"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Sr 020 - Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

``It seems,'' explained the professor, ``that in the early days there
was a strange race of people, inhabiting Central America, with a somewhat
high civilization, only traces of which remained when the Spaniards came.

``But these traces, and such hieroglyphics, or, to be more exact
pictographs, as I have been able to decipher from the old documents, tell
of one country, or perhaps it was only a city, over which this great golden
idol of Quitzel presided.

``There is in some of these papers a description of the idol, which is
not exactly a beauty, judged from modern standards. But the main fact is
that it is made of solid gold, and may weigh anywhere from one to two
tons.''

``Two tons of gold!'' cried New Newton. ``Why, if that's the case it
would be worth -- -- '' and he fell to doing a sum in mental arithmetic.

``I am not so concerned about the monetary value of the statue as I am
about its antiquity,'' went on Professor Bumper. ``There are other statues
in this buried city of Kurzon, and though they may not be so valuable they
will give me a wealth of material for my research work.''

``How do you know there are other statues?'' asked Mr. Damon.

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``Because my documents tell me so. It was because the people made
other idols, in opposition, as it were, to Quitzel, that their city or
country was destroyed. At least that is the legend. Quitzel, so the story
goes, wanted to be the chief god, and when the image of a rival was set up
in the temple near him, he toppled over in anger, and part of the temple
went with him, the whole place being buried in ruins. All the inhabitants
were killed, and trace of the ancient city was lost forever. No, I hope not
forever, for I expect to find it.''

``If all the people were killed, and the city buried, how did the
story of Quitzel become known?'' asked Mr. Damon.

``One only of the priests in the temple of Quitzel escaped and set
down part of the tale,'' said the professor. ``It is his narrative, or one
based on it, that I have given you.''

``And now, what I want to do, is to go and make a search for this
buried city. I have fairly good directions as to how it may be reached. We
will have little difficulty in getting to Honduras, as there are fruit
steamers frequently sailing. Of course going into the interior -- to the
Copan valley -- is going to be harder. But an expedition from a large
college was recently there and succeeded, after much labor, in excavating