"There goes the entrance to the cavern!" cried Ned,
and as the others looked to where he pointed
they saw the hole in the side of the mountain
--the mouth of the cave that led to the lost city
of Kurzon--completely covered by thousands of
tons of earth and stones.
"That's the end of them!" exclaimed Tom, as
the rumble of the earthquake died away.
"Of----" Ned stopped, his eyes staring.
"Of Professor Beecher's party. They're
entombed alive!"
CHAPTER XXIV
THE REVOLVING STONE
Stunned, not alone by the realization of the
awfulness of the fate of their rivals, but also by
the terrific storm and the effect of the earthquake
and the landslide, Tom and his friends remained
for a moment gazing toward the mouth of the
cavern, now completely out of sight, buried by
a mass of broken trees, tangled bushes, rocks and
earth. Somewhere, far beyond that mass, was
the Beecher party, held prisoners in the cave
that formed the entrance to the buried city.
Tom was the first to come to a realization of
what was needed to be done.
"We must help them!" he exclaimed, and it was
characteristic of him that he harbored no enmity.
"How?" asked Ned.
"We must get a force of Indians and dig them
out," was the prompt answer.
At Tom's vigorous words Professor Bumper's
forces were energized into action, and he stated:
"Fortunately we have plenty of excavating
tools. We may be in time to save them. Come
on! the storm seems to have passed as suddenly
as it came up, and the earthquake, which, after
all did not cover a wide area, seems to be over.
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