Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-12-18
The ROSE DIAMOND.

S~pectacled, MISUNDERSTANDING man
Ned Girard and myself were the suffer.
ING inmates of a nondescript vehicle OF
the stage wagon pattern, drawn by six
small horses, EN- route from the Bloom
~fontein diamond fields Of South Africa
for Wellington, thence by rail to Cape
Town.
Two-thirdS of the terrible Journey
had already been accomplished, vet
there were still some two hundred and
fifty miles of travel over the s~un-beaten
plain and arid desert before us, with
the mercury at one hundred and two in
such shade alone as our tilted convey
ance afforded-for in truth there was
no other.
Our eyes were blurred by the glare
of the sun, whose RAYS beat down upon
the desert from an unclouded sky,
which was rs brass above us. We
were parched with thirst, which the
lukewarm water on the route failed to
slake; and though continually drowsy,
could not sleep at all because Of the
heat, the sand-liies, burning feet, and
intense u engendered by the
foregoing, with the other discomforts
incidental to a stage journey of some
hundreds of miles through South AT
RIGA.
Most of us knew each other by
sight, having met daily for some
months in and about the mining field
which we had left. But | will venture
to state that six more surly, unsocial
fcllow-passengers than our dusty, I'M
shorn selves were perhaps never thrown
together.
If Ned and myself were a little
more pronounced in general disagreed
blencss than the others, we considered
that we had ample provocation there
for. For thirteen months we had
been toiling and perspiring, taking
turns in the dump or i'll our twenty
four foot mining claim, as the case
might be, In nearly a wear of unre-
hitting toll we had barely succeeded
in washing out enough small stones
the African term for diamonds-with
which to meet our running expenses;
and then one stroke of the pick had
unearthcd a rosc-diamond of such size
and purity that for full sixty minutes
our good fortune was the talk Of Boem-
fontcin.
Well, that night, after our frugal
supper, Ned extended the precious gem
toward me in his open palm, rs we sat
at our rude table in our caa~vas-covered
cabin. | do not answer for the scope
of my partners vision, of course. But
in the uncut brilliant, as in the magi-
clans stones, | myself saw bu one
obicct-a sweet, wistful face, framed
in "A wreath of dark hair within the
depths of whose soft eyes was a look
of patient waiting for the return Of
him who had gone to seek his fortune
in the diamor d fields.
"Homc?' vas Ned's in~terrogative
query, raising his own eyes, which had
bent upon the gem with a sort of far
away look, to meet my own suddenly
upturned gaze.
"Home!' | echoed with joyous en-
phasis.
But hardly had the word escaped my
lips when a tall form dashed through
the door, and, upsetting the candle by
a single blow, seized the diamond from
Ned's outstretched hand. and was off
in the darkness, the whole event having
taken place in far less time than | oc-
cupied 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 the town turned out, it
was to no purpose. The robber and
his plumber had disappeared.
SO it was that being in local parlance
down on our luck" Ned and myself,
Disguised and discouraged, had sold
our claim to a couple of newcomers
for about three hundred pounds, and
with those composing our present stage
coach party had taken passage, as
have said, for Wellington, intending to
return home, wen though with heavy
hearts and light pockets.
Beside the small, specialized man,
who had represented himself as a sort
of a colporteur for a religious society
at Cape Towr eur fellow passengers
comprised two diamond brokers, to-
gether with a very young and boasttul
fellow who called himself MArthur.
The latter had been very successful.
and it was with feelings of envy that
we heard him relate the result of two
weeks work in a deserted claim,
where, as he informed us with many
profane ass~everations, he had struck a
pocket from which he had taken
stones whose value he declared was ut
least four thousand pounds.
These he carried in a belt about his
waist, together with a considerable
sum of money from the sale of his
iii. -.-Ilg1 a. ..tl