  After leaving Pant to complete his photographic work, Kirk and his giant servant had passed from the small chamber to one very much larger. He had taken one of Pant’s flashlights. As he sent its gleam down the chamber he found it impossible to see the distant wall. The ceiling was low, so low that he was obliged to stoop at times to clear it. The stalactites and stalagmites were found in such numbers that they formed a veritable labyrinth. “Mustn’t go far,” he told himself. “Might be difficult to find our way back.” At that moment, as his flashlight painted a white avenue between two rows of natural pillars, he caught a strange yellow gleam a short way before him on the floor. A few steps and he was at the spot. His hand was on the thing, an ornament of gold of elaborate design, when his foot struck something that crushed in like an ancient gourd. One horrified glance, and he sprang back. “A skull. A human skull!” he breathed. One instant of horror, then he knew where they were, or at least thought he knew. They had found the final resting place of a race that had vanished from the earth. A moment’s poking about in the dust convinced him that this was true. Human bones mingled with gold and silver ornaments, pots of bronze, strings of jade beads, and who knows what other priceless treasures from the past, formed a setting for a bit of drama at once shocking and intriguing. Scarcely knowing what he was about, like some child in Fairyland, he began gathering up handfuls of the most attractive trinkets and thrusting them into the deep pockets of his knickers. It was while he was engaged in this strange occupation that he felt the same curious sensation that had come to Pant. “It—why, it’s like—” His heart raced wildly. “It’s as if the world had tipped a little!” Instantly he heard the loud chatter of the giant’s teeth. In the midst of the chatter he caught the sound of an attempted chant, the Carib chant which they, in their darkness of mind, believe will drive away evil spirits. The boy gathered no other trinkets. A moment passed, another and another. Every tick of his wrist watch sounded out in the dead silence of the place like the tolling of a funeral bell. Then, of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. The earth rocked. Huge stalactites came crashing down, to roll about the floor like barrels on the deck of a tossing ship. A grinning skull rolled at his feet. With his head in a whirl, Kirk knew not whether to stand or to flee. “The earth god of the Mayas!” a terrible voice sounded in his ear. It was the Carib’s voice. The next moment a powerful arm encircled him and he was whirled through the dark. His senses reeled. Only dimly could he realize what was passing. There was an earthquake. He was sure of that. They were common enough in Central America. They had been caught in a cave while an earthquake was in progress. What could be more terrible? The big black man, ever faithful to his trust, was attempting to carry him out. * * * * * * * * Pant, who had mistaken the first strange tilting of that portion of the earth’s surface on which he stood as no movement at all but a break of the imagination based on unstrung nerves, had moved with a rare showing of determination toward the curious object which lay on the rocky shelf. He had made it out as a small chest some two feet long and a foot deep. He had discovered that the top was thickly encrusted with dust, but the sides had the appearance of some beaten metal, stained and corroded by age. This much he had learned when the sudden shock of the earthquake came. If the first movement had seemed like the sudden lifting of a ship by a heavy sea, the second was like the shudder and crash of a great ocean liner as she is thrown upon the rocks in a mighty storm. The first shock left him well nigh senseless. The second brought reason back upon its throne. He thought at once of his young companion. He had brought him to this place and somehow he must see that he escaped from this awful thing that was going on. Seizing his flashlight, he started forward. At once he thought of his water-proof package and of the precious negative it contained. “I owe much to my grandfather. Can’t lose that,” he thought. Groping his way back, he secured the package. Then, turning his face resolutely toward the spot where the other boy and his black servant had vanished, he pushed forward. He had gone a dozen paces, had barely escaped being crushed by a ponderous pillar of white crystal, when a sudden quake brought him to his knees. Instantly he was up and fighting his way forward. And now his eyes fell upon the opening through which his companions had gone. What was his horror when at that moment there came a crashing and grinding sound, dust filled the air until he could scarcely see; yet through it all one fact stood out clear and undisputable. The opening through which the others had gone was closed. Next moment some object hurtling at him from the right, striking him squarely, sent him crashing to earth. There, bruised, half senseless, he all but gave himself over to despair. Through the moment of hopelessness which overcame the boy shot one ray of light. This light, shining brighter and brighter, brought him courage to battle on. That light was the sudden realization that God, the one true God, the good, patient, just God, was still in his universe and that He still noted the sparrow’s fall. The instant this fact was established, the boy’s mind grew calm. One calm thought led to another. What had struck him? Not a rock. That would have crushed him. What, then? What but a human being. “The giant black!” he thought. At that moment he caught a wavering gleam of light. It was in the direction of the cave’s entrance. “The black,” he said again. “They escaped. Thank—thank God!” Instantly he was away, following the light. For a moment the rude shocks of the earthquake were over. Aside from the debris that had been scattered about, his progress was unimpeded, yet he made no gain on the feeble light that wavered on before him. “Didn’t suppose that boy could travel so fast,” he told himself. Instantly a thought set him shuddering. Had the black servant, overcome by a terrible fear of a heathen god, forsaken his young charge? How was he to know? For a second he hesitated, then redoubled his pace. “Overtake him and force him to go back,” he told himself. “If—” He hoped his fears were unfounded. He came to the entrance of the great underground lake chamber, had passed it in safety and was skirting the shore of the lake, which was recovering from a great agitation, when the earth shudder began again. Battling against the dizziness that seemed about to overcome him, stumbling, all but falling, he had fought his way forward until at last the great bulk of the black man stood out before him. Then, as the very universe appeared to reel, a great tidal wave from the lake came sweeping over him. Strangely enough, at that moment there came into his mind a picture of his grandfather’s face. He thought of the water-proof package and the precious negative, and gripped them tight. The tidal wave receded. It did not return. He found himself once more on solid ground and close by, not twenty yards away, was the black and his young master. This last onslaught had been too much for the giant native. His knees had given way beneath him and he had slumped to earth, murmuring incoherent things about the earth god of the Mayas. As for Pant and Kirk, they knew no fear of Maya gods. They waited, and as they stood there they felt the rude shocks no more. The surface of the lake was again as placid as a pond beneath a silvery moon. They made their way forward in silence until, with a little thrill of joy, the younger boy gripped his companion’s arm as he cried: “See! The light! The light of the moon!” It was true. They had reached the entrance. A moment more and they were sitting in the shadows beneath the palms. “See!” said Kirk at last, drawing from his pocket an object that gleamed in the sunlight. “A message from out the past.” It was indeed an interesting collection he had gathered quite at random. A bracelet of gold set with jade, a small bronze god, grinning and terrible, a miniature silver goblet, and some other bits of jewelry of such odd design that one was not able to so much as guess their purpose. “Sometime,” said Kirk, “we will go back for more.” “I doubt if you will ever enter that chamber again,” said Pant. “I believe the earthquake closed the entrance to that particular chamber. But we will go back. “Oh yes, we will go back,” he repeated a moment later. He was thinking of the strange chest that was all but within his grasp when the earth shudder came. “But now,” said Kirk, “we must go down. Morning will soon be here. And think what the earthquake must have done to the old Don’s castle! Come!” he cried, shuddering with a terrible apprehension. “Our good friends may be buried beneath the ruins of their home—they may be dead!” Closely followed by Pant and the great Carib, he sprang away down the ancient trail. |
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