Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders; Or, The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold Read online

  Produced by Charles Keller.

  TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

  or

  The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold

  BY

  VICTOR APPLETON

  AUTHOR OF "TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTORCYCLE," "TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL," "THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES," "THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS SERIES," ETC.

  THE TOM SWIFT SERIES

  1 TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE 2 TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT 3 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP 4 TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT 5 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT 6 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE 7 TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS 8 TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE 9 TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER 10 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE 11 TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD 12 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER 13 TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY 14 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA 15 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT 16 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON 17 TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE 18 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP 19 TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL 20 TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS 21 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK 22 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT 23 TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH 24 TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS 25 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE 26 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT 27 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER 28 TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS 29 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS

  Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders

  CONTENTS

  I A WONDERFUL STORY II PROFESSOR BUMPER ARRIVES III BLESSINGS AND ENTHUSIASM IV FENIMORE BEECHER V THE LITTLE GREEN GOD VI UNPLEASANT NEWS VII TOM HEARS SOMETHING VIII OFF FOR HONDURAS IX VAL JACINTO X IN THE WILDS XI THE VAMPIRES XII A FALSE FRIEND XIII FORWARD AGAIN XIV A NEW GUIDE XV IN THE COILS XVI A MEETING IN THE JUNGLE XVII THE LOST MAP XVIII "EL TIGRE!" XIX POISONED ARROWS XX AN OLD LEGEND XXI THE CAVERN XXII THE STORM XXIII ENTOMBED ALIVE XXIV THE REVOLVING STONE XXV THE IDOL OF GOLD

  TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

  CHAPTER I

  A WONDERFUL STORY

  Tom Swift, who had been slowly looking through the pages of a magazine,in the contents of which he seemed to be deeply interested, turned thefinal folio, ruffled the sheets back again to look at a certain map anddrawing, and then, slapping the book down on a table before him, with anoise not unlike that of a shot, exclaimed:

  "Well, that is certainly one wonderful story!"

  "What's it about, Tom?" asked his chum, Ned Newton. "Something aboutinside baseball, or a new submarine that can be converted into anairship on short notice?"

  "Neither one, you--you unscientific heathen," answered Tom, with alaugh at Ned. "Though that isn't saying such a machine couldn't beinvented."

  "I believe you--that is if you got on its trail," returned Ned, andthere was warm admiration in his voice.

  "As for inside baseball, or outside, for that matter, I hardly believeI'd be able to tell third base from the second base, it's so long sinceI went to a game," proceeded Tom. "I've been too busy on that newairship stabilizer dad gave me an idea for. I've been working toohard, that's a fact. I need a vacation, and maybe a good baseballgame----"

  He stopped and looked at the magazine he had so hastily slapped down.Something he had read in it seemed to fascinate him.

  "I wonder if it can possibly be true," he went on. "It sounds like thewildest dream of a professional sleep-walker; and yet, when I stop tothink, it isn't much worse than some of the things we've gone throughwith, Ned."

  "Say, for the love of rice-pudding! will you get down to brass tacksand strike a trial balance? What are you talking of, anyhow? Is it ajoke?"

  "A joke?"

  "Yes. What you just read in that magazine which seems to cause you somuch excitement."

  "Well, it may be a joke; and yet the professor seems very much inearnest about it," replied Tom. "It certainly is one wonderful story!"

  "So you said before. Come on--the 'fillium' is busted. Splice it, orelse put in a new reel and on with the show. I'd like to know what'sdoing. What professor are you talking of?"

  "Professor Swyington Bumper."

  "Swyington Bumper?" and Ned's voice showed that his memory was a bithazy.

  "Yes. You ought to remember him. He was on the steamer when I wentdown to Peru to help the Titus Brothers dig the big tunnel. Thatplotter Waddington, or some of his tools, dropped a bomb where it mighthave done us some injury, but Professor Bumper, who was a fellowpassenger, on his way to South America to look for the lost city ofPelone, calmly picked up the bomb, plucked out the fuse, and saved usfrom bad injuries, if not death. And he was as cool about it as anice-cream cone. Surely you remember!"

  "Swyington Bumper! Oh, yes, now I remember him," said Ned Newton. "Butwhat has he got to do with a wonderful story? Has he written moreabout the lost city of Pelone? If he has I don't see anything so verywonderful in that."

  "There isn't," agreed Tom. "But this isn't that," and Tom picked upthe magazine and leafed it to find the article he had been reading.

  "Let's have a look at it," suggested Ned. "You act as though you mightbe vitally interested in it. Maybe you're thinking of joining forceswith the professor again, as you did when you dug the big tunnel."

  "Oh, no. I haven't any such idea," Tom said. "I've got enough worklaid out now to keep me in Shopton for the next year. I have no notionof going anywhere with Professor Bumper. Yet I can't help beingimpressed by this," and, having found the article in the magazine towhich he referred, he handed it to his chum.

  "Why, it's by Bumper himself!" exclaimed Ned.

  "Yes. Though there's nothing remarkable in that, seeing that he isconstantly contributing articles to various publications or writingbooks. It's the story itself that's so wonderful. To save you thetrouble of wading through a lot of scientific detail, which I know youdon't care about, I'll tell you that the story is about a queer idol ofsolid gold, weighing many pounds, and, in consequence, of great value."

  "Of solid gold you say?" asked Ned eagerly.

  "That's it. Got on your banking air already," Tom laughed. "To sum itup for you--notice I use the word 'sum,' which is very appropriate fora bank--the professor has got on the track of another lost or hiddencity. This one, the name of which doesn't appear, is in the Copanvalley of Honduras, and----"

  "Copan," interrupted Ned. "It sounds like the name of some new floorvarnish."

  "Well, it isn't, though it might be," laughed Tom. "Copan is a city,in the Department of Copan, near the boundary between Honduras andGuatemala. A fact I learned from the article and not because Iremembered my geography."

  "I was going to say," remarked Ned with a smile, "that you were comingit rather strong on the school-book stuff."

  "Oh, it's all plainly written down there," and Tom waved toward themagazine at which Ned was looking. "As you'll see, if you take thetrouble to go through it, as I did, Copan is, or maybe was, for all Iknow, one of the most important centers of the Mayan civilization."

  "What's Mayan?" asked Ned. "You see I'm going to imbibe my informationby the deductive rather than the excavative process," he added with alaugh.

  "I see," laughed Tom. "Well, Mayan refers to the Mayas, an aboriginalpeople of Yucatan. The Mayas had a peculiar civilization of their own,thousands of years ago, and their calendar system was so involved----"

  "Never mind about dates," again interrupted Ned. "Get down to brasstacks. I'm willing to take your word for it that there's a Copanvalley in Honduras. But what has your friend Prof
essor Bumper to dowith it?"

  "This. He has come across some old manuscripts, or ancient documentrecords, referring to this valley, and they state, according to thisarticle he has written for the magazine, that somewhere in the valleyis a wonderful city, traces of which have been found twenty to fortyfeet below the surface, on which great trees are growing, showing thatthe city was covered hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago."

  "But where does the idol of gold come in?"

  "I'm coming to that," said Tom. "Though, if Professor Bumper has hisway, the idol will be coming out instead of coming in."

  "You mean he wants to get it and take it away from the Copan valley,Tom?"

  "That's it, Ned. It has great value not only from the amount of puregold that is in it, but as an antique. I fancy the professor is moreinterested in that aspect of it. But he's written a wonderful story,telling how he happened to come across the ancient manuscripts in thetomb of some old Indian whose mummy he unearthed on a trip to CentralAmerica.

  "Then he tells of the trouble he had in discovering how to solve thekey to the translation code; but when he did, he found a great storyunfolded to him.

  "This story has to do with the hidden city, and tells of the ancientcivilization of those who lived in the Copan valley thousands of yearsago. The people held this idol of gold to be their greatest treasure,and they put to death many of other tribes who sought to steal it."

  "Whew!" whistled Ned. "That IS some yarn. But what is ProfessorBumper going to do about it?"

  "I don't know. The article seems to be written with an idea ofinteresting scientists and research societies, so that they will raisemoney to conduct a searching expedition.

  "Perhaps by this time the party may be organized--this magazine isseveral months old. I have been so busy on my stabilizer patent that Ihaven't kept up with current literature. Take it home and read it!Ned. That is if you're through telling me about my affairs," for Ned,who had formerly worked in the Shopton bank, had recently been madegeneral financial manager of the interests of Tom and his father. Thetwo were inventors and proverbially poor business men, though they hadamassed a fortune.

  "Your financial affairs are all right, Tom," said Ned. "I have justbeen going over the books, and I'll submit a detailed report later."

  The telephone bell rang and Tom picked up the instrument from the desk.As he answered in the usual way and then listened a moment, a strangelook came over his face.

  "Well, this certainly is wonderful!" he exclaimed, in much the samemanner as when he had finished reading the article about the idol. "Itcertainly is a strange coincidence," he added, speaking in an aside toNed while he himself still listened to what was being told to him overthe telephone wire.