The Mystery Boys and the Secret of the Golden Sun

The San Blas Indians live on islands of the archipelago which guards the coast close to the line between Columbia and Panama. Most of the islands are quite small and are occupie...

Out from the Mosquito country the cruiser fought her way again; her machinery did not fail, and information given by the Indians, coupled with a fairly quiet sea, enabled the ad...

They rode back to the mine property quickly. It did not take long to locate Mr. Gray, Cliff’s elderly father: he listened in silence to the eager trio as they broke in upon one...

“That fellow is watching us again!” whispered Tom Carroll to his companions, Nicky and Cliff, as he adjusted a pack strap on the Mexican burro behind which he sheltered his face...

Out into the sparkling waters of the Gulf of Mexico the sturdy cruiser, _Porto Bello_, ploughed her way. Laying her course in a quartering slant, partly South and partly East, B...

The tropical jungle was beginning to show its eyes: would it go further and show its teeth and claws? After three hours of darkness, with only the blazing fire for protection, t...

“Waiting for something to happen is the hardest thing in the world,” Tom declared. He, and Nicky and Cliff sat in the shade of a small awning on the forward deck.

“There’s another reason, and a better one, why we daren’t try to fire the hut and escape with Margery,” said Nicky, jogging Tom’s arm. “Look beyond the torchlight. Shade your ey...

Nevertheless they kept on stubbornly. The Indians seemed not to mind any amount of exertion, and it was agreed by the white comrades that they would not show themselves weaker....

“These people will be your slaves from now on,” Margery said. “I know them. They ran to hide because they are afraid of you. If you do what I tell you we can get away safely aft...

Starting through a narrow inlet, taking advantage of the inflow of the tide, the canoes came into a lagoon; the water was shallow but clear; the banks were lined with the most d...

Late that night a tropical storm whirled down on the village from the mountains. Lightning that seemed more vivid than daylight flashed continuously; thunder that deafened shook...

Notwithstanding the youthful efforts to be optimistic, the _Porto Bello’s_ position was bad. She lay with her stern in deeper, swift water. Sharks and the rapid flow of the tide...

Tom took a firm grip of Cliff, on one side, and of Nick, on the other; to the latter he whispered: “Here they come! If you make a false move I’ll make mince-meat of you!”

The next ten days were dull ones for the Mystery Boys. Mexico was in a state of excitement, due to the approach of the Presidential election; and, while the revolutionary times...

While the party returned to the cruiser, Jack, the beach comber, betook himself to a land-locked lagoon where he proceeded to begin his return to self-respect by taking his firs...

Gleaming and flashing like the huge tusks of a water wolf, waiting, submerged, to gnash upon the defenseless cruiser, Tom saw the rocks, great needles of terror, for only an ins...

While the panther was still in midspring, the Indian flung his body sidewise to escape the leap. He struck against the rifle barrel, and the impact knocked the weapon out of Cli...

In the midst of a tropical paradise under the vivid moon, and with the looming grandeur of brooding mountains over it, Tom and Bill saw such an orgy of lust and degradation as m...

“Go slow!” Cliff urged, detaining Tom before the latter could make an impetuous rush toward the large hut. “If your sister is in there, be sure you won’t spoil everything by tel...

“Men in tropical places don’t ask each other questions about their business any more than the cowmen do on the range,” Jack began. “That fellow, Mort, was like all of us. He did...

Cliff and Nicky faced Henry Morgan on the cruiser’s deck. “Well, you are a fine one,” Cliff sneered. “You wouldn’t dare say what you do if my father and Andy hadn’t gone to the...

“You talk one way and act the opposite!” Tom made his tones sarcastic to cover his inward trepidation. He was not exactly afraid for he did not think that the man had any weapon...

In the silence that followed the final words of the girl, the Mystery Boys signified their readiness to enter a council. And as they folded their arms they saw the girl stare at...

Those Indians picked by the white trader, Mr. Buckley, to take Tom and Cliff across the mountain ways toward the capital, were by no means pleasant companions. Even in looks the...

Out from the mainland came a canoe. In it were two white people. They paddled stolidly and steadily, although several other canoes were close behind them, and at their sides, th...

During the long race back to Mexico the cruiser’s party never caught up with the lost time. Henry and Mort were always ahead; at Colon a tramp steamer had them aboard; at Vera C...

Nicky was all set to start up the Rio Patuca. But Cliff agreed with his father and with Joe Anderson, “Andy,” that it was unwise. Although the large village of the Mosquito Indi...

They went to the ramshackle wharf made of old, rotting poles stuck into the water, with old boards, from some wreckage, loosely laid on them for a footpath. The dock was seldom...

“The reason I didn’t want to talk about shares, last night,” Tom told his sister, late the next afternoon, “was because we don’t actually own a dollar’s worth of that mine.”