Gold was there, on all sides of the passageway--enough to make him rich for life!
“Plum, look here!” he yelled. “Gold--all you want of it!”
“Du tell!” roared the Yankee boy, and without stopping to think twice he dropped down to the bottom of the hole.
Another match was lit, and then some dry brushwood, and by the flickering light the two youths filled their pockets with the precious metal.
“We can load our ponies with gold,” said Jack. He was so delighted he could scarcely speak.
“That’s it--we’ll carry away all we can an’ then come back fer more,” answered the Yankee lad.
How to get to the top of the hole once more was a problem, but at last Jack climbed on Plum’s shoulders. He was then able to grasp a tree root, and by this means hauled himself upward.
“I’ll tell you what to do, Plum!” he called down. “You throw up the gold to me and I’ll load it on the ponies.”
“All right, Jack. But don’t forgit to pay me fer the job,” laughed Plum.
“Pay you? Why, Plum, a good share of this gold is yours!”