Part 31 (2/2)

What the warning was he did not get a chance to explain, for at that moment Professor Dodson, the mine expert, with his a.s.sistant, Professor Snath, emerged from the interior of the cave, into whose black depths they had disappeared some time ago, while Bud and the others were talking.

”By golly!” exclaimed Billee, suddenly changing the subject. ”They got their report ready pretty quick. I reckon the gold's so thick in there they don't need to make much of a test. Whoopee! I'll soon have my self-playin' piano!” He was as eager and excited as a boy. Indeed Bud and his cousins were not a little excited as they looked at the two scientists who came out carrying specimens of ore which they had knocked off the walls of the cave with their peculiar hammers.

”Didn't take you long,” commented Bud.

”No, this was an easy problem,” answered Professor Dodson. ”We don't even need an a.s.say to determine our findings.”

”By golly! What do you know about that?” cried Billee. ”About how many dollars will she run to the ton?” he asked. ”I only want to know _about_,” he stipulated. ”I won't pin you down by five or ten dollars, 'cause I think that wouldn't be fair. But roughly about how much do you think our mine will a.s.say to the ton?”

”How much what?” asked Professor Dodson with a peculiar smile. ”How much what to the ton?”

”How much gold, of course!” exclaimed Billee. ”What else? Gold's what we want; ain't it?” and he chuckled as he turned to his friends.

”Sure--gold!” was the murmur.

”Then I'm sorry to have to tell you that there is not one ounce of gold in any number of tons of ore and rock in that cave!” was the unexpected and startling answer. ”There isn't any gold at all.”

”No gold!” cried Bud.

”No gold!” echoed his cousins.

”No--no--gold!” faltered Billee Dobb, his jaw falling. He saw his self-playing piano fading back into the dim vista of his dreams.

”No gold,” repeated Professor Dodson. ”What we have here,” and he indicated the ore specimens held by himself and Professor Snath, ”is a selected lot of samples of iron sulphid. It is a yellow ore that looks very much like gold, but which has none of the properties of real gold.

In fact it is so often mistaken for the valuable metal that it has come to be called 'Fools' Gold.' I am sorry, but such is the case. I shall so report to Mr. Merkel, who engaged me to come out here after hearing his son's account.”

”Fools' gold!” murmured Bud. ”Well, it fooled us all right.”

”Yes, and it fooled those other fellows,” said Nort. ”The men with the gas cylinders,” he added.

As the two professors looked a little puzzled, d.i.c.k explained:

”There were some men hiding in this cave who must have thought, the same as we did, that it contained gold. They drove out Mr. Tosh, who used the cavern to brew his medicine. Then they drove us out. They used tanks of some poison gas, or at least gas that made a man unconscious. We had to put on gas masks, the kind used in the war, to fight 'em. But we drove 'em out.”

”And a lot of good it did us,” said Bud gloomingly, ”if there isn't any gold in there.”

”No, the evidence is too plain to be mistaken,” said Professor Snath.

”It does not even require a laboratory test to prove that the cave is rich in iron sulphid, but not gold.”

”Maybe it will turn out to be an iron mine instead of a gold mine!” put in Billee, with new hope showing on his face. ”Iron's valuable. Not worth as much as gold, of course, but a good iron mine--say, boys, maybe I'll get that self-playin' piano yet.”

But again his hopes were dashed.

”It wouldn't pay to work this section even for iron,” said Professor Dodson, and his a.s.sistant nodded his agreement.

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