“Well, the only thing to do is to start, I suppose,” said Jerry, wearily.
He advanced toward the airship, with a glance at the empty pocket where the gold had been.
“Stop!” suddenly exclaimed Professor Snodgrass, catching hold of Jerry’s sleeve. “I’m not so sure the gold has been taken away--at least by a human agency.”
“I say I’m not so sure the gold has been taken away.”
“Yes. But let me ask Mr. Brill a few questions,” went on the scientist. “I’d like to know,” he continued, “if this place is exactly as it was when you hid the gold?”
“Well, no, not exactly,” declared the prospector. “There have been quite some changes. Of course the big rock is just the same, but those around it seem to have been moved. And, now that I look at it again, I can see that the pocket isn’t in exactly the same location.”
“I thought so!” exclaimed the professor, in triumph. “And now can you see any traces of water having covered this place since you were here?”
Mr. Brill glanced curiously at the scientist, and then looked carefully around him.
“Water?” he repeated. “Why, yes, now that you mention it, I should say there had been a sort of washout or flood here.”
“Exactly!” cried Mr. Snodgrass. “And it’s the flood that took away the sixty nuggets--not the grub-stakers!”
“Yes,” went on Uriah Snodgrass. “The gold was washed out of the pocket by a rush of water. There have been heavy rains since Mr. Brill hid the nuggets. Or there may have been a cloud-burst, or even an underground river may have burst to the surface after the landslide. Whatever happened, the gold has been washed away, but the canvas sack caught under a rock and was held.”
“But where is the gold now?” demanded Ned, with hope in his voice.
“Scattered along the track taken by the flood,” answered the scientist. “Look, you can see which way it washed,” and, now that their attention was called to it, they could all see traces of the flood. There were riffles in the heavy sand, bits of driftwood, and marks on the stones that showed how high the water had risen. It had swept on down the valley.
“We’ll have to follow the track left by the flood,” exclaimed the professor, “and we may find the gold that way.”
“Good!” cried Ned. “Then everything isn’t lost yet.”