At the Boiling Lake
As Jack felt the swirling waters closing over him, he made greater effort
to keep on the surface.
His gallant pony was struggling furiously for the same purpose, but the
power pulling them down was irresistible.
A continual roaring filled his ears, and it seemed as if he was being
drawn into some infernal region.
In spite of all he could do he was carried downward, until suddenly he
felt a terrible shock, as if he had been hurled against some stony
surface, and the next he knew he was floating on the water near the north
end of the lake, which was then quite tranquil. He had no difficulty in
swimming to the nearest point of land.
Scrambling up the precipitous bank he was glad to sink upon the ground for
rest.
He was wondering if his pony had perished, when he was gladdened by the
sight of the animal on the opposite side of the lake.
Before going to the horse Jack resolved to try to swim out to the island,
and as the water had now assumed the calmness which had prevailed at the
time he had first seen it, he did not think of further trouble. He had
received some bruises from his recent experience, but beyond them he felt
little the worse for his adventure.
Removing his outer garments, so as to give greater freedom to his
movements, he stepped down to the edge of the dark flood, which was filled
with the fine particles of earth it had swallowed.
As calm as the water was then, he had barely touched it with one foot
before a shriek, which rang in his ears for a long time afterwards, rang
high and far, cut short in its midst by a fearful rush of the aroused
flood, and a column was suddenly thrown into the air to the height of a
hundred feet!
It was such a terrific, appalling outburst that he hastily clambered back
upon the bank, to watch the strange sight. For fully two minutes the
waterspout quivered and vibrated in the air, when it collapsed as abruptly
as it had appeared.
The water of the lake continued to boil for five minutes, when it began to
subside, though bearing traces of agitation for five minutes longer,
during which Jack watched it with intense interest.
Still undaunted by this marvelous display, Jack resolved to try a third
time to reach the island, selecting a more favorable place for his descent
into the water this time.
As no outbreak had immediately followed his entrance into the lake this
time, he was beginning to think that the strange phenomenon was over. But
he was soon to be undeceived.
All at once, without warning, a dozen columns of water sprang upward,
threatening for a moment to drain the lake dry, and among these rushing,
writhing pillars Jack was borne into the air.
When the powers subsided he fell back with such a force as to render him
almost senseless. The lake was still churned and convulsed by the mighty
agency controlling it, and he had a hard fight to reach the shore, where
he lay completely exhausted.
Slowly recovering his strength he finally sat up and began to wring the
water out of his clothes, deciding to leave the place as soon as he felt
able. The water was calm then; though a short time before it had been
tossed and whipped into fury by the mysterious element controlling it.
"Were the whole Incas treasure buried on that island it would be safe from
the hand of the despoiler," he said, speaking aloud his thoughts. "But I
do not understand it. I am willing to wager that this is the same valley I
saw when I was this way before, though it was as dry as a palm leaf then.
How calm it is now, but I suppose if I should dare to enter its sacred
precinct it would begin again its fearful convulsions."
As he finished speaking, Jack picked up a small stone and tossed it into
the lake. No sooner had it disappeared beneath its dark surface than
another column of water shot upward with a sort of hissing that was
terrific, and in a moment the whole body was once more undergoing a series
of spasms frightful to behold.
Watching it until the outbreak was over, Jack lost no further time in
seeking the pony. Then he began to climb the hillside leading from the
place.
Upon the crest he paused for a last look, saying:
"It is calm enough now. Sometime I will come again, for I will know its
secret if I die for it. There is and must be a natural explanation for all
this."
Finding Plum Plucky waiting anxiously for him at the expected place of
meeting, Jack led the way toward civilization, having come to the
conclusion to close the trade on one of the nitrate beds he had seen and
begin operations as soon as possible.
He said nothing to his companion of his experience in the valley of
mystery, partly because the stirring scenes immediately following caused
him to put it in the background of his memory for a while.
He was the more anxious to get his first cargo of nitrate off as the war
cloud was deepening fast, and not only was Peru and Chili at a state of
bitter antagonism, but Bolivia was threatening to mix in the trouble. A
three-cornered war, with Southern Peru for its battleground, was anything
but what he desired to see.
The next day he bought his first nitrate bed, paying for it forty
pistoles, which was considerably more than he had expected, but it was
large, and if his plans only worked he believed there was a small fortune
in it.
He then hired oxen enough to make two six-ox teams, with suitable wagons
to draw the nitrate on, and he engaged the services of half a dozen
Peruvians to help in the work of getting out the first loads.
As the bed lay remote from the few beaten paths of the thinly populated
country, it would involve considerable hard work and time to get passable
roads cut through, so as to be able to draw loads of any size.
"By gosh!" drawled Plum Plucky, as they set out on their work, "I'm going
to stand by yeou; but yeou may hang my hat on a scare-crow if I don't
think yeou'll blow yerself dry."
"By that I suppose you mean that I shall lose all I am putting into my
venture," said Jack, good-naturedly.
"That's just what I mean. I'll bet yeou have got about every dollar yeou
have into it now."
"I have figured up that I shall have about twenty pounds left when I have
paid off my help."
"Say, Jack! I'd like to be there when you get in with yer first load of
dirt and see 'em laugh. Don't s'pose yeou have any dirt in the teown yeou
come from."
"Not dirt that is pure nitrate of soda, and possessing the highest
qualities for fertilization of any known compound. Hello! what is up now?"