The Wonder Island Boys: Conquest of the Savages Part 29

"Certainly; the best kind, for one in your condition." And John laughed.

"Probably you took me away before the cure was effected; but as I always was magnanimous, I shall forgive you this time."

There was a continuous fire of conversation, which cheered the patients, and added greatly to their store of knowledge.

Harry, who had been outside, rushed in, and exclaimed excitedly:

"Did you have _Investigator's_ Lifeboat No. 3?"

"Yes," exclaimed the boys.

"Who wrote the note we found in it?"

"Did you find our boat? Where did you get it?" asked Robert.

"We found it on a river to the north of this place."

"How in the world did it ever get there?"

"But who wrote the note?"

"What note?"

"The message signed Will."

The boys looked at each other, as they all shook their heads.

"That is one of the mysteries which George and I thought you could solve."

"Mysteries! Did you have many of them?"

"Many of them! We had over a dozen, and some of them are still on the puzzle board. Do you remember Raggy, the drawing teacher? He always liked to call some of our drawings the unsolved puzzles. I wonder where he is? We had enough mysteries the first three months to supply headaches for a year."

"We want to know about them."

"We'll tell you all about them; and some were mighty thrilling. We had some just as exciting as any you ever read of in the last boys' series that we had about two years ago."

"You see," said George, in a sage-like tone, "Harry and I don't read books of that kind any more; we simply act them." And the boys, and men, too, laughed at this sally.

"Stop your talking for a while and eat something," continued George.

"Good, but it's awful hot," said Min, as he puckered up his mouth and drew in a breath of cool air.

"I made it hot so you wouldn't eat too fast," chuckled George.

Just then a great commotion was heard on the outside, and George, Harry and Robert rushed for the door. Beyond the village a scrimmage was taking place, and a few shots were fired.

John and Uraso were racing across the open place, and dozens of warriors were following. Muro was seen as he emerged from the combatants, and he was smiling as John came up.

"The reinforcements from the south village came too late. I suspected they would be here, and I had a number of the men in wait for them. They have captured all of them."

John nodded his head with approval at the course of Muro. The warriors brought in the prisoners, who were astounded at the unexpected welcome which awaited them. Forty-five were in the party. They were put under guard with the others.

The utmost care was observed during the night, as the Illyas were known to be very foxy, and half the force was detailed to keep guard.

Early in the morning John's first care was to make an investigation as to the character of the provisions on hand, and to arrange that foraging parties should be sent out to bring in vegetables.

He was surprised to learn that the Illyas cultivated many kinds of garden products, and fruit was growing in abundance. This was found to be a prudent thing to consider, when it will be remembered that the village now had to feed over three hundred of the allies, and that the penned-up Illyas were not in a position to go out and bring in the daily supply.

The boys were fed at intervals during the night, but before four they all felt so much restored that sleep overtook them, and John advised them to permit sleep, as that would be the best restorer, and they were not disturbed until they naturally awoke during the forenoon.

A plentiful supply of broth was prepared, and administered during the day. But Harry and George were simply wild to explore the buildings. The excitement had been too intense to enable them to give it much thought.

But now something must be known about the buildings and the reason for their erection at that place.

John had questioned various ones about the buildings, but none seemed to know anything concerning them. Uraso and Muro were just as much surprised as the whites. Neither had known of the existence of a place with such buildings.

It appears that the Illyas never allowed captives to be confined in the village, and this was a wise thing; because the escape of anyone would be sure to inform the other tribes of the existence of the Forbidden City.

The remarkable thing about it, aside from the buildings, was the plan upon which the town had been built. It was regularly laid out. There were three main buildings; the first and largest being the one facing the west, with the Doric front. The next largest had its front facing the south, and this had Ionic columns. The third, and which was not noticeable from a position west of the village, was smaller than either, with a front of Tuscan architecture.

What did these buildings mean? By whom were they erected, and for what purpose were they intended? These were questions ever uppermost in the minds of John and the boys.

CHAPTER XVII

THE MYSTERIOUS CAVE. RETURNING TO UNITY

"It may be there are some sort of records or tablets somewhere about the buildings which will indicate what they were erected for; but my investigations thus far leave me just as much in the dark as when I first saw them," remarked John, as they were examining the structures.

"I wonder if they have corner stones? Sometimes they put records there,"

observed Harry.

"I made an examination in that direction also, but the character of the underpinning is the same all around, and the corners have no distinguishing stones."

"It must be a very old custom to have cornerstones for buildings."

"It was a custom to have cornerstones, or memorial stones, in all buildings in ancient times. They were well known in the time of Job, and buildings thousands of years prior to his day contained them. It is not known from what the custom arose."

"Didn't you say that the treasure charts showed the existence of caves to the southeast of the cave we found at the Tuolos' village?"

"Yes, and that is something that we shall have to investigate to-morrow.

To-day the patients still need our care, but they will be well enough to enable us to be absent to-morrow."

"I think we ought to make sketches of the plan of this town. I have a presentiment that we shall know something more about this place in the future," said George.