Percy and I were anxious to know what was the value of the little heap; but to make the calculation was beyond our power, for we had not the least idea of how many Troy ounces there might be in a pound Avoirdupois; and gold, of course, is sold by Troy weight.
Jack said he thought he could calculate it, and with a burnt stick he forthwith proceeded to work out the sum upon the waggon-sheet.
“In the first place,” said he, “there are twenty-nine thousand one hundred and sixty-six Troy ounces in a ton of two thousand pounds Avoirdupois.”
“How do you know?” asked Percy, promptly.
“Learnt it in a book on assaying,” replied Jack, with equal promptness.
“All right,” said Percy, “peg away, then.”
“We are supposing that we have twenty pounds of gold here,” Jack went on. “Twenty pounds is one-hundredth part of a ton. H-m—h-m! Two hundred and ninety-one ounces and a fraction Troy—say, two hundred and ninety. Multiply that by eighteen. Gold is reckoned at eighteen dollars an ounce up here in Montana, you know. There!” as he drew with his burnt stick a line beneath the total.
“Oh, get out!” exclaimed Percy, when he saw the figure. “You don’t mean to say that this little heap is worth five thousand two hundred and twenty dollars!”
“Something of the sort,” replied Jack. “Of course there is a great deal of guess-work about it, but I expect that my calculation is not far out. I shouldn’t wonder if this heap, and the gold we got out of the pot-holes, were to mount up to six thousand dollars, or even more.”
It was hard to believe that so small a heap could be worth so much; but Jack seemed to be pretty confident, and so we took his word for it, hoping he might turn out to be right.