In the Wonderful Land of Hez; or, The Mystery of the Fountain of Youth
Page 23
CHAPTER XXIII. OUT OF THE EVERGLADES.
“Now, then,” observed Dick Vincey, “let us leave the land of mysteryforever! We have passed through many strange things while in it, andmany enjoyable days, as well. Let us say farewell to the undergroundworld and our families, who are buried beneath the ruins of the Nazteccity and the village of Hez!”
There were tears in the eyes of the young man as he spoke, and, withtheir eyes turned to the cavern they had emerged from, all handsuttered the one word:
“Farewell!”
Then they left the spot and started for the place where the obelisk hadbeen.
The huge stone column lay upon the ground in a dozen pieces, while thestairs leading into the earth’s bowels were plainly visible.
“Now,” said Leo, “to get out of the Everglades.”
As they started over the ground in the direction they first came, Dicksuddenly missed Jupiter, the dog, for the first time.
When he came to think of it, he had not seen him since they left theruined city of the Naztecs.
He spoke about it to his friends.
“The poor animal must have been killed during the earthquake, and hismaster was too much excited to notice his absence,” said Leo.
The attire worn by our friends was of the style of the places they hadlived in, and they looked curious enough as they made their way throughthe swamp.
When they came through the Everglades, they had chipped the trees onthe route they took, and as these marks were still plainly visible theyanticipated but little difficulty in getting back to their boat, the_Maid of the Marsh_, which was looked upon with so much disgust by theYankee.
They found the boat half covered with mud, but otherwise she wasuninjured.
It took them nearly a day to clean her and get her ready for use oncemore, and when this job was finished all hands felt better.
A week or so later eight forlorn-appearing men might have been seencamped upon the borders of Lake Okechobee.
They were Dick Vincey, Leo Malvern, Prof. Remington Easy, MartinHaypole, Andrew Jones, Philander Owens, Reginald Lacy and the darky,Lucky.
The long gowns they wore were torn and dirty, and they looked more likea crowd of ragpickers than anything else.
But they would soon be in the limits of civilization again, and theyfelt thankful for it.
Their journey from the Land of Hez to their present position had been aperilous one, indeed.
But by perseverance and pluck they managed to elude the quicksandsof the great swamp, and escape from being devoured by the ferociousalligators it contained.
Two weeks more and they reached the home of Leo Malvern.
It is needless to state that the cousins were received with pleasure.
Their relatives had long given them up as dead, and hence their joy atmeeting them alive and well.
The wonderful story of their adventures was taken as a joke at first,but when all hands stoutly adhered to it, the relatives of Dick and Leowere forced to believe it.
“There are a few questions I would like ter ask some of you fellows,”said Martin Haypole, a day or two after their arrival at Leo’s home.“First--who built the obelisk at the entrance of Hez? Second--was thelegend of Hez true, and was Roderique de Amilo as old as he claimed?Third--was the pool and fountain in the dazzlingly lighted cavernreally the Fountain of Youth Ponce de Leon was in search of? And,fourth--was it really the discharge of the cannon that caused theearthquake that wrought such a ruin upon the city of the Naztecs andthe Land of Hez?”
As the Yankee asked these questions he knocked the ashes from his pipeand glanced around at his hearers.
“Your questions will never be answered in this world,” replied theprofessor, gravely. “We can form our own opinions--that is all.”
And so it is. We have stated the incidents of our story in a mannermeant to be plain; now we will leave the reader to answer MartinHaypole’s questions.
THE END.
The next issue of BRAVE AND BOLD, No. 128, will contain “StoniaStedman’s Triumph; or, A Young Mechanic’s Trials.” This story relatesthe experiences that befell a young workman, and shows how heeventually triumphed over a clique of jealous fellow workers, at thesame time unearthing the schemes of a band of dangerous moonshiners. Besure and read Stonia’s gallant struggle against great odds.
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Transcriber’s note:
Based on the available evidence, the author for this book is mostlikely Cornelius Shea.
This story originally appeared, very likely in a longer version,as “Under the Everglades; or, Two Years in a Land of Mystery,”_Golden Hours_ issues 176 through 185, June 13, 1891 toAugust 15, 1891, published by Norman L. Munro & Company.
Punctuation has been made consistent.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear inthe original publication, except that obvious typos have been corrected.
Changes have been made as follows:
p. 22: “hate as he darted” changed to “hate darted” (of hate darted)
p. 30: “looking for so” changed to “looking for for so” (looking forfor so)