Sourdough Duke looked around for a sturdy twig, and then sat on the ground to watch the ray of light as it moved across the landscape. The others asked what he was up to, but he told them to just wait and watch. After several minutes the beam narrowed until it was barely visible, then it disappeared altogether. At that instant Sourdough reached out and marked a spot on the ground. He looked around for a more stable marker, and then placed a few good-sized rocks on the spot. From there he began walking west ... once more ... in the direction of Mare's Leap.As he walked he counted, and when he had stepped off seventy-nine paces, he stopped. His friends watched wide-eyed as he bent down and started brushing dirt away from something embedded in the ground. As he worked faster more of the object emerged, and they could see what was very clearly the hub of a wagon wheel. Sourdough told them that it was time to get their tools.
They hurried down the trail to where Marsh was still guarding Blackjack Boughton, Stampede Norman, and Runaway Lovelace. Marsh was amusing himself by taunting the outlaws, and Blackjack was furious. The notorious bandit's eyes darkened when Marsh's partners arrived, and he glared at Sourdough and Tracinda. Marsh noticed his friends' emotion as they quickly loosened the restraints that held the gang to the wagon. They moved the three cursing men to another location and bound them together back to back. Following Sourdough's lead, McAlister turned the wagon and headed up the trail to where it widened in an area several feet west of Mare's Leap.
They ran to the place where Sourdough had uncovered the wagon-wheel, and began digging around it. They finally loosened the wheel enough that they were able to move it out of the way, and then the men took turns swinging the heavy pick they were using to break up the dirt. Marsh had come up the hill to see what they were doing, and when Frenchie, Molly, and Tracinda rushed to tell him what they had found, he became as excited as they were. He grabbed a shovel, hurriedly joined Sourdough and McAlister, and began to scoop away the dirt and rocks as they dug.
Thirty minutes of fast-paced, back-breaking work had passed when at last the eager treasure-hunters heard the clunk of the shovel as it struck something wooden. The men dug faster, frantically trying to get the dirt out of the way. The top of a wooden box appeared, and the stunned group looked at each other. They hadn't really believed they would find anything, and now they were shaking so badly it was all they could do to try to lift it.
Their wobbly knees and trembling hands weren't the only problem. The box was very heavy, and there was no way the three men could remove it from the crater they had worked so hard to dig. The women suggested attaching a rope to the box, tying the rope to the horses, and pulling it out that way. The men approved the idea and unhitched the horses from the wagon.
McAlister and Sourdough held the rope in place as Marsh pulled on the reins of the horses. The animals strained and tugged, and their hooves slipped on the loose dirt and rocks, but at last the box came sliding out of the hole. The women squealed and ran to it! Marsh dropped the reins and joined them. Sourdough and McAlister moved toward the box and breathlessly knelt beside it. They all reached for the lid at the same time as Sourdough used a small rock-pick to knock the lock undone. They raised the lid slowly ... almost afraid of what they would find.
The rusty hinges creaked as the lid fell back, and the six treasure-hunters gasped. The late-afternoon rays from the sun shone down on the box, and the light reflecting from its contents played across their astonished faces. All they could do was stare in silent disbelief.
The gold nuggets had been carefully packed so that the box could hold as many as possible. There were nuggets of every shape and size. There was no way to estimate how much gold was there, but it was a lot. Maybe not as much as they had expected, and certainly not enough to make them all rich for the rest of their lives, but it was more than any of them had ever seen, and they were satisfied.
After a minute or two the tired crew began to regain their composure. They felt happy, yet strangely disappointed. Their adventure had been so chaotic and exciting, and now it was over. They all took a chunk of their marvelous find from the box, sat on the ground, and relaxed. They turned the lumps of gold in their hands, feeling every bump on the surface of the nuggets. Each stared at their prize and began to share with the others their plans for the future.
