When no compromise seemed to be near, Nancy walked up to Professor Maguire. “I’ve traveled in Mexico a good bit,” she said, “and picked up some of the dialects. Perhaps I can translate what these men are saying.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ll be glad of any help. This is a bad situation.”
Nancy spoke to the men in the vernacular of the Spanish-speaking province from which she thought they had come. At once they quieted down and listened.
“Perhaps I can translate what these men are saying,” Nancy said.
The young detective asked them several questions, then turned to the professor. “They have heard about the gold rush and their directions led them here.”
“Oh, is that it?” he said. “Well, tell them that it’s many miles from here, probably a hundred in that direction.” He pointed.
Nancy told the Mexican group that it was unfortunate they had come so far out of their way. She pointed in the direction they should take. “I hope you can get rides part of the way,” she said.
The leader of the group had a long black mustache twisted at the ends. He wore a sombrero. The man looked at Nancy, puzzled. She knew what was going through his mind. How could a young girl living in the United States speak his language and also know where the gold rush was, since it was so far away?
She gave him a big smile. “I am so sorry you made this journey for nothing, and I wish you lots of luck in your search for gold.”
“We will go,” he said finally.
There were murmurs from his companions, but they obeyed their leader. The men picked up all their belongings and started the long trek across the desert.
Now work on setting up camp for the diggers, who hoped to locate the Forgotten City, began. A job had been assigned to each of them, and they worked with precision. Two hours later the place was ready for occupancy. Professor Maguire consulted his chart and called out the names of tent mates. There would be six in each shelter. Wanna was assigned to the tent where Nancy, Bess, and George would be, along with two lovely girls who were studying at the University of Nevada.
The tent in which Ned, Burt, and Dave were to sleep was not far away. The boys were with three other Emerson students.
By the time camp was set up, it was very warm outside and the group was glad to take shelter under the tents. When Nancy and George arrived at theirs, they waited for Bess, but she did not come. The Nevada girls were concerned.
“One can get a sunstroke out in this desert,” said Betty Carr.
“I’ll bet I can tell you where she is,” George said.
“Where?”
“In the kitchen. It’s already past mealtime and if there’s one thing that bothers Bess it’s going too long without lunch.”
The Nevada girls laughed. Doris Dunham said, “I hope you’re right about where she is but if you don’t find her there, come and tell us. We’ll help you hunt for her.”
The kitchen was some distance away, but Nancy and George trudged there hopefully. Actually both girls were worried about Bess. With her bad ankle, how could she have walked so far, even if she was starving?
Finally Nancy and George reached the kitchen and went in. There was a great deal of activity and a meal was almost ready. Bess was not there. Nancy asked the chef if he had seen her, but the answer was, “No.”
Now George was sorry she had been facetious about her cousin. “The poor girl may have turned her ankle again and may be lying somewhere out there in the sand and dirt, literally burning up!”
Nancy said nothing. She had heard a car coming. Wondering if Bess could be aboard, she walked over to where it was parked. To her astonishment, and George’s, the driver hopped out. Archie! He went around to the other side, opened the door, and assisted Bess to the ground.
“Where have you two been?” George asked at once.
Bess giggled. “Playing Cowboys and Indians. Only we weren’t on horses. We were in Archie’s car.”
“That’s right,” the boy said. “We decided to see if those Mexicans really left and didn’t plan to double back.”
“And they hadn’t?” Nancy asked.
Archie said pompously, “Well, with me following them, they didn’t dare.”
Nancy was disgusted. Bess thanked him for the ride, saying she had had a lot of fun. Then she joined the other girls, who assisted her back to their tent.
“I thought you couldn’t stand Archie,” George chided her cousin.
“Oh, he’s harmless and he can be fun. But I must admit it was a bumpy ride across this desert. Those Mexicans were actually running. Can you imagine that in this heat?”
“No,” Nancy and George answered together.
In a short time lunch was brought around to each tent. They were told that the evening meal would be served outdoors, and the whole group was to gather near the kitchen.
When they assembled at dinnertime, Nancy asked Wanna if she would tell some of the stories and legends she had heard from the older Indians.
“Glad to,” she replied.
After dinner she began. “You know, until recently the Indians had no written language outside of their pictographs and petroglyphs. So a great many of the stories were handed down just through the telling of them.
“When the tribes went to war, mixed marriages usually occurred. The young people and their children adopted the customs of both tribes. So at times one finds a combination of cultures.”
Nancy said, “Then the Basket Makers could have joined other peoples, who wove more intricate patterns on their products.” Wanna said this was true.
“What were baskets made of besides grass?” Ned asked.
“Yucca and apocynum fibers. Later the people made sandals to protect their feet from rocks, heat, and the thorny cacti.”
Wanna paused for a drink of water, then asked, “Do you know the story of the Great Drought?”
“No,” Bess replied. “Only the story of the Great Flood.”
The Indian girl smiled. “That was only forty days and forty nights of rain. The drought here lasted for several years. The Indians who settled nearby were farmers who grew thousands of bushels of corn each year. However, one year’s supply would have to feed a whole community for perhaps three years. Without rain and with streams drying up, there was no crop, year after year.”
“You mean there was no fresh food for the people?” Bess asked.
“That’s right. Besides the loss of corn for eating, pinon nuts and berries dried up or didn’t develop. The wild animals, too, were affected and went to look for fertile lands.”
“What happened to the people?” George queried.
“Some died, I’m sure,” Wanna replied. “But apparently most of them took their belongings and trudged off to find a new settlement along some stream.” Wanna smiled. “Well, I guess you’ve heard enough legends about the ancient Indians.”
“Oh, no!” Nancy exclaimed. “Please tell us some more.”
“There’s time for only one before siesta,” the Indian girl said. “Thousands of years ago the people here declared that a white man had come down out of the sky, riding in a giant gourd. He was some kind of a god and promised to return again. So far he hasn’t come, but——” Wanna grinned. “Maybe the modem airplane that travels here has taken the place of the flying gourd.”
Ned chuckled. “The first flying machine!”
When Wanna concluded her story, everyone went to the tents to read or write. Nancy asked for another legend about the ancient Indians.
Wanna thought a moment, then said that turquoise beads seemed to have been part of the dress of Indians from the earliest times.
“I have a necklace that was given to me by a very old Indian woman.”
Wanna opened her suitcase and pulled out a box, which contained an exquisite necklace made of turquoise and gold beads.
“I have had these beads carbon-dated,” she said, “and they’re probably five-thousand years old.”
George whistled. “Five thousand y
ears old!”
“That’s right,” Wanna continued. “This necklace was given to me by an old Indian woman whose son fell into a deep, dry well. When they finally learned about the accident and pulled him out, he had died of starvation. But while he was still alive, he apparently found the beads and put them into a pocket.
“The old woman had made the necklace herself from the beads and I argued with her for wanting to part with anything so precious. However, she insisted that I take the necklace and wear it and keep it with me always.”
All this time Nancy had been thinking and finally said, “It’s possible that the well was at a level where the first Indians lived; in other words, the earliest of the four civilizations.”
“It’s an excellent guess,” Wanna replied, smiling.
A wild idea popped into Nancy’s mind. “Why don’t we find the well, enlarge it, and go down there ourselves?”
The young Indian woman shook her head. “I’m sorry, but now no one knows where it is. A freak storm filled it up, and all efforts to clear it out have failed, according to my elderly friend. Now it is totally overgrown with vines and weeds.”
Wanna went on to say, “I’ve had some wild ideas about that well myself. I believe the water came from a stream with a vein of gold alongside it. But the well was abandoned years ago, perhaps because of the boy’s accident.”
The Indian girl said that while she could not show the girls the actual well, she did want them to see something else.
“I believe I know where an underground stream supplies a small spring that is above ground.
“I think the underground stream runs through a mountain, but at one time no mountain was there. Over the centuries sand and dirt have blown across the area and formed a high covering over the stream.”
Nancy was eager to see the place. “Maybe we can find clues to the treasure in the Forgotten City!” she said.
All this time, Wanna had been dangling the necklace in her hand. Now she laid it down on top of her suitcase. George, who was seated near her, reached across and idly picked it up. She decided to try on the necklace and was about to clasp it around her neck, when Wanna snatched it away.
“I wasn’t going to hurt it,” George said.
“It’s not that,” Wanna said more-or-less in a stage whisper. “You don’t understand. No white woman must ever wear this! She will become violently ill!”
CHAPTER XIII
Telltale Wallet
QUICKLY George laid the turquoise-and-gold-beaded necklace back onto Wanna’s suitcase.
She said, however, “I’m not the least bit superstitious. I’m sure nothing would happen to me if I wore the necklace, but tell me, why do you think so?”
The young Indian woman looked steadfastly at the girl. “I’m not superstitious either and I hated to believe the story. But twice I’ve let friends of mine wear it with nearly disastrous results.”
Nancy spoke up. “What happened to them?”
Wanna told the girls that one of the friends had been in a bad automobile accident while wearing the necklace.
“The other one developed some strange blood disease, which several doctors could not diagnose even though they were specialists.”
“Did your friend die?” Bess asked.
Wanna shook her head. “Fortunately, no, but she almost did. Since that time I’ve had more respect for the warning given me by the old woman who gave me the necklace. She said no one but an Indian should wear it.”
George remarked that this was like having a curse on the necklace. “Such beliefs belong to witchcraft and things like that. Sensible people don’t believe in all those signs and omens Man thinks up.”
At that moment Archie stuck his head into the tent. “What you-all doing?” he asked.
“Come in,” Wanna invited. She told the young man the story about the necklace.
“But,” said George, “I can’t believe it.”
Archie looked at her almost pathetically. “My dear girl,” he said, “as you get older you will learn that there are many unexplainable things in this world.
“Much of it has to do with objects that for one reason or another should not be touched by certain humans. In this case it happens to be white people, and that reminds me of Egypt. Have you ever heard of all the white people who became ill after they had dug into King Tut’s tomb?”
Bess said no. The others remained silent.
Archie went on, “It seemed as if the boy king’s tomb was never to be opened. But archaeologists thought otherwise and went in there. They brought out all sorts of objects that had been laid with the body. After a while every one of those white men became ill.
“Doctors were puzzled and came to the conclusion that germs can linger underground for thousands of years. I agree with Wanna that none of us white people should touch this necklace.”
His listeners said nothing. Archie Arnow, having decided he had made his point, marched off pompously. Now the girls burst into laughter.
“Okay, Professor Archie,” said George, “what are you going to do when we dig down among the Indian relics here? Are you going to tell us not to touch them?”
Wanna now laughed too. “You win,” she said, “but just to be safe, suppose I put this questionable necklace away where nobody can touch it.” She hid the ancient jewelry in her suitcase, locked it, and kept the key.
The next morning Nancy took Ned aside. “Let’s ask permission to visit the Valley of Fire. I can’t wait to search for the missing tablets out there. I have a strong hunch they’re hidden among the rocks.”
Ned was eager to go and said he would locate Professor Maguire and ask his permission. It was quickly granted, and the couple started off in Nancy’s rented car.
When they reached the fantastic conglomeration of red rocks, they drove as close as possible to one section, then started to climb. The couple followed a trail but stopped every few minutes to exclaim over rock formations. It became a game between the two to see who could find the most unusual shapes.
“Here’s one that looks like a rock cactus,” Ned remarked. “And sitting on top of it is a big bumblebee.”
Nancy laughed. “You really have to use your imagination on that one.”
A few minutes later, however, Ned grinned at one she pointed out.
“So you think that looks like a castle among the rocks with a moat around it.” He chuckled. “If I stand up there alongside it, may I be the knight in shining armor?”
Nancy laughed and the two went on. They had carefully examined every crevice and hole to see if one of the valuable old tablets could have been hidden in it. They found none and went on, trudging up and down over the uneven paths.
After a while the couple sat down to rest. Ned leaned back and in doing so his hand came in contact with a paper. Turning, he gently pulled it out of a hole.
“It’s a comic book!” he exclaimed. “Why would anyone stuff this in here?”
Nancy answered, “No one is supposed to litter this spot, so what better place than this to hide something?”
She had been smiling. Now she became serious, got up, and peered into the hole herself. Nancy had learned not to put her bare hands into such places in case there were poisonous insects or reptiles of any kind resting within. She beamed her flashlight inside but could see nothing alive. A small object was lying at the back of the hole, however.
“I see something,” she said, reaching in. Nancy pulled out a somewhat dilapidated wallet. In it was a small amount of money and two diamond rings! As she replaced them, Nancy turned the wallet over. On it were two initials: F. J. “Fleetfoot Joe!” she exclaimed. “What a find!”
Ned said he was sure the rings had been stolen. Fleetfoot had hidden the wallet here until he thought it would be safe to bring it out and sell the jewels.
Nancy agreed. For a few seconds she sat, lost in thought. Finally she said, “If this is one of Fleetfoot’s hiding places, maybe one or more of the tablets is buried around here.”
The two began a careful search. They scraped away loose sandstone and cleaned out crevices and indentations.
Suddenly Nancy cried out, “I think I’ve found one!”
“Fleetfoot Joe’s initials!” Nancy exclaimed.
The flat object, wrapped in a cellophane bag, had been wedged between two rocks and covered with sandstone scrapings.
Ned hurried to Nancy’s side, and together they pulled the object from its cover. There was no question that this was another one of the tablets. Nancy took her magnifying glass from a pocket in her jeans and examined the plaque.
“Here is the identifying mark in the lower left-hand corner,” she said. “The familiar chuckwalla symbol.”
She handed Ned the magnifying glass. He was intrigued with the petroglyphs on the tablet but could not decipher them. He did, however, spot the same tiny oblong symbol in the lower right-hand corner that they had come to believe indicated the golden tablets.
As Nancy secreted the ancient plaque under her sweater and was about to hunt for another matching one, Ned suddenly said in a loud voice, “Run, because you should be in the shade. Desert sunburns are deadly. Any person being caught here is a target. Be on watch for sunstroke.”
For an instant Nancy was puzzled, since she was not particularly hot and was wearing a big hat. Then, suddenly, as she repeated the words in her mind, she realized that this was a coded message to her.
It was saying, “You are being watch.”
Without question she hurried along after him until he stopped. He whispered, “A man suddenly appeared up above us. I’m sure he was Fleetfoot!”
Nancy was aghast. Now that he knew she had the tablet, the thief might attack both her and Ned! Then what?
“We mustn’t let him harm us,” she told Ned, fearing he might throw a large rock down on them. “And we ought to take this tablet back to camp as fast as we can.”
There was a further whispered conversation. Ned felt that they should not return to the car the same way they had come.
“But we have to get back to it in order to escape,” Nancy reminded him.
The Secret of the Forgotten City Page 7