him. He gave a little cry of joy as he came upon
an old-time altar light--a platter of oil containing a crude wick. He
lighted this. The flame sputtered feebly, died down, then revived to
a big, steady flame. With his arms at his side, his mouth wide open,
he gaped at what the light revealed.

The cave was not large; this lamp disclosed its boundaries. It also
disclosed other things, chief of which was a leering idol some three
feet tall which squatted, cross-legged, with one hand extended. This
hand held a polished diamond larger than a walnut. The eyes were of
ruby which, catching the light, burned with ghoul-like ferocity, while
the mouth grinned,--grinned with a smile which strangely resembled
that of the Priest. The image was of gold. To the right and left,
piled up as though they had been hastily thrown together, was a jumble
of vases, bowls, plates, shields, all of beaten gold. They made a heap
some four feet high, and from six to eight feet broad at the base.
Strewn about the foot of this were many little leather bags tied at
the top with dried sinews.

Minute after minute Stubbs stared at this sight in silence. There was
more gold here than he thought existed in the world,--so much that it
lost its value. Here was enough almost to load down a ship. If he
could crowd a few hundred dollars into a bag small enough to stuff
into his pocket, this must run up into the millions. He had always
spoken of a man worth a million with a certain amount of awe and
doubt; and here lay ten, perhaps fifty, times that amount. At the end
of forty years of sailing the seas he had saved a little over three
thousand dollars against the days he should be old and feeble. Three
thousand dollars! Two or three of those stones he had slipped into his
pocket,--four or five of these plates of which there were hundreds!

[Illustration: _Minute after minute, Stubbs stared at this sight in
silence._]

He moved forward and tried to lift one of the big vases of crudely
beaten gold. With his full weight against it, he could scarcely move
it. Farther on there was a bar of gold heavier than three men could
carry. To the left of this there was a pile of golden shields studded
with jewels, strange ornaments, and heavy plates. Back of this he
caught a glimpse of still other ingots of gold in the shadows.

And always the big image held extended towards him with a cynical leer
the big, polished diamond which seemed rather to give out light from
wit