MYSTERY OF THE MEXICAN TREASURE.

By ANDY ADAMS.

Biff Brewster Mystery Adventure series.

CHAPTER I.

A Strange Warning

It was evening in Mexico City. From the window of his room in the Hotel Del Monte, Biff Brewster studied the thousands of lights that sparkled in the darkness. Beyond, Biff could see the glow of the downtown district, while rows of tiny, crawling headlights told that traffic was heavy along the city's princ.i.p.al boulevard, the Paseo de la Reforma.

Biff was waiting for his father, Thomas Brewster, to phone from the International Airport, where his plane was about due. Nearly two weeks ago, Mrs. Brewster, sixteen-year-old Biff, and the eleven-year-old twins, Ted and Monica, had started by car from their home in Indianapolis, Indiana, bound for Mexico City, where Mr. Brewster was to join them.

They had been here a few days now, and this evening, Mrs. Brewster had taken the twins to an early movie, leaving Biff at the hotel. Biff had finished dinner and come up to his room only ten minutes ago. He had timed it rather well, for while he was still gazing at the fascinating brilliance of the city, the telephone began ringing in the other room.

Rapidly, Biff found his way there in the dark, picked up the phone and gave a prompt "h.e.l.lo," expecting to hear his father's voice.

Instead, a smooth, purring tone responded. The words were in excellent English, but with a slight Spanish accent: "Good evening. This is the apartment of Senor Thomas Brewster?"

"Yes," returned Biff, "but he hasn't arrived here yet-"

"That I know," interrupted the speaker. "You are his son Biff?"

The caller p.r.o.nounced the nickname slightly like "Beef," which brought a smile from Biff. Then the smile faded. From what the speaker said, something might have happened to Biff's father. Anxiously, Biff began: "Yes, I'm Biff Brewster-"

"And I am Jose Ramonez," put in the speaker. "Secretary to Judge Felix Arista. Your father is at the airport and is coming directly to Judge Arista's home. He asked me to call you and tell you to meet him there."

A STRANGE WARNING 3.

Biff had never heard of Judge Arista, but he knew that his father was coming to Mexico City for an important conference. Apparently, the business was more urgent than Mr. Brewster had supposed.

"I will give you the directions," continued Ramo-nez. "Take them down carefully, so there will be no mistake."

Biff listed and repeated the directions, which were chiefly in terms of avenidas-avenues, and calles- streets, which would bring him to his destination. Ra-monez purred approvingly: "Very good. Give them to a cab driver outside of your hotel, and he will bring you here."

As Biff hung up, his blue eyes narrowed with a puzzled gaze. Just beyond the telephone was an object that he had not noticed until this moment. It looked like a gla.s.s paper weight, until he picked it up and examined it more closely.

Then Biff was sure that it was rock crystal and probably quite valuable, for it was very finely carved. Its shape, however, was somewhat sinister. It was carved in the exact form of a human skull, but in miniature!

While he studied the odd object, Biff's smile returned. His mother must have bought the crystal skull while shopping for curios earlier that day. She always looked for unusual gem stones or other minerals that she felt would interest Biff's father, who was a 4 .

mining engineer. Biff, too, had a good knowledge of minerals, which was why he had recognized the rock crystal for what it was.

So Biff simply wrote a short note telling his mother where he had gone and why. He weighted it with the tiny skull and left the desk lamp lighted so that Mrs. Brewster would be sure to see the message on her return. Biff then went out to the hallway, locked the door behind him, and started down the stairs to the lobby, only to halt at the last moment.

A faint ringing had reached his ears, and it sounded like the telephone in the Brewster suite. Biff raced back, heard a louder ringing as he opened the door and was just in time to reach the phone before it cut off. He was sure that this call was from his father, but Biff's breathless "h.e.l.lo" brought only silence, as though the line had gone dead.

Then, as Biff jiggled the hook to call the switchboard, a slow voice spoke in a strange language, its words carrying a hollow echo. All that Biff could catch was a repeated name that sounded like "Tick Tock," but all was meaningless until the finish. Then, after a momentary pause, the hollow tone announced: "Tick Tock-Muerte-Guardese!"

Those last words were in Spanish, and Biff understood them plainly. One was "Death," and the other meant "Beware!" Coupled with the name, they were either a warning or a threat. From the tone, Biff felt it A STRANGE WARNING 5.

must be a threat. Again, he jiggled the hook, still with no result, so he gave up and went down to the lobby.

There, he found a clerk who merely shrugged his shoulders when Biff asked him about the mysterious call.

"In the last half hour," the clerk said, "I have two calls-maybe three-asking for your apartment. So I put them through, that was all."

"And were the voices alike?"

"Maybe a little different," returned the clerk. "I do not listen on the switchboard, Senor, so I would not know."

Outside the hotel, a cab moved up as Biff appeared there, the driver pointing to a sign on the windshield which said Libre, meaning that the cab was vacant. Biff stepped into the cab and read the direction sheet to the driver, who kept nodding and saying, "Si, Senor," and started off before Biff was half through.

Soon they were rolling along the Paseo de la Re-forma and from there they swung into the Avenida Insurgentes. Biff wasn't giving further attention to his directions until he saw the brilliantly lighted front of a broad, blocky building that he recognized as the Buenavista Station, the main terminal of the National Railways of Mexico.

Biff knew little of Mexico City, but he was sure that they had gone past the proper turnoff, and he told the driver so in his best Spanish. At first the cabby

A STRANGE WARNING 7.

didn't seem to understand, but when Biff thrust the list itself in front of him, he halted the cab and poured out a string of verbal apologies.

It was all his mistake, he admitted, and he only hoped that his pa.s.senger would not report him. He would take care of the difference in the meter and would find a short way to the place where Biff was going. "Toto va bien, Senor" the driver kept insisting, meaning that all would be well.

The cab zigzagged through a maze of streets. Biff kept looking back, wondering just where they were. Every time he did so, he noticed another cab taking the same turn. His cab was being followed!

By the time Biff realized it, his cab had stopped halfway down a darkened street. There, the driver announced in a single word, "Estamos!" meaning "Here we are." Biff paid his fare in peso bills and stepped out of the cab, which promptly sped away. When Biff looked back, he saw no sign of the other cab. Evidently it had gone on past the corner. But he was sure that he could see a furtive figure moving down this very street, against the dull white wall on the opposite side!

Biff turned about to look at the house where the cab driver had left him. Since this was the home of a judge, Biff expected to see something very grand indeed. Instead, he was confronted by a wall as plain as the one across the street, where the shadowy shape 8 .

from the corner was moving closer every moment. Biff suddenly felt that he was trapped.

The boy's thoughts went back to that first phone call from the smooth-voiced man who called himself Jose Ramonez and had talked him into coming here. He remembered how he had smiled away the finding of the crystal skull. Even the sinister voice that had spoken the words, "Death-Beware!" in a hollow tone, was something that Biff had foolishly disregarded.

Unquestionably, the cab driver had dropped Biff off in some obscure section of Mexico City, where anything might happen. The only gap in the long wall was a narrow archway, where Biff edged hopefully, only to find it blocked by a solid iron door.

There Biff turned to watch for the creeping figure across the street. As he did, his elbow nudged something that felt like a push b.u.t.ton in the side of the doorway. Biff tried it again; it was a push b.u.t.ton, for this time he could hear a responding ring beyond the wall. Seconds later, the door opened inward, and Biff was confronted by a uniformed servant, who studied him for a moment and then announced in Spanish: "Judge Arista is waiting to receive you. Come this way, please."

As Biff pa.s.sed the bowing servant, he took a quick look back across his shoulder. The light from an inner courtyard threw a broad glow through the open door- A STRANGE WARNING 9.

way to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the narrow street. Biff hoped to catch at least a parting glimpse of the man who had stalked him almost to the doorway.

But the shaft of light showed only a blank wall across the street. The man from the dark was gone.

CHAPTER II.

From Legend to Life.

THE servant closed the door, bolted it, and led Biff across the courtyard toward a huge, white-walled building that was surrounded by great gardens of rare plants, where narrow, well-paved walks curved off into the darkness. The vast mansion occupied the center of a s.p.a.ce the size of a city block, but it was only two stories in height, except for its square corners, which rose like watch towers, a full floor higher.

There, even in the darkness, Biff could make out the projecting edges of a heavily tiled roof that was probably very colorful in the daylight. Totally hidden by the great wall that surrounded it, this house, a reminder of the Spanish Colonial days of old Mexico, was now the residence of Judge Felix Arista.

Biff and the servant entered the house through a broad but low-roofed doorway and came to a hallway 10 FROM LEGEND TO LIFE 11.

that led directly into a lighted patio, where Biff began to recognize the true magnificence of the mansion. A square within a square, the patio was paved with tiny tiles that formed elaborate designs, and in the exact center was a sparkling fountain, skirted by beds of brilliant flowers.

On all sides were slender marble pillars, supporting the second floor that jutted above the paved walk that ran behind the pillars themselves. Lights from cas.e.m.e.nt windows on the upper story were reflected by the fountain, accounting for its changing sparkle as Biff and his guide crossed the patio and entered another door beyond the columns on the opposite side.

There, they came to a reception room lighted by a great crystal chandelier and furnished with gilded chairs and tables. These were matched by the decorations on the walls and on the bars of half a dozen rounded cages, each containing a tropical bird with brilliant plumage.

The servant bowed Biff to a chair and went to inform Judge Arista that his visitor had arrived. While Biff waited, he again reflected on the things that had happened tonight, and began to wonder how they concerned his father.

As chief field engineer for the Ajax Mining Corporation, Thomas Brewster had visited many strange and dangerous places. Always, adventure had been waiting there, as Biff himself could testify, having been along 12 .

on some of those trips. But Mr. Brewster could hardly have expected that another such adventure would begin in a great metropolis like Mexico City, or he would not have sent his entire family ahead without due warning.

Something must have developed in the meantime, Biff decided, and his father was probably unaware of it. The question now was whether Biff should mention any of this to Judge Arista or wait until he could talk to his father. Biff decided to wait. After all, he had never met Judge Arista, in fact had never heard of him, until Ramonez, the judge's smooth-spoken secretary, had talked Biff into taking a taxi ride that had almost ended in a trap.

It might still be a trap. The cordial reception given to Biff might be a scheme to lull him into a feeling of false security. Biff wondered if the oily-voiced Ramonez could be back of it. He was also wondering what Ramonez looked like and where the secretary was right now. Then, suddenly, Biff's speculations were interrupted by a voice that was certainly not that of Ramonez, for it was sharp and high-pitched: "Hallo! Hallo!"

Biff looked up and realized that the greeting had come from one of the birds, a big red and blue plumed macaw that c.o.c.ked its crested head as if expecting a reply. Biff rose from the chair, approached the cage, and returned the word, "h.e.l.lo!" Instantly, a chorus FROM LEGEND TO LIFE 13.

came from other cages, "Hallo-hallo-hallo!"

Biff retired in confusion at having set off so much chatter. As the birds quieted, another voice piped from behind him: "Andhallo again!"

Biff turned in surprise to find himself facing a smiling Mexican youth who extended his hand and said: "So you are Biff Brewster. I am Mike Arista. The judge is my uncle. We have heard about you from your father."

"You mean he has arrived from the airport already?"

"No, no." Mike shook his head. "He may be another half hour. He told us about you the other times he was here."

Mike took it for granted that Biff knew about those previous visits on his father's part. Actually, Mr. Brewster had not talked much about his recent trips to Mexico, though Biff knew he had business here. Biff was wondering what sort of a reply to make, when a door opened and Judge Arista beckoned them into his study.

The judge was a dignified, elderly man with a white beard and flowing hair. There was a twinkle in his dark, kindly eyes as he shook hands with Biff and said: "Good evening. I see you have already met my nephew, Miguel."

Biff glanced at Mike, who winced at the name 14 .

"Miguel." Evidently, he preferred his nickname, Mike.

"While we are waiting for your father," continued Judge Arista, "Miguel can show you our private museum. When Senor Brewster arrives, he and I will join you there."

"All right," said Mike. "I'll get the key to the museum rooms from Ramonez."

"I believe that Ramonez went out," returned Judge Arista, "but you will find Hernandez there."

As Mike and Biff started out through the reception room, Mike remarked: "I suppose you have been to the National Museum to see the Calendar Stone and the other Aztec exhibits."

"Not yet," returned Biff. "We have only been here a few days."

"All the better," decided Mike. "You should see our little museum first. My uncle is the head of a historical society that is keeping those things together instead of letting them get scattered. Every time they find a new treasure, they add it to the proper group. Someday they will all be given to the National Museum."

"That is a wonderful idea, Mike."

"Yes, but it is taking a long time to work out. So far, we have only managed to complete the Tizoc exhibit."

Mike p.r.o.nounced the name "Tea-shock." It rang a bell suddenly for Biff. Slowly, he repeated it: FROM LEGEND TO LIFE 15.

"Tizoc."

"The Emperor Tizoc," added Mike. "An Aztec chief who went around dressed like the ancient War G.o.d, carving up helpless prisoners with a sacrificial knife."

"I've heard the name," admitted Biff, with a slight smile. "But to me, it sounded like Tick Tock."

Mike smiled, too.

"That's close enough for anyone who never heard it before," he declared. "A few other Aztec names sound a little like it, but most of them are a lot longer and harder to p.r.o.nounce. Anyway, Tizoc was a tough hombre, as you say in the States."

Biff wanted to ask more about Tizoc, hoping to gain a new clue to the mysterious phone call, with its ominous words, "Tizoc-Death-Beware," which now seemed to link more closely with the riddle of the crystal skull.

But Mike had dropped the subject of Tizoc. They had come to the far end of the patio, where a long, narrow pa.s.sage went through an archway in the building wall, much like a tunnel. Near the far end of the pa.s.sage was a gate composed of ornamental iron bars, which showed only dimly. Beyond that was a path that led to a strong door in the outer wall, similar to the one that Biff had entered.

As soon as he noted that the pa.s.sage was barred, Mike gave it no further thought. Instead, he seemed 16 .

worried when he opened a door at the side of the pa.s.sage and looked into a darkened entry where a still darker doorway yawned beyond. Mike called: "Hernandez! Hernandez!" and then listened. There was no reply.

Mike turned to Biff with a frown.

"These are the museum rooms," said Mike. "Hernandez shouldn't have left them unlocked."

"Maybe he forgot to come back here," suggested Biff, "after he let me in."

"It was Alfonso who let you in. Hernandez must still be here somewhere, so let's look for him. I want you to see the Tizoc exhibit. It has everything that went with his War G.o.d getup, a mosaic mask, a golden robe, an obsidian knife made of volcanic gla.s.s, and the biggest fire opal you ever saw, which only the War G.o.d himself could wear."