"Professor, Professor, can you hear me?"
"Oh yes, of course I can," replied the professor's voice. "What is the
matter, my dear?"
"Tea is ready!" proclaimed Ida, shortly.
"Is that so?" answered the professor. "All right, little one; I should
like a cup of tea very much, for I am terribly thirsty. But I cannot
come just now, for I am very busy. So you take your tea yourself, and
enjoy it, eh?"
"What are you so dreadfully busy about, Professor?" demanded the child.
"I am busy at the making of my fortune," answered the professor. "You
can tell your papa that I believe I have found the heart of the ruby
mine; and, if so, there will be rubies enough for us all and to spare.
I will tell you more about it when I turn up for dinner."
The professor duly turned up, very hot and tired--not to say dirty--as
the first star made its appearance in the eastern sky; and the result of
his afternoon's labour was represented by some forty rubies of a size,
and fire, and richness of colour that threw those found by the rest of
the party entirely in the shade.
His story was very simple. He explained that the fact of rubies being
found upon the beach had led him to the conviction that they must
originally have come from the soil of the cliff-face; and he had
accordingly devoted himself to the task of examining the bare soil at
those spots where it had crumbled away. The result, he said, was that
he had ultimately come upon a place where, upon careful inspection, he
had found no fewer than three rubies just showing through the soil,
within a foot of each other. These he had, of course, straightway dug
out; and in the act of doing so had disclosed others, the ultimate
result being the unearthing of the superb stones that he had brought
back with him. His opinion, he explained, was that, judging from the
indications already seen, there would be found to be a very considerable
"pocket" of rubies at no great distance in from the cliff-face; and that
the best plan would be for the five men to work conjointly, with picks
and shovels, finally dividing the proceeds between the members of the
party. As for the ladies, if they chose to amuse themselves by
searching the beach, the professor was of opinion that they might meet
with sufficient success to render it fully worth their while.
On the following morning, accordingly, the _Flying Fish_ was moved close
up to the scene of the professor's discovery, and the men, suitably
attired and provided with picks, shovels, and bars, went to work upon
the top edge of the cliff, breaking down and shovelling away the soil as
directed by the professor; but up to lunch time their efforts had been
rewarded by the finding of but one ruby. This, however, von
Schalckenberg explained, was not to be wondered at, as it would probably
take them two or three days to get down to the spot at which he expected
to find the "pocket." This same "pocket," he further explained, might
possibly have been much more quickly reached, and with much less labour,
by digging into the face of the cliff, instead of downward. This,
however, he asserted, would have exposed them all to the very great risk
of an almost certain fall of earth; he had therefore deemed it wise to
adopt the safer method, even though it involved the expenditure of a
very considerably greater amount of labour.
The afternoon's work was rewarded by the discovery of two medium-sized
and two small stones of very fine fire and colour; and the second day's
labour resulted in a find of five fine and eight medium-sized stones.
Thus the toilers progressed, each day yielding them a better return for
their labour, until late in the afternoon of the fifth day they struck
the "pocket," so confidently looked for by the professor. Then the gems
were found in such abundance that it was scarcely possible to turn over
a shovel-full of soil without finding one or more; while it was by no
means uncommon to turn up as many as half a dozen at one stroke of the
shovel. This extraordinarily prolific yield lasted for no fewer than
four days, during which they accumulated such an enormous quantity of
gems--practically every one of which was of exceptional value--that at
length, although the mine was very far from being exhausted, even the
professor declared himself satisfied, while Colonel Sziszkinski found
himself suddenly relieved of a very heavy load of anxiety by the
acquisition of a sufficient number of valuable gems to yield him a very
handsome fortune if discreetly placed upon the market.
"That, I suspect, will be your difficulty, Professor; you will be so
anxious to realise that you will flood the market, and cause a big
depreciation in the value of rubies," remarked Lethbridge, rather
caustically, when after their last day at the mine they met again at the
dinner-table.
Von Schalckenberg laughed. "I will take my chance of that, my friend,"
he replied. "But have no fear; I will not flood the market, or lower
the value of rubies. There are plenty of people who are always ready to
buy fine stones--when they get the chance, which is not often; and I
have a friend in Amsterdam whose knowledge of the market is second to
none in the world. I shall put my rubies into his hands to sell, and he
will know how to dispose of them without flooding the market. You had
better let the same man have yours, Boris, my friend. What do you think
of doing with yours, Sir Reginald?"
"I?" returned Sir Reginald. "Oh, I shall pick out the finest, and have
them cut and set as a suite for Lady Elphinstone; and, as for the rest
of them--well, I don't quite know what I shall do with them. But,
anyhow, I promise you that I will not put them on the market early
enough to spoil the sale of your stones."
"Ah!" exclaimed the professor, appealing to the company at large; "see
what an advantage it is to be a rich man. What do you propose to do
with yours, Lethbridge?"
"Oh, I don't know," answered the ex-colonel; "follow Elphinstone's
example, I think, and have a suite made for this young woman," pinching
Ida's cheek, "against the time when she is old enough to get married;
and--perhaps sell the rest some time or other."
The professor glanced inquiringly at Mildmay.
"I think I, too, will have a suite made," observed the sailor; "it seems
rather a good idea. Pretty sure to come in handy, sooner or later."
And his eyes turned, as though unconsciously, in the direction of
Feodorovna Sziszkinski, to the confusion of that young lady, and the
covert amusement of Lady Olivia.