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Indeed little did change in that land of wonders. Only nature caused what alterations there were. The hand of man had long been absent. Slowly Goosal walked along the rocky trail, on one side a sheer rock, towering a hundred feet or more toward the sky. On the other side a deep gash leading to a great fertile valley below. Suddenly the old man paused, and looked about him as though uncertain.
The uprooted trees lay on one side of the mountain trail, perhaps a mile from the mouth of the cave which had been covered over, entombing the Beecher party. Leaving the mules in charge of one of the Indians, Professor Bumper and his friends, accompanied by Goosal, approached the fallen trees.
It was shortly after noon the next day, when Goosal, after remarking that a storm seemed brewing, announced that they would be at the entrance to the cavern in another hour. "Good!" cried Professor Bumper. "At last we are near the buried city." "Don't be too sure," advised Mr. Damon, "We may be disappointed. Though I hope not for your sake, my dear Professor."
He know story of buried cities under trees. Very old story what you call legend, maybe. But Goosal know. He tell same as his grandfather told him. You wait. Goosal come, and you listen." "Good, Ned!" suddenly cried Tom. "Maybe, we'll get on the track of lost Kurzon after all, through some ancient Indian legend. Maybe we won't need the map!" "It hardly seems possible," said Ned slowly.
The trail was not an easy one, Goosal warned them. Tom and his friends found it even worse than they had expected, for all their experience in jungle and mountain traveling. In places it was necessary to dismount and lead the mules along, sometimes pushing and dragging them.
Then, more slowly still, he put out his hand and pulled at some bushes that grew on a ledge of the rock. They came away, having no depth of earth, and a small opening was disclosed. "It is here," said Goosal quietly. "The entrance to the cavern that leads to the burial place of the dead, and the city that is dead also. It is here." He stood aside while the others hurried forward.
Goosal seemed to be running his fingers lightly over the outer edge of the door. He was muttering to himself in his Indian tongue. Suddenly he uttered an exclamation, and, as he did so, there was a noise from the door itself. It was a grinding, scraping sound, a rumble as though rocks were being rolled one against the other.
"Well, I think we are, from what little information Goosal gave us," remarked Tom. "This buried city of his must be a wonderful place." "It is, if it is what I take it to be," agreed the professor. "I told you I would bring you to a land of wonders, Tom Swift, and they have hardly begun yet. Come, I am anxious to talk to Goosal."
And there he saw strange and wonderful sights, for it was the remains of a buried city, that had once been the home of a great and powerful tribe unlike the Indians the ancient Mayas it would seem. "Can you take us to this cavern?" asked the professor. "Yes," answered Goosal. "I will lead to it those who saved the life of Tal them and their friends. I will take you to the lost city!"
The very ground beneath their feet seemed to be shaking and trembling. "What is it?" gasped Ned, while Goosal fell on his knees and began fervently to pray. "It's an earthquake!" yelled Tom Swift. As he spoke there came another sound the sound of a mass of earth in motion. It came from the direction of the mountain trail they had just left.
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