Shirley looked about him with great interest.  He had left the place before the great stone face had been revealed by the burning of the vines, and he would have been glad to stop for a minute and examine it.  But although Captain Horn had convinced himself that he was in no hurry, he could not allow delay.  Lighting a lantern, they went through the passageway and entered the great cave of the lake, leaving Maka rummaging around with eager delight through the rocky apartments where he had once been a member of a domestic household.

When they reached the mound, the captain handed his lantern to Shirley, telling him to hold it high, and quickly clambered to the top.

“Good!” he exclaimed.  “The lid is just as I left it.  Come up!”

In a moment Shirley was at his side, and the captain with his pocket-knife began to pick out the oakum which he had packed around the edges of the lid, for otherwise it would have been impossible for him to move it.  Then he stood up and raised the lid, putting it to one side.

“Give me the lantern!” he shouted, and, stooping, lie lowered it and looked in.  The gold in the mound was exactly as he had left it.

“Hurrah!” he cried.  “Now you take a look!” And he handed the lantern to his companion.

Shirley crawled a little nearer the opening and looked into it, then lowered the lantern and put his head down so that it almost disappeared.  He remained in this position for nearly a minute, and the captain gazed at him with a beaming face.  His whole system, relieved from the straining bonds of doubt and fear and hope, was basking in a flood of ecstatic content.

Suddenly Shirley began to swear.  He was not a profane man, and seldom swore, but now the oaths rolled from him in a manner that startled the captain.

“Get up,” said he.  “Haven’t you seen enough?”

Shirley raised his head, but still kept his eyes on the treasure beneath him, and swore worse than before.  The captain was shocked.

“What is the matter with you?” said he.  “Give me the lantern.  I don’t see anything to swear at.”

Shirley did not hand him the lantern, but the captain took it from him, and then he saw that the man was very pale.

“Look out!” he cried.  “You’ll slip down and break your bones.”

In fact, Shirley’s strength seemed to have forsaken him, and he was on the point of either slipping down the side of the mound or tumbling into the open cavity.  The captain put down the lantern and moved quickly to his side, and, with some difficulty, managed to get him safely to the ground.  He seated him with his back against the mound, and then, while he was unscrewing the top of a whiskey flask, Shirley began to swear again in a most violent and rapid way.

“He has gone mad,” thought the captain.  “The sight of all that gold has crazed him.”

“Stop that,” he said to the other, “and take a drink.”