He reached up and pressed a mysterious button. Then he stepped back and waited.
Suddenly the youths gasped in awe, as they saw the huge stone wall slowly swing inward. As it made an opening, a beam of natural light flashed into the cave, making the use of a flashlight no longer necessary.
“Huh! That’s funny!” muttered Joe. “Must be an entrance to the outside somewhere.”
“If you can find it, it is more than I can do,” laughed Dr. Rander.
The opening grew larger, and the light brighter. When the ponderous stone wall had swung away to the utmost, Bob and Joe followed the old man through the entrance.
As they did so their eyes opened wide and their jaws dropped at the sight that lay before them. Ahead was a great stone room, fully fifty feet square, in which were scores of objects carved from stone. Statues of men, birds, llamas, pumas, and many other animals were all about. Ears of corn, plows, chairs, pottery—all these and many more objects were carved out of stone.
It was a wonderful collection, one that would delight the eye of any archæologist. Bob and Joe inspected the various objects with interest, knowing that Dr. Rust and his fellow scientists would give a great deal to know of the existence of this place of wonder.
“All this is very interesting,” remarked the old man. “But what we really came after was treasure—if there is any.”
“Yeah. Where is the place where you said it might be?” Bob was anxious to look for something still more valuable than the stone objects.