denly focused on an object which
lay on the ground at Chino's left. It was a book, the same size as the
three he had bought at Stein's!

Without thinking, Drew moved forward, was about to reach for the volume
when he heard the click of a cocked Colt. A hand swept down on the book.

"You, hombre--what do you want with this?" Herrera, with no friendliness in
either voice or eyes, was holding a gun on him.

"That book--it looks like the ones I bought in town." Drew was startled by
the vaquero's enmity.

"Give it to him," Rennie ordered.

For a moment Herrera seemed on the point of open dispute, then he obeyed.
But for some reason his weapon remained unholstered. Drew took up the
volume.

"_History of the Conquest of Peru_," he read out. The binding was a match
for that of the other three. But--there _was_ something different. He
weighed the volume in his hand. That was it! This book was heavier....

"Well, hombre, you have seen such a one before?"

"Yes, this is bound to match those I bought from Stein. And one of those
was _History of the Conquest of Mexico_. This is surely a part of the same
library."

"Those--what did they have in them?"

Rennie appeared content to let Chino ask the questions, but he continued
to watch Drew and the book.

"Have in them?" Drew repeated. "Why pages. They were books to read--_The
Three Musketeers_, _The Count of Monte Cristo_, and _History of the
Conquest of Mexico_. That's all, just books."

"Open this one," Rennie told him.

The Kentuckian had trouble obeying. And for the first time he saw he did
not hold a book composed of pages but a type of box. The cover resisted
his tugging. Then, as if some catch had been mastered, it opened so
suddenly he almost lost his grip on the book. The core of those once
separate pages had been hollowed out to contain a nest of raw cotton on
which lay ... The Kentuckian gasped.

Even in this subdued light those stones glittered, and their settings were
gold and silver. Drew saw elaborate pieces, the like of which he had never
seen before.

"There was a mule shot back in the pass," Rennie explained. "His pack was
opened. Three books were in it--one of them fell out and burst open."

"This one?"

"No, it held gold coin. _Hard Times_ by Charles Dickens--the contents
hardly indicative of the subject, were they? Upon investigation a _Wonders
of the World_ produced more coin. And, as you see, _History of the
Conquest of Peru_ was even more f