The expressions on the two engineers’ faces showed their intense admiration of Tom’s newest invention.
“Quite a gadget!” Dick said, slapping Tom on the back. “How soon can we give it a tryout?”
“Right now, if we can find any old Mayan stone carvings around here.”
By the time they emerged from Tom’s laboratory, the cargo jet was ready to take off on its return flight to Shopton. Tom shook hands with the A DISMAYING FAILURE 47
five Mayas and reassured them with a few parting words in Spanish. Then they climbed aboard, where Slim, Arv, and the other crewmen helped to make them comfortable. A few moments later the plane rose smoothly.
Tom, Doc, and the two engineers now fanned out to search for marked stones. “Better not stray too far from the clearing,” Tom warned.
48 ELECTRONIC RETROSCOPE
Minutes later, he yelled, “Think I’ve found one I” and the others hurried to join him. Tom pointed to a round, weather-beaten stone lying almost hidden in the tall grass. It bore faint carvings.
“Let’s see if we can lift it,” Tom said, bending down to pry the stone loose.
The next instant he recoiled with a startled gasp. A green iguana, almost six feet long from tip to tail, had suddenly raised its ugly head from the undergrowth!
Rearing up on its hind legs with jaws open, the reptile lunged as if to rake Tom’s face with its claws.
“Good grief!” Tom gulped, jumping back hastily in the nick of time.
“You really scared that poor lizard, Tom,” Doc Simpson teased. “That’s why she went for you. Iguanas really aren’t as fierce as they look.”
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