Tom Swift and His Electronic Retroscope (20 page)

"It’s Magnificent Max!" Bud cried. "And Chow!"

Grinning broadly, arms full, the ex-wrestler came up into the middle of the village, with Chow walking behind, a livid bruise on the side of his head but beaming in happy relief. "Ran inta Max on the way back," Chow explained.

In one huge hand Max was holding Stephenus Liu, clad in black, cradling him in a way that kept him as helpless as a baby. His other arm similarly held Jiang-Ma Liu. Their faces were pale but impassive.

"Here’s your skinny guy and
her
pal!" Max boomed like the victor in a wrestling match. "I knew I’d catch the sneaks sometime!" Tom and the others cheered, with Max guffawing loudly, "Saw the two of ’em hightailin’ it through the trees while I was out looking for my new digs. Cause ya see, this neighborhood has started to make me nervous. I’m thinking maybe I ought to be moving on to another cave!"

"Well done, Max!" Tom acclaimed him. "These folks are worse than a barrel of jaguars!"

The giant now set down a burlap sack he had been carrying across his back. "And in here’s the stuff they stole from me!" Max went on, shaking the sack gently. He went on, "But listen, you folks just keep ’em, huh? And that goes for all the other old stuff in my cave. Give ’em to a museum or something."

"How come?" Tom asked.

"Aw, it’s just plain too much to worry about, that’s how come," replied the ex-wrestler with a rueful expression. "It’s got so I can’t sleep any more at night. All I do is stew and worry about someone swiping my treasures. And, boys, that’s not healthy livin’!"

"Your decision is a wise one," pronounced Rodriguez.

Max left and the new prisoners were led away. Chow began to tell of his experience, but Ahau Quetzal silenced the discussion with a gesture and remarked in English, "Now we can learn what the symbols say, the old ones in the tomb. It is important to my people."

"We can go back right now,
ahau,"
responded Tom. "We’ll leave the
policia
to their work."

It was not long before a small knot of awed visitors stood in the cavernous tomb, gazing at the great carving in the light of a pair of battery-powered electric lanterns. They had entered by means of the cave—Tom, Bud, Chow, Professor Castillez, Wilson Hutchcraft, and Chief Hu-Quetzal.

Uncovering the cables with the shovels they had brought, the power was quickly restored to the retroscope, and the wizardrous camera again trained its electronic eyes on the wall of symbols.

"Part of the message is the same as the inscriptions on the sacred stone and the other ancient items," Tom told Hu-Quetzal as the Mayan gazed at the reproducer screen.

"But now there is much more," said Quetzal.

Tom nodded and read off, "
‘Fifty of us came here without mishap. Now we will hunt for the rest of the armada. We have lost many. Nothing will protect us from
—
’
Then that untranslatable symbol."

Haltingly, Tom managed to decode a further portion of the message. It said:

"
‘We hope to survive here but will have to—
something like
transform—the strange edible substances available. The supply we brought is nearly gone. We can not return. The
—blank—
has failed us.’
"

Tom paused, and Chow observed, "Wa-aal brand my moonbeams, that sure don’t tell us much. Is there any more, boss?"

"A little," he replied. "But I’m not sure I’m translating it right—it’s strange.
‘The preparers do not answer. The end-purpose has not been fulfilled.’
And then the final inscription:
‘I am the last. I have come to the end. Tell the—’
And that’s all."

"No doubt the ancient natives copied these symbols from something else, and carved them on a monument stone without being able to read them," said Hutchcraft. "Rather poignant, isn’t it?"

"We were always told this was a sacred place," murmured Hu-Quetzal. "And now thanks to you, Tom-Swift, we know the firstfathers spoke in truth to us."

"Any more digging before we leave?" Bud asked Tom.

"We’ll leave digging here to the archaeologists, Bud," Tom replied with a grin. "Right now, I’m eager to get back to Shopton and contact our space friends. I want to learn what
their
‘history books’ have to say about a space armada that flew to the earth three thousand years ago!"

After much animated speculation, Chow finally changed the subject. "Brand my cat whiskers, I think the main point o’ this whole thing is that Tom’s retroscope is a bang-up success!"

Everyone cheered this statement, then Bud said, "So, genius boy, what’s next? Another invention, or a mystery?"

Tom chuckled. "I have to choose?" Both were to come to the boys in the adventure of the bold project already underway at Swift Enterprises, in which Tom’s
Spectromarine Selector
would play a vital role.

As the group left the cave, Hu-Quetzal walked next to Tom and said, "Now, I have my own duties as
ahau.
It seems Juxtlanpoc had good reason to run away. He worked with the jungle men. I am certain he was the
ahmen
who approached the workmen to frighten them away. But it is well. He was not a good
ahmen
. When he told us the weather to come, he was right only half the time. We can do as well with the television news."

Tom laughed and said, catching Bud’s eye, "With respect,
ahau,
I have a suggestion. I happen to know someone who predicted an explosion, a kidnapping, and a blow to the head. Well, it all happened. That rock blew up, being trapped in the tomb was a sort of kidnapping, and Chow got knocked unconscious. So if you need a new shaman, I recommend Bud Barclay!"