he gulf, they soon rounded the spur. It was even
as Renshaw had conjectured. The ground became more broken. By dint of
a not very difficult climb, they soon descended about a hundred feet.
But here they were pulled up by a cliff--not sheer indeed, but
apparently unnegotiable. It dropped a matter of thirty feet on to a
grassy ledge some six yards wide, thence without a break about twice
that depth to the bottom of the crater.

"We can negotiate that, I guess!" cried Renshaw, joyously, as he unwound
a long coil of raw-hide rope. "I came prepared for a far greater drop,
but we can do it well here. I don't see any other place that seems more
promising. And now I look at it, this must be the very point Greenway
himself tried from. Look! That must be the identical rock he squatted
under while the Bushmen were peppering him. Yes, by Jove, it must!"
pointing to a great overhanging mass of stone which rose behind them.
"Why, he had already found a diamond or two even here. What shan't we
find down yonder?"

There was a boyish light-heartedness about Renshaw now, even surpassing
the spirits of his companion. The latter stared. But the consciousness
of being within touch of fabulous wealth is a wonderful incentive to
light-heartedness.

He measured off a length of the rope for the shorter drop. Then they
drove in a crowbar, and, securing the rope, a very few minutes sufficed
to let themselves down to the grassy ledge.

"Pheugh! that's something of a job!" cried Sellon, panting with the
exertion of the descent. "Something of a job, with all this gear to
carry as well. I could have sworn once the whole thing was giving way
with me. I say, couldn't we leave our shooting irons here, and pick
them up on the way back?"

"H'm! Better not. Never get a yard away from your arms in an enemy's
country!"

The reply was unpleasantly suggestive. To Sellon it recalled all his
former apprehensions. What a trap they would be in, by the way, in the
event of a hostile appearance on the scene.

"You're right," he said. "Let's get on."

The second crowbar was driven in. This time they had some difficulty in
fixing it. The turf covering the ledge was only a few inches thick.
Then came the hard rock. At length a crevice was struck, and the
staunch iron firmly wedged to within a few inches of its head.

"Our string is more than long enough," said Renshaw, flinging the
raw-hide rope down the face of the rock. The end tr