I climbed up to the plateau, and soon found a dead branch, which I carried back bodily and handed it over to Bukári to strip of its bark, while I prised out a lump of quartz from the wall of the tunnel, and I then stood by to receive a lesson in the art of fire-making. “Give me thy knife,” said Bukári, and on my handing it to him he struck its back skilfully a few times on the quartz, receiving the sparks on the prepared mass of bark, and blowing gently; and in a few minutes the bark was smouldering and smoking quite briskly. There was no time to look for clay with which to coat the animals, so when the fire was fairly alight we fixed them over it, on long, pointed sticks, and sat by patiently while they frizzled in the smoke. To while away the interval--which was really a very trying one, for, when the hair had burnt off, the animals began to emit a most savoury aroma--I recounted to Bukári what I had seen when I looked down the opening into the chamber. He was violently excited, rather to my surprise, when I described the contents of the chest, and announced his intention of helping himself to some of the gold before finally leaving the mine. The smoke-blackened carcases were not very agreeable to look at, but they furnished exceedingly good eating, and Bukári and I lingered over our cannibal-like repast until the bones were picked as clean as if they had been destined for some anatomical museum. By this time the sun was getting low, so I made another journey to the plateau to gather wood for the night, and with what I had collected we made up a cheerful fire some distance down the tunnel, spreading a quantity of grass upon the floor that we might sleep in comfort. Naturally, we were very tired after all our labours and excitements, and the food had made us rather drowsy, but we sat on our beds talking over our plans for a long time before we lay down to sleep. We agreed on the necessity for getting away from the neighbourhood of the mine without delay--indeed, we were running no small risk by staying so long in the tunnel--but on one point Bukári was resolved; he would not leave the place until he had possessed himself of some of the gold. I could not help admiring his bold adventurous spirit, unbroken by the long years of suffering and servitude, but at the same time his obstinacy was highly inconvenient, for any attempt to remove the treasure would enormously increase the danger of our situation, which was already sufficiently perilous. “Why not leave the gold where it is?” I urged. “We know where to find it whenever we choose to come back.” “We know where it is now,” he replied, “but the wizards may take it elsewhere. Thou didst see thyself that they were uneasy and fearful about it. They may put it in some safer place.” I could not deny the truth of this; it was in fact highly probable that the priests would now look out for some more secure hiding-place for their treasure. “How much dost thou wish to take?” I asked.