"I'm afraid to fix the beds in those finger caves, Anne," whimpered Barbara, coming over to where the young woman was weaving the beds of spruce.  
"What is there to be afraid of? The burros and horses won't hurt you, and they are too weary with this day's troubles to bother about kicking or trampling¹ you. However, you can do this, if you like, and I will make up the beds for the beasts."
 
The spruce beds were being made—Anne showing Barbara how to lay the tips in rows as wide as the bed was to be, then folding under the sticks of the second row to run under the tips of the first row, and so on, until the length of the bed was made.
 
This work finished, and the bedding for the horses arranged in the "fingers" as Polly had directed, the two girls stood near the entrance of the cave, wondering what possibly could have happened to keep Polly and Eleanor so long.
 
"I just felt in my bones that it was an awful risk to go into the black hole of the unknown!" cried Barbara.
 
"It isn't that that bothers me at all, Bob. But Polly has no sense of fear, and I think they may have found an exit at the other end, so Polly is coming around that way. It is a hazardous² thing to do, in this storm!" said Anne.
 
"Anne, can't you try to squeeze in there and see what has happened?" asked Barbara.
 
Anne looked at her without saying a word, so Barbara thought she hesitated on account of leaving her alone in the cave.
 
"I won't mind staying alone for a little time. I'll watch the fires and see that the horses do not get away!" said Barbara.
 
"Really!" was all Anne said, as she turned to place another pine knot on the fire.
 
But the tone silenced Barbara, who had food for thought thereafter.
 
Meanwhile Polly and Eleanor had crawled into the aperture³, and by dint⁴ of squirming and twisting through the passage, found that only the section nearest the cave was of soft debris⁵. It gradually widened as they advanced and Polly distinctly felt a current of cold air blowing in her face.
 
After creeping along for some distance without finding an outlet⁶,
Eleanor pulled on Polly's foot to attract her attention.
"Let's go back, Poll. No use hunting down in the bowels⁷ of Grizzly⁸
Slide."
"Nolla, the smoke of the torch blows harder than at first, and there is enough air to waft⁹ it backwards¹⁰, so there will be an opening at the end, I am sure. That is what I must know for certain."
 
"All right, lead on! I'll be with you at the death!"
 
Polly chuckled¹¹ at Eleanor's loyalty¹² and crept on.
 
Finally Eleanor rugged¹³ again at her feet and shouted: "Hey, Polly!
Aren't we most through to China? Let me know the moment you get the
first peep at a pig-tail, as I have to brush the cobwebs from my
Chinese!"
Polly laughed at the girl who made merry of a journey that would have staggered an older person. Finally, however, the tunnel widened so that both girls could advance comfortably and then, suddenly, the flame of the torch and the smoke ceased to blow into their faces, for they had come out into an open space.
 
"We're here!" laughed Polly, trying to stand up and giving her head a smart rap against the overhanging rock.
 
"'We're here!' For goodness' sake, tell me where?" cried Eleanor, thrusting her torch ahead so that it was almost snuffed out against Polly's shoes.
 
"Gracious me, Nolla! Don't burn my soles!" cried Polly, managing to stand upright and hold aloft her torch.
 
"Ha, that's good! Don't burn your soul!" teased Eleanor.
 
But the moment the girls saw where they were, not another word was uttered, for they found themselves in a vault¹⁴-like cave somewhat smaller than the entrance cave, but having no "fingers" or outside opening. The dome¹⁵ and sides were rocky, but everywhere, embedded¹⁶ in the rock, myriad¹⁷ points of light reflected as the flare¹⁸ of the torch lit up the place uncertainly.
 
Eleanor thrust up her torch also, and both girls pivoted¹⁹ around, forgetting about wild beasts and the errand they came upon. After blinking at the bright yellow gleams for a time, Polly turned and stared at Eleanor.
 
"What is it?"
 
"I'm sure I don't know, Nolla. It looks like copper²⁰."
 
"Polly! If it's copper, then we're rich!"
 
Both girls rushed over to examine the metallic²¹ gleams at close range, and Polly frowned as a thought entered her mind. Eleanor turned and looked about to be sure no one could hear, and then whispered:
 
"Polly, it looks like gold! Can it be real GOLD!"
 
The girls stared at each other and then burst out into a simultaneous laugh. But it was excitement, not mirth, that occasioned it. Before the wild echoes had rung through the vault, the hysterical²² girls were tearing at the hard walls, trying in vain to dislodge a nugget.
 
"Oh, why did I leave that ax in the pannier!" wailed²³ Polly.
 
"Isn't it always that way—when you need a thing!" exclaimed Eleanor.
 
In her haste to reach a fragment that looked easy to break off, Polly dropped the torch. She stooped to pick it up again and saw a nugget of the ore on the ground, half-covered with dirt.
 
"I've got a piece! Oh, Nolla, look! LOOK!" shouted Polly, holding aloft her treasure.
 
Eleanor ran over and both girls examined the chunk²⁴ of yellow streaked²⁵ and studded rock.
 
"Polly, it really looks like gold," ventured Eleanor, awed²⁶.
 
"And it's red-gold, too, like Old Man Montresor's nuggets," added Polly.
 
At the mention of the gold-seeker, both girls looked at each other and the same thought flashed to both of them at once.
 
"Maybe it is!" breathed Polly.
 
"Oh, Poll, hold the torch down near the ground so I can find a chunk, won't you?" beseeched Eleanor, now anxious to find a nugget for herself.
 
"There, Nolla—see over by the hole! A little piece for you."
 
Eleanor ran over and found it to be smaller than the one Polly found, but there was more metal in the nugget. They examined it closely and decided²⁷ that the shining metal must be gold.
 
"I'm so excited that I feel as if wheels were turning all inside of me—do you?" laughed Eleanor, hugging her nugget to her heart.
 
"It's sort of a dizzy and squeamish feeling, isn't it?" explained Polly, looking at her companion. Then for the first time since they emerged from the tunnel, she noticed the face.
 
"Oh, Nolla! If you could but see yourself! Just like a negro, but streaky where you smudged the torch smoke from your eyes."
 
"You're no 'bleached²⁸ blonde' either, Poll!" laughed Eleanor, rubbing her sleeve across her face and looking at the soot²⁹ in amusement.
 
"But mine can't be as black as yours, 'cause you got all the smoke from both torches."
 
"Never mind now; if this is gold we can afford to have the tunnel and cave wired with electricity at once," laughed the excited girl.
 
"Well, let's finish our hunt in the tunnel and then find some more nuggets for Anne and Barbara. They'll want a share, you know," suggested Polly.
 
"Good gracious, Poll! You're not going on now, are you?"
 
"Of course! The gold won't melt away, but we've got to close up any opening into outdoors, you know."
 
"Let's go back and tell the girls and then finish the tunnel work," pleaded Eleanor.
 
"How silly to worm a way back for the sake of showing off the ore. No, let's do this thing up and th............