Franklin and Betteredge remain sitting at the Shivering Sands, and Franklin explains how his father, in need of papers that Herncastle held, came to be John Herncastle's executor. Herncastle had also entrusted the diamond to Franklin's father for safe-keeping and left him instructions to hold the diamond safe as long as Herncastle lived and died naturally, but to send it to Amsterdam to be cut up into separate stones in the event of Herncastle's death by violence. Thus Herncastle made the safety of the stone in one piece dependent upon his own safety. Franklin explains that the diamond has a flaw in the center and would have been worth more as separate pieces, so the diamond was wanted in one piece for spiritual, not economic, reasons. This has led Franklin to believe that Herncastle was trying to safeguard his life from the Indians who originally owned the jewel and had followed it to England.