two papers all fixed and ready, and he had put one of them in place of
t'other right under our noses.

"We felt pretty cheap. But the thing to do, straight off, was to make a
plan; and we done it. We would do up the paper again, just as it was,
and slip in, very elaborate and soft, and lay it on the bunk again, and
let on WE didn't know about any trick, and hadn't any idea he was
a-laughing at us behind them bogus snores of his'n; and we would stick by
him, and the first night we was ashore we would get him drunk and search
him, and get the di'monds; and DO for him, too, if it warn't too risky.
If we got the swag, we'd GOT to do for him, or he would hunt us down and
do for us, sure. But I didn't have no real hope. I knowed we could get
him drunk--he was always ready for that--but what's the good of it? You
might search him a year and never find--Well, right there I catched my
breath and broke off my thought! For an idea went ripping through my head
that tore my brains to rags--and land, but I felt gay and good! You see,
I had had my boots off, to unswell my feet, and just then I took up one
of them to put it on, and I catched a glimpse of the heel-bottom, and it
just took my breath away. You remember about that puzzlesome little
screwdriver?"

"You bet I do," says Tom, all excited.

"Well, when I catched that glimpse of that boot heel, the idea that went
smashing through my head was, I know where he's hid the di'monds! You
look at this boot heel, now. See, it's bottomed with a steel plate, and
the plate is fastened on with little screws. Now there wasn't a screw
about that feller anywhere but in his boot heels; so, if he needed a
screwdriver, I reckoned I knowed why."