HOW DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND
The three mutineers on board the schooner Coral had sailed away and
disappeared from view on the face of the vast Pacific, and the captain
and mate were left with little Inez alone upon a small, lonely member
of the Paumotu Group, in the distant South Seas.
Inez was too young to realize the gravity of the situation, and she
ran hither and thither, delighted with her new home, though she found
the cabin too warm inside to be comfortable, and she made frequent
draughts upon the spring of cool, clear water near which the former
residents of the atoll had built the cabin. Then, too, she had found
that there was considerable tropical fruit growing in the place, and
she made such havoc among it that Captain Bergen felt impelled to
caution her, if she should become sick on their hands, she would be
apt to fare ill, for they had little medicine at command.
While she was thus engaged, captain and mate were reclining on the
ground, in the shade of the palm-trees. They spoke only now and then,
but there was a peculiar expression on their faces as they watched the
schooner gradually disappearing in the distance, for it was a long
while in sight. The time came at last, however, when even their
straining vision could not detect the faintest resemblance to a sail
in the horizon, though it was still visible, as a matter of course,
through their glasses.
"I believe she is gone," said Storms, looking toward the captain.
"Yes; I see nothing of her."
"Then it's about time to shake."
The two brawny hands clasped, and the friends greeted each other with
remarkable cordiality; and, as they did so, they laughed heartily, and
the mate almost shouted:
"Captain, but it was a good trick!"
"So it was; and I give you the credit of inventing it. I never would
have thought of it."
"Shake again; and now to work."
The mate had deposited some of the oysters brought up on the bank, and
they were carefully opened. They were eight in number, and there was
not found a single pearl among them.
In all probability the entire lot which were carried away upon the
schooner were not worth as much as the same quantity of bivalves from
Chesapeake Bay. In short, this was not the pearl-oyster bed which had
brought the two friends the greater part of the way around the globe.
Suspecting--or, rather, knowing--the evil intentions of the mutineers,
Abe Storms proposed the ruse, by which the visit was made to the wrong
place. The mutineers themselves were outwitted, and, under the belief
that they were carrying away a cargo of fabulous wealth, they did not
wait to make an examination of the mollusks until they were well out
to sea.
When they should open and examine them they were not likely to suspect
the trick, but would think that the whole journey was a failure, and
the three left on the island were, in reality, worse off than
themselves.
And yet the true bed of oyster-pearls remained to be visited.
"It is possible they may suspect something and come back again," said
the mate, "but it is hardly probable."
"Are they likely to send any friends to take us off?" asked the
captain, with a quizzical look.
"Not to any great extent. They will be sure to give us as wide a
berth hereafter as possible. In the meantime, I propose that we
investigate."
The two rose to their feet, and, lugging the armor between them,
moved off toward a point whose location was as well known to them as
if they had spent years upon the atoll.
While they were thus walking, the mate, who was much the better-educated
man, said:
"This pearl-hunting is a curious business. Those specimens that I
brought up were the genuine species, and yet they have very few or no
pearls among them. It must be because the conditions are not favorable
for their creation or development, while, at the place we are about to
visit, the mollusks are the same, and yet there are conditions
existing there which cause an abnormal growth of the precious
jewels."
"Did you make a careful examination of those other oysters?"
"Yes. As I told you, they are genuine, but they have no pearls of any
account, the conditions being unfavorable for their formation. You
know the pearls grow within the oysters, being composed of slimy
secretions deposited around some foreign substance that enters them.
It may be that a peculiar action of the tide drives a grain of sand
into the mollusks, where we are to visit--though that is all
conjecture."
But Mate Storms, who was only fairly launched out in the discourse
upon pearls, was here interrupted by the captain exclaiming:
"This must be the spot."
The particular bank had been designated so clearly that there could be
no mistake, and had the chart, or map, fallen into the hands of the
mutineers, they would have discovered the trick played on them in an
instant. The spot was a peculiar one where the two friends stopped.
Instead of being partly landlocked like the other, it opened out
fairly upon the sea, and appeared to be entirely unprotected from the
force of the breakers, which boomed against the beach.
It would have been supposed naturally that the true course was for the
fishermen to go out in a small boat, and make their explorations from
that, but Grebbens had instructed the captain that the formation was
so peculiar that nothing would be gained by this course. The shore
sank like the side of a wall to a considerable depth, and the oysters
lay on the bottom, with some clusters clinging to the rocks, where
they could be torn off like sponges.
It can be understood that the work of removing these would be almost
impossible for any one excepting a professional diver, unless, as was
the case with our friends, he should have some artificial assistance.
But for the diving-armor, it is hardly possible that Abe Storms would
have made a serious attempt to secure anything, knowing the danger
from sharks, and the difficulty of retaining his breath for any
extended time below the surface of the water.
It was near the middle of the afternoon when this spot was reached.
The sea was calm, but there were signs in the sky ominous of a coming
storm, so that the two were anxious to make a beginning without any
unnecessary delay. Stooping almost upon their faces, when the swell
had receded enough to permit them, they peered down into the crystal
depths, and caught shadowy glimpses of the prizes. They saw the craggy
clusters, big and brown, clinging to the rocks, while others were
outlined on the floor of the bank.
"They're there, beyond a doubt," said Storms, "and it now remains to
see whether they are worth the gathering. Help me get on this suit."
Both worked deftly, and it was soon adjusted. The main thing was the
breathing apparatus, Storms having some fear that at such a depth the
pressure would be so great as to close the pipes, and thus shut out
the air. However, the only way to learn was by experiment, and he did
not wait. Carefully coiling his pipe, he took the rope in his hand and
began descending, the two having arranged the signals so that with
ordinary care no accident need result. Captain Bergen held one end of
the rope in his hand, ready to draw his friend to the surface the
instant he should receive notice that it was necessary.
"It is a long way to the bottom!" exclaimed the captain, standing like
the harpooner in a whale-boat, and saw the line steadily paying out.
"It won't do for him to go much further," was his conclusion,
noticing, with some alarm, that but little more of the hose was left
on the ground. "I wish those pearls had fixed themselves not
quite----Hello!"
He knew from the instant cessation of the weight on the rope, and the
motionless condition of the hose, that the bottom had been reached by
Abe Storms, and none too soon, either. Peering carefully into the
clear depths, Captain Bergen saw, too, that his mate was attending to
business.