Chapter III
A Face at the Window
"What is the matter?" asked Mr. Damon, catching the glance between Tomand the contractor. "Is there anything wrong with South America--Peru?I know they have lots of revolutions in those countries, but I don'tbelieve Peru is what they call a 'banana republic'; is it?"
"No," and Mr. Titus shook his head. "It isn't a question ofrevolutions."
"But it's something!" insisted Mr. Damon. "Bless my ink bottle! butit's something. As soon as I mention Peru, Tom, you and Mr. Titus eyeeach other as if I'd said something dreadful. Out with it! What is it?"
"It's just--just a coincidence," Tom said. "But go on, Mr. Damon.Finish what you have to say and then we'll explain."
"Well, I guess I've told you all you need to know for the present. Iwent into this wholesale drug concern, hoping to make some money, butnow, on account of the trouble down in Peru, we stand to loseconsiderable unless I can get back the cinchona concession."
"What does that mean?" Tom asked.
"Well, it means that our concern secured from the Peruvian governmentthe right to take this quinine-producing bark from the trees in acertain tropical section. But there has been a change in the governmentin the district where our men were working, and now the privilege, orconcession, has been withdrawn. I'm going down to see if I can't get itback. And I want you to go with me."
"And I came here for very nearly the same thing," went on Mr. Titus."That is where the coincidence comes in. It is strange that we shouldboth appeal to Mr. Swift at the same time."
"Well, Tom's a valuable helper!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "I know him ofold, for I've been on many a trip with him."
"This is the first time I have had the pleasure of meeting him,"resumed the tunnel contractor, "but I have heard of him. I did not askhim to go to South America for us. I only wanted to get some superiorexplosive for my brother, who is in charge of driving the railroadtunnel through a spur of the Andes. I look after matters up North here,but I may have to go to Peru myself.
"As I told Mr. Swift, I had read of his invention of the giant cannonand the special powder he used in it to send a projectile such adistance. The cannon is now mounted as one of the pieces of ordnancefor the defense of the Panama Canal, is it not?" he asked Tom.
The young inventor nodded in assent.
"Having heard of you, and the wonderful explosive used in your bigcannon," the contractor went on, "I wrote to my brother that I wouldtry and get some for him.
"You see," he resumed, "this is the situation. Back in the AndesMountains, a couple of hundred miles east of Lima, the government isbuilding a short railroad line to connect two others. If this is doneit will mean that the products of Peru--quinine bark, coffee, cocoa,sugar, rubber, incense and gold can more easily be transported. But toconnect the two railroad lines a big tunnel must be constructed.
"My brother and I make a specialty of such work, and when we saw bidsadvertised for, our firm put in an estimate. There was some troublewith a rival firm, which also bid, but we secured the contract, andbound ourselves to have the tunnel finished within a certain time, orforfeit a large sum.
"That was over a year ago. Since then our men, aided by the nativeIndians of Peru, have been tunneling the mountain, until, about a monthback, we struck a snag."
"What sort of snag?" Tom asked.
"A snag in the shape of extra hard rock," replied the tunnelcontractor. "Briefly, Paleozoic rocks make up the eastern part of theAndean Mountains in Peru, while the western range is formed of Mesozoicbeds, volcanic ashes and lava of comparatively recent date. Near thecoast the lower hills are composed of crystalline rocks, syenite andgranite, with, here and there, a strata of sandstone or limestone.These are, undoubtedly, relics of the lower Cretaceous age, and we, orrather, my brother, states that he has found them covered with marineTertiary deposits.
"Now this Mesozoic band varies greatly. Porphyritic tuffs and massivelimestone compose the western chain of the Andes above Lima, while inthe Oroya Valley we find carbonaceous sandstones. Some of the tuffs maybe of the Jurassic age, though the Cretaceous period is also largelyrepresented.
"Now while these different masses of rock formation offer hard enoughproblems to the tunnel digger, still we are more or less prepared tomeet them, and we figured on a certain percentage of them. Up to thepresent time we have met with just about what we expected, but what wedid not expect was something we came upon when the tunnel had beendriven three miles into the mountain."
"What did you find?" asked Tom, who knew enough about geology tounderstand the terms used. Mr. Damon did not, however, and when Mr.Titus rolled off some of the technical words, the drug investor softlymurmured such expressions as
"Bless my thermometer! Bless my porous plaster!"
"We found," resumed Mr. Titus, "after we had bored for a considerabledistance into the mountain, a mass of volcanic rock which is so hardthat our best diamond drills are dulled in a short time, and theexplosives we use merely shatter the face of the cutting, and give ushardly any progress at all.
"It was after several trials, and when my brother found that he wasmaking scarcely any progress, compared to the energy of his men and theblasting, that he wrote to me, explaining matters. I at once thought ofyou, Tom Swift, and your powerful explosive, for I had read about it.
"Now then, will you sell us some of your powder--explosive or whateveryou call it--Mr. Swift, or tell us where we can get it? We need itsoon, for we are losing valuable time."
Mr. Titus paused to draw on a piece of paper a rough map of Peru, andthe district where the tunnel was being constructed. He showed wherethe two railroad lines were, and where the new route would bring themtogether, the tunnel eliminating a big grade up which it would havebeen impossible to haul trains of any weight.
"What do you say, Mr. Swift?" the contractor concluded. "Will you letus have some of your powder? Or, better still, will you come to Peruyourself? That would suit us immensely, for you could be right on theground. And you could carry out your plan of going with your friendhere," and Mr. Titus nodded toward Mr. Damon. "That is, if you werethinking of going."
"Well, I was thinking of it," Tom admitted. "Mr. Damon and I have beenon so many trips together that it seems sort of natural for us to 'teamit.' I have never been to Peru, and I should like to see the country.There is only one matter though, that bothers me."
"What is it?" asked Mr. Titus quickly. "If it is a question of moneydismiss it from your mind. The Peruvian government is paying a largesum for this tunnel, and we stand to make considerable, even if we werethe lowest bidders. We can afford to pay you well--that is, we shall beable to if we can complete the bore on time. That is what is botheringme now--the unexpected strata of hard rock we have met with, whichseems impossible to blast. But I feel sure we can do it with theexplosive used in your giant cannon."
"That is just the point!" Tom exclaimed. "I am not so sure my explosivewould do."
"Why not?" the tunnel contractor asked. "It's powerful enough; isn'tit?"
"Yes, it is powerful enough, but whether it will have the right effecton volcanic rock is hard to say. I should like to see a rock sample."
"I can telegraph to have some sent here to you," said Mr. Tituseagerly. "Meantime, here is a description of it. I can read you that";and, taking a letter from his pocket, he read to Tom a geologicaldescription of the hard rock.
"Hum! Yes," mused Tom, as he listened. "It seems to be of the nature ofobsidian."
"Bless my watch chain!" cried Mr. Damon. "What's that?"
"Obsidian is a volcanic rock--a sort of combination of glass and flintfor hardness," Tom explained. "It is brittle, black in color, and thenatives of the Admiralty Islands use it for tipping their spears withwhich they slay victims for their cannibalistic feasts."
"Bless my--bless my ear-drums!" gasped Mr. Damon. "Cannibals!"
"Obsidian was also used by the ancient Mexicans to make knives anddaggers," Tom went on. "When Cortez conquered Mexico he found the
priests cutting the hearts from their living victims with knives madefrom this volcanic glass-like rock, known as obsidian. It may be thatyour brother has met with a vein of that in the tunnel," Tom said tothe contractor.
"Possibly," admitted Mr. Titus.
"In that case," Tom stated, "I may have to use a new kind of explosive.That used for my giant cannon would merely crumble the hard rock for ashort distance."
"Then will you accept the contract, and help us out?" asked Mr. Tituseagerly. "We will pay you well. Will you come to Peru and look over theground?"
"And kill two birds with one stone, and come with me also?" put in Mr.Damon.
Tom pondered for a moment. He was about to answer when the tunnelcontractor, who was looking from the library window, suddenly jumpedfrom his chair crying:
"There he is again! Once more dogging me!"
As he rushed from the room, Tom and Mr. Damon had a glimpse of a faceat one of the low library windows--a face that had an evil look. Itdisappeared as Mr. Titus ran from the room.