CHAPTER XVII.
AN INTERRUPTED KIDNAPPING.
As the auto containing the naturalist and the boys progressed, the road became more and more difficult to travel. Part of the way was overgrown with brush, and several times the travelers had to stop, get out and cut big vines that grew across the path.
“I guess there hasn’t been much going on along this highway,” observed Jerry.
“And I don’t believe it will ever be much in favor with autoists,” said Ned. “There’s too much sand.”
There was a great deal of the fine dirt and in some places it was so soft and yielding that the wheels of the car sank down half way to the hubs, making it impossible to proceed except at a snail’s pace. Then, again, would come firm stretches, where the going was easier.
In this manner several miles were traversed. The forest on either side of the road became more dense and wilder. Thousands of parrots and other birds flew about among the trees, and troops of monkeys followed the progress of the automobile, chattering as if in rage at the invasion of their stamping ground.
Suddenly the screams and chattering of the monkeys ceased. The birds also stopped their racket, and the silence was weird after the riot of noise. Then there came such a series of shrill shrieks from a band of monkeys that it was evident something out of the ordinary had happened.
The next instant a long, lithe, yellow animal shot across the road in front of the auto. The big beast had a monkey in its mouth.
“A jaguar!” exclaimed the professor. “Quick, boys! Get the rifle!”
Ned handed the weapon to the professor, who fired three times, quickly, but the jaguar leaped on, unharmed.
“Well, we’re getting into the region of big game,” remarked the naturalist, “and we’ll have to be on the lookout now or some of the beasts will be trying that trick on us.”
“The monkeys must have seen him; that’s why they kept so still that time,” remarked Bob.
“But it didn’t do that particular one any good,” said the professor. “He must have been caught napping. Well, Mr. Jaguar will have a good supper to-night.”
“That reminds me,” spoke Bob. “When are we going to eat?”
“That’s right, speak of eating and you’ll be sure to hear from Chunky,” said Jerry. “But I suppose we’ll have to camp pretty soon. It’s five o’clock and there don’t seem to be any hotels in the vicinity,” and he glanced at the dense forest on every side and grinned.
“We’ll camp at the next clearing,” said the professor. “Better get to a place where there’s a little space on every side of you when there are wild animals about.”
A mile further on the travelers came to a place where the trees were less thick. There was an open space on either side of the road. The auto was placed under the shelter of a wide-spreading palm and then the adventurers busied themselves getting supper.
The professor took a gun and went a little way into the woods. He shot a small deer, and in a little while some choice venison steaks were broiling over the camp stove.
“This is something like eating,” remarked Ned. “I was getting tired of those frijoles, eggs and tortillas,” and he accepted a second helping of venison.
The rubber and woolen blankets were taken from the auto, and the travelers prepared to spend the night in the forest.
“I guess we’ll mount guard,” said the professor. “The forest is full of jaguars. I saw three while I was hunting the deer.”
“Let me stay up,” begged Jerry. “I’m not sleepy, and I’d like to get a shot at one of the beasts.”
Ned also wanted to remain up, but the professor said he could take the second watch; and, content with this, Ned turned in with the others.
As the night wore on the forests resounded more and more with the noises made by wild beasts. The howls of the foxes mingled with the more terrifying yells of the jaguars, and of the latter beasts the woods seemed to be full.
Jerry, with the loaded magazine rifle, was on the alert. He kept up a bright fire, for he knew that unless made desperate by hunger no wild thing would approach a flame. There were queer rustlings and cracklings of the underbrush on every side of the sentinel. Now and then through the leaves he caught glimpses of reddish-green eyes reflecting back the shine of the blaze.
Following the plans they had made, Vasco Bilette and his Mexicans, together with Noddy and the crowd in the automobile, had trailed the boys and the professor to the camp. With great caution, Vasco had led his men to within a short distance of the fire Jerry had kindled, and Noddy’s auto was in readiness for the kidnapping.
So, though Jerry did not know it, there were the eyes of dangerous men on his movements as well as the eyes of dangerous beasts.
Like dark shadows, the Mexicans slowly encircled the camp. They were so close they could distinguish the sleeping forms.
“Which is Bob?” whispered Vasco to Noddy.
“That one right at the foot of the big palm tree,” replied Noddy Nixon, pointing out the banker’s son.
“Is everything ready?” the leader of the Mexicans asked.
“All ready!” replied Noddy.
Vasco was about to steal forward, hoping to be able to grab up Bob and make off with him before the camp was aroused. In case of resistance, he had given his men orders to shoot.
But at that instant a big jaguar, driven wild with hunger, and braving all danger, had crept to within a few feet of Jerry. The animal smelled the meat of the recently killed deer, the carcass of which hung in a tree. The fierce beast determined to get a meal at all hazards. It crouched on the limb of a tree, just above Jerry’s head, ready for a spring at the body of the deer.
Jerry happened to glance up. He saw the long, lithe body, tense for a leap, the reddish-green eyes glaring at him. Jerry was not a coward, but the sight of the brute, so dangerous and so close to him, scared him greatly for a second or two. Then, recovering his nerve, he raised the rifle, took quick aim and fired three shots in rapid succession.
With a snarl and roar the jaguar toppled to the ground, tearing up the earth and leaves in a death struggle.
“What’s the matter?” called out the professor.
“Are you hurt, Jerry?” cried Ned.
Bob, too, roused up, and the whole camp was soon astir, every one grabbing a gun or revolver. Jerry fired two more shots into the jaguar, and the struggles ceased.
“I got him just in time,” he remarked.
The others crowded around the brute.
“Halt!” exclaimed Bilette, under his breath, as, ready with his men to rush on the camp, he saw that his plan was spoiled. “If it had not been for that jaguar I would have had the captive. Come, we must get out of this!”
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE UNDERGROUND CITY.
Vasco Bilette’s warning was received with ill humor by his men. They were angry because the kidnapping had not succeeded, and because the jaguar had alarmed the camp and put every one on guard.
“Come, let us give them battle now and take the boy!” suggested one.
“Do you want to be killed?” asked Vasco, angrily. “They are all armed now, and would shoot at the least suspicious sound. I, for one, don’t care to have a bullet in me. Come, let us get out of this.”
The Mexicans saw the force of Vasco’s arguments. They did not care about being shot at like wild beasts, and they knew that the boys and the professor were ready for anything now.
“We will try to-morrow night,” said Bilette, as, with Noddy and his men, he silently withdrew to where the horses and auto had been left. “Perhaps we’ll have better luck then.”
The men growled, but had to accept the situation. As for our friends, they were too excited to sleep any more that night, and so they sat around the camp-fire and talked until morning.
Breakfast over, camp was broken, and once more the auto started on the trip toward the hidden city. Professor Snodgrass got out the map made by his dead friend and studied it carefully.
“I believe we are on the right road,” the naturalist said. “Here is a highway marked on the drawing that seems to correspond with the one we are on. And there is a place marked where two roads diverge. Only there is nothing said about the laughing serpent, though there is something here that might be taken for it,” and he pointed to the map.
Every one was becoming quite anxious, and the boys, as well as the professor, kept close watch on each foot of the way to see if there were any indications that they were close to the underground town.
They stopped for dinner near a little brook, in which Bob caught several fish that made a welcome addition to the bill of fare.
“Now, if you boys don’t object, I think I’ll take a little stroll into the woods and see what I can find in the way of specimens,” remarked the naturalist, as he finished the last of his fish and frijoles.
“Better take a gun along,” called Ned. “A jaguar may get you.”
“I’m not going very far,” replied the professor. “All I want is my net and box,” and with these only he started off.
It was about an hour later when Jerry observed:
“Doesn’t it seem as if the monkeys were making more noise than usual?”
The boys listened for a few seconds. It was evident that something had disturbed these nimble inhabitants of the forest, for they were yelling and chattering at a great rate.
“Maybe another jaguar is after them,” suggested Bob.
“No; it doesn’t sound like that,” said Jerry. “They seem to be yelling more in rage than in fear.”
“Maybe they’re having a fight,” put in Ned.
Just then there came a crashing, as if several trees were being crashed down by a tornado. There was a crackling of the underbrush and a rustling in the leaves. Then, above this noise and the yells of the monkeys, sounded a single cry:
“Help, boys!”
“The professor’s in trouble again!” cried Jerry. “I wonder what it is this time?”
Grabbing up a rifle, which example Bob and Ned imitated, Jerry ran in the direction of the voice. The noise made by the monkeys increased, and there were sounds as if a bombardment of the forest was under way.
“Where are you?” called Jerry. “We are coming!”
“Under this big rock!” called the professor, and the boys, looking in the direction his voice came from, saw the naturalist hiding under a big ledge of stone that jutted out of the side of a hill in a sort of a clearing.
“Can’t you come out?” called Ned.
“I tried to several times, but I was nearly killed,” replied the professor. “The monkeys are after me. Look at the ground.”
The boys looked and saw, strewn in front of the shallow cave in which the professor had ensconced himself, a number of round, dark objects. As they looked there came a shower of others through the air. Several of them hit on the rock, broke, and a shower of white scattered all about.
“What in the world are they?” asked Bob.
He ran toward the professor. No sooner had he emerged out of the dense forest into the clearing than a regular hail of the round objects fell all about him. One struck him on the shoulder and the boy was glad enough to retreat.
“What’s it all about?” asked Ned.
“The monkeys are bombarding the professor with cocoanuts,” said Bob, gasping for breath after his run.
“Cocoanuts?”
“That’s what they are. Here come some more.”
He had scarcely spoken before the air was again dark with the brown nuts, which were much larger than those seen in market, being contained in their original husk. At the same time there was a chorus of angry cries from the monkeys.
It was evident now why the professor dared not leave his rock shelter. The minute he did so he would run the risk of being struck down and probably killed by a volley of the nuts. Nor could the boys go to his rescue, for the moment they crossed the clearing they would be targets for the infuriated animals.
“What’s to be done?” asked Ned.
“Supposing we shoot some of the monkeys,” suggested Bob.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” said Jerry. “In the first place if we kill any of the animals it will make the others all the angrier. And then we would have to keep shooting for several days to make much of an inroad on the beasts. There must be five thousand of them.”
Indeed, the forest was full of the long-tailed and nimble-fingered monkeys, all perched in cocoanut or other trees, ready to resent the slightest movement on the part of their human enemies.
“I know a good trick,” spoke Bob.
“What is it, Chunky?” asked Jerry.
“Take a big looking-glass and put it on a tree. The monkeys will be attracted by the shine of it; they will all go down to see what it is and when they see a strange monkey in the glass they will fight. That will make enough fuss so that the professor can escape.”
“That might be a good trick if we had the big mirror, which we haven’t,” spoke Jerry. “You’ll have to think of something else, Chunky.”
But there was no need of this, for at that instant the cries of the monkeys ceased. The silence was almost oppressive in its suddenness and by contrast with the previous riot of noise. Then came unmistakable screams of fear from the simians.
“Now what has happened, I wonder?” said Ned.
“It’s a jaguar!” cried Bob.
He pointed to a tree, on a limb of which one of the animals the monkeys dreaded so much was stretched out. The beast was stalking one of the chattering animals, but his presence had been discovered by the whole tribe.
So much in awe did the monkeys hold this scourge of the Mexican forests that his presence accomplished what the boys could never hope to. The apes trooped off with a rush, chattering in fright. With a howl of rage the jaguar took after them.
“You can come out now, Professor,” called Ned. “The monkeys are gone.”
In fear and trembling the naturalist came from his sheltering rock. He seemed in momentary fear lest he might be greeted with a shower of the nuts, but none fell. With rapid strides he crossed the clearing and joined the boys.
“How did it all happen?” asked Jerry, as soon as the professor had recovered his breath.
“It was all my fault,” explained the naturalist. “I was collecting some butterfly specimens, when I happened to see some monkeys in the cocoanut trees. I had read that if any one threw something at the beasts they would retaliate by throwing down cocoanuts. I wanted to test it, so I threw a few stones at the monkeys. They returned my fire with interest, so I was forced to run under the rock for shelter.
“There were only a few monkeys at first, but more came until there were thousands. They kept throwing cocoanuts until the ground was covered. It’s lucky you came when I called.”
“It’s luckier the jaguar came along when he did,” said Jerry.
“Let’s get back to the auto before I get into any more trouble,” suggested the professor. “I do seem to have the worst luck of getting into scrapes.”
Half an hour later the travelers were on their way. It was getting well along into afternoon and they were beginning to think of where they would spend the night.
They were getting deeper and deeper into the forest, and the way became more and more difficult to travel. But they would not turn back, for they felt they were on the right path.
At length they came to a place where creepers and vines were so closely grown across the path that nothing short of hatchets could make a way. The boys got out the small axes kept for such emergencies, and, after an hour’s work, made a passage.
They started forward once more, and were going along at a pretty good clip, the road having improved in spots.
“I wonder when we’ll get to that underground city?” said Ned, for perhaps the tenth time that day.
He had no sooner spoken than the earth trembled under the auto. The machine seemed to stand still. Then, with a sickening motion it plunged forward and downward.
A big hole had opened in the road and let the car and its occupants through the surface of the earth. The machine slid forward, revealing, near the top of a shaft, a brief glimpse of several ruined buildings.
“It is the underground city!” exclaimed the professor.
Then there came intense darkness.
CHAPTER XIX.
IN AN ANCIENT TEMPLE.
The auto seemed to be bumping along downhill, for at the first evidence of danger Jerry had shut off the power and applied the brake. But the descent was too steep to have the bands hold.
Down and down the adventurers went, through some underground passage, it was evident.
“Are we all here?” called Jerry, his voice sounding strange and muffled in the chamber to which they had come.
“I’m here and all right, but I don’t exactly know what has happened,” replied the professor.
“The same with me,” put in Ned, and Bob echoed his words.
Just then the automobile came to a stop, having reached a level and run along it for a short distance.
“Well, we seem to have arrived,” went on Jerry. “I wonder how much good it is going to do us?”
“Supposing we light the search-lamp and see what sort of a place we are in,” suggested Professor Snodgrass. “It’s so dark in here we might just as well be inside one of the pyramids of Egypt.”
The acetylene gas lamp on the front of the auto was lighted, and in its brilliant rays the travelers saw that they were in a large underground passage. It was about twenty feet high, twice as broad and seemed to be hewn out of solid rock.
“This is what makes it so dark,” observed the professor. “I knew it must be something like this, for it was still daylight when we tumbled into the hole and we haven’t been five minutes down here. Run the auto forward, Jerry.”
The car puffed slowly along surely as strange a place as ever an automobile was in. The boys looked eagerly ahead. They saw nothing but the rocky sides and roof of the passage.
“This doesn’t look much like an underground city,” objected Ned. “I think it’s an abandoned railway tunnel.”
At that instant Jerry shut off the power and applied the brakes with a jerk.
“What’s the matter?” asked the professor.
“There’s some sort of a wall or obstruction ahead,” was the answer, and Jerry pointed to where, in the glare of the lamp, could be seen a wall that closed up the passageway completely.
“I guess this is the end,” remarked Ned, ruefully.
The naturalist got out of the car and ran forward. He seemed to be examining the obstruction carefully. He struck it two or three blows.
“Hurrah!” he cried. “Come on, boys, this is only a big wooden door! We can open it!”
In an instant the three lads had joined him. They found that the passage was closed by a big portal of planks, bolted together and swinging on immense hinges. There was also a huge lock or fastening.
“Can we open the door?” inquired Bob. “It looks as if it was meant to stay shut.”
“We’ll soon see,” answered Jerry.
He ran back to the automobile and got a kit of tools. Then, while Ned held up one of the small oil lamps that was taken off the dashboard of the car, Jerry tackled the lock. It was a massive affair, but time had so rusted it that very little trouble was found in taking it apart so that the door was free.
“Everybody push, now!” called Jerry. “Those hinges are pretty rusty.”
They shoved with all their strength, but the door, though it gave slightly, showing that no more locks held it, would not open. It had probably not been used for centuries.
“Looks as if we’d have to stay here,” said the professor.
“Not a bit of it,” spoke Jerry. “Wait a minute.”
He ran back to the auto, and soon the others heard him cranking it up.
“Look out! Stand to one side!” he called.
The auto came forward slowly. Jerry steered the front part of it carefully against the massive door. Once he was close to the portal he turned on full power.
There was a cracking and splintering of wood, and a squeaking as the rusty hinges gave. Then, with the auto pushing against it, the massive door swung to one side. The machine had accomplished what the strength of the boys and the professor could not.
Slowly but surely the portal opened. Wider and wider it swung, until there burst on the astonished gaze of the travelers a flood of light. The sun was shining overhead, though fast declining in the west, but in the bright glare of the slanting beams there was revealed the underground city.
There it stood in all its ancient splendor, most of it, however, but mere ruins of what had been fine buildings. There were rows and rows of houses, stone palaces and what had been beautiful temples. Nearly all of the structures showed traces of elaborate carvings.
But ruin was on every side. The roofs of houses, temples and palaces had fallen in. Walls were crumbling and the streets were filled with debris. As the boys looked, some foxes scampered among the ruins, and shortly afterward a jaguar slunk along, crawling into a hole in a temple wall.
“Grand! Beautiful! Solemn!” exclaimed the professor, in raptures over the discovery. “It is more than I dared to hope for. Think of it, boys! We have at last discovered the buried city of ancient Mexico. How the people back in civilization will open their eyes when they hear this news! My name and yours as well will be covered with glory. Oh, it is marvelous!”
“I guess it will be some time before the people back in Cresville hear of this,” observed Jerry. “There doesn’t seem to be any way of sending a letter from here. I don’t see any telegraph station, and there’s not a messenger boy in sight.”
“That’s funny,” said Ned. “You’d think a buried city, a dead one, so to speak, would be just the place where a district messenger would like to come to rest.”
“It’s a lonesome place here,” remarked Bob. “I hope we’ll find some one to talk to.”
“That’s just the beauty of the place,” said the professor. “What good would an ancient, ruined, buried city be if people were living in it? I hope there isn’t a soul here but ourselves.”
“I guess you’ll get your desire, all right,” remarked Jerry.
The first surprise and wonder over, the travelers advanced a little way into the city and looked about them. They saw that the place, which was several miles square, was down in a hollow, formed of high hills. For this reason the location of the city had remained so long a secret. They had come upon it through one of the underground passages leading into the town, and these, as they afterward learned, were the only means of entering the place. There were four of these passages or tunnels, one entering from each side of the city, north, south, east and west.
But time and change had closed up the outer ends of the tunnels after the city had become deserted, and it remained for Professor Snodgrass and his party to tumble in on one.
It was as if a city had been built inside an immense bowl and on the bottom of it. The sides of the bowl would represent the hills and mountains that girt the ancient town. Then, if four holes were made in the sides of the vessel, close to the bottom, they would be like the four entrances to the old city.
“Supposing we take a ride through the town before dark,” suggested Jerry. “We may meet some one.”
He started the machine, but after going a short distance it was found that it was impracticable to use the machine to any advantage. The streets were filled with debris and big stones from the ruined houses and fallen hills, and it needed constant twisting and turning to make the journey.
“Let’s get out and walk,” proposed Ned.
“Then there’s a good place to leave the machine,” said Bob, pointing to a ruined temple on the left. “We can run it right inside, through the big doors. It’s a regular garage.”
The suggestion was voted a good one, and Jerry steered the auto into the temple. The place had been magnificent in its day. Even now the walls were covered with beautiful paintings, or the remains of them, and the whole interior and exterior of the place was a mass of fine stone carving.
The roof had fallen away in several places, but there were spots where enough remained to give shelter. The machine was run into a covered corner and then the travelers went outside.
The professor uttered cries of delight at every step, as he discovered some new specimen or relic. They seemed to exist on every side.
“Look out where you’re stepping!” called the naturalist, suddenly, as Jerry was about to set his foot down.
“What’s the matter—a snake?” asked the boy, jumping back.
“No. But you nearly stepped on and ruined a petrified bug worth thousands of dollars!”
“Great Scott! I’ll be careful after this,” promised Jerry, as the professor picked up the specimen of a beetle and put it in his box.
CHAPTER XX.
MYSTERIOUS HAPPENINGS.
The travelers strolled for some time longer, the professor finding what he called rare relics at every turn.
“This is like another gold mine,” he said. “There are treasures untold here. I have no doubt we will find a store of diamonds and other precious stones before we are through.”
“I’d like to find a ham sandwich right now,” observed Bob.
“It wouldn’t be Chunky if he wasn’t hungry,” laughed Ned. “But I admit I feel somewhat the same way myself.”
“Then we had better go back to the temple and get supper,” advised Jerry.
So back they went, but their progress was slow, because the professor would insist on examining every bit of ruins he came to in order to see if there were not specimens to be gathered or relics to be picked up. His green box was full to overflowing and all his pockets bulged, but he was the happiest of naturalists.
It was dark when they reached the ancient place of worship where the auto had been left, and at Jerry’s suggestion Bob lighted the search-lamp and the other two lights on the machine. This made a brilliant circle of illumination in one place, but threw the rest of the temple into a dense blackness.
“I wouldn’t want to be here all alone,” remarked Bob, looking about and shuddering a bit.
“Why, Chunky? Afraid of ghosts?” asked Ned.
“What was that?” exclaimed Bob, suddenly, starting at a noise.
“A bat,” replied the naturalist. “The place is full of them. I must get some for specimens.”
“I don’t know but what I prefer ghosts to bats,” said Bob. “I hope none of them suck our blood while we’re asleep.”
“No danger; I guess none of these are of the vampire variety,” remarked the professor. “But now let’s get supper.”
In spite of the strangeness of the surroundings, the travelers managed to make a good meal. The gasolene stove was set up and some canned chicken prepared, with tortillas and frijoles.
“We’ll have to replenish our larder soon,” remarked Jerry, looking into the provision chest. “There’s only a little stuff left.”
“We’ll have to go hunting some day,” said the professor. “We can’t starve in this country. Game is too plentiful.”
“I wonder if the people who built this place didn’t put some bedrooms in it,” said Bob, as, sitting on the floor of the temple, he began to nod from sleepiness.
“Perhaps they did,” put in Ned. “Let’s take a look.”
He unfastened one of the oil lamps from the auto and started off on an exploring trip. A little to the left of the corner where the auto stood he came to a door. Though it worked hard on the rusted hinges he managed to push it open. He flashed the light inside.
“Hurrah! Here are some beds or couches or something of the kind!” he shouted.
The others came hurrying up. The room seemed to be a sort of resting place for the priests of the ancient temple. Ranged about the side walls were wooden frames on which were stretched skins and hides of animals, in a manner somewhat as the modern cot is made.
“I wonder if they are strong enough to hold us,” said Jerry.
“Let Chunky try, he’s the heaviest,” suggested Ned.
Accordingly, Bob stretched out on the ancient bed. It creaked a little, but showed no signs of collapsing in spite of the many years it had been in the place.
“This will be better than sleeping on a cold stone floor,” remarked the professor. “Fetch in the blankets and we’ll have a good night’s rest.”
“Shall we post a guard?” asked Jerry.
“I don’t think it will be necessary,” replied the naturalist. “I hardly believe there is any one in this old city but ourselves, and we can barricade the door to keep out any stray animals.”
So, in a little while, the travelers were all slumbering. But the professor was wrong in his surmise that they were the only inhabitants of the underground city. No sooner had a series of snores proclaimed that every one was sleeping than from a dark recess on the opposite side of the temple to that where the automobile stood there came a strange figure, clad in white. If Bob had seen it he surely would have said it was a ghost.
“So you found my ancient city after all,” whispered the figure. “You know now that the Mexican magician was telling the truth, and you realize that you found the place sooner than you expected, and in a strange manner. But there will be more strange things happen before you go from here, I promise you.”
“Are the Americano dogs asleep?” sounded a whisper from the recess whence came the aged Mexican, who had so strangely prophesied to the professor.
“Yes, San Lucia, they are asleep,” replied the first figure, as another, attired as he was, joined him. “But speak softly, for they have sharp ears and wake easily.”
“Have they the gold with them?” asked San Lucia, who was also quite old. “That is what we want, Murado. Have they the gold?”
“All Americanos have gold,” replied Murado. “That is why I lured them on. All my plans were made to get them here that we might take their gold.”
“And you succeeded wonderfully well, Murado. Tell me about it, for I have not had a chance to talk to you since you arrived in such breathless haste.”
“There is not much to tell,” replied the other. “I heard of their arrival in a short time after they reached Mexico. Then, in a secret way, I heard what they were searching for. Chance made it possible for me to somewhat startle them by pretending to know more than I did. I met them on the road and told them of what they were in search and how to find it.”
“That was easy, since you knew so well yourself,” interrupted San Lucia. “We have not been brigands for nothing, Murado. Well do I remember the day you and I came upon this buried city. And it has been our headquarters ever since.”
“As I said, it was easy to mystify them,” went on Murado. “They traveled fast in their steam wagon, or whatever it is, but I knew several short cuts that enabled me to get ahead of them. I was hidden in the hollow stone image of the laughing serpent and saw, through the little eye-holes, how they came up and took the paper I had written and put between the lips of the reptile. Oh, it all worked out as I had planned, and now we have them here where we want them.”
“And we will kill them and get their gold!” whispered San Lucia, feeling of a knife he wore in his belt. “But tell me, how did they happen to stumble on the right underground passage?”
“They didn’t happen to,” replied Murado. “That was one point where I failed. But it is just as well. You see, I had so managed things that I knew they would take the road to the left of the image. When I saw them depart I called my horse and galloped off to the right. I wanted to take a short cut and get here ahead of them.
“I succeeded. You were away; just when I needed your help, too. But I managed. I went out in the underground passage and waited for them.
“That passage, you know, goes right under the road they were traveling on. Whoever built this ancient city must have wanted it to remain hidden, for the only way to get to it is by the tunnels. If, by chance, some one approached on the roads leading to the top of the mountains the ancients had a plan to get rid of them.”
“How?” asked San Lucia.
“At several places in the upper roadway there were false places. That is, they were traps. A portion of the road would be dug away, making a shaft down to the tunnel. Then boards would be placed over the hole and a light covering of dirt sprinkled on the planks. Watchers were stationed below, and at the sound of an enemy on the boards above the sentinels would pull a lever. This would take away the supports of the false portion of the road, and it would crash down into the tunnel, carrying the enemy with it.
“So I played the part of the watcher, and when I heard the Americanos riding over the trap I pulled the lever and down they crashed.
“There, as I said, I made my only mistake. I expected the Americanos would be killed, but their steam cart is strong, and the fall did not hurt them. Besides, only one end of the trap gave way, and the other, holding fast, made an inclined road on which they descended into the tunnel. That is how they came here, and now we must to work if we are to get their gold.”
“And quickly, too,” observed San Lucia, “for I learned that another party is following this; they, too, have a steam wagon, and we may trap them also.”
“I know the crowd of whom you speak,” said Murado. “They are not far behind. One is a youth called Nixy Nodnot, or some barbarous thing like it. They will be surprised not to find their friends. But come, they sleep!”
Then the two Mexican brigands began creeping toward the room where the professor and the boys were sleeping.
CHAPTER XXI.
NODDY HAS A TUMBLE.
When Vasco and Noddy, foiled in their attempt to kidnap Bob, retreated through the forest, they went into camp with their crowd in no very pleasant frame of mind. The Mexicans whom Vasco had hired to assist him were angry at being foiled, and they talked of deserting.
“Go on, if you want to,” said Vasco, carelessly rolling a cigarette; “so much the more gold for us when the rich man ransoms his son.”
This was enough to excite the greed of the men, who talked no more of going away.
The next day, after a consultation, Noddy and Vasco decided to continue on the trail of the boys and the professor. They pursued the same tactics they had previous to the interrupted kidnapping, and were careful not to get too close to those they were trailing.
All was not harmonious among the members of the band with which Noddy had surrounded himself. The men had frequent quarrels, especially when they were playing cards, which they seemed to do when they were not smoking cigarettes.
After dinner one day the Mexicans appeared to be much amused as they played their game. They laughed and shouted and seemed to be talking of the automobile, for Noddy had brought his machine up to the camp of the horsemen.
“What are they talking about?” asked Noddy of Vasco.
“They are making a wager that the one who loses the game must ride, all by himself, in the automobile,” replied Bilette.
“But I don’t want them to do that,” said Noddy. “They don’t know how to run the car.”
“That’s the trouble,” went on Vasco. “No one wants to lose, for they’re all afraid to operate the machine. But if one of them tries to do it, you’d better let him, if you don’t want to get into trouble.”
With a shout of laughter the men arose from where they had been playing the game. They seemed to be railing at one chap, who looked at the auto as if he feared it might blow up and kill him.
“You’re in for it,” remarked Vasco. “Whatever you do don’t make a fuss.”
With a somewhat sheepish air a young Mexican, one of Vasco’s crowd, came near the auto. He made a sign that he wanted to take Noddy’s place. The latter frowned and spoke in English, only a word or two of which the native understood.
“You shan’t have this machine,” spoke Noddy. “It’s mine, and if you try to run it you’ll break it.”
But the Mexican paid no heed. He came close up to Noddy, grabbed him by the collar and hauled him from the car. Noddy was the only one in it at that time, Berry, Dalsett and Pender having gone off a short distance.
“Let go of me!” cried Noddy, trying to draw a small revolver he carried.
The Mexican only grunted and retained his grip.
“If you don’t let me alone I’ll fire!” exclaimed the youth. He had his revolver out, and the Mexican, seeing this, allowed his temper to cool a bit. But there was an angry look in his eyes that meant trouble for Noddy.
“Now you fellows quit this gambling,” commanded Vasco. “We’ll have hard work ahead of us in a little while, and we don’t want any foolishness. Leave Noddy alone. Don’t you know if any one tries to run that machine that hasn’t been introduced to it, the engine will blow up!”
“Diablo!” exclaimed the Mexican who had lost at cards and who was about to attempt to operate the auto. “I will let it alone!”
Quiet was restored, but the bad feeling was only smoothed over. It was liable to break out again at any time. The main object of the crowd was not lost sight of, however, and every hour they drew nearer the trail of those of whom they were in pursuit.
As it grew dusk, on the day of the quarrel over the auto, Noddy and Vasco, with their followers, came to a small clearing. They decided to stop and have supper.
“If I’m not mistaken, the other auto has been here within a short time,” remarked Vasco, pointing to marks in the sandy road. “And there seem to be footprints leading over there through the underbrush.”
He followed the trail, and came to the place where, a short time before, Professor Snodgrass had battled with the cocoanut-throwing monkeys.
“Looks as if some one was going to start in the wholesale business,” went on the Mexican, glancing at the pile of nuts the simians had piled up.
“Do you think we are close to them?” asked Noddy, for, since the experience of the afternoon, he was anxious to get the kidnapping over, and be rid of the Mexicans.
“They have been here very recently,” said Vasco.
“How can you tell?” asked Noddy.
“See where the oil has dripped from their machine,” replied Bilette, pointing to a little puddle of the lubricant in the road. “It has not yet had time to soak away, showing that it must have been there but a short time, since in this sand it would not remain long on top.”
“Shall we go on after them or camp for the night?” asked Noddy, following a somewhat lengthy pause.
“Keep on,” replied Vasco. “No telling when we may get another chance. Get the boy when we can. We’ll have to do a little night traveling, but what of it?”
Noddy assented. He spent some time after supper in oiling up the auto and getting the lamps filled, for darkness was coming on. Then, all being in readiness, Noddy started off, the horsemen keeping close to him.
For a few miles no one in the party spoke. The auto puffed slowly along, the horsemen managing to keep up to it.
“How do we know we’re on the right road?” asked Noddy at length. “We may have gone astray in the darkness.”
Tom Dalsett took a lantern and made a careful survey of the highway. He came back presently.
“We’re all right,” he said. “There are auto tracks just ahead of us. We may come up to them any minute now.”
Once more Noddy’s auto, which he had stopped to let Dalsett out, started up. The pace was swift and silent. But as they penetrated farther and farther into the depths of the forest there was no sign of the boys and the professor, who, by this time, were in the underground city.
“I don’t believe we’ll find them,” spoke Jack Pender. “Let’s camp now and take up the trail in the morning, when you can see better.”
“No; we must keep on,” said Vasco, firmly. “It is to-night or never. I can’t hold my men together any longer than that.”
Off into the darkness puffed the auto. The men on horseback followed it, the whole party keeping close together, for several jaguars were seen near the path, having been driven from their usual haunts because of the scarcity of game.
Every one was on the alert, watching for any signs of the travelers they were pursuing. Every now and then some one would get out and examine the road to see if the auto marks were still to be seen. They were there, and led straight on to the hidden city.
It was some time past midnight and the machine was going over a good patch of road, when Jack Pender, who was seated beside Noddy, suddenly grabbed the steersman’s arm.
“What’s that ahead in the road?” asked Jack.
“I don’t see anything,” replied Noddy. “It’s your imagination. What does it look like?”
“Like a big black shadow, bigger and blacker than any around here. Can’t you see it now? There it is! Stop the machine, quick!”
Noddy, peering through the gloom, saw what seemed to be a patch of shadows. He gave the levers quick yanks, jammed down the brakes and tried to bring the machine to a stop.
But he was too late. With a plunge the car sank through the earth and rushed along the inclined plane down which Jerry and his friends had coasted a few hours before. There were wild cries of fear, mingled with the shrill neighing of horses, for some of the riders and their steeds also went down the trap that had been laid.
The auto remained upright and shot along the floor of the tunnel to which it had fallen, undergoing the same experience as had the machine of Jerry and his friends.
Then, with a crash that resounded through the confines of the ancient city, Noddy and his machine and all who were in it brought up against the massive door closing the tunnel, which portal Jerry had swung shut after he and his friends had passed through. Following the crash there came an ominous silence.
CHAPTER XXII.
FACE TO FACE.
“Hark! What was that?” whispered San Lucia to Murado.
The two old brigands paused in their stealthy march upon their sleeping victims, as the sound of the crash Noddy’s auto made came faintly to their ears.
“How should I know?” asked Murado, but he seemed alarmed.
“It sounded in the tunnel,” went on San Lucia. “Some one is coming! Quick! Let us hide! Another night will do for our work.”
Thereupon the two old villains, alarmed by the terror of the noise caused by they knew not what, hesitated and then fled as silently as they had advanced. For the time the lives of the boys and the professor had been saved.
San Lucia and Murado went to their hiding place in the old temple, the building being so large and rambling that it would have hidden a score of men with ease. It may be added here that they did not dare to touch many things in the ancient city, thinking them bewitched.
All unmindful of the danger which had menaced them, our travelers slept on, nothing disturbing them, and they did not hear the noise made by Noddy’s tumble, though they were not far from the mouth of the tunnel.
“I say!” called Bob, sitting up and looking at his watch in a sunbeam that came through a broken window. “I say, are you fellows going to sleep all day? It’s nearly eight o’clock, and I want some breakfast.”
“Oh, of course it’s something to eat as soon as you open your eyes!” exclaimed Jerry. “I should think you would take something to bed with you, Chunky, and put it under your pillow so you could eat in the night whenever you felt hungry.”
“That’s all right,” snapped Bob, “but I notice we don’t have to call you twice to come to your meals.”
“Is it morning?” called the professor from his cot.
“Long ago,” replied Bob, who was dressing. “I wonder if the folks that lived in this temple ever washed. I’d like to strike a bathroom about now.”
“Hark! I hear something!” exclaimed the professor.
They all listened intently.
“It’s running water,” said the naturalist, “and close by. Perhaps there’s a wash-room in this temple.”
“I’m going to see what’s behind this door,” said Bob, pointing to a portal none of them had noticed in the darkness. He pushed it open and went inside. The next instant he uttered a joyful cry:
“Come here, fellows! It’s a plunge bath!”
Then they heard him spring in and splash about. Jerry and Ned soon followed, and the professor came a little later. It was a regular swimming-tank, stone-lined and sunk into the floor. The water came in through a sort of stone trough.
“These old chaps knew something about life, after all,” observed Ned, as he climbed out and proceeded to dry himself.
“They were probably a bit like the Romans,” remarked the professor, “and fond of bathing. But something has given me an appetite, and I wouldn’t object to breakfast.”
The others were of the same mind, and soon Ned had the gasolene stove set up and was preparing a meal. Bob attended to the brewing of the coffee instead of chocolate, and the aroma of the beverage filled the old temple with an appetizing odor.
“What are we going to do to-day?” asked Jerry, when they had finished the meal and were sitting comfortably on some low stools that had been discovered in the room where they slept.
“We must explore the city in all directions,” said the professor. “There are many marvelous things here, and I have not begun to find them yet. It will take weeks and weeks.”
“Are we going to stay here all that while?” asked Bob, somewhat dubiously.
“I’d like to,” answered the naturalist. “But we can get a good load of specimens and relics, run up north and come back for more. This place is a regular treasure-trove.”
Clearing away the remains of the breakfast, and looking over the auto to see that it had suffered no damage in the recent experience, the boys and the professor left the temple and strolled out into the deserted city. They did not know that their every movement was watched by the glittering eyes of San Lucia and Murado, who were hidden in an upper part of the temple whence they could look down on their intended victims from a small, concealed gallery.
By full daylight the ancient city was even more wonderful than it had appeared in the waning light of the previous afternoon. In the days of its glory it was evident it had been a beautiful place.
The travelers entered some of the better-preserved houses. They found the rooms filled with fine furniture, of a rude but simple and pleasing character, some of the articles being well preserved.
One house they visited seemed to have belonged to some rich man, for it was filled with things that once had been of great beauty.
“There is something that should interest me!” exclaimed the professor, as he caught sight of a small cabinet on the wall. “That must contain curios.”
He found his supposition right, and fairly reveled in the objects that were treasures to him, but not worth much to any one else. There were ancient coins, rings and other articles of jewelry and hundreds of bugs, beetles and minerals.
“Whoever lived here was a wise and learned man,” observed the naturalist. “I shall take his whole collection back with me, since it is going to ruin here, and it belongs to no one.”
“There will be no room for any of us in the auto if you keep on collecting things,” observed Jerry.
But this seemed to make no difference to the professor. He went right on collecting as if he had a freight car at his disposal.
The travelers continued on their way, exploring the different buildings here and there.
“I’m tired,” announced Bob, suddenly. “You fellows can go on, if you want to, but I’m going to sit down and take a rest.”
He found a comfortable place in the shade, where a stone ledge was built against the side of a ruined house, and sat down. Jerry and Ned followed his example, for they, too, were leg-weary.
“I’ll just take a look through this one place, and then we’ll go back and have dinner,” said the professor.
He entered the structure, against which the boys were sitting. It was a small, one-storied affair, and did not look as if it would contain anything of value. The naturalist had not been inside five minutes before the boys heard him calling, in excited tones:
“Come quick, boys!”
They ran in, to behold Professor Snodgrass with his arm stuck in a hole in the wall. He seemed to be pulling at something.
“What is it?” cried Jerry.
“A gila monster,” replied the professor. “I saw him and I got him.”
“It looks as if he had you,” answered Ned.
“He tried to get away, but I grabbed him by the tail as he was going in his hole,” went on the naturalist. “Now he’s got his claws dug down in the dirt and I can’t pull him out. Come out of there, my beauty!” he cried, addressing his remarks to the hidden gila monster. “Come out, my pet!”
Then, with a sudden yank the professor succeeded in drawing the animal from its burrow. It was a repulsive-looking creature of the lizard variety, and as the professor held it up by the tail it wiggled and tried to escape.
“Now I have you, my little darling!” the naturalist cried, popping his prize into his collecting-box.
“That would never take a prize at a beauty show,” observed Ned. “I wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole.”
“Well, this has been a most profitable day,” went on the collector, as, with the boys, he turned toward their residence in the old temple. “I must come back this afternoon for the cabinet of curios.”
Without further incident, save that nearly every step of the homeward journey the professor stopped to pick up some relic, the travelers reached the temple.
“Here goes for another bath!” cried Bob, running toward the room where the plunge was. “I’m nearly melted by the heat.”
“I’m with you!” said Jerry.
Suddenly they heard the professor’s voice calling them.
“I wonder what in the world is the matter now?” said Jerry.
He and Bob hurried outside where they had left the naturalist and Ned. They found the pair gazing down the street toward the tunnel entrance.
And as they gazed they saw the big door swing slowly open, while from the passage came Noddy Nixon, Vasco Bilette and the others of their crowd. A low cry of surprise broke from Noddy as he stood face to face with the very persons he and Vasco were seeking.
CHAPTER XXIII.
BOB IS KIDNAPPED.
For a minute or two the unexpected encounter so astonished all concerned that no one spoke. Noddy seemed ill at ease from meeting his former acquaintances, but Vasco Bilette smiled in an evil way. Chance had thrown in his path the very person he wanted. Tom Dalsett was the first to speak.
“Well, we meet again,” he said, with an attempt at cheerfulness. “How do you all do?”
“I don’t know that we’re any the better for seeing you,” remarked Professor Snodgrass, who was plain-spoken at times.
“Oh, but I assure you it’s a sight for sore eyes to get a glimpse of you once more,” went on Tom. “Besides, this is a free city, you know, even if it is an old, underground one; and we have as much right here as you have.”
“True enough,” broke in Jerry. “But you may as well know, first as last, that we’re done fooling with you and your gang, Noddy Nixon. If you annoy us again there’s going to be trouble!”
Noddy did not reply. He seemed anxious to get away, but Dalsett and Vasco urged him to stay, and they had secured quite an influence over the youth.
“We must have come in by the same passage you did,” went on Dalsett. “You left it open behind you. We were wandering around in the dark tunnel until we discovered this door a little while ago. Lucky, wasn’t it?”
“For you chaps, yes,” commented Ned.
“Some of us were nearly killed in the tumble,” went on Dalsett. “We got out of it rather well, on the whole.”
“You’d better come inside and have nothing more to say to him,” said the professor to his friends. “This spoils all our plans.”
“Never mind; perhaps we can give them the slip among the ruins,” said Jerry.
He went back into the ancient temple, and the others followed him. Noddy continued to stare as if he thought the whole thing was a dream. As for Vasco and Dalsett, they were much pleased with the turn affairs had taken.
But the Mexicans were excited. Several of them had been bruised by the fall into the tunnel, and they wanted to proceed at once and kidnap Bob, so they could get the ransom money. But Vasco would not permit this. He did not believe in using force when he could use stealth. Besides, he was a coward, and afraid of getting hurt, if it came to a fight.
“Let them go,” he said to his men, who murmured as they saw their prospective captive and his friends retreat into the temple. “Let them go. They can’t get away from here without letting us know. We are better off than before. We can capture the fat boy whenever we want to now.”
With that, Vasco’s followers had to be content. As Dalsett had said, Noddy and his cronies, after groping about in the dark tunnel for some time, had finally discovered the door by which the boys and the professor had entered the ancient city. They had pushed it open and come face to face with our friends.
“Bah!” exclaimed one of the Mexicans. “It is always to-morrow and to-morrow in this business. Let us fight them! Let us get the captive and let us share the ransom.”
“We’ll do the trick to-night, sure,” promised Vasco. “To-night, positively, we will kidnap Bob.”
Meanwhile, all unconscious of the fate in store for him, Bob was making a substantial meal, for the travelers had begun to get dinner after withdrawing from the front of the temple. They talked of little save the appearance of Noddy and his followers.
“How do you suppose he ever got here?” asked Bob.
“Simply followed us,” said Jerry. “We left a plain enough trail. Besides, automobiles are scarce in Mexico, and any one seeing ours pass by would easily remember it and tell whoever came along afterward, making inquiries.”
“What had we better do?” asked Ned. “Stay here or go away?”
“There’ll be more or less trouble if we stay,” was Jerry’s opinion. “Supposing we go away for a while and come back. If Noddy is after us we may give him the slip and return.”
“How are we going to get out of this place?” asked Bob. “We can’t go back through the tunnel we came in, as they are now on guard there.”
“There must be more than one entrance to this city,” spoke the professor. “I think I’ll go and hunt for another. When we find it we can take the automobile with us and escape to-night. I wish to be the first person to announce this discovery to the world.”
“That’s the idea!” exclaimed Ned. “I’ll go along to help hunt for another passage, while Bob and Jerry can stay on guard.”
“In the meanwhile I’m going to have my swim,” said Bob. He went into the tank-room, and immediately uttered a cry.
“What’s the matter?” called Jerry.
“The water has all run out,” replied Bob, “and there’s a big hole here!”
The others came in on the run. They saw that the swimming-pool was empty. Only a little water remained on the bottom in small puddles. They also saw that the pool was made with an incline of stone leading from the floor level down to the bottom. In the side opposite from where the incline was a big black hole showed itself. When the water was at the normal level this hole was invisible. Once the water had lowered it was plain to see.
“What made the water go out?” asked Bob.
“Probably a gate at the end of the tunnel leading from the tank was opened,” replied the naturalist. “Or it may be an automatic arrangement, so that when the tank gets filled up to a certain height the water shuts itself off. So we’ll defer our bath until the water rises. Perhaps the tides may have some effect on it. We can only wait and see.”
“That tunnel is big enough to drive our auto through,” observed Bob.
A sudden thought came to Jerry. He whispered to the professor.
“Of course it could be done,” replied the scientist after consideration, “but there is the danger of the water rising suddenly while we are in the tunnel. Jerry talks of escaping by means of this new shaft,” went on the professor. “We could run the auto down the incline and so out. But we must investigate the place.”
The naturalist walked down the incline. Straight in front of them, as they neared it, yawned the black mouth of the passage. The professor would not let the boys come in until he had made an investigation.
He walked quite a distance down the shaft and returned. He seemed in deep thought.
“It will be safe to use the tunnel,” he said. “It appears that the water was siphoned out. There is another tank or reservoir connected with this one. They both seem to be fed by springs. When the other tank, which is below the level and to one side, gets full of water, the fluid is siphoned out. As that tank is connected with the one we used, by a pipe, as soon as the water goes out of the first tank, that in the second follows to keep the first tank filled. And so it goes on, from day to day, repeating the operation once every twenty-four hours, I would judge. So we have plenty of time. The tunnel leads to one like that by which we entered the city. I have no doubt but that we can escape through it.”
If the professor and the boys could at this time have seen two evil faces peering down at them from a high balcony, they might not have felt so comfortable. San Lucia and Murado were on the lookout, and every move the travelers made was watched.
It was decided to make the escape that night. Accordingly, after supper, the automobile was prepared for a long trip. Things were packed in it, and the professor took along his beloved specimens.
“How are we going to get the car down the incline?” asked Bob.
“I can take it down, all right,” replied Jerry.
At length all was in readiness. Jerry and Ned took the front seat, Bob cranked up the car, which was still inside the old temple, and then joined the professor on the rear seat.
“All ready?” asked Jerry.
“All ready,” replied Bob.
“Yes, and we are ready, too!” came in a whisper from the ruined doorway of the temple, where Vasco Bilette and his men were in hiding, watching the flight of the travelers.