relaxed music The World Adventurers Club Once again, the World Adventurers Club brings you a thrilling tale. This time of Nicaragua. In the earlier days, when civilization was thrusting its modern weapons of advancement through the impenetrable jungles. The home of a tribe known as the Mayas. Well, let us see what happened to Tom Lewis of a corps of engineers. Ladies and gentlemen, the Adventurers Club. Tom, as I explained to you, in order to join the Adventurers Club, you'll have to prove your qualifications and mettle as a real adventurer. Your experiences in Nicaragua ought to provide a fitting background to your narrative. Yes, I barely escaped with my life in Nicaragua. Well, tell us about it, Tom. Yes, yes, yes. Well, it sounds great. Then here goes. I was one of a survey expedition sent to Nicaragua to lay out the course for the then contemplated Nicaragua Canal. This was in the early 90s. Later, the project was abandoned by the authorities in Washington in favor of the Panama Canal, which as you all know, in its present day history. With our food supply, instruments, revolvers and knives, Mulvaney, a Garriless Irishman and myself, were hacking our way eastward through the Tangle forests and underbrush. Say, Mr. Lewis, you sure you know where we're heading for? This is no place for a civilized man. I'm going by the sun, Mulvaney. We can't go wrong. Sun? Sure we ain't seen the sun for three days. Oh, I'm ringin' wet. Oh, my. Suppose we rest a while and have some grub. Sure, suits me fine. Let's go over to that clearing over there and get out of this bog. Good idea. Pack the grub. I've got it. We'll almost have to swim for it. What a muck. It smells like a damp cellar. Well, follow me, sir. I'm coming. Hey, what's that? Look out! Got it. In heaven's name, sir, what is it? That, my dear Mr. Mulvaney, is a vampire bat. A vampire bat? Sure, I've heard of them. My, my. But he's as big as an eagle. They grow to enormous size in this country. They come out mostly at dusk, and sometimes they are so thick as to almost cloud the sun. Well, one at a time is enough for me. What are they good for? Nothing that I know of. Sometimes the natives have to run away and hide until they're gone. Afraid of them, are they? Yes. You'd be afraid of them too if they attacked you. There's a superstition among the Mayans, that they are the dead who come to life and suck the blood of the living. Some sort of a vengeance idea. Now, would you believe that? Of course. The grave idea is silly. But they are bloodsuckers, all right. They can kill a wild animal or a man in no time. That is, if they attack in numbers. Well, there's one bloodsucking vampire who is out of business for good. Well, let's go. We're almost to that patch of dry ground. Phew, boy. Must be a hundred numbs, Dean, in the shade. Now for some grub. We have some nice canned corned beef, some cold tea, and a package of quinine. Will you have the quinine sprinkled on your beef, or will you take it straight? No, thank you. That's only in case of typhoid or malaria. It's very prevalent in here. Maybe I'd better put that package in my pocket. It might get lost, and you never know when the old fever is going to hit you. Well, there you are. Catch. Say, look over there. There's some sort of a stone temple or something. With some funny-looking stone images tumbling about. And there are steps. It's a Maayan temple, Mulvaney, built hundreds of years ago. The natives here are descendants of that tribe. Although the Mayans were at one time a highly cultured race, the natives of today, what few lurk in these jungles, are an ignorant, superstitious, and cruel tribe. Those odd stone figures are Mayan gods. Let's have a look. I say, this is wonderful. Look at those carvings. Sure, and it looks like the work of a man with the delirium tremens. Holy snake, what was that? It's an arrow, and it missed me by a hair. There must be natives hiding around here. There's another one. Duck, Mulvaney. They're shooting at us. You don't have to ask me twice. I said this was no place for a civilized man. Keep quiet. Something tells me we'd better crawl out of this. You said something. Come out of that, you two. I have got you covered, and it is not with poison-borne arrow. Who are you, and what do you want? I want you. Toss the guns down and come out. Well, Mulvaney, it looks like our next move. All right, there are the guns. We're coming out. And so am I. Well, well, a couple of white men, eh? What are you doing here? I'm an engineer from the United States. We're laying out the route for the canal. I don't quite understand why you permitted your natives to shoot us. Americanos, eh? That is a pretty story. Well, you will understand all about it very soon. Come, march up those steps. You seem to be mighty high-handed, Mr.... Never mind the name, Clive. We'll have the whole United States on your trail when we get back, Mr. High and Mighty. Maybe you will not go back. Wouldn't that be funny, eh? Oh, look, it's sort of a courtyard, and there's a lot of natives squashing around. Go over there and sit down. Eh, Andreno. Well, these Mayans don't seem to like us. Well, it's mutual. Listen, Mr. Lewis, you think we're in danger? I'm afraid so, but I can't understand it. There are three or four Spaniards here. They seem to suspect us of something. I wonder what they're up to. Well, here comes one of them, and I guess we'll soon be after no one. It is getting dark, and I think I should be attending to you. Ah, shut up, you blacks! They are superstitious, those Mayans. Well, I guess I am a little out of the way, too. Do you know what they want? I haven't the faintest idea. I'll bet it's something devilish. Devilish. Yes, I guess it is. Eh, have you ever seen a vampire? We killed one a while ago. Eh, but that is only one. Over there is an old graveyard. In a few minutes, there will be hundreds of vampires in the air. They suck your blood, you know. Listen here. Why do you want to harm us? That is my business. But I am going to kill two birds with one stone. I am going to stake you two men in that graveyard. The Mayans imagine that if they can offer you as a sacrifice to the vampires, they will go back to the dead where they come from. Silly idea. Eh, but it is a good idea, that, eh? You mean that you are going to leave us to the mercy of these bats? Sure, why not? You have got to die. No white man ever come here. And now you two, spies. Spies? You're crazy, man. We're army men. Eh, we'll have it your way. But you cannot go back and tell them we are here, Savi. Sandrino. Coming, Gonzalez. Eh, you fool, you. Eh, you will lose my name. Eh, the stakes are driven in the ground? Yes. Eh, then take these two men over there and tie them fast with deer thongs. Soon the vampires will come out. Hurry, we must move fast. Well, Mr. Lewis, I guess our goose is cooked. Looks like it. Although I can't understand it at all. Come, come, come, move quick. Ah, that is it. Hmm, here we are. Now, tie them quick. Eh, Gonzalez. Say. Gonzalez. Your wife. Your wife, Tina. Tina. She's dying. Tina. Oh, Tina, my little girl. Oh, mother of the dears. Die, come, Tina. I call my loved one. Oh, you cannot die. Vampires, vampires, vampires. They're running into the temple and closing the door. So here we are in this day and age, about to be ripped open by blood-sucking vampires. Oh, Mulvaney, my hands are tired. But I'd like to shake hands with you. I'll take the will for the deed, Mr. Lewis. You're one of God's noblemen, sir. Listen, how still it is. What a sound. Silent is the grave about us, Mulvaney. Tina, Tina, my loved one. Oh, so his wife is dying. Well, I couldn't wish him any worse luck. She seems to love her very much. I wonder what is the matter with her. By Jove, Mulvaney, I shouldn't wonder if it was malaria or typhoid. Pynone is what she needs. It'll cure her, and we've got it. Yeah, but how are you going to make him believe that? He's gone from here. I'm going to call. It's a desperate chance. Hey, Gonzalez, Gonzalez. Oh, shut up, you fool. My wife, she is dying. Listen, Gonzalez, I can cure your wife. The vampires, they're coming. Look, this one, too. There they are. Dozens, hundreds of them. They're flying this way. Oh, look, the air is filled with them. They're swooping down towards us. Gonzalez, Gonzalez, your wife. I can save her. Quineine, Quineine, I've got it. Get out of the spool. One bit me. Hold fast, Mulvaney. I think Gonzalez heard me. Another one. They're swooping now. We're as good as dead. No, no, he heard us. He's coming. What do you say? You can save my Tina. Yes, I've got some Quineine. It'll save her. Oh, what a moron. Hey, Sangrino, beat off those vampires. Hurry, hurry. Hurry, hurry, my lion-type. Tina, you will live for us. Quick, quick. Oh, you devil. Come on, he bit me. He's here. He's here. He's here. He's here. There, there, quick. Run, run, Tina. Tina, we're coming. And you being here in the flesh, Tom, I presume the Quineine worked. Yes, in a week she was out of danger. But why did Gonzalez want to kill you? He's making counterfeit money. I sent the authorities after him, but he and his wife had vanished. There were no signs of the Marliams in the temple. Well, that's one of the most thrilling stories I've ever heard. That's right. I just feel like it. And that was the thrilling adventure of Mr. Tom Lewis of the United States Corps of Engineers. Tune in again, soon. There will be other thrillers as told at the Adventurers Club.
