Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1896-04-24
fslf Story Us AN l. b. B.

yVsIsc. as ! Nus waiting for my train ut
i,nerls,ui street, you're not u day older.
t.rSng hume to tea in the s;Inie old,
steady fashion? What, don't you know
tnef u should have known you any
whpIe!"
With puzzled eyes turned and stared
Mt q bug. bronzesl bsurtled man whom
han no recollection of having seen be-
fore, lie laughed loudly Mt my per
pls-Ai,y-so loudly thut several people
stared at us. which us stnid city man.
hsting 10 be conspicuous. l very much
disii~.d. Consequently IL was in NO
friendly fashion thut eyed the stranger,
who thus ;nosily claimed acquaintance,
Don't you remember Harry Down.
ham," he snid. at last, who worked
under you in that dug-hole of an office
song ngo-where I suppose you're still
rintling on in the same old way Z
iake:" he added, pcrcmptorily, thrust.
}i8 out huge sunburnt hand with
ich he grusped mine till my fingers
ere crushed. Nov you must come
tad dine with me. Your wife? Oh! she
'on't mind your playing truant for
'ncc:" and in a short time my master
fu acquaintance and were seated OPP
l'osite each other in n well-known
restaurant.
Yes. ! did now remember him. But
> he WIS changed indeed from the eiim
young fellow who had been the fightiest
clerk in the Office, and whose short
coninRs had, after innumerable grumb-
irnps on the part OF the firm. led TO his
dis mi$saI. Occasional surmiscs had
since been indulScd in by his former
comrades rs TO his career, none of them
Of complimentary kind. us candid
iy remarked.
''rhcy weren't SO for wrong" he I'M
swered. CNrcltrssly. 81 was never fit for
hundrum life and bricks and mortar.
The wild freedom of uncivilised regions
was my kleal. Would you like to hear
my adventures? though your rigid re-
spectability may be somewhat s.tdcly
shocked"
OF course / assented One always hns
certain curiosity about I'm acquaint-
ance who disappears in impecunious
Euise. md turns up years afterwards
With all the external signs OF wealth
which Downham showed in rather too
sronoaacrd a fashion for good taste.
Where haze you come from ?" said,
looking Mt his bronzed face curiously.
From South Africa. Landed at
Southampton: :.o days aso. al; {. 60
ing bnck7 No. sir. not MUCH. 1t
-.Monlein't be heahrfy: The country's
too hot-ih Ill senses. I've mn,le my
pile. ahd am going TO settle down in the
ssai,ts, of France. where my sisters been
living ua q Eoverness for years. Poor
girl, she'll know what leisure nnd luz
ury are now; and there's n charming
place I've bought there. Climate md
surroundings just suit me. for my chest,
Dig as look, sometimes gets wrong.
what have I done in South Africa?
All sorts OF things. lIut my last and
most, or rnther sole. successful part WAS
that OF an I. ID. e."
looked ut him in some pcrpicxity.
-isos wbnt he meant could not guess.
1f9Ft Io watched me with an amused smile.
"fou seem puzzled. old man." he said
Its nothing to do with dynamite q
startcd-being nervous mani. Not
hut what explosions Of a sort arc some
times its consequences. ! thought you
knew what those mysterious initials
meant They're us plain in South
Africa as A d C in your foGgy island.
j. ID. Is. means an Illicit diamond buyer.
An Illicit diamond is one which has
hs,en conveyed-good word that,
Shakespearean, isn't it?-from the
mine in other than legal fashion. And
heres deal of legality. let me tell
You. in diamond digging. There's a big
staff of officials to look after 1t. Illicit
diamonds are usually found and dis
posed of by the Kaflirs employed in
the mines-though by no means only by
fhein-and sold much below their value
tc--wel!-speculators like myself, who
take their chance in view of the big
profit"
"What?" | gnsped. "Then you have
actually bought-stolen property"
Well" he said, doolIy refilling our
glasses, that's perhaps your way of
putting 1t here. It's not ours in South
Africa. Besides. think I've heard even
in this respectable city of money lend
ers buying reversions for a mere song.
and spectators purchasing stocks and
shares from Respondent holders, know
ing secretly that those stocks and
shares were going up in day or two
with bound. Also OF houses and land
bought from private knowledge OF n
speedy demand for them. for n triflc. the
sellers being quite ignorant of it.
VaseDt you heard of such things?"
ibid 70, reply. was toomuch upset.
Here was |. n head clerk of many years
standing. dining and drinking cham
Iagne at the cost of an illicit diamond
hnyer.
However" he resumed. somewhat
tsirfsy. u don't ask for your approval;
sinpiy wanted to nmusc you with the
STORY of my adventures: SO you may
tnagine I'm soliloquizing.
'Why should the mining companies
have the monopoly of all the diamond
yielding districts?" he continued, in n
fierce tone land | thought II best TO
drink my champagne since the bottle
was opened. and say nothing-these
ndventurers sometimes carry revolvers.
beiieve). There's big profit in these
fhiupa. The law ia very str;poort 81