Though the boy spoke quietly the words startled his parents.
"You were!" exclaimed Mr. Stanley.
"What, Fred! Go away off to Alaska, and freeze to death on an iceberg?" asked his mother.
"Oh, I guess I could stand the cold, mother. I could wear a fur suit, like the Eskimos. But whether I could find the gold is, as father says, another question. How much do you think would be there, dad?"
"It is utterly impossible to say. I have heard various amounts mentioned, from as high as a million to as low as a thousand dollars. But I think, from the stories current at the time of the death of Stults, that it must be many thousands of dollars."
"So do I, father, and I would like to go after it."
"You don't appreciate what that means, Fred," said Mr. Stanley. "In the first place the treasure, if there is any, is in a desolate place, hard to get at, once you are in Alaska. Then Alaska is no easy place to reach, and it takes more money to get there than we shall ever have, I'm afraid. Another thing: you would have no right to go after the treasure. It belongs to the widow of Stults."
"I would have a right to search for it, if she gave me permission, as she has others."
"Yes, but you do not know her, and I doubt if any one knows where she is. No, Fred, it is out of the question."
Fred drew something from his pocket.