"
"Then why don't we take that? I hate dawdling
along on a slow freighter."
"Well, for one thing it would hardly do to
change now, when all our goods are on board.
And besides, the captain of the _Relstab_, on which
we are going to sail, is a friend of Professor
Bumper's."
"Well, I'm just as glad Beecher and his party
aren't going with us," resumed Ned, after a
pause. "It might make trouble."
"Oh, I'm ready for any trouble HE might make!"
quickly exclaimed Tom.
He meant trouble that might be developed in
going to Honduras, and starting the search
for the lost city and the idol of gold. This kind
of trouble Tom and his friends had experienced
before, on other trips where rivals had sought
to frustrate their ends.
But, in his heart, though he said nothing to
Ned about it, Tom was worried. Much as he
disliked to admit it to himself, he feared the visit
of Professor Beecher to Mary Nestor in Fayetteville
had but one meaning.
"I wonder if he's going to propose to her,"
thought Tom. "He has the field all to himself
now, and her father likes him. That's in his favor.
I guess Mr. Nestor has never quite forgiven me
for that mistake about the dynamite box, and
that wasn't my fault. Then, too, the Beecher
and Nestor families have been friends for years.
Yes, he surely has the inside edge on me, and
if he gets her to throw me over---- Well, I
won't give up without a fight!" and Tom mentally
girded himself for a battle of wits.
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