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everything was all right and I could see everything after I hit the lights."

   "Lights? There were lights?" It was Bill asking.

   "Oh, yes," said White. "These old people had a natural gas they used for lighting and cooking. I found it by accident. I was bumping around in the dark. Everything was hard and cold and I kept thinking I was seeing people and I was pretty scared.  I stumbled over something on the floor and fell down. Before I could get up there was a little explosion and gas flames all around the room lighted up. What I fell over was the rock lever that turned on the gas, and my candle set the gas off!  Then was when I saw all the men, and the polished table, and the big statue. I thought I was dreaming. The statue was solid gold. Its face looked like the man sitting at the head of the table, only, of course, the statues face was much bigger than the man's, because the statue was all in perfect size only bigger. That statue was solid gold, and it is eighty-nine feet six inches tall!"

   "Did you measure it," asked Jack silkily, "or just guess at it?"

   "I measured it. Now you'll get an idea how big that one room -- that council room -- is. That statue only takes up a small part of it!"

   Steady and evenly, Jack asked, “Did you weigh the statue?"

   "No," said White. "You couldn’t weigh it."

   Bill was puzzled. "Would you mind telling me how you measured it?" asked Bill.

   "With a sextant," said White. "I always carry a sextant when I'm on the desert. Then if I get lost, I can use my sextant on the sun or moon or stars to find myself on the map. I took a sextant angle of the height of the statue and figured its height out later."

   "A sextant," said Bill, frowning heavily.