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Updated: June 21, 2025
Masni only shook her head, and murmured: "Me show." Probably Tom's attempt to talk her language was not sufficiently clear to her. "My man he good man," she said, coming to a pause on the rough trail after a climb which was not easy. "Yes, I know he is," Tom said. "But he went on a strike with the others, Masni. He no work. He go on a 'hit, as Serato calls it," and Tom laughed.
"At any rate here they are, and they seem to be enjoying life while we've been worrying as to what had become of them. How did they get here, Masni?" "Me show you. Come." "Wait until I take another look," said Tom. "Be careful they don't see you," cautioned Mr. Damon. "They can't very well. The cleft is screened by bushes."
And at the foot of the cliff was a little encampment of Indians. There were a dozen huts, and wandering about them, or sitting in the shade, were a score or more of Indians. "There men from tunnel," said Masni, and, as he looked, wondering, Tom saw some of the workers he knew. One especially, was a laborer who walked with a peculiar limp. "The missing men!" gasped the young inventor.
Waddington was planning further disappearances when Tom saw him, but thought it a dream. Masni, the Indian woman, out herb-hunting one day, had seen Waddington, 'the bearded man' as he then was working the secret stone. Hidden, she observed him and told her husband, who was afraid to reveal what he knew. But when Tom saved the baby the woman rewarded him in the only way possible.
But Tom knew how to find the place again. Events moved rapidly from then on. The Titus brothers were more than astonished when Tom told them what he had learned. Masni had told him how to get into the secret valley by a round about, but easy trail, and thither Tom, the contractors, Mr. Damon and some of the white tunnel workers went the next day.
Is this how the men got out, or were taken out of the tunnel, Masni?" Tom asked. "This how," said the Indian woman. "See, here rope!" She pawed aside a mound of earth, and disclosed a rope buried there, a rope knotted at intervals. This, let down through the hole in the roof of the tunnel, provided a means of escape, and in such a manner that the disappearance of the men was most mysterious.
"I believe we're on the track of the mystery!" He led the way, followed by Mr. Damon, while Koku came next and then Masni. It could be no trap since she entered it herself. The path widened, but not much. There was only room for one to walk at a time. The trail twisted and turned, and Tom was wondering how far it led, when, from behind him, came the cry of the woman: "Watch now no fall down."
They never dreamed we would drive a tunnel along at the bottom of it. The shaft probably opened into a cave, and one of our blasts made it part of the tunnel. Well, this is part of the secret, anyhow. Much obliged to you, Masni!" The Indian woman had indeed revealed valuable information. They covered the secret rock with brush, as it had been, hid the rope and came away.
Or rather, the woman gave the sign to Tom, ignoring the others, who, naturally, would not be left behind. Masni seemed to have eyes for no one but the young inventor, and the manner in which she looked at him showed the deep gratitude she felt toward him for having saved her baby from the great condor.
"I hope it isn't anything serious." "We'll see," Tom went on. They resumed their journey up the mountain trail. It wound in and out in a region none of them had before visited. Though it could not be far from the tunnel, it was almost a strange country to Tom. Suddenly Masni stopped in a narrow gorge where the walls of rock rose high on either hand. She seemed looking for something.
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