Amador ledger., 1910-02-25
THE GOLDEN KEY
BY W. S. Genune.


logy. He had made many new dis.
coveries insthe insect world and stood
high in his profession.
A cultured man, although compare
lively poor one, he was welcomed in the
best society of Boston, With the excep-
tion Of certain circle whose doors can
be opened only with a golden key.
He hal met Alice Richardson, the
only daughter of wealthy merchant, and
their attachment had been mutual from
their first acquaintance
In the natural course of events it be-
came necessary for the professor to ask
Mr. Richardson for his daughters hand
in marriage and he was met by an en-
phatic refusal and moreover, was posi-
lively forbidden to pay any further ad-
dresses to her and was sneeringly and
insultinglv told that his daughter should
never marry a poor bug-catcher.
Why, said Mr. Richardson, "vou
would drag her down to a level with
YOURSELF you would have her chasing
cockroaches and hunting hornets nests
by day, Lightning bugs and glow worms
by night. No; positively no; it cannot
be. "
Bear in mind, Mr. Richardson, that
Alice loves me, and her happiness is at
stake, and that you will make her life
miserable by your refusal "
ttMot a- ,,,;rerohfo oe "a ,.,s..tJ L
married to a poor bug catcher, who
could not hope to give her one-third-
no, one-tenth of the luxuries she now
enjoys.
But She"
There is no need for more butts -
said Mr. Richardson interrupting him.
"You have my answer. which is final.
Threre is no use in prolonging this in
terview. Alice shall never marry be-
meath her station and that settles it. -
Immediately after this refusal, the
professor packed his chronological
equipments, wrote short note to Alice,
and was soon speeding across the con-
tinent to California.
For two months he searched diligently
for rare species of ant which was
supposed to inhabit the mountain re-
gions of that state But two or three
speciments of this ant had ever been
classified and this fact made it very
valuable to entomologists. The profess
sor's search thus far had been unsuc-
cessful and he was getting heartily dis
couraged.
One day, as he was examining an ant
hill carefully microcope in hand, he
saw something that made him start
quickly, put the instrument to his eye
and kneel down close to the ants.
" Yes, it is gold dust, as live! And
adhering to these ants, - exclaimed the
professor, talking to himself. as he
watched the insects coming from their
forgaing expeditions. "But what causes
it to stick to them, | wonder?"
He took from his pocket a wide
mouthed bottle containing small
amount of cyanide of potash, covered
with plaster, caught several of the gold
sprinkled ants. and dropped them in the
bottle where they died almost instantly.
He took them to the shade of a small
tree nearby, emptied them on a paper,
and with the aid of his microscope, ex-
amined them very minutely. He found
there was sticky substance on their
bodies and legs, which he thought was
honey, and this caused the fine particles
Of gold dust to adhere to them.
well, this is mystery" he said,
again speaking aloud-a habit he had
acquired by being alone large part of
his time in the woods. Where do
these ants get their honey, and then
wallow through gold dust on their way
home?"
Professor Dyke went back to the ant
hill and watched it closely for some
time. Only small portion of the ants
that came in sparkled with gold, and
they, he noticed, all came from one
direction. He determined, if possible,
to solve this mystery and find where the
ants found the gold, but as night was
coming on, and he had more than a
mile TO pick his way down the rough
mountain to reach the little village inn
where he had put up, he was obliged to
give up his investigations until the
next day.
That night, as he turned the matter
over, he was more and more mystiied.
He knew there was no dirt so thick