John Henry Goldfrap

“ Joe, rejoicing as much as Nat, followed the young leader of the Motor Rangers. As they advanced the air blew upon them cleaner and sweeter every instant. Both lads inhaled it in great lungfuls. It seemed as if they could never get enough of it after that oven-like chamber of the sun.
“I wonder what part of the city we’ll come out in,” said Nat presently.
“Near the camp, I hope. How astonished the others will be when we tell them of what has happened to us! I’ll bet they’ve had a tame time compared to ours.” ”

“ The lens, in fact, was nothing more nor less than an immense burning-glass designed to shrivel up the victims of the ancient priesthood. How little those who invented such a cruelly ingenious device could have imagined that a boy of the twentieth century would ever be in danger of losing his life by it! Yet such was the case and neither Nat nor Joe could conceal the fact from themselves an instant longer.
“Can’t you think of anything? Don’t you think you could climb up just a foot or two?” asked Joe, despairingly. ”

“ Behind the professor came the others, except Matco, who was sent into a fresh paroxysm of fright by the strange and sudden upward leap of the airship.
“Good heavens!” cried the professor, as he jerked over the descending lever, “we have risen to a height of more than eight thousand feet.”
As he spoke they suddenly noticed that the air had grown bitterly chill.
“Just like Joe to make a break like that,” said Nat, with a good-natured laugh that took the sting out of his speech; “we’d better get down to earth once more as quickly as possible. It’s too cold to be comfortable up here.” ”

“ He gripped his axe more tightly, but the sense of the mystery surrounding the beings who were approaching made him catch his breath in agitation. He felt as if he were in some nightmare.
“Mind! Don’t make a hostile move unless they attack us first,” warned Nat in an impressive whisper.
The next instant a high-pitched voice came booming down the tunnel.
“S-s-s-s-say this bub-bub-beats the Sub-ub-ub-ubway!”
“Jumping hop-toads! That’s Ding-dong Bell!” cried Joe, dashing down his hammer.
“And the professor!” cried Nat as another familiar voice came toward them.
“And Mr. Tubbs! What on earth!” ”

“ No one on board had any desire to repeat that flight to the chilly regions of the upper air. As Ding-dong put it, “N-n-n-no more on my per-per-plate, thank you.”
“Do you think we shall sight the city to-day?” inquired Nat, as he and the professor stood on deck, just below, and in front of, the pilot house.
“Impossible to say, my lad,” was the rejoinder. “As I told you, the directions to reach it are vague in the extreme. We may have to cruise about for several days before we satisfy ourselves of its existence or non-existence.” ”

“ But the rigging held tightly, and dawn found the disturbance almost at an end. It was a shaken, white-faced crew that regarded one another in the gray light. The night had been one to try the nerves of a man of iron, and the Motor Rangers were only youths.
However, the storm died out almost as swiftly as it had come, and breakfast and hot coffee heartened them wonderfully. Even old Matco plucked up his spirits, although, during the night, he was certain that they were bound to perish in the anger of the old gods of his country. ”

“ They obeyed the command, and then Nat saw the queer gun brought into use. The professor raised it to his shoulder and pulled the trigger.
Instantly a stream of colored balls, like those that issue from a Roman candle, poured from the bell-like muzzle. But almost simultaneously with their discharge, they burst with sharp reports, and the whole air became impregnated with a black, all-obscuring smoke as thick as a London fog.
The dense clouds spread on every side, completely obscuring the dirigible from the view of the Indians below. ”

“ Nat and Joe worked with a will. Suddenly the craft bounded upward, almost throwing them off. Hastily they cast off the final sacks, while Ding-dong, his face pale with excitement, stood by his engines.
Clang-clang! came from the gong at his elbow.
The lad’s hand shoved over the starting lever that gave the engines their first impulse by means of compressed air. Then he manipulated the sparking and gas controls.
The mighty propeller began to beat the air as the Discoverer soared buoyantly, and yet in stately fashion, high above the houses and tree-tops.
“Hurray! We’re off!” ”

“ As they died out, Matco appeared at the door of the cabin, and gazed at the scene a moment. Then seeing that Nat was the idol of the moment the Indian ran nimbly along the swaying deck and throwing himself on his knees, placed Nat’s foot on his head.
It was the last straw.
“Say, fellows!” cried Nat with a red face, “that’s about all of this hero business. Let’s have some breakfast and get the engine going.”
And so, what might have been a tragedy, ended in one of the merriest meals ever enjoyed by aerial travelers. ”

“ The vengeance!” cried old Matco in Spanish, bursting into the cabin.
“Switch on the lights,” ordered the professor.
Joe sprang into the pilot house and threw the switch. A blaze of light illumined the aircraft. It showed a strange scene in her cabin. Half-dressed, and wholly bewildered, the adventurers were being thrown about like so many ninepins. The substructure of the Discoverer shook like an ague-stricken human being, as the earth beneath her rocked and rumbled.
Nat and Joe, the most self-possessed of any on board, sprang out upon the decks. ”

“ The boys flashed their lights about among the pile of mouldering relics and machinery of the ancient priests. Suddenly Nat gave a shout of triumph.
“What do you make of this?”
“This” was a huge chest, the lid of which, bound and embossed with dully glittering metal, was open. It was full of various articles, some of which gleamed and flashed with gems. Nat plunged in his hand and drew out a golden breastplate. Joe followed this discovery by drawing forth a cup of what seemed to be pure turquoise. ”

“ The creatures were vicious to a degree; in fact, Manuello used them in fighting, the scene of the brutal sport being the pit in which Nat now lay.
“Humph!” said Captain Lawless, as he regarded the two dogs, “those fellows are better than human guards. If that boy ever escapes from them, he’ll be——”
“Look out!” yelled Durkee suddenly.
An astonishing thing had happened. Nat’s limp form had suddenly galvanized into aggressive, fighting life.
He sprang erect like a flash, and in one bound was out of the pit. Another instant, and his fist was crashing into Lawless’s face. ”

“ He paused for an instant, and Nat swung the Nomad’s bow around a trifle more to the south.
“Have you no plans for further adventurous cruises or auto trips?” pursued the man of science.
Nat laughed.
“I guess we’ve had our fill of adventure for a time,” he said; “that cleft between the volcanic islands nearly proved our Waterloo.”
“Nonsense; such lads as you could not live without adventure,” admonished the professor, making a frantic grab at his hat, as a vagrant wind gave it a puff that set it rakishly sidewise above one ear. ”

“ I can never think of that one that almost got poor Ding-dong without a shudder.”
“Well, let’s push on. This place seems to have a sort of dome for a roof.”
As he spoke, Nat flashed his light up till its beam of radiance showed a finely modeled but low dome above them. As the light fell on the concave structure, the lad gave a cry.
“Look, Joe! Look!”
“What? Where?”
“Up there, right above us!”
“Why, it’s a huge silver moon embossed on the dome!”
“That’s what it is. There is almost as much silver there as there is gold on the sacred dome. Those old fellows were not sparing with precious metals.” ”

“ In fact, Ding-dong Bell observed that he had never felt so hungry in all his life before.
After the meal was concluded, the motors of the craft were slowed down a bit, so as to economize on gasolene as much as possible. The fact that the westerly wind had increased made it possible to slow the engine down and still make good progress.
“I wonder what they think of us down below there?” said Joe, as he stood by Nat’s side, leaning over the forward deck-rail and watching the dwarfed figures of the inhabitants of a village above which they were passing, scurrying to and fro like ants. ”

“ The professor smiled.
“From what we have been able to learn,” he said, “earthquakes have destroyed the roads formerly used, and there is no way of reaching the lake by land——”
“Then—then——” stammered Ding-dong helplessly.
“One must fly to them,” said the professor as calmly as if he were in a class-room. “Thanks to modern science, I believe it may be possible at last to obtain pictures and priceless relics of that forgotten civilization.”
“But where are you going to get an airship?” asked Nat, when he had recovered his breath. ”

“ A dazzling white pencil of light swept all about the Discoverer. Its brilliancy pierced the night like a saber, and illumined the solemn trees and the open savannah all about.
At almost precisely the same instant, a chorus of ferocious yells and cries broke out, and from all sides there rushed on the aerial adventurers a horde of short-statured Indians. The searchlight showed them to be wild-looking men, clothed in a single garment, their heads covered with straight black hair. ”

“ Like a thunderbolt the purpose of the pit and the reason of the crystal lens burst upon Joe.
The ancient dwellers of the Lost City had been Sun Worshippers. This chamber was a sacrificial one and the priests of the vanished race had offered up their victims’ lives by literally dedicating them to the Sun gods. As this alarming truth broke upon Joe a faint cry came from Nat, down in the pit.
“Joe, for gracious sake, do something to get me out of here! The sun is striking down into the pit. It is fearfully hot. If you don’t get me out soon I’ll be baked alive.” ”

“ Nat, battling with the sharp, angry waves, as choppy and angular as giant fangs, had all he could do without struggling with Joe. Again and again he tried to break the other’s grip, but without avail. The hold of a drowning man or boy is the most tenacious known. It is almost impossible to loosen it. ”

“ Mr. Tubbs, at the wheel, the least affected of the adventurers, turned his head.
“What are you doing to do?” he demanded.
“Get that valve open,” was the brief reply.
“Boy, you are crazy!”
“Maybe, but I’m going to make a try for it, anyhow. All our lives depend upon it.”
“By hooky, if it’s to be done, you’ll do it, and if not, why then, I guess we’ll have to meet death as bravely as we can,” was Mr. Tubbs’ muttered remark, as Nat plunged out of the door.
In the cabin Ding-dong, breathing hard, lay on a narrow bunk. Matco was stretched on the floor, apparently unconscious. ”

“ The professor was the first to speak.
“A miracle has happened,” he declared. “The Discoverer is out of danger.”
“The barograph shows twenty-five hundred feet,” announced Joe, who had been studying that instrument.
“Where are the others?” asked Mr. Tubbs, rising rather weakly to his feet.
As if in answer to his question, Ding-dong Bell appeared in the doorway between the pilot-house and the main cabin.
“Where’s Nat?” he demanded.
“Isn’t he out there with you?” asked Joe, with a quick leap of his heart.
“No. The only person out there is Matco. He’s so scared that he’s under the ber-ber-bunk.” ”

“ It is a scheme involving danger, excitement and rich rewards.”
He paused impressively. In spite of himself, Nat’s eyes began to dance, his pulse to beat a bit faster. Adventure was as the breath of life to the young leader of the Motor Rangers, and, to tell the truth, he had faced the prospect of a life of inactivity with mixed feelings. ”

“ Now, however, he opened his eyes, and threw himself down flat on his face on the Discoverer’s deck. There he groveled in an attitude of the most complete humility.
“He thinks we are sky gods, or demons of some sort,” declared the professor, reading the man’s consternation aright.
“I don’t much blame him,” said Nat, with a smile, “that ride through the air at the end of the rope must have been the most terrifying experience of his young life.”
“Young life,” scoffed Joe, “he must be sixty at least.” ”

“ We have run short of water. Can’t those kids let us have some?”
“You’ll have to ask ‘those kids,’ as you call them,” said the professor, with some disgust.
“How much do you want?” asked Nat, who felt less and less liking for the captain of the Tropic Bird.
“Oh, a few gallons will do. I know an island not more than a day’s sail from here, where I can refill my tanks.”
At this point, another man—a short, stout fellow, like the captain—came bustling up.
“Hullo, there, professor!” he hailed in an impudent voice. “So you came out all right, after all. Are you coming on board?” ”