CHAPTER XXVII
HOME
Ten days later than the events just recorded in the last chapter, IolaConroyal and Ruth Randolph sat swinging in a hammock, stretched underthe broad porch that shaded the front of the Conroyal house.
"I wish we could hear from our dads and the boys," Iola said, as the twogirls swung gently back and forth. "It seems like a long time now sinceThure and Bud left us; and we haven't heard a word from them since theywent away; and so many things might have happened to them. Why, they mayalready have found the Cave of Gold, and right at this moment they maybe picking up gold nuggets by the basketful!" and her dark eyes sparkledat the thought.
"Yes, it has been a long time since we heard from the mines," answeredRuth; "and our mothers are beginning to worry, more than they let usknow. They are afraid that the hunt for the Cave of Gold will get theminto some kind of trouble with the men who murdered the old miner forthe skin map, and then failed to get it. And--and not to hear a wordfrom them, when so many things might happen, is terrible worrying. Oh, Ido hope they find that Cave of Gold, and get enough gold to make us richall the rest of our lives!" and her face brightened. "That is the way itwould come out in a story book; and I can't see why it can't happen thatway in real life, just this once. I dreamt, only last night, that theycame back with a string of horses a mile long and all of them loadeddown with gold. And--and," and her face flushed a little, "Thure broughtme a nugget as big as my head, and a necklace of nuggets that reached tothe ground, when he threw it around my neck. Oh, if something like thatwould only happen in real life!" and she laughed merrily at her ownextravagant conceit.
"And I dreamt--" and then Iola stopped abruptly.
A faint halloo, coming from far-off, at this moment had reached the earsof both girls, and brought them out of the hammock in one jump, andturned their two pairs of eyes to staring excitedly across the level ofthe valley in front of the house.
A mile away they saw two horsemen, swinging their hats around theirheads and hallooing loudly, riding excitedly toward the house; and backof them came a long train of horses and men.
For a minute the two girls stood, as if turned to stone, staring withwidening eyes at those two horsemen, at the train of horses and menbehind them; and then, with a yell that made their mothers jump from thechairs where they were sitting in the cool of the house and rush to thedoor, they leaped off the porch and ran toward the two horsemen.
"It's Thure and Bud! It's dad and the rest!" they shouted, as they ran.
In a few minutes the racing boys--for the two horsemen were Thure andBud--and the running girls met.
The boys jumped from their saddles, and, the next instant, they were inthe arms of the girls.
"We found it! We found it!" shouted Thure, a moment later, dancing upand down with excitement. "We found the Cave of Gold! And here," and hethrust one of his hands into his pocket, "is your breastpin nugget!" andhe handed the big gold nugget he had found to Ruth. "And here is yournecklace of gold nuggets!" and he threw over the happy girl's head andaround her neck a long string of gold nuggets that he had strung on adeer sinew, during the homeward journey.
Bud, during this time, had been going through the same delightfulperformance with Iola.
That was the most wonderful night in the history of the Conroyal and theRandolph households!
First, of course, after the greetings were over, the gold had to betaken off the horses and carried into the house and piled up in thecenter of the floor of the big room; and then, with all of the twofamilies and all of the friends who took part in the search for the Caveof Gold, not forgetting you may be sure Mr. and Mrs. Dickson, seated ina circle around the piled-up bags of gold, the story of the adventuresof Thure and Bud and the finding of the dead miner's marvelous Cave ofGold had to be told.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sighed Iola happily, when, at last, the tale wasended. "It is just like a story out of a book; and I wouldn't believe itat all, if I couldn't see the gold piled up right in front of me. Now,"and her eyes looked wonderingly at the bags of gold, "how much is allthat gold worth? Is it worth a Hundred Thousand Dollars?" and her eyesgrew big with the thought of the enormous wealth that lay within touchof her hand.
"I reckon it is," laughed Mr. Conroyal. "But, supposing we see justabout how much it is worth. Thure, you and Bud go and get the bigscales, and we will weigh it."
In a few minutes the two boys returned, carrying between them a smallplatform scales, capable of weighing a few hundred pounds at a time, andset it down by the side of the pile of bags of gold.
Mr. Conroyal now placed the bags of gold, four at a time, on the scales,and announced their weights; and Thure and Bud, pencils and paper intheir hands, set down the amounts. When the last bag had been weighed,all waited anxiously while the two boys added up the various amounts.Thure was the first to finish the addition.
"Five thousand one hundred and three and a half pounds!" he yelled.
"Exactly what I got," announced Bud a moment later.
"Give me the pencil and paper," and Mr. Conroyal caught the pencil andpaper from Thure's hands. "I'll see about what that amount of gold isworth," and he began figuring on the paper, with hands that trembledjust a little with excitement. Presently he looked up, his face flushedand his eyes shining.
"Of course I can't tell exactly how much the gold is worth," he said,"not knowing exactly how much it will bring an ounce; but, I am sure wecan count on its bringing a Million Dollars, a Million Dollars, boys!And that, since there were ten in the company, will give each one of usat least One Hundred Thousand Dollars!"
"Great Moses! That means that we are all rich! Hurrah!" and Thure jumpedto his feet and yelled so loudly that Iola thrust her mantilla over hismouth, fearing that the glad noise might bring the roof down on theirheads.
"And that we can now go to our dear home in New York," Mrs. Dickson saidsoftly, pressing the hand she held of her husband and looking happilyinto his eyes.
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