The Jungle Pyramid (11 page)

Frank breathed easier.

“It's leading outside to the steps in the back,” Joe continued. “I landed next to the Feathered Serpent. He didn't blink an eye.”

Frank kept the beam of his flashlight shining over the end of the inclined plane. The boys decided it must have been used to lever heavy objects up to the higher levels of the pyramid.

“No freight elevators for the Mayas,” Joe joked. “They did everything with muscle.”

“Not so loud!” Frank warned. He played his beam around the lower chamber of the temple. It flashed over a pile of clay pots and stone figures in a corner.

“Where are we?” Joe asked.

“It looks like a storeroom, Joe. They kept supplies here until they were needed upstairs.” The flashlight crossed a tall stone column in the opposite corner. Frank brought it back into focus. The column was a rectangular stone block standing on end, about as tall as the boys. The same face was repeated four times from top to bottom, the visage of a large cat, its fangs bared in a savage snarl. “The jaguar god,” Frank whispered.

“As Chet would say, I hope I never meet up with him,” Joe said.

Frank now pointed his flashlight toward the ceiling. It showed row after row of petroglyphs, which they could not read.

“I understand,” Frank said, “that Mayan script has not been completely deciphered yet.”

The Hardys circled the chamber. The only opening was a low doorway. Frank ducked under it, followed by Joe, into a small, empty room. A quick search showed it had no other outlet.

A rustle at the doorway made Frank snap off his flashlight. The boys whirled in the defensive stance of karate experts. The sound came directly toward them in the darkness!

The Hardys had a strategy for such confrontations. They counted silently to three, then Frank snapped on his light. At the same time, Joe leaped on the intruder. He received a whiplash across the face, and went down in a tangle of branches!

Frank chuckled in spite of the danger. “A bush! The wind blew it in here!”

Ruefully Joe extricated himself and got to his feet. “Next time, I'll look before I leap!” he said.

The Hardys went back through the first chamber. “We'll have to use the outer stairs to get to the top of the temple,” Frank declared. “I hope the guy inside won't see or hear us.”

He pocketed his flashlight; then the boys went outside and maneuvered over to the staircase. The steps seemed to rise endlessly above them, steep and narrow. The footing was difficult, and clouds gathering across the face of the moon created a dark, murky atmosphere.

“Don't fall!” Frank muttered. “It's a bumpy road to the ground.”

They got about a third of the way up, gripping vines to steady themselves and making sure of a foothold on every step, before they were interrupted. Something moved among the vines near Frank's right hand. Pulling his fingers away, he got out his light and shone the beam on the fluttering leaves. A menacing snake raised its head, stared at him for a few seconds, then slithered onto the bough of a small tree. It vanished among the creepers.

Frank felt his heart pounding. He had almost placed his hand on a fer-de-lance, one of the most poisonous snakes of the Yucatán jungle!

“You're no snake charmer,” Joe whispered. “Don't fool around with our lethal companions.”

They resumed their climb. A black object hurtled through the air at them. Joe ducked in time to avoid getting hit on the head, but lost his footing and toppled off the step! Frank grabbed his brother in midair and held him until he could regain his foothold.

The trajectile veered to one side and landed on a bush. A harsh croak jarred their ears.

“A raven!” Frank whispered. “He almost got us!” As they continued their climb close to the summit, Frank paused and looked up. The smoother stone of the temple gleamed through tangled tropical growth that sprouted on its roof and spilled down the sides, waving wildly in a rising wind. The entrance was a dark oblong in the front wall. Total silence reigned over the jungle pyramid.

Frank gestured to Joe not to make a sound. They moved slowly and carefully up the rest of the steps. The final one brought them to the sacrificial chamber. On it stood a platform with four feet on each side. The walls of the temple behind it were made of pink-red stone rising some twenty feet into the air. A doorway led into the interior, and blank walls extended on each side of the doorway. The roof was flat.

Frank and Joe stole to one side of the entrance and peered in cautiously. A shaft of moonlight gleamed through an opening in the opposite wall. There was no sign or sound of life in the temple.

“Do you think the guy heard us and ran?” Joe asked in a whisper.

“Well, if he did, let's see what he was up to,” Frank said.

As the boys entered, Frank fumbled for his flashlight. Just then something rustled in a dark corner, and the next instant a man barreled out at them! He leveled Joe with a wild swing, then grappled with Frank!

The pair staggered back and forth in a furious test of strength until the assailant gave ground. Frank pressed him back. They swayed through the doorway and over to the staircase.

Joe recovered slowly from the blow. He felt woozy, but got to his feet. Then he realized he was alone in the temple. His brother and their attacker were gone!

“Frank!” he shouted. “Frank!”

The name echoed out over the jungle, but Frank did not answer. Frantically Joe rushed through the nearest doorway, which was the rear exit, and circled around the temple to the front.

There he could see Frank and the stranger still locked in combat! Joe rushed to help his brother, but before he could reach the spot, Frank and his attacker had lost their footing!

With a scream, they pitched down the main staircase and fell toward the bottom of the jungle pyramid!

 

 

 

 

JoE leaped forward and clutched wildly at Frank, but his fingers missed by inches!

Three new shapes were suddenly visible on the steps in the moonlight. Three pairs of arms caught Frank and his antagonist in midair. With great relief, Joe recognized Chet, Biff, and Tony!

The boys pulled Frank free. He stood to one side, panting from his struggle, while Biff gripped his adversary in a bear hug. The two wrestled fiercely on the temple staircase.

The man tripped Biff, who tumbled into a tangle of creepers. The assailant leaped up the steps, but Tony brought him down with a tackle around the ankles. Chet sat on him and grinned.

“Had enough?” Chet inquired.

“Chet's a bit overweight,” Tony pointed out.

“I—can—tell—that!” the man gasped. “Okay. I give up!”

The boys pushed their captive up to the summit and backed him against the temple wall in the darkness.

“You guys came just in time,” Frank said to his friends. “How did you get here?”

Biff said he had awakened to discover that Frank and Joe were gone. “I noticed a light and figured you must have seen it, too. So I woke Chet and Tony and we decided to back you up in case you were in trouble. We found what we think is the lost pyramid, and we saw a hassle on the top.”

“We came up the Mayan escalator,” Tony quipped. “Stone blocks and leg power.”

Biff looked at their captive. “Say, who is this guy?”

Joe took out his pencil flashlight, snapped it on, and shone it in the man's face.

“What are you doing here?” Frank asked the pilot.

“None of your business!” Murphy grunted.

“Let's tie him up,” Frank suggested. “One of us can watch him, while the rest are searching the place. There should be some clue as to what our friend was doing in the pyramid.”

The boys handcuffed Murphy with Joe's belt, and tied his ankles with Tony's. Biff volunteered to guard the pilot, while the others would go over the temple and pyramid with a fine-toothed comb, using their flashlights.

First they entered the section of the temple where they had been before. It had a high ceiling. A raised altar stood at one end and a row of stone idols at the other. Here the priests of the Mayan religion apparently had presided over ceremonies to the gods.

“Wow!” Tony said as he played his light over the altar. “This is where the Indians prayed to the jaguar god and the feathered serpent.”

Frank nodded. “Right now I'm not interested in the feathered serpent, but in some clues to why Murphy was here.”

The boys looked in every nook and cranny, and were about to give up when Joe called out, “Hey,
fellows!
Come over here!”

The others ran up to him. Joe pointed to a bulky sack concealed behind a statue of the jaguar god. Together, the boys dragged it into the center of the room.

“It's heavy as lead!” Tony exclaimed.

Excited, they opened it.

“Gold!” Chet cried in awe as they pulled out one object after another. First came a disc representing the sun. Small figurines followed. Finally there were dozens of ornaments—headdresses, bracelets, and rings.

“I don't believe it!” Frank said. “This stuff is priceless!”

“All Mayan,” Chet added. “It takes an adept in golden artifacts to know that.”

Joe upended the sack and shook out the contents. “The Scythian horse isn't here,” he said, a note of disappointment in his voice.

But Chet was ecstatic. “Who cares! You were looking for one little figurine, and see what you've found instead!”

“Not the Wakefield gold, either,” Frank said.

“Let's take one thing at a time,” Tony suggested, “and confront Rumble Murphy with the evidence. Maybe he'll enlighten us as to the origin of this treasure.”

“Good idea,” Frank said, and the boys began putting the glittering objects back into the sack.

“Remember the fortune-teller in Mexico City?” Joe asked his brother. “She said there was much gold in your future. Maybe she meant this.”

Frank laughed. “Who knows?”

The boys carried the sack outside and showed it to Biff. Murphy mumbled under his breath.

“Okay, Murphy,” Frank said. “You may as well tell us what this is all about.”

Murphy glared as his captors surrounded him menacingly.

“Come on, talk!” Biff hissed and moved his bulky figure closer to the pilot.

“All right, all right,” Murphy grumbled. “I handle Mayan artifacts. Jeep them to Chichén Itzá, then fly them out of Mexico for international buyers.”

“Did you ever see a figurine of a rearing horse?” Tony inquired. “A Scythian piece.”

Murphy shook his head. “I told you I handle only stuff that's found right here in Mexico—Aztec, Mayan, Olmec—no Scythian gold.”

“How did you find the pyramid?” Frank queried.

“I spotted it one day when I was flying low over the jungle. Later I discovered a way in by jeep from Chichén Itzá. And I saw it was the perfect hideout because nobody else knew where it was, so I stored my loot here.”

Frank changed the line of questioning. “Why did you threaten us at the airport in Mexico City?”

“Because your fat friend said you were after my gold!”

“Your gold?” Frank was puzzled.

“He said you always find your man, and you'd find the gold. I don't know anyone else smuggling gold around here, so I figured you were after me! Who do you work for, anyway?”

Frank grinned. “The Wakefield Mint.”

“What!”

“Never mind. But we had nothing to do with you. If you hadn't signaled tonight, we would never have suspected you.”

Murphy mumbled again, but said nothing aloud.

Biff said, “You were the one who dug the hole in the trail from Chichén Itzá and then caused the tree to tumble on us! You almost killed us!”

“I did no such thing,” Murphy grumbled, but the boys knew he was lying.

“And you tampered with the engine of our chartered plane,” Joe accused. “After you dug the hole you flew back to Mexico City and waited for us!”

“And you took a pot shot at Joe today,” Frank added.

Murphy did not reply.

“Why were you signaling with the flashlight tonight?” Frank asked.

“What signal?” Murphy asked defiantly.

“Don't play dumb,” Frank said. “If we hadn't seen your light, we never would have found you or the pyramid.”

“A buddy of mine Hies over here at night at a certain time to let me know if we found a buyer. I don't know which night he's coming, so I signal, then he drops the instructions. He didn't show up tonight.”