But when I did, there
they were, hard, real, and angular. Convinced at last,
in a maze of joy and fear, I closed my hand upon them,
and, stealing on tip-toe to the trap-door, laid first my
saddle on it and then my bags, and over all my cloak,
breathing fast the while.
Then I stole back, and, taking up the light again, began
to search the floor, patiently, inch by inch, with naked
feet, every sound making me tremble as I crept hither
and thither over the creaking boards. And never was
search more successful or better paid. In the fragments
of the sachet I found six smaller diamonds and a pair of
rubies. Eight large diamonds I found on the floor.
One, the largest and last found, had bounded away, and
lay against the wall in the farthest corner. It took me
an hour to run that one to earth; but afterwards I spent
another hour on my hands and knees before I gave up the
search, and, satisfied at last that I had collected all,
sat down on my saddle on the trap-door, and, by the last
flickering light of a candle which I had taken from my
bag, gloated over my treasure--a treasure worthy of
fabled Golconda.
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