to-night is to be kept secret by
all, whether or not the search for the Cave of Gold is made."

"Yes, yes!" cried Dill impatiently. "We're all in on it together and
must not breathe a word about it to an outsider. We all understand that,
don't we?"

All the heads around the table quickly nodded assent.

"Now, then, let us have that map and gold nugget," and he turned
excitedly to Thure and Bud.

Thure at once thrust his hand under the bosom of his shirt and under his
left shoulder and pulled out the miner's little buckskin bag. Then he
opened the bag and pulled out the map.

"The skin map," he said, and, laying it down on the table, he swiftly
turned the bag upside down and dumped the gold nugget down on top of it.
"And here is the gold nugget."

For a moment no one moved; but all sat staring at the big yellow chunk
of metal, shining ruddily in the light of the flickering candles, as it
dropped from the bag and came to a rest on the skin map and lay there on
the table in front of Thure.

"Gosh, that sart'in looks like th' real stuff!" and the big hand of Ham
reached out and picked up the nugget and hefted it critically. "Solid
gold!" he declared, his eyes shining. "Jest heft it, Con," and he passed
the nugget to Conroyal. "Wal, I reckon you yunks have made good. Now,
let's see what's on that thar piece of skin," and, picking up the map,
he smoothed it out on the table and stared down on it, while as many
heads as possible crowded close to his head and stared down on the map
with him.

"John Stackpole, did anyone here ever hear of a feller by th' name of
John Stackpole?" and Ham raised his head and glanced around.

"I know the man," declared Frank Holt, the father of Rex, whose snowy
white hair gave him a patriarchal appearance. "I remember now. That's
the name the fellow gave I saw in Coleman's store 'bout two weeks ago.
He had a peculiar scar, shaped something like a horseshoe over one of
his eyes."

"That's the man! You remember that queer-shaped scar over one of his
eyes, don't you?" and Bud turned excitedly to Thure.

"Yes," answered Thure. "He must have just got back from the cave. What
was he doing, Uncle Frank?" and he turned eagerly to Mr. Holt.

"Well, he certainly looked as if he had just come out of a cave,"
grinned Holt. "Clothes all in rags and dirty, and hair and beard all
over his head, except his eyes and nose and mouth. But," and his face
lighted up, "he seemed to have plenty of gold-dus