now that the sun was up they no longer feared the
haunted bush.

It came later, thus: We were trekking along between the thorns
upon a level and easy track which enabled the driver Footsack to
sit upon the "voorkisse" or driving box of the wagon, leaving the
lad who is called the voorlooper to lead the oxen. Anscombe was
riding parallel to the wagon in the hope of killing some
guineafowl for the pot (though a very poor shot with a rifle he
was good with a shot-gun). I, who did not care for this small
game, was seated smoking by the side of Footsack who, I noted,
smelt of gin and generally showed signs of dissipation. Suddenly
I said to him--

"Show me that diamond which the Bastard Karl gave you this
morning in payment for the bottle of your master's drink."

It was a bow drawn at a venture, but the effect of the shot was
remarkable. Had I not caught it, the long bamboo whip Footsack
held would have fallen to the ground, while he collapsed in his
seat like a man who has received a bullet in his stomach.

"Baas," he gasped, "Baas, how did you know?"

"I knew," I replied grandly, "in the same way that I know
everything. Show me the diamond."

"Baas," he said, "it was not the Baas Anscombe's gin, it was some
I bought in Pilgrim's Rest."

"I have counted the bottles in the case and know very well whose
gin it was," I replied ambiguously, for the reason that I had
done nothing of the sort. "Show me the diamond."

Footsack fumbled about his person, his hair, his waistcoat
pockets and even his moocha, and ultimately from somewhere
produced a stone which he handed to me. I looked at it, and from
the purity of colour and size, judged it to be a diamond worth
#200, or possibly more. After careful examination I put it into
my pocket, saying,

"This is the price of your master's gin and therefore belongs to
him as much as it does to anybody. Now if you want to keep out
of trouble, tell me--whence came it into the hands of that man,
Karl?"

"Baas," replied Footsack, trembling all over, "how do I know? He
and the 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