These were nearly all “wild cat” mines, and wholly worthless, but nobody believed it then. The “Ophir,” the “Gould & Curry,” the “Mexican,” and other great mines on the Comstock lead in Virginia and Gold Hill were turning out huge piles of rich rock every day, and every man believed that his little wild cat claim was as good as any on the “main lead” and would infallibly be worth a thousand dollars a foot when he “got down where it came in solid.” Poor fellow, he was blessedl

But fortune was about to make a fool of Nero. For he credulously believed a lunatic Carthaginian named Caesellius Bassus.This man put faith in a dream, left for Rome, and bribed his way into the emperor's presence. Addressing Nero, he alledged the discovery on his estate of an immensely deep cave containing masses of gold, not in coin but in ancient, unworked bullion. There were ponderous ingots lying about and standing like columns, he said-all hidden centuries ago. His expl