Without more ado, like men who were drunk with the finest wines, they followed him along the passage and up the steps into the open air.  They were just in time to see the sun setting blood-red behind the jungle.  His beauty, however, had no effect upon them, in all probability they were regardless of him altogether, for with almost simultaneous sighs of relief they threw themselves down upon the flagstones of the courtyard, and set to work, with feverish earnestness, to overhaul the booty they had procured.  All three were good judges of stones, and a very brief examination was sufficient, even in the feeble evening light, to enable them to see that they were not only gems of the first water, but also stones of such a size as is seldom seen in these unregenerate days.

“It’s the biggest scoop on earth,” said Hayle, unconsciously echoing the expression Kitwater had used to him in Singapore.  “What’s better, there are hundreds more like them down below.  I’ll tell you what it is, my friends, we’re just the richest men on this earth at the present moment, and don’t you forget it!”

In his excitement he shook hands wildly with his companions.  His ill-humour had vanished like breath off a razor, and now he was on the best of terms not only with himself, but also with the world in general.

“If I know anything about stones there are at least one hundred thousand pounds worth in this little parcel,” he said enthusiastically, “and what is more, there is a million or perhaps two millions to be had for the trouble of looking for them.  What do you say if we go below again?”

“No! no!” said Kitwater, “it’s too late.  We’d better be getting back to the camp as soon as may be.”

“Very well,” Hayle replied reluctantly.

They accordingly picked up their iron bars and replaced the stone that covered the entrance to the subterranean passage.

“I don’t like leaving it,” said Hayle, “it don’t seem to me to be safe, somehow.  Think what there is down there.  Doesn’t it strike you that it would be better to fill our pockets while we’ve the chance?  Who knows what might happen before we can come again?”

“Nonsense,” said Kitwater.  “Who do you think is going to rob us of it?  What’s the use of worrying about it?  In the morning we’ll come back and fill up our bags, and then clear out of the place and trek for civilization as if the devil and all were after us.  Just think, my lads, what there will be to divide.”

“A million apiece, at least,” said Hayle rapturously, and then in an awed voice he added, as if he were discomfited by his own significance, “I never thought to be worth a quarter of that.  Somehow it doesn’t seem as if it can be real.”

“It’s quite real,” said Mr. Codd, as he sprinkled some dry dust round the crack of the stone to give it an appearance of not having been disturbed.  “There’s no doubt of it.”