Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders

V >> Victor Appleton >> Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders

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"Oh, that's all right," responded the
policeman. "I can understand it, if it had anything to
do with Tom. He's a great boy."

"Indeed he is," agreed Ned, making a mental
resolve not to be so public with his thoughts
in the future. He chatted for a moment with
the officer, and then, bidding him good-night,
walked on to his home, his mind in a whirl with
conglomerate visions of buried cities, great grinning
idols of gold, and rival professors seeking
to be first at the goal.

The next few days were busy ones for Tom,
Ned and, in fact, the whole Swift household.
Tom and his father had several consultations and
conducted several experiments in regard to the
new stabilizer, the completion of which was so
earnestly desired. Mr. Swift was sure he could
carry the invention to a successful conclusion.

Ned was engaged in putting the financial
affairs of the Swift Company in shape, so they
would practically run themselves during his ab-
sence. Then, too, there was the packing of their
baggage which must be seen to.

Of course, the main details of the trip were
left to Professor Bumper, who knew just what
to do. He had told Tom and Ned that all they
and Mr. Damon would have to do would be to
meet him at the pier in New York, where they
would find all arrangements made.

One day, near the end of the week (the beginning
of the next being set for the start) Eradicate
came shuffling into the room where Tom was
sorting out the possessions he desired to take
with him, Ned assisting him in the task.

"Well, Rad, what is it?" asked Tom, with
businesslike energy.

"I done heah, Massa Tom, dat yo' all's gwine
off on a long trip once mo'. Am dat so?"

"Yes, that's so, Rad."

"Well, den, I'se come to ast yo' whut I'd bettah
take wif me. Shall I took warm clothes or cool
clothes?"

"Well, if you were going, Rad," answered Tom
with a smile, "you'd need cool clothes, for we're
going to a sort of jungle-land. But I'm sorry to
say you're not going this trip."

"I---- I ain't gwine? Does yo' mean dat yo'
all ain't gwine to take me, Massa Tom?"

"That's it, Rad. It isn't any trip for you."

"In certain not!" broke in the voice of Koku,
the giant, who entered with a big trunk Tom had
sent him for. "Master want strong man like a
bull. He take Koku!"

"Look heah!" spluttered Eradicate, and his eyes
flashed. "Yo'--yo' giant yo'--yo' may be strong
laik a bull, but ya' ain't got as much sense as
mah mule, Boomerang! Massa Tom don't want
no sich pusson wif him. He's gwine to take me."

"He take me!" cried Koku, and his voice was
a roar while he beat on his mighty chest with his
huge fists.

Tom, seeing that the dispute was likely to be
bothersome, winked at Ned and began to speak.

"I don't believe you'd like it there, Rad--not
where we're going. It's a bad country. Why
the mosquitoes there bite holes in you--raise
bumps on you as big as eggs."

"Oh, good land!" ejaculated the old colored man.
"Am dat so Massa Tom?"

"It sure is. Then there's another kind of bug
that burrows under your fingernails, and if you
don't get 'em out, your fingers drop off."

"Oh, good land, Massa Tom! Am dat a fact?"

"It sure is. I don't want to see those things
happen to you, Rad."

Slowly the old colored man shook his head.

"I don't mahse'f," he said. "I---- I guess I
won't go."

Eradicate did not stop to ask how Tom and
Ned proposed to combat these two species of
insects.

But there remained Koku to dispose of, and he
stood smiling broadly as Eradicate shuffled of.

"Me no 'fraid bugs," said the giant.

"No," said Tom, with a look at Ned, for he did
not want to take the big man on the trip for
various reasons. "No, maybe not, Koku. Your
skin is pretty tough. But I understand there are
deep pools of water in the land where we are
going, and in them lives a fish that has a hide
like an alligator and a jaw like a shark. If you
fall in it's all up with you."

"Dat true, Master Tom?" and Koku's voice
trembled.

"Well, I've never seen such a fish, I'm sure,
but the natives tell about it."

Koku seemed to be considering the matter.
Strange as it may seem, the giant, though afraid
of nothing human and brave when it came to a
hand-to-claw argument with a wild animal, had
a very great fear of the water and the unseen
life within it. Even a little fresh-water crab in
a brook was enough to send him shrieking to
shore. So when Tom told of this curious fish,
which many natives of Central America firmly
believe in, the giant took thought with himself.
Finally, he gave a sigh and said:

"Me stay home and keep bad mans out of
master's shop."

"Yes, I guess that's the best thing for you,"
assented Tom with an air of relief. He and Ned
had talked the matter over, and they had agreed
that the presence of such a big man as Koku, in
an expedition going on a more or less secret mission,
would attract too much attention.

"Well, I guess that clears matters up," said
Tom, as he looked over a collection of rifles and
small arms, to decide which to take. "We won't
have them to worry about."

"No, only Professor Beecher," remarked Ned,
with a sharp look at his chum.

"Oh, we'll dispose of him all right!" asserted
Tom boldly. "He hasn't had any experience in
business of this sort, and with that you and
Professor Bumper and Mr. Damon know we
ought to have little trouble in getting ahead of
the young man."

"Not to speak of your own aid," added Ned.

"Oh, I'll do what I can, of course," said Tom,
with an air of indifference. But Ned knew his
chum would work ceaselessly to help get the idol
of gold.

Tom gave no sign that there was any complication
in his affair with Mary Nestor, and of
course Ned did not tell anything of what he knew
about it.

That night saw the preparations of Ned and
Tom about completed. There were one or two
matters yet to finish on Tom's part in relation
to his business, but these offered no difficulties.

The two chums were in the Swift home, talking
over the prospective trip, when Mrs. Baggert,
answering a ring at the front door, announced
that Mr. Damon was outside.

"Tell him to come in," ordered Tom.

"Bless my baggage check!" exclaimed the
excitable man, as he shook hands with Tom and
Ned and noted the packing evidences all about.
"You're ready to go to the land of wonders."

"The land of wonders?" repeated Ned.

"Yes, that's what Professor Bumper calls the
part of Honduras we're going to. And it must
be wonderful, Tom. Think of whole cities,
some of them containing idols and temples of
gold, buried thirty and forty feet under the
surface! Wonderful is hardly the name for it!"

"It'll be great!" cried Ned. "I suppose you're
ready, Mr. Damon--you and the professor?"

"Yes. But, Tom, I have a bit of unpleasant
news for you."

"Unpleasant news?"

"Yes. You know Professor Bumper spoke of
a rival--a man named Beecher who is a member
of the faculty of a new and wealthy college."

"I heard him speak of him--yes," and the way
Tom said it no one would have suspected that
he had any personal interest in the matter.

"He isn't going to give his secret away,"
thought Ned.

"Well, this Professor Beecher, you know,"
went on Mr. Damon, "also knows about the idol
of gold, and is trying to get ahead of Professor
Bumper in the search."

"He did say something of it, but nothing was
certain," remarked Tom.

"But it is certain!" exclaimed Mr. Damon.
"Bless my toothpick, it's altogether too certain!"

"How is that?" asked Tom. "Is Beecher
certainly going to Honduras?"

"Yes, of course. But what is worse, he and
his party will leave New York on the same
steamer with us!"

CHAPTER VII

TOM HEARS SOMETHING

On hearing Mr. Damon's rather startling
announcement, Tom and Ned looked at one another.
There seemed to be something back of
the simple statement--an ominous and portending
"something."

"On the same steamer with us, is he?" mused Tom.

"How did you learn this?" asked Ned.

"Just got a wire from Professor Bumper
telling me. He asked me to telephone to you about
it, as he was too busy to call up on the long
distance from New York. But instead of 'phoning
I decided to come over myself."

"Glad you did," said Tom, heartily. "Did
Professor Bumper want us to do anything
special, now that it is certain his rival will be
so close on his trail?"

"Yes, he asked me to warn you to be careful
what you did and said in reference to the expedition."

"Then does he fear something?" asked Ned.

"Yes, in a way. I think he is very much afraid
this young Beecher will not only be first on the
site of the underground city, but that he may
be the first to discover the idol of gold. It would
be a great thing for a young archaeologist like
Beecher to accomplish a mission of this sort,
and beat Professor Bumper in the race."

"Do you think that's why Beecher decided to
go on the same steamer we are to take?" asked Ned.

"Yes, I do," said Mr. Damon. "Though from
what Professor Bumper said I know he regards
Professor Beecher as a perfectly honorable man,
as well as a brilliant student. I do not believe
Beecher or his party would stoop to anything
dishonorable or underhand, though they would
not hesitate, nor would we, to take advantage of
every fair chance to win in the race."

"No, I suppose that's right," observed Tom;
but there was a queer gleam in his eye, and his
chum wondered if Tom did not have in mind the
prospective race between himself and Fenimore
Beecher for the regard of Mary Nestor. "We'll
do our best to win, and any one is at liberty to
travel on the same steamer we are to take," added
the young inventor, and his tone became more
incisive.

"It will be all the livelier with two expeditions
after the same golden idol," remarked Ned.

"Yes, I think we're in for some excitement,"
observed Tom grimly. But even he did not
realize all that lay before them ere they would
reach Kurzon.

Mr. Damon, having delivered his message, and
remarking that his preparations for leaving were
nearly completed, went back to Waterfield, from
there to proceed to New York in a few days
with Tom and Ned, to meet Professor Bumper.

"Well, I guess we have everything in pretty
good shape," remarked Tom to his chum a day
or so after the visit of Mr. Damon. "Everything
is packed, and as I have a few personal matters
to attend to I think I'll take the afternoon off."

"Go to it!" laughed Ned, guessing a thing of two.
"I've got a raft of stuff myself to look after,
but don't let that keep you."

"If there is anything I can do," began Tom,
"don't hesitate to----"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Ned. "I can do it all alone.
It's some of the company's business, anyhow,
and I'm paid for looking after that."

"All right, then I'll cut along," Tom said, and
he wore a relieved air.

"He's going to see Mary," observed Ned with
a grin, as he observed Tom hop into his trim
little roadster, which under his orders, Koku had
polished and cleaned until it looked as though
it had just come from the factory.

A little later the trim and speedy car drew up
in front of the Nestor home, and Tom bounded
up on the front porch, his heart not altogether
as light as his feet.

"No, I'm sorry, but Mary isn't in," said Mrs.
Nestor, answering his inquiry after greeting him.

"Not at home?"

"No, she went on a little visit to her cousin's at
Fayetteville. She said something about letting
you know she was going."

"She did drop me a card," answered Tom, and,
somehow he did not feel at all cheerful. "But
I thought it wasn't until next week she was
going."

"That was her plan, Tom. But she changed
it. Her cousin wired, asking her to advance
the date, and this Mary did. There was something
about a former school chum who was also
to be at Myra's house--Myra is Mary's cousin
you know."

"Yes, I know," assented the young inventor.
"And so Mary is gone. How long is she going
to stay?"

"Oh, about two weeks. She wasn't quite
certain. It depends on the kind of a time she has,
I suppose."

"Yes, I suppose so," agreed Tom. "Well, if
you write before I do you might say I called,
Mrs. Nestor."

"I will, Tom. And I know Mary will be sorry
she wasn't here to take a ride with you; it's
such a nice day," and the lady smiled as she
looked at the speedy roadster.

"Maybe--maybe you'd like to come for a spin?"
asked Tom, half desperately.

"No, thank you. I'm too old to be jounced
around in one of those small cars."

"Nonsense! She rides as easily as a Pullman
sleeper."

"Well, I have to go to a Red Cross meeting,
anyhow, so I can't come, Tom. Thank you,
just the same."

Tom did not drive back immediately to his
home. He wanted to do a bit of thinking, and
he believed he could do it best by himself. So
it was late afternoon when he again greeted Ned,
who, meanwhile, had been kept very busy.

"Well?" called Tom's chum.

"Um!" was the only answer, and Tom called
Koku to put the car away in the garage.

"Something wrong," mused Ned.

The next three days were crowded with events
and with work. Mr. Damon came over
frequently to consult with Tom and Ned, and
finally the last of their baggage had been packed,
certain of Tom's inventions and implements sent
on by express to New York to be taken to Honduras,
and then our friends themselves followed
to the metropolis.

"Good-bye, Tom," said his father. "Good-
bye, and good luck! If you don't get the idol
of gold I'm sure you'll have experiences that
will be valuable to you."

"We're going to get the idol of gold!" said
Tom determinedly.

"Look out for the bad bugs," suggested Eradicate.

"We will," promised Ned.

Tom's last act was to send a message to Mary
Nestor, and then he, with Ned and Mr. Damon,
who blessed everything in sight from the gasoline
in the automobile to the blue sky overhead,
started for the station.

New York was reached without incident. The
trio put up at the hotel where Professor Bumper
was to meet them.

"He hasn't arrived yet," said Tom, after
glancing over the names on the hotel register and
not seeing Professor Bumper's among them.

"Oh, he'll be here all right," asserted Mr.
Damon. "Bless my galvanic battery! he sent me
a telegram at one o'clock this morning saying
he'd be sure to meet us in New York. No fear
of him not starting for the land of wonders."

"There are some other professors registered,
though," observed Ned, as he glanced at the
book, noting the names of several scientists of
whom he and Tom had read.

"Yes. I wonder what they're doing in New
York," replied Tom. "They are from New
England. Maybe there's a convention going on.
Well, we'll have to wait, that's all, until
Professor Bumper comes."

And during that wait Tom heard something
that surprised him and caused him no little
worry. It was when Ned came back to his
room, which adjoined Tom's, that the young
treasurer gave his chum the news.

"I say, Tom!" Ned exclaimed. "Who do you
think those professors are, whose names we saw
on the register?"

"I haven't the least idea."

"Why, they're of Beecher's party!"

"You don't mean it!"

"I surely do."

"How do you know?"

"I happened to overhear two of them talking
down in the lobby a while ago. They didn't
make any secret of it. They spoke freely of going
with Beecher to some ancient city in Honduras,
to look for an idol of gold."

"They did? But where is Beecher?"

"He hasn't joined them yet. Their plans
have been changed. Instead of leaving on the
same steamer we are to take in the morning
they are to come on a later one. The professors
here are waiting for Beecher to come."

"Why isn't he here now?"

"Well, I heard one of the other scientists say
that he had gone to a place called Fayetteville,
and will come on from there."

"Fayetteville!" ejaculated Tom.
"Yes. That isn't far from Shopton."

"I know," assented Tom. "I wonder--I wonder
why he is going there?"

"I can tell you that, too."

"You can? You're a regular detective."

"No, I just happened to overhear it. Beecher
is going to call on Mary Nestor in Fayetteville,
so his friends here said he told them, and his call
has to do with an important matter--to him!"
and Ned gazed curiously at his chum.

CHAPTER VIII

OFF FOR HONDURAS

Just what Tom's thoughts were, Ned, of
course, could not guess. But by the flush that
showed under the tan of his chum's cheeks the
young financial secretary felt pretty certain that
Tom was a bit apprehensive of the outcome of
Professor Beecher's call on Mary Nestor.

"So he is going to see her about `something
important,' Ned?"

"That's what some members of his party called
it."

"And they're waiting here for him to join
them?"

"Yes. And it means waiting a week for
another steamer. It must be something pretty
important, don't you think, to cause Beecher to
risk that delay in starting after the idol of gold?"

"Important? Yes, I suppose so," assented
Tom. "And yet even if he waits for the next
steamer he will get to Honduras nearly as soon
as we do."

"How is that?"

"The next boat is a faster one."

"Then why don't we take that? I hate dawdling
along on a slow freighter."

"Well, for one thing it would hardly do to
change now, when all our goods are on board.
And besides, the captain of the _Relstab_, on which
we are going to sail, is a friend of Professor
Bumper's."

"Well, I'm just as glad Beecher and his party
aren't going with us," resumed Ned, after a
pause. "It might make trouble."

"Oh, I'm ready for any trouble HE might make!"
quickly exclaimed Tom.

He meant trouble that might be developed in
going to Honduras, and starting the search
for the lost city and the idol of gold. This kind
of trouble Tom and his friends had experienced
before, on other trips where rivals had sought
to frustrate their ends.

But, in his heart, though he said nothing to
Ned about it, Tom was worried. Much as he
disliked to admit it to himself, he feared the visit
of Professor Beecher to Mary Nestor in Fayetteville
had but one meaning.

"I wonder if he's going to propose to her,"
thought Tom. "He has the field all to himself
now, and her father likes him. That's in his favor.
I guess Mr. Nestor has never quite forgiven me
for that mistake about the dynamite box, and
that wasn't my fault. Then, too, the Beecher
and Nestor families have been friends for years.
Yes, he surely has the inside edge on me, and
if he gets her to throw me over---- Well, I
won't give up without a fight!" and Tom mentally
girded himself for a battle of wits.

"He's relying on the prestige he'll get out of
this idol of gold if his party finds it," thought
on the young inventor. "But I'll help find it
first. I'm glad to have a little start of him, anyhow,
even if it isn't more than two days. Though
if our vessel is held back much by storms he may
get on the ground first. However, that can't
be helped. I'll do the best I can."

These thoughts shot through Tom's mind
even as Ned was asking his questions and making
comments. Then the young inventor, shaking
his shoulders as though to rid them of some
weight, remarked:

"Well, come on out and see the sights. It will
be long before we look on Broadway again."

When the chums returned from their sightseeing
excursion, they found that Professor Bumper
had arrived.

"Where's Professor Bumper?" asked Ned, the next day.

"In his room, going over books, papers and
maps to make sure he has everything."

"And Mr. Damon?"

Tom did not have to answer that last question.
Into the apartment came bursting the excited
individual himself.

"Bless my overshoes!" he cried, "I've been
looking everywhere for you! Come on, there's
no time to lose!"

"What's the matter now?" asked Ned. "Is the
hotel on fire?"

"Has anything happened to Professor Bumper?"
Tom demanded, a wild idea forming in his
head that perhaps some one of the Beecher party
had tried to kidnap the discoverer of the lost
city of Pelone.

"Oh, everything is all right," answered Mr.
Damon. "But it's nearly time for the show to
start, and we don't want to be late. I have
tickets."

"For what?" asked Tom and Ned together.

"The movies," was the laughing reply. "Bless
my loose ribs! but I wouldn't miss him for anything.
He's in a new play called `Up in a Balloon
Boys.' It's great!" and Mr. Damon named
a certain comic moving picture star in whose
horse-play Mr. Damon took a curious interest.
Tom and Ned were glad enough to go, Tom
that he might have a chance to do a certain
amount of thinking, and Ned because he was
still boy enough to like moving pictures.

"I wonder, Tom," said Mr. Damon, as they
came out of the theater two hours later, all three
chuckling at the remembrance of what they had
seen, "I wonder you never turned your inventive
mind to the movies."

"Maybe I will, some day," said Tom.

He spoke rather uncertainly. The truth of
the matter was that he was still thinking deeply
of the visit of Professor Beecher to Mary Nestor,
and wondering what it portended.

But if Tom's sleep was troubled that night he
said nothing of it to his friends. He was up
early the next morning, for they were to leave
that day, and there was still considerable to be
done in seeing that their baggage and supplies
were safely loaded, and in attending to the last
details of some business matters.

While at the hotel they had several glimpses
of the members of the Beecher party who were
awaiting the arrival of the young professor who
was to lead them into the wilds of Honduras.
But our friends did not seek the acquaintance
of their rivals. The latter, likewise, remained
by themselves, though they knew doubtless
that there was likely to be a strenuous race for
the possession of the idol of gold, then, it was
presumed, buried deep in some forest-covered
city.

Professor Bumper had made his arrangements
carefully. As he explained to his friends, they
would take the steamer from New York to Puerto
Cortes, one of the principal seaports of
Honduras. This is a town of about three thousand
inhabitants, with an excellent harbor and a
big pier along which vessels can tie up and
discharge their cargoes directly into waiting cars.

The preparations were finally completed.
The party went aboard the steamer, which was
a large freight vessel, carrying a limited number
of passengers, and late one afternoon swung
down New York Bay.

"Off for Honduras!" cried Ned gaily, as they
passed the Statue of Liberty. "I wonder what
will happen before we see that little lady again."

"Who knows?" asked Tom, shrugging his
shoulders, Spanish fashion. And there came before
him the vision of a certain "little lady," about
whom he had been thinking deeply of late.

CHAPTER IX

VAL JACINTO

"Rather tame, isn't it, Tom?"

"Well, Ned, it isn't exactly like going up in
an airship," and Tom Swift who was gazing
over the rail down into the deep blue water of
the Caribbean Sea, over which their vessel was
then steaming, looked at his chum beside him.

"No, and your submarine voyage had it all over
this one for excitement," went on Ned. "When
I think of that----"

"Bless my sea legs!" interrupted Mr. Damon,
overhearing the conversation. "Don't speak of
THAT trip. My wife never forgave me for going
on it. But I had a fine time," he added with a
twinkle of his eyes.

"Yes, that was quite a trip," observed Tom,
as his mind went back to it. "But this one isn't
over yet remember. And I shouldn't be surprised
if we had a little excitement very soon."

"What do you mean?" asked Ned.

Up to this time the voyage from New York
down into the tropical seas had been anything
but exciting. There were not many passengers
besides themselves, and the weather had been
fine.

At first, used as they were to the actions of
unscrupulous rivals in trying to thwart their
efforts, Tom and Ned had been on the alert for
any signs of hidden enemies on board the steamer.
But aside from a little curiosity when it became
known that they were going to explore
little-known portions of Honduras, the other
passengers took hardly any interest in our travelers.

It was thought best to keep secret the fact
that they were going to search for a wonderful
idol of gold. Not even the mule and ox-cart
drivers, whom they would hire to take them into
the wilds of the interior would be told of the real
object of the search. It would be given out that
they were looking for interesting ruins of ancient
cities, with a view to getting such antiquities
as might be there.

"What do you mean?" asked Ned again, when
Tom did not answer him immediately. "What's
the excitement?"

"I think we're in for a storm," was the reply.
"The barometer is falling and I see the crew
going about making everything snug. So we
may have a little trouble toward this end of our
trip."

"Let it come!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "We're
not afraid of trouble, Tom. Swift, are we?"

"No, to be sure we're not. And yet it looks
as though the storm would be a bad one."

"Then I am going to see if my books and
papers are ready, so I can get them together in a
hurry in case we have to take to the life-boats,"
said Professor Bumper, coming on deck at that
moment. "It won't do to lose them. If we
didn't have the map we might not be able to find----"

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