“It is our chief weapon in our world,” answered Wilson. “You here have other weapons.”
“With but little need of them among ourselves,” he answered slowly.
“But you go a long way to protect your gold,” retorted Wilson.
“Not for the sake of the gold itself. Our mountains guard two treasures; one is for whoever will, the other is for those not of this world.”
“We go for a treasure very much of this world,” answered Wilson, with a smile; “in fact, for a woman. She has ventured in here with one Sorez.”
Not a line of his lean face altered. He looked back at Wilson with friendly interest––with no suspicion of the important part he had already played in his life.
“This––this man searches for gold?” he asked.
“Yes––for the great treasure of which so many speak.”
There was the very slightest tightening of the lips, the merest trace of a frown between the brows.
“He is unwise; the treasure of the Gilded God is well guarded. Yes, even from him.”