Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/44

32 "It's a great gamble," he said. "I spent a while pearling on the Indian grounds, and off the north-east of Borneo; and I have seen nearly as many men lose a fortune as make one at the game. I admit it has its fascinating side, though. Have any pearls actually been found near here?"

"Not many. Chester has three divers, and they have taken up tons of shell. There are plenty of seeds, but I imagine very few pearls of real value. When Chester first started he came across two good pearls, and they fired his imagination. He went to work strenuously, but luck was against him after the start. All he found was seeds and a few small baroques."

"Has he good divers?"

"As far as I know, yes. They are New Guinea men. They seem to understand their work. I don't think the fault lies with them. It is just this. Chester was misled by the finding of the first two good pearls. It was a sort of flash in the pan, and it is hard to convince him the sea will only form a graveyard of our capital if he does not give the whole thing up and turn his undivided attention to the plantation."

Fully sympathetic with Joan though Keith was, he could still understand her brother's frame of mind. Had he not been bitten himself with the pearl fever? Had he not groped, apparently within arm's length of boundless fortune until, if not his