"Are you in earnest?"

"I am."

"Where did you find it?"

"Well, I am going to consider awhile before I tell."

Brooks looked Desmond straight in the face, and asked:

"Boy, honest, did you really find gold?"

"Yes, I did."

The matter began to a.s.sume a very serious aspect, for Desmond spoke seriously.

"If you found any gold, lad, you've beat me."

"I did find gold."

"On your honor?"

"Yes."

"Well, here we are on shares; tell us all about it."

Desmond laughed in turn; they had had their laugh and he had his laugh, as he said:

"Here is what I found."

The lad produced the little nugget he had picked up and then Creedon laughed, and said:

"By George! that is the bit of gold I lost, and I had a good hunt for it."

Our hero had been impressed by Creedon's statement that he had examined every nook and corner in the mountain, and yet he did feel a sort of hankering notion that he could find the gold, and he said:

"I want to explore again."

"All right; it can do no harm, but I will relinquish all claim now to any gold that you may find in this cave."

"I'll take you at your word," said Desmond.

Of course the youth had no real hope of ever finding any gold, but it is a known fact that such finds have been made, and sometimes the skeletons of the owners have been found bleaching beside their gold.

CHAPTER V.

BOY'S DETERMINATION--GOING THROUGH A CREVICE--THE MOVABLE ROCK--AID TO DISCOVER--UP THROUGH A HOLE--THE GOLDEN HEAP--DESMOND'S GREAT TRIUMPH--THE OLD MEXICAN'S SECRET EXPOSED.

Desmond was somewhat impressed by the words of Creedon, but still insisted that he would like to conduct an exploration.

"You will only go over the ground that I have already gone over."

"I know that, but I propose to look around all the same."

Desmond had been doing considerable thinking. He questioned Creedon again and again, and made out that the old Mexican had lived in the cave along with Creedon for months at a time, and as he learned, the old man had thrown out a great many hints. These hints meant something; and then again, if he had hidden his wealth in the cave he had done it so securely and well that he had no idea of its ever being discovered until such time as he saw fit to disclose the fact. Desmond knew how there were some strange conformations in the rocks; the very place they were in was a testimony to the strange freaks that nature in its upheavals can and does create.

Brooks had nothing to say about the matter, and Creedon did remark finally:

"Of course, as I've said, it can do no harm, but be careful you don't strike--"

Desmond here interrupted, and said:

"I ain't afraid of ghosts; I've met one and I've got used to them."

"I don't mean a ghost, I mean a crevice; go very slow and carefully, or you may become a ghost yourself."

Right here we wish to exchange a few words with our readers in regard to these rock conformations. Right in the State of New York, in Ulster County, and in what is called the Shaw.a.n.gunk Mountains, there are some of the most wonderful caves and crevices, and in some of these caves during the winter the snow drifts down, and in the spring becomes a solid ma.s.s of ice, and the writer remembers upon one occasion after a long and weary scramble over rocks under the face of a cliff which towers up and overlooks counties, being shown a rock cave where there was a solid ma.s.s of ice, which, in its contour resembled a ship. The ice must have been at least sixty feet in length, twenty feet broad, and fully forty feet high, and adjoining it were all manner of caves. These caves are within a few miles of several settlements, and possibly at the time of the visit of the writer had not been entered by over a dozen persons. In these mountains are some very remarkable rock conformations, and we merely mention this fact to the lads in the East, who may think that these stories of rock caverns are exaggerated. There are probably hundreds of caves in the Catskill and Shaw.a.n.gunk Mountains that have never been entered or explored since the days when the early settlers may have found them while bear hunting.

Desmond had been raised, as we have stated, near the mountains, and probably had explored many rock caverns, and it is because of this fact probably that he was not surprised when led to the cave where he first beheld the girl Amy Brooks. That cave still exists and is well known to many of the people living in its vicinity, and in our description we adhered to almost absolute accuracy.

Creedon was a rough and ready sort of man, but not, the fellow, as Desmond argued, who would apply himself to a critical study. It was a great thing to have learned the facts concerning the old Mexican, and the lad really believed that there was gold secreted somewhere in one of the little cavities in that perforated mountain.

Creedon started in to relate to Brooks the facts about the mine he believed he had discovered, and Desmond, taking the mask lantern, started off to explore.

"You will burn out all my oil, lad; that is the only harm you will do, and certainly little good. I cannot replenish the oil when it's burned out, and I've been very careful, holding it for only such occasions as when we came here across the chasm."

Creedon explained that he had only carried with him one can of oil, which had lasted him to date.

Desmond started off and went direct to the crevice he had first entered, and Creedon smiled as he saw him go in there, remarking to Brooks:

"The lad will run up against a stone wall sure, but he is enthusiastic; it will be a lesson to him."

"Can't tell about that lad," said Brooks, "there is method in his enthusiasm."

"That's all right, but I was camped in here one whole winter, and as I told you, there is not a nook or cranny that I have not explored."

"But there are others," said Brooks, with an odd smile on his face.

Meantime, Desmond followed the crevice until he came to the stone wall.

He knew about the same wall, but he was working on a certain theory. He was like the Captain Kidd treasure-seekers--the discouragement of others did not in any way discourage him, and we will here say that a similar persistence in any walk of life, as a rule, leads to great results.

Desmond, as stated, arrived opposite the stone wall, and he commenced a calm, steady, determined examination. First appearances would have discouraged any man, being faced as he was by a solid, smooth face of rock. He stood contemplating the ma.s.s before him, and then with the ray of light from his lantern he ran all over the rock.

"By ginger!" he muttered at last, "I reckon it's true. There does not appear a hole big enough in that rock for a spider to crawl through; but, hang me! I've got an impression."

There appeared to be a break in the rock just where it joined with the roof of the cave. Desmond rolled a bowlder over against the rock and mounted, and ran his finger over the crack. It was not a large crack and offered no encouragement, but the lad was determined not to be satisfied until he had established facts beyond all dispute. He ran his finger, as stated, along the crack, and his knuckle pressed against the roof, and to his surprise there appeared to be a loosening. He examined it and he saw that there was a uniform crack running along the roof inclosing a s.p.a.ce about two feet square. The lad instinctively pressed on the center between the cracks, and lo, there appeared to be a piece of the roof that yielded. He pressed harder and satisfied himself that the piece of rock between the cracks in the roof was movable. The discovery caused his heart to stand still, and he muttered: