at the claim was a bad one. But the part I had
played in the whole business, more especially in the visit to Inanda's
Kraal, had made me a kind of popular hero, and the Government thought
better of their first attitude. Besides, Arcoll had great influence,
and the whole story of my doings, which was told privately by him to
some of the members of the Government, disposed them to be generous.
Accordingly they agreed to treat the contents of the cave as ordinary
treasure trove, of which, by the law, one half went to the discoverer
and one half to the Crown.

This was well enough so far as the gold was concerned, but another
difficulty arose about the diamonds; for a large part of these had
obviously been stolen by labourers from the mines, and the mining
people laid claim to them as stolen goods. I was advised not to
dispute this claim, and consequently we had a great sorting-out of the
stones in the presence of the experts of the different mines. In the
end it turned out that identification was not an easy matter, for the
experts quarrelled furiously among themselves. A compromise was at
last come to, and a division made; and then the diamond companies
behaved very handsomely, voting me a substantial sum in recognition of
my services in recovering their property. What with this and with my
half share of the gold and my share of the unclaimed stones, I found
that I had a very considerable fortune. The whole of my stones I sold
to De Beers, for if I had placed them on the open market I should have
upset the delicate equipoise of diamond values. When I came finally to
cast up my accounts, I found that I had secured a fortune of a trifle
over a quarter of a million pounds.

The wealth did not dazzle so much as it solemnized me. I had no
impulse to spend any part of it in a riot of folly. It had come to me
like fairy gold out of the void; it had been bought with men's blood,
almost with my own. I wanted to get away to a quiet place and think,
for of late my life had been too crowded with drama, and there comes a
satiety of action as well as of idleness. Above all things I wanted to
get home. They gave me a great send-off, and sang songs, and good
fellows shook my hand till it ached. The papers were full of me, and
there was a banquet and speeches. But I could not relish this glory as
I ought, for I was like a boy thrown violently out of his bearings. Not
till I was in the train nearing Cape Town did I recover m