Suddenly from within the tent sounded some weird music: the shrillscraping of fiddle and the beat of tom-toms. Then a voice was heardchanting. A few seconds later a young man, dressed completely in white,stepped from the tent and sat down, cross-legged, on the ground. A scoreof flaring torches about him gave light, for it was now night.
He spread a cloth on the ground, sprinkled a few drops of water on it,muttered some words, whisked away the covering, and there was a tinydwarfed tree, its branches bearing fruit.
"The old Indian mango trick!" exclaimed the professor. "I have seen itdone better, many times."
The next trick was more elaborate. The youth in white clapped his handsand a boy came running from the tent. With him he brought a basket. Theyouth began to scold the boy, beating him with a stick.
To escape the blows, the boy leaped into the basket. In a trice theyouth clapped the cover on. Then drawing a sword at his side, the youthplunged it into the wicker-work several times. From the basket horriblecries came, growing fainter and fainter at each thrust of the weapon.
With a cry of satisfaction the youth finally held his sword aloft. Theboys could see that it ran red, as if with blood.
"Has he stabbed him?" asked Bob, in frightened tones.
"Watch," said the professor, with a smile.
The youth opened the basket. It was empty. The boy had disappeared. Theyouth gave a cry of astonishment, and gazed up into the starlit sky.Naturally, every one in the crowd gazed upward, likewise. All at oncethere was a cry from behind the youth, and the boy who had been in thebasket, laughing and capering about as if being thrust through with asword was the biggest joke in the world, moved among the assemblage,collecting coins in his cap.
"Another old Indian trick," said the professor. "He simply curled upclose to the outer rim of the basket and the sword went through themiddle, where his body formed a circle."
"But the blood!" exclaimed Bob.
"The boy had a sponge wet with red liquid, and when the sword blade camethrough the basket he wiped the crimson stuff on it," explained theprofessor.
The tricks seemed to please the crowd very much, for few of them saw howthey were done. The Mexicans cried for more.
The youth and boy retired to the tent. Their place was taken by an oldman, wrapped in a cloak. He produced a long rope, which he proceededto knot about his body, tying himself closely. Then he signed for twoof the spectators to take hold, one at either end of the cord, whichextended from under his cloak. Two men did as he desired.
Then the old man began a sort of chant. He waved his hands in the air.With a quick motion he threw something at one of the torches. A cloud ofsmoke arose. There was a wild cry from the two men who held the rope.When the vapor cleared away the magician was nowhere to be seen, thoughhis cloak lay on the ground and the men still held the ends of the ropethat had bound him.
An instant later there came a laugh from a tree off to the left. Everyone turned to look, and the old man jumped down from among the branches.
"He tied fake knots," said the professor. "While he was waving his handshe managed to undo them. Then he threw some powder in the torch flame,and while the smoke blinded every one he slipped out of his bonds andcloak, went through the crowd like a snake, and climbed a tree. Thetricks are nothing to what I have seen in Egypt and India."
"Perhaps there is nothing wonderful but in India or Egypt," spoke avoice at the professor's elbow. He turned with a start, to see the oldmagician standing near him. The naturalist had not spoken aloud, yet itseemed that the Mexican had heard him.
"There are stranger things in this land than in Egypt," went on thetrickster. "Buried cities are stranger. Buried cities, where there ismuch gold to be had and great riches."
"What do you know about buried cities?" asked the professor.
"Ask him who sat in the road, who drew the circle in the dust. Ask himwhom ye vainly sought," replied the Mexican, with a laugh.
The professor started.
"It can't be! Yes, it is. It's the same Mexican we met before, and towhom I gave the tobacco," said the naturalist.
"_Si, senor_," was the answer, as the old man bowed low. "And be assuredthat though you mock at my poor magic, yet I can look into the futurefor you. I tell you," and he leaned over and whispered, "you shall soonfind what you seek, the mysterious city. You are on the right road. Keepon. When ye reach a place where the path turns to the left, at the signwhere ye shall see the laughing serpent, take that path. See, the starstell that you will meet with good fortune."
With a dramatic gesture the old man pointed aloft. Involuntarily theprofessor and the boys looked up. Then, remembering the trick that hadbeen played on them before, they looked for the Mexican. But he haddisappeared.
CHAPTER XI.
NODDY NIXON'S PLOT.
"His old trick again," murmured the professor. "I should have been on myguard. However, it doesn't matter. But come on, boys. If we stand outhere our plans will soon be known to every one."
The travelers went back to their hotel, but the crowds of peopleremained at the square, for there were other antics of the entertainersto follow.
"I wonder if we'll have to sleep '_en el sereno_' to-night?" said Bob."If we do, I'm going to stay awake."
"Yes, indeed; if they treat Chunky the way they did Jerry and myself,we'll be stranded," put in Ned. "Have you got it all right, Chunky?"
What "it" was, Ned did not say; but Bob understood, and, feeling wherehis money-belt encircled his waist, nodded to indicate that it was stillin place.
The travelers found there was plenty of room in the hotel. They weregiven a large apartment with four beds in it, and told they could sleepthere together. They found that the room had but one door to it, andall the windows were too high up to admit of easy entrance. So, buildinga barricade of chairs in front of the portal, the adventurers decidedit would not be necessary to stand guard. If any one came into theapartment he would have to make noise enough to awaken the soundestsleeper.
Thus protected, the travelers went to bed. Nor were their slumbersdisturbed by the advent of any robbers. However, if they could have seenwhat was taking place in a small hut on the outskirts of the town, aboutmidnight, they might not have slept as peacefully.
Within a small adobe house, well concealed in a grove of trees, fivefigures were grouped around a table on which burned a candle stuck in abottle.
"I'll make trouble for Jerry Hopkins and his friends yet," spoke ayouth, pounding the table with his fist.
"That's what you're always saying, Noddy Nixon," put in a man standingover in the shadow.
"Well, I mean it this time, Tom Dalsett. We'd have put them out ofbusiness long ago if I'd had my way."
"Well, what are you going to do this time?" asked a lad, about Noddy'sage, whom, had the Motor Boys seen him, they would have at once knownfor Jack Pender, though he had become quite stout and bronzed by histravels.
"I've got a plan," went on Noddy. "I didn't come over to Mexico fornothing."
"What do you s'pose they come for?" asked Bill Berry, who was busycleaning his revolver.
"To locate a silver mine, of course," replied Noddy. "Ain't that so,Vasco?" and Nixon turned to a slick-looking Mexican, who was rolling acigarette. The fellow was a halfbreed, having some American blood in hisveins.
"_Si, senor_," was the reply. "Trust Vasco Bilette for finding outthings. I heard them talking about a mine."
"Of course; I told you so," said Noddy.
The truth of it was that Bilette had heard nothing of the sort, butthought it best to agree with Noddy.
"I hope we have better luck getting in on this mine than we did on theirgold mine," said Pender.
"Well, rather!" put in Dalsett.
"Leave it to me," went on Noddy. "I have a plan. And now do you fellowswant to stay here all night or travel in the auto?"
"Stay here," murmured Bilette. "It is warm and comfortable. One cansmoke here." Then, as if that settled it, he rolled himself up in hisblanket,
and, with a last puff on his cigarette, he went to sleep on thefloor.
In a little while the others followed his example. Bilette slept betterthan any one, for he seemed to be used to the hordes of fleas thatinfested the hut.
As for Noddy, he awakened several times because of the uncomfortablenessof his bed. Finally he got up and went out to sit up the rest of thenight on the cushioned seats of the automobile.
So far, the Nixon crowd had done nothing but ride on a sort of pleasuretrip through Mexico. Noddy had managed to get some cash from home, and,with what Dalsett obtained by gambling, they managed to live.
Shortly after crossing the Rio Grande River, Noddy had fallen in with aslick Mexican, Vasco Bilette by name, and had added him to his party.Bilette knew the country well, and was of considerable assistance. Heseemed to have no particular occupation. Some evenings, when they wouldbe near a large town, he would disappear. He always turned up in themorning with plenty of cash. How he got it he never said.
But once he returned with a knife wound in the hand, and again, limpingslightly from a bullet in the leg. From which it might be inferredthat Vasco used other than gentle and legitimate means of making alivelihood. But Noddy's crowd was not one that asked embarrassingquestions.
With no particular object in view, Noddy had driven his car hither andthither. However, accidentally hearing that Jerry and his friends hadcome over into Mexico, Noddy determined to remain in their vicinity,learn their plans, and, if possible, thwart them to his own advantage.
Fortunately, the boys and the professor, soundly sleeping at their inn,could not look into the future and see the dangers they were to run,all because of Noddy and his gang. If they could have, they might haveturned back.
Bright and early the next morning Professor Snodgrass awoke. He lookedout of the window, saw that the sun was shining, and rejoiced that theday was to be pleasant. Then he happened to spy a new kind of a flybuzzing around the room.
"Ah, I must have you!" exclaimed the naturalist, unlimbering his insectnet. "Easy now, easy!"
On tiptoes he began encircling the room after the fly. The buzzer seemedin no mood to be caught, and the professor made several ineffectualattempts to ensnare it. Finally the insect lighted on Bob's nose, as theboy still slumbered.
"Now I have you!" the professor cried. He forgot that Bob might havesome feelings, and thinking only of the rare fly, he brought the netdown smartly on Bob's countenance.
"Help! Help! Robbers! Thieves!" shouted the boy.
"Keep still! Don't move! I have it now!" yelled the professor,gathering up his net with the fly in it. "Ah, there you are, my littlebeauty!"
Ned and Jerry tumbled out of their beds, Ned with his revolver ready inhis hand.
"Oh, I thought it was some one after my money-belt," said Bob, when hiseyes were fully opened and he saw the professor.
"Sorry to disturb you," said the naturalist. "But it's in the interestof science, my dear young friend, and science is no respecter ofpersons."
"Nor of my nose, either," observed Bob, rubbing his proboscis with arueful countenance.
There came a loud pounding at the door.
"Who's there?" asked Jerry.
"'Tis I, the landlord," was the answer. "What is it? Have the brigandscome? Is the place on fire? Why did the senor yell, as if some one hadstuck a knife into him?"
"It was only me," called Bob. "The professor caught a new kind of fly onmy nose."
"A fly! On your nose! _Diablo!_ Those _Americanos_! They are crazy!" theinnkeeper muttered as he went away.
"Well, we're up; I suppose we may as well stay up," said Ned, stretchingand yawning. "My, but I did sleep good!"
They all agreed that the night's sleep had been a restful one. Theydressed, had breakfast, and, in spite of the entreaties of the landlordto stay a few days, they were soon on the road in the automobile.
"I'm glad to know we are on the right path," said the professor, afterseveral miles had been covered. "I only hope that old Mexican was notjoking with us."
"What was that he said about turning to the left?" asked Ned.
"We are to turn when we come to the place where the laughing monkey is,"said Bob.
"Serpent was what he said," observed Jerry. "The laughing serpent. Iwonder what that can be. I never saw a snake laugh."
"It might be a figure of speech, or he may have meant there is a stoneimage carved in that design set up to mark a road," spoke the professor."However, we shall see."
Dinner was eaten in a little glade beside a small brook, where somefish were caught. Then, while the boys stretched out on the grass, theprofessor, who was never idle, took a small rifle and said he would gointo the forest and see if he could not get a few specimens.
"Look out for snakes!" called Ned.
"I will," replied the naturalist, remembering his former experience.
About an hour later, when Jerry was just beginning to think it was timeto start off, the stillness of the forest was broken by a terrible andblood-curdling yell.
"A tiger!" cried Bob.
"There are no tigers here," said Jerry. "But it's some wild beast!"
The yell was repeated. Then came a crashing of the underbrush, followedby a wild call for help.
"That's the professor!" cried Jerry, seizing his rifle.
CHAPTER XII.
NODDY SCHEMES WITH MEXICANS.
The boys crashed through the bushes and under the low branches of treesin the direction of the professor's voice. They could hear him moreplainly now.
"Help! Help! Come quick!" the naturalist cried.
The sight that met the boys' eyes when they came out into a littleclearing of the forest was at once calculated to amuse and alarm them.They saw the professor clinging to the tail of a mountain lion, thebeast being suspended over a low tree-limb, with the naturalist hangingon one side of the branch and the animal on the other, the brute in theair and the professor on the ground.
THEY SAW THE PROFESSOR CLINGING TO THE TAIL OF A MOUNTAINLION.]
The infuriated beast was struggling and wiggling to get free from thegrip the professor had of its tail. It snarled and growled, now and thengiving voice to a fierce roar, and endeavoring to swing far enough backto bite or claw the naturalist.
As for Professor Snodgrass, he was clinging to the tail with bothhands for dear life, and trying to keep as far as possible away from thedangerous teeth and claws of the lion.
"Let go!" yelled Jerry.
"I dare not!" shouted the professor. "If I do the brute will fall to theground and eat me up. I can't let go, and I can't hold on much longer.Hurry up, boys, and do something!"
"How did you get that way?" asked Bob.
"I'll--tell--you--later!" panted the poor professor, as he was swungclear from the ground by a particularly energetic movement of the beast."Hurry! Hurry! The tail is slipping through my fingers!"
In fact, this seemed to be the case, and the beast was now nearer theground, while the length of tail the naturalist grasped was lessened.
The big cat-like creature suddenly began swinging to and fro, like apendulum. At each swing it came closer and closer to the professor. Allthe while it was spitting and snarling in a rage. Suddenly the professorgave a yell louder than any he had uttered.
"Ouch! He bit me that time!" he cried. "Hurry, boys!"
The lads saw that the situation now had more of seriousness than humorin it. Jerry crept up close and, with cocked rifle, waited for a chanceto fire at the beast without hitting the professor.
At that instant the lion made a strong, backward swing, and its clawscaught in the professor's trousers. The beast tried to sink its teeth inthe naturalist's legs, but with a quick movement the professor himselfjumped back, and, with his own momentum and that of the lion to aid him,he swung in a complete circle around the limb of the tree, the liongoing with him, so their positions were exactly reversed.
"Steady now! I have him!" called Jerry.
The change in the positions of man and beast
had given the boy thevery opportunity he wanted. The animal was now nearest to him. Quicklyraising the rifle, Jerry sent a bullet into the brute's head, followingit up with two others. The lion, with a last wild struggle to freeitself, dangled limply from the tree-limb, from which it was stillsuspended by the professor's hold on its tail.
Seeing that his enemy was dead, and could do him no harm, the naturalistlet go his grip and the big cat fell in a heap on the ground.
"Once more you boys have saved my life," said the collector, as hemopped his brow, for his exertions in trying to keep free from the beasthad not been easy.
"Are you bit much?" asked Ned.
"Nothing more than scratches," was the reply.
"How in the world did you ever get in such a scrape?" asked Jerry.
"I'll tell you how it was," answered the professor. "You see, I was busycollecting bugs and small reptiles, going from tree to tree. When I cameto this one I saw what I thought was a small, yellow snake. I believed Ihad a fine prize.
"I approached without making a sound, and when I was near enough I madea grab for what I imagined was the snake. Instead, it turned out to bethe tail of the mountain lion, which dangled from the limb, on which thebeast was crouched. All at once there was a terrible commotion."
"I would say there was!" interrupted Ned. "We heard it over where wewere."
"Yes, of course," resumed the professor. "Well, as soon as I got thetail in my hands I found I had made a mistake. It was then too late tolet go, so the only thing to do was to hold on. It was rather a peculiarposition to be in."