Produced by Charles Keller.
TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS
or
The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold
BY
VICTOR APPLETON
AUTHOR OF
"TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTORCYCLE,"
"TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL,"
"THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES,"
"THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS SERIES," ETC.
THE TOM SWIFT SERIES
1 TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE
2 TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT
3 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP
4 TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT
5 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT
6 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE
7 TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS
8 TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE
9 TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER
10 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE
11 TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD
12 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER
13 TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY
14 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA
15 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT
16 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON
17 TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE
18 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
19 TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL
20 TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS
21 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK
22 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT
23 TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH
24 TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS
25 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
26 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT
27 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER
28 TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS
29 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS
Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders
CONTENTS
I A WONDERFUL STORY
II PROFESSOR BUMPER ARRIVES
III BLESSINGS AND ENTHUSIASM
IV FENIMORE BEECHER
V THE LITTLE GREEN GOD
VI UNPLEASANT NEWS
VII TOM HEARS SOMETHING
VIII OFF FOR HONDURAS
IX VAL JACINTO
X IN THE WILDS
XI THE VAMPIRES
XII A FALSE FRIEND
XIII FORWARD AGAIN
XIV A NEW GUIDE
XV IN THE COILS
XVI A MEETING IN THE JUNGLE
XVII THE LOST MAP
XVIII "EL TIGRE!"
XIX POISONED ARROWS
XX AN OLD LEGEND
XXI THE CAVERN
XXII THE STORM
XXIII ENTOMBED ALIVE
XXIV THE REVOLVING STONE
XXV THE IDOL OF GOLD
TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS
CHAPTER I
A WONDERFUL STORY
Tom Swift, who had been slowly looking through the pages of a magazine,
in the contents of which he seemed to be deeply interested, turned the
final folio, ruffled the sheets back again to look at a certain map and
drawing, and then, slapping the book down on a table before him, with a
noise not unlike that of a shot, exclaimed:
"Well, that is certainly one wonderful story!"
"What's it about, Tom?" asked his chum, Ned Newton. "Something about
inside baseball, or a new submarine that can be converted into an
airship on short notice?"
"Neither one, you--you unscientific heathen," answered Tom, with a
laugh at Ned. "Though that isn't saying such a machine couldn't be
invented."
"I believe you--that is if you got on its trail," returned Ned, and
there was warm admiration in his voice.
"As for inside baseball, or outside, for that matter, I hardly believe
I'd be able to tell third base from the second base, it's so long since
I went to a game," proceeded Tom. "I've been too busy on that new
airship stabilizer dad gave me an idea for. I've been working too
hard, that's a fact. I need a vacation, and maybe a good baseball
game----"
He stopped and looked at the magazine he had so hastily slapped down.
Something he had read in it seemed to fascinate him.
"I wonder if it can possibly be true," he went on. "It sounds like the
wildest dream of a professional sleep-walker; and yet, when I stop to
think, it isn't much worse than some of the things we've gone through
with, Ned."
"Say, for the love of rice-pudding! will you get down to brass tacks
and strike a trial balance? What are you talking of, anyhow? Is it a
joke?"
"A joke?"
"Yes. What you just read in that magazine which seems to cause you so
much excitement."
"Well, it may be a joke; and yet the professor seems very much in
earnest about it," replied Tom. "It certainly is one wonderful story!"
"So you said before. Come on--the 'fillium' is busted. Splice it, or
else put in a new reel and on with the show. I'd like to know what's
doing. What professor are you talking of?"
"Professor Swyington Bumper."
"Swyington Bumper?" and Ned's voice showed that his memory was a bit
hazy.
"Yes. You ought to remember him. He was on the steamer when I went
down to Peru to help the Titus Brothers dig the big tunnel. That
plotter Waddington, or some of his tools, dropped a bomb where it might
have done us some injury, but Professor Bumper, who was a fellow
passenger, on his way to South America to look for the lost city of
Pelone, calmly picked up the bomb, plucked out the fuse, and saved us
from bad injuries, if not death. And he was as cool about it as an
ice-cream cone. Surely you remember!"
"Swyington Bumper! Oh, yes, now I remember him," said Ned Newton. "But
what has he got to do with a wonderful story? Has he written more
about the lost city of Pelone? If he has I don't see anything so very
wonderful in that."
"There isn't," agreed Tom. "But this isn't that," and Tom picked up
the magazine and leafed it to find the article he had been reading.
"Let's have a look at it," suggested Ned. "You act as though you might
be vitally interested in it. Maybe you're thinking of joining forces
with the professor again, as you did when you dug the big tunnel."
"Oh, no. I haven't any such idea," Tom said. "I've got enough work
laid out now to keep me in Shopton for the next year. I have no notion
of going anywhere with Professor Bumper. Yet I can't help being
impressed by this," and, having found the article in the magazine to
which he referred, he handed it to his chum.
"Why, it's by Bumper himself!" exclaimed Ned.
"Yes. Though there's nothing remarkable in that, seeing that he is
constantly contributing articles to various publications or writing
books. It's the story itself that's so wonderful. To save you the
trouble of wading through a lot of scientific detail, which I know you
don't care about, I'll tell you that the story is about a queer idol of
solid gold, weighing many pounds, and, in consequence, of great value."
"Of solid gold you say?" asked Ned eagerly.
"That's it. Got on your banking air already," Tom laughed. "To sum it
up for you--notice I use the word 'sum,' which is very appropriate for
a bank--the professor has got on the track of another lost or hidden
city. This one, the name of which doesn't appear, is in the Copan
valley of Honduras, and----"
"Copan," interrupted Ned. "It sounds like the name of some new floor
varnish."
"Well, it isn't, though it might be," laughed Tom. "Copan is a city,
in the Department of Copan, near the boundary between Honduras and
Guatemala. A fact I learned from the article and not because I
remembered my geography."
"I was going to say," remarked Ned with a smile, "that you were coming
it rather strong on the school-book stuff."
"Oh, it's all plainly written down there," and Tom waved toward the
magazine at which Ned was looking. "As you'll see, if you take the
trouble to go through it, as I did, Copan is, or maybe was, for all I
know, one of the most important centers of the Mayan civilization."
"What's Mayan?" asked Ned. "You see I'm going to imbibe my information
by the deductive rather than the excavative process," he added with a
laugh.
"I see," laughed Tom. "Well, Mayan refers to the Mayas, an aboriginal
people of Yucatan. The Mayas had a peculiar civilization of their own,
thousands of years ago, and their calendar system was so involved----"
"Never mind about dates," again interrupted Ned. "Get down to brass
tacks. I'm willing to take your word for it that there's a Copan
valley in Honduras. But what has your friend Professor Bumper to do
with it?"
"This. He has come across some old manuscripts, or ancient document
records, referring to this valley, and they state, according to this
article he has written for the magazine, that somewhere in the valley
is a wonderful city, traces of which have been found twenty to forty
feet below the surface, on which great trees are growing, showing that
the city was covered hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago."
"But where does the idol of gold come in?"
"I'm coming to that," said Tom. "Though, if Professor Bumper has his
way, the idol will be coming out instead of coming in."
"You mean he wants to get it and take it away from the Copan valley,
Tom?"
"That's it, Ned. It has great value not only from the amount of pure
gold that is in it, but as an antique. I fancy the professor is more
interested in that aspect of it. But he's written a wonderful story,
telling how he happened to come across the ancient manuscripts in the
tomb of some old Indian whose mummy he unearthed on a trip to Central
America.
"Then he tells of the trouble he had in discovering how to solve the
key to the translation code; but when he did, he found a great story
unfolded to him.
"This story has to do with the hidden city, and tells of the ancient
civilization of those who lived in the Copan valley thousands of years
ago. The people held this idol of gold to be their greatest treasure,
and they put to death many of other tribes who sought to steal it."
"Whew!" whistled Ned. "That IS some yarn. But what is Professor
Bumper going to do about it?"
"I don't know. The article seems to be written with an idea of
interesting scientists and research societies, so that they will raise
money to conduct a searching expedition.
"Perhaps by this time the party may be organized--this magazine is
several months old. I have been so busy on my stabilizer patent that I
haven't kept up with current literature. Take it home and read it!
Ned. That is if you're through telling me about my affairs," for Ned,
who had formerly worked in the Shopton bank, had recently been made
general financial manager of the interests of Tom and his father. The
two were inventors and proverbially poor business men, though they had
amassed a fortune.
"Your financial affairs are all right, Tom," said Ned. "I have just
been going over the books, and I'll submit a detailed report later."
The telephone bell rang and Tom picked up the instrument from the desk.
As he answered in the usual way and then listened a moment, a strange
look came over his face.
"Well, this certainly is wonderful!" he exclaimed, in much the same
manner as when he had finished reading the article about the idol. "It
certainly is a strange coincidence," he added, speaking in an aside to
Ned while he himself still listened to what was being told to him over
the telephone wire.