It was left to the all-wise Parson to discover what this meant. The Parson picked up one of the dies he saw upon the table. He gazed at it curiously, blowing away the dust and cleaning the metal. Then, muttering to himself excitedly, he stepped over to one side of the cave where soft clay was on the floor, and seizing some, pressed it into the mold. He held it before his horrified companions, a perfect image of the United States half dollar; and he spoke but two words of explanation.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “counterfeiters!”
The amount of excitement which that caused may be readily imagined. A counterfeiter’s den! And they were in it! Texas clutched his revolver the tighter and stared about him warily. As for poor Indian, he simply sat down upon the floor and collapsed.
“Fellows,” said Mark at last. “I say we finish examining this place and get out. I don’t like it.”
None of them did, and they did not hesitate to say so, either. Nothing but curiosity, and the fact that they were ashamed to show their fear, kept them from running for all they were worth. As it was, their advance was timid and hesitating.
They were almost at the end of the cave then. They could see the walls sloping together and the ceiling sloping down toward the floor. The light of the lamp was far away and dim then, and they could not see very clearly. But one thing they did make out to their surprise and alarm. The end of that cave was a heavy iron door, shut tight!
There was but one idea flashed over the minds of every one of the seven at that moment. The money! Here was where the men kept it, in that firmly locked safe.
“B’gee!” muttered Dewey. “I say we go back.”
Most of them wanted to, and in a hurry. But there were two of them that didn’t mean to; one was the venturesome and reckless Texas, and the other was Mark.
“I’m sorry I came in,” said the latter calmly. “But since I’m here I’m going to see the thing to the end. I’m going to search this cave and find out what the whole business means. Who’ll help me open that door?”