CHAPTER XXII.

FACE TO FACE.

"Hark! What was that?" whispered San Lucia to Murado.

The two old brigands paused in their stealthy march upon their sleeping victims, as the sound of the crash Noddy's auto made came faintly to their ears.

"How should I know?" asked Murado, but he seemed alarmed.

"It sounded in the tunnel," went on San Lucia. "Some one is coming! Quick! Let us hide! Another night will do for our work."

Thereupon the two old villains, alarmed by the terror of the noise caused by they knew not what, hesitated and then fled as silently as they had advanced. For the time the lives of the boys and the professor had been saved.

San Lucia and Murado went to their hiding place in the old temple, the building being so large and rambling that it would have hidden a score of men with ease. It may be added here that they did not dare to touch many things in the ancient city, thinking them bewitched.

All unmindful of the danger which had menaced them, our travelers slept on, nothing disturbing them, and they did not hear the noise made by Noddy's tumble, though they were not far from the mouth of the tunnel.

"I say!" called Bob, sitting up and looking at his watch in a sunbeam that came through a broken window. "I say, are you fellows going to sleep all day? It's nearly eight o'clock, and I want some breakfast."

"Oh, of course it's something to eat as soon as you open your eyes!" exclaimed Jerry. "I should think you would take something to bed with you, Chunky, and put it under your pillow so you could eat in the night whenever you felt hungry."

"That's all right," snapped Bob, "but I notice we don't have to call you twice to come to your meals."

"Is it morning?" called the professor from his cot.

"Long ago," replied Bob, who was dressing. "I wonder if the folks that lived in this temple ever washed. I'd like to strike a bathroom about now."

"Hark! I hear something!" exclaimed the professor.

They all listened intently.

"It's running water," said the naturalist, "and close by. Perhaps there's a wash-room in this temple."

"I'm going to see what's behind this door," said Bob, pointing to a portal none of them had noticed in the darkness. He pushed it open and went inside. The next instant he uttered a joyful cry:

"Come here, fellows! It's a plunge bath!"

Then they heard him spring in and splash about. Jerry and Ned soon followed, and the professor came a little later. It was a regular swimming-tank, stone-lined and sunk into the floor. The water came in through a sort of stone trough.

"These old chaps knew something about life, after all," observed Ned, as he climbed out and proceeded to dry himself.

"They were probably a bit like the Romans," remarked the professor, "and fond of bathing. But something has given me an appetite, and I wouldn't object to breakfast."

The others were of the same mind, and soon Ned had the gasolene stove set up and was preparing a meal. Bob attended to the brewing of the coffee instead of chocolate, and the aroma of the beverage filled the old temple with an appetizing odor.

"What are we going to do to-day?" asked Jerry, when they had finished the meal and were sitting comfortably on some low stools that had been discovered in the room where they slept.

"We must explore the city in all directions," said the professor. "There are many marvelous things here, and I have not begun to find them yet. It will take weeks and weeks."

"Are we going to stay here all that while?" asked Bob, somewhat dubiously.

"I'd like to," answered the naturalist. "But we can get a good load of specimens and relics, run up north and come back for more. This place is a regular treasure-trove."

Clearing away the remains of the breakfast, and looking over the auto to see that it had suffered no damage in the recent experience, the boys and the professor left the temple and strolled out into the deserted city. They did not know that their every movement was watched by the glittering eyes of San Lucia and Murado, who were hidden in an upper part of the temple whence they could look down on their intended victims from a small, concealed gallery.

By full daylight the ancient city was even more wonderful than it had appeared in the waning light of the previous afternoon. In the days of its glory it was evident it had been a beautiful place.

The travelers entered some of the better-preserved houses. They found the rooms filled with fine furniture, of a rude but simple and pleasing character, some of the articles being well preserved.

One house they visited seemed to have belonged to some rich man, for it was filled with things that once had been of great beauty.

"There is something that should interest me!" exclaimed the professor, as he caught sight of a small cabinet on the wall. "That must contain curios."

He found his supposition right, and fairly reveled in the objects that were treasures to him, but not worth much to any one else. There were ancient coins, rings and other articles of jewelry and hundreds of bugs, beetles and minerals.

"Whoever lived here was a wise and learned man," observed the naturalist. "I shall take his whole collection back with me, since it is going to ruin here, and it belongs to no one."

"There will be no room for any of us in the auto if you keep on collecting things," observed Jerry.

But this seemed to make no difference to the professor. He went right on collecting as if he had a freight car at his disposal.

The travelers continued on their way, exploring the different buildings here and there.

"I'm tired," announced Bob, suddenly. "You fellows can go on, if you want to, but I'm going to sit down and take a rest."

He found a comfortable place in the shade, where a stone ledge was built against the side of a ruined house, and sat down. Jerry and Ned followed his example, for they, too, were leg-weary.

"I'll just take a look through this one place, and then we'll go back and have dinner," said the professor.

He entered the structure, against which the boys were sitting. It was a small, one-storied affair, and did not look as if it would contain anything of value. The naturalist had not been inside five minutes before the boys heard him calling, in excited tones:

"Come quick, boys!"

They ran in, to behold Professor Snodgrass with his arm stuck in a hole in the wall. He seemed to be pulling at something.

"What is it?" cried Jerry.

"A gila monster," replied the professor. "I saw him and I got him."

"It looks as if he had you," answered Ned.

"He tried to get away, but I grabbed him by the tail as he was going in his hole," went on the naturalist. "Now he's got his claws dug down in the dirt and I can't pull him out. Come out of there, my beauty!" he cried, addressing his remarks to the hidden gila monster. "Come out, my pet!"

Then, with a sudden yank the professor succeeded in drawing the animal from its burrow. It was a repulsive-looking creature of the lizard variety, and as the professor held it up by the tail it wiggled and tried to escape.

"Now I have you, my little darling!" the naturalist cried, popping his prize into his collecting-box.

"That would never take a prize at a beauty show," observed Ned. "I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole."

"Well, this has been a most profitable day," went on the collector, as, with the boys, he turned toward their residence in the old temple. "I must come back this afternoon for the cabinet of curios."

Without further incident, save that nearly every step of the homeward journey the professor stopped to pick up some relic, the travelers reached the temple.

"Here goes for another bath!" cried Bob, running toward the room where the plunge was. "I'm nearly melted by the heat."

"I'm with you!" said Jerry.

Suddenly they heard the professor's voice calling them.

"I wonder what in the world is the matter now?" said Jerry.

He and Bob hurried outside where they had left the naturalist and Ned. They found the pair gazing down the street toward the tunnel entrance.

And as they gazed they saw the big door swing slowly open, while from the passage came Noddy Nixon, Vasco Bilette and the others of their crowd. A low cry of surprise broke from Noddy as he stood face to face with the very persons he and Vasco were seeking.