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 any visions my patron might have had of leaking into the diamond-fields to absorb a scuttleful of bright-eyed gems, and then cantering merrily back to port before any one could ring in an alarm. According to his say-so, the desirable weed of all evil was firmly tied up by English capital, and independent harvesters were heartily frowned upon.

"Oh, I ought to have got wise and wrenched the dear old boy away when the cub finished his coffee and observed, 'If you're satisfied your quest is impracticable, I'll propose something different.'

"I ought to have got wise, but I didn't, and only sulked as Tib inquired, 'You would advise a virgin field, seeing all these pastures we've been discussing are nailed down?'

"And that was just what the brat suggested. His proposition was that we should pursue our search for precious stones in his company up the Madeira. He told us that he'd often heard stories of clay puddings, with diamond plums, in the Blue Hen Valley in the Tarijara district. The only drawback, he explained, was the natives' unhappy reputation for eating one another. But odd ideas as to table etiquette, Tib declared, could never keep him from nature's jewelry-shop.

"‘My boy,' he said, after we'd returned to our hut, 'I do not doubt but what these Mundrucu, or Blue Hen men, or whatever they're called, are crude