That was all; and I judged that the stones were worth five thousand pounds if they were worth a penny. I could scarce realise it all as I read the note again and again, and handled the sparkling, glittering baubles, which made my bunk a cave of dazzling light; or wrapped them once more in the linen, using it as a bag, and tying it round my neck for safety. It seemed indeed that I had come to riches as I had come again to freedom; and in the strange bewilderment of it all, I dressed myself in the rough clothes which the skipper had sent to me, and bounded on deck to greet a glorious day and the fresh awakening breezes of the sun-lit Atlantic. It was difficult to believe that there was not a reckoning yet to come: that the nameless ship had gone to her doom. Had I in reality escaped the terrors of the dinghy? This question I asked myself again and again as the soft wind fanned my face; and I went to the bulwarks, looking away where soon we should sight the Scillies, while the honest fellows crowded round me, and showered every kindness upon me. Yet for days and weeks after that, even now sometimes when I am amongst my own again, I wake in my sleep with troubled cries, and the dark gives me back the life which was my long night of suffering.
The _Hoffnung_ was bound for Königsberg, but when the skipper and I had come to understand each other by signs and writing, he, with great consideration, offered to put into Southampton and leave me there. This took a great weight from my mind, for I was burning with anxiety to hear of my friends again; and when we entered the Channel on the third night, I found sleep far from my eyes, and paced the deck until dawn broke. We dropped anchor off Southampton at three in the afternoon, and when I had insisted on Captain Wolfram taking one of my diamonds as a souvenir for himself, and one to sell for the crew, I put off in his long-boat with a deep sense of his humanity and kindness, and with hearty cheers from his crew.
I should have gone to the quay at once then, but crossing the roads I saw a yacht at anchor, and I recognised her as my own yacht _Celsis_, with Dan pacing her poop. To put to her side was the work of a moment, and I do not think that I ever gave a heartier hail than that "Ahoy, Daniel!" which then fell from my lips.