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   White, his eyes blazing, his body trembling, filled the little house with a vibrant voice on the edge of hysteria. "Gold!" he cried. “Gold spears! Gold shields! Gold statues! Jewelry! Thick gold bands on their arms! I found them! I fell into the underground city. There was an enormous room; big as this canyon. A hundred men were in it. Some were sitting around a polished table that was inlaid with gold and precious stones. Men stood around the walls of the room carrying shields and spears of solid gold. All the men - more than a hundred men - had on leather aprons, the finest kind of leather, soft and full of gold ornaments and jewels. They sat there and stood their with all that wealth around them. They are still there. They are all dead! And the gold, all that gold, and all those gems and jewels are all around them. All that gold, and jewelry! Billions!"  White's voice was ascending to a shriek when Thomason put a hand on his arm and White fell silent, his eyes darting about to the faces of those who sat around the table.

   Thomason explained quietly, "These ancient people must have been having a meeting of their rulers in the council chamber when they were all killed very suddenly.  We haven't examined them very closely because it was the treasure that interested us, but the people all seem to be perfect mummies."

   Bill squinted at White and asked, "Ain’t it dark in this tunnel?"

   “Black dark," said White, who had his voice under control again. His outburst had quieted him. "When I first went into that council room I had just some candles.

   “I fumbled around. I didn't discover everything all at once like I've been telling you. I fell around over these men, and I was pretty near almost scared out of my head. But I got over that and