Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-04-30
than ten pounds e.

q.
At that instant he ~ oblivious to
bis surroundings. - clenched the
image tightly and regarded it with
rapt expression such as a mother
laVishes on her b.be. Suddenly his
attitude changed. He recovered him
self with a start. His face darkencd.
He glarcd at Vincent and drew back
from him as in aversion.
where did you find this?" he al
most shrieked in voice harsh and
trembling with excitement
Back in there" said Vincent. way
ing his hand away from the mouth
of the cavern "I here's lots of them
back there"
Take 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 MS; do YOU I'M
dcrstand, to us. We found them i
you and |. They are ours. Vincent.
all ours We will divide them be-
tween us two-iust you and |. Help
me down there. Let me see them
Are you sure there is n 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 caro- 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. "l'll tell YOU what You
do" he exclaimed, as the match
lightened up the gloom II will
stand outside and You hand them to
me, and / will carry them where we
can see them"
Vincent did as be was told. He
started at one end of the shelf and
felt his way around. and handed the
images to the outstretchcd 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 timcNincent 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 tinancier. Both forgot the
fight 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 70 pounds.
AS nearly as they could Judge. aft
er carefully estimating the weight
of each image, the total was about
1,57j pounds.
How much is gold worth
pound?" asked Vincent, as he held
an idol out at arms length. He re-
numbered that he could "hold out"
Weight of 30 pounds, and this one
required all of his muscular effort.
Cold is worth about S22f
pound" said Mr. Pence. "That is
based on the amount of gold in
coins. This looks like pure gold to
that image like that; you will wear
il out. What time is it,
Vincent had no watch; neither had
Mr.. Pence, but they thought it was
about three o'clock in the afternoon.
1--WE 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
two of the smaller ones and start
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,
man." exclaimed Simon Pence.
go and leave this gold here?
Never. Never, sir. never. Go away
and leave S35O,00o in gold unguard-
ed? cannot think of it. You 90
back to camp and get help. | will
remain"
"Who is going to find it or steal
il ," demanded Vincent. "rhc
chances are that no one has been
here before in "A thousand years. If
they had been, the gold would not
he here. 1t is as safe as in a vault
in New York. Come along, Mr..
Pence. How dark it is getting!
What is that moaning sound? We
must go back. II is going to storm"
Il will never leave this gold here!"
said MIR. Pence. "lt 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"
THAT is foolish. Mr.. Pence" said
Vincent. lie had climbed out of
the cavern and stood facing the sea.
Come on" he said There is 90
ing 10 be an awful storm. 1t looks
like hurricane. Come on; YOU
must not remain here"
"Go back, and let me alone" said