ey say, having been handed down from father to son."

"But did you ever search?" I said eagerly.

"Who? I? Pooh! Nonsense, Hal! My idea always was that gold was to be
grown, not searched for; but after all, I might just as well have gone
upon a harum-scarum gold-hunt as have sunk my few poor hundreds here."

The conversation was directly changed, for Garcia came in to take his
evening cigar with the family, looking the while dark and scowling; but
it had little effect upon me, for my thoughts were running upon the dim,
mysterious cavern, with its echoes and shadows; and the more I thought,
the more it seemed possible that a natural or an artificial discovery
might there be made. By artificial, I meant the finding of a buried
treasure. With the old profusion of gold in the land there must have
been some rich mines. Why might not this be one of them?

"Anyhow, I have nothing to lose," I said to myself; and at last I
retired to rest, excited with the thoughts of Lilla and the riches I
might find--the consequence being that I lay awake half the night,
forming all sorts of impossible schemes; but above all determining that,
come what might, I would explore the great cavern of Tehutlan--_if_. If
what? If I could find it again.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

BEGINNING TO "BURN."

The sun was rising and sending his golden arrows darting through the
thick mist which hung over the plantation, as I went out into the
court-yard, to find all still and peaceful, for work had not yet
commenced.

I had taken the precaution of laying in a good supply of provisions,
which I carried in a wallet in company with flint and steel, matches,
and several candles; for, instead of the morning light making my project
seem absurd, I had grown warmer upon the subject, and come to the
determination that if buried treasures had lain in the earth all these
ages I might as well become the owner of one as for it to lie there
another century, waiting some less scrupulous searcher.

The night had not been passed without quiet thought, and I had come to
the conclusion that if so much gold had been used for the embellishment
of the various temples, and that gold had been hastily torn down and
hidden, it would most probably be in the vicinity of a ruined temple.

But at this present time I was red-hot for exploring the cavern, which
did not fit with my common-sense argument, without it should prove that
there had once existed a temple somewhere o