owed in a little
memorandum book. Here it is now."

Ross reached into his pocket and drew out a small morocco-covered book
that gleamed red in the light of the fire.

CHAPTER V

THE CHEST OF GOLD

Ross Montgomery turned over the pages rapidly, and the boys could see a
number of accounts in a precise, methodical script.

"The first two or three years were the hardest," the strange boy went
on, "but after that the money came in fast. Father made a number of
investments in lumber and in fishing interests, and everything he
touched seemed to bring him luck. By the time I was six years old, he
had got enough together to pay all his debts and make him independent
for life.

"There was one funny thing about it, though. He had burned his fingers
so badly in that big bank failure that he never would trust a bank
again. Every dollar he got above what he needed to use in business, he
stored away in an oak chest that he kept in a secret place at home. He
had no use for paper money either. He'd take it, of course, when he
couldn't get anything else, but the first chance he got he'd change it
for gold. Of course it was just a whim of his, but somehow it made him
feel safer. Maybe it was a little mental twist left from his siege of
brain fever. At any rate that's the way he felt, and he kept piling up
the gold in that old chest. All sorts of money, too, English, Canadian,
French and American coins. I was small then and didn't know much of the
value of money, but I can remember once how the pieces shone when father
gathered up a handful and let the coins fall in a shower back into the
chest----"

"Gee!" interrupted Teddy, "just think of it. A rain of gold!"

"I'd like to be caught out in such a shower," laughed Fred.

"And I wouldn't want any umbrella to ward it off either," added Bill.

"Cork up, you money grabbers, and let Ross go on with his story," Lester
laughingly advised.

"It brought bad luck to father, though," said Ross soberly. "If it
hadn't been for that gold he might be alive to-day."

It was the first intimation the boys had had that the lad's father was
dead, and they kept a respectful silence during the moment that followed
while Ross seemed struggling with painful memories.

"A little over nine years ago," the boy went on at last, "father
concluded that he had enough on hand to settle with all his creditors,
capital and interest, and still have enough left to make him independent
for life. He