Frank Merriwell Down South

Merriwell Down South, by Burt
L. Standish

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Title: Frank Merriwell Down South
Author: Burt L. Standish
Release Date: August 29, 2007 [EBook #22424]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MERRIWELL DOWN SOUTH ***

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[Illustration: "'What's that!' howled the little professor, dancing about in
his night robe." (See page 109)]
Frank Merriwell Down South

BY
BURT L. STANDISH
AUTHOR OF "Frank Merriwell's School-Days," "Frank Merriwell's
Chums," "Frank Merriwell's Foes," etc.
PHILADELPHIA DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER 610 SOUTH
WASHINGTON SQUARE
Copyright, 1903 By STREET & SMITH
Frank Merriwell Down South

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I--A Wonderful Story 7 II--Gone 13 III--Held for Ransom 19
IV--Unmasked 27 V--Kidnaped 31 VI--Carried into the Mountains 37
VII--The Camp in the Desert 42 VIII--The Treasure Seeker 46 IX--The
Professor's Escape 51 X--The Stranger 57 XI--The Awakening Volcano
62 XII--Doom of the Silver Palace 68 XIII--A Stampede in a City 75
XIV--The Hot Blood of Youth 80 XV--Mystery of the Flower Queen
85 XVI--Professor Scotch Feels Ill 90 XVII--Led into a Trap 95
XVIII--Barney on Hand 100 XIX--A Humble Apology 106 XX--The
Professor's Courage 111 XXI--Frank's Bold Move 116 XXII--The
Queen is Found 121 XXIII--Fighting Lads 127 XXIV--End of the
Search 132 XXV--The Mysterious Canoe 138 XXVI--Still More
Mysterious 144 XXVII--In the Everglades 149 XXVIII--The Hut on
the Island 155 XXIX--A Wild Night in the Swamp 160 XXX--Frank's
Shot 165 XXXI--Young in Years Only 170 XXXII--A Mysterious
Transformation 177 XXXIII--Gage Takes a Turn 181 XXXIV--A
Fearful Fate 186 XXXV--The Serpent Vine 192 XXXVI--Right or
Wrong 196 XXXVII--Frank's Mercy 200 XXXVIII--In the Mountains
Again 206 XXXIX--Frank and Kate 212 XL--A Jealous Lover 218

XLI--Facing Death 222 XLII--Muriel 228 XLIII--Saved! 240
XLIV--Frank's Suspicion 248 XLV--The Greatest Peril 257 XLVI--The
Mystery of Muriel 263
[Transcriber's Note: The following list of illustrations has been created
for this electronic edition. Some illustrations have been moved to
positions closer to their appearance in the text.]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"'What's that!' howled the little professor, dancing about in his night
robe." (See page 109)
"Frank began shooting, and his first bullet brought down one of the
ponies of the pursuers." (See page 14)
"The white canoe had stopped, and was lying calmly on the inky
surface of the shadowed water." (See page 147)
"Kate grasped the assailant by the collar, and with astonishing strength,
pulled him off the prostrate lad." (See page 218)

Frank Merriwell Down South.
CHAPTER I.
A WONDERFUL STORY.
"It is in the heart of the Sierra Madre range, one hundred and
twenty-five miles west of Zacatecas," said the dying man. "Across the
blue chasm you can see its towers and turrets glistening in the sunshine.
It is like a beautiful dream--dazzling, astounding, grand!"
"He wanders in his mind," softly declared Professor Scotch. "Poor
fellow! His brain was turned and he was brought to his death by his
fruitless search for the mythical Silver Palace."

The man who lay on a bed of grass in one corner of the wretched adobe
hut turned a reproachful look on the little professor.
"You are wrong," he asserted, in a voice that seemed to have gained
strength for the moment. "I am not deranged--I am not deceived by an
hallucination. With my eyes I have seen the wonderful Silver
Palace--yes, more than that, I have stood within the palace and beheld
the marvelous treasures which it contains."
The professor turned away to hide the look on his face, but Frank
Merriwell, deeply interested, bent over the unfortunate man, asking:
"By what route can this wonderful palace be reached?"
"There is no route. Between us and the Silver Palace lie waterless
deserts, great mountains, and, at last, a yawning chasm, miles in width,
miles in depth. This chasm extends entirely round the broad plateau on
which the wonderful palace stands like a dazzling dream. The bottom
of the chasm is hidden by mists which assume fantastic forms, and
whirl and sway and dash forward and backward, like battling armies.
Indians fear the place; Mexicans hold it in superstitious horror. It is
said that these mist-like forms are the ghosts of warriors dead and gone,
a wonderful people who built the Silver Palace in the days of
Cortez--built it where the Spaniard could not reach and despoil it."
Despite his doubts, the professor was listening with strong interest to
this remarkable tale.
The fourth person in the hut was the Dutch boy, Hans Dunnerwust,