Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/29

  crumbling quartz through which the river gnawed its way. There was gold in the country, gold in the stream; one could pan enough dust in a light day's work to pay highly for the labor. But we wanted more than dust—we wanted the pure metal which none doubted we should find on the virgin breast of the mountain, and our fancy saw us winding back to the sea with our native tribe deep-laden with the wealth of buccaneers winding out through defiles of mountain and forest, heavy with the plunder of the dread Malang-o-mor.

"Odd, Doctor; gold and dreams and sweat and death how they all mixed together to strike the average which maintains the trim of the world" Leyden's voice had sunk to muttering again, and he shivered, despite the humid warmth of the night.

"Daytimes we dwelt in Paradise and at night lay down to sleep, having first drunk of the stream, which we christened 'Lethe,' because on its banks we forgot the hardship and hunger of our long journey to the valley. [ 13 ]