"This is a scrawny looking one, and I just reckon it'll be time wasted," he added.
"You never can tell," laughed Max, himself busily engaged.
"That's so," Steve went on; "because they do say these precious little pearls are manufactured by the oyster or mussel to cover up some gritty object that has managed to work into the shell, and which they just can't eject."
"Yes, that's the accepted theory," Max asserted.
"When I read that, I remember figuring out how a smart genius might make a few millions," remarked Steve.
"You mean by introducing the same kind of grit in some hundreds of shellfish, and making the things work up a lot of fine pearls, eh, Steve?"
"That's what. Don't you think it could be done, Max?"
"Well, I've heard it's been tried, but since the price of pearls has advanced all the while, I guess the success of the experiment wasn't so much," the other went on to say, as he bent his head down quickly to scrutinize the contents of his opened shell.
"Oh!" gasped Steve, catching his breath.
"What's the matter?" asked Max, his own voice as steady and calm as ever.