The Irish standard., 1903-04-11

| "Where did you find this?" he al
most shrieked in a. voice harsh and
trembling. with excitement.
Back in there" said Vincent, wav-
ing his hand away from the mouth
of the cavern "There's lots of them
back there"
''Tale me there! Take me there!"
He dropped his voice almost to a
whisper. He glanced around as if
expecting some one might see or
hear him.
''They belong to u.s." he said, lay
ing his hand affectionately on Vim
! cents shoulder. "To US; do you I'M
derstand, to us. We found them
you and I. They are ours, Vincent,
all ours. We will divide them be-
tween us two-just you and I. Help
me down there. Let me see them.
Are you sure there is lot Of them?
Perhaps they are not like this one.
Bigger, did you say? Which way is
it? How awful dark it is! Take
hold of my hand!"
Before the magic Of the touch Of
gold the natural cowardice of the ell
derby millionaire disappeared. Twice
he fell and bruised his hands, but
he did not care. They came to
| the vault. Vincent went in first
and lit match. Mr.. Pence gave an
exclamation of delight. He rushed
to one of the images, lifted it, ran
his fingers lovingly over the sur
face and laughed with joy. The
match burned out and the room was
dark as midnight.
Light another, quick!" shouted
Simon Pence. "Pll tell you what you
do" he exclaimed, as the match
lightened up the gloom. 81 will
stand outside and you hand them to
me, and 1 will carry them where we
can see them"
Vincent did as he was told. He
| started at one end Of the shelf and
felt his way around, and handed the
images to the outstretched hands
of Mr.. Pence, who carried them
along the corridor and placed them
in a corner of the outer room. 1t
took an hour or more to do this,
at the end OF which timeVincent de-
clared that all figures were re-
moved. Mr.. Pence began testing
the images. AS he dug into each
idol and found it gold his joy knew
no bounds. Vincent also was de-
lighted. He owned half interest
in more property than he ever had
hoped to obtain, unless by chance
some of his cherished plans should
find iinancier. Both forgot the
flight of time. They counted the
idols and images and found there
were 63. They then attempted to
estimate the weight of their treas
ures. They calculated the smallest
one at ten pounds and the others
ranged all the way up to one esti-
mated at not less than 20 pounds
AS nearly as they could judge, aft
er carefully estimating the weight
of each image, the total was about
1875 pounds.
GLOW much is gold worth a
pound?" asked Vincent, as he held
an idol out at arms length. He re-
membered that he could "hoId OUT
a weight of 80 pounds, and this one
required all of his muscular effort.
Cold is worth about 1924 a
pound" said Mr.. Pence. "That is
based on the amount of gold in
coins. This looks like pure gold to
ne. 1t is awful soft. Don't rub
that image like that: you will wear
it out. What time is ito"
Vincent had no watch; neither had
Mr.. Pence, but they thought it was
about three o'clock in the afternoon.
eve must be going back at once"
said Vincent. What are we going
to do with those things? We can't
carry them with us. Let's each take
along. We can get help tomorrow
and carry the rest of them to the
bungalow. In the meanwhile we
will put them back in that vault"
"What are you talking about,
MANI" exclaimed Simon Pence.
eco and leave this gold here?
Never! Never, sir, never! Go away
and leave $350,OOO in gold unguard-
ed? | cannot think of it. You go
back to camp and get help. l will
remain
"Who is going to find it or steal
it?" demanded Vincent. 'The
chances are that no one has been
here before i'll Il thousand years. If
they had been, the gold would not
be here. 1t is as safe as in vault
in New York. Come along. Mr..
Pence. How dark it is getting!
What is that moaning sound? We
must go back. 1t is going to storm"
II will never leave this gold hcre!"
said Mr.. Pence. ut is not safe.
You go back and ] will remain.
am not afraid. | will stay all night
if necessary. Come back in the
morning and bring help and food"
"rhat is foolish, Mr.. Pence" said
Vincent. He had climbed out of
the cavern and stood facing the sea-
Come on" he said. "'rhere is go
ing to be an awful storm. 1t looks
like hurricane. Come on; you
must not remain here"
go back, and let me alone" said
Mr.. Pence. II will never, never
leave here alive with this gold I'M
guarded. l have n gun. l am not
afraid. Go ON back to the camp.
Tell them the gold is ours--all ours.
If l stay here and take care Of it,
ought to have more than half of
it. Go ahead, before the storm
breaks!"
1t was useless to argue with him.
Vincent babe him goodbye and