TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS(汤姆·史威夫特_奇境)

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TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

TOM SWIFT IN THE

LAND OF WONDERS

BY VICTOR APPLETON

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."

TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

"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

TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

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

TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

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 man- ager 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

TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

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.

TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

CHAPTER II

PROFESSOR BUMPER ARRIVES

"What's the matter, Tom? What is it?" asked Ned Newton, attracted

by the strange manner of his chum at the telephone. "Has anything

happened?"

But the young inventor was too busy listening to the unseen speaker to

answer his chum, even if he heard what Ned remarked, which is doubtful.

"Well, I might as well wait until he is through," mused Ned, as he

started to leave the room. Then as Tom motioned to him to remain, he

murmured: "He may have something to say to me later. But I wonder

who is talking to him."

There was no way of finding out, however, until Tom had a chance to

talk to Ned, and at present the young scientist was eagerly listening to

what came over the wire. Occasionally Ned could hear him say:

"You don't tell me! That is surprising! Yes --yes! Of course if it's true it

means a big thing, I can understand that. What's that? No, I couldn't

make a promise like that. I'm sorry, but----"

Then the person at the other end of the wire must have plunged into

something very interesting and absorbing, for Tom did not again interrupt

by interjected remarks.

Tom. Swift, as has been said, was an inventor, as was his father.

Mr. Swift was now rather old and feeble, taking only a nominal part in the

activities of the firm made up of himself and his son. But his inventions

were still used, many of them being vital to the business and trade of this

country.

Tom and his father lived in the village of Shopton, New York, and

their factories covered many acres of ground. Those who wish to read of

the earliest activities of Tom in the inventive line are referred to the initial

volume, "Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle." From then on he and his

father had many and exciting adventures. In a motor boat, an airship, and a

submarine respectively the young inventor had gone through many perils.

On some of the trips his chum, Ned Newton, accompanied him, and very

often in the party was a Mr. Wakefield Damon, who had a curious habit of

TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

"blessing" everything that happened to strike his fancy.

Besides Tom and his father, the Swift household was made up of

Eradicate Sampson, a colored man-of-all-work, who, with his mule

Boomerang, did what he could to keep the grounds around the house in

order. There was also Mrs. Baggert, the housekeeper, Tom's mother

being dead. Mr. Damon, living in a neighboring town, was a frequent

visitor in the Swift home.

Mary Nestor, a girl of Shopton, might also be mentioned. She and

Tom were more than just good friends. Tom had an idea that some day---

-. But there, I promised not to tell that part, at least until the young

people themselves were ready to have a certain fact announced.

From one activity to another had Tom Swift gone, now constructing

some important invention for himself, as among others, when he made the

photo-telephone, or developed a great searchlight which he presented to

the Government for use in detecting smugglers on the border.

The book immediately preceding this is called "Tom Swift and His Bit,

Tunnel," and deals with the efforts of the young inventor to help a firm of

contractors penetrate a mountain in Peru. How this was done and how,

incidental- ly, the lost city of Pelone was discovered, bringing joy to the

heart of Professor Swyington Bumper, will be found fully set forth in the

book.

Tom had been back from the Peru trip for some months, when we

again find him interested in some of the work of Professor Bumper, as set

forth in the magazine mentioned.

"Well, he certainly is having some conversation," reflected Ned, as,

after more than five minutes, Tom's ear was still at the receiver of the

instrument, into the transmitter of which he had said only a few words.

"All right," Tom finally answered, as he hung the receiver up, "I'll be

here," and then he turned to Ned, whose curiosity had been growing with

the telephone talk, and remarked:

"That certainly was wonderful!"

"What was?" asked Ned. "Do you think I'm a mind reader to be able

to guess?"

"No, indeed! I beg your pardon. I'll tell you at once. But I couldn't

TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

break away. It was too important. To whom do you think I was talking

just then?"

"I can imagine almost any one, seeing I know something of what you

have done. It might be almost anybody from some person you met up in

the caves of ice to a red pygmy from the wilds of Africa."

"I'm afraid neither of them would be quite up to telephone talk yet,"

laughed Tom. "No, this was the gentleman who wrote that interesting

article about the idol of gold," and he motioned to the magazine Ned held

in his hand.

"You don't mean Professor Bumper!"

"That's just whom I do mean."

"What did he want? Where did he call from?"

"He wants me to help organize an expedition to go to Central America-

-to the Copan valley, to be exact--to look for this somewhat mythical idol

of gold. Incidentally the professor will gather in any other antiques of

more or less value, if he can find any, and he hopes, even if he doesn't find

the idol, to get enough historical material for half a dozen books, to say

nothing of magazine articles."

"Where did he call from; did you say?"

"I didn't say. But it was a long-distance call from New York. The

Professor stopped off there on his way from Boston, where he has been

lecturing before some society. And now he's coming here to see me,"

finished Tom.

"What! Is he going to lecture here?" cried Ned. "If he is, and spouts a

whole lot of that bone-dry stuff about the ancient Mayan civilization and

their antiquities, with side lights on how the old-time Indians used to scalp

their enemies, I'm going to the moving pictures! I'm willing to be your

financial manager, Tom Swift, but please don't ask me to be a high-brow.

I wasn't built for that."

"Nor I, Ned. The professor isn't going to lecture. He's only going to

talk, he says."

"What about?"

"He's going to try to induce me to join his expedition to the Copan

valley."

TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

"Do you feel inclined to go?"

"No, Ned, I do not. I've got too many other irons in the fire. I shall

have to give the professor a polite but firm refusal."

"Well, maybe you're right, Tom; and yet that idol of gold--GOLD--

weighing how many pounds did you say?"

"Oh, you're thinking of its money value, Ned, old man!"

"Yes, I'd like to see what a big chunk of gold like that would bring. It

must be quite a nugget. But I'm not likely to get a glimpse of it if you don't

go with the professor."

"I don't see how I can go, Ned. But come over and meet the

delightful gentleman when he arrives. I expect him day after to-

morrow."

"I'll be here," promised Ned; and then he went downtown to attend to

some matters con- nected with his new duties, which were much less

irksome than those he had had when he had been in the bank.

"Well, Tom, have you heard any more about your friend?" asked Ned,

two days later, as he came to the Swift home with some papers needing the

signature of the young inventor and his father.

"You mean----?"

"Professor Bumper."

"No, I haven't heard from him since he telephoned. But I guess he'll

be here all right. He's very punctual. Did you see anything of my giant

Koku as you came in?"

"Yes, he and Eradicate were having an argument about who should

move a heavy casting from one of the shops. Rad wanted to do it all

alone, but Koku said he was like a baby now."

"Poor Rad is getting old," said Tom with a sigh. "But he has been

very faithful. He and Koku never seem to get along well together."

Koku was an immense man, a veritable giant, one of two whom Tom

had brought back with him after an exciting trip to a strange land. The

giant's strength was very useful to the young inventor.

"Now Tom, about this business of leasing to the English Government

the right to manufac- ture that new explosive of yours," began Ned,

plunging into the business at hand. "I think if you stick out a little you

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TOMSWIFTINTHELANDOFWONDERS1TOMSWIFTINTHELANDOFWONDERSBYVICTORAPPLETONTOMSWIFTINTHELANDOFWONDERS2CHAPTERIAWONDERFULSTORYTomSwift,whohadbeenslowlylookingthroughthepagesofamagazine,inthecontentsofwhichheseemedtobedeeplyinterested,turnedthefinalfolio,ruffledthesheetsbackagaintolookatacertainmapanddrawin...

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TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS(汤姆·史威夫特_奇境)

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