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."

"Wouldn't whited sepulchre be a better term, especially as it
seems to cover dead men's bones?" he replied in his frivolous
manner.

Then I asked him what he was going to do about Footsack and the
bottle of gin, which he countered by asking me what I was going
to do with that diamond.

"Give it to you as Footsack's master," I said, suiting the action
to the word. "I don't wish to be mixed up in doubtful
transactions."

Then followed a long argument as to who was the real owner of the
stone, which ended in its being hidden away be produced if called
for, and in Footsack, who ought have had a round dozen, receiving
a scolding from his master, coupled with