He lighted his lamp, examined the belt, unripped it, and poured out the
contents on his table.

They were dazzling. A great many large pieces of amethyst, and some
of white topaz and rock crystal; a large number of smaller stones,
carbuncles, chrysolites, and not a few emeralds. Dodd looked at them
with pleasure, sparkling in the lamplight.

"What a lot!" said he. "I wonder what they are worth!" He sent for the
first mate, who, he knew, did a little private business in precious
stones. "Masterton," said he, "oblige me by counting these stones with
me, and valuing them."

Mr. Masterton stared, and his mouth watered. However, he named the
various stones and valued them. He said there was one stone, a large
emerald, without a flaw, that was worth a heavy sum by itself; and the
pearls, very fine: and looking at the great number, they must be worth a
thousand pounds.

Captain Dodd then entered the whole business carefully in the ship's
log: the living man he described thus: "About five feet six in height,
and about fifty years of age." Then he described the notes and the
stones very exactly, and made Masterton, the valuer, sign the log.

Staines took a good deal of egg-flip that night, and next day ate
solid food; but they questioned him in vain; his reason was entirely in
abeyance: he had become an eater, and nothing else. Whenever they gave
him food, he showed a sort of fawning animal gratitude. Other sentiment
he had none, nor did words enter his mind any more than a bird's. And
since it is not pleasant to dwell on the wreck of a fine understanding,