“Sometimes I think,” went on Mr. Nestor, “that Tom isn’t quite steady enough. He’s thinking of so many things, perhaps, that he can’t get his mind down to the commonplace. I remember he once sent something here in a box labeled ‘dynamite.’ Though there was no explosive in it, it gave us a great fright. But Tom is a boy, in spite of his years. Professor Beecher seems much older. We all like him very much.”
“That’s nice,” said Ned, as he took his departure. He had found out what he had come to learn.
“I knew it!” Ned exclaimed as he walked home. “I knew something was in the wind. The little green god of jealousy has Tom in his clutches. That’s why my inventive friend was so anxious to go on this expedition when he learned Beecher was to go. He wants to beat him. I guess the professor has plainly shown that he wouldn’t like anything better than to cut Tom out with Mary. Whew! that’s something to think about!”
CHAPTER VI
UNPLEASANT NEWS
Ned Newton decided to keep to himself what he had heard at the Nestor home. Not for the world would he let Tom Swift know of the situation.
“That is, I won’t let him know that I know,” said Ned to himself, “though he is probably as well aware of the situation as I am. But it sure is queer that this Professor Beecher should have taken such a fancy to Mary, and that her father should regard him so well. That is natural, I suppose. But I wonder how Mary herself feels about it. That is the part Tom would be most interested in.
“No wonder Tom wants to get ahead of this young college chap, who probably thinks he’s the whole show. If he can find the buried city, and get the idol of gold, it would be a big feather in his cap.
“He’d have no end of honors heaped on him, and I suppose his hat wouldn’t come within three sizes of fitting him. Then he’d stand in better than ever with Mr. Nestor. And, maybe, with Mary, too, though I think she is loyal to Tom. But one never can tell.
“However, I’m glad I know about it. I’ll do all I can to help Tom, without letting him know that I know. And if I can do anything to help in finding that idol of gold for Professor Bumper, and, incidentally, Tom, I’ll do it,” and he spoke aloud in his enthusiasm.
Ned, who was walking along in the darkness, clapped his open hand down on Tom’s magazine he was carrying home to read again, and the resultant noise was a sharp crack. As it sounded a figure jumped from behind a tree and called tensely:
“Hold on there!”
Ned stopped short, thinking he was to be the victim of a holdup, but his fears were allayed when he beheld one of the police force of Shopton confronting him.
“I heard what you said about gettin’ the gold,” went on the officer. “I was walkin’ along and I heard you talkin’. Where’s your pal?”
“I haven’t any, Mr. Newbold,” answered Ned with a laugh, as he recognized the man.
“Oh, pshaw! It’s Ned Newton!” exclaimed the disappointed officer. “I thought you was talkin’ to a confederate about gold, and figured maybe you was goin’ to rob the bank.”
“No, nothing like that,” answered Ned, still much amused. “I was talking to myself about a trip Tom Swift and I are going to take and—”
“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 absence. 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 what 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 aroun
d 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.
The Tom Swift Megapack Page 247