It was not thought wise to take the giant into the
secret.
Then one day, shortly after Professor Bumper and Tom had
disappeared into the forest, a ragged and unkempt white man
applied at the tunnel camp for work. There was just the
barest wink as he accosted Mr. Titus, who winked in turn,
and then the new man was handed over to Tim Sullivan, as a
sort of helper.
And so Tom Swift began his watch.
Chapter XVII
The Condor
Left to himself, with only the rather silent gang of
Peruvian Indians as company, Tom Swift looked about him.
There was not much active work to be done, only to see that
the Indians filled the dump cars evenly full, so none of the
broken rock would spill over the side and litter the
tramway. Then, too, he had to keep the Indians up to the
mark working, for these men were no different from any
other, and they were just as inclined to "loaf on the job"
when the eye of the "boss" was turned away.
They did not talk much, murmuring among themselves now and
then, and little of what they said was intelligible to Tom.
But he knew enough of the language to give them orders, the
main one of which was:
"Hurry up!"
Now, having seen to it that the gang of which he was in
temporary charge was busily engaged, Tom had a chance to
look about him. The tunnel was not new to him. Much of his
time in the past month had been spent in its black depths,
illuminated, more or less, by the string of incandescent
lights.
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