Tom Swift in the City of Gold

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"Let's eat," suggested Ned, "and then we four can circle around
together." Tom agreed that this would be a good plan. A little later
then, with Tom nearest the temple walls, the four began their march
around them.

Four times that morning they made the circuit, and the same number
in the afternoon, until they were nearly half a mile away from the
ruin, but no tunnel showed.

"Well, we'll have to keep at it to-morrow," suggested Tom. "It's too
soon to give up."

But the morrow brought no better success, nor did the following two
days. In fact for a week they kept up the search for the tunnel, but
did not come upon it, and they had now pretty well covered the big
plain. They found a few ruins of the ancient city of Poltec.

"Well, what about it?" asked Ned one night as they sat in the
balloon, talking it over. "What next, Tom?"

"We've got to keep at it, that's all. I think we'll go up in the
balloon, circle around over the plain at just a little elevation,
and maybe we can spot it that way."

"All right, I'm with you."

But they did not try that plan. For in the middle of the night Ned
suddenly awakened. Something had come to him in his sleep.

"Tom! Tom!" he cried. "I have it! What chumps we were!"

"What's the matter, old man?" asked Tom anxiously. "Are you sick--
talking in your sleep?"

"Sleep nothing! I've just thought of it. That tunnel entrance is
INSIDE the temple. That's the most natural place in the world for
it. I'll bet it's right in the middle of the big inner chamber,
where the priests could control it. Why didn't we look there
before?"

"That's right; why didn't we?" agreed Tom. "I believe you're right,
Ned! We'll look the first thing in the morning."

They did not wait for breakfast before trying the experiment, and
Mr. Damon and Eradicate went with Tom and Ned. It was no easy work
to make their way over the ruins to the inner auditorium. Wreckage
and ruin was all around, and they had to avoid the yawning holes on
every side. But when they got to the main, or sacrificial chamber,
as Ned insisted on calling it, they found the floor there solid. In
the centre was a great altar, but to their chagrin there was not a
sign of a tunnel opening.

"Fooled again!" said Tom bitterly.

"Maybe some of those holes outside is the entrance," suggested Mr.
Damon.

"I don't believe so," objected Tom. "They seemed to go only to the
cellar, if a temple has such a thing."

Bitterly disappointed, Tom strolled over and stood in front of the
big stone altar. It seemed that he must give up the search. Idly he
looked at the sacrificial stone. Projecting from it was a sort of a
bundle.

Tom took hold of it, and to his surprise he found that it could be
moved. Hardly knowing what he was doing, he pulled it toward him.

The next instant he uttered a cry of horror, for the immense stone
altar, with a dull rumbling, rolled back as though on wheels, and
there, over where it had stood was a hole of yawning blackness, with
a flight of stone steps leading down into it. And Tom stood so near
the edge that he almost toppled in.

"Look! Look!" he cried when he could get his gasping breath, and
step back out of danger.

"The tunnel entrance!" cried Ned. "That's what it is! You've found
it, Tom! The entrance to the city of gold at last!"

CHAPTER XIX

THE UNDERGROUND RIVER

They gathered around the opening so unexpectedly disclosed to them,
and stared down into the black depths. Beyond the first few steps of
the flight that led to they knew not where, nothing could be seen.
In his impatience Tom was about to go down.

"Bless my match box!" cried Mr. Damon. "What are you going to do,
Tom, my boy?"

"Go down there, of course! What else? I want to get to the
underground city."

"Don't!" quickly advised the odd man. "You don't know what's there.
It may be a trap, where the old Aztecs used to throw their victims.
There may be worse things than bats there. You'll need torches--
lights--and you'd better wait until the air clears. It may have been
centuries since that place was opened."

"I believe that's right," agreed Ned. "Whew; Smell it! It's as musty
as time!"

An unpleasant odor came up the tunnel entrance, and it was stifling
to stand too close. Tom lighted a match and threw it down. Almost
instantly the flame was snuffed out.

"We couldn't live down there a minute," said the young inventor.
"We've got to wait for it to clear. We'll go back to the balloon and
get some electric flash lamps. I brought along a lot of 'em, with
extra strong batteries. I thought we'd need some if we did find the
city of gold, and it looks as if we were almost there now."

Tom's plan was voted good so they hurried out of the temple, their
feet echoing and re-echoing over the stone floor. The place, ruined
and desolate as it was, had no terrors for them now. In fact they
were glad of the very loneliness, and Tom and Ned actually looked
about apprehensively as they emerged, fearing they might see a sign
of the Mexicans or the Fogers.

"Guess they can't pick up our trail," said Tom, when, he saw of what
Ned was thinking.

"No, we've got the place to ourselves. I wonder how long it will
take for the air to get fresh?"

"Not so very long, I guess. There was a good draught. There must be
some opening in the underground city by which the air is sucked in.
They'd never have only one opening to it. But we don't need to look
for the other. Come on, we'll get out the torches."

These electrical contrivances are familiar to all boys. A small
electric lamp is set in the end of a hollow tube of tin, and about
the lamp is a reflector. Dry electrical batteries are put in the tin
tube, and by means of a push button the circuit is closed,
illuminating the lamp, which gives a brilliant glow. Tom had a
special kind of lamp, with tungsten filaments, which gave a very
powerful light, and with batteries designed to last a long time. A
clip on the spring controlling the push button made it so that the
lamp could be made to give a steady glow. Thus they were well
prepared for exploring the tunnel.

It took some little time to get the flash lamps ready, and when they
were all charged and they had eaten, they went back to the opening
to see if the air had cleared. Tom tested it by dropping a match
down, and, to his delight it burned with a clear flame.

"It's all right!" he exclaimed. "The air is pure. Now to see where
we will bring up. Come on, everybody."

"Jest one minute, Massa Tom," begged Eradicate, as the young
inventor was about to descend the steps, which even the brightness
of his lamp did not disclose the end. "Is yo' gwine down dar, Massa
Tom?"

"Certainly, Rad."

"An' is yo'--'scuse me--but is yo' expectin' me fo' t' follow yo'?"

"Certainly, Rad."

"Den, all I's got t' say is dat yo' is 'spectin' too much. I ain't
gwine t' bury mahse'f alive not yit."

"But, Rad, this is where the gold images are. If you don't come down
with us you won't get any gold."

"Am dat so? No gold?" The colored man scratched his head. "Well, I
shore does want gold," he murmured. "I reckon I'd better trot along.
But one thing mo', Massa Tom."

"What is it, Rad?"

"Was yo' all aimin' t' stay down thar any length ob time? 'Case if
yo' is yo' all'd better take along a snack ob suffin' t' eat. 'Case
when I gits among gold I don't want t' come out very soon, an' we
might stay dar all day."

"Good advice, Rad," exclaimed Ned with a laugh. "I think we may get
hungry. You go back and put us up a lunch. We'll wait for you."

"Bless my napkin ring! I think you're right!" exclaimed Mr. Damon,
and Eradicate hurried back to the balloon to get some of the
condensed food.

He was soon back and then, with Tom in the lead, and with everyone
carrying an electric torch, with a spare one in reserve, and with
their weapons in readiness the party descended the stone steps.

Their footfalls echoed solemnly as they went down--down into the
unknown blackness. They kept their bright lights playing here and
there, but even these did not dispell the gloom. On every side was
stone--stone walls--stone steps. It was like going down into some
vast stretch of catacombs.

"Say, will we ever get to the bottom?" asked Ned, when they had
counted several hundred steps. "Maybe this goes down to the middle
of the earth."

"Well, ef it do I'm gwine right along!" called Eradicate. "I's gwine
t' hab one ob dem gold images or bust!"

"And I'm with you!" cried Tom. "We'll have to get to the bottom
sooner or later."

Hardly had he spoken than he came to the last step, and saw
stretching off before him a long tunnel, straight and level, lined
on both sides, and bottom, with smooth stones that gleamed like
marble.

"Now we are really in the tunnel," declared Ned. "I wonder what's at
the end?"

"The city of gold, of course," answered Tom confidently.

Eagerly they hurried on. There was a slightly musty smell to the
air, but it was fresher than might have been expected.

Suddenly Tom, who was in advance, uttered a cry. It sounded like one
of alarm, and Ned yelled:

"What's the matter?"

"Look here!" cried Tom. They hurried up to him, to find him standing
before a sort of niche in the wall. And the niche was lined with a
yellow metal that gleamed like gold, while in it was one of the
golden images, the second one they had seen, and the third they
heard about.

"We're on the trail! We're on the trail!" cried Tom.

"Heah! Let me hab dat!" cried Eradicate. "I may not git anudder,"
and he reached up for the statue.

"Let it stay until we come back," suggested Mr. Damon.

"Somebody might take it," said the colored man.

"Who?" laughed Tom. "There's not a soul here but ourselves. But take
it, if you want it, Rad," and Eradicate did so, stuffing the image,
which was only about four inches high, into his pocket.

Then they went on, and they saw several other images, though not of
gold. Several niches were lined with yellow metal, but whether it
was gold or not they could not tell. They did not want to stop, as
they were anxious to get to the underground city.

"Hark! What's that?" asked Tom, when they had gone about a mile
along the tunnel. "Don't you hear something?"

"Sounds like a roaring," agreed Ned. "Maybe it's more of the bats."

"Doesn't sound like bats," declared Tom. "It's more like a
waterfall. Come on."

They hurried forward, the strange sound increasing at every step,
until it filled the tunnel with its menacing roar.

"That's strange," said Tom in worried tones. "I hope we don't come
to a waterfall."

Suddenly the tunnel made a turn, and as they went around the curve
in the wall the sound smote on their ears with increased violence.
Tom raced forward, focusing his electric lamp down on the stone
corridor. The next instant he cried out:

"A river! It's an underground river and we can't go any further!
We're blocked!"

The others came to his side, and there, in the glare of their lamps,
they saw rushing along, between two walls of stone, a dark stream
which caused the roaring sound that had come to them. The tunnel was
cut squarely in two by the stream, which was at least thirty feet
wide, and how deep they could only guess. Swiftly it flowed on, its
roar filling the tunnel.

CHAPTER XX

THE CITY OF GOLD

"Well, I guess this is the end of it," remarked Ned ruefully, as
they stood contemplating the roaring stream by the gleam of their
electric flash lamps. "We can't go on to the city of gold unless we
swim that river, and--"

"And none of us is going to try that!" interrupted Tom sharply. "The
strongest swimmer in the world couldn't make a yard against that
current. He'd be carried down, no one knows where."

"Bless my bathing suit, yes!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "But what are we
to 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 ob
Jordan," spoke Eradicate solemnly.

"That's right," agreed Ned. "But say, Tom, don't you think we could
go back, get a lot of trees, wood and stuff and make some sort of a
bridge? 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 any
trees that would be long enough are away at the far edge of the big
plain, and we'd have a hard job getting them to the temple, to say
nothing of lugging them down the tunnel. Then, too, we don't know
much about building a bridge, and with no one on the other side to
help us, we'd have our hands full. One slip and we might be all
drowned. No, I guess we've got to go back," and Tom spoke
regretfully. "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'll
sell 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 underground
river which flowed along so relentlessly he prepared to retrace his
steps along the tunnel.

"Say, look here!" suddenly exclaimed Ned. "I'm not so sure, after
all that we've got to turn back. I think we can go on to the city of
gold, after all."

"How do you mean?" asked Tom quickly. "Do you think we can bring the
balloon down here and float across?"

"Bless my watch chain!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, "but that WOULD be a
way. I wonder--"

"No, I don't mean that way at all," went on Ned. "But it seems to me
as if this river isn't a natural one--I mean that it flows along
banks of smooth stone, just as if they were cut for it, a canal you
know."

"That's right," said Tom, as he looked at the edge of the channel of
the underground stream. "These stones are cut as cleanly as the rest
of the tunnel. Whoever built that must have made a regular channel
for 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 always
been here."

"Bless my gaiters!" gasped Mr. Damon, "what does he mean? The river
not always been here?"

"No," proceeded Tom's chum. "For the ancients couldn't have cut the
channel out of stone, or made it by cementing separate stones
together while the water was here. The channel must have been dry at
one 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 the
river may not have been here at one time, but it's here NOW, which
makes it all the worse for us."

"But, Tom!" cried his chum, "if the river was turned aside from this
channel once it can be done again. My notion is that the ancients
could make the river flow here or not, just as they choose. Probably
they turned it into this channel to keep their enemies from crossing
to the city of gold, like the ancient moats. Now if we could only
find--"

"I see! I see!" cried Tom enthusiastically. "You mean there must be
some way of shutting off the water."

"Exactly," replied his chum. "We've got to shut that stream of water
off, or turn it into some other channel, then we can cross, and keep
on to the city of gold. And I think there must be some valve--some
lever, or handle or something similar to the one that moved the
altar-near here that does the trick. Let's all look for it."

"Bless my chopping block!" cried Mr. Damon. "That's the strangest
thing I ever heard of! But I believe you're right, Ned. We'll look
for the handle to the river," and he laughed gaily.

Every one was in better spirits, now that there seemed a way out of
the difficulty, and a moment later they were eagerly flashing their
lamps on the sides, floor and ceiling of the tunnel, to discover the
means of shutting off the water. At first they feared that, after
all, Ned's ingenious theory was not to be confirmed. The walls,
ceiling and floor were as smooth near the edge of the river as
elsewhere.

But Eradicate, who was searching as eagerly as the others, went back
a little, flashing his lamp on every square of stone. Suddenly he
uttered a cry.

"Look yeah, Massa Tom! Heah's suffin' dat looks laik a big door
knob. Maybe yo' kin push it or pull it."

They rushed to where he was standing in front of a niche similar to
the one where he had found the golden image. Sunken in the wall was
a round black stone. For a moment Tom looked at it, and then he said
solemnly:

"Well, here goes. It may shut off the water, or it may make it rise
higher and drown us all, or the whole tunnel may cave in, but I'm
going to risk it. Hold hard, everybody!"

Slowly Tom put forth his hand and pushed the knob of stone. It did
not 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 roar
of the black stream.

"Something happened!" cried Mr. Damon.

"Back to the river!" shouted Tom, for they were some distance away
from 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 cry
of delight.

"It's going down!" he yelled, capering about. "Now we can go on!"

And, surely enough, the river was falling rapidly. It no longer
roared, and it was flowing more slowly.

"The water is shut off," remarked Tom.

"Yes, and see, there are steps which lead across the channel," spoke
Ned, 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 could
see that it was about twenty feet deep. Truly it would have been a
formidable stream to attempt to swim over, but now it had completely
vanished, merely a few little pools of water remaining in
depressions on the bottom of the channel. There were steps leading
down to the bottom, and other steps ascending on the other side,
showing that the river was used as a barrier to further progress
along the tunnel.

"Forward!" cried Tom gaily, and they went on.

They went down into the river channel, taking care not to slip on
the wet steps, and a few seconds later they had again ascended to
the tunnel, pressing eagerly on.

Straight and true the tunnel ran through the darkness, the only
illumination 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 ought
t' hab a trolley line in yeah."

"Bless my punching bag!" cried Mr. Damon, "so they had! Now if those
ancients were building to-day--"

He stopped suddenly, for Tom, who was in the lead, had uttered a
cry. It was a cry of joy, there was no mistaking that, and
instinctively they all knew that he had found what he had sought.

All confirmed it a moment later, for, as they rushed forward, they
discovered Tom standing at the place where the tunnel broadened out-
-broadened out into a great cave, a cave miles in extent, for all
they could tell, as their lamps, powerful as they were, only
illuminated 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 shouted Mr. Damon. "See it's all over!
Look at the golden streets--even the sides of the buildings are
plated 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 comed
along!" and he rushed into one of the many houses extending along
the street of the golden city where they stood, and gatheredup a
fairly large statue of gold--an image exactly similar to the one he
already had, except as to size.

"I never would have believed it possible!" gasped Tom. "It's a city
of almost solid gold. We'll be millionaires a million times over!"

CHAPTER XVI

THE BIG IMAGE

Could the light of day have penetrated to that mysterious and
ancient underground city of gold our friends might have had some
idea of its magnificence. As it was they could only view small parts
of it at a time by the illumination of their electric torches. But
even with them they saw that it was a most wonderful place.

"I don't believe there's another city like it in all the world,"
spoke Tom in awed accents, "there never was, and never will be
again. Those Aztecs must have brought all their treasures of gold
here."

"Bless my cake box! that's so," agreed Mr. Damon.

"Let's take a look around," advised Ned, "and then we can decide on
what will be best to take away."

"It won't take me long t' make up mah mind," spoke Eradicate. "I's
goin' t' take all dem images I kin find."

"I was going to say we'd have plenty of time to look about and pick
what we wanted," said Tom, "but I think perhaps we'd better hurry."

"Why?" asked Mr. Damon.

"There's no telling when Delazes and his gang may find this place,
and even the Fogers may be nearer than we think. But I believe our
best plan would be this: To take some gold now, and several of the
statues, go back to our balloon, and make some kind of big lamps, so
we can light this place up. Then, too, I think we'd better move the
balloon into the old temple. It will be safer there. Then we can
come back here, pack up as much gold as we can carry, and be off. I
don't like to think of being underground when Delazes and the Fogers
are on the surface. It might not be altogether safe for us."

"Bless my insurance policy!" cried the odd man. "Now YOU'RE giving
me the cold shivers, Tom. But I believe you're right. We must look
ahead a bit."

With all their electric flash lamps turned on, the four advanced
farther into the underground city of gold. As they went on they saw
the precious yellow metal on every side of them. It was used
lavishly, showing that to the ancients it was as common as iron or
steel is to-day. But they did not use the gold merely as common
material in the construction of buildings or objects of use.
Instead, the gold seemed to be brought into play to beautify the
city. An artistic scheme was carried out, and while it was true that
in many buildings common objects were made of gold, yet each one was
beautiful in itself.

"What a wonderful place this must have been when it was lighted up,"
spoke Tom.

"Do you think it was ever lighted up?" asked his chum.

"It must have been," declared the young inventor. "My idea is that
this city was the home of the priests of the temple, and their
friends. I don't believe the common people ever came here. Perhaps
the officers of the army, the rulers and the royal family were
admitted, but not the ordinary people. That's why it's so far
underground, and so well guarded by the river."

"Probably the priests and others collected so much gold they didn't
know what to do with it, and built this city to use it up, and, at
the same time have a safe place to store it. And they must have had
some means of lighting the place, for they couldn't go about in
darkness--they couldn't have seen the gold if they did. Yes, this
must have been wonderfully beautiful then. The priests probably came
here to study, or perhaps to carry out some of their rites. Of
course it's only guesswork, but it seems true to me."

"I believe you're right, Tom," said Mr. Damon.

As our friends walked about they saw that the city, while smaller
than they had at first supposed, was laid out with regular streets.
Each one was straight, and at certain places in the stone pavement
plates of gold were set, so that literally the streets were paved
with gold. There were houses or buildings on each side of the
streets, and most of these were open at the doors or windows, for
there was no need of heat in that buried city.

All about were the golden images such as they had seen in the
Mexican's house, and like the one in far off Africa. Some of the
images were almost life size, and others were only an inch or two
inches in height. Not a house but had half a dozen or more in
various places, and there were also the images on golden pedestals
about the streets.

"This must have been their chief god, or else a representation of
some great personage to whom they paid the highest honor," said Mr.
Damon. "Perhaps he was the reigning king or ruler, and he, himself,
might have ordered the images made out of vanity, like some men of
to-day."

The boys agreed that this was a natural theory. As for Eradicate he
was busy collecting numbers of the small golden statues, and
stuffing them in his pockets.

"Why don't you take bigger ones, and not so many of them?" asked
Tom.

"'Case as how I doan't want all mah eggs in one basket," replied the
colored man. "I kin carry mo' ob de little fellers," and he
persisted in this plan.

They found in some of the houses utensils of solid gold, but there
appeared to be no way of cooking food, and that was probably done
outside, or in the great temple. In many houses were articles
evidently used in the sacrificial rites or in worship of strange
gods. They did not stay to half examine the wonderful city of gold,
for it would have taken several days. But on Tom's advice, they took
up a considerable quantity of the precious metal in the most
convenient form to carry, including a number of the statues and art
objects and started back along the tunnel.

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