he old pretext: that I had bought diamonds and
was carrying them off. He searched again, and then I told him the
simple truth--that you two had volunteered to carry despatches so as to
get clear off with the swag you had acquired--after accusing me; but he
professed not to believe me, and took me back to Kimberley, but the very
next day he started off with half-a-dozen men to fetch you back, and I
came away."

"With the diamonds you had hidden?" said Ingleborough sharply.

"Perhaps," replied Anson coolly. "So, you see, you had better join our
party, for even if you escaped it would only be for the police
superintendent to get hold of you both, and if he did, you wouldn't find
him such an excellent friend."

"Wants thinking about!" said Ingleborough drily. "But `our'
party--`our'?"

"Yes," said Anson coolly. "I've made up my mind to belong to the right
owners of the country for a long time past. We've got the gold at
Johannesburg, and the diamonds at Kimberley are ours by right, and we're
going to have them."

There was a murmur of satisfaction from the Boers at this, and Anson
went on nonchalantly: "That is one reason why I consented to serve the
company in such a beggarly position. I wanted to learn all I could
about the mining so that it might come in useful when we of the Boer
party took possession."

"And then, I suppose," said Ingleborough, "you'll expect to be
manager-in-chief?"

"Well, I don't go so far as that," said Anson; "but, with my knowledge
of the management of the mining business, I feel sure my Boer friends
will find it to their advantage to retain me high up on the staff. You
see, there are so many things in the way of checking losses which I have
mastered."

"Stopping the illicit-diamond-buying and selling, for instance," said
Ingleborough sarcastically.

"Exactly!" replied Anson, apparently without noticing the sarcasm; "and
I've been thinking that no doubt I could put a good thing in both your
ways. Of course, we have been bad enough friends; but I'll pass over
all that if you'll serve me as faithfully as you did the company. What
do you say?"

"Say?" cried West.

"Stop! Hold hard, Oliver!" cried Ingleborough, stopping him short;
"this is a thing that can't be settled in a minute. We want time. All
I say now, Mr Anson, is that I'm glad we bear such a good character,
seeing that we are illicit-diamond-dealers escaping with the plunder
that we haven't got."

"Exactly!" sa