Slowly and cautiously Tom scratched away the earth with a stick as everyone watched in breathless silence. The prisoner’s eyes were glassy with fear, but Bud stood by with the sword to prevent a break for freedom.
Presently the hidden mine came into view. Tom whistled and murmured to his chum. “This is no amateur job, Bud!”
Guided by his keen scientific intuition, Tom deactivated the ugly device. But he could feel the cold drops of perspiration trickling down his back as he did so.
“Whew!” Bud gasped. “If I hadn’t known what
A TERRIFIED CAMP 149
a scientific whiz you are, pal, I’d be a quivering mass of jelly by now!”
Hours went by with agonizing slowness as Tom probed the base foot by foot.
Five other mines were uncovered and disarmed. Tom was able to speed up the job somewhat by watching the prisoner’s behavior. Whenever they neared a danger spot, the man’s nervousness increased. In safe areas, he was noticeably calm.
At last, by midafternoon, Tom felt that the job was finished. He called Ali and grilled the prisoner. Rolling his eyes, the fellow swore fervently that every mine which the raiders had buried was now uncovered.
“Okay, fellows!” Tom shouted. “I guess it’s all clear!”
The camp broke into thunderous cheers, and the faces of the workmen were wreathed in smiles of relief. Chow, who had confidently gone off to his cookshack to start dinner, emerged clutching a heavy skillet.
“Yip-pee!” The stout old cook ripped off his chef’s hat and let out a Texas bronc-buster’s whoop. In his excitement he even hurled the skillet through the air.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122