ntain--the mouth of the cave that led to the lost city of
Kurzon--completely covered by thousands of tons of earth and stones.

"That's the end of them!" exclaimed Tom, as the rumble of the
earthquake died away.

"Of----" Ned stopped, his eyes staring.

"Of Professor Beecher's party. They're entombed alive!"

CHAPTER XXIV

THE REVOLVING STONE

Stunned, not alone by the realization of the awfulness of the fate of
their rivals, but also by the terrific storm and the effect of the
earthquake and the landslide, Tom and his friends remained for a moment
gazing toward the mouth of the cavern, now completely out of sight,
buried by a mass of broken trees, tangled bushes, rocks and earth.
Somewhere, far beyond that mass, was the Beecher party, held prisoners
in the cave that formed the entrance to the buried city.

Tom was the first to come to a realization of what was needed to be
done.

"We must help them!" he exclaimed, and it was characteristic of him
that he harbored no enmity.

"How?" asked Ned.

"We must get a force of Indians and dig them out," was the prompt
answer.

At Tom's vigorous words Professor Bumper's forces were energized into
action, and he stated: "Fortunately we have plenty of excavating tools.
We may be in time to save them. Come on! the storm seems to have
passed as suddenly as it came up, and the earthquake, which, after all
did not cover a wide area, seems to be over. We must start the work of
rescue at once. We must go back to camp and get all the help we can
muster."

The storm, indeed, seemed to be over, but it was no easy matter to get
back over the soggy, rain-soaked ground to the trail they had left to
take shelter in the forest. Fortunately the earthquake had not
involved that portion where they had left their mules, but most of the
frightened animals had broken loose, and it was some little time before
they could all be caught.

"It is no use to try to get back to camp tonight," said Tom, when the
last of the pack and saddle animals had been corralled. "It is getting
late and there is no telling the condition of the trail. We must stay
here until morning."

"But what about them?" and Mr. Damon nodded in the direction of the
entombed ones.

"We can help them best by waiting until the beginning of a new day,"
said the professor. "We shall need a large force, and we could not
bring it up to-night. Besides, Tom is right, and if we tried to go
along the trail af