Part 4 (1/2)

”Since that is all settled,” Mr. Brewster said, ”suppose we go and talk to Dr. La Vega, over at the excavation. First, let's find out if Professor Bortha can come along.”

”I don't think he can,” said Biff, ”because he has to 58 .

dictate his report on those inscriptions out at the pyramids. He said it would take him a couple of hours. But I'll go and ask him if he wants to come.”

Inside the hotel was a patio, with rooms all along the far side, much like a modern hotel, though the hacienda had been built at the beginning of the century. Ted and Monica were at a table in a shady corner, playing a word game on a board that they had brought with them.

When Biff asked, ”Have you seen Professor Bortha?” Ted nodded.

”He went into his room to work five minutes ago,” said Ted, ”and he's been at it ever since. Listen.”

Biff listened. The precise tones of Professor Bortha were coming in sonorous style from a door that bore the number eight. Some of his words were in Spanish, but mostly he was quoting long sentences in a strange language which Biff decided must be Nahuatl, the native tongue of the Aztecs, though it could be mixed with Mayan, as spoken by the Toltecs.

As soon as Bortha paused, Biff knocked on the door, but the professor simply resumed his dictation. At another pause, Biff rapped again, this rime more loudly than politely. Professor Bortha opened the door, and said, ”Oh, h.e.l.lo!” and then stepped back to turn off a tape recorder that was on his table.

When Biff asked whether he wanted to go with them to the excavation, the professor shook his head.

FOUR SLIPS OF PAPER 59.

”I've just started dictating the first reel,” he said. ”It will take a full hour, and then I'll begin the next one. I think two reels will just about do it. So tell Dr. La Vega that I'll see him in about two hours from now-or a little later.”

Biff left, and Professor Bortha promptly resumed his tape recording, his voice coming through the closed door before Biff was halfway across the patio. Outside, Biff rejoined his father and Mike. He told them what Bortha had said, and they started on their way.

The path forked soon after it left the hotel. One branch turned steeply up the slope to join the pack trail which crossed the ridge just short of the towering cliff. The other branch descended gradually in back of the village until it reached the excavation cabin, below the cliff itself.

This was the path that Mr. Brewster and the boys followed. A ten-minute hike brought them to the cabin, and during the last stages, the cliff seemed to tower more and more formidably, until it finally seemed to be hanging directly above them. The cabin, built on rough, uneven stone, was like a toy in the grip of a monster's claws.

”Weird, isn't it?” Biff said to Mike, as they started up the cabin steps.

”I'll say,” was Mike's reply. ”It gives me the creeps to go inside the place!”

They didn't have to go inside, just then. Dr. La 60 .

Vega met them on the threshold, greeted Mr. Brewster with the warmth of an old friend, and shook hands cordially with the boys. Then he said: ”Let us look at the excavation first, Senor Brewster. Then we can discuss our problems in a much clearer way.”

The excavation began as a simple mine shaft, then leveled into a long tunnel lighted by a string of electric bulbs. Mr. Brewster examined the rough-hewn walls as they moved along.

”Undoubtedly of Aztec origin,” he declared. ”This tunnel was chopped out with very primitive tools.”

They reached a chamber with a slanted ceiling formed by stones that appeared to be wedged in place. As Dr. La Vega pointed up into the light, his face resembled yellow parchment, smooth except for the few slight wrinkles of his constant smile.

”What about this?” he asked.

”Definitely not a mine,” declared Mr. Brewster. ”It looks more like an outer room of an old temple.”

”Exactly,” agreed Dr. La Vega. ”It was filled with loose stones when we found it. We tapped the walls for other pa.s.sages and finally found this one.”

He was leading the way to the far wall, and they climbed up through a slanted shaft to another chamber where the ceiling was sh.o.r.ed up with timbers. Here, half a dozen workers were digging into a pile of earth and stone that they had very nearly cleared.

FOUR SLIPS OF PAPER 61.

”Each time we dig out this room,” stated Dr. La Vega, ”there is another fall of stone. The natives are superst.i.tious”-he lowered his voice to an undertone -”so they blame it on Tizoc. The last time they cleared it, they thought they saw some of his Eagle Knights down here. It took me a week to get them back to work. By then, the room was filled again.”

They went out through the tunnels, and Mr. Brewster made a new study of the walls as well as the supporting timbers.

”Those props look strong,” he said, ”but you can't be sure of anything while that stone keeps falling. This whole slope may be honeycombed with underground rooms and pa.s.sages, which makes it all the more dangerous. A big slide might take the shorings along with it.

”One thing is certain.” They had reached the outer shaft when Mr. Brewster gave this final opinion. ”This was not an ancient mine. There are no traces of any valuable ore. The Aztecs may have looked for gold here, but they did not find it.”

Outside the shaft, the daylight seemed very bright indeed, despite the gloom cast by the overhanging cliff. As they followed Dr. La Vega into the cabin, Mike whispered to Biff.

”This doesn't bother me the least bit, now. That big cliff is nothing, after that trip underground. I don't blame the workers for wanting to get out.”

62 .

The cabin was furnished much like an office, except for small living quarters in a back room and a kitchen galley adjoining it. Dr. La Vega offered coffee to his visitors and took his place behind a plain, flat desk, where he spread out a large chart and showed it to Mr. Brewster.

”Here is the work done so far,” La Vega declared. ”Now, instead of tunneling deeper, I am more inclined to excavate, digging away the entire surface, uncovering everything in order.”

”That might be best,” agreed Mr. Brewster, ”now that you know that those are not mining tunnels.”

”But the natives keep speaking of it as a mine,” said Dr. La Vega. ”They have kept that tradition from the early Spanish days, although the Spaniards never tried to work the mine.”

”Naturally not,” said Mr. Brewster. ”One look would have convinced them that there was no gold there.”

”And that may have been what the Aztecs wanted them to think. Because they were hiding something greater! Perhaps their own lost treasure!”

Dr. La Vega leaned across the desk, his eyes agleam with unrestrained excitement. Then, calming himself, he added: ”There is a secret here somewhere, and someone is after that secret. This talk of Tizoc and the Eagle Knights is part of the game. I can prove it!”

FOUR SLIPS OF PAPER.

63.

He paused, glanced at his watch, and asked: ”How soon did Professor Bortha say that he would be here?”

”In about two hours,” replied Mr. Brewster, ”from the time we left the hotel.” He studied his own watch methodically. ”That was almost an hour and a half ago.”

”No need to wait, then,” decided Dr. La Vega. ”I wanted to show this to Bortha, too, but I can tell him about it later. Yesterday, some stranger handed one of our workers a message. He read it, tore it up, and threw away the pieces.”

Dr. La Vega brought an envelope from the desk drawer, opened it, and slid some torn bits of paper onto the desk.