Clarence Young

“ The Mexican glanced at the auto which, with throbbing breath, as the engine still continued to vibrate, seemed to fill him with terror. Suddenly he dropped to his knees and began to pray.
“Be not afraid,” Professor Snodgrass called to him, speaking in the Spanish language. “We are but poor travelers like yourself. We will not harm you.”
“Whence do you come in your chariot of fire?” asked the old man. “Ye are demons and no true men!”
“We will not hurt you,” said the naturalist, again. “See, we bring you gifts,” and he held out to the Mexican a package of tobacco and a small hand-mirror. ”

“ But the professor was wrong in his surmise that they were the only inhabitants of the underground city. No sooner had a series of snores proclaimed that every one was sleeping than from a dark recess on the opposite side of the temple to that where the automobile stood there came a strange figure, clad in white. If Bob had seen it he surely would have said it was a ghost.
“So you found my ancient city after all,” whispered the figure. “You know now that the Mexican magician was telling the truth, and you realize that you found the place sooner than you expected, and in a strange manner. ”

“ As they looked there came a shower of others through the air. Several of them hit on the rock, broke, and a shower of white scattered all about.
“What in the world are they?” asked Bob.
He ran toward the professor. No sooner had he emerged out of the dense forest into the clearing than a regular hail of the round objects fell all about him. One struck him on the shoulder and the boy was glad enough to retreat.
“What’s it all about?” asked Ned.
“The monkeys are bombarding the professor with cocoanuts,” said Bob, gasping for breath after his run. ”

“ It was dark when they reached the ancient place of worship where the auto had been left, and at Jerry’s suggestion Bob lighted the search-lamp and the other two lights on the machine. This made a brilliant circle of illumination in one place, but threw the rest of the temple into a dense blackness.
“I wouldn’t want to be here all alone,” remarked Bob, looking about and shuddering a bit.
“Why, Chunky? Afraid of ghosts?” asked Ned.
“What was that?” exclaimed Bob, suddenly, starting at a noise.
“A bat,” replied the naturalist. “The place is full of them. I must get some for specimens.” ”

“ I don’t see any telegraph station, and there’s not a messenger boy in sight.”
“That’s funny,” said Ned. “You’d think a buried city, a dead one, so to speak, would be just the place where a district messenger would like to come to rest.”
“It’s a lonesome place here,” remarked Bob. “I hope we’ll find some one to talk to.”
“That’s just the beauty of the place,” said the professor. “What good would an ancient, ruined, buried city be if people were living in it? I hope there isn’t a soul here but ourselves.”
“I guess you’ll get your desire, all right,” remarked Jerry. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Not a man must escape!” cried the captain.
“Charge!” yelled Vasco Bilette, trying to urge his men to make a rush and overwhelm the soldiers. “Charge and the day is won!”
With a shout, his men prepared to obey his command.
“Now is your chance!” whispered the brigand leader to Noddy. “Away with Bob!”
Noddy headed the machine, containing the bound captive, off to one side.
“There he goes!” Jerry shouted, catching sight of the movement. “We must take after him, Ned. Noddy has Bob with him.” ”

“ Jerry yelled to Ned and the professor. “Then hold on tight!”
“I’ll pay you for this!” exclaimed Vasco, fiercely. He leaned over the edge of the car and made a vicious lunge at Jerry with a long knife. Jerry swerved his machine the least bit and avoided the blow.
The next instant the autos came together with a crash. The shock threw Vasco out, for he was already leaning more than half way over the side door, in an endeavor to strike at Jerry. The wheels of the heavy machine passed over his legs, making him a cripple for life. ”

“ With that, Vasco’s followers had to be content. As Dalsett had said, Noddy and his cronies, after groping about in the dark tunnel for some time, had finally discovered the door by which the boys and the professor had entered the ancient city. They had pushed it open and come face to face with our friends.
“Bah!” exclaimed one of the Mexicans. “It is always to-morrow and to-morrow in this business. Let us fight them! Let us get the captive and let us share the ransom.”
“We’ll do the trick to-night, sure,” promised Vasco. “To-night, positively, we will kidnap Bob.” ”

“ Don’t you worry about knowing the place when you get to it.”
“But if it’s underground, how are we going to find it?” persisted Bob. “It isn’t like a mine, for people who know the signs can tell where gold or silver is hidden under the ground. But a city is different.”
“I confess that question has been a puzzle to me,” admitted Professor Snodgrass. “The only thing to do is to keep on along this road until we come to the place, or see some evidence that a buried city is in the vicinity.”
“Forward, then!” cried Jerry, cranking up the auto. ”

“ Diablo! I am taking my meal on my house-boat. I smoke my cigarette, and am thankful that I am not out in the storm. Presto! There comes a crash like unto that the end of the world is nigh! I rise! I run! I fire my revolver, thinking it may be robbers! My Americano manager he calls out! Now, if you please, what is it all about?”
“The storm got the best of the ferryboat,” said Jerry. “My friends and myself, including Professor Uriah Snodgrass, of whom you may have heard, for he is a great scientist——”
“I salute the professor,” interrupted Don Alvarzo, bowing to the naturalist. ”

“ But the sight of armed men was no new one to the boys since their experience in the mining camp, and they had come to know that the chap who made the biggest display of an arsenal was usually the one who was the biggest coward, seldom having use for a gun or a knife.
“All ready?” growled the ferryman.
“All ready,” called Jerry. He and the other boys, with the professor, had alighted from the auto and stood beside it on the flat boat. ”

“ The whole place is yours.”
“Will you guarantee that there are no robbers?” asked Jerry.
“Robbers, señors? Not one of the rascals within a thousand miles!”
“And will my bugs, snakes and specimens be safe?” asked the professor.
“Bugs and snakes! Santa Maria! What do you want of such reptiles? Of course they will be safe. The most wretched thief, of which there are none here, would not so much as lay a finger on them.”
“Then we will stay,” said the naturalist.
“Out of the way, dogs, cattle, swine, pigs and beasts!” cried the innkeeper, brushing the crowd aside. “Let the noble señors enter!” ”

“ We leave the city and we travel for days through the wilderness. We are told we are to get great riches. Santa Maria! Is this money? Is this gold or silver? The crazy Americanos talk of nothing but lost cities. What care I for lost cities? What care any of us for lost cities? I hate lost cities!”
“And I! And I!” exclaimed his companions, in whispers.
“And this fellow, Noddy Nixon, is to blame for it all!” went on the angry Mexican. “He gets us all to come out here. We follow the crazy Americano who does nothing but grab bugs and toads. He is man to be afraid of! ”

“ The forest fairly teemed with animal life, while the flitting of brilliantly colored birds through the trees made the woods look as if a rainbow had burst and fallen from the sky. Parrots and macaws, gay in their vari-tinted plumage, called shrilly as the puffing auto invaded their domains.
It was necessary to run the car slowly. The professor fretted at the lack of speed, but nothing could be done about it, and, as Jerry said, it was better to be slow and sure. ”

“ He followed the trail, and came to the place where, a short time before, Professor Snodgrass had battled with the cocoanut-throwing monkeys.
“Looks as if some one was going to start in the wholesale business,” went on the Mexican, glancing at the pile of nuts the simians had piled up.
“Do you think we are close to them?” asked Noddy, for, since the experience of the afternoon, he was anxious to get the kidnapping over, and be rid of the Mexicans.
“They have been here very recently,” said Vasco.
“How can you tell?” asked Noddy. ”

“ That night the adventurers spent in a little town in New Mexico. Their arrival created no little excitement, as it was the first time an auto had been in that section. Such a crowd of miners and cowboys surrounded the machine that Jerry, who was steering, had to shut off the power in a hurry to avoid running one man down. ”

“ Three days ago my pony died and I walked the rest of the distance.”
“Poor girl! You must be almost tired to death,” said the professor.
“I was tired, but it is happiness to find you, señors, for I know you will go and help Señor Bob.”
“Of course we will, right away,” said the naturalist.
“She seems to have taken a sudden liking to our friend Bob,” commented Ned. “She’s a mighty pretty girl, too; don’t you think so, Jerry?”
“Be careful,” laughed Jerry. “Don’t go to having any love affairs with beautiful Mexican maidens. I have read that they are a very jealous and quick-tempered nation. ”

“ She gave Bob a long, dark serape, and produced one for herself. Little time was lost. Led by Maximina, Bob passed out into the dark corridor, down the stairs and through the courtyard, out of the house, under the silent stars that twinkled in the sky.
“This way!” whispered the girl. “We ride ponies. No one here, we take horses. Where you live?” ”

“ Noddy speeded up the car, under Vasco’s directions. Faster and faster it raced, the searchlight throwing out a glaring beam far in advance.
Meanwhile, Bob and Maximina were making all speed possible. Every now and then the girl would halt her pony and listen intently.
“They no come yet,” she would say. “No can hear horses comin’ after us. We get ’way maybe.”
Bob certainly hoped so. His experience as a captive was not such as to cause him to like the rôle, and he longed to be with his friends, who, he knew, must be greatly alarmed about him. ”

“ The tricks are nothing to what I have seen in Egypt and India.”
“Perhaps there is nothing wonderful but in India or Egypt,” spoke a voice at the professor’s elbow. He turned with a start, to see the old magician standing near him. The naturalist had not spoken aloud, yet it seemed that the Mexican had heard him.
“There are stranger things in this land than in Egypt,” went on the trickster. “Buried cities are stranger. Buried cities, where there is much gold to be had and great riches.” ”

“ If only Ned would awake, Jerry thought, for Ned, he knew, had his revolver ready in his hand.
With a yank the thief took off Jerry’s belt containing the money.
“Lie still or you die!” the fellow exclaimed.
Then he moved over to where Ned reclined on the bed. Jerry could see more plainly now, for the storm had ceased, the moon had risen and a stray beam came in the side window of the house-boat. The robber stretched out his hand to Ned’s waist. He was about to reach under the coat and unbuckle the money-belt, when Ned suddenly sat upright. ”