For a moment he gave way to boyish satisfaction in the sight and touch of this unctuous solution, and dabbled his fingers in it.

A few moments more of rinsing and he came to the sediment of fine black sand that was beneath it.
Another plunge and swilling of water in the pan, and--could he believe his eyes!--a few yellow tiny scales, scarcely larger than pins' heads, glittered among the sand.

He poured it off.

But his companion was right; the lighter sand shifted from side to side with the water, but the glittering points remained adhering by their own tiny specific gravity to the smooth surface of the bottom.

It was "the color"-- gold! Clarence's heart seemed to give a great leap within him.