hat
the work helped more and more to clear my foggy brain and bring me back
to full sanity. I felt convinced that diamonds were there, not far off,
however, and one day as I vainly sorted over the gravel where I had
found the others, the solution came to me. In the pool, in the white
sand that shone so at the bottom, there I should find them! It was deep
and narrow, this pool, and a difficult task even for a good diver; and
I determined to wait till midday, when the sun shone full on the
bottom. When the time came I plunged in, and a rapid stroke or two took
me to the bottom.

The water was clear as crystal; and now I could see clearly why it had
looked so white and sparkled so when seen through the rippling surface.

Stretched upon the white sand lay the chalk-white skeleton of a man,
the grinning mouth and sightless eyes staring up at me in a hideous
travesty of mirth; and all around between the outstretched bones lay
diamonds, diamonds innumerable: big, bright, sparkling beauties by the
handful, wealth incredible to be had for the picking up, with no
guardian other than these bare bones of a long dead man.

The shock of coming face to face with this grim "memento mori" here in
the depths of the pool was too much even for my desire for the
diamonds, and I struck frantically for the surface, clambering out in
wild, senseless, unreasoning fear, and not even pausing till I was well
away from the vicinity of this spot, which had been my favorite resting
place for so long. And that night I tried in vain to sleep, my brain
whirling with wild surmises, as to how the long-dead man had found his
way into the crater. Was there a path after all, or had he used a rope
to let himself down in search of the diamonds, only to meet his death
in some manner where they lay thickest?

Or had he, perchance, passed years in the trap, vainly endeavoring to
find a way out, pacing day after day round the ring of encircling
cliffs, until at last, in utter despair, he had thrown himself into the
pool to end it all, and to leave his bones there watching the treasure
he could not take with him?

Each time I closed my eyes the mocking, grinning skeleton seemed to be
again before me, and it was not till early morning that I could rest.
But with the day my fears vanished; indeed what was there to fear, for
how could these few poor bones harm me?

Still, I could not bring myself to dive into the pool again, but set
about devising some other me