"For he's sure to come back that way--if he comes at all," declared
Ned; "which I am beginning to doubt."

"Well, he may not come," agreed Tom, who was beginning to lose some of
his first hope. "But he won't necessarily come from the same direction
he took. He may have had to go in an entirely different way to get
help. We'll hope for the best."

A week passed. Professor Bumper was able to be about, and Tom and Ned
noticed that there was an anxious look on his face. Was he, too,
beginning to despair?

"Well, this isn't hunting for golden idols very fast," said Mr. Damon,
the morning of the eighth day after their desertion by the faithless
Jacinto. "What do you say, Professor Bumper; ought we not to start off
on our own account?"

"We had better if Tolpec does not return today," was the answer.

They had eaten breakfast, had put their camp in order, and were about
to have a consultation on what was best to do, when Tom suddenly called
to Ned, who was whistling:

"Hark!"

Through the jungle came a faint sound of singing--not a harmonious air,
but the somewhat barbaric chant of the natives.

"It is Tolpec coming back!" cried Mr. Damon. "Hurray! Now our troubles
are over! Bless my meal ticket! Now we can start!"

"It may be Jacinto," suggested Ned.

"Nonsense! you old cold-water pitcher!" cried Tom. "It's Tolpec! I can
see him! He's a good scout all right!"

And then, walking at the head of a band of Indians who were weirdly
chanting while behind them came a train of mules, was Tolpec, a
cheerful grin covering his honest, if homely, dark face.

"Me come back!" he exclaimed in gutteral English, using about half of
his foreign vocabulary.

"I see you did," answered Professor Bumper in the man's own tongue.
"Glad to see you. Is everything all right?"

"All right," was the answer. "These Indians will take you where you
want to go, and will not leave you as Jacinto did."

"We'll start in the morning!" exclaimed the savant his own cheerful
self again, now that there was a prospect of going further into the
interior. "Tell the men to get something to eat, Tolpec. There is
plenty for all."

"Good!" grunted the new guide and soon the hungry Indians, who had come
far, were satisfying their hunger.

As they ate Tolpec explained to Professor Bumper, who repeated it to
the youths and Mr. Damon, that it had been necessary to go farther than
he had intended to get the porters and mules. But the Indian