Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-01-06

various size which lined three sides
of the wall.
They evidently were images or
idols, and were ugly enough to have
scared the worshippers into any con-
fession or belief. They rested on
a stone shelf formed by the top Of
a mosaic wainscoting which project
ed from the walls. Vincent picked
up one of the smaller images and
started back to examine it more
carefully in the daylight, 1t seemed
remarkably heavy, but he imagined
it to be bronze OF copper, furnished
by the rust of ages. Vincent found
Mr.. Pence looking down into the
hole, but making no move to quit
terra frma.
"See what have found" said
Vincent, handing the idol to Mr..
Pence.
what a singularly ugly thing"
remarked the capitalist as he han
died it gingerly. cts 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. He "hefted" it Judi
ciously. 1t was Of rusty brown
color. but smooth and well pre-
served.
Remarkably heavy!" said Mr..
Pence. His eyes glttered 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 circular motion, and on
the end of the blade lay shining
yellow chip.
"Gold!" he shouted. "Gold! Solid
goldl Solid gold, and it weighs more
than ten pounds!"
The face of the millionaire was q
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 Obvious to
his surroundings. He clenched the
image tightly and regarded it with
rapt expression such as mother
lavishes on her babe, Suddenly his
attitude changed, He recovered him
self with a 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.
"Rack 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 q
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 un-
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 1. Help
me down there. Let ME see them.
Are you sure there is lot of them?
Perhaps they IRE not like this one.
Bigger, did you say? Which way is
i0 How awful dark 1t is! Take
hold of my hand,"
Before the magic of the touch Of
sald 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 q 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. "Ill 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 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 o corner of the outer room. II
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 o half interest
In more property than he ever had
hoped to obtain, unless by chance
some Of his cherished plans should
find fnancier. Both forgot the
fight of time. They counted the
idols and images and found there
were GO. They then attempted t,
estimate the weight of their treas
ures. They calculated the smalles
one at ten pounds and the other
ranged all the way up to one est
mated at not less than 70 pounds
AS nearly as they could judge, aft
1 er carefully estimating the weigh
Of each image, the total was abou
1878 pounds.
"How much is gold worth ,
pound?" asked Vincent, as he he'll,
an idol out at arms length. He re
memberedst that he could "hola out
weight Of 80 pounds. and this on
required aM Of his muscular effort
"Gold is warth about 1924 |
pound" said Mr.. Pence. THAT i
based on the amount of gold il
coins, This looks like pure gold t,
/ $50 IT, Z, o,,,f,,1 .of% no,s< ,.,,I