He broke from them, and the next moment was swallowed up in the yawning
blackness. They waited with bated breath until, after a seeming
eternity of night and silence, they heard his returning footsteps, and
ran forward to meet him. As he was carrying something clasped to his
breast, they supported him to the opening. But at the same moment the
object of his search and his burden, a misshapen wedge of gold and
quartz, dropped with him, and both fell together with equal immobility
to the ground. He had still strength to turn his fading eyes to the
other millionaire of Rough-and-Ready, who leaned over him.
"You--see," he gasped, brokenly, "I was not--crazy!"
No. He was dead!
End of Project Gutenberg's A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready, by Bret Harte