partners, for he knew not how far he could trust even his brothers.
When the evening sun was about two hours high, Ralph hid the small pieces of gold and his gads under the stones, and his pick, shovel, and sledge in the creek, and started for the vessel. That large lump of gold was all he wanted to carry over that rough path.
The next morning he took the ass with him, provided with a pack-saddle. He also took a box, a short saw, a thin, flat chisel, and a small crowbar. Arriving at the mine, he set to work with the saw to split one of the heads perpendicularly. He placed a cloth so as to catch the sawdust and save it. When he had cut down to the smallest part of the neck he cut one-half of the head loose with the chisel and sledge. Then he brought forth the box. He knew that if he filled a box with gold the extraordinary weight would betray the nature of the contents. So he had made a number of strong boxes about two feet long, one foot wide, and six inches deep, each with three compartments, the middle one about six inches wide. Into the middle compartment he placed the great mass of gold and blocked it around tightly with pieces of wood. Each of the three
