tunnel. But he had not beensuccessful.

  Waddington it was who had thrown the bomb, though he declared he onlyhoped to disable Tom and Mr. Titus, and not to injure them. He wasfighting for delay. And it was Waddington, working in conjunction withthe rascally foreman Serato, who had induced the tunnel workers todesert so mysteriously, hoping to scare the other Indians away. Henearly succeeded too, had it not been for the gratitude of the womanwhose baby Tom had saved from the condor.

  Waddington had been an actor before he became involved with the rivalcontractors. He was smooth shaven when first he went to Shopton, to spyon Mr. Titus, whose movements he had been commanded to follow byBlakeson & Grinder. Then he disappeared after Mr. Titus chased him,only to reappear, in disguise, on board the Bellaconda, as
Senor Pinto.

  Waddington, meanwhile, had grown a beard and this, with his knowledgeof theatrical makeup, enabled him to deceive even Mr. Titus. Of courseit was comparatively easy to deceive Tom, who had not known him.Waddington had really been ill when he called for help on the ship, andhe had not noticed that it was Tom and Mr. Titus who came into hisstateroom to his aid. When he did recognize them, he relied on hisdisguise to screen him from recognition, and he was successful. He hadonly pretended to be ill, though, the time he slipped out and threw thebomb.

  Reaching Peru he at once began his plotting. Serato told him about thesecret shaft leading into the tunnel, and with the knotted rope, andwith the aid of the faithless foreman, the men were got out of thetunnel and paid to hide away. Waddington was planning furtherdisappearances when Tom saw him, but thought it a dream.

  Masni, the Indian woman, out herb-hunting one day, had seen Waddington,'the bearded man' as he then was--working the secret stone. Hidden, sheobserved him and told her husband, who was afraid to reveal what heknew. But when Tom saved the baby the woman rewarded him in the onlyway possible. And it was Serato, who, at Waddington's suggestion,caused the "hit" among the men by working on their superstitious fears.

  Waddington, knowing that he was dying, confessed everything, and beggedforgiveness from Tom and his friends, which was granted, in as much asno real harm had been done. Waddington was but a tool in the hands ofthe rival contractors, who deserted him in his hour of need. His lasthours, however, were made as comfortable as possible by the generosityof Tom and Mr. Damon.

  No effort was made to bring Blakeson & Grinder to justice, as there wasno evidence against them after Waddington died. And, as the tunnel wasfinished, the Titus brothers had no further cause for worry.

  "But if it had not been for Tom's big blast, and the discovery of thehidden city of Pelone just in the right place, we might be digging atthat tunnel yet," said Job Titus.

  The day before the steamer was to sail, Tom Swift received a cablemessage. Its receipt seemed to fill him with delight, so that Mr. Damonasked:

  "Is it from your father, Tom?"

  "No it's from Mary Nestor. She says her father has forgiven me. Theyhave been away, and Mary has been ill, which accounts for no letters upto now. But everything is all right now, and they feel that thedynamite trick wasn't my fault. But, all the same, I'm going to teachEradicate to read," concluded Tom.

  "I think it would be a good idea," agreed Mr. Damon.

  Tom, Mr. Damon and Koku, bidding farewell to the friends they had madein Peru, went aboard the steamer, Job Titus and his brother coming tosee them off.

  "Give us an option on all that explosive you make, Tom Swift!" beggedWalter Titus. "We were so successful with this tunnel, thanks to you,that the government is going to have us dig another. Will you comedown and help?"

  "Maybe," said Tom, with a smile. "But I'm going home first," and oncemore he read the message from Mary Nestor.

  And as Tom, on the deck of the steamer, waved his hands to ProfessorBumper and his other friends whom he was leaving in Peru, we also, willsay farewell.