of the two clammers, who went on in their work steadily,
exchanging no more than a monosyllable now and then, but who were
animated, it seemed to us, by the same excitement which governs the
miner washing gravel in his pan. They scarce could rest, but went on
from shell to shell, opening each as eagerly as though it meant a
fortune. This of itself seemed to me both natural and yet not wholly
natural; for it was now late in the day's work. Why should they go on
quite so eagerly in what six hours of stooping in the sun should have
made monotonous routine?

They showed me a few pieces they had saved, splinters and slugs of
nacre, misshapen and of no luster, and sneered at the net results,
worth, at most, not so much as the day's wages I was paying either. I
cared nothing for the results, and smiled and nodded as I took them.

Thus the day wore on till mid-afternoon, when, such had been the zeal
of the clammers, the heap of bivalves was exhausted. They stood erect,
straightening their stiffened backs, and grinned as they looked at me.

"Well," said the old hag, "I reckon ye're satisfied now that we know
this business better'n you do. He told ye there wasn't no pearl in
this river."

"No;" added her hopeful son, "an' come to think of it, how'd I ever
know you had a hundred dollars? I ain't seen it yet. But we've done,
so let's see it now."

I quietly opened my pocketbook and took several bills of that
yellow-backed denomination, and selected one for him. He took it at
first suspiciously, then greedily, and I saw his eyes go to my wallet.
"I forgot," said I, and took out two bills of five dollars each, which
I handed to him.

"By golly!" said he, "so'd I forgot!"

"Why did you forget about your wages?" I asked, and looked at him
keenly. He turned his eyes aside.

"This fresh-water pearl fishing," said I, "has many points of
likeness to the ocean pearl fishing in Ceylon."

"You been there?" he queried. "And why is it like them?"

"In several ways. It is, in the first place, all a gamble. The pearl
merchants buy the oysters as I bought my mussels, by the lump and as a
chance, based on the law of average product. They rot the oysters as
you do the mussels. The smell is the same: and many other things are
the same. For instance, it is almost impossible to keep the diver from
stealing pearls, just as it is hard to keep the Kafirs from stealing
the diamonds they find in the mines."

I still was looking at him closely,