worked,
the changes consisting chiefly of falls of earth from the sides, here
and there; but pebbles, singly and in little groups of half a dozen or
so, were plentifully strewed about the surface of the soil, and the very
first one examined proved to be exactly similar in character to those of
which the king's necklace was composed. Such, however, was not
invariably the case, many of the stones which the searchers picked up
turning out to be quite worthless; nevertheless ten minutes sufficed to
satisfy the prospectors that the source of boundless wealth lay
practically within reach of their hands, for during that short period
each of them had secured a dozen rubies of varying size, from that of a
pea up to pebbles as large as a pigeon's egg, while Grosvenor had been
lucky enough to find a specimen as large as a duck's egg. By the end of
an hour they had more than doubled the amount of their find, and had
filled their jacket pockets as full as it was prudent to load them; but
it was evident that, profitable as this desultory, haphazard method of
search had proved to be, much better results might be hoped for from
systematic pick-and-shovel work; accordingly they agreed to suspend
further operations until the arrival of the wagon, and the party of
labourers which had been placed at their disposal by Lobelalatutu; they,
therefore, scrambled out of the pit and set about searching for a
suitable site for their camp, eventually pitching upon a spot about a
quarter of a mile distant from the mine.

By the time that the wagon arrived and the tent had been pitched the day
was too far advanced to make it worth while for work to be started. It
was, therefore, decided to give the workers a good long night's rest
after their wearisome tramp from the king's village, and an hour after
sunset saw the entire party wrapped in profound sleep.

But with the appearance of the sun above the sea's rim, on the following
morning, everybody was once more astir; and after an early breakfast a
general adjournment was made to the mine, where, under Dick Maitland's
superintendence, a dozen parties of the Makolo were soon actively
engaged with their native mattocks and shovels in excavating the soil in
search of the precious stones, one-half of each party being employed
upon the work of digging, while the other half turned over the excavated
soil and extracted from it all the stones which it happened to contain,
Dick and Grosvenor employing thems