“They are rubies!” cried the professor, rushing forward. As he did so, his eye fell upon a heap of golden ornaments and jeweled vessels at the foot of the huge statue. Evidently they had been left there as offerings on the day of the mysterious occurrence that had wiped out the tribe.
But as the man of science made his dart toward the pile, a strange thing happened. The gaping mouth of the statue opened wide, and from it there poured a puff of gas so baleful in odor that the boys reeled back. But the professor, upon whom the full force of the blast had concentrated itself, gave a few staggering footsteps and then plunged to the marble floor in a senseless condition.
“So that is the way those old fellows protected their treasure,” snorted Pete. “Wall, it was a good one, too, and no mistake. Come on, boys, and drag the professor out of that.”
“Isn’t there danger of our being poisoned by that gas, too?” asked Walt, still shaken by his previous experience in danger.
“Even if there was, it ’ud be our duty ter get the professor out of that,” said Pete severely, “but I noticed that the professor stepped on a particular stone as he reached for them treasures. I guess it is only that stone, behind which the stuff is piled, that works the gas consarn.”
And so it proved. By carefully avoiding the stone which was of a dark blood-color, they dragged the professor to a place of safety, and with water from the canteen and some of his own stimulant, they soon had him on his feet again.
“I should have been upon the lookout,” he said, “I ought to have known that the priests of the tribe would have taken some precautions to protect the offerings from marauders.”
“But the gas only works when you step on that particular stone,” objected Jack.
“I suppose with the ignorant folk with whom they had to deal, one lesson of that sort was quite sufficient. That is the logical stone to step upon, and having once tested it, nobody was likely to try again,” rejoined the professor.
“And now to gather up the treasure, or what we can of it,” said Jack.