“I think it’s a room built to hide things in, for there seemed to be a floor of rock, though, of course, a good deal of earth fell in with me, and made it appear as if filled nearly full; but I could take several steps in half-a-dozen directions.”
During this conversation the sailors had ignited another of the precious matches, and learned to their great disappointment that there was nothing in the shaft out of which a torch might be made.
“We can afford to wait,” Gil said, philosophically, and he had hardly ceased speaking when a low hail from the surface caused all hands to spring to their feet.
“Hello below! Everything goin’ on ship-shape?”
“Who’s there?” one of the sailors asked, cautiously.
“Me—Jenkins. I only came to see if anything had gone wrong, an’ now I know you’re all right I’ll do a little more skirmishin’. I haven’t found anything to bring the water in yet.”
“Come down first!” Gil whispered. “We’ve found a lot of diamonds!”
“What?”
“We’ve got fifteen or twenty big diamonds——”
“Pass up the rope, an’ be quick about it!”