The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-06-29

must near have broken it. 1 thought
he was dead when l dragged him on
board and shouted to my servants to
bring a light.
ITO be brief, it was the hunchback.
He recovered consciousness, but was
too we'll 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. 1 lost the dia-
mond.'
"It took me some time to make him
understand that my interest in him
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 a
dozen times in that enormous heart of
Africa. He was sure that l was fol-
lowing 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 civiliza-
ton 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 l was too much for
him and that it must be a question of
his life or mine.
81 was never in my life so sorry for
anyone. Poor little cripplel Think of
what he undertook as the lifework and
of what he performed to achieve his
end.
IL told him frankly that I 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 l didn't
believe he had lost it. 1 offered to keep
him on board and nurse him and see
that he had fair play al Cairo. But he
only shook his head and said: 'Sahib
it is written in my forehead that
die
when a native comes to that con-
clusion. 'nothing-at-all' will probably
prove fatal; but didn't want to have
the fellow die, either on his own ac-
count or to feel that his death was on
my hands. I 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 a lump
there. That is the diamond, sahib,
he said. I had it in my mouth, and
when the sahib struck l swallowed 1t.
Therefore, 1 die.
"In native South African threats
there is a natural or frequently devel-
oped cavity back of the tongue, where
they can often deposit anything no
larger than an egg, eating, drinking,
talking, without dislodging it and
| bring it 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. 1 ask him to take it as soon
as | am dead. Swear to me that you
will take it, sahib.'
HE died, of course. l had no power
to save him. 1 took the diamond and
buried him as decently as we could
there on the bank of the Nile. Pooc
little fellow.
We'll, the diamond was mine; mine,
however you looked at it. 1 honestly
| believed that it belonged to the huncl0-
back and he had freely given it to me.
If it was not his, then it was the prop
erty of the mines, and by the terms
| of my wager, in the managers own
handwriting, the largest rough dia
! mond in their possession was to be
mine if this particular stone was not
| in the hands of the cutters in Amster-
dam when l reached Cairo. No legal
authority could take it from me. But
! the horrors of it's CHASTITY record, for
ever staring me in the face. were al
most too much for me even before [
could reach Cairo, deposit it with the
| British office and cable the manager
! at Kimberley to send and get it. l
would not have kept that diamond If
! they had added to it more gold than
/ could carry on my back
Upon my word, Jack" his friend 70
marked. Il believe that 1 agree with
you. Did you ever get news of It?
| Ever see 1t again?'
Never, Rob, until tonight, whe@ I
saw it on the spotless breast of your
divinity; a pure blue diamond without
a history, bloodstain or tragedy; an
defiled in its brief transit from na-
lures cold bosom to the brides warm
! heart"