Shark
“Some of those pearls that shine in a jeweler’s windows cost much more than a fine bag of crowns: they may have cost a man’s life.”
“If Arabia were at the end of the village, I would not go pearl-fishing,” declared Emile.
“To open the shells, they are exposed to the sun until the animals are dead. Then men rummage in the pile, which smells horribly, and get the pearls. There is nothing more to do except pierce them with a hole.”
“One day,” said Jules, “when they were cleaning the big mill-race I found some shells that shone inside like mother-of-pearl.”
“We have in our streams and ditches shells in two parts of a greenish black. They are called fresh-water mussels. Their inside is mother-of-pearl. Some, very large and living by preference in mountain streams, even produce pearls. But these pearls are far from having the luster and consequently the price of those of the meleagrina.”
CHAPTER LXXIII
THE SEA
“DO all those beautiful shells you have in the drawer come from the sea?” asked Emile.