himself. It was not amongst the articles I had shown to the
schoolmaster and the captain. I thought that I had perhaps left it
lying on the gravestone; but searching my pockets, I at last found
it in one of them, where I had carelessly thrust it when the fight
began. I placed it on the table before Captain Gordon, who examined
it curiously.

"What d'you make of this, sir?" asked he, turning to the dominie.
"The stone, if it is a stone at all, looks worthless; and yet I see
this ring round it is the only piece of metal that is neither
silver nor bronze, but gold."

"Gold!" I exclaimed, bending over to look at it.

"Yes, gold undoubtedly," said the captain.

Grace Drever, who had said little during the examination of the
store of silver coins and ingots beyond asking questions as to the
manner of our finding it, and giving utterance to such ejaculations
as "Losh me!" and "Saw ever onybody the likes o' that?" now took
the black stone in her hand, and having pondered over it for a
while, said, holding up her finger to me:

"Laddie, take care of this peerie {ii} thing. It will be of
more worth to thee than all the other gear together."

I did not quite understand. The gold ring, I thought, could not
surely be worth more than that heap of silver. And yet Grace was so
serious in what she said that I could scarcely doubt her word.