CHAPTER XII.
DOOM OF THE SILVER PALACE.
Bushnell leaped from his horse and began tearing the packs from thebacks of the led animals. He worked with mad haste, and there was anawesome, insane glare in his eyes.
"The man is crazy!" roared Professor Scotch. "The volcano is certain tobreak forth before long--it must be on the verge of breaking forth now.If we remain here we are doomed!"
"Oxcuse me!" fluttered Hans. "I vos retty to gone righd avay queek."
The professor turned to Frank with his appeal:
"Come, boy, let's get away before destruction comes upon us. We must notremain here."
Frank sprang down from his snorting horse, flung the rein to Hans, andleaped to Bushnell's side.
"You are mad to think of remaining here!" he said, swiftly. "Come away,and we will return when the volcano is at peace."
"No!" thundered the treasure-seeker, "I will not go! The Silver Palaceis there, and I mean to have my share of the treasure. Go if you areafraid, but here I stay till the balloon is inflated, and I can crossthe chasm. The wind is right for it, and nothing shall stop me!"
He picketed the horses, and began ripping open the packs.
Frank turned to Professor Scotch, saying, quietly:
"Bushnell will not go, and I shall stay with him. At the same time, Iadvise you to go. Take Hans with you, and get away from here. Leave aplain trail, and Bushnell will be able to follow it, if we succeed inreaching the palace and returning alive."
The professor entreated Frank to change his mind, but the lad wasdetermined, and nothing could alter that determination.
At last Scotch gave up in despair, groaning:
"If you stay, I stay. I am your guardian, but you seem to have thingsall your own way. If this volcano cooks us all, you will be to blame forit."
Frank said no word, but went about the task of assisting Bushnell in thework of inflating the balloon.
The Westerner had a "gas generator," which he was getting in order. Assoon as this was ready, the balloon was unrolled, spread out, drawn upby means of poles and lines, and then secured to the ground by one stoutrope, which was hitched about the base of a great bowlder.
Then Bushnell built a fire and set the "gas generator" at work.
In the meantime the volcano had continued to mutter. At intervals theclouds of smoke parted, and they saw the wonderful Silver Palacestanding on a plateau beyond the chasm.
The palace seemed to cast a spell over them all, and they felt the feverof the gold-hunter beginning to burn in their throbbing veins.
It was more than an hour after their arrival that the balloon began tofill with gas and Frank uttered a cheer as he saw the silk bulging likea bladder that is inflated with wind.
"Ha, ha!" laughed Bushnell, wildly. "In a few minutes we'll go sailin'over ther gulf, right through ther smoke, ter ther Silver Palace. Ha,ha, ha!"
The man's face was flushed till it was nearly purple, and his eyes werebloodshot. The fever had fastened itself firmly upon him.
More and more did the balloon expand. Bushnell had brought out a foldingcar, which he securely attached.
"In ten minutes more we'll be ready for the trip!" he shouted.
At that instant a series of wild cries reached their ears, and, turningswiftly, they saw a band of dark-faced men pouring through a fissure inthe rocks to the north of them.
"Shimminy Gristmas!" cried Hans Dunnerwust, in terror. "Dot seddles us!"
"Who is it? Who are they?" fluttered the professor.
"They look like bandits," acknowledged Frank.
"It is Pacheco's band!" cried Bushnell, hastily securing his rifle."Ther pizen varmints hev come ten minutes too soon! Ther balloon wouldtake us all over in another ten minutes, but now it won't carry morethan two. We must hold ther skunks off till she fills."
"Right!" shouted Frank Merriwell. "And we must be ready to go theinstant she does fill. We can't hold 'em back long, for we have noshelter here. Professor, Hans, into that car! Get in, I say, and beready! We'll try to stand the whelps off till the balloon is inflated,but we must be ready to start at any instant."
Professor Scotch and Hans were hastily bundled into the car.
The bandits hesitated long enough to gather and prepare for the charge,with their chief in the lead. It was plain they saw the treasure-seekershad no shelter, and they meant to close in without delay.
"Reddy for 'em, Frank!" called Bushnell, dropping on one knee, hisWinchester in his hands. "They're comin' right soon!"
This was true. With mad cries and a fusillade of shots, the banditscharged.
Bushnell opened fire, and Frank followed his example. Several of thebandits were seen to fall, but still the others came on.
"Lead won't stop 'em!" snarled the Westerner. "It'll be hand ter hand ina jiffy."
"And that means----"
"We'll get wiped out."
"The balloon----"
"Won't carry more'n two--possibly three. In with ye, boy! You mayescape! It don't make any diffrunce 'bout an old coon like me."
"Not much will I get in and leave you!" cried Frank. "We are partners inthis expedition, and partners we'll stay to the end!"
"But ther others--ther professor an' ther Dutch boy! They might escapeif----"
"They shall escape!"
Out flashed a knife in Frank Merriwell's hand, and, with one sweepingslash, he severed the strong rope that held the tugging, tossing balloonto the earth. Away shot the balloon, a cry of amazement and horrorbreaking from the lips of the professor and Hans.
"Mein gootness!" gasped the Dutch boy. "Vot vos happened?"
"I'll tell you," groaned the professor. "The balloon could not carry allfour of us, and Frank Merriwell, like the noble, generous, hot-headed,foolish boy he is, refused to leave Bushnell. At the same time he wouldnot doom us, and he cut the rope, setting the balloon free. He hasremained behind to die at Bushnell's side."
"Led me git oudt!" sobbed Hans. "I vant to go pack und die mit him!"
"It was too late now. Look--see there! We are directly over the SilverPalace! What a beautiful----"
The professor's words were interrupted by a frightful rumbling roar thatcame up from the gulf surrounding the plateau on which the palace stood.All the way around that gulf a sheet of flame seemed to leap upwardthrough smoke, and then, paralyzed, helpless, hypnotized by thespectacle, they saw the plateau and the palace sink and disappear intothe blackness of a great void. Then, like a black funeral pall, thesmoke rolled up about them and shut off their view.
But they knew that never again would the eyes of any human being beholdthe marvelous Silver Palace of the Sierra Madre Mountains.
When the balloon had ascended higher another current of air wasencountered, and the course changed. Away they floated over the mountainpeaks and out beyond the great range.
At last they came down, made a safe landing, and, to their satisfaction,found themselves within a mile of Huejugilla el Alto.
They had escaped the most frightful perils, but Professor Scotch's heartlay like lead in his bosom, and Hans Dunnerwust was not to be comforted,for they had left Frank Merriwell to his doom.
In Huejugilla el Alto they remained four days, neither of them seemingto have energy enough to do anything.
And, on the fourth day, Frank, Al Bushnell, and two others rode intotown and stopped at the hotel.
Picture the meeting between Frank and his friends! Hans shed nearly abucketful of joyful tears, and Professor Scotch actually swooned fromsheer amazement and delight. When the professor recovered, he clung toFrank's hands, saying:
"This is the happiest moment of my life--if I am not dreaming! Frank, mydear boy, I never expected to see you again. How did you escape?"
"The eruption of the volcano broke the bandits up," explained Frank;"and, by the time they had recovered and were ready to come at us again,a band of natives, headed by Rodeo, Pacheco's brother, came down onthem. A terrible battle ensued. The bandits were defeated, many o
f themslain, among the latter being the false Pacheco. And whom do you fancythe impostor proved to be, professor?"
"I haven't the least idea."
"He was my villainous cousin, Carlos Merriwell."
"And he is dead?"
"Yes."
"That is a good thing. He will not trouble you any more."
"No, I shall never be troubled by him again. With Rodeo and the nativeswas Jack Burk----"
"Jack Burk! The man is dead!"
"Not quite, professor," declared a familiar voice, and Burk himselfstepped forward. "I am still quite lively for a dead man."
"But--I saw you dead!" declared the astounded professor.
"You saw me nearly dead, but not quite. You remember I told you of anative who had found me in the hut, and how he had said it was not afever that ailed me, but was a trouble brought on by drinking the waterof the spring near the hut?"
"Yes, I remember."
"And I told you the native hastily left me--left me to die alone, as Isupposed."
"I remember that."
"He did not leave me to die, but went for an antidote. While you wereaway he returned and administered some of the antidote for the poison,bringing me around, although but a feeble spark of life fluttered in mybosom. Then he took me on his shoulders, and carried me from the hut toanother place of shelter, where he brought me back to my full strengthin a remarkably brief space of time."
"I understand why we did not find you," said the professor.
"We followed the bandits," Jack Burk continued. "This native was Rodeo,the brother of the true Pacheco, and he is here."
Rodeo stepped forward, bowing with the politeness of a Spanish don.
"Rodeo made me swear to aid him in hunting down the murderer of hisbrother. That was the pay he asked for saving my life. I gave the oath,and it was his whim that I should not reveal myself to you till theright time came. But when I saw the spy tracking you, saw him locateyou, and saw him hasten to tell the bandits, I was forced to appear andgive a warning."
"We took you for a ghost."
"I thought it possible you might, and I fancied that might cause you togive all the more heed to the warning."
"Well, of all remarkable things that ever happened in my life, theseevents of the past few days take the lead," declared Scotch. "However, Ihave come through all dangers in safety, and I am happy, for Frank isalive and well."
"But the Silver Palace is gone, with all its marvelous treasure," saidFrank.
"Thet's right, boy," nodded Bushnell, gloomily. "Ther palace has sunkinter ther earth, an' nary galoot ever gits ther benefit of all thertreasure it contained."
"Don't take it so hard, partner," said Jack Burk. "Mexico is the land oftreasures, and we may strike something else before we cross the DeathDivide."
"Vell," sighed Hans Dunnerwust, "you beoples can hunt for dreasure allyou don'd vant to; but I haf enough uf dis pusiness alretty soon. Inefer vos puilt for so much oxcitemend, und I vos goin' to took der nextdrain for home as soon as I can ged to him. Uf I don'd done dot I vosafrait mein mutter vill nefer seen her leedle Hansie some more."
"I fancy I have had quite enough of Mexico for the present," smiledFrank. "The United States will do me a while longer, and so, if you aregoing home, Hans, Professor Scotch and myself will accompany you till westrike Uncle Sam's domain, at least."
A few days later, bidding their friends adieu, they left Mexico, takingtheir way northward to New Orleans, where new adventures awaited them,as the chapters to follow will prove.