"As much as that?" cried Andy, eagerly.
"I think so," replied the ranch boy. "Of course my test isn't very reliable, and about all I am able to do is to say that it really is gold that we're digging out. But I think we have struck it rich, all right."
"And to think those fellows have been searching all the while for the treasure of Golden Peak and didn't find it!" commented Andy. "It was just our luck."
Billy again resumed his digging, loosening the soft soil in which appeared the curious out-cropping of the gold vein. For it was curious. It defied all the known laws of mining. It seemed that, ages ago, there must have been some upheaval of nature that thrust into the interior of the hill a streak of rich metal, isolated, as it were, from everything else.
Then the cave was formed, making a sort of envelope above the treasure, and it had been undiscovered for many years. Then came the unfortunate prospector, who, after finding the rich deposit, went crazy. Others had searched for it in vain.
Suddenly Billy uttered a cry of dismay.
"What's the matter?" asked Frank.
"It's gone!" was the answer.
"What is?"
"The gold streak! It's come to an end!"