CHAPTER XVI.

THE LAUGHING SERPENT.

"What is it?" asked Jerry, bringing the machine up with a sudden jerk.

"See! There is the laughing serpent!" exclaimed Bob.

"The laughing serpent?" inquired Ned. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember what the old Mexican said?" went on Bob. "Here is the parting of the ways, and here is the image of the laughing serpent."

"Sure enough!" agreed the professor. "It's an image cut out of stone, in the shape of a snake laughing. Wonderful! Wonderful!"

Right at the fork of the road and about fifteen feet from the automobile was the strange design. It was rudely cut out of stone, a serpent twining about a tree-trunk. There was nothing remarkable in the image itself except for the quaint, laughing expression the sculptor had managed to carve on the mouth of the reptile.

"I wonder how it came here?" asked Jerry, getting out of the car and going close for a better look.

"Probably a relic of the Aztec race," replied the professor. "They were artists in their way. This must be the image the old Mexican mentioned. If it is I suppose we may as well follow his advice and take the road to the left."

"The road to the buried city," put in Jerry. "We must be close to it now."

"Isn't that something sticking in the mouth of the image?" asked Bob.

"It looks like a paper," said Ned. "I'll climb up and see what it is."

He scrambled up the stone tree-trunk, about which the image of the laughing serpent was twined. Reaching up, he took from the mouth of the reptile a folded paper.

"What does it say?" called Jerry.

"It's written in some queer language; Spanish, I guess," replied Ned. "I can't read it."

"Bring it here," said Professor Snodgrass. "Perhaps I can make it out."

The naturalist puzzled over the writing a few minutes. Then he exclaimed:

"It's from our old friend, the Mexican magician. He tells us to turn to the left, which is the same advice he has given us before, and he adds that we must beware of some sudden happening."

"I wonder what he means by that?" asked Jerry.

"Probably nothing," answered the professor. "But if something does happen, and he meets us after it, he'll be sure to say he warned us. It's a way those pretended wonder-workers have."

"How do you suppose the note was placed there?" inquired Bob. "We left the Mexican many miles behind."

"They are wonderful runners," answered the naturalist. "The magician may not have placed it here himself, but he may have given it to a friend. Perhaps there was a relay of runners, such as used to exist among the ancient Mexicans to carry royal messages. The old Mexican, who, somehow or other, discovered our object in this country, probably wanted to impress us with his abilities in the mystifying line."

The travelers spent a few minutes examining the queer, carved serpent. There were no other evidences of the existence of man at hand, and, except for the two roads, there was nothing to be seen but an almost unbroken forest. It was a wild part of Mexico.

"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Jerry. "Go on or stay here?"

"Go on, by all means," said the professor. "Why, we may be only a little way from the buried city! Just think of it! There will be wealth untold for us!"

"One thing puzzles me though," observed Bob.

"What is it, Chunky?" asked Ned.

"How are we going to know this buried city when we come to it?"

"How?" came from Jerry. "Why, I suppose there'll be a railroad station, with the name of the city on it. Or there may be trolley cars, so we can ask the conductors if we are at the underground town. Don't you worry about knowing the place when you get to it."

"But if it's underground, how are we going to find it?" persisted Bob. "It isn't like a mine, for people who know the signs can tell where gold or silver is hidden under the ground. But a city is different."

"I confess that question has been a puzzle to me," admitted Professor Snodgrass. "The only thing to do is to keep on along this road until we come to the place, or see some evidence that a buried city is in the vicinity."

"Forward, then!" cried Jerry, cranking up the auto.

They all got into the car and, proceeding at a slow speed, for the path was uncertain, started down the road leading to the left.

But all this while Noddy Nixon and Vasco Bilette, at the head of their two bands, had not been idle. Noddy kept his auto going, and Vasco and his Mexicans trotted along on horseback, drawing nearer and nearer to the travelers ahead of them.

It was about noon when the boys and the professor had started away from the image of the laughing serpent, and it was three hours later that Vasco and his men came up to it.

"Hello!" exclaimed the Mexican, staring at the carved stone. "I never saw you before, but you're not remarkable for beauty. I wonder what you're here for?"

He had never been in this part of Mexico before, and it was like a new country to him.

"I wonder which way those chaps took?" asked Vasco, dismounting from his horse. "It won't do for us to take the wrong trail."

"See!" exclaimed one of the Mexicans, pointing to where the tracks of the auto wheels could be seen, imprinted in the dust of the way leading to the left. "See! That way they go!"

"Sure enough they did, Petro!" remarked Vasco. "You have sharp eyes. Well, we'll just wait here until Noddy comes up and sees how things are. I shouldn't wonder but what it would be time to close in on 'em to-night. I'm getting tired of waiting. I want some money."

"So are we all tired!" exclaimed one of the gang, speaking in Spanish, which was the language Vasco always used save in talking to his English acquaintances. "We want gold, and if the fat boy is to be carried off and held for a ransom, the sooner the better."

"Have patience," advised Vasco. "We'll have him quick enough. Wait until Noddy comes." Then he began to roll a cigarette, his example being followed by all the others.

In about an hour Noddy, Pender, Dalsett and Berry came up in the auto. A consultation was held, and it was decided to have the horsemen follow the party in front more closely.

"We'll do the kidnapping to-night," said Noddy. "We'll wait until they go into camp, because that's what they'll have to do, for there are no inns down here. We'll be hiding in the bushes and at the proper time we'll grab Bob Baker and run."

"Good!" exclaimed Vasco. "My men were beginning to get impatient."

The plotters made a fire and prepared dinner. Then the Mexicans got out their revolvers and began cleaning them. Several also sharpened their knives.

"Look here," began Noddy, as he saw these preparations, "there's to be no killing, you know, Vasco."

"Killing! Bless you, of course not," was the reply, but Vasco winked one eye at Dalsett. "My men are only seeing that their weapons do not get rusty. Now, captain, we're ready to start as soon as you give the word."

"Then you may as well begin now," was Noddy's reply. "They have a pretty good start of us, but we'll travel after dark, if need be, to catch up with them. As soon as they camp out for the night, Vasco, surround them so they can't escape. Then I'll come up in my car, and we'll take Bob away in it."

The horsemen started off, Noddy following in a little while. The trail made by the auto of the boys and the professor was easily followed.

Noddy's car had barely turned around a bend in the road before something strange happened. The laughing serpent seemed to tremble and shake. It appeared alive, and about to fall to the ground.

Then a portion of the base and tree-trunk slid to one side and from the interior, which was hollow, there stepped out an old Mexican--the same who had played the part of the magician and who had given prophetic warning to the travelers.

"Ha! My trick worked!" he exclaimed. "It was a hard journey to travel all that distance and get here ahead of them. Only the fleetness of my horse and the fact that I knew all the roads that were short cuts, enabled me to do it. Now for the final act in the game!"

He placed his fingers to his mouth and blew a shrill whistle. In an instant a milk-white horse came from the bushes, where it had been concealed.

"Here, my beauty!" called the Mexican.

He leaped on the animal's back and dashed off like the wind, down the road leading to the right.