Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1903-08-15

Vincent, handing the idol to Mr..
Pence.
What a singularly ugly thing"
remarked the capitalist as he han
died it gingerly. Its awful heavy.
What's it made Off"
Vincent pulled himself out of the
hole and brushed the mold from his
clothes. Mr.. Pence looked intently
at the image. lie 'hefted" it judi
ciously. 1t was of rusty brown
color, but smooth and well pre-
served.
Remarkably heavy" said Mr..
Pence. His eyes glittered and he
was much excited.
Let me take your knife" he said.
Vincent produced knife and opened
the big blade. Mr.. Pence dug into
the fiat nose of the idol. He gave
the knife a circular motion, and on
the end of the blade lay a shining
yellow chip.
"Gold!" he shouted. Gold! Solid
gold! Solid gold. and it weighs more
than ten pounds"
The face of the millionaire was
study. For moment it shone with
the splendor of the gold shaving
which rested in the palm of his hand.
AT that instant he was oblivious to
his surroundings. He clenched the
image tightly and regarded it with
har
lavishes on her babe. Suddenly his
attitude changed. He recovered him
self with q start. His face darkened.
He glared 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 There's lots of them
back there"
"Take me there! Take me there!"
He dropped his voice almost to
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 /. 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 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 II 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, quicls!" shouted
Simon Pence. "I'll tell you what you
do" he exclaimed, as the match
lightened up the gloom. Il will
stand outside and you hand them to
me, and i will carry them where we
can see them"
Vincent did as he was told. He
started ut 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 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 a half interest
in more property than he ever had
hoped to obtain, unIess by chance
some of his cherished plans should
find a hnancier. Both forgot the
flight of time. They counted the
idols and images and found there
were 60. They then attempted to