"Come, and welcome!" exclaimed Mr. t.i.tus, all his suspicions now gone.

"And it may be that you will be able to help me," the scientist went on.

"Help you--how?" asked Tom.

"I will tell you when we reach the Andes," was the mysterious answer.

It was a day later when they left the train at a small station, and struck off into the foothills of the great Andes Mountains, where the tunnel was started, that the professor again mentioned his object.

"Friends," he said, as he gazed up at the towering cliffs and crags, "I am searching for the lost city of Pelone, located somewhere in these mountains. Will you help me to find it?"

Chapter XII

The Tunnel

Mr. Damon, of the three who heard Professor b.u.mper make this statement, showed the least sign of astonishment. It would have been more correct to say that he showed none at all. But Tom could not restrain himself.

"The lost city of Pelone!" he exclaimed.

"Is it here--in these mountains?" asked Mr. t.i.tus.

"I have reason to hope that it is," went on the professor. "The golden tablets are very vague, but I have tried many locations, and now I am about to try here. I hope I shall succeed. At any rate, I shall have agreeable company, which has not always been my luck on my previous expeditions seeking to find the lost city."

"Oh, Professor, are you still on that quest?" asked Mr. Damon, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yes, Mr. Damon, I am. And now that I look about me, and see the shape of these mountains, I feel that they conform more to the description on the golden plates than any location I have yet tried. Somehow I feel that I shall be successful here."

"Did you know Professor b.u.mper was searching for a lost city of the Andes?" asked Tom, of his eccentric friend.

"Why yes," answered Mr. Damon. "He has been searching for years to locate it."

"Why didn't you tell us?" inquired Mr. t.i.tus.

"Why, I never thought of it. Bless my memorandum book! it never occurred to me. I did not think you would be interested. Tell them your story, Professor b.u.mper."

"I will soon. Just now I must see to my equipment. The story will keep."

And though Tom and Mr. t.i.tus were both anxious to hear about the lost city, they, too, had much to do to get ready for the trip into the interior.

The beginning of the tunnel under one of the smaller of the ranges of the Andes lay two days journey from the end of the railroad line. And the trip must be made on mules, with llamas as beasts of burden, transporting the powder and other supplies.

"We'll only need to take enough food with us for the two days," said Mr. t.i.tus. "We have a regular camp at the tunnel mouth, and my brother has supplies of grub and other things constantly coming in. We also have shacks to live in; but on this trip we will use tents, as the weather at this season is fine."

It was quite a little expedition that set off up the mountain trail that afternoon, for they had arrived at the end of the railroad line shortly before dinner, and had eaten at a rather poor restaurant.

Professor b.u.mper had made up his own exploring party, consisting of himself and three native Indian diggers with their picks and shovels.

They were to do whatever excavating he decided was necessary to locate the hidden city.

Several mules and llamas, laden with the new explosive, and burdened with camp equipment and food, and a few Indian servants made up the cavalcade of Tom, the contractor, Mr. Damon and Koku. The giant was almost as much a source of wonder to the Peruvians as he had been on board the ship. And he was a great help, too. For some of the Indians were under-sized, and could not lift the heavy boxes and packages to the backs of the beasts of burden.

But Koku, thrusting the little men aside, grasped with one hand what two of them had tried in vain to lift, and set it on the back of mule or llama.

The way was rough but they took their time to it, for the trail was an ascending one. Above and beyond them towered the great Andes, and Tom, gazing up into the sky, which in places seemed almost pierced by the snow-covered peaks, saw some small black specks moving about.

"Condors," said Mr. t.i.tus, when his attention was called to them. "Some of them are powerful birds, and they sometimes pick up a sheep and make off with it, though usually their food consists of carrion."

They went into camp before the sun went down, for it grew dark soon after sunset, and they wanted to be prepared. Supper was made ready by the Indian helpers, and when this was over, and they sat about a camp fire, Tom said:

"Now, Professor b.u.mper, perhaps you'll explain about the lost city."

"I wish I could explain about it," began the scientist. "For years I have dreamed of finding it, but always I have been disappointed. Now, perhaps, my luck may change."

"Do you think it may be near here?" asked Mr. t.i.tus, motioning toward the dark and frowning peaks all about them.

"It may be. The signs are most encouraging. In brief, the story of the lost city of Pelone is this. Thousands of years ago--in fact I do not know how many--there existed somewhere in Peru an ancient city that was the centre of civilization for this region. Older it was than the civilization of the Mexicans--the Montezumas--older and more cultured.

"It is many years since I became interested in Peruvian antiquities, and then I had no idea of the lost city. But some of the antiques I picked up contained in their inscriptions references to Pelone. At first I conceived this to be a sort of G.o.d, a deity, or perhaps a powerful ruler. But as I went on in my work of gathering ancient things from Peru, I saw that the name Pelone referred to a city--a seat of government, whence everything had its origin.

"Then I got on the track more closely. I examined ancient doc.u.ments. I found traces of an ancient language and writings, different from anything else in the world. I managed to construct an alphabet and to read some of the doc.u.ments. From them I learned that Pelone was a city situated in some fertile valley of the Andes. It had existed for thousands of years; it was the seat of learning and culture. Much light would be thrown on the lives of the people who lived in Peru before the present races inhabited it, if I could but locate Pelone.

"Then I came across two golden tablets on which were graven the information that Pelone had utterly vanished."

"How?" asked Tom.

"The golden tablets did not say. They simply stated the fact that Pelone was lost, and one sentence read: 'He who shall find it again shall be richly rewarded.' But it is not for that that I seek. It is that I may give to the world the treasures it must contain--the treasures of an ancient civilization."

"And how do you think the city disappeared?" asked Mr. t.i.tus.

"I do not know. Whether it was destroyed by enemies, whether it was buried under the ashes of a volcano, whether it still exists, deserted and solitary in some valley amid the mountain fastnesses of the Andes, I do not know. But I am certain the city once existed, and it may exist yet, though it may be in dust-covered ruins. That is what I seek to find. See! Here are the tablets telling about it. I got them from an old Peruvian grave."

He took from a box two thin sheets of yellow metal. They were covered with curious marks, but Tom and the others could make nothing of them.

Only Professor b.u.mper was able to decipher them.

"And that is the story of the lost city of Pelone--as much as I know,"

he said. "For years I have sought it. If I can find it I shall be famous, for I shall have added to human knowledge."

"If the people of that city wrote on golden tablets, the yellow metal must have been plentiful," commented Mr. t.i.tus. "You might strike a rich mine."

"I have no use for riches," said the professor.

"Well, I have," the contractor said, with a laugh. "That's why I'm putting through this tunnel. And if my brother and I don't do it we'll be in a bad way financially. We have struck traces of gold, but not in paying quant.i.ties. I should like to see this lost city of yours, Professor b.u.mper. It may contain gold."

"You may have all the gold, if I am allowed to keep the antiquities we find," stipulated the scientist. "Then you will help me in my search?"