d there and
everywhere, until at last it was John's ball that slipped out of his
fingers and fell to the ground. They digged where it fell, and this time
it was a chest of gold money they found.

Yes, a chest of gold money! A chest of real gold money! They just stood
and stared and stared, for if they had not seen it they would not have
believed that such a thing could have been in the world. "Well, Jacob
Stuck," said John, "it was well to travel a bit farther than poor Joseph
did, was it not? What is a chest of silver money to such a treasure as
this? Come, brother, here is enough to make us both rich for all the
rest of our lives. We need look for nothing better than this."

But no; by-and-by Jacob Stuck began to cool down again, and now that
second thoughts were coming to him he would not even be satisfied with a
half-share of a chest of gold money. No; maybe there might be something
better than even a chest full of gold money to be found in the world.
As for John, why, after all, he was just as well satisfied to keep
his treasure for himself. So the two shook hands, and then Jacob Stuck
jogged away alone, leaving John stuffing his pockets and his hat full of
gold money, and I should have liked to have been there, to have had my
share.

Well, Jacob Stuck jogged on and on by himself, until after a while he
came to a great, wide desert, where there was not a blade or a stick to
be seen far or near. He jogged on and on, and he wished he had not
come there. He jogged on and on when all of a sudden the glass ball he
carried slipped out of his fingers and fell to the ground.

"Aha!" said he to himself, "now maybe I shall find some great treasure
compared to which even silver and gold are as nothing at all."

He digged down into the barren earth of the desert; and he digged and he
digged, but neither silver nor gold did he find. He digged and digged;
and by-and-by, at last, he did find something. And what was it? Why,
nothing but something that looked like a piece of blue glass not a
big bigger than my thumb. "Is that all?" said Jacob Stuck. "And have I
travelled all this weary way and into the blinding desert only for this?
Have I passed by silver and gold enough to make me rich for all my life,
only to find a little piece of blue glass?"

Jacob Stuck did not know what he had found. I shall tell you what it
was. It was a solid piece of good luck without flaw or blemish, and it
was almost the only piece I ever heard t