FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>  
gold!" As they passed through the stone door, Tom and Professor Bumper tried to get some idea of the mechanism by which it worked. But they found this impossible, it being hidden within the stone itself or in the adjoining walls. But, in order that it might not close of itself and entomb them, the portal was blocked open with stones found in the passage. "It's always well to have a line of retreat open," said Tom. "There's no telling what may lie beyond us." For a time there seemed to be nothing more than the same passage along which they had come. Then the passage suddenly widened, like the large end of a square funnel. Upward and outward the stone walls swept, and they saw dimly before them, in the light of their torches, a vast cavern, seemingly formed by the falling in of mountains, which, in toppling over, had met overhead in a sort of rough arch, thus protecting, in a great measure, that which lay beneath them. Goosal, who had brought with him some of the fiber bark torches, set a bundle of them aflame. As they flared up, a wondrous sight was revealed to Tom Swift and his friends. Stretching out before them, as though they stood at the end of an elevated street and gazed down on it, was a city--a large city, with streets, houses, open squares, temples, statues, fountains, dry for centuries--a buried and forgotten city--a city in ruins--a city of the dead, now dry as dust, but still a city, or, rather, the strangely preserved remains of one. "Look!" whispered Tom. A louder voice just then, would have seemed a sacrilege. "Look!" "Is it what we are looking for?" asked Ned in a low voice. "I believe it is," replied the professor. "It is the lost city of Kurzon, or one just like it. And now if we can find the idol of gold our search will be ended--at least the major part of it." "Where did you expect to find the idol?" asked Tom. "It should be in the main temple. Come, we will walk in the ancient streets--streets where no feet but ours have trod in many centuries. Come!" In eager silence they pressed on through this newly discovered wonderland. For it was a wonderful city, or had been. Though much of it was in ruins, probably caused by an earthquake or an eruption from a volcano, the central portion, covered as it was by the overtoppling mountains that formed the arching roof, was well preserved. There were rude but beautiful stone buildings. There were archways; temples; pub
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>  



Top keywords:

passage

 

streets

 

torches

 
mountains
 
preserved
 

centuries

 
temples
 

formed

 

Kurzon

 

whispered


professor
 

replied

 

sacrilege

 

strangely

 

louder

 
remains
 

buried

 

forgotten

 

ancient

 
caused

earthquake

 
eruption
 

Though

 

discovered

 

wonderland

 

wonderful

 

volcano

 
central
 

beautiful

 

buildings


archways

 

portion

 

covered

 

overtoppling

 

arching

 

pressed

 

expect

 

search

 

temple

 

silence


fountains

 

bundle

 

retreat

 

telling

 

funnel

 

Upward

 
outward
 

square

 

widened

 

suddenly