Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-28

jaws. thrust over the rail some ten feet
away 1t was all that could see. but the
fellow evidently located me, all right >
THE outline disappeared, and 1 heard a
faint ripple In the water as the fellow
worked his way slowly toward me. The
river thiveS on the Nile are an Internal lot,
ready to murder any zone just as a sports
man shoots a deer simply because he
comes within range. I decided to teach this
one a lesson, l punched my pillow up
under my helmet and mosquito net, and
mussed things together to look as much
like me in the dark as ldossible, loosened
the long rudder arm-fot a club, slipped
from the platform and hid in the shadow
Il did not lose second. bat the black
ball appeared amostA before l was ready
1t came up cautiously but steadily It'll the
head was well over the rail and the body
supported by one extended arm. The free
hand rose. l could justT catch the line of
the dirk. and it was so fascinating watch
ing myself being murdered that L nearly
forgot what l was there for, till the hard
fell, suddenly, and my club with it. -
A natives head is solid stuff, and l struck
accordingly, without the least intention of
doing him any real injury, but I was ner
vous, and maybe struck harder than 1
meant. Being dark, too, did not see that
his chin and all was the rail, his
throat resting on it. My club came down
square on the back of his neck. and must
near have broken it,. l thought he was
dead when 1 dragged him on board and
shouted to my servants to bring Light.
To be brief, it was the hunchback. He
spoiled to move After looking at me
steadily for ten minutes he said in a weak
voice: You have killed me. sahib. You
will have the hundred pounds, but that is
all. [ lost the Diamond T..
at took me some time to make him I'M
derstand that my interest in MIN centered
in curiosity as to why he went out of his
way to murder me; but it finally developed
that. unknown to me, he had actually
lodged me dozen times in that enormous
heart of Africa. He was that 1 was
following him in the interest of the mines
and was hoping at last that he had slipped
me when my boat passed his and anchored
just below it, on the Nile, at the threshold
of the civilization of which he had heard
such awful tales, where 1 should be at
home and he a stranger. The poor fellow
made up his mind that 1 was too much for
him and that it must be question of his
life mine.
q was never in my life so sorry for any
one. Poor little cripple! Think of what
he undertook as his lifework and of what
he performed to achieve his end.
Il told him frankly that L believed the
diamond was his: that-.I heard the baas
say he was welcome to it if he could carry
it away, and that l would help him keep
it-for of course 1 didn't believe he had lost
1t. l offered to keep him on board and
nurse him and see that he had fair play at
Cairo. But he only shook his head and
said: Sahib, it is written in my forehead
that die
when a native comes to that conclusion,
HOtHlIiS -dl-dll VIII prove 1atal,
but l didn't want to have the fellow die,
either on his own account or to feel that
his death was my hands. l resolved to
save him and began feeling gently about
his neck to see if he was really very badly
hurt. He caught my hand and pressed it
into him. near the abdomen, just under the
last rib There was lump there. That is
the diamond, sahib, he said. I had it in
my mouth and when the sahib struck |
swallowed it. Therefore | die
I'm the native South African Threats there
is natural or frequently developed cavity
back of the tongue where they can often
eating, drinking, talking, without dislodgng
it and bring up again at will. Presently
the hunchback went on: when l thought
the sahib was my enemy would not tell
him. But he is my friend. l ask him to
take it soon as l am dead. Swear to me
that you will take it, Sahib'
He died, of course. I had no power to
save him. I took the diamond and buried
him as decently as we could there on the
bank of the Nile. Poor little fellow.
Well the diamond was mine mine how
ever you looked at 1t. ] honestly believed
that it belonged to the hunchback and he
had freely given it to me. If it was not
his; then it was the property of the mines,
and by the terms of my wager in the man
ayers own handwriting, the largest rough
diamond in their possession was to be mine
if this particular stone was not in the hands
of the cutters in Amsterdam when I reached
Cairo. No legal authority could take it
from me. But the horrors of its CHASTITY
record, forever staring, me in the face, were
almost too much for me even before could
reach Cairo, deposit it with the British Of
flee and cable the manager at Kimberly to
send and get it. l would not have kept !
that diamond if they had added to it more
gold than l could carry on my back
Upon my word, Jack his friend re-
marked. Il believe that I agree with you |
Did you ever get news Of it? Ever see it
again."
Never, Rob, until tonight, when I saw it |
on the spotess breast of your divinity; a |
pure blue diamond without a history blood |
stain or tragedy: undefiled in its brief tran
sit from natures cold bosom to the brides
warm heart"