<h2 id="c15"><span class="small">CHAPTER XV</span> <br/>Fabulous El Dorado</h2>
<p>While the others stood rooted, staring upward, Biff
looked for his father, in the frantic hope of giving
him some last-moment warning. Up ahead, Mr.
Brewster was waving for them to join him. Biff
grabbed Whitman by the arm and tried to start him
forward, at the same time yelling to Kamuka and
Jacome:</p>
<p>“It’s our only chance! Maybe Dad can get us past
the turn in the ravine!”</p>
<p>They all were starting forward before Biff finished
speaking, but their chance faded as the landslide’s roar
increased. Spreading as it came over the cliff edge,
the first wave of dirt and stone was not only peppering
them; it was pouring into the side passage that
seemed their only refuge.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_129">129</div>
<p>Fortunately, none of them was hit by that first
spray of smaller stones. Whitman stumbled, but
Jacome overtook him and helped him regain his footing.
Then they had reached Mr. Brewster, who was
blocking them from the side passage where Biff
thought he wanted them to go.</p>
<p>Instead, Biff’s father now was rushing them beneath
the overhanging cliff, where they huddled
against the rocky wall and turned to witness the havoc
that they had so narrowly escaped. From this hollow,
open space where Mr. Brewster had guided them,
they watched tons of dirt and stone drop down in a
solid curtain, only a dozen feet away, for the bulge of
the cliff above was comparatively slight.</p>
<p>Yet it jutted enough to send the tremendous landslide
cascading out beyond them, something on which
Mr. Brewster had counted when he made his quick
decision. But after the roar had finally subsided, Biff’s
father disclaimed any special credit for the rescue.</p>
<p>“I was close enough to see that this pocket offered
us our only chance,” stated Mr. Brewster. “As it was,
your own prompt response saved your lives. Otherwise,
you would now be under there.”</p>
<p>Mr. Brewster gestured significantly to the mound
of earth and rock that had piled many feet above their
heads. Carefully, they worked their way up over it
and down a long slant to the main ravine, which
they followed back to the river.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_130">130</div>
<p>On the way, they looked up to the brow of the
great cliff, but saw no human figures there. They
noted though, that the landslide had turned the ravine
into a dead-end, with no trace of the narrow passage
that angled off to the right, the route that they
would have taken.</p>
<p>Back at the river, Biff’s father sat on a pack and
commented rather ruefully:</p>
<p>“I guess this about ends our quest for El Dorado.”</p>
<p>“I’m afraid so,” Whitman agreed. “I’ve told you all
along that Joe Nara was a phony.”</p>
<p>“You mentioned a few reasons why you thought
so,” reminded Mr. Brewster. “But they were hardly
sufficient, Hal.”</p>
<p>“All right,” retorted Whitman, “I’ll add a few
clinchers. Nara said his men were Wai Wai Indians,
didn’t he?”</p>
<p>“That’s right.”</p>
<p>“Well, the Wai Wais come from clear over in British
Guiana, not from around here. And you remember
those shrunken heads he showed us? To prove
that Macus were around?”</p>
<p>Mr. Brewster nodded.</p>
<p>“Those were Jivaro heads,” declared Whitman,
“from somewhere up the Amazon itself. Macus don’t
shrink heads. All Nara wanted was to scare our bearers
back to Santa Isabel and chase us off into the jungle.
Right now, he’s probably still down on the Rio
Negro, making a deal with Serbot, somewhere near
Piedra Del Cucuy, learning what the competition
has to offer—”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_131">131</div>
<p>Whitman cut off, his mouth wide open as he looked
downstream. The others turned and saw a dugout
canoe approaching, with Joe Nara reclining comfortably
against the pack bags in its center, while Igo
and Ubi were paddling him up the Rio Del Muerte.
Old Joe was smiling as he stepped ashore, but he
became solemn when he saw the accusing eyes that
were fixed upon him.</p>
<p>“I don’t wonder you’re annoyed,” apologized
Nara. “I should have gotten here first—”</p>
<p>“You didn’t expect us to get here at all,” Hal Whitman
broke in. “Those directions of yours were a one-way
ticket over the falls on the Rio Del Muerte!”</p>
<p>“You tried to come down the river by boat?” Nara
paused and stared at the rubber boats. “I didn’t know
you had these with you. I said to follow the river,
that was all. Remember?”</p>
<p>“I remember,” returned Mr. Brewster. “You also
told us to go up through the gateway to the ravine—”</p>
<p>“No, I didn’t!” interrupted Nara. “I said for you
to come up through—”</p>
<p>“What would be the difference?”</p>
<p>“Why, if you came up through,” explained Nara,
“I would have been there to meet you. But if you
had gone up through ahead of me”—he shook his
head—“well, thank heavens, you didn’t try it!”</p>
<p>“Why not?”</p>
<p>“Because the tribe that guards El Dorado would
have let loose a landslide if they saw strangers coming
their way. I was mighty glad to find you waiting
here. I knew you couldn’t have gone up through
El Porto Del Diablo.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_132">132</div>
<p>“But we did go up through.”</p>
<p>As Joe Nara stared incredulously, Mr. Brewster described
all that had happened.</p>
<p>“Now that the ravine is blocked,” he finished,
“I suppose you can’t take us to your fabulous El
Dorado.”</p>
<p>“On the contrary,” returned Nara, with a quick
smile, “I can take you to the mine by the short way.”
He spoke to Igo and Ubi in dialect; then, as the Indians
went to the split rock, Nara announced, “I told
them to summon some bearers.”</p>
<p>Igo and Ubi shouted up through the ravine, and
their calls seemed to echo back. Soon, squatty Indians
appeared from the Devil’s Gateway until a dozen of
them had lined silently in front of Joe Nara. Kamuka
undertoned to Biff:</p>
<p>“These are the men who pushed stones from hill.”</p>
<p>“I figured that,” said Biff. “I wonder whether they
are surprised or sorry to see us still alive.”</p>
<p>“They are neither. They think Nara has made us
live again because we are his friends. They think Nara
is El Dorado.”</p>
<p>From the furtive glances that the squatty Indians
gave toward the Brewster party, along with the way
they were awaiting Nara’s bidding, Biff decided that
Kamuka had guessed right.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_133">133</div>
<p>At Nara’s command, the Indians did the unexpected.
They began replacing the packs and other
equipment in the rubber boats, while Nara suggested
that Mr. Brewster and his party get on board. Then
the Indians brought dugouts from the bushes, and
soon they were all paddling up the Rio Del Muerte,
with Nara’s canoe in the lead.</p>
<p>The going was easy, for the current was sluggish
here. After about two miles, Igo and Ubi drove
Nara’s dugout to a low bank where the jungle appeared
to be the thickest. With their paddles, they
raised a tangle of roots as they would a curtain, and
worked the boat through.</p>
<p>The others followed into a channel wide enough to
accommodate the rubber boats with ease. When the
foliage had been dropped behind the final canoe, Biff
looked back and saw that the mouth of this stream
was as completely hidden as before.</p>
<p>They emerged from the jungle near a towering
rock that looked like the one from which the Indians
had launched the landslide. They pulled up the boats
beside the stream and took to a steep trail that brought
them up behind the rock, past the far end of the
blocked ravine.</p>
<p>The trail climbed steadily, with more slopes rising
ahead. Beyond them were mountain peaks, some
looming blue and cloud-capped in the distance, overlooking
a vast, unexplored region. The chunky bearers
marched steadily onward, crossing logs over deep
ravines and following ledges hewn in the mountainsides.
Biff kept his eyes fixed on the backs of the
trudging Indians to avoid any dizziness from looking
below.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_134">134</div>
<p>“We are now in the Parima Mountains,” Joe Nara
told them. “This part of the range is in Venezuela.”</p>
<p>“I know,” acknowledged Mr. Brewster. “We
crossed the border from Brazil soon after we left
Piedra Del Cucuy.”</p>
<p>“What about these Indians of yours?” Hal Whitman
put in. “You say they are Wai Wais, Nara, but
that tribe lives over in Guiana.”</p>
<p>“The main tribe does,” returned Nara, “but this
one group remained here to guard the sacred mountain,
where El Dorado is located. They believed that
Daipurui, the Spirit of Evil, would go on a rampage if
anyone found the mine.”</p>
<p>“And how did you get around that?”</p>
<p>“I figured out a trick,” chuckled Nara, “that made
them think I was El Dorado himself, the original
Golden Boy in person. So they took Lew Kirby and
me up to the mine, the same way they’re going now.”</p>
<p>Single file, the Wai Wais were climbing steps cut
in a cliff, gripping liana vines as handrails to balance
the weight of their packs. As Biff began the climb,
the bearers looked like big, bulging beetles crawling
toward the skyline. One by one, they dropped from
sight as did the others in the party. Biff learned the
reason, when he reached a slanted ledge, like a niche
hacked in the cliff, and found the Wai Wais squatting
there.</p>
<p>Kamuka came just behind Biff, then others of the
party, and finally Joe Nara. Evidently, the Wai Wais
were awaiting him, for they began an odd chant that
included the words, “El Dorado—El Dorado—” and
continued as the shock-haired prospector strode past
them.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_135">135</div>
<p>Nara paused where the ledge burrowed at a slant
into the cliff and beckoned for everyone to follow,
which they did. They entered a gloomy mine shaft,
so low that all members of the party had to stoop, except
the boys. The Wai Wai bearers, already bending
under their burdens, followed the route automatically
as though the passage had been cut to their size.</p>
<p>Daylight showed where the shaft opened into a
great cavern. There, the sun shone through cracks
and other openings in the ceiling. It glinted on chunky
rock walls that fairly burned with vivid golden yellow.</p>
<p>All the tales that Biff had ever heard of hidden
treasure had suddenly become real. This was a wonderland
of wealth, with glittering side shafts going
deeper into the mountain, promising new finds for
anyone who followed them. Kamuka, awed by the
yellow glitter, asked in breathless tone:</p>
<p>“How much you think this worth, Biff? A million
<i>cruzeiro</i>—maybe?”</p>
<p>“A lot more, if it’s gold ore,” returned Biff. “But
it’s worth practically nothing if it is simply yellow
quartz. A lot of that is found in Brazil, in places easier
to reach than this. What’s just as bad, it may be fool’s
gold.”</p>
<p>“Fool gold? What is that?”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_136">136</div>
<p>“A mineral called pyrite,” exclaimed Biff, “usually
iron, mixed with sulphur. It often fools people who
think that it is gold. But it is more the color of brass
than gold, and it leaves a green streak when you rub
it on something smooth.”</p>
<p>As Biff picked up a chunk of yellow rock to examine
it, he caught a nod of approval from his father.
Biff had repeated facts that Mr. Brewster had told
him regarding metals. Now, Biff’s father indicated a
stretch of rocky wall, where patches of yellow shone
from a background of milky white. He asked:</p>
<p>“What do you make of this, Biff?”</p>
<p>“It looks like gold quartz for sure, Dad!” exclaimed
Biff. “There’s no chance of mistaking that. Or is
there?”</p>
<p>“In this case, there is no mistake.” Mr. Brewster
was studying the milky quartz as he spoke. “Undoubtedly,
this shaft was first mined centuries ago,
for it resembles old Indian mines that I have inspected.
But although it yielded gold years ago, I doubt that
its wealth has even begun to be tapped.”</p>
<p>“You’re right about that,” chuckled Joe Nara, who
was standing by. “Look there—and there—and
there—”</p>
<p>Nara had turned on a powerful flashlight, and with
each announcement, he pointed its beam down another
rough-hewn shaft that branched from the main
corridor. Each time, the glare was reflected with a
new burst of brilliance.</p>
<p>“The gold of El Dorado!” boasted Nara. “A
mountain full of it and a lot more that cropped over,
as I’ll show you!”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_137">137</div>
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