Chapter XX
Despair
Calling to a girl of about thirteen years to look after her baby, Masnislipped along up a rough mountain trail, motioning to Tom, Mr. Damonand Koku to follow. Or rather, the woman gave the sign to Tom, ignoringthe others, who, naturally, would not be left behind. Masni seemed tohave eyes for no one but the young inventor, and the manner in whichshe looked at him showed the deep gratitude she felt toward him forhaving saved her baby from the great condor.
"Come," she said, in her strange Indian tongue, which Tom couldinterpret well enough for himself now.
"But where are we going, Masni?" he asked. "This isn't the way to thetunnel."
"Me know. Not go to tunnel now," was her answer. "Me show you men."
"But which men do you mean, Masni?" inquired Tom. "The lost men, or thebad ones, who are making trouble for us? Which men do you mean?"
Masni only shook her head, and murmured: "Me show."
Probably Tom's attempt to talk her language was not sufficiently clearto her.
"My man--he good man," she said, coming to a pause on the rough trailafter a climb which was not easy.
"Yes, I know he is," Tom said. "But he went on a strike with theothers, Masni. He no work. He go on a 'hit,' as Serato calls it," andTom laughed.
"My man he good man--but he 'fraid," said the wife. "He want to tellyou of bad mans, but he 'fraid. You save my baby, I no 'fraid. I tell."
"Oh, I see," said Tom. "Your husband would have given away the secret,only he's afraid of the bad men. He likes me, too?"
"Sure!" Masni exclaimed. "He want tell, but 'fraid. He go 'way, I tell."
Tom was not quite sure what it all meant, but it seemed that after hisslaying of the condor both parents were so filled with gratitude thatthey wanted to reveal some secret about the tunnel, only Masni'shusband was afraid. She, however, had been braver.
"Something is going to happen," said Tom Swift. "I feel it in my bones!"
"Bless my porous plaster!" cried Mr. Damon. "I hope it isn't anythingserious."
"We'll see," Tom went on.
They resumed their journey up the mountain trail. It wound in and outin a region none of them had before visited. Though it could not befar from the tunnel, it was almost a strange country to Tom.
Suddenly Masni stopped in a narrow gorge where the walls of rock rosehigh on either hand. She seemed looking for something. Her sharp, blackeyes scanned the cliff and then with an exclamation of satisfaction sheapproached a certain place. With a quick motion she pulled aside a massof tangled vines, and disclosed a path leading down through a V shapedcrack in the cliff.
"Mans down there," she said. "You go look."
For a moment Tom hesitated. Was this a trap? If he and his friendsentered this narrow and dark opening might not the Indian woman rolldown some rock back of them, cutting off forever the way of escape?
Tom turned and looked at Masni. Then he was ashamed of his suspicion,for the honest black face, smiling at him, showed no trace of guile.
"You go--you see lost men," the woman urged.
"Come on!" cried Tom. "I believe we're on the track of the mystery!"
He led the way, followed by Mr. Damon, while Koku came next and thenMasni. It could be no trap since she entered it herself.
The path widened, but not much. There was only room for one to walk ata time. The trail twisted and turned, and Tom was wondering how far itled, when, from behind him, came the cry of the woman:
"Watch now--no fall down."
Tom halted around a sharp turn, and stood transfixed at the sight whichmet his gaze. He found himself looking out through a crack in the faceof a sheer stone cliff that went straight down for a hundred feet ormore to a green-carpeted valley.
Tom was standing in a narrow cleft of rock--the same rock through whichthey had made their way. And at the foot of the cliff was a littleencampment of Indians. There were a dozen huts, and wandering aboutthem, or sitting in the shade, were a score or more of Indians.
"There men from tunnel," said Masni, and, as he looked, wondering, Tomsaw some of the workers he knew. One especially, was a laborer whowalked with a peculiar limp.
"The missing men!" gasped the young inventor.
"Bless my almanac!" cried Mr. Damon. "Where?"
"Here," answered Tom. "If you squeeze past me you can see them."
Mr. Damon did so.
"How did they get here?" asked the odd man, as he looked down in thelittle valley where the missing ones were sequestered.
"That's what we've got to find out," Tom said. "At any rate here theyare, and they seem to be enjoying life while we've been worrying as towhat had become of them. How did they get here, Masni?"
"Me show you. Come."
"Wait until I take another look," said Tom.
"Be careful they don't see you," cautioned Mr. Damon.
"They can't very well. The cleft is screened by bushes."
Tom looked down once more on the group of men who had so mysteriouslydisappeared. The little valley stretched out away from the face of thecliff, through which, by means of the crack, or cleft in it, Tom andthe others had come. Tom looked down the wall of rock. It was as smoothas the side of a building, and offered no means of getting down or up.Doubtless there was an easier entrance to the valley on the other side.It was like looking down into some vast hall through an upper window orfrom a balcony.
"And those men have been in hiding, or been hidden here, ever sincethey disappeared from the tunnel," said Mr. Damon.
"It doesn't look as though they were detained by force," Tom remarked."I think they are being paid to stay away. How did they get here,Masni?"
"Me show you. Come!"
They went back along the trail that led through the split in the rock,until they had come to the place where the natural curtain of vinesconcealed the entrance. Tom took particular notice of this place so hewould know it again.
Then Masni led them over the mountain, and this time Tom saw that theywere approaching the tunnel. He recognized some places where he hadtaken samples of rock from the outcropping to test the strength of hisexplosive.
Reaching a certain wild and desolate place, Masni made a signal ofcaution. She seemed to be listening intently. Then, as if satisfiedthere was no danger, she parted some bushes and glided in, motioningthe others to follow.
"Now I wonder what's up," Tom mused.
He and the others were soon informed.
Masni stopped in front of a pile of brush. With a few vigorous motionsof her arms she swept it aside and revealed a smooth slab of rock. Inthe centre was what seemed to be a block of metal Masni placed her footon this and pressed heavily.
And those watching saw a strange thing.
The slab of rock tilted to one side, as if on a pivot, revealing asquare opening which seemed to lead through solid stone. And at the farend of the opening Tom Swift saw a glimmer of light.
Stooping down, he looked through the hole thus strangely opened andwhat he saw caused him to cry out in wonder.
"It's the tunnel!" he cried. "I can look right down into the tunnel.It's the incandescent lights I see. I can look right at the ledge ofrock where I kept watch that day, and where I saw--where I saw the faceof Waddington!" he cried. "It wasn't a dream after all. This is ashaft connecting with the tunnel. We didn't discover it because thisrock fits right in the opening in the roof. It must have been there allthe while, and some blast brought it to light. Is this how the men gotout, or were taken out of the tunnel, Masni?" Tom asked.
"This how," said the Indian woman. "See, here rope!"
She pawed aside a mound of earth, and disclosed a rope buried there, arope knotted at intervals. This, let down through the hole in the roofof the tunnel, provided a means of escape, and in such a manner thatthe disappearance of the men was most mysterious.
"I see how it is!" cried Tom. "Some one interested, Waddingtonprobably, who knew about this old secret shaft going down into theearth, used it as soon as our blastin
g was opened that far. They gotthe men out this way, and hid them in the secret valley."
"But what for?" cried Mr. Damon.
"To cripple us! To cause the strike by making our other workers afraidof some evil spirit! The men were taken away secretly, and, doubtless,have been kept in idleness ever since--paid to stay away so the mysterywould be all the deeper. Our rivals finding they couldn't stop us inany other way have taken our laborers away from us."
"Bless my meal ticket! It does look like that!" cried Mr. Damon.
"Of course that's the secret!" cried Tom. "Blakeson & Grinder, or someof their tools--probably the bearded man or Waddington--found out aboutthis shaft which led down into our tunnel. They induced the first tenmen to quit, and when Tim went to get the fuse the rope was let down,and the men climbed up here, one after the other. Those Indians canclimb like cats. Once the ten were out the shaft was closed with therock, and the ten men taken off to the valley to be secreted there.
"The same was done with the next fifteen, and, I suppose, if the strikehadn't come, more of our workers would have been induced to leave inthis way. They're probably being better paid than when earning theirwages; and their relatives must know where they are, and also be givena bonus to keep still. No wonder they didn't make a fuss.
"And no wonder we couldn't find any opening in the tunnel roof. Thisrock must fit in as smoothly as a secret drawer in the kind of old deskwhere missing wills are found in stories."
"You say you saw Waddington, or the bearded man?" asked Mr. Damon.
"At the time," replied Tom, "I thought it was a dream. Now I know itwasn't. He must have opened the shaft just as I awakened from a doze.He saw me and closed it again. He may have been getting ready then totake off more of our men, so as to scare the others. Well, we've foundout the trick."
"And what are you going to do next?" asked Mr. Damon.
"Get those missing men back. That will break the hoodoo, and the otherswill come back to work. Then we'll get on the trail of Waddington, orBlakeson & Grinder, and put a stop to this business. We know theirsecret now."
"You mean to get the men out of the secret valley, Tom?"
"Yes. There must be some other way into it than down the rock where wewere. How about it, Masni?" and he inquired as to the valley. TheIndian woman gave Tom to understand that there was another entrance.
"Well, close up this shaft now before some one sees us at it--thebearded man, for example," Tom suggested. He took another look downinto the tunnel, which was now deserted on account of the strike, andthen Masni pressed on the mechanism that worked the stone. She showedTom how to do it.
"Just a counter-balanced rock operating on the same principle as does awindow," Tom explained, after a brief examination. "Probably some ofthe old Indian tribes made this shaft for ceremonial purposes. Theynever dreamed we would drive a tunnel along at the bottom of it. Theshaft probably opened into a cave, and one of our blasts made it partof the tunnel. Well, this is part of the secret, anyhow. Much obligedto you, Masni!"
The Indian woman had indeed revealed valuable information. Theycovered the secret rock with brush, as it had been, hid the rope andcame away. But Tom knew how to find the place again.
Events moved rapidly from then on. The Titus brothers were more thanastonished when Tom told them what he had learned. Masni had told himhow to get into the secret valley by a round about, but easy trail, andthither Tom, the contractors, Mr. Damon and some of the white tunnelworkers went the next day.
The sequestered men, taken completely by surprise, tried to bolt whenthey saw that they were discovered, and then, shamefacedly enough,admitted their part in the trick.
They would not, however, reveal who had helped them escape from thetunnel. Threats and promises of rewards were alike unavailing, but Tomand his employers knew well enough who it was. The tunnel workersseemed rather tired of living in comparative luxury and idleness, andagreed to come back to their labors.
They packed up their few belongings, mostly cooking pots and pans, andmarched out of the valley to the village at Rimac.
And so the strike was broken.
The reappearance of the missing men, in better health and spirits thanwhen they went away, acted like magic. The other men, who had missedtheir wages, crowded back into the shaft, and the sounds of picks andshovels were heard again in the tunnel.
Whether the missing ones told the real story, or whether they made upsome tale to account for their absence, Tom and his friends could notlearn. Nor did the bearded man (if he it were who had helped in theplot), nor any representative of Blakeson & Grinder appear. The work onthe tunnel was resumed as if nothing had happened. But Tom arranged abright light so it would reflect on the spot in the roof where themoving rock was, so that if the evil face of the bearded man, or ofWaddington, appeared there again, it would quickly be seen. A search ofthe neighborhood, and diligent inquiries, failed to disclose thepresence of any of the plotters.
And then, as if Fate was not making it hard enough for the tunnelcontractors, they encountered more trouble. It was after Tom had setoff a big blast that Tim Sullivan, after inspecting what had happened,came out to ask.
"I soy, Mr. Swift, why didn't yez use more powder?"
"More powder!" cried Tom. "Why, this is the most I have ever set off."
"Then somethin's wrong, sor. Fer there's only a little rock down. Comean' see fer yersilf."
Tom hastened in. As the foreman had said, the effect of the blast wassmall indeed. Only a little rock had been shaled off. Tom picked upsome of this and took it outside for examination.
"Why, it's harder than the hardest flint we've found yet," he said."The powder didn't make any impression on it at all. I'll have to useterrific charges."
This was done, but with little better effect. The explosive, powerfulas it was, ate only a little way into the rock. Blast after blast hadthe same poor effect.
"This won't do," said Job Titus, despairingly, one day. "We aren'tmaking any progress at all. There's a half mile of this rock, accordingto my calculations, and at this rate we'll be six months gettingthrough it. By that time our limit will be up, and we'll be forced togive up the contract What can we do, Tom Swift?"
Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel; Or, The Hidden City of the Andes Page 20