knights, had taken its
place. The mob shrank back in terror. So did the knights, although one
or two on the battlements ventured to send shafts into this new enemy
that had appeared at the castle gates. But there was no time for real
hostilities to develop, for the castle vanished and a 19th century
factory took its place. The factory survived less than thirty seconds,
before it gave way to the bank and row of stores which had originally
stood on the site.

For some reason the crowd began to cheer, as they would a victorious
football team. But the tumult died quickly, for the buildings were
covered with a slime of jungle vines, torn up by their roots, and a pair
of snarling lions stood at bay on the sidewalk. After they had shot the
lions, they found a cobra was coiled on the cashier's desk in the bank
and an antelope was imprisoned in the dry goods store. They were still
clearing out miscellaneous wild life when reporters from the city
newspapers, apprised by the _San Benedicto News_ of the gold strike,
descended upon the town. They were followed by a deluge of prospectors,
arriving in anything that would move--bicycles and Cadillacs, Model T's
and Greyhound buses.

The mob poured into town first by the scores, and then by the thousands.
Primarily male, their prevailing mood was explosive instability, a
glassy-eyed greed flamed higher as each truckload of gold poured back
into town from the diggings. The four-man police force was helpless. The
major telegraphed to Sacramento for the National Guard; in the interim,
he deputized every townsman he could find, among them Elvin and Pop
Schermerhorn.

* * * * *

Elvin worked until he was exhausted, herding the mob into the streets
and through the town as rapidly as they would move; and still there was
no relief, and the number in the throng increased by the minute.
Newsreel trucks, television units, press cars twisted among the vehicles
heading for the desert. Regularly, heavy duty trucks brought tons of
gold back from the diggings and deposited them at the bank until the
aisles overflowed and the precious metal sifted through the windows
forming little pyramids in the street. By noon Treasury men flew in from
Washington. They circled the diggings and landed to inspect the quality
of the gold hoard at the bank.

Fifteen minutes later a rumor filtered among the deputies: the Treasury
men estimated that the San Benedicto strike would yield