St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-12-08
CAPE DIAMONDS.
A Detective Story.

With four other masculine fellow sui
4ferers-one of whom was a small spec
tacled, inoffensive-l looking manned
Girard and myself were the suffering
inmates Of a nondescript vehicle of the
;stage-wagon pattern, drawn by six
small Cape horses, en- route from the
Bloemfontein diamond fields of South
Africa for Wellington, thence by rail to
Cape Town.
Two-thirds of the truly terrible jour
ney had already been accomplished, yet
there were still some two hundred and
fifty miles of travel over sun-beat plain
and arid desert before us, with the mer-
curry at 102 degrees, in such shade
alone as our tilted conveyance afforded
for, in truth, there was no other.
Our eyes were blurred and blinded
by the ceaseless glare of the sun, whose
rays beat down on the sandy desert
from the unclouded sky, which was as
brass before us. Our bodies were sore
and bruised by the unceasing jar and
jolt of our rudely- hung vehicle. We
were parched with thirst, which the
lukewarm water along the route utterly
failed to slake; and though continually
~drowsy could neither sleep by day nor
by night, because of the intense heat,
the sand-fiies, swelled and burning feet,
and intense nervousness engendered by
the foregoing, with the other discom-
forts and sufferings incidental to a
stage Journey of some hundreds of miles
sthrough South Africa.
The most of us knew each other by
sight, through having met from day to
day for some months, in and about the
mining field which we had left. But
will venture to state that six more sur
ly, unsocial fellow passengers than our
dusty, unshorn selves were perhaps
never literally thrown together.
If Ned and myself were perhaps a
little more pronounced in general dis
sagreeableness than the others, we con-
.sidered, indeed, that we had ample
provocation therefor For thirteen
months we had been toiling and perspir-
ing, taking our several turns in the
dump or in our twenty -four foot
mining claim, as the case might be. In
nearly, if not quite, a year of unremit-
ting toll, we had barely succeeded in
washing out small s.stones' (the in
variable term for diamonds in South
Africa) with which to pay our running
expenses; and then one stroke of the
pick unearthed rose-diamond of such
size and purity that for full sixty min
utes our good fortune was the talk of
Bloemfontein.
Well, that night, after our frugal sup
per, Ned, without speaking, extended
the precious gem toward me in his open
palm, as we sat at our rude table, in
our canvas-covered cabin. / do not
answer for the scope of my partners
vision, of course. But in the uncut bril-
liant, as in the magician's stones, I my
self saw but one object--a sweet, visit
full face framed in a wreath of dark
hair, within the depths of whose soft
eyes was a look as of patient waiting
for the return of him who had gone to
seek his fortune in the far-away dia-
mond fields.
Homer was Ned's interrogative
query, raising his own eyes, which had
bent upon the gem, with sort of far
away look, to meet my own suddenly
upturned gaze.
/" Homen' echoed, with joyous en-
phasis.
But hardly had the word escaped my
lips when tall form dashed through
the door, and, upseting the candle by a
sudden blow, seized the diamond from
Ned's still outstretched hand, aid was
off in the darkness the whole event
having taken place in Tar less time than
/ have occupied in telling it.
OF course we gave the alarm as
quickly as we could regain our scat
tered ideas; but, though half the male
population Of Bloemfontein turned out,
it was to no purpose.
The rohber and his booty had disap-
peared. without the slightest clew.