This time no mistake had been made. It was a fact that the metal, in
virgin purity, had been discovered scattered in various places on the
ledges of the Grand Teton. In a little while thousands had obtained
specimens with their own hands. The quantity was distressingly small,
considering the number and the eagerness of the seekers, but that it
was genuine artemisium not even Dr. Syx could have denied. He,
however, made no attempt to deny it.
"Yes," he said, when questioned, "I find that I have been deceived. At
first I thought the metal existed only in the form of the green ore,
but of late I have come upon veins of pure artemisium in my mine. I am
glad for your sakes, but sorry for my own. Still, it may turn out that
there is no great amount of free artemisium after all."
While the doctor talked in this manner close observers detected a
lurking sneer which his acquaintances had not noticed since artemisium
was first adopted as the money basis of the world.
The crowd that swarmed upon the mountain quickly exhausted all of the
visible supply of the metal. Sometimes they found it in a thin stratum
at the bottom of crevices, where it could be detached in opalescent
plates and leaves of the thickness of paper.
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