CHAPTER XX
IN THE GOLD VALLEY
The excited cries of the old miner brought Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker to the pilothouse on the run.
"Bless my refrigerator!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Are there more of those savage, shaggy creatures down there?"
"No, but we are over th' caves of ice," explained Abe. "That means we are near th' gold."
"You don't say so!" burst out the scientist. "The caves of ice! Now I can begin my real observations! I have a theory that the caves are on top of a strata of ice that is slowly moving down, and will eventually bury the whole of the North American continent. Let me once get down there, and I can prove what I say."
"I'd a good deal rather you wouldn't prove it, if it's going to be anything like it was on Earthquake Island, or out among the diamond makers," said Tom Swift. "But we will go down there,
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