| Rafael Solano, his back bent, his shoulders crushed by | | | | the sand. He wriggled it around in the moist sand until |
| an invisible weight, sat on a boulder in the dry river bed. | | | | he touched a large, hard object. He pulled out a |
| He lifted his head up slowly. It weighed a ton. He spoke | | | | sand-encrusted pebble about the size of a hen's egg. |
| in a low voice, his words almost incomprehensible. He | | | | He bounced the heavy pebble in his hand, a little |
| mumbled again to his two friends. | | | | surprised by the weight of it. His friends watched in |
| "I quit." | | | | awe as he brushed the pebble clean. |
| They stopped gathering pebbles and looked at him. | | | | The millionth pebble, the largest and purest diamond |
| "I can't go on. I don't believe in it anymore." | | | | ever found, was sold in New York to Harry Winston, a |
| The sweat glistened on his brow. The brilliant sun had | | | | jewel dealer. He paid Rafael Solano $2,000,000 for the |
| parched his face to a network of fine blood vessels. | | | | diamond. |
| Dark shadows outlined his eyes. | | | | The millionth pebble was affectionately named, "The |
| He held up a pebble in his hand. "The next one will be a | | | | Liberator." |
| million" | | | | Success Principle |
| He threw the pebble down. It bounced off another | | | | When all else fails, persist. |
| stone and lay shining in the sunlight. | | | | Rafael Solano and his friends had a wild dream. There |
| The year was 1942; the country, Venezuela. | | | | was nothing sensible about this dream. It was, in fact, |
| Long hard months had passed for the three men | | | | so far-flung, so outrageous, that a sensible person |
| prospecting for diamonds in the watercourse of their | | | | would have dismissed it at the first thought. They |
| native country. They had worked relentlessly, driven by | | | | wanted to find diamonds. After much inquiry, they |
| greed, by passion, by an outrageous hope for the | | | | found a spot that had a reputation for being a possible |
| future. They had stooped and gathered pebbles from | | | | site. |
| sunup to sundown. They had fought off | | | | The men worked long and hard in apparently futile |
| discouragement with talk about how they would spend | | | | labor. They kept each others spirits up, and when, at |
| their new found wealth. But all they ever found were | | | | the 999,999th pebble Rafael Solano was about to give |
| pebbles. Now, as they all faced each other, their | | | | up, his friends pushed him to continue. |
| clothes were torn and filthy, merely rags, clinging to | | | | Then as if on a cue, the universe gave back the men |
| their gaunt bodies. They stank of long months of | | | | a million fold return on their sweat equity. After months |
| unwashed sweat, which had soaked into skin, hair, and | | | | of not having the slightest clue that they were in the |
| what was left of their clothes. | | | | right place, suddenly, quite unexpectedly, a diamond |
| "Pick up another pebble," urged one of Rafael's friends. | | | | showed up, and it was a diamond of such epic |
| "Make it a million." | | | | proportions that they did not have to try any more. |
| Solano sank down on his knees and sank his hands in | | | | |