jack 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 divers 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 dwellings of men, as it probably had been for ages upon ages. their schooners 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 ripple 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 havoc amongst them.

jack settled down to work again, opening the large shells with considerable dexterity, 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 crumbled 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 peculiar 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 standing out for all the world like a bruise 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 astonishment 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 blemish, he saw that even with his inexperienced eyes; there was not a speck 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 schooner, and called the boy to ask if supper would be ready, as he knew they would not want to wait. the boats were heavily laden, 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 assent, and it was decided to sail when all the shell had been safely stowed away in the two schooners.

they were all smoking and chatting after supper when harry 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 glided behind some of the pearl shell barrels until he was within earshot. the white crew were all at rest, as there was nothing more for them to do. he left miah on the watch, and told him to make a peculiar bird-like cry if he saw any danger of discovery.

jack placed the pearls before jacob, and he pronounced them to be the most valuable yet taken. "we must sort them out before we start," he said, "and stow them safely away; some of these black devils are awful thieves and you cannot be too careful. those two fellows amos hooker sent you are up to no good, i can tell by the way they hang together, and watch us."

kylis grinned, and showed his teeth in a white gleam.

"i'll take charge of them if you like," said jack. "barry gave me a strong box in case we found anything of value, and also a couple of cases which i can carry always with me if it is necessary."

"that's barry all over, he always looks ahead. i think you are the proper person to look after them, but there is some risk in it."

"how can there be?" said jack, laughing.

"listen, and i will tell you," said jacob. "on one of my voyages, we found amongst the others six fine pearls of value, and my mate decided to do as you suggest, carry them on his person in a small case. they nearly proved the death of him, for one of the crew got wind of it, and attacked him in his bunk, just before we got into port. if i had not come on the scene, he would have had a bad time, but i settled the fellow, he's never been any good since. you'll have to be careful, mr. redland, if you carry them about with you always."

"perhaps you had better put them all in the big box," said harry.

"i am agreeable, all except one," said jack, smiling.

they looked at him curiously, he spoke mysteriously, what did it mean?

"i have a little surprise in store for you," went on jack, and kylis strained his ears to listen. "i had a find to-day, at least i shall be very disappointed if it does not turn out as well as i expect."

"discovered a big pearl?" asked phil, with a laugh. "i hope it is not a fraud."

"it may be for all i know, it is black," said jack.

jacob rank sprang to his feet and said, excitedly,

"a black pearl? you said a black pearl? i have only seen one in my life, and it was sold for a heap of money. where is it?"

"here," replied jack, as he took it out of his pocket and handed it to him.

when jacob saw the beautiful black egg-shaped pearl, he gasped for breath, and stared at it with wondering eyes. they crowded around him, as he held it in his hand, and all seemed lost in amazement.

"what do you think of it?" asked jack.

"mr. redland, this is one of the rarest pearls that ever came out of a shell. it is perfect, there is not a fault in it, and look at its size. it is worth a heap of money, i dare not say how much, if we had found nothing else, this pearl would have been worth coming for," said jacob. phil danks and hake moss were also loud in their praises, and examined it closely.

"this will not need any pearl faker to make it perfect," said phil.

"no," replied jacob, "it can be mounted just as it is."

"what is a pearl faker?" asked jack.

"pearl fakers are clever fellows, they can remove the defects of a pearl and give it a perfect appearance. hundreds of pearls have been through their hands, and no one can tell what they have done to them."

"there are all kinds of trades," said jack, laughing.

"and this is profitable; i know a man who has made a heap of money at it," replied jacob.

"and so you think the black pearl needs no faking?"

"none at all, the merest attempt would spoil it."

"and do you think i had better carry it on my person?"

"certainly, i had no idea you had secured such a gem. we must be careful how we part with it, but barry will see to that, he knows the value of most things," said jacob.

jack had forgotten for the moment that the pearl was not his property, that he had only a share in it, and he felt keenly disappointed. this black pearl would have been the very one to send to winifred, that was his first thought when he found it in the shell.

"where is the case barry gave you?" asked jacob.

"here," replied jack, handing him a green leather case with a lock and clasp.

"this looks all right," said jacob, "will the pearl go in? i see there are compartments, you will have to knock two or three into one for it."

"that is easily done," said jack, "and i can wrap it up well so that it will take no harm."

jacob fondled the pearl before he gave it back to him and said, "it is not often a man has the chance of handling such a gem as this, i could look at it for hours. there may be more where that came from."

kylis heard most of the talk, and knew that the black pearl must be of great value. if jack redland always carried it with him, his task would be difficult, but he did not despair; in any case he could try for some of the others. he crawled back to miah unobserved, but did not tell him about the black pearl, that matter he meant to keep to himself; not even amos hooker should hear about it if it came into his possession. if he failed to secure any pearls before they arrived in shark's bay, then it would be time enough to give amos a hint as to the valuable cargo on board, and he could please himself what steps he took to secure any portion of it.

there was much jubilation on board at the success of the trip, and the black pearl put the final touch to their hilarity. jack redland placed the pearl in the case, and put it in the belt he wore round his waist.

he had made up his mind to try and buy it right out, and if the amount was beyond his means, he meant to ask barry tuxford to buy it for him and keep it until he could pay for it. winifred should have it some day, he vowed. he had found it, and she would value it all the more on account of the trouble he had taken to get it.

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