o
his face from its very unusualness an individuality quite its own.

No one knew who he was or where he came from. They called him
"Handsome Jack," partly because of his good looks and also on account
of his reckless liberality with his cronies when flush. What his real
name was no one knew or cared. It was a time when no one asked
questions. As soon as the news of the astonishing diamond discoveries
reached Europe, men began to flock to South Africa. Adventurers from
all over the world gathered in Cape Town, a motley crew of incompetents
and blacklegs, an investigation into the antecedents of any of whom was
apt to have unpleasant results. That he was a professional gambler, he
made no attempt to conceal, and that he had knocked about the world a
good deal was also to be inferred from his wide knowledge of men and
places. A man of aggressive, domineering personality, he was not
without a certain following, attracted by his skill with cards and
dice, but he was more feared than liked, and his reputation as a
dangerous gunman kept inquisitive strangers at a safe distance. He was
well known in every den frequented by the criminal and vicious, and it
was in one of these resorts that Hickey had met him. The sailor had
lost all his savings at faro. Dead broke, he was ready for anything
which promised to recoup his fortunes. Handsome Jack laid before him a
scheme which would make them both rich beyond the dreams of avarice.
The recent discoveries on the Vaal had startled the world. A native
had picked up a stone weighing over 80 carats. They might be equally
lucky. All that was needed was pluck and patience. The plan was to
make their way as best they could to the Vaal fields, jump a claim, and
dig for diamonds.

They set out secretly, avoiding the larger caravans, making the long
trek across the great plateau, partly by ox wagon, partly on foot. The
trail led through a wild, desolate country, and gradually they left
civilization hundreds of miles behind them. As far as the eye could
reach in every direction was a monotonous desert of stone and sand,
broken every now and then by small kopjies, the sides and summits of
which were sparsely covered with thick brush and coarse grass.
Scattered here and there, some twenty miles apart, were the homesteads
of the Boer farmers and the thatched kraals of the dark-skinned
Kaffirs. Over this lonely waste sheep and cattle wandered undisturbed
by springbok, ostriches,