"But if you found some of the golden images you could buy another mule—two of 'em if you wanted that many," said Ned, and a moment later he remembered that Tom did not want the colored man to know anything about the trip after gold. He had been led to believe that it was merely a trip to locate an ancient city.
"Did yo' done say golden images?" asked Eradicate, his eyes big with wonder.
Ned glanced apologetically at Tom, and said, with a shrug of his shoulders:
"Well, I"
"Oh, we might as well tell him," interrupted the young inventor. "Yes, Rad, we expect to bring back some images of solid gold from the underground city. If you go along you might get some for your share. Of course there's nothing certain about it, but"
"How—how big am dem gold images, Massa Tom?" asked Eradicate eagerly.
"You've got him going now, Tom," whispered Ned.
"How big?" repeated Tom musingly. "Hum, well, there's one that is said to be bigger than three men, and there must be any number of smaller ones—say boy's size, and from that on down to the real little ones, according to Mr. Illingway."
