"What! for another lump of rock-salt, at twelve shillings a ton?"

"'No more of that, Hal, an you love me,' " grinned Tom. "Now look here,
Jack. What blessed fools we are to be so floored by a trifle! Just sit
on this stump for five minutes, and I'll make it as clear as daylight.
You've seen many a lump of rock-salt stuck in a crag, and so have I,
though we did make such a mull of this one. Now, Jack, did any of
the pieces you have ever seen shine in the darkness brighter than any
fire-fly?"

"Well, I can't say they ever did."

"I'd venture to prophesy that if we waited until night, which we won't
do, we would see that light still glimmering among the rocks. Therefore,
Jack, when we took away this worthless salt, we took the wrong crystal.
It is no very strange thing in these hills that a piece of rock-salt
should be lying within a foot of a diamond. It caught our eyes, and
we were excited, and so we made fools of ourselves, and _left the real
stone behind_. Depend upon it, Jack, the Sasassa gem is lying within
that magic circle of chalk upon the face of yonder cliff. Come, old
fellow, light your pipe and stow your revolver, and we'll be off before
that fellow Madison has time to put two and two together."

I don't know that I was very sanguine this time. I had begun, in fact,
to look upon the diamond as a most unmitigated nuisance. However, rather
than throw a damper on Tom's expectations, I announced myself eager to
start. What a walk it was! Tom was always a good mountaineer, but his
excitement seemed to lend him wings that day, while I scrambled along
after him as best I could.