"Dixon, Franklin W - Hardy Boys 043 - The Mystery Of The Aztec Warrior" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dixon Franklin W)

As he started straight up the narrow steps, Joe called out after him, "Hey! Remember the ancient Indian said you should put your feet sideways on the steps and zigzag when you go up or down."

Frank and Joe started up in this fashion, but Chet paid no attention to their advice. He had climbed about thirty feet when suddenly one foot slipped. Down he went, clutching wildly at the craggy steps but unable to get a hold. Now he began to roll over and over towards the bottom.

Joe was some distance away and too far down to help his friend. Frank, closer at hand, tried to stop Chet's rapid descent. But the tumbling figure knocked him over and the two boys spun down helter-skelter, gathering speed as they fell!




- 8 -

Ambushed Detectives



BRUISED and scraped, Frank and Chet picked themselves up from the foot of the great pyramid. Joe hurried down the steps to see if the boys were all right.

He was relieved to find they were only dirty and shaken up. "You fellows looked like something out of an old-time comedy routine," he said, chuckling.

Chet eyed Joe for a moment, then remarked, "I feel as if I'd been rolling for the past thousand years!"

Frank heaved a long sigh. "Well, I'm ready to try it again. You guys all set?"

It took Chet nearly half a minute to decide that he would accompany the Hardys. This time, the boys made the ascent more slowly and finally reached the flat summit. They walked all around it, gazing down in every direction.

"Boy, what a city this must have been!" Joe said. "All these temples kept people busy building, repairing and preparing for the human sacrifices."

"I read that a hundred thousand people lived here," Chet spoke up. He pointed off some distance. "That's the Pyramid of the Moon, isn't it?" The Hardys nodded. The pyramid was similar to the one on which they stood, except that it was considerably smaller.

Frank indicated a temple. "That's the one built in honour of a foreigner."

"What!" Chet cried. "I thought it was erected a thousand years before the Spaniards came here."

"It was. Haven't you heard the legend? It seems a man of fair skin, long beard and blue eyes arrived from across the oceansome people say he was riding a plumed serpent and that is why the serpent was sacred to Mexicans in ancient times. This man, whom they called Quetzalcoatl-quetzal for their venerated bird had knowledge far superior to that of the Indians who were here. He taught them how to build, raise food and to become skilled in the art of stone carving."

"Did he live with the Aztecs?" Chet asked.

"No. He was here long before they came. After his death, the natives made Quetzalcoatl one of their gods."

The three boys started zigzagging down the steps of the pyramid. Halfway to the bottom, Joe called out, "Fellows, see that man down there? He looks like the one in our pictures!"

"Seсor Tatloc?" Chet queried.

"Could be." Joe nodded as he put on more speed.

By the time he reached the base of the pyramid, the man was nowhere in sight. Thinking he had gone to another side of the pyramid, the trio sprinted along the base until they came to a corner, and turned down the side. Still the stranger was not to be seen.

The Hardys and Chet circled the base of the tremendous structure, but he had vanished.