ithin the next few days. Let us finish
our exploration and return to the _Flying Fish_. We will then move her
to this spot, and all hands of us can then go to work at diamond-hunting
in good earnest. Meanwhile, if these large stones are of such
inestimable value, it seems to me that they are likely to prove, after
all, practically valueless, for the simple reason that nobody will be
found willing to spend the enormous sum which would enable him to become
a purchaser."

"That is very true," answered the colonel with a laugh. "The stones of
moderate size are what we must hope to realise upon; nevertheless, I
shall not pass over such large ones as may happen to thrust themselves
under my notice, for if we should fail to dispose of them, they will
still come in handy as ornaments for our future wives, in which,
notwithstanding a remark you made a little while ago, I somehow have a
profound belief. Now, if you are ready to march, so am I."

The pair accordingly shouldered their guns, and, turning their backs for
the time being upon the diamond mine, continued their course down the
valley.

Half an hour later a herd of reindeer was discovered browsing upon the
lichens and mosses which grew plentifully on the rocky spurs of the
range of hills from which the travellers were now emerging, and one of
these was soon afterwards killed with little or no difficulty by means
of a bullet from one of the rifles. To such experienced hunters as Sir
Reginald and the colonel the task of "breaking up" the deer was an easy
one, and, that done, they went into camp on the spot, and feasted
royally that night upon reindeer tongue and marrow-bones.

The two following days passed uneventfully, that is to say the
travellers met with no adventure specially worth recording. They passed
through extensive tracts of pine forest, and saw plenty of game, to say
nothing of such valuable fur-bearing animals as the sable and ermine,
both of which animals seemed to be extraordinarily abundant, and late on
the evening of the third day they found themselves at the base of the
table-land, after a somewhat fatiguing but most enjoyable tramp.

The next day was devoted to a thorough examination of the somewhat
remarkable object which they had set out to visit. It proved to be an
enormous mass of rock, nearly circular in shape, about three miles in
circumference, and towering aloft from the surface of the surrounding
plain to a height of between three a