Nothing unusual was observed until he had very nearly reached the scene of his affray with the Blackfeet, and here something _was_ seen. Teddy’s heart gave a great bound, and his eyes sparkled, as he saw that he was really in a golden cave. It was all around him, beneath his feet, over his head, and on every hand. It was like a gorgeous dream indeed; so like his night vision that he kept moving about to make sure that it was not a repetition. But no; he could see the yellow dust shining everywhere--that bright, glittering yellow, the dearest color in existence to half the world, and which will set nine-tenths of mankind crazy by the mere sight of it. At first glance it seemed to Teddy that the gold existed only in the shape of dust or sand, deposited plentifully around him; but an examination revealed altogether a different and curious form of deposit. Reaching up his hand, to scoop down some of the auriferous particles, he grasped instead a loose stone that was loaded with gold; the same thing was repeated until he made the discovery that it existed alone in that form. It was as if a rock, nine-tenths of which was pure gold, had been blown to fragments in the center of the cave, the pieces burying themselves on every hand. There was gold everywhere, and in abundance. There were thousands of dollars, and the trappers had but to secure it to secure to themselves comfort and opulence for the rest of their days. Teddy stood for several minutes in silence, and then he heaved a great sigh. “Whin I was at home in ould Ireland, I had two pockets big enough to thrust in three or four of the goats that war always wandering about our farm. Ah! if I only had them pockets now!” And he ruefully ran his hands as far down in his trowsers as they would go, and found they would not quite reach his knees. “That’s all, and that ain’t half ’nough.” But he did the best thing possible under the circumstances. He began gathering the precious nuggets, and continued the work until his capacious pockets would hold no more, and there was imminent risk of their bursting with their overload. Then he filled his hands and began laboring toward the entrance. It proved a labor indeed, for the specific gravity of this precious metal is very great, and it was all he could do to reach the entrance with his freight. Here, as may be supposed, the trapper was anxiously awaiting him. The load was distributed between them, and they set out on their return. “Headquarters” were reached without any thing unusual occurring and there they awaited the coming of Black Tom. CHAPTER XI. AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE. There was an interested and anxious group gathered around the trappers’ camp-fire, on the evening succeeding the adventures we have narrated.