Jack¹ Redland was on the deck of the "Heron" opening shells. He was alone, the others had left him to finish the work, and gone off in the dinghies. He saw them in the distance, and watched the divers² disappearing into the depths of the bay. Resting for a few minutes his eyes roamed over the beautiful scene spread out around him. In this land locked harbour everything seemed at peace, undisturbed by the dwellings³ of men, as it probably had been for ages upon ages. Their schooners⁴ were probably the first to enter, yet it was strange such a place had not been discovered before. The hills round the bay were well wooded, trees growing almost from base to summit, and the white silvery sand sparkled in the brilliant sunlight. It was hot, and yet there was sufficient breeze to render it pleasant. There was hardly a ripple⁶ on the clear water of the bay and the sky was dazzlingly blue. He saw very few signs of bird life, but the big black dots on the beach he knew were turtle, and he saw the males splashing about in the water. Fortunately there were no sharks in the bay, at least they had seen none, nor had Jacob Rank during his enforced stay there. The divers were, therefore, quite safe from these monsters, which sometimes cause shocking havoc⁷ amongst them.  
Jack settled down to work again, opening the large shells with considerable dexterity⁸, and noticing how carefully the pearls were hidden. Out of curiosity, he scraped the inner coating of one of the larger shells and found layer upon layer of nacre, or mother of pearl, which crumbled⁹ away from the knife. It seemed as though the mollusc had deposited these layers one after another to protect itself from attacks, and as there were no signs of even the smallest seeds beneath the outer layer, he came to the conclusion the pearls must be a kind of peculiar¹⁰ growth, perhaps a disease in the fish. However, he did not trouble much about this, his object was to find pearls, and his curiosity being satisfied, he opened another shell.
 
The one he held in his hand had a golden edge of a far deeper colour than most of the others. It was also a peculiar shape, the centre standing¹¹ out for all the world like a bruise¹² on the forehead caused by a heavy blow. He felt it, and its perfect roundness made him wonder what had caused it.
 
He opened the shell, and as he withdrew the knife it shut again with a snap.
 
"I'll have you next time," he said to himself, and managed to cut the muscles. After cleaning out the fish he examined the shell carefully. It seemed quite dark in the centre, and this struck him as curious. He dug round it with the sharp point of the blade and in a short time a large lump came away from the shell. There was evidently an outer coating, and this he removed, when to his utter astonishment¹³ he saw a black egg shaped pearl of great size.
 
He had heard there were such things as black pearls and that they were very rare and valuable. Had he stumbled across a treasure at last? He handled it tenderly. The pearl was perfect in shape, nearly the size of a pigeon's egg. It was free from blemish¹⁴, he saw that even with his inexperienced eyes; there was not a speck¹⁵ on it, and it weighed heavy. He feasted his eyes upon it, wondering if it was genuine and what it was worth.
 
He examined the shell again, but found nothing else; the black pearl, however, was sufficient, and he meant to give his comrades a surprise on their return.
 
His luck was evidently in, for in the lot of shells he opened he found some of the largest pearls they had yet obtained. Some were curious in shape, being twisted into various designs, one was half black and half white, and larger than the pure black one.
 
When he had finished his task, he cleared up the shells, put the pearls away, and sat down to have a smoke, lazily watching the dinghies in the distance. At last he saw them coming towards the schooner⁵, and called the boy to ask if supper would be ready, as he knew they would not want to wait. The boats were heavily laden¹⁶, and it took some time to put all the shells on deck.
 
"You have had another good day," said Jack.
 
"Splendid," replied Jacob, "and I think we had better clear out for Fremantle as soon as you like. We have several tons of good shell on board, and some hundreds of fair sized pearls besides the seeds. The trip will pan out well and Barry Tuxford will be satisfied. It will not be long before he sends here again with a better equipped lot of boats."
 
"What do you say, Phil?" asked Jack.
 
"We cannot safety put much more on the schooners," he replied, "and I think we had better knock off and clear out."
 
"Then if all are agreeable we will get away at once."
 
The others signified their assent¹⁷, and it was decided¹⁸ to sail when all the shell had been safely stowed away in the two schooners.
 
They were all smoking and chatting after supper when Harry¹⁹ Marton said,—
 
"You have not told us whether you had any luck to-day; did you find many pearls?"
 
"Several," said Jack, carelessly, "some a good size and well shaped."
 
"Let us have a look at them," said Jacob, and Jack went to fetch them. He took out the big black pearl and put it in his pocket.
 
It happened that Kylis heard Jacob talking about leaving the bay, and he was anxious to learn whether the pearls were valuable. He saw they were all occupied and not likely to keep a sharp look out, and snake-like, he glided²⁰ behind some of the pearl shell barrels until he was............