ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HORN
ing, he took from his pocket a yellow object about three inches in length and an inch in diameter, shaped like a rough prism, cast in a rudely constructed mortar or mould. "I brought away just one of them," he said, "and then I shut down the lid, and we came away."
"And is this gold?" exclaimed Edna, eagerly seizing the bar. "Are you sure of it, captain?"
"I am as sure of it as I am that I have a head on my shoulders," said he, "although when I was diving down into that pile I was not quite sure of that. No one would ever put anything but gold in such a hiding-place. And then, anybody can see it is gold. Look here: I scraped that spot with my knife. I wanted to test it before I showed it to you. See how it shines! I could easily cut into it. I believe it is virgin gold, not hardened with any alloy."
"And that mound full of it!" cried Mrs. Cliff.
"I can't say about that," said the captain. "But if the gold is no deeper than my arm went down into it, and all pure metal at that, why—bless my soul!—it would make anybody crazy to try to calculate how much it is worth."
"Now, then," exclaimed Mrs. Cliff, "whom does all this gold belong to? We have found it, but whose is it?"
"That is a point to be considered," said the captain. "What is your opinion?"
"I have been thinking and thinking and thinking about it," said Mrs. Cliff. "Of course, that would have been all wasted, though, if it had turned out to be nothing but brass, but then, I could not help it, and this is the conclusion I have come to: In the first place, it
101
