hin itself than to reflect the altar flames. It blazed with a
brilliancy that he had never seen equalled save by the stars on
faultless winter nights.

He was too dumbfounded at first to take it all in. He turned about in
a circle, resting his eyes again upon one thing after another, and
then raised his hand and looked at that to make sure that he was
seeing correctly--was not the victim of some strange illusion. Yes,
his eyes were all right; he saw his calloused, big-jointed hand--the
hand which had labored so long for a millionth part of what he now saw
here. The gold and the jewels were within arms' reach of him--there
was no longer any doubt about that. His luck must have turned.

He moved back to where Wilson still lay sprawled out upon his back
only half conscious of his surroundings. He tried to speak calmly,
but he blurted out,

"Gawd, man, there's tons of it!"

Wilson did not move or speak.

"Shiploads of it. Man! Man! wake up an' see what's afore yer eyes!"

"What is it, Stubbs?"

"Gold! Gold! Gold! The stuff thet outside here yer haster fight ter
git a pinch of,--the stuff I've sailed aroun' the worl' ter git a
handful of; the stuff ye've come so far on the bare chance of
seein'."

"It's here, then? The treasure is here?"

"More than ever ye dreamed of. Small wonder that Sorez was willin' ter
take chances agin the Priest if he knew of this."

Wilson brushed his hand over his eyes. The name roused him. This meant
getting back to Sorez--getting back to him with proof of the treasure
and so releasing the girl. He made his feet and stood a moment with
his hand upon Stubbs' shoulder.

"I'm glad, Stubbs," he answered. "Now--now let's get back to her."

"Aye, we'll get back, but first we've got ter figger out some way for
gittin' of this stuff out."

As a matter of fact, they learned that they were really facing
something of a problem. It was a marvel how ever these things were got
down here, but it would be a still greater task to get them out again.
Twenty fanatical worshipers of the Sun God gave their lives to bearing
these priceless offerings from the lake to this cave with the
incentive of winning everlasting happiness. It was a different problem
for two tired and nerve-exhausted men to retrace their steps.

Even if it were possible to get the treasure to the surface, it would
need a small army of men and burros to carry it over the mountains to
civilization, and another small army to defend i