"Game for another ten-mile walk, old fellow?"
"What! for another lump of rock-salt, at twelve shillings a ton?"
"'No more of that, Hal, an you love me,' " grinned Tom. "Now look here,
Jack. What blessed fools we are to be so floored by a trifle! Just sit
on this stump for five minutes, and I'll make it as clear as daylight.
You've seen many a lump of rock-salt stuck in a crag, and so have I,
though we did make such a mull of this one. Now, Jack, did any of
the pieces you have ever seen shine in the darkness brighter than any
fire-fly?"
"Well, I can't say they ever did."
"I'd venture to prophesy that if we waited until night, which we won't
do, we would see that light still glimmering among the rocks. Therefore,
Jack, when we took away this worthless salt, we took the wrong crystal.
It is no very strange thing in these hills that a piece of rock-salt
should be lying within a foot of a diamond. It caught our eyes, and
we were excited, and so we made fools of ourselves, and _left the real
stone behind_. Depend upon it, Jack, the Sasassa gem is lying within
that magic circle of chalk upon the face of yonder cliff.
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