"
"No, thank you," answered Tom, in disappointed
tones. "The oiled silk is of no use without
the map, and that's gone. Whew! but this is
tough!" he said to his chum. "As long as it was
only stolen there was a chance to get it back,
but if it's burned, the jig is up."
"It looks so," agreed Ned. "We'd better get
back and tell the professor. It he can't get along
without the map it's time he started a movement
toward getting another. So it wasn't Beecher,
after all, who got it."
"Evidently not," assented Tom. "But I
believe him capable of it."
"You haven't much use for him," remarked Ned.
"Huh!" was all the answer given by his chum.
"I am sorry, Senors," went on Tal, "but I
could not stop Valdez, and the burning of the
papers----"
"No, you could not help it," interrupted the
young inventor. "But it just happens that it
brings bad luck to us. You see, Tal, the papers
in this yellow covering, told of an old buried
city that the bald-headed professor--the-man-
with-no-hair-on-his-head--is very anxious to
discover. It is somewhere under the ground," and
he waved to the jungle all about them, pointing
earthwards.
"Paper Valdez burn tell of lost city?" asked
Tal, his face lighting up.
"Yes. But now, of course, we can't tell where
to dig for it."
The Indian turned to his wife and talked rapidly
with her in their own dialect. She, too, seemed
greatly excited, making quick gestures. Finally
she ran out of the hut.
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