here was very little sand, its place being taken by a deposit of fine
loose grit, made up of a variety of tiny stones all about the size of a
small pea.

The prevailing wind, blowing almost continually in the same direction,
had heaped up this grit in little wave-like ridges and Dick knew that
if there were diamonds there he would find them near the crest of these
little waves.

He went down on his hands and knees at once, and almost immediately his
eye caught the glitter of a diamond. And there was another and another!
And Dick, as he picked up stone after stone, realized that by sheer
luck he had stumbled upon far the richest deposit he had ever seen or
heard of and realized too that these clever scoundrels had over-reached
themselves. There had been no need of salting had they but taken the
trouble to search systematically they must have found this spot, had
they but walked a few hundred yards from the spot they had salted last,
this "Tom Tiddler's Ground" had awaited them!

Incredibly and incalculably rich it was; for Dick, in the hour or so
that he permitted himself the luxury of picking them up, well-nigh
filled his pockets with the glittering little gems, and yet he had
scarcely moved a yard from where he had picked up the first.

The power of the blazing sun, now beating down upon him from high in
the heavens, first admonished him of the fact that it was getting late,
and that he must get back to camp, or probably some one would be coming
to look for him.

"And that would never do," said Dick to himself; "no one must know of
this but the professor."

So, reluctantly leaving his newly-found bonanza, he tied up the double-
handful of diamonds in his old red handkerchief, thrust it in the bosom
of his khaki shirt, and securing the two errant mules he struck across
country to the camp.

He found that during his absence a farther field had been successfully
"tested"; and the meaning look the professor gave him when the latter
rode into camp with the returning party, and voiced his satisfaction at
the morning's "find," left no doubt in Dick's mind but that the old man
had profited by his advice, and would yet fool the would-be foolers!
Itching as he was to impart the news of his splendid discovery to the
professor, he had no opportunity of seeing him alone during the rest of
the day; and he could only try to possess his soul with patience till
night fell and the others were asleep. But that night the professor