CHAPTER XXIII. OUT OF THE EVERGLADES.

“Now, then,” observed Dick Vincey, “let us leave the land of mystery forever! We have passed through many strange things while in it, and many enjoyable days, as well. Let us say farewell to the underground world and our families, who are buried beneath the ruins of the Naztec city and the village of Hez!”

There were tears in the eyes of the young man as he spoke, and, with their eyes turned to the cavern they had emerged from, all hands uttered the one word:

“Farewell!”

Then they left the spot and started for the place where the obelisk had been.

The huge stone column lay upon the ground in a dozen pieces, while the stairs leading into the earth’s bowels were plainly visible.

“Now,” said Leo, “to get out of the Everglades.”

As they started over the ground in the direction they first came, Dick suddenly missed Jupiter, the dog, for the first time.

When he came to think of it, he had not seen him since they left the ruined city of the Naztecs.

He spoke about it to his friends.

“The poor animal must have been killed during the earthquake, and his master was too much excited to notice his absence,” said Leo.

The attire worn by our friends was of the style of the places they had lived in, and they looked curious enough as they made their way through the swamp.

When they came through the Everglades, they had chipped the trees on the route they took, and as these marks were still plainly visible they anticipated but little difficulty in getting back to their boat, the _Maid of the Marsh_, which was looked upon with so much disgust by the Yankee.

They found the boat half covered with mud, but otherwise she was uninjured.

It took them nearly a day to clean her and get her ready for use once more, and when this job was finished all hands felt better.

A week or so later eight forlorn-appearing men might have been seen camped upon the borders of Lake Okechobee.

They were Dick Vincey, Leo Malvern, Prof. Remington Easy, Martin Haypole, Andrew Jones, Philander Owens, Reginald Lacy and the darky, Lucky.

The long gowns they wore were torn and dirty, and they looked more like a crowd of ragpickers than anything else.

But they would soon be in the limits of civilization again, and they felt thankful for it.

Their journey from the Land of Hez to their present position had been a perilous one, indeed.

But by perseverance and pluck they managed to elude the quicksands of the great swamp, and escape from being devoured by the ferocious alligators it contained.

Two weeks more and they reached the home of Leo Malvern.

It is needless to state that the cousins were received with pleasure.

Their relatives had long given them up as dead, and hence their joy at meeting them alive and well.

The wonderful story of their adventures was taken as a joke at first, but when all hands stoutly adhered to it, the relatives of Dick and Leo were forced to believe it.

“There are a few questions I would like ter ask some of you fellows,” said Martin Haypole, a day or two after their arrival at Leo’s home. “First--who built the obelisk at the entrance of Hez? Second--was the legend of Hez true, and was Roderique de Amilo as old as he claimed? Third--was the pool and fountain in the dazzlingly lighted cavern really the Fountain of Youth Ponce de Leon was in search of? And, fourth--was it really the discharge of the cannon that caused the earthquake that wrought such a ruin upon the city of the Naztecs and the Land of Hez?”

As the Yankee asked these questions he knocked the ashes from his pipe and glanced around at his hearers.

“Your questions will never be answered in this world,” replied the professor, gravely. “We can form our own opinions--that is all.”

And so it is. We have stated the incidents of our story in a manner meant to be plain; now we will leave the reader to answer Martin Haypole’s questions.

THE END.

The next issue of BRAVE AND BOLD, No. 128, will contain “Stonia Stedman’s Triumph; or, A Young Mechanic’s Trials.” This story relates the experiences that befell a young workman, and shows how he eventually triumphed over a clique of jealous fellow workers, at the same time unearthing the schemes of a band of dangerous moonshiners. Be sure and read Stonia’s gallant struggle against great odds.

* * * * *

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* * * * *

Transcriber’s note:

Based on the available evidence, the author for this book is most likely Cornelius Shea.

This story originally appeared, very likely in a longer version, as “Under the Everglades; or, Two Years in a Land of Mystery,” _Golden Hours_ issues 176 through 185, June 13, 1891 to August 15, 1891, published by Norman L. Munro & Company.

Punctuation has been made consistent.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication, except that obvious typos have been corrected.

Changes have been made as follows:

p. 22: “hate as he darted” changed to “hate darted” (of hate darted)

p. 30: “looking for so” changed to “looking for for so” (looking for for so)