He managed to break off a fair-sized lump containing a well-defined specimen of the foreign metal.
They hurried into the open air and examined the fragment with curious eyes.

The sailor picked it with his knife, and the substance in the vein came off in laminated layers, small, brittle scales.
"Is it silver ?" Iris was almost excited.
"I do not think so.

I am no expert, but I have a vague idea--I have seen----" He wrinkled his brows and pressed away the furrows with his hand, that physical habit of his when perplexed.
"I have it," he cried.

"It is antimony." Miss Deane pursed her lips in disdain.

Antimony! What was antimony?
"So much fuss for nothing," she said.
"It is used in alloys and medicines," he explained.