The Tom Swift Megapack

by Victor Appleton

  But Tom and Ned labored long and hard, and in about a week after making camp they had assembled the dirigible balloon in which they hoped to set out to locate the plain of the ruined temple, and also the entrance to the underground city of gold.

  “Well, I’ll start making the gas tomorrow,” decided Tom, in their tent one night, after a hard day’s work. “Then we’ll give the balloon a tryout and see how she behaves in this part of the world. The motor is all right, we’re sure of that much,” for they had given the engine a test several days before.

  “Which way are we going to head?” asked Ned.

  “North, I think,” answered Tom.

  “But I thought you said that the temple was west—”

  “Don’t you see my game?” went on the young inventor quickly, and in a low voice, for several times of late he had surprised some of the Mexicans sneaking about the tent. “As soon as we start off Delazes is going to follow us.”

  “Follow us?” cried Mr. Damon. “Bless my shoe horn, what do you mean?”

  “I mean that he still suspects that we are after gold, and he is going to do his best to get on our trail. Of course he can’t follow us through the air, but he’ll note in what direction we start and as soon as we are out of sight he and his men will hit the trail in the same direction.”

  “What, and leave the camp?” asked Ned.

  “Yes, though they’ll probably skip off with some of our supplies. That’s why I’m going to take along an unusually large supply. We may not come back to this camp at all. In fact, it won’t be much use after Delazes and his crowd clean it out and leave.”

  “And you really think they’ll do that, Tom?” asked his chum.

  “I’m almost sure of it, from the way the Mexicans have been acting lately. Delazes has been hinting around trying to surprise me into saying which direction we’re going to take. But I’ve been careful. The sight of that golden image aroused him and his men. They’re hungry for gold, and they’d do away with us in a minute if they thought they could find what we’re looking for and get it without us. But our secret is ours yet, I’m glad to say. If only the balloon behaves we ought soon to be in the—”

  “Hark!” exclaimed Ned, holding up a warning hand. They heard a rustling outside the tent, and one side bulged in, as if some one was leaning against it.

  “Some one’s listening,” whispered Ned.

  Tom nodded. The next moment he drew his heavy automatic revolver and remarked in loud tones:

  “My gun needs cleaning. I’m going to empty it through the tent where that bulge is—look out, Ned.”

  The bulge against the canvas disappeared as if by magic, and the sound of some one crawling or creeping away could be heard outside. Tom laughed.

  “You see how it is,” he said. “We can’t even think aloud.”

  “Bless my collar button; who was it?” asked Mr. Damon.

  “Some of Delazes’s men—or himself,” replied the young inventor. “But I guess I scared him.”

  “Maybe it was Andy Foger,” suggested Ned with a smile.

  “No, I guess we’ve lost track of him and his father,” spoke Tom. “I’ve kept watch of the back trail as much as I could, and haven’t seen them following us. Of course they may pick up our trail later and come here, and they may join forces with the Mexicans. But I don’t know that they can bother us, once we’re off in the balloon.”

  To Tom’s disappointment, the next day proved stormy, a heavy rain falling, so it was impossible to test the balloon with the gas. The camp was a disconsolate and dreary place, and even Eradicate, usually so jolly, was cross and out of sorts.

  For three days the rain kept up, and Tom and Ned thought they would never see the last of it, but on the fourth morning the sun shone, wet garments and shoes were dried out, tents were opened to the warm wind and everyone was in better spirits. Tom and his chum at once set about making gas for the big bag, their operations being closely watched by the Mexicans.

  As I have explained before, Tom had the secret of making a very powerful gas from comparatively simple ingredients, and the machinery for this was not complicated. So powerful was it that the bag of the dirigible balloon did not need to be as large as usual, a distinct saving in space.

  In a short time the bag began to distend and then the balloon took shape and form. The bag was of the usual cigar shape, divided into many compartments so that the puncture of one would not empty out all the vapor.

  Below the bag was a car or cabin made of light wood. It was all enclosed and contained besides the motor, storage tanks for gasolene, oil and other things, sleeping berths, a tiny kitchen, a pilot house, and a room to be used for a living apartment. Everything was very compact, and there was not half the room there was in some of Tom Swift’s other airships. But then the party did not expect to make long voyages.

  They could take along a good supply of canned and also compressed food, much of which was in tablet or capsule form, and of course they would take their weapons, and ammunition.

  “And I hope you’ll leave room for plenty of gold,” said Ned in a whisper to Tom, as they completed arrangements for the gas test.

  “I guess we can manage to store all that we can get out of the underground city,” replied his chum. “I’m going to find a place for the big gold statue if we can manage to lift it.”

  “Say, we’ll be millionaires all right!” exulted Ned.

  Though much still remained to be done on the balloon, it was soon in shape for an efficient test, and that afternoon Tom, Ned and Mr. Damon went up in it to the no small wonder, fear and delight of the Mexicans. Some, who had never seen an air craft before, fell on their knees and prayed. Others shouted, and when Tom started the motor, and showed how he could control his aircraft, there were yells of amazement.

  “She’ll do!” cried the young inventor, as he let out some gas and came down.

  Thereupon followed busy days, stocking the airship for the trip to discover the ruined temple. Food and supplies were put aboard, spare garments, all their weapons and ammunition, and then Tom paid Delazes and his men, giving them a month’s wages in advance, for he told them to wait in camp that long.

  “But they won’t,” the young inventor predicted to Ned.

  There was nothing more to be done. All that they could do, to insure success had been completed. From now on they were in the hands of fate.

  “All aboard!” cried Tom, as he motioned for Eradicate to take his place in the car. Mr. Damon and Ned followed, and then the young inventor himself. He shook hands with Delazes, though he did not like the man.

  “Good bye,” said Tom. “We may be back before the month is up. If we are not, go back to Tampico.”

  “Si, senor,” answered the contractor, bowing mockingly.

  Tom turned the lever that sent more gas into the bag. The balloon shot up. The young gold-seeker was about to throw on the motor, when Delazes waved his hand to the little party.

  “Bon voyage!” he called. “I hope you will find the city of gold!”

  “Bless my soul!” cried Mr. Damon. “He knows our secret!”

  “He’s only guessing at it,” replied Tom calmly. “He’s welcome to follow us—if he can.”

  Up shot the aircraft, the propellers whirling around like blades of light. Up and up, higher and higher, and then forward, while down below the Mexicans yelled and swung their hats.

  Straight for the north Tom headed his craft, so as to throw the eagerly watching ones off the track. He intended to circle around and go west when out of sight.

  And then the very thing Tom had predicted came to pass. The balloon was scarcely half a mile high when, as the young inventor looked down, he uttered a cry.

  “See!” he said. “They’re breaking camp to follow us.”

  And it was so. Riding along in one of the lightest ox carts was Delazes, his eyes fixed on the balloon overhead, while behind him came his followers.

  “They’re following us,” said Tom, “but they’
re going to get sadly left.”

  In an hour Tom knew his balloon would not be visible to the Mexicans, and at the end of that time he pointed for the west. And then, flying low so as to use the trees as a screen, but going at good speed. Tom and his friends were well on their way to the city of gold.

  “We must keep a good lookout down below,” said Tom, when everything was in working order. “We don’t want to fly over the plain of the ruined temple.”

  “We may in the night,” suggested Ned.

  “No night flying this time,” said his chum. “We’ll only move along daytimes. We’ll camp at night.”

  For three days they sailed along, sometimes over vast level plains on which grazed wild cattle, again over impenetrable jungles which they could never have gotten through in their ox carts. They crossed rivers and many small lakes, stopping each night on the ground, the airship securely anchored to trees. Tom could make the lifting gas on board so what was wasted by each descent was not missed.

  One day it rained, and they did not fly, spending rather a lonely and miserable twelve hours in the car. Another time a powerful wind blew them many miles out of their course. But they got back on it, and kept flying to the west.

  “We must strike it soon,” murmured Tom one day.

  “Maybe we’re too far to the north or south,” suggested Ned.

  “Then we’ll have to beat back and forth until we get right,” was Tom’s reply. “For I’m going to locate that ruined temple.”

  They ate breakfast and dinner high in the air, Eradicate preparing the meals in the tiny kitchen. Ever did they keep looking downward for a sight of a great plain, with a ruined temple in the midst of it.

  In this way a week passed, the balloon beating back and forth to the North or South, and they were beginning to weary of the search, and even Tom, optimistic as he was, began to think he would never find what he sought.

  It was toward the close of day, and the young inventor was looking for a good place to land. He was flying over a range of low hills, hoping the thick forest would soon come to an end when, as he crossed the last of the range of small mountains, he gave a cry, that drew the attention of Ned and Mr. Damon.

  “What is it?” demanded his chum.

  “Look!” said Tom. “There is the great plain!”

  Ned gazed, and saw, spread out below them a vast level plateau. But this was not all he saw, for there, about in the centre, was a mass of something—something that showed white in the rays of the setting sun.

  “Bless my chimney!” cried Mr. Damon. “That’s some sort of a building.”

  “The ruined temple,” said Tom softly. “We’ve found it at last,” and he headed the balloon for it and put on full speed.

  CHAPTER XVIII

  FINDING THE TUNNEL

  In silence, broken only by the noise of the motor, did the gold-seekers approach the temple. As they neared it they could see its vast proportions, and they noted that it was made of some white stone, something like marble. Then, too, as they drew closer, they could see the desolate ruin into which it had fallen.

  “Looks as if a dynamite explosion had knocked it all apart,” observed Ned.

  “It certainly does,” agreed Mr. Damon.

  “Maybe Cortez, or some of those early explorers, blew it up with gunpowder after fighting the Aztecs, or whatever the natives were called in those days,” suggested Tom.

  “Bless my bookcase! You don’t mean to say you think this temple goes back to those early days,” spoke Mr. Damon.

  “Yes, and probably farther,” declared Tom. “It must be very ancient, and the whole country about here is desolate. Why, the way the woods have grown up everywhere but on this plain shows that it must be three or four hundred years ago. There must have been a city around the temple, probably Poltec, and yet there isn’t a trace of it that we have seen as we came along. Oh, yes, this is very ancient.”

  “It will be jolly fun to explore it,” decided Ned. “I wish it wasn’t so near night.”

  “We can’t do much now,” decided Tom. “It will be too dark, and I don’t altogether fancy going in those old ruins except by daylight.”

  “Do you think any of those old Aztec priests, with their knifes of glass, will sacrifice you on a stone altar?” asked Ned, with a laugh.

  “No, but there might be wild beasts in there,” went on the young inventor, “and I’m sure there are any number of bats. There must be lots of nooks and corners in there where a whole army could hide. It’s an immense place.”

  The ruined temple certainly was large in extent, and in its glory must have been a wonderful place. The balloon came nearer, and then Tom let it sink to rest on the sand not far from the ancient ruin. Out he leaped, followed by his friends, and for a moment they stood in silent contemplation of the vast temple. Then as the last rays of the setting sun turned the white stones to gold, Tom exclaimed:

  “A good omen! I’m sure the city of gold must be near here, and in the morning we’ll begin our search for the secret tunnel that leads to it.”

  “That’s the stuff!” cried Ned enthusiastically.

  An instant later it seemed to get dark very suddenly, as it does in the tropics, and almost with the first shadows of night there came a strange sound from the ruined temple.

  It was a low moaning, rumbling sound, like a mighty wind, afar off, and it sent a cold shiver down the spines of all in the little party.

  “Good land a’ massy! What am dat?” moaned Eradicate, as he darted back toward the balloon.

  “Bless my looking glass!” cried Mr. Damon.

  A second later the noise suddenly increased, and something black, accompanied by a noise of rapidly beating wings rushed from one of the immense doorways.

  “Bats!” cried Tom. “Thousands of bats! I’m glad we didn’t go in after dark!” And bats they were, that had made the noise as they rushed out on their nightly flight.

  “Ugh!” shuddered Mr. Damon. “I detest the creatures! Let’s get under cover.”

  “Yes,” agreed Tom, “we’ll have supper, turn in, and be up early to look for the tunnel. We’re here at last. I’ll dream of gold tonight.”

  Eradicate soon had a meal in preparation, though he stopped every now and then to peer out at the bats, that still came in unbroken flight from the old temple. Truly there must have been many thousands of them.

  Whether Tom dreamed of gold that night he did not say, but he was the first one up in the morning, and Ned saw him hurrying over the sands toward the temple.

  “Hold on, Tom!” his chum called as he hastened to dress. “Where you going?”

  “To have a hunt for that tunnel before breakfast. I don’t want to lose any time. No telling when Delazes and his crowd may be after us. And the Fogers, too, may strike our trail. Come on, we’ll get busy.”

  “Where do you think the tunnel will be?” asked Ned, when he had caught up to Tom.

  “Well, according to all that Mr. Illingway could tell us, it was somewhere near this temple. We’ll make a circle of it, and if we don’t come across it then we’ll make another, and so on, increasing the size of the circles each time, until we find what we’re looking for.”

  “Let’s have a look inside the temple first,” suggested Ned. “It must have been a magnificent place when it was new, and with the processions of people and priests in their golden robes.”

  “You ought to have been an Aztec,” suggested Tom, as he headed for one of the big doorways.

  They found the interior of the temple almost as badly in ruins as was the outside. In many places the roof had fallen in, the side walls contained many gaping holes, and the stone floor was broken away in many places, showing yawning, black caverns below. They saw hundreds of bats clinging to projections, but the ugly creatures were silent in sleep now.

  “Bur-r-r-r-r!” murmured Ned. “I shouldn’t like any of ’em to fall on me.”

  “No, it’s not a very nice place to go in,” agreed Tom.

  They saw that
the temple consisted of two parts, or two circular buildings, one within the other. Around the outer part were many rooms, which had evidently formed the living apartments of the priests. There were galleries, chambers, halls and assembly rooms. Then the whole of the interior of the temple, under a great dome that had mostly fallen in, consisted of a vast room, which was probably where the worship went on. For, even without going farther than to the edge of it, the youths could see stone altars, and many strangely-carved figures and statues. Some had fallen over and lay in ruins on the floor. The whole scene was one of desolation.

  “Come on,” invited Tom, “it’s healthier and more pleasant outside. Let’s look for that tunnel.”

  But the lads soon realized that it was not going to be as easy to locate this as they had hoped. They were looking for some sort of slanting opening, going down into the earth—the entrance to the underground city—but though they both made a complete circuit of the temple, each at a varying distance from the outer walls, no tunnel entrance showed.

  “Breakfust! Breakfust!” called Eradicate, when Tom was about to start on a second round.

  “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 tomorrow,” 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.”