rest have been working at the mines; I suppose he found it there.” 

 “Indeed! And did he find others of the same sort?” 

 “I think so, Baas. At least he said that he had been buying bottles of gin with such stones all the way down from Kimberley. Karl is a great drunkard, Baas, as I am sure, who have known him for years.” 

 “That is not all,” I remarked, keeping my eyes fixed on him. “What else did he say?” 

 “He said, Baas, that he was very much afraid of returning to the Baas Marnham whom the Kaffirs call White-beard, with only a few stones left.” 

 “Why was he afraid?” 

 “Because the Baas Whitebeard, he who dwells at Tampel, is, he says, a very angry man if he thinks himself cheated, and Karl is afraid lest he should kill him as another was killed, he whose spook haunts the wood through which those silly people feared to pass last night.” 

 “Who was killed and who killed him?” I asked. 

 “Baas, I don’t know,” replied Footsack, collapsing into sullen silence in a way that Kaffirs have when suddenly they realize that they have said too much. Nor did I press the matter further, having learned enough. 

 What had I learned? This: that Messrs. Marnham & Rodd were illicit diamond buyers, I.D.B.‘s as they are called, who had cunningly situated themselves at a great distance from the scene of operations practically beyond the reach of civilized law. Probably they were engaged also in other nefarious dealings with Kaffirs, such as supplying them with guns wherewith to make war upon the Whites. Sekukuni had been fighting us recently, so that there would be a very brisk market for rifles. This, too, would account for Marnham’s apparent knowledge of that Chief’s plans. Possibly, however, he had no knowledge and only made a pretence of it to keep us out of the country. 

 Later on I confided the whole story and my suspicions to Anscombe, who was much interested. 

 “What picturesque scoundrels!” he exclaimed, “We really ought to go back to the Temple. I have always longed to meet some real live I.D.B.‘s.” 

 “It is probable that you have done that already without knowing it. For the rest, if you wish to visit that den of iniquity, you must do so alone.” 

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