Uncle Charlie wasn’t listening. Biff had given him the papers establishing the claim and the two pearls. Uncle Charlie was examining the pearls.
“Real beauties, aren’t they? And valuable, too.”
“What do you think they’re worth, Uncle Charlie?”
“Hmmm ... several thousand dollars at least. They’d make a perfect pair of earrings for some exotic movie star or Italian countess or a member of the British nobility. Not worth a big fortune, but a considerable one. A pearl collector would probably want them at any price named.”
“And there’s plenty more where they came from,” Biff suggested.
“You’re right, there are.”
Biff was quiet. His thoughts were now back on Derek. True, he and his uncle had preserved Derek and his father’s pearl fishery claim, but unless they could find Derek and Brom Zook, what they had done so far was valueless.
“Uncle Charlie, we’ve just got to find Derek now.”
Charles Keene frowned. “I know it, Biff.”
“We can’t let Dietz find out that it wasn’t Derek who appeared before the claims referee. If he does, he could upset our applecart but good.”