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 visible above the earth. With the point of his knife he pried out the lump, which was of the bulk of an orange, but of irregular shape. Ralph was surprised at its weight. He scratched it with his knife. There was no further doubt. Its luster and weight proclaimed it solid gold. For a few moments Ralph was almost stupefied with his emotions. Then he fell eagerly at work scraping away with his hands and the blade of his large sheath-knife the thin earth that covered the quartz ledge. In doing so he came upon several other lumps of gold, one a little larger and the others smaller than the first one. He cut a stout sapling, and sharpened the end of the stick to make a crowbar, with which he pried away a few pieces of the quartz, which was much fissured. After a while he exposed the top of a piece of gold that was four or five inches across, but it was immovable, and he could not tell to what depth it extended.

Being very weary, he stopped work, and as he rested he reflected. His first impulse was to rush away and inform his companions of his incredible discovery. But after a while he thought he would keep it secret. If he could form some scheme to get control of all this