Burt L Standish

Frank Merriwell Down South Burt L Standish

"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."