As the fire-balls flashed upon many velvet-lined trays displayed by the lifting of the lid, all the colors of the rainbow seemed to combine in the dazzling surface—the white glitter of diamonds, the violet-purple of amethysts, the blue of the sapphire, the crimson of the ruby, the deep rich green of the emerald, the changing tints of the opal—a very pool of gems shimmering under the eager gaze of the three boys. “Carry me out of fairyland,” was Billy’s break of the silence that followed the first look into the chest.
[105]
Reddy was all eyes and no tongue, but Henri had to say something in his r?le of showman:
“Some rare stones there, eh? Many years’ gathering, too. This,” picking up a gold-threaded bracelet of diamonds and amethysts, “is said to have been a later gift to the house from the royal gentleman that beat us to the bed upstairs. Whole lot of history here,” lifting a handful of jewels and letting them fall again into their glittering bed, “but we’ll keep all that for the campfire, if we ever get back to it.
“Here’s some hard cash, by the way,” moving a jewel tray and pulling out a buckskin bag. “I am afraid,” added Henri regretfully, “that we can’t carry a whole lot of this in a single trip where we have to travel light.”
“We can make a noble try at it,” stoutly maintained Billy, who did not relish the idea of leaving anything in the chest.
Henri jerked loose the cord that closed the mouth of the bag and let the gold coins fall in a shining heap on the floor—a mixed collection of franc pieces of various values, of French minting; English sovereigns and the German mark.
This shower could have been repeated many times, for under the trays were long rows of the same kind of buckskin bags, with contents alike.
“Wish we had a tray.”
[106]
Billy realized that they had found more than they could carry.
“We will load first with the stones from the trays,” proposed Henri. “And then add all the cash we can.”
The boys proceeded to empty their knapsacks of the remains of the rations they carried, and by way of proper economy seated themselves on the stone floor for the purpose of stowing all the food they could inside them.
“I won’t be hungry again for a week, I’m sure,” asserted Billy, shaking the crumbs from his blouse.
“Then let’s to business,” briskly remarked Henri, as he engaged in the pleasing pastime of stuffing diamond ornaments into his knapsack. Billy and Reddy followed the leader in the jewel harves............