ne it was, the stones being nearly twice as many as
those gathered by the baronet, though many of them were much smaller.

"Is that all?" asked Sir Reginald.

"_All_?" echoed Lethbridge; "why, my dear sir, what would you have? If,
after we have quite exhausted the ground here, my share amounts to such
a handsome collection as this, I can assure you I shall be exceedingly
well satisfied. You have made a most excellent haul too, but I think
mine is the more valuable of the two."

"Perhaps," said the baronet, "_this_ will go some way toward equalising
our finds." And as he spoke he quietly slipped his hand into his pocket
and smilingly produced a stone fully as large as a hen's egg.

The colonel took it into his hands and critically examined it for
several minutes. It was most unmistakably a diamond, and that, too, of
the very finest water, without the faintest trace of a flaw of any kind.
He remained silent so long that Sir Reginald grew impatient and finally
blurted out:

"Well, man, what is it? Is it a diamond, or is it merely a worthless
piece of crystal? Why don't you speak?"

"Simply," said the colonel as he took a final look at it against the
light and then handed it back, "because I am at a loss for words to
express my admiration. It _is_ a diamond, and, so far as I know, the
finest that has ever yet been brought to light. Its value must be
simply fabulous, and I heartily congratulate you on its discovery.
Where did you find it? Was it deep in the gravel?"

"Come with me and I'll show you," was the reply; and, leading the
colonel back to the spot, Sir Reginald quietly pointed to a hole about
eighteen inches deep which he had excavated, and wherein lay, side by
side, seven other gems equally as fine as the one he had produced.

"Help yourself, my dear fellow," he said with a laugh, "and then let us
be moving; we have our dinner to find yet, you know."

Lethbridge fairly gasped for breath as his eyes first fell upon the
magnificent jewels; but he lost no time in transferring them to his
pocket, and then he turned to the baronet and asked what would be the
best thing for them to do next.

"Let us simply continue our journey," answered the baronet. "Of course
if these stones which we have found are really diamonds, which I do not
doubt, since you assure me that they are, I am as fully alive as
yourself to the fact that a mine of incalculable wealth lies here at our
feet. But it will not run away w