The beach upon which they found themselves was a very ordinary, unpicturesque-looking stretch of brown sand running practically straight, and also practically north and south, as far as the eye could see in both directions. It averaged about one hundred and twenty yards in width, was very flat, and on its landward side was bounded by a bank of red earth ranging from ten to about fifty feet in height, cut into here and there by "dongas", through one of which they had descended from the plain to the level of the sand. The ordinary high-water mark seemed nowhere to reach within less than thirty yards of the toe of the bank, but there were indications--in the shape of little patches of dry and crumbling seaweed and other ocean debris--that in stormy weather the breakers occasionally reached to the foot of the bank and in some places actually undermined it. At a distance of about half a mile to seaward a long line of white water betrayed the position of a reef. "Um!" exclaimed Grosvenor, after he had allowed his gaze to travel over the prospect for several minutes; "this is a pretty desolate-looking spot, and no mistake; not at all the sort of place where you would expect to find precious stones, is it?" "Why not?" retorted Dick, laughingly. "Gems are sometimes found in the most unlikely looking places. I did not expect the landscape to be distinguished by any unusual characteristics; did you?" "'Pon my word I don't know," replied Grosvenor; "but somehow I expected it to look very different from this. After all, however, what does the beauty or otherwise of the landscape matter, so long as the rubies are really here? And I suppose they are here, somewhere, eh? We haven't made a mistake and come out at the wrong spot, do you think?" "Well," admitted Dick, "we may not have hit the precise spot perhaps, but I think we cannot be more than half a mile from it. Perhaps the quickest way of finding it will be to search for it. Now, just let me think for a moment. Those _Flying-Fish_ people started by searching the beach. The Professor, possessing superior knowledge to the others, searched the face of the cliff; and finally, when the precise locality of the mine had been discovered, they went to work with pickaxe and shovel and dug their way down to the level of the `pocket'. I think our best plan would be to search for that hole, which must still be conspicuous enough to admit of identification. Let us return, by way of the donga, to the top of the cliff, and, starting from there, ride along close to the cliff edge, you taking one direction and I the other. We ought to come across it within half a mile, or a mile at most." "Right you are, old chappie, come along," answered Grosvenor, preparing to mount. As, however, he placed his left foot in the stirrup, and was about to spring into the saddle, Dick checked him.