road."

"How long ago did he leave you, sir?"

"I--I am sorry to say it was five weeks ago."

"Five weeks! and not come yet. Ah! the wild beasts!--the diggers!--the
murderers! He is dead!"

"God forbid!" faltered Staines; but his own blood began to run cold.

"He is dead. He has died between this and the dreadful diamonds. I shall
never see my darling again: he is dead. He is dead."

She rushed out of the room, and out of the house, throwing her arms
above her head in despair, and uttering those words of agony again and
again in every variety of anguish.

At such horrible moments women always swoon--if we are to believe the
dramatists. I doubt if there is one grain of truth in this. Women seldom
swoon at all, unless their bodies are unhealthy, or weakened by the
reaction that follows so terrible a shock as this. At all events,
Phoebe, at first, was strong and wild as a lion, and went to and fro
outside the house, unconscious of her body's motion, frenzied with
agony, and but one word on her lips, "He is dead!--he is dead!"

Dick followed her, crying like a child, but master of himself; he got
his people about her, and half carried her in again; then shut the door
in all their faces.

He got the poor creature to sit down, and she began to rock and moan,
with her apron over her head, and her brown hair loose about her.

"Why should he be dead?" said Dick. "Don't give a man up like that,
Phoebe. Doctor, tell us more about it. Oh, man, how could you let him
out of your sight? You knew how fond the poor creature was of him."

"But that was it, Mr. Dale," said Staines. "I knew his wife must pine
for him; and we had found six large diamonds, and a handful of small
ones; but the market was glutted; and to get a better price, he wanted
to go straight to Cape Town. But I said, 'No; go and show them to your
wife, and see whether she will go to Cape Town.'"

Phoebe began to listen, as was evident by her moaning more softly.

"Might he not have gone straight to Cape Town?" Staines hazarded this
timidly.

"Why should he do that, sir? Dale's Kloof is on the road."

"Only on one road. Mr. Dale, he was well armed, with rifle and revolver;
and I cautioned him not to show a diamond on the road. Who would molest
him? Diamonds don't show, like gold. Who was to know he had three
thousand pounds hidden under his armpits, and in two barrels of his
revolver?"

"Three thousand pounds!" cried Dale. "You trusted HIM with three