“Here’s one!” interrupted Jim Nestor, as he located a small lump of yellow metal, where it had lodged between two stones. “And great Peter!” he yelled a moment later, “here’s the twin! Hurray, boys! We’ve got ’em all—the whole sixty nuggets of gold!”
“Good!” cried Jerry, while Bob said:
“Now we can go, and we won’t have to starve,” and there was a brighter look on his face.
It was true enough. A count showed that every one of the sixty nuggets had been found, and it was good work, considering how scattered they had been. But the searchers had certain advantages on their side, and nature, in a way, had aided them.
“Well, I reckon we’ll start for home in the morning,” remarked Bob, a little later that evening, when they were seated about the supper table. The sixty nuggets were piled in a box in the cabin, where all could see them, and they glowed richly yellow in the glare of the electric lights.
“Yes, we’ve gotten all we came for,” spoke Jerry, “and I guess we can leave the valley in the morning. Our quest couldn’t have been any more successful.”
“And I got what I came for!” exclaimed the professor, as he looked at his luminous snakes. “I wish I could have gotten a yellow jumping spider,” he went on with a sigh; “but I will look for that next.”
“‘All’s well that ends well,’” quoted Ned. “And now I’m going to turn in—I’m tired.”
It began to rain in the night, and when morning came our friends faced most disagreeable weather. It was cold, and a strong wind dashed the rain against the windows of the motorship. But they did not mind the elements now, for, snugly within the Comet, they did not feel their inclemency.
“Here we go!” cried Jerry, soon after breakfast. “Turn on the gas, Ned, and we’ll go up as a balloon until we get out of this valley. I don’t want any accidents.”