answer, but what it was all about the boys could not tell.

"Goosal say," translated Tal, "that he know a story of a very old city
away down under ground."

"Tell us about it!" urged Tom eagerly.

But a difficulty very soon developed. Tal's intentions were good, but
he was not equal to the task of translating. Nor was the understanding
of Tom and Ned of Spanish quite up to the mark.

"Say, this is too much for me!" exclaimed Tom. "We are losing the most
valuable part of this by not understanding what Goosal says, and what
Tal translates."

"What can we do?" asked Ned.

"Get the professor here as soon as possible. He can manage this
dialect, and he'll get the information at first hand. If Goosal can
tell where to begin excavating for the city he ought to tell the
professor, not us."

"That's right," agreed Ned. "We'll bring the professor here as soon as
we can."

Accordingly they stopped the somewhat difficult task of listening to
the translated story and told Tal, as well as they could, that they
would bring the "man-with-no-hair-on-his-head" to listen to the tale.

This seemed to suit the Indians, all of whom in the small colony
appeared to be very grateful to Tom and Ned for having saved the life
of Tal.

"That was a good shot you made when you bowled over the jaguar," said
Ned, as the two young explorers started back to their camp.

"Better than I realized, if it leads to the discovery of Kurzon and the
idol of gold," remarked Tom.

"And to think we should come across the oiled-silk holding the poisoned
arrows!" went on Ned. "That's the strangest part of the whole affair.
If it hadn't been that you shot the jaguar this never would have come
about."

That Professor Bumper was astonished, and Mr. Damon likewise, when they
heard the story of Tom and Ned, is stating it mildly.

"Come on!" exclaimed the scientist, as Tom finished, "we must see this
Goosal at once. If my map is destroyed, and it seems to be, this old
Indian may be our only hope. Where did he say the buried city was,
Tom?"

"Oh, somewhere in this vicinity, as nearly as I could make out. But
you'd better talk with him yourself. We didn't say anything about the
idol of gold."

"That's right. It's just as well to let the natives think we are only
after ordinary relics."

"Bless my insurance policy!" gasped Mr. Damon. "It does not seem
possible that we are on the right track."

"Well, I think we are, from what little info