It seemed to be
filled with a layer of yellowed cotton-wool.
For a long moment we held our breath, gazing at each other with
eyes which asked the same question. Then Dugald lifted a corner of
the sheet of cotton and plucked it away.
At once all the hues of the rainbow seemed to be flashing and
sparkling before us. Rubies were there like great drops of the
blood that the chest and its treasure had wrung from the hearts of
men; sapphires, mirroring the blue of the tropic sky; emeralds,
green as the island verdure; pearls, white as the milk of the
cocoanuts and softly luminous as the phosphorescent foam which
broke on the beach in the darkness. And there were diamonds that
caught gleams of all the others' beauty, and then mocked them with
a matchless splendor.
Some of the stones lay loose upon their bed of cotton; others were
in massive settings of curious old-time workmanship. Every gem was
of exceptional size and beauty, the pearls, I knew at once, were
the rarest I had ever looked upon. They were strung in a necklace,
and had a very beautiful pendant of mingled pearls and diamonds.
There were nine heavy bracelets, all jewel-set; twenty-three rings,
eight of them for the hand of a man. Some of these rings contained
the finest of the diamonds, except for three splendid unset stones.
There were numbers of elaborate old-fashioned earrings, two
rope-like chains of gold adorned with jewels at intervals, and
several jeweled lockets.
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