CHAPTER XXVI
A Narrow Escape
Lying about on the stone floor were at least ten human skeletons,which were white with age. They were in no fixed positions, but werescattered aimlessly over the dusty floor.
Bob was the first to break the silence.
"Wonder how they got here?" he asked.
"Perhaps they are the remains of soldiers who guarded this tower," wasthe opinion of Dr. Rander. "Here," he went on, "look at this. It's adagger--made of stone."
"You might be right," commented Joe. "But then, it's possible that thedagger belonged to someone who came up and murdered those who werehere."
The explorers examined the skeletons for several minutes before goingto the edge and looking down on the surrounding valley.
"Can see quite a distance," observed Bob, peering out at a distantmountain.
"Yes," agreed Joe. "There----"
At that moment he was interrupted by a cracking noise, which seemed tocome from the tower.
"What's that?" cried Dr. Rander excitedly.
But when it was repeated, there was no doubt in their minds as to theorigin of the strange noise.
"It's the tower!" exclaimed Bob fearfully. "I hope I'm wrong, but I'mafraid it's going to fall. Hurry! Let's get down to the ground."
The three lost no time in scrambling down the stairs. They reached thebottom in safety, and then dashed outside, Dr. Rander displayingremarkable agility for his age.
Then something happened that filled them with terror. With one lastcreak, the old tower leaned slowly to the south, poised for a briefmoment, and went crumbling to the ground. There was a report like thatof a cannon, followed by a heavy cloud of dust and small particles ofrock.
The explorers' hearts were beating like trip hammers; their faces werered with excitement.
"Thank God that we escaped in time!" breathed Dr. Rander. "A fewseconds more and we would have been caught beneath tons of rock!"
"And what a death!" muttered Joe with a shudder. "I don't want to eventhink of it."
They sat down on the ground to relieve themselves of the terriblestrain. Especially did the old man show signs of exertion. At firstthe youths half expected to see him fall with heart failure, for hewas terribly exhausted.
The rest, however, did him good, and before long he was apparently noworse for the horrible experience.
"Funny that tower should collapse just at this time, isn't it?" saidBob. "I suppose, though, that it was ready to go at any time, and ourweight proved too much for it."
"That probably explains what happened," came from the old man. "If noone had found it, perhaps it would have remained intact for many yearsyet."
They put in no more time here, but turned and went back to the peak.
Very difficult it was to scale the steep slope, but at last theyreached the top and descended to the other side.
"The mules are all right," observed Bob. "Suppose we get going withoutdelay. I'd like to get to Pasaje as soon as possible. I'm gettinganxious to see Dad and the others of the expedition."
"It will still take time," Dr. Rander told him. "There are many milesof difficult travel before us."
And difficult it was. Although the adventurers had previously found ithard to make progress through the rugged mountains, they nowexperienced even more hindrances.
Unfortunately, Dr. Rander was not overly familiar with this sectionand often made mistakes in pointing out the best course of travel.
It was not uncommon for the adventurers to come upon heavy forests atelevations of fifteen thousand feet. This surprised Bob and Joe, whodid not expect to see trees growing at such high altitudes.
"There really is no such thing as the 'tree line' in the Andes,"explained the old explorer. "In fact, it is possible to find forestsat unusually high altitudes."
As they trudged on they came to more wild-cherry plants, the fruit ofwhich they ate hungrily. It was refreshing to have fresh fruit aftereating nothing but dried goods.
As much as possible they followed the banks of the Apurimac River, forPasaje, their destination, is situated just above the point where thestream branches.
As they went farther, the mountains became more lofty, and snow on thesummits was more common. They never climbed high enough, however, tocome in contact with it.
Suddenly, upon hearing an unusual noise, Joe glanced around, and thengasped in apprehension.
"One of the mules is stuck in mud!" he cried. "Quick! We must dosomething at once!"
Without delay the old man turned about, walked back to one of the packanimals, and secured a long heavy rope. Then he moved on to the rearof the line, where one of the mules was struggling to free itself fromthe black bog.
"Bob, you had better come to the rescue," he said, after a moment ofpondering. "You're pretty good at lassoing, as you showed us severaldays ago on that narrow ledge. Won't you try it and see what you cando?"
"Where will I throw the rope, over the mule's head?"
"Yes. Tighten it around the animal's neck."
"But--won't it choke?"
"Not for a few minutes. There is no other way to pull the mule out. Ifwe go too close we'll get caught ourselves."
"All right, then. Here goes."
Bob took the rope, made a loop, and stepped as near as he thoughtpossible with safety.
"If I miss my aim, I can't help it," the youth said, as he threw thelasso.
Joe cried out happily as he saw that the loop went directly over themule's head. Dr. Rander's face also lightened.
All three pulled on the rope with all their strength, but theirefforts appeared to be in vain. The treacherous bog had engulfed itshelpless victim too tightly.
"We've got to get that animal out!" cried Joe, redoubling his efforts."There's a lot of valuable supplies on its back."
But how? They were doing all they knew of. If that were notsufficient, the mule would have to go down.
"We're losing steadily," observed Bob grimly. "But I guess we can'thelp it."
Despite their furious efforts to draw the beast to safety, it wassinking rapidly. Already its body was nearly under. In but a brieftime its head, too, would be engulfed.
But the adventurers kept up doggedly, determined to win the battleeven though defeat was staring them in the face.
With one last effort, they gave the rope a new stronger pull. But itwas not enough. The weight of the mule and its burden was too much,and the animal's head slid horribly into the oozing mud, to disappearforever.
Bob slumped down on the grass.
"We lost," he murmured gravely. "Now we're one pack animal short."
"And there were quite a few valuable objects in the pack, too," addedJoe, "not to say anything about losing the animal."
"Have to get along some way," Dr. Rander said. "There is no use inthinking anything more about it."
"Wonder what the mule thought about when he went under?" mused Joe."It must have been terrible."
They resolved to follow the old man's suggestion and forget the lossas best they could. After all, it was lucky that one of them had notbeen the victim.
Again they took up the journey, this time keeping a closer lookout forother bogs. But Dr. Rander did not know this region any too well, andcould not guide them as surely as he would have liked to.
In the fascinating mountains the time passed rapidly. It was two daysafter they had lost the mule when Dr. Rander pointed to something inthe distant sky.
"That's a condor," he said, his eyes trying to make out the flyingform more clearly.
"It is at that," affirmed Bob, looking through his binoculars. "Andwhat's more, it's white. A _condor real_, as sure as I'm standinghere!"
"Let's see," said Joe, and took the glasses his friend handed him.
A few moments of observing and he nodded, giving the binoculars to theold man.
"You're right," Joe said to his chum. "And oh! Wouldn't our dads andMr. Wallace like to be here now! A white condor! One of the creaturesthey wanted most
."
"Maybe we can get it for them," muttered Bob, grasping a shotgun. "Doyou suppose there's a chance?"
"Not unless it flies nearer," returned Dr. Rander. "Even then the birdwould probably fall to the bottom of the canyon, and that would mean adangerous descent."
"I'm going to see, anyway," Bob persisted, following the soaring formthrough his powerful binoculars.
"Look what I've found," called Joe, who had climbed down to a narrowledge several yards below the others.
"Why--it's a nest," exclaimed Bob, upon descending to the shelf. "Andlook at those eggs. Sure are whoppers. Say," he cried suddenly, "I betI know everything now. This belongs to that white condor. Look.There's a white feather. See it?"
"You're probably right," said Dr. Rander, moving down to the ledge."Let us look about more. We may find something else of interest."
But all searching was stopped a second later when Joe happened toglance up.
"The condor!" he cried fearfully. "It's coming at us!"
Secrets of the Andes Page 26
