II. TWO CHILDREN 352
XXIX. IMMACULATE 357
XXX. MAN AND WIFE 365
XXXI. EVA DIRKMAL 373
XXXII. CRUSHED 378
XXXIII. CHARCOAL 387
XXXIV. CSANTA'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 395
XXXV. THE GROUND BURNS UNDER HIS FEET 401
XXXVI. CHILD'S PLAY 406
XXXVII. EUREKA 411
XXXVIII. AT PAR 419
XXXIX. THE UNDERGROUND WORLD 428
XL. ANGELA IS EVEN WITH IVAN 442
XLI. HOW IVAN MOURNED 450
XLII. EVILA 453
XLIII. THE DIAMOND REMAINED ALWAYS A DIAMOND 459

BLACK DIAMONDS

CHAPTER I

A BLACK PLACE

We are in the depths of an underground cavern. It is bad enough to be
underground, but here we are all enveloped in black as well: the
ceiling is black, so are the walls; they are made of blocks of coal.
The floor is one great black looking-glass. It is a sort of pond,
polished as steel. Over this polished surface glistens the reflection
of a solitary light, the light of a safety-lamp shining through a wire
net.

A man guides himself over the pond in a narrow boat. By the doubtful
light of the lamp he sees high pillars, which rise out of the depths
below and reach to the very roof of the cavern--pillars slender, like
the columns of a Moorish palace. These pillars are half white and half
black; up to a certain point only are they coal black, beyond that
they are light in color.

What are these pillars?

They are the stems of pines and palm-trees. These gigantic stems are
quite at home in the layers over the coal-mine, but how have they
descended here? They belong to another world--the world of light and
air. The coal layers overhead sometimes take fire of themselves, and
the fire, being intense, has loosened the hold of these giants and
sent them below.

Coal-pits kindle of themselves often, as every novice knows, but in
this case who extinguished the flames? That is the question.

The solitary occupant of the rudely shaped boat or canoe goes
restlessly here and there, up and down. He is a man of about thirty
years, with a pale face and a dark beard. His firmly closed lips give
him an expression of earne