Page:Frank Stockton--Adventures of Captain Horn.djvu/224

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HORN from, I might have cause for anxiety. But as the bars bear no sort of mark to indicate that they were cast by ancient Peruvians, and, so far as I can remember,—and I have visited several museums in South America,—these castings are not like any others that have come down to us from the times of the Incas, the gold must have been cast in this simple form merely for convenience in transportation and packing. Some people may think it is California gold, some may think it comes from South America, but, whatever they think, they know it is pure gold, and they have no right to doubt that it belongs to me. Of course, if I were a stranger it might be different, but wherever I have dealt I am known, or I send a good reference. And now I will come to the point of this letter.

Three days ago I was in my office, waiting to see a man to whom I hoped to sell my stock of guano, when a man came in, but not the one I expected to see, and if a ghost had appeared before me, I could not have been more surprised. I do not know whether or not you remember the two American sailors who were the first to go out prospecting, after Mr. Rynders and his men left us, and who did not return. This man was one of them—Edward Shirley by name.

"I remember him perfectly!" cried Ralph. "And the other fellow was George Burke. On board the Castor I used to talk to them more than to any of the other sailors."

" 'But astonished as I was, Edna went on to read, Shirley did not seem at all surprised, but came forward and shook hands most heartily. He said he had read in a newspaper that I had been rescued, and was doing business in Acapulco, and he had come down on purpose to find me. I told him how we had given up him and 210