"The dollars for me," murmured Holman. "I don't think the old world
cares three cents about anything that happened a thousand years ago in
this patch."

The Professor adjusted his glasses and turned them upon the doubter for
the space of three minutes, but Holman was blissfully ignorant of the
look which the angry archaeologist favoured him with. The youngster was
watching the firelight upon the face of Miss Barbara Herndon, and his
thoughts were probably in a dream-fed future instead of a dismal past.

Leith sat silent and gloomy, his head pillowed against the trunk of a
maupei tree, his face in the shadow of his hat, which he had pulled
down over his forehead. The supper had been eaten with little
conversation, the Professor being the only one who showed conversational
powers of any note. With the notebook already partly filled he felt
certain of a niche in the Pantheon of Fame, and he could not resist a
desire to prattle childishly about the sensation which his discoveries
would cause. It's a terrible thing for a man to get the applause craving
in its worst form. It is liable to make him do things which no craving
for treasure would allow him to do, no matter how badly he desired the
tempting gold.

The girls retired early, and soon afterward Leith wrapped himself up in
a blanket and lay down at the foot of the tree. The Professor at last
became tired of firing questions at the wonderfully well-informed Soma,
and the Kanaka, finding that the market for legends was not as good as
it was in the early part of the night, retreated to the other fire,
where Kaipi and the fire carriers were slumbering.