THE GIANTS
"Let's go down and investigate," suggested Jack.
"Better wait," counseled the professor. "It will soon be dark, and,
though we will have moonlight, we can not see to advantage. I think it
will be best to keep the ship in the air to-night, and descend in the
morning. Then we can look about and decide on what to do."
They all agreed this was the best plan, and, after making a circle above
the deserted village, and noting no signs of life, the _Mermaid_ was
brought to a halt over the centre of the town, and about three hundred
feet above it. There the travelers would be comparatively safe.
It was deemed best to keep watch that night, and so, Mark, Jack, Bill
and Tom took turns, though there was nothing for them to do, as not a
thing happened. With the first appearance of dawn Mr. Henderson gave
orders to have the ship lowered, and it came to rest in the middle of
what corresponded to a street in the queer mound village.
"Now to see what kind of people have lived here!" cried Jack. "They must
have been a queer lot. Something like the Esquimaux, only they probably
had more trouble keeping cool than the chaps up at the north pole do."
Now that they were down among the mound houses, they saw that the
dwellings were much larger than they had supposed. They towered high
above the boys' heads, and some of them were large enough in area to
have accommodated a company of soldiers.
"Say, the chaps who lived in these must have been some pumpkins," said
Jack. "Why the ceilings are about fifteen feet high, and the doors
almost the same! Talk about giants! I guess we've struck where they used
to hang out, at any rate."
The houses were a curious mixture of clay and soft stone. There were
doors, with big skins from animals as curtains, and the windows were
devoid of glass. Instead of stairs there were rude ladders, and the
furniture in the mound houses was of the roughest kind.
There were fire-places in some of the houses, and the blackened and
smoked walls showed that they must have been used. In one or two of the
houses clay dishes, most of them broken, were scattered about, and the
size of them, in keeping with everything else, indicated that those who
used them were of no small stature.
"Some of the bowls would do for bath tubs," said Jack, as he came across
one or two large ones.
By this time the professor, Bill and Tom had joined the boys, and the
five went on with the exploring tour, while Washington and Andy remained
in the ship to get breakfast.
"The inhabitants are evidently of a half-civilized race," the professor
said. "Their houses, and the manner in which they live, show them to be
allied to the Aztecs, though of course they are much larger than that
race."
"What's bothering me," Bill said, "is not so much what race they belong
to, as what chance we'd stand in a race with them if they took it into
their heads to chase after us. I've read that them there Azhandled
races----"
"You mean the Aztecs," interrupted the professor.
"Well the Aztecs, then. But I've read they used to place their enemies
on a stone altar and cut their hearts out. Now I'm not hankerin' after
anything like that."
"Don't be foolish," spoke Mr. Henderson. "Wait until you meet some of
the giants, if that is what they are, and then you can decide what to
do."
"It may be too late then," remarked Bill in a low tone, and the boys
were somewhat inclined to agree with him.
However, there seemed to be no immediate danger, as there was no sign of
any of the big people about the village. The adventurers walked about
for some time, but made no discoveries that would throw any light on the
reason for the place being left uninhabited. It seemed as if there had
been a sudden departure from the place, for in a number of the houses
the remains of half-cooked meals were seen.
"Well, I think we have noted enough for the time being," the professor
remarked, after they had traversed almost half the length of what seemed
to be the principal street. "Let's go back to the ship and have
something to eat. Washington may have become alarmed at our absence."
They made a circle in order to take in another part of the town on their
way back. While passing through a sort of alley, though it was only
narrow by comparison with the other thoroughfares that were very wide,
Mark came to a place where there was a circular slab of stone, resting
on the ground. In the centre was a big iron ring.
"Hello! Here's something new!" he exclaimed. "Maybe it leads to a secret
passage, or covers some hidden treasure."
"I guess it will have to continue to cover it then," Jack spoke. "That
probably weighs several tons. None of us could move it."
They made their way back to the ship, where they found Washington and
Andy discussing the advisability of going off in search of them.
"Breakfast is mighty near spoiled," said the colored man with an injured
air.
But the travelers did full justice to the meal, notwithstanding this.
Deciding there was nothing to be gained by staying in that vicinity, the
professor started the ship off again.
They traveled several hundred miles in the air, and, as the afternoon
was coming to a close, Jack, who was in charge of the conning tower,
spied, just ahead of them, another village.
"We will descend there for the night," the professor said. "Does there
seem to be any sign of life about?"
"None," replied Mark, who was observing through a telescope the town
they were approaching. "It's as dead as the other one."
The airship settled down in a field back of some of the mound houses.
"Now for supper!" cried Jack. "I'm as hungry as----"
He stopped short, for, seeming to rise from the very ground, all about
the ship, there appeared a throng of men. And such men as they were! For
not one was less than ten feet tall, and some were nearly fifteen!
"The giants have us!" cried Bill, as he saw the horde of creatures
surrounding the ship.