The road improved as they swung into the city. It was then that Mr. Brewster asked:

“Did Mr. Stannart tell you that there might be serious danger, now that other persons are after the mine?”

“Yes, he said you must be warned.”

“I suppose that is why he let you come,” mused Mr. Brewster. “Frankly, I feel he made a mistake, and I should send you straight home. However, if we keep far enough ahead of trouble, it may not catch up with us.”

Mr. Brewster ended with a reassuring smile.

“I’ll tell you the story from the start,” he said. “During World War Two, two prospectors, Lew Kirby and Joe Nara, gave up hunting gold and diamonds down in the state of Minas Geraes and came up the Amazon to help gather rubber. They put their profits into food and supplies and kept going north to look for a fabled land of gold—a land called El Dorado.”

“El Dorado! We learned about him in American History!” Biff exclaimed. “It sounded crazier than science fiction. Wasn’t El Dorado supposed to be a king who came out of a lake with his body all covered with gold?”

“Originally, yes,” returned Mr. Brewster. “Then the story became a legend of a golden city and finally a golden land. The Spaniards looked for it, and so did Sir Walter Raleigh.”

“But nobody ever found it!”

“Nobody except Lew Kirby and Joe Nara.”

Sure that his father was joking, Biff expected a chuckle to follow. But Mr. Brewster was very serious.

“They uncovered a fabulous Inca mine,” resumed Mr. Brewster. “It was too far and too difficult to bring the gold down the Amazon. So they worked their way to the Orinoco River, which brought them out through Venezuela.

“Kirby sent Nara back to the mine and then returned to Minas Geraes, hoping to find someone to help finance the claim. But people either didn’t believe his story, or they were the sort he wouldn’t trust. But he trusted me and I believed him—when he gave me these.”

Mr. Brewster brought out of his pocket some small samples of ore that fairly glistened with gold. Biff had learned enough regarding mining and minerals from his dad to recognize the value of these specimens. In an awed tone Biff asked:

“Is there much of this in 

 Prev. P 9/104 next