ith his two eyes shining like lights from his
grimy face. The mussel-gatherer recognized instantly the farmer's son.

"What is it, John?" he asked.

"I was goin' over some shells father hadn' opened, after he'd found that
other pearl, an' I got this! Father he says the other one's no good an'
that this isn' likely to be any better! But I don' know! It looks all
right!"

He glanced down at the object in his hand.

"Father said it was no good," he repeated, a little less certainly; "but
I don' know."

He held out his hand and passed the pearl to the mussel-gatherer, who
glanced at it hastily.

"Mr. Dare!" he said excitedly.

Colin looked up and caught his glance, then tried to take the stone. But
his hand shook as though he were in a violent fever, and the
mussel-gatherer placed it on the table beside his own, in front of the
boy. Clear, flawless, and of fair size, it gleamed like a star of hope
before them all. A moment's examination was enough. Leaping from his
seat Colin seized the pearl and rushed out of the door.

"It's real, sir; it's real!" he cried. "And will do all you said!"

The old farmer never looked at him. He turned his face toward the stars
and reverently removed his hat.

CHAPTER IX

A TUSSLE WITH THE MONARCH OF THE SEA

In spite of his interest in the pearl work, Colin began to feel the
strain of the steady and persistent grind required from him by Dr.
Edelstein, who himself seemed absolutely untiring. At the beginning of
July, moreover, the weather turned wet, and the rain poured down
steadily, not heavily, but soaking the ground thoroughly. For a week or
so no notice was taken of the rain, other than the discomfort it caused,
but one day Colin overheard one of the head workers saying to the
superintendent:

"It looks as though we might have trouble unless there's a let-up to the
rain soon!"

"I'm afraid of it," was the reply, and the grave tone of the answer
surprised Colin; "and I hear that it's raining in torrents in Montana."

"We're safe enough, I suppose," was the comment.

"Yes," the superintendent answered, "but hundreds of other people are
not. Floods always catch some of them."

This was an idea that had not occurred to Colin. The word "flood" called
up a host of graphic ideas, and a flood on the Mississippi, the largest
river in the world flowing through a populated country, seemed a serious
matter. He spoke of it to his friend of the paddlefish investigation.