Running down the sides of the pit were a number of dark-brown streaks,
about a yard wide; Van Emmon could make them out, more or less clearly,
on the other side of the pit as well. From the irregular way in which
the walls were formed, he quickly decided that the pit was a natural
one. The streaks, he thought, might have been due to lava flow.

His agent proceeded to drive straight over the rim and down the slope
into the pit. His engine was quite stopped; like Smith, the geologist
wondered just how the craft's wheels were operated. Next he was holding
his breath as the machine reached so steep a point in the slope that,
most surely, no brakes could hold it. Simultaneously he heard the hiss
and whine which seemed to indicate the suction device.

"It was a whole lot like going down into a placer mine," the geologist
afterward said; and in view of what next met his eyes, he was justified
in his guess.

Down crept the machine until it was "standing on its nose." The sun was
shining almost straight down into the slope, and Van Emmon forgot his
uneasiness about the craft in his interest in what he saw.

The bottom of the pit was perhaps twenty feet in diameter, and roughly
hemispherical. Standing up from its bottom were half a dozen slim
formations, like idealized stalagmites; they were made of some
semitransparent rock, apparently, the tint being a reddish yellow.
Finally, perched on the top of each of these was a stone; and
surrounding these six "landmarks," as Van Emmon called them, was the
most prodigious display of wealth imaginable.