Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel | Page 8

I don't believe Peru is what they call a 'banana republic'; is it?"
"No," and Mr. Titus shook his head. "It isn't a question of revolutions."
"But it's something!" insisted Mr. Damon. "Bless my ink bottle! but it's
something. As soon as I mention Peru, Tom, you and Mr. Titus eye
each other as if I'd said something dreadful. Out with it! What is it?"
"It's just--just a coincidence," Tom said. "But go on, Mr. Damon. Finish
what you have to say and then we'll explain."
"Well, I guess I've told you all you need to know for the present. I went
into this wholesale drug concern, hoping to make some money, but
now, on account of the trouble down in Peru, we stand to lose
considerable unless I can get back the cinchona concession."
"What does that mean?" Tom asked.
"Well, it means that our concern secured from the Peruvian government
the right to take this quinine-producing bark from the trees in a certain
tropical section. But there has been a change in the government in the
district where our men were working, and now the privilege, or
concession, has been withdrawn. I'm going down to see if I can't get it
back. And I want you to go with me."
"And I came here for very nearly the same thing," went on Mr. Titus.

"That is where the coincidence comes in. It is strange that we should
both appeal to Mr. Swift at the same time."
"Well, Tom's a valuable helper!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "I know him
of old, for I've been on many a trip with him."
"This is the first time I have had the pleasure of meeting him," resumed
the tunnel contractor, "but I have heard of him. I did not ask him to go
to South America for us. I only wanted to get some superior explosive
for my brother, who is in charge of driving the railroad tunnel through a
spur of the Andes. I look after matters up North here, but I may have to
go to Peru myself.
"As I told Mr. Swift, I had read of his invention of the giant cannon and
the special powder he used in it to send a projectile such a distance. The
cannon is now mounted as one of the pieces of ordnance for the defense
of the Panama Canal, is it not?" he asked Tom.
The young inventor nodded in assent.
"Having heard of you, and the wonderful explosive used in your big
cannon," the contractor went on, "I wrote to my brother that I would try
and get some for him.
"You see," he resumed, "this is the situation. Back in the Andes
Mountains, a couple of hundred miles east of Lima, the government is
building a short railroad line to connect two others. If this is done it
will mean that the products of Peru--quinine bark, coffee, cocoa, sugar,
rubber, incense and gold can more easily be transported. But to connect
the two railroad lines a big tunnel must be constructed.
"My brother and I make a specialty of such work, and when we saw
bids advertised for, our firm put in an estimate. There was some trouble
with a rival firm, which also bid, but we secured the contract, and
bound ourselves to have the tunnel finished within a certain time, or
forfeit a large sum.
"That was over a year ago. Since then our men, aided by the native

Indians of Peru, have been tunneling the mountain, until, about a month
back, we struck a snag."
"What sort of snag?" Tom asked.
"A snag in the shape of extra hard rock," replied the tunnel contractor.
"Briefly, Paleozoic rocks make up the eastern part of the Andean
Mountains in Peru, while the western range is formed of Mesozoic beds,
volcanic ashes and lava of comparatively recent date. Near the coast the
lower hills are composed of crystalline rocks, syenite and granite, with,
here and there, a strata of sandstone or limestone. These are,
undoubtedly, relics of the lower Cretaceous age, and we, or rather, my
brother, states that he has found them covered with marine Tertiary
deposits.
"Now this Mesozoic band varies greatly. Porphyritic tuffs and massive
limestone compose the western chain of the Andes above Lima, while
in the Oroya Valley we find carbonaceous sandstones. Some of the
tuffs may be of the Jurassic age, though the Cretaceous period is also
largely represented.
"Now while these different masses of rock formation offer hard enough
problems to the tunnel digger, still we are more or less prepared to meet
them, and we figured on a certain percentage of them. Up to the present
time we have met with just about what we expected, but what we did
not expect was something we