Stanley's face flushed. He keenly felt the position he was in--that
of a man unable to support himself, much less his family. If only his
lameness would leave him! For there was no work for a lame man in
Piddock.

During the meal Fred was so busy thinking that several times his mother
had to ask him the same question twice. When this occurred, after she
had asked him if he was ready for the pudding, a dish of which he was
very fond, she exclaimed:

"Well, Fred! Something must be the matter. You are not ill; are you?"

"No, mother."

"Then of what are you thinking?"

"I'll tell you," said Fred, with sudden determination. "I am thinking of
a curious story I heard to-day."

"A story? What about?"

"About treasure, buried in the mountains of Alaska."

Then Fred told what Mr. Gardner had related to him about the gold left
by Stults.

"I have heard that story several times," said Mr. Stanley, when Fred had
finished the account, "but it was always from men in whom I could place
no confidence."

"Do you think Mr. Gardner is telling the truth, father?"

"I place more reliance on the story now than I ever did before," replied
the old miner. "You can generally depend on what Old Bill tells you."

"Then you think there might be treasure there?"

"I believe there might have been. Whether it is there still is another
question. Why, Fred, you weren't thinking of going after it; were you?"

"I was, father."

Though the boy spoke quietly the words startled his parents.

"You were!" exclaimed Mr. Stanley.

"What, Fred! Go away off to Alaska, and freeze to death on an iceberg?"
asked his mother.

"Oh, I guess I could stand the cold, mother. I could wear a fur suit,
like the Eskimos. But whether I could find the gold is, as father says,
another question. How much do you think would be there, dad?"

"It is utterly impossible to say. I have heard various amounts
mentioned, from as high as a million to as low as a thousand dollars.
But I think, from the stories current at the time of the death of
Stults, that it must be many thousands of dollars."

"So do I, father, and I would like to go after it."

"You don't appreciate what that means, Fred," said Mr. Stanley. "In the
first place the treasure, if there is any, is in a desolate place, hard
to get at, once you are in Alaska. Then Alaska is no easy place to
reach, and it takes more money to get there than we shall ever have, I'm
afraid. Another thing: you would have