CONTENTS
1 Mayan Welcome
2 The Sacred Stone
3 Relic From Space
4 A Helium Mystery
5 A Dismaying Failure
6 The Giant Figure
7 Mighty Max
8 The Skinny Phantom
9 A Mayan Feast
10 Ball of Magic
11 A Narrow Escape
12 The Wrestler’s Cave
13 Parrot’s Warning
14 Fighting Mad
15 Sightseer Overboard!
16 Police Quiz
17 The Buried Temple
18 Sabotage
19 A Startling Confession
20 Spacemen’s Fate
CHAPTER I
MAYAN WELCOME
“This is a new kind of scientific expedition,” Bud Barclay remarked with a grin, “bringing pygmies out of the Yucatan jungle!”
“A bit different from our space cruises,” Tom Swift Jr. agreed with a chuckle.
“Bud, these small men are not pygmies; just the shortest of their particular tribe of Mayan Indians. Doctors hope to learn a lot by studying them. For one thing, their pulse rate is twenty points lower than ours.”
The eighteen-year-old, blond-haired inventor was flying a Swift cargo jet high above the Mexican wilderness. Bud, his friend and copilot, sat beside him.
A third man, Chow Winkler, suddenly said, “Bet my last grain o’ cayenne pepper those pygmies won’t come!” The chunky, bald-headed man, a former Texas ranch cook, served as chef for the Swifts’ various expeditions.
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Chow squinted out the plane window and shook his head worriedly. “We’ll prob’ly end up with arrows in our backs!” he prophesied.
“Tom and I needn’t worry about filling their dinner pots.” Bud winked at Tom.
“One look at a nice plump specimen like you, Chow, and they’ll forget the rest of us.”
“Y-y-you mean th-these Injuns we’re lookin’ for are cannibals?” The grizzled cook turned pale under his Western tan. “Brand my sagebrush stew, I should’ve stayed on home grounds back at Swift Enterprises.”