Now if you want to keep out
of trouble, tell me--whence came it into the hands of that man,
Karl?"
"Baas," replied Footsack, trembling all over, "how do I know? He
and the rest have been working at the mines; I suppose he found
it there."
"Indeed! And did he find others of the same sort?"
"I think so, Baas. At least he said that he had been buying
bottles of gin with such stones all the way down from Kimberley.
Karl is a great drunkard, Baas, as I am sure, who have known him
for years."
"That is not all," I remarked, keeping my eyes fixed on him.
"What else did he say?"
"He said, Baas, that he was very much afraid of returning to the
Baas Marnham whom the Kaffirs call White-beard, with only a few
stones left."
"Why was he afraid?"
"Because the Baas Whitebeard, he who dwells at Tampel, is, he
says, a very angry man if he thinks himself cheated, and Karl is
afraid lest he should kill him as another was killed, he whose
spook haunts the wood through which those silly people feared to
pass last night."
"Who was killed and who killed him?" I asked.
"Baas, I don't know," replied Footsack, collapsing into sullen
silence in a way that Kaffirs have when suddenly they realize
that they have said too much. Nor did I press the matter
further, having learned enough.
What had I learned? This: that Messrs. Marnham & Rodd were
illicit diamond buyers, I.D.B.'s as they are called, who had
cunningly situated themselves at a great distance from the scene
of operations practically beyond the reach of civilized law.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52