The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-31
dlannond, saId- .Mnere AID vou pick

a diamond I said. Where did you pick
il up?
Dot boy Pombe, der Kaffir, find 1t
When he drife der sheep TO her kraaL lie
come to me and say he mooee clittee
-haf found-a beautiful stone, as you say.
And hat it. Vat you teenk? Is 1t some
dings vurtY
Il looked carefully at the stone again
and fancied its color as l turned II IN the
lampnght. I'm give you this pipe-lt
meersohaum from the block-and hVe
pounds of plug tobacco for It, sald'
"The Boer pondered on my offer, theh
rolled the stone up in a lambskin, put 1t
away and did not return to the subject
again that night. The next morning as
was inspannng my teams Van AsWeld
came over to the camp, bringing the
lambskin and it's Enclosure. Unrolling 1t
again he asked me:
''Vat you teenk to-day? Is 1t der pipe
und der tobacco VurtY
In the daylight the stone under ats
crust looked as dun as glass. l was pussy
with my men and oxen, all calling tor my
attention dozen different ways at once,
so 1 merely glanced at il. Van Asweld
had always been friendly to me. ala not
take much stock in the stone, but l saw
that he had taken fancy TO my pipe
1
yes. III stick to my offer I said, ex
pecting that he would take me up, but not
at all desiring that he should. 1t was his
Dutch slowness of thinking only, | believe
TO this dav, that kept him from doing II.
But he had to ponder the proposition over
again before he could come to a decision,
and as luck would have 1t, he sealed
himself i'm the shade of a tree. Now, there
are two things that bring out the unts OF
a diamond in perfection; the lights Oh
chandelier and the shade of a tree in a
bright day. The sunbeams, you see, sitt-
ing down through the moving leaves give
lust the play of light that brings out
everything there is i'm the stone. Van AS
,ve1ds eve caught the depth and glow OF
flame under the stones crushing that
had seen by the lamphght the night be
fore
AZ take my WOOL to Cape Town next
month he said at last. 1 show der stone
60 Lulifedt und find vat he say to IL. lie
rolled the stone up once more III 'he
lambskin, and my chance for getting the
'mooee clittee' was gone or course Qua
nor know what l was missing, and the
whole thing passed out of mind. did
NOT think of the stone again until my
meeting Van Asweld, three months later,
n Cape Town, reminded me of 1t.
DER lustre stone; you gif me der pipe
md tobacco for il now?' he said, with per-
feet gravity.
",oh YOU brought It to Lilhfeldts, did
vou?' | said. He told you, l suppose
| that II was a crystal worth two shilllnss
for a curiosity?
"sYaw. it vas crystal--a diamond like
a crystal bg-und he say he gif me no.
| Goo
..Ten thousand pounds" I repeated
| thinking that some one had been playing
! the old fellow joke. or course they
| paid you the money down
".Naw. I not dakes it, he answered
1T was the simple truth he told me-
! Lnlifeldt & Co had offered him 10000 for
the "mooee cIittee' and he had refused the
/ offer He took it back TO Naletown with
/ him. and there he squared matters with
! pombe. who found the stone. II was tho
customary agreement Of Boers with then
| Kafir employees that when a lad had
! served out his time with a master he
should receive from him ten sheep, yoke
| of oxen, and ak, ana some trinkets and
yards OF calico cloth. with these he could
| 30 buck 10 his people. buy % wife or Two
| and set up as "A man OF consideration iu
| the community. Van Asweld gave PombC
300 sheep. fOrty-eight goat. q wagon and
/ span Of sixteen oxen. which was weaiH
| for a Kaflir.
1.-THE Lilnfeidts got tho 'moocc cIittee
| az last paying Van AsWcld ul0p for me
Stone. which Doc was once within an nc,
J az parting with fOr f. meersehHum pip,
/ aud nYe p0unds of tobacco. ~ Doc bad
| not gone under the tree 100 think my 0ner
| oyer Z believe the great diamond-it weigh.
] 80 1898 carafs uncut would unge gone M
! iue I.llfridt u go. called fnr SION, "Th,
| Star ~ South Africa ana sent b. ln fhs
mail hifimfr ifi i9 London ural Hm