A VIEW OF THE ENEMY.
"Where is he?" cried Bob.
"He must have gone down through a hole in the earth," said Ned. "I
didn't have my eyes off him three seconds. He didn't go down the road
or we would have seen him, and he couldn't have run into the bushes on
either side without making a great racket. He's a queer one."
"Just like the East Indian jugglers I've read about," put in Jerry.
"I think probably he was something on that order," agreed Professor
Snodgrass. "Strange how he should have known about the buried city, and
we have spoken to no one about it since we came to Mexico."
"Let's look and see if we can find a trace of him," suggested Bob.
The boys alighted from the car. They made a careful search around the
spot where the old man had sat. There was the circle he had drawn in the
dust, and the mark where the powder had burned, but not another trace of
the Mexican could they find. They looked behind trees and rocks, but
all they found was big toads and lizards that hopped and crawled away
as they approached. The professor annexed several of the reptiles for
specimens.
"How do you explain it all?" asked Jerry of the naturalist, when they
had taken their seats in the automobile again. "Have those men any
supernatural powers?"
"I do not believe they have," replied the professor. "They do some
things that are hard to explain, but they are sharp enough to do their
tricks under their own conditions, and they disappear before those who
can see them have gotten over their momentary surprise."
"The disappearing was the funny part of it," went on Jerry. "I can
understand how he made the smoke. A pinch of gunpowder would produce
that. But how did he dissolve himself into thin air?"
"He didn't," replied the naturalist. "I'll tell you how that was done.
It is a favorite trick in India. When he suddenly called to us to
look behind us he took advantage of our momentary glance away to hide
himself."
"But where?"
"Behind that big rock," and the naturalist pointed to a large one near
where the Mexican had been sitting.
"But we looked behind that," said Ned.
"Yes, several minutes after the disappearance," went on the professor,
with a laugh. "This was how he did it: He wore a long, gray cloak,
which, perhaps, you didn't notice. It was exactly the color of the stone
and was partly draped over it. It was there all the while he was doing
his trick. I saw it, but thought nothing of it at the time. Now, when he
had finished the hocus-pocus, and when our heads were turned, he just
rolled himself up into a ball and got under the cloak by the stone. Of
course, it looked as if he had dropped down through the earth."
"But how about him getting away so completely that our search didn't
reveal him?" asked Jerry.
"I think he waited a while and then, when he heard us getting out of the
automobile he took advantage of the confusion to crawl, still under his
cloak, into the bushes, perhaps by a path he alone knew. There really is
no mystery to it."
"How about him telling us we were searching for the buried city?" asked
Bob. "Wasn't that mind-reading?"
"I think he knew that part of it," said the professor, "though it seemed
strange to me at first. You must remember that the object of our trip
was pretty freely talked of back in the gold camp. Some one may have
come here from there before we started, and, in some manner, this old
Mexican may have heard of us. He may even have been waiting for us. No;
it looks queer when it happens, but reasoned out, it is natural enough.
However, I am glad to know we are on the right road and will find what
we are searching for, though the old man may be mistaken."
"Shall we go forward again?" asked Jerry, resuming his place at the
steering wheel.
"Forward it is!" cried Ned. "Ho, for the buried city!"
Once more the auto puffed along the forest road. It was warm with the
heat of the tropics, and the boys were soon glad to take off their
coats and collars. Even with the breeze created by the movement of the
machine, it was oppressive.
"I say, when are we going to eat?" asked Bob. "I know it's long past
noon."
"Wrong for once, Chunky," answered Ned, looking at his watch. "It's only
eleven o'clock."
"Well, here's a good place to stop and eat, anyhow," went on the stout
lad, to whom eating never came amiss.
"All right, we'll camp," put in Jerry, bringing the machine to a stop.
It was rather pleasant in the shade of the forest in spite of the heat,
and the boys enjoyed it very much. The gasolene stove was lighted
and Ned made some chocolate, for, since their advent into Mexico the
travelers had come to like this beverage, which almost every one down
in that country drinks. With this and some frijoles and cold chicken
brought from the inn, they made a good meal.
"I'm going to hunt for some specimens," announced the professor. "You
boys can rest here for an hour or so."
With his green collecting box and his butterfly net the naturalist
disappeared along a path that led through the forest.
"I suppose he'll come back with a blue-nosed baboon or a flat-headed
gila monster," said Ned. "He does find the queerest things."
It was almost an hour later, when the boys were wondering what had
become of the naturalist, that they heard faint shouts in the direction
he had taken.
"Hurry, boys!" the professor's voice called. "Hurry! Help! help! I'm
caught!"
"He's in trouble again!" exclaimed Ned. "We must go to his rescue!"
"Have you got your revolver?" asked Jerry, as Ned was about to rush away.
"No; it's in the auto."
"Better get it. I'll take a rifle along. Bob, you bring the rope. No
telling what has happened, and we may need all three."
With rifle, revolver and rope the three boys rushed into the forest to
the rescue of their friend. They could hear his shouts more plainly now.
"Hurry or he'll kill me!" cried the professor.
Running at top speed the boys emerged into a sort of clearing. There
they saw a sight that filled them with terror.
Professor Snodgrass was standing underneath a tree, from one of the
lower branches of which a big snake had dropped its sinuous folds about
him. The reptile was slowly winding its coils about the unfortunate man,
tightening and tightening them. Its ugly head was within a few feet of
the professor's face, and the man was striking at the snake with the
butterfly net.
"We're coming! We'll save you!" shouted Jerry.
The boy started to run close to the naturalist, intending to get near
enough to fire at the snake's head without danger of hitting the
professor.
"Look out!" yelled Bob, pointing to the ground in front of the tree.
"There's another of the reptiles!"
As he spoke a second snake reared its head from the grass, right in the
path Jerry would have taken. Bob had warned him just in time.
Jerry dropped to one knee. He took quick but careful aim at the snake on
the ground and fired. The reptile thrashed about in a death struggle,
for the bullet had crashed through its head.
"Now for the other one!" cried Jerry.
He ran in close to the reptile that was slowly crushing the professor to
death. The unfortunate naturalist could no longer cry for help, so weak
was he.
Jerry placed the muzzle of the rifle close to the snake's head, and
pulled the trigger. The ugly folds relaxed, the long, sinuous body
straightened out and the professor would have fallen had not Jerry,
dropping his gun, caught him. The other boys came to his aid, and they
carried the naturalist to one side and placed him on the grass.
Bringing water from a nearby spring, Bob soon restored the professor to
his senses.
"I'm all right," said the collector in a few minutes. "The breath was
about squeezed out of me, though."
"You had a narrow escape," said Ned.
"Thanks to you boys, it ended fortunately," said the naturalist. "You
see, I was trying to capture a new kind of tree-toad, and I didn't see
the snake until it had me in its folds. I'll be more careful next time."
In a little while the professor was able to walk. Jerry recovered his
gun and the whole party made their way back to the auto.
The camp utensils were soon packed up and the journey was resumed.
"I wonder what sort of an inn we'll stop at to-night?" said Bob. "I
hope they don't have any robbers."
"We won't run any chances," spoke Ned. "We'll post a guard."
For several hours the auto chugged along. As it came to the top of a
hill the boys saw below them quite a good-sized village.
"There's where we'll spend the night," remarked Jerry. "Hello! What's
that?" and he pointed to some object round a turn of the road, just
ahead of them.
"It looks like an automobile," said the professor.
"It is!" cried Ned. "And Noddy Nixon is in it!"