The age-herald., 1901-12-08
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BY DEREK VANE. =.

himself. It might be [. o against one, but he would not turn o7ck now what ever the consequences. He grasped his revolver and waited.
 On came the galloping horses, the light, two-wheeIed cart swaying from side to side on the rough road, the Kaffir driver urging on his steeds with strange cries and deft application of the whip. Mark ham lay flat on the ground, where he could not be seen in the darkness; they were coming round the curve now.
 The next moment there was a sudden stumble, a shout, a wild confusion, and the cart lay overturned on the ground with the frightened, struggling horses. Markham darted forward. The Kaffir boy had been shot out a little way ahead and lay motionless; the white man had fallen by the side of the road, also in- sensible for by the light of one of the cart lamps Markham saw that his eyes were closed This was better than he had dared to hope. In minute he had dragged out the mail bag and cut it open.
 It might have been three or four hours later when Godfrey awoke from a heavy sleep and slowly sat up. At first he looked around vaguely, wondering where he was then; it all came back to him by degrees and, his head aching violent" ly and his knees trembling under him, he slowly rose to his feet.
 What had become of Markham? Had he robbed the mail on his own account and gone off with the booty? There were signs of a struggle in the road and fragments of wood and glass lay scat tered about; it was beginning to get light now and he could see that the earth had been torn up in places. He , cursed his folly and the fatal drink; had he had little self-control he might now have been safe, with money in his pock- ct. He did not know what had hap pened, and he felt that the sooner he got away from such dangerous place the better, so he struggled along in the op- posite direction to the Fields as quickly as he could
 He had not proceeded far when he heard the sound of horses galloping, and while he was looking around helplessly for hiding place on the bare veldt, two riders came in sight. They saw him almost immediately ana raised a shout. Too frightened to think what he was doing he began to run. In less than a minute he was overtaken, and in little more he was strapped, struggling and vociferating to one of the horses and was being dragged back to the Diamond
 
 had returned, then men telling how tho horses had been tripped up by a string stretched across the road and they themselves thrown out and stunned. When they recovered their sensess the mail bag lay cut open in the road but there was no one in sight. On examina- tion the contents of the bag was found intact, with the exception of the packet of diamonds deposited by Messrs. Chuck stein and Levy; that had disappeared.
 When we get back to camp there'll be plenty of time to enquire into your innocence" said one of the men roughly in answer to Godfreys protestations "and to find out the friend you are so anxious to give up. If you had nothing to do with it how do you happen to be here at this time of night, and why did you run awayT' The two men had rid den hard in the hope of getting on the track of the thieves, and were not to be baulked of their prey; it was to the in- terest of everyone with property at the Fields to punish such outrages
 They were riding back slowly and in silence-for Godfrey was too exhausted to walk fast-when sudden sound smota the still air, which in this desolate land was of an almost deathly stiffness, un- broken even by the twittering of birds The men checked their horses to listen and they heard it again. This time fl sounded like something human and they caught the direction from which 1t came. It seemed only a little way off on the veldt.
 They walked carefully towards the sound and came upon a man stretched out upon the grass who was grooming heavily. Godfrey sprang forward.
 'There he is!-that is himi'' he cried excitedly. "The man who robbed the mail"
 At the sound of voices Markham looked up, and one of the men who had seen death too often not to recognize his presence, saw that he was beyond help.
 I'm done for" he murmured, and each word cost him a breath and his eyes were already dim and glazed. 'The horse kicked me In the chest-the brute.'
 The man poured some whisky down his throat. Tt was you who robbed the mail, then?" he said. What have you done with the diamonds? You may as well tell us they won't be any use to you now"
 '"Tha diamonds' muttered Markham incoherently-'the diamonds?' Then he seemed to recollect. -'I didn't get them it was a swindle. I-' Then his head fell back and in few minutes he was dead.
 Various people fell under suspicion with regard to the disappearance of Messrs. Gluckstein and Levy's diamonds, .and nobody could be made responsible for the loss. The diamonds were gone, that fact was certain enough; how they had gone seemed likely to remain a mys- tery. A few held the opinion that Mark ham must have hidden them some where before he died. others that God frey Faulkner was the thief. and he was warned off the Fields. Not knowing where else to go he drifted back to Cape Town.
 A week or two later he was down at the docks one afternoon making one of the idle crowd which always assemblies to watch the departure of the mail steamer The Lowther Castle should have sailed for England nearly an hour ago. but was unaccountably delayed. As he leant listlessly over the railings suddenly Godfrey gave great start and before he could be stopped he had rushed on board and seized hold of a man who had just come up the companion way.
 'I've got you at lastr' he shouted. Give me back my money-where's the pocket book you stole from under my pillow? Here, officer. l give this man In charge for theft" and he dragged his struggling prisoner toward the tangway, where stood an Inspector of Police. The man, who was none other than the lost thief Paul Whitaker, tried in vain to pacify him, whispering that all and more than he had taken should be repaid if he would only let him go; Godfrey was beside himself with rage-he attributed all his subsequent misfortunes to the loss of his money-and nothing but ven- geance would satisfy him. -
 The landlord of the Blue Boar was fetched and also identified the prisoner