He picked himself up, after giving vent to a somewhat unrefined expression of annoyance, rescued his hat, which had lodged in a prickly cactus nearby, and then turned to see how much damage he had done.
The step was a complete wreck, the top board being split entirely across, while the rotten supports beneath were wholly demolished, and lay in a crumbled heap on the ground.
He gave the mass a kick with his foot, scattering it right and left, when suddenly a gleam of light from something among it, flashed into his eye.
He stooped to see what had caused it, when, to his intense surprise, he found a small ring, the gold all blackened and tarnished, but with a beautiful diamond, clear and brilliant as a drop of dew in the sunlight, set in its delicate crown.
“Well, I imagine I have found a treasure now,” Everet exclaimed, eagerly, as he turned it over and over to examine it more closely.
He saw that there was some inscription upon its inner surface, but it was so blackened with age and so filled with dirt that he could not make it out.
“Aha!” he cried, exultantly, “I’ll wager almost anything that I have at last found the end of the broken thread that will unravel the mystery.”
He sat down again upon the upper step of the porch, deliberately drew a cigar from his pocket, lighted it, and began to smoke.
The first ashes that he detached from it he carefully saved upon a piece of wood, and, using his handkerchief, began to polish the discolored ring with them.
It was not long before his efforts were rewarded—the inner surface of the ring began to take on its original color and the inscription to stand out more plainly.