The chest was made of some alloy of steel and nickel, impervious to rust, and very hard. It resisted all gentle methods of attack, and it was finally found necessary to force the lock with a charge of powder. Within was found another case, which was pried open with the point of the general’s bowie-knife. It was filled to the brim with precious stones, most of them removed from their settings. But such of the gold-work as remained showed the jewels to be of ancient Aztecan origin. There was value enough in the box to buy and stock a dozen ranches as big as the general’s, and leave heirlooms enough to decorate a family larger than that of the most fruitful of the ancient patriarchs. “I call that quite a respectable dowry,” remarked Meschines. “Upon my soul, Miriam, if I had known what you had up your sleeve, I should have thought twice before allowing a ‘civil engineer’--do you remember?--to run off with you so easily.” At dawn, they prepared the body of old Kamaiakan for its interment. In doing this, the professor noted the peculiar appearance of the corpse. “The flesh is absolutely withered,” said he, “especially those parts which were uncovered. It must have been subjected to the action of some destructive vapor or gas, fatal not only to breathe, but to come in contact with. I have heard of poisonous emanations proceeding from the ground in these regions, but I never saw an instance of their effects before. That skull that you say you found, Harvey, was probably that of a victim of the same cause. But it is strange that Miriam, who must have remained some time in the very midst of it, should have escaped without a mark, or even any inconvenience.” “Kamaiakan ascribed it to the magic of the Golden Fleece,” said Freeman. “Well,” rejoined the other, “he may have been right; but, for my part, the only magic that I can find in it lies in the fact that it is made of pure wool, which undoubtedly possesses remarkable sanative properties; or maybe the fiery soul of Semitzin was powerful enough to repel all harmful influences. The poor old fellow himself, being clad in cotton, and with no soul but his own, was destroyed. Let us wrap him in his blanket, and bid him farewell--and with him, I hope, to all that is uncanny and abnormal in the lives of you young folks!” The last rites having been paid to the dead, the party mounted their horses and rode out of the gorge on to the long levels of the desert. “Who come yonder?” said Freeman. “A couple of Mexicans, I think,” said the general. “One of them is a woman,” said Meschines. “They look very weary,” remarked Freeman. Miriam fixed her eyes on the approaching pair for a moment, and then said, “They are Senor de Mendoza and Grace Parsloe.” And so, indeed, they were; and thus, in this lonely spot, all the dramatis personae of this history found themselves united.