the piece of ore in his
pocket and followed the men to where they could descend to the boats.

That evening, as the party sat together in front of one of the lower
cells, looking at the beauties of the reflections from the river on the
far side of the canon opposite, Brace waited till the attention of the
men, who were at a little distance from them, was quite averted, and
said softly:

"Show the captain the piece of curious rock you picked up to-day,
Briscoe."

"Eh?" said the captain: "bit of curious rock! I picked up a bit too."

He fumbled with his hand in his pocket and drew out something before
taking that which the American held out.

"Humph, yes," he said: "mine's just the same. Bit which has come down
from the face of the cliff somewhere. I say, there's no mistake about
it, Squire Briscoe: this is rich in gold."

"Ah, would you!" cried the American sharply; "who said we weren't to
mention that?"

"I said so," replied the captain drily. "Don't talk so loud. But this
sets a man thinking, eh, Sir Humphrey and Mr Brace: and, you see, gold
is gold, after all."

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.

A DOUBLE DISCOVERY.

No more was said about the gold ore then, but the captain showed himself
deeply interested in the proceedings to further investigate the ruined
city. Briscoe, though, made one remark to Brace the next morning after
a restful night.

"If this isn't the Spaniards' El Dorado," he said, "it's quite good
enough to be, and I'm quite satisfied with our find."

There had been no sign of the Indians, whose dried fish were utilised a
good deal by Dan for the men's breakfast, and in good time a fresh start
was made, this time with the captain one of the party, the intention
being to try and mount to the highest terrace and see if there was any
entrance to the central portion of the rock city from there.

Taught by the previous day's experience, the party--led by Brace and
Lynton, who both displayed in their eagerness plenty of activity--
climbed pretty quickly from terrace to terrace, disturbing plenty of
birds, for the most part a kind of pigeon, which nested freely in the
cell-like openings. Reptiles, too, were abundant, but all ready enough
to make for their holes in the rifts of the rock, the lizards glancing
out of sight in a moment, the snakes slowly and resentfully, as if ready
to strike at the intruders at the slightest provocation, but no one
received hurt.

Upon every terrace the relics l