Chapter XVI
On the Watch
The mystery of the disappearance of the ten men--for mystery itwas--remained, and as no side opening or passage could be found withinthe tunnel, it came to be the generally accepted explanation that thelaborers had come out unobserved, and, for reasons of their own, hadrun away.
This habit on the part of the Peruvian workers was not unusual. Infact, the Titus brothers had to maintain a sort of permanent employmentagency in Lima to replace the deserters. But they were used to this.The difference was that the Indians used to vanish from camp at night,and invariably after pay-day.
"And that's the only reason I have a slight doubt that they walked outof the tunnel," said Job Titus. "There was money due em."
"They never came out of the front entrance of the tunnel," said Tom."Of that I'm positive."
But there was no way of proving his assertion.
The third blast, while not as successful as the second in the amount ofrock loosened, was better than the first, and made a big advance in thetunnel progress. Tom was beginning to understand the nature of themountain into which the big shaft was being driven and he learned howbetter to apply the force of his explosive.
That was the work which he had charge of--the placing of the giantpowder so it would do the most effective work. Then, when the fumesfrom the blast had cleared away, in would surge the workmen to clearaway the debris.
Under the direction of Mr. Swift, left at Shopton to oversee themanufacture of the explosive, new shipments came on promptly to Lima,and were brought out to the tunnel on the backs of mules, or in thecase of small quantities, on the llamas. But the latter brutes will notcarry a heavy load, lying down and refusing to get up if they areoverburdened, whereas one has yet to find a mule's limit.
After his first success in getting the natives to take a more activeinterest in the gathering of the cinchona bark, Mr. Damon found itrather easy, for the story of Tom's electric rifle and how it hadkilled the mad dog spread among the tribes, and Mr. Damon had but toannounce that the "lightning shooter," as Tom was called, was a friendof the drug concern to bring about the desired results. Mr. Damon, bypaying a sort of bribe, disguised under the name "tax," secured thehelp of Peruvian officials so he had no trouble on that score.
Koku was in his element. He liked a wild life and Peru was much morelike the country of giants where Tom had found him, than any place thebig man had since visited. Koku had great strength and wanted to useit, and after a week or so of idleness he persuaded Tom to let him goin the tunnel to work.
The giant was made a sort of foreman under Tim, and the two becamegreat friends. The only trouble with Koku was that he would do a thinghimself instead of letting his men do it, as, of course, all properforemen should do. If the giant saw two or three of the Indians tryingto lift a big rock into the little dump cars, and failing because ofits great weight, he would good-naturedly thrust them aside, pick upthe big stone in his mighty arms, and deposit it in its place.
And once when an unusually big load had been put in a car, and the muleattached found it impossible to pull it out to the tunnel mouth, Kokuunhitched the creature and, slipping the harness around his waist,walked out, dragging the load as easily as if pulling a child on a sled.
Professor Bumper kept on with his search for the lost city of Pelone.Back and forth he wandered among the wild Andes Mountains, now hopefulthat he was on the right trail, and again in despair. Tom and Mr. Damonwent with him once more for a week, and though they enjoyed the trip,for the professor was a delightful companion, there were no results.But the scientist would not give up.
Tom Swift was kept busy looking after the shipments of the explosive,and arranging for the blasts. He had letters from Ned Newton in whichnews of Shopton was given, and Mr. Swift wrote occasionally. But themails in the wilderness of the Andes were few and far between.
Tom wrote a letter of explanation to Mr. Nestor, in addition to thewireless he had sent regarding the box labeled dynamite, but he got noanswer. Nor were his letters to Mary answered.
"I wonder what's wrong?" Tom mused. "It can't be that they think I didthat on purpose. And even if Mr. Nestor is angry at me for somethingthat wasn't my fault, Mary ought to write."
But she did not, and Tom grew a bit despondent as the days went by andno word came.
"I suppose they might be offended because I left Rad to do up thatpackage instead of attending to it myself," thought Tom. "Well, I didmake a mistake there, but I didn't mean to. I never thought aboutEradicate's not reading. I'll make him go to night school as soon as Iget back. But maybe I'll never get another chance to send Maryanything. If I do, I'll not let Rad deliver it--that's sure."
The feeling of alarm engendered among the Indians by the disappearanceof their ten fellow-workers seemed to have disappeared. There wererumors that some of the mysterious ten had been seen in distantvillages and settlements, but the Titus brothers could not confirm this.
"I don't think anything serious happened to them, anyhow," said JobTitus one day. "And I should hate to think our work was responsible forharm to any one."
"Your rivals don't seem to be doing much to hamper you," observed Tom."I guess Waddington gave up.
"I won't be too sure of that," said Mr. Titus.
"Why, what has happened?" Tom asked.
"Well, nothing down here--that is, directly--but we are meeting withtrouble on the financial end. The Peruvian government is holding backpayments."
"Why is that?"
"They claim we are not as far advanced as we ought to be."
"Aren't you?"
"Practically, yes. There was no set limit of work to be done for theintermediate payments. We bonded ourselves to have the tunnel done at acertain date.
"If we fail, we lose a large sum, and if we get it done ahead of timewe get a big premium. There was no question as to completing a certainamount of footage before we received certain payments. But SenorBelasdo, the government representative, claims that we will not be donein time, and therefore he is holding back money due us. I'm sure therival contractors have set him up to this, because he was always decentto us before.
"Another matter, too, makes me suspicious. We have tried to raise moneyin New York to tide us over while the government is holding up ourfunds here. But our New York office is meeting with difficulties. Theyreport there is a story current to the effect that we are going tofail, and while that isn't so, you know how hard it is to borrow moneyin the face of such rumors. We are doing all we can to fight them, ofcourse, and maybe we'll beat out our rivals yet.
"But that isn't all. I'm sure some one is on the ground here trying tomake trouble among our workers. I never knew so many men to leave, oneafter another. It's keeping the employment agency in Lima busysupplying us with new workers. And so many of them are unskilled. Theyaren't able to do half the work of the old men, and poor Tim Sullivanis in despair."
"You think some one here is causing dissensions and desertions amongyour men?"
"I'm sure of it! I've tried to ferret out who it is, but the spy, forsuch he must be, keeps his identity well hidden."
Tom thought for a moment. Then he said:
"Mr. Titus, with your permission, I'll see if I can find out about thisfor you."
"Find out what, Tom?"
"What is causing the men to leave. I don't believe it's the scare aboutthe ten missing ones."
"Nor do I. That's past and gone. But how are you going to get at thebottom of it?"
"By keeping watch. I've got nothing to do now for the next week. We'vejust set off a big blast, and I've got the powder for the following oneall ready. The men will be busy for some time getting out the brokenrock. Now what I propose to do is to go in the tunnel and work amongthem until I can learn something.
"I can understand the language pretty well now, though I can't speakmuch of it. I'll go in the tunnel every day and find out what's goingon."
"But you'll be known, and if one of our men, or one who we suppose isone,
turns out to be a spy, he'll be very cautious while you're inthere."
"He won't know me," Tom said. "This is how I'll work it. I'll go offwith Professor Bumper the next time he starts on one of his weeklyexpeditions into the woods. But I won't go far until I turn around andcome back. I'll adopt some sort of disguise, and I'll apply to you forwork. You can tell Tim to put me on. You might let him into the secret,but no one else."
A few days later Tom was seen departing with Professor Bumper into theinterior, presumably to help look for the lost city. Mr. Damon was awayfrom camp on business connected with the drug concern, and Koku, to hisdelight, had been given charge of a stationary hoisting engine outsidethe tunnel, so he would not come in contact with Tom. It was notthought wise to take the giant into the secret.
Then one day, shortly after Professor Bumper and Tom had disappearedinto the forest, a ragged and unkempt white man applied at the tunnelcamp for work. There was just the barest wink as he accosted Mr. Titus,who winked in turn, and then the new man was handed over to TimSullivan, as a sort of helper.
And so Tom Swift began his watch.