directly. You mean that the map
gives us no hint of the direction in which the gold-hills lie."

"Now you've hit it right in the bull's-eye, doctor," cried Griggs.
"That's it. Say we made up our minds to go and look for it, starting
from here, are we to begin north, south, or east? Couldn't go very far
west, because that would mean going straight out to sea."

"Of course--of course!" was chorused.

"But we could find the place, after all," cried Chris excitedly.

"How?" said Wilton.

"Mr Griggs can tell us which direction the poor old fellow was coming
from."

"No, he can't," said the personage spoken of. "He was zig-zagging about
all sorts of ways, and more than once after a stumble I saw him get upon
his legs and go back the same way he came, as if he was half blind."

"Oh!" cried Chris, in a disappointed tone.

"You meant, young squire, that if I could tell you the direction from
which he had come, all we should have to do would be to go right along
his track till we saw the three mountains?"

"Yes, that is something like what I thought," said Chris, who felt
damped.

"Wouldn't work, youngster," cried Griggs. "Even if he had come on the
last day in a straight line that wouldn't help us about how he came on
the other days; and as to his trail--why, the poor old fellow had been
on the tramp for years. Look here, all of you; I'll give you another
chance for a spec. I'll take five cents for my share. Who'll buy?
Don't all speak at once. What, no one? Well, you are a poor lot! Only
five cents. Well, never mind; if you won't make yourselves rich it's no
fault of mine. I'll keep my share myself in a goose-quill stopped up at
the end with wax--when I get it."

"I should very much have liked to go in search of that place," said
Wilton, who hardly heard their American neighbour's words.

"And I too," said Bourne. "Setting aside the gold discovery, it would
be most interesting to visit the relics of the ancient city."

"I could do without seeing the old place," said Griggs dryly. "Depend
upon it, you'd find it terribly out of repair. I should be dead on the
gold. How do you feel, doctor?"

"I should like to explore the old place," he replied, "but I certainly
should make a point of getting all the gold I could."

"Then why not try and find the spot?" cried Chris. "It must be
somewhere south."

"Yes," cried Ned. "Oh, father, don't let's give up without a good try
to find it."

The doctor