Chapter XXIII
A Great Blast
Hardly comprehending what the Irish foreman had said, Tom Swift, theTitus brothers and Mr. Damon followed Tim Sullivan back into thetunnel. They had not gone far before they heard the murmur of manyvoices, and mingled with that were roarings like those of wild beasts.
"That's thim!" cried Tim. "They're chawin' each other up!"
"Koku and that Indian giant fighting!" cried Tom. "What's it all about?"
"Don't ask me!" shouted Tim. "They've been on bad terms iver since theymet." This was true enough, for one giant was jealous of the other'spower, and they were continually trying feats of strength against oneanother. Probably this had culminated in a fight, Tom concluded.
"And it will be some fight!" mused the young inventor.
Hurrying on, Tom and his companions came upon a strange and notaltogether pleasant sight. In an open place in the tunnel, where thelights were brightest, and in front of the rocky wall which offered abar to further progress and which was soon to be blasted away,struggled the two giants.
With their arms locked about one another, they swayed this way andthat--a struggle between two Titans. Of nearly the same height andbigness, it was a wrestling match such as had never been seen before.Had it been merely a friendly test of strength it would have been goodto look upon. But it needed only a glance into the faces of eithergiant to show that it was a struggle in deadly earnest.
Back and forth they reeled over the rocky floor of the tunnel, bonesand sinews cracking. One sought to throw the other, and first, as Kokuwould gain a slight advantage, his friends would call encouragement,while, when Lamos seemed about to triumph, the Indians favoring himwould let out a yell of triumph.
For a few minutes Tom and his friends watched, fascinated. Then theysaw Koku slip, while Lamos bent him farther toward the earth. TheIndian giant raised his big fist, and Tom saw in it a rock, which thebig man was about to bring down on Koku's head.
"Look out, Koku!" yelled Tom.
Tom's giant slid to one side only just in time, for the blow descended,catching him on his muscular shoulder where it only raised a bruise.And then Koku gathered himself for a mighty effort. His face flamedwith rage at the unfair trick.
"Bless my bath sponge!" cried Mr. Damon. "This is awful!"
"They must stop!" said Job Titus. "We can't have them fighting likethis. It is bad for the others. If it were in fun it would be allright, but they are in deadly earnest. They must stop!"
"Koku, stop!" called Tom. "You must not fight any more!"
"No fight more!" gasped the giant, through his clenched teeth. "Thisend fight!"
With a mighty effort he broke the hold of Lamos' arms. Then stoopingsuddenly he seized his rival about the middle, and with a tremendousheave, in which his muscles stood out in great bunches while his verybones seemed to crack, Koku raised Lamos high in the air. Up over hishead he raised that mass of muscle, bone and flesh, squirming andwriggling, trying in vain to save itself.
Up and up Koku raised Lamos as the murmur of those watching grew to ashout of amazement and terror. Never had the like been seen in thatland for generations. Up and up one giant raised the other. Thencalling out something in his native tongue Koku hurled the other fromhim, clear across the tunnel and up against the opposite rocky wall.The murmuring died to frightened whispers as Lamos fell in a shapelessheap on the floor.
"Ah!" breathed Koku, stretching himself, and extending his brawny arms."Fight all over, Master."
"Yes, so it seems, Koku," said Tom, solemnly, "but you have killed him.Shame on you!" and he spoke bitterly.
Job Titus had hurried over to the fallen giant.
"He isn't dead," he called, "but I guess he won't wrestle or fight anymore. He's badly crippled."
"And him no more try to blow up tunnel, either," said Koku in hishoarse voice. "Me fix: him! No more him take powder, and make tunnelall bust."
"What do you mean, Koku?" asked Tom. "Is that why you fought him? Didhe try to wreck the tunnel?"
"So him done, Master. But Koku see--Koku stop. Then um fight."
"Be jabbers an' I wouldn't wonder but what he was right!" cried TimSullivan, excitedly. "I did see that beggar." and he pointed to Lamos,who was slowly crawling away, "at the chist where I kape th' powder,but I thought nothin' of it at th' time. What did he try t' do, Koku?"
Then the giant explained in his own language, Tom Swift translating,for Koku spoke English but indifferently well.
"Koku says," rendered Tom, "that he saw Lamos trying to put a bigcharge of powder up in the place where the balanced rock fits in thesecret opening of the tunnel roof. The charge was all ready to fire,and if the giant had set it off he might have brought down the roof ofthe tunnel and so choked it up that we'd have been months cleaning itout. Koku saw him and stopped him, and then the fight began. We onlysaw the end."
"Bless my shoe string!" gasped Mr. Damon. "And a terrible end it was.Will Lamos die?"
"I don't think so," answered Job Titus. "But he will be a cripple forlife. Not only would he have wrecked the tunnel, but he would havekilled many of our men had he set off that blast. Koku saved them,though it seems too bad he had to fight to do it."
An investigation showed that Koku spoke truly. The charge, all ready toset off, was found where he had knocked it from the hand of Lamos. Andso Tom's giant saved the day. Lamos was sent back to his own village, abroken and humbled giant. And to this day, in that part of Peru, thegreat struggle between Koku and Lamos is spoken of with awe whereIndians gather about their council fires, and they tell their childrenof the Titanic fight.
"It was part of the plot," said Job Titus when the usual blast had beenset off that day, with not very good results. "This giant was sent tous by our rivals. They wanted him to hamper our work, for they see wehave a chance to finish on time. I think that foreman, Serato, is inthe plot. He brought Lamos here. We'll fire him!"
This was done, though the Indian protested his innocence. But he couldnot be trusted.
"We can't take any chances," said Job Titus. "Our time is too nearlyup. In fact I'm afraid we won't finish on time as it is. There is toomuch of that hard rock to cut through."
"There's only one thing to do," said Tom, after an investigation. "Asyou say, there is more of that hard rock than we calculated on. To tryto blast and take it out in the ordinary way will be useless. We musttry desperate means."
"What is that?" asked Walter Titus.
"We must set off the biggest blast we can with safety. We'll bore alot of extra holes, and put in double charges of the explosive. I'lladd some ingredients to it that will make it stronger. It's our lastchance. Either we'll blow the tunnel all to pieces, or we'll loosenenough rock to make sufficient progress so we can finish on time. Whatdo you say? Shall we take the chance?"
The Titus brothers looked at one another. Failure stared them in theface. Unless they completed the tunnel very soon they would lose allthe money they had sunk in it.
"Take the chance!" exclaimed Job. "It's sink or swim anyhow. Set offthe big blast, Tom."
"All right. We'll get ready for it as soon as we can."
That day preparations were made for setting off a great charge of thepowerful explosive. The work was hurried as fast as was consistent withsafety, but even then progress was rather slow. Precautions had to betaken, and the guards about the tunnel were doubled. For it was fearedthat some word of what was about to be done would reach the rival firm,who might try desperate means to prevent the completion of the work.
There was plenty of the explosive on hand, for Mr. Swift had sent Tom alarge shipment. All this while no word had come from Mr. Nestor, andTom was beginning to think that his prospective father-in-law was veryangry with him. Nor had Mary written.
Professor Bumper came and went as he pleased, but his quest wasregarded as hopeless now. Tom and his friends had little time for thebald-headed scientist, for they were too much interested in the successof the big blast.
"Well,
we'll set her off to-morrow," Tom said one night, after a hardday's work. "The rocky wall is honeycombed with explosive. If all goeswell we ought to bring down enough rock to keep the gangs busy nightand day."
Everything was in readiness. What would the morrow bring--success orfailure?
Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel; Or, The Hidden City of the Andes Page 23