TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

OR

The Underground Search
for the Idol of Gold

BY VICTOR APPLETON

AUTHOR OF 
"TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTORCYCLE,"
"TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL," 
"THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES,"
"THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS SERIES," ETC.

THE TOM SWIFT SERIES

1  TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE
2  TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT
3  TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP
4  TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT
5  TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT
6  TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE
7  TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS
8  TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE
9  TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER
10 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE
11 TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD
12 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER
13 TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY
14 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA
15 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT
16 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON
17 TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE
18 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
19 TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL
20 TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS
21 TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK
22 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT
23 TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH
24 TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS
25 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
26 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT
27 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER
28 TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS
29 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS
***

Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders

CONTENTS

I    A WONDERFUL STORY
II   PROFESSOR BUMPER ARRIVES
III  BLESSINGS AND ENTHUSIASM
IV   FENIMORE BEECHER
V    THE LITTLE GREEN GOD
VI   UNPLEASANT NEWS
VII  TOM HEARS SOMETHING
VIII OFF FOR HONDURAS
IX   VAL JACINTO
X    IN THE WILDS
XI   THE VAMPIRES
XII  A FALSE FRIEND
XIII FORWARD AGAIN
XIV  A NEW GUIDE
XV   IN THE COILS
XVI  A MEETING IN THE JUNGLE
XVII THE LOST MAP
XVIII "EL TIGRE!"
XIX  POISONED ARROWS
XX   AN OLD LEGEND
XXI  THE CAVERN
XXII THE STORM
XXIII ENTOMBED ALIVE
XXIV THE REVOLVING STONE
XXV  THE IDOL OF GOLD

TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

CHAPTER I

A WONDERFUL STORY

Tom Swift, who had been slowly looking
through the pages of a magazine, in the contents
of which he seemed to be deeply interested,
turned the final folio, ruffled the sheets back
again to look at a certain map and drawing, and
then, slapping the book down on a table before
him, with a noise not unlike that of a shot,
exclaimed:

"Well, that is certainly one wonderful story!"

"What's it about, Tom?" asked his chum, Ned
Newton.  "Something about inside baseball, or a
new submarine that can be converted into an
airship on short notice?"

"Neither one, you--you unscientific heathen,"
answered Tom, with a laugh at Ned.  "Though
that isn't saying such a machine couldn't be invented."

"I believe you--that is if you got on its trail,"
returned Ned, and there was warm admiration in
his voice.

"As for inside baseball, or outside, for that
matter, I hardly believe I'd be able to tell third
base from the second base, it's so long since I
went to a game," proceeded Tom.  "I've been
too busy on that new airship stabilizer dad gave
me an idea for.  I've been working too hard,
that's a fact.  I need a vacation, and maybe a
good baseball game----"

He stopped and looked at the magazine he had
so hastily slapped down.  Something he had read
in it seemed to fascinate him.

"I wonder if it can possibly be true," he went
on.  "It sounds like the wildest dream of a
professional sleep-walker; and yet, when I stop to
think, it isn't much worse than some of the
things we've gone through with, Ned."

"Say, for the love of rice-pudding! will you
get down to brass tacks and strike a trial
balance?  What are you talking of, anyhow?  Is it
a joke?"

"A joke?"

"Yes.  What you just read in that magazine
which seems to cause you so much excitement."

"Well, it may be a joke; and yet the professor
seems very much in earnest about it," replied
Tom.  "It certainly is one wonderful story!"

"So you said before.  Come on--the `fillium'
is busted.  Splice it, or else put in a new reel and
on with the show.  I'd like to know what's doing.
What professor are you talking of?"

"Professor Swyington Bumper."

"Swyington Bumper?" and Ned's voice
showed that his memory was a bit hazy.

"Yes.  You ought to remember him.  He was
on the steamer when I went down to Peru to
help the Titus Brothers dig the big tunnel.  That
plotter Waddington, or some of his tools,
dropped a bomb where it might have done us
some injury, but Professor Bumper, who was a
fellow passenger, on his way to South America
to look for the lost city of Pelone, calmly picked
up the bomb, plucked out the fuse, and saved
us from bad injuries, if not death.  And he was
as cool about it as an ice-cream cone.  Surely
you remember!"

"Swyington Bumper! Oh, yes, now I remember
him," said Ned Newton.  "But what has
he got to do with a wonderful story?  Has he
written more about the lost city of Pelone?  If
he has I don't see anything so very wonderful
in that."

"There isn't," agreed Tom.  "But this isn't
that," and Tom picked up the magazine and
leafed it to find the article he had been reading.

"Let's have a look at it," suggested Ned.  "You
act as though you might be vitally interested
in it.  Maybe you're thinking of joining forces
with the professor again, as you did when you
dug the big tunnel."

"Oh, no.  I haven't any such idea," Tom said.
"I've got enough work laid out now to keep me
in Shopton for the next year.  I have no notion
of going anywhere with Professor Bumper.  Yet
I can't help being impressed by this," and,
having found the article in the magazine to which
he referred, he handed it to his chum.

"Why, it's by Bumper himself!" exclaimed Ned.

"Yes.  Though there's nothing remarkable in
that, seeing that he is constantly contributing
articles to various publications or writing books.
It's the story itself that's so wonderful.  To
save you the trouble of wading through a lot
of scientific detail, which I know you don't care
about, I'll tell you that the story is about a queer