Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/208

196 are pearls there. Damme, I've found the things. Fetched divers over, and all that sort of thing. I've spent weeks—aye, months, grubbing about there, but somehow I've always just missed it—missed striking big, I mean." "Perseverance, my boy, perseverance," said Steel. "It all depends, of course, on what luck you've had so far, that is to say, whether you've come across any real winners. If you have there should be more about."

That's just what aggravates me," Chester declared, taking the wallet from his pocket. "I have come across real winners, but only two of 'em. I have them hidden away, but here are the rest. There's one fair-sized little chap, a number of baroques and the remainder are seeds."

"Enough to make a fellow feel deuced hopeful about it," Steel agreed, examining the contents of the wallet carefully. "Stick to it, and you may win out yet."

Chester puffed away in silence for a few moments.

"I've stuck to it as long as I can," he said at last, dolefully. "To tell you the truth, I'm getting just about to the end of my tether."

"Capital dried up, eh?"

"Why, yes. That's the chief thing, of course. It's enough, anyway. Also it takes a devil of a lot of pluck to go on week after week by yourself,