About three in the morning
and to whom He wills He gives it ... '' Now at last the thing lay definitely before him : he grated the spade from end to end , scraping away the marl ; and it was very rough ... . The size and shape of a man 's leg , and red , anyway in the red lantern-shine -- his sight dim -- he moved and saw in an improbable dream ; and when he tried to lift the object and failed , for a long time he sat on the edge of the trench , passing one palm across and across his forehead , till the lantern-light leapt , and went out . He sprang upright then -- awake , sure : they were diamonds , those bits of glass , big celestial ones , not of earth , in hundreds ; when he passed his hand along the meteorite he felt it leprous , octahedron , dodecahedron , large and small : if they were truly diamonds , he divined that their owner must be as wealthy as some nations . About three in the morning he managed to raise the meteorite ; refilled the trench ; and since it still rained , rolled the meteorite to the hollow of the elm , put on his caftan , and with his back on the interior of the tree , his feet on the meteorite , tumbled into a wonderful slumber . He was awaked by a footstep , and , starting , saw rocking along the forest path one Farmer Pollock , wearing now fez and tassel , and he saw his clothes all clay , and , with a smile of fondness , saw how , even beneath its grime , the meteor dodged and jeered , with frolic leers , in the beams of a bright morning that seemed to him the primal morning , a fresh wedding-morning , swarming with elves and shell-tinted visions , imps and pixy princes , profligate Golcondas . Going first to the spot where he had digged , to give to the surface a natural look , he trampled the lantern into the mire , threw the tin can far , then , taking a quantity of marl , plastered the meteorite , to cover its roughness ; then boldly left it , starting out with consummate audacity for Thring , where everybody , police and all , knew him well . A singular light now in his eyes , an evil pride ; and he had the step of a Prince in Prettyland .