The Cross of Cortes

A furious bull is charging, and Eugene is trapped in the arena with nowhere to run - until Whit's quick thinking and a blast from Eugene's own invention save him at the last second. The trickery, it turns out, is the work of the ruthless Roberto Cordova, who will stop at nothing to reach the legendary Cross of Cortes. Then comes a worse shock: Maria pulls a gun, revealing she has worked for Cordova all along, and the villains race ahead with the treasure map. But Whit, Eugene, and Dan Isidro have secretly kept a copy, and they push across the desert to a mountain riddled with hundreds of caves. Dan claims the gleaming cross from a ledge above a deep chasm... just as the villains arrive, a shot rings out, and the cavern starts to crumble. The cross tumbles into the dark, and when Dan wants to climb down after it, Whit stops him with a hard truth: it is only a cross, and it cannot save anybody. The group barely escapes before the mountain seals the treasure away forever.

Found on At Home and Abroad Album 12 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

2 of 2 0166 Bernard and Esther At Whit's End, Bernard finishes his cliffhanger tale of Queen Esther, who must risk her life before the king to save her people from the scheming Haman.

0167 Dobson Comes to Town A bewildered stranger walks into Whit's End with no idea how he got there - and he turns out to be someone the whole town of Odyssey knows by name.

0168 The Curse A mysterious medicine man walks into Whit's End and pronounces an ancient curse on the building's owner - and one by one, the impossible signs start coming true.

0169 Hold Up! When a nervous stranger pulls a gun at closing time, Whit's End becomes the stage for a battle of wits - and a debate about whether people are really good at heart.

0170 A Test for Robyn A shortcut-loving Robyn learns the hard way that "cramming Thursday night" is no match for a big history test - or for her own conscience.

1 of 2 0171 The Cross of Cortes When a mysterious map from an old missionary friend draws Whit and Eugene to Mexico, their fact-finding trip turns into a treasure hunt shadowed by a dangerous rival.

2 of 2 0172 The Cross of Cortes A hunt for a legendary golden cross deep in a cave-riddled Mexican mountain turns treacherous when Whit, Eugene, and Dan discover they can't be sure who's really on their side.

0173 A Thanksgiving Carol When Eugene claims God has nothing to do with modern Thanksgiving, Whit and the gang set out to prove what the "thanks" is really about - by staging their own classic holiday tale on Kids Radio.

0174 Where's Your Daddy? A struggling mother and her two children, new to Odyssey and hiding a painful secret, find unexpected kindness at Whit's End as Christmas approaches.

0175 East, Winds Raining On Pearl Harbor Day, old Joe Finneman finally tells his great-niece what he saw in Honolulu on December 7, 1941 - and why his best friend, a Japanese American codebreaker, is the reason he can't hate anyone for that day.

1 of 2 0176 The Star A trip through the Imagination Station's new Christmas adventure separates Connie and Eugene in the ancient world, where each finds an unexpected guide on the road to the Christ child - and to King Herod's Jerusalem.

2 of 2 0177 The Star While Connie helps care for a very special newborn in Bethlehem, Eugene arrives in Jerusalem with three star-following magi - and their search for a newborn king draws the dangerous attention of King Herod.

0178 Room Mates When a college fumigation leaves Eugene homeless for a week, his distant cousin Bernard takes him in - and two stubborn know-it-alls discover just how hard sharing a house and a window-washing job can be.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 3 more roles

3 supporting roles

Dan Isidro Rick Najera Inspector Roberto Cordova Nathan Carlson Maria Mendosa Luisa Leschin

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Phil Lollar Writer · Director · Producer Dave Arnold Sound Designer · Producer Bob Luttrell Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 2 min

The story picks up right where it left off, with Eugene trapped inside a bullfighting arena and a very angry bull charging straight at him. Thinking fast, Whit shouts for Eugene to crank up his amplification device, and the blast of noise stops the bull just long enough for Eugene to scramble to safety - where he promptly faints. Once he comes to, Eugene explains that a man dressed as a policeman tricked him into the arena and locked the door behind him. Whit recognizes the description: it is the same man who ransacked their hotel room, one of Roberto Cordova's henchmen.

Back at the hotel, Maria Mendosa studies the old map that leads to the Cross of Cortes and discovers a problem. The map has been torn, and the missing piece showed the symbol marking the entrance to Corazon del Diablo, a mountain honeycombed with hundreds of cave openings. Without the right symbol, anyone who enters could wander the maze for years. But Maria spots a clue: a sun and the number seven drawn beneath the temple markings. At an ancient Aztec temple in Santa Cecilia, she and Eugene sneak in after dark, use a flashlight to imitate the sun on the temple's sundial, and find the missing symbol - la boca de toro, the mouth of the bull. Then Maria pulls out a gun. She has been working for Cordova all along, and she leaves Eugene tied up while the villains race ahead with the map.

Whit and Dan Isidro rescue Eugene, and since they have secretly kept a copy of the map, the three set out in pursuit across the rugged desert. Around the campfire, Dan wonders aloud whether the legends are true - whether the cross really does hold supernatural power. Whit gently insists that the cross is only a historical artifact, nothing more.

The next morning they reach the caves first and find the cross gleaming on a rock shelf across a deep chasm. Dan inches along a narrow ledge and claims his prize, but Cordova and Maria arrive and take it at gunpoint. Then Maria turns her gun on everyone, declaring that she wants the cross's power for her own people. When a shot is fired, the fragile cavern walls begin to crumble. In the chaos the cross tumbles into the chasm, and Dan, desperate, wants to climb down after it. Whit stops him with a hard truth: it is only a cross, and it cannot save anybody. The group barely escapes before the cavern is sealed forever.

Later, after Dan has flown home to Nicaragua, Eugene asks Whit about those words in the cavern. Whit explains that the cross is a precious symbol of what Christians believe, but the cross itself saves no one - it is what Jesus did on the cross that saves. Eugene is not sure he fully understands, but it gives him plenty to ponder.