icinity
where, I believe, lies the lost city of Kurzon and, I hope, the idol of
gold, a situation has arisen--an unexpected situation, I may say--which
calls for different action from that I had counted on.

"I refer to the presence of my rival, Professor Beecher. I will not
dwell now on what he has done. It is better to consider what he may
do."

"That's right," agreed Ned. "He may get up in the night, dig up this
city and skip with that golden image before we know it."

"Hardly," grinned Tom.

"No," said Professor Bumper. "Excavating buried cities in the jungle
of Honduras is not as simple as that. There is much work to be done.
But accidents may happen, and in case one should occur to me, and I be
unable to prosecute the search, I want one of you to do it. For that
reason I am going to show you the maps and ancient documents and point
out to you where I believe the lost city lies. Now, if you will give
me your attention, I'll proceed."

The professor went over in detail the story of how he had found the old
documents relating to the lost city of Kurzon, and of how, after much
labor and research, he had located the city in the Copan valley. The
great idol of gold was one of the chief possessions of Kurzon, and it
was often referred to in the old papers; copies and translations of
which the professor had with him.

"But this is the most valuable of all," he said, as he opened an
oiled-silk packet. "And before I show it to you, suppose you two young
men take a look outside the tent."

"What for?" asked Mr. Damon.

"To make sure that no emissaries from the Beecher crowd are sneaking
around to overhear what we say," was the somewhat bitter answer of the
scientist. "I do not trust him, in spite of his attempted denial."

Tom and Ned took a quick but thorough observation outside the tent.
The blackness of the jungle night was in strange contrast to the light
they had just left.

"Doesn't seem to be any one around here," remarked Ned, after waiting a
minute or two.

"No. All's quiet along the Potomac. Those Beecher natives are having
some sort of a song-fest, though."

In the distance, and from the direction of their rivals' camp, came the
weird chant.

"Well, as long as they stay there we'll be all right," said Tom. "Come
on in. I'm anxious to hear what the professor has to say."

"Everything's quiet," reported Ned.

"Then give me your attention," begged the scientist.

Carefully, as thou