THE VALLEY OF THE DIAMOND.
We rode due eastward by a narrow path that traversed mountains of
rock, covered by wild laurels, rosewood trees, and vines. Far away
on our left, wearing the deepest indigo tint, spread the ocean, the
horizon line of which was distinctly seen against a sky of coppery
red that appeared beneath the bank of squally clouds, which were fast
dispersing now, or whirling upward into mid air and melting away.
In a valley on our left some lights were seen to glitter as if from
the windows of houses.
"That is Montanza de Centejo, no doubt," said Hislop.
In a few minutes more we saw the three rosewood trees, and then the
wayside well beneath the shadow of their branches. It was a simple
and rude arch of stone, from a wooden duct in which the water flowed
into a stone basin.
"Here is the fountain," said I; "and now our path to the right--"
"Lies through a gap in these rocks."
"An ugly place!"
"Is your rifle loaded, Dick?"
"Yes,--and capped too," said I.
Passing through a gorge in the piles of rock that rose on our right,
we found ourselves in a large and rugged ravine, through which, under
masses of creepers, there brawled a rough black mountain torrent, and
by its side there wound a narrow path.
This ravine had been formed by that convulsion of nature which took
place during the visit of Alphonso de Albuquerque and Tristan de
Cunha, when the famous diamond was said to have first become visible.
The stupendous cone of the great Piton rose before us at the end of
the ravine. In some places the latter was dark as blackest night
could be, while the former, for some thousand feet of its height,
below even the region of laurels, was bathed in a pure white flood of
silver sheen, for a splendid moon had now arisen from the sea.
After proceeding with our horses at a walk for about a mile, looking
carefully for the next landmark mentioned by the hostalero, Hislop
drew up and dismounted, saying,--
"Here it is, Dick."
I also dismounted, and found near the pathway a stone which had
evidently once stood upright, but now it lay flat among the long
grass and wild flowers that grew there.
Notwithstanding the gloom which yet enveloped us I could make out an
inscription, partly by feeling with my fingers. It was deeply cut,
and ran thus:
"_Aqvi mataron a Juan Hererro_. 1850."
"Here they slew John Smith," said Hislop, echoing, or rather, freely
translating the legend.
"They,--who were _they_?"
"Some robbers, no doubt; perhaps, like us, he came in search of the
great diamond."
"Then is he buried here, think you?" asked I, instinctively stepping
back from the stone.
"I cannot say. It is lively this, and not a bit of moonshine here
yet!"
Eagerly and anxiously we gazed about us, but saw not a ray of light
in the dark valley or ravine; and though neither of us said so at the
time, we were not without vague suspicions of having been fooled, or,
it might be, lured into some awkward trap; for our ideas of the
Spanish character had by no means improved upon acquaintance.
"Do you see the diamond yet, Dick?" asked my friend for the third
time.
"Not I. Are you sure that we are on the spot from which it is
visible."
"_Here_, by this flat stone, we were to stand. Try a little more to
your right."
"I see nothing yet."
There was a pause, during which we walked about, peering into the
obscurity.
"Stay,--I see something!" I exclaimed, in an excited tone. "Come
this way--a yard or so--it _shines now_!" I added, when, after
stepping a pace or two to the left, a faint gleam, like the first ray
of a small and very distant revolving beacon--a tiny one
indeed--stole upon the gloom; and then a steady sparkle, like that of
a star, shone through the pitchy blackness that enveloped the whole
length and breadth of the hollow.
The hostalero of Orotava had not deceived us, for the diamond was now
before us, shining visibly.
Like a star, it seemed to shrink and tremble while we gazed at it,
which Hislop did, long and steadily.
"Well, Dick Rodney," said he, "you have first seen the diamond, and
shall have the largest share, if we get it."
I laughed at this, and asked,--
"How does it shine thus in the dark?"
"Because the diamond is a gem possessing a greater refractive power
than any other precious stone, and reflects every atom of light which
falls upon it at an angle of incidence greater than twenty-four and a
half degrees, even before being cut. I remember that Benvenuto
Cellini, in his _History of Jewelry_, mentions a magnificently
colored carbuncle, which was found in a vineyard near Rome simply by
its shining in the night. Stand steadily where you are, Dick, and
don't lose sight of it, while I advance up the ravine."
He did so thrice, and each time found that on proceeding about twenty
yards, it faded away altogether.
"It is very probably a mere rock crystal," said I.
"No rock crystal ever shone with a brilliance like that!" replied
Hislop, vehemently; "but whether it is a diamond of the purest water
or a will-o'-the-wisp--a spunkie, as we call it in Scotland--I'll
give it a touch with a short Enfield, point-blank."
Hislop's rifle was already capped and loaded, but with his knife he
shaped an oblong bullet of the hard white chalk which he had procured
at Orotava, and carefully rammed it down the barrel.
Having some matches about him, he touched the knob of the foresight
and the _notch_ of the back-sight with phosphorus, and thus bringing
the two lights in a line with the diamond, he took a long and steady
aim from his left knee, and _fired_!
The dark valley and the steep mountains rang with a thousand
reverberations, as they seemed to toss the sharp report from echoing
rock to rock, until it died away in mid-air; but still the diamond
shone as brightly as ever, and our horses plunged so wildly that they
nearly broke away from us.
"If my aim is true, and the chalk bullet has struck the rock, it will
indicate the bearings of the diamond, and we may unship it somehow in
the morning," said the practical Scotchman, as he quietly reloaded.
"Morning? Must we wait here till then?"
"Well, Dick, it is worth waiting for; and after all we have gone
through since that day when we picked you up adrift in the chops of
the Channel, we may sleep here pleasantly enough in one of the
thickets."
After lingering a little time and observing the strange sparkle, the
actual origin of which we could scarcely realize, we found a thick
grove of laurels; and securing our horses to two branches by the
bridles, we unstrapped from each the large coarse horse-cloth, which
is frequently folded and placed under the saddle by riders in Spain
and its colonies, and in these rugs we wrapped ourselves for warmth
and protection from the dew and mosquitoes.
There we lay, each with a loaded rifle by his side, and his horse
picketed near. Sailor-like, Hislop went off to sleep at once, as
sound as a timber-head; but for hours I found it impossible to follow
so pleasant an example, and lay watching the light of the moon,
which, as she rose higher in the sky, descended the vast side of the
Peak of Teneriffe, and at last filled the volcanic ravine with a
flood of liquid silver.
The loveliness of the night, the solemnity of the scenery, the lonely
position in which I found myself, and the strange errand on which we
had come, all conduced to fill me with contemplation and many
thoughts that banished slumber.
In all the vast expanse of heaven, into which that wondrous peak
ascended to the height of more than twelve thousand feet, no cloud
was visible; but there were millions upon millions of stars,
rivalling and almost eclipsing the splendor of the moon.
The silver light was poured aslant into the valley through every rent
and fissure in the crags, causing masses of shadow between them;
while the wild vines and the cocoa-nut trees were covered with
prismatic gems as the dew gathered on their pendant leaves and fruit.
So splendid was the moonshine, and so mild was the atmosphere, that
the wild canaries, like golden birds in some fairy valley, were
twittering about us as if day had broken.
At last I grew weary and slept.
With the first peep of day Hislop roused me. It was well to be up
and doing before others, who might observe us, came out of the
ravine, though it had all the aspect of a lonely and unfrequented
place. About two miles of the mountain peak were gilded by the yet
(to us) unrisen sun; but in the valley there was only twilight when
we folded our rugs, saddled our horses, and proceeding to the stone
which bore the name of Juan Hererro, went from thence in a straight
line toward the rocky cliff, which closed in the end of the hollow,
at the distance of somewhat more than fifty paces.
We reached a sloping bluff of rugged basalt, faced by strange
lava-like columnar masses that might easily be dislodged by a
crowbar, and all were spotted by luxuriant lichens, which in the wet
season would ripen into velvety moss, while long green trailers,
covered with gorgeous wild-flowers grew in every cleft and chasm.
This rocky bluff was about sixty feet in height, and, by the
increasing light, Hislop scanned it with a keen nautical eye, that
had been accustomed to detect sight and signs in every state of the
atmosphere and elements.
In a minute or less an exclamation of satisfaction escaped him, and
pointing upward,--
"Dick,", he added, "do you see _that_?"
I looked in the direction indicated, and saw a small white star
formed by the chalk bullet upon the face of the rock.
"I do," said I; "I do!"
"There or thereabout must be this diamond, which is never visible by
day."
"But we have neither hammer, chisel, nor crowbar," said I; "and our
fingers, I fear, won't avail us much."
Hislop threw the bridle of his horse over a laurel-bush; I did the
same; and in a few minutes we had climbed to the spot indicated by
the chalk mark; and there also we found the conical bullet of his
Enfield rifle, flattened out like a florin, and adhering to the face
of the rock.
For nearly twenty minutes we examined all the locality of these
marks, and at last I discovered something that appeared to be a dull
gray piece of rock crystal, half sunk and half projecting from the
face of the basalt, and led Hislop to it.
Uttering an exclamation of joy, he declared that, beyond a doubt, _it
was the diamond_!
We were almost breathless at this sudden discovery, and looked about
us on every hand, like the perpetrators of a robbery, lest we might
be observed; but, except our horses cropping the grass, and the
golden canary birds that sang on every twig and tree, there appeared
no living thing on the mountain above or in the ravine beneath us.
But how were we to extract our treasure, if a treasure indeed it was?
Vainly we used our knives, till the blades bent and broke; vainly we
punched it with the butts and ramrods of our rifles. It remained
solid, hard, fast, and immovable.
Hislop's aim had been a true one, under the circumstances, for the
crystal was situated just three inches from his shot-mark.
At last he, being fertile in resources, on finding a sloping rent in
the rock, about eight inches above the object of our solicitude
bethought him of blowing it out by gunpowder.
All our cartridges, about thirty in number, were at once opened, and
their contents rammed hard or pounded in, with a piece of stick and a
stone in lieu of a mallet. The rent was small, and seemed about a
foot deep. This impromptu mining was a laborious affair, for it
required to be carefully done, and occupied more than two hours, as
we had to plug up the aperture tightly, leaving only a very small
touchhole.
When all was complete, some cigar fusees and wetted powder were
prepared together as a slow-match; they were inserted and a light
applied.
"Sheer off, Dick,--give it a wide berth!" cried Hislop.
The fusee smoked as it consumed, but slowly, and breathlessly we
looked on, at ten yards' distance.
It seemed to die out, for the smoking ceased, and the last puff,
after curling among the green trailers passed away.
Hislop was about to ascend and to examine the powder, when there was
a loud and sharp explosion; a little cloud of dust rose, and
disengaged from the cliff some fragments of rock, six in number,
about the size of half bricks, fell on the bank below.
Uttering a shout, we rushed down, and in a moment Hislop found the
diamond adhering to a piece of stone larger than itself!
Some time elapsed before we could fully realize our good fortune or
believe in the wealth we had so suddenly acquired.
It seemed like a mere lump of rock crystal, but larger than a
goose-egg, and not unlike the Koh-i-Noor--the fabled Light of the
World--that mysterious palladium of the destinies of India, before it
was cut, polished, and in some degree mutilated, that it might figure
in the Exhibition of 1851--as ours may do, perhaps, in that of 1871.
Time will show.
If a pure diamond, this stone was worth nearly seventy thousand
pounds!
"Let us keep our own counsel, Dick, about this, till we find
ourselves in London," said Hislop, as he consigned it to his
breast-pocket, together with the piece of stone which adhered to it;
"and now we must make a good offing while all is quiet here."
In a minute more, and just as a group of horsemen--farmers and
sugar-millers--entered the valley, we had mounted, and were galloping
toward Santa Cruz as fast as our horses' heels could carry us.*
* By a note from Hislop, he informs me that the idea of marking with
a chalk bullet the locality of the diamond was given him by an old
Scottish legend which he heard, of a precious stone, of great size,
that shone, but by night only, amid the rocks on the beautiful hill
of Kinnoul. There it had long tantalized the citizens of Perth, till
an ingenious fellow fired a ball of camstone at it, and by thus
marking the place picked the gem out at his leisure.