Chapter 3 Chapter two

He couldn't believe it.He wanted to look for any wounds on the mule from the previous night's attack by the wild beasts, but he couldn't find them.The mule died in his sleep. "Mr. van der Merwe will hold me accountable for it," thought Jamie, "but when I bring him back the diamonds, it won't matter." There was no turning back now, and he had to continue on to Magdam without mules.He heard a voice in the air and looked up.A large group of black vultures circled in the sky.Jamie shrugged.He sorted things out as fast as he could, decided what to throw away, put what he could in a backpack, and set off again.After five minutes, he looked back and saw that the big black vultures had covered the mule's carcass.All that can be seen is a long ear.Jamie quickened his pace and walked forward.

It's December, it's summer in South Africa, and it's a scary thing to hike across the grasslands under a huge orange sun.Jamie's pace was easy and he was in a good mood as he set off from Kripdrift.But as time passed—the minutes added to the hours, and the hours to the days—his pace slowed, and his heart grew heavy.As far as the eye could see was a dreary prairie, made even more forbidding by the harsh sunlight.These barren, rocky grasslands seem endless. When he came to a puddle of water, he pitched his tent there.He always had to sleep surrounded by all kinds of strange and frightening noises made by the beasts, but they didn't bother him anymore.They were proof that there was life in this hell, and it made him less alone.At dawn one day, Jamie saw a pride of lions.From a distance he saw a lioness, with a young impala in her mouth, approaching her mate and cubs.He put the impala in front of the lion, and left there when the lion devoured it.A daring cub pounces on the impala, opens its mouth and bites.At this time, the male lion stretched out its sharp claws and slammed the cub's face, killing the cub instantly.Then the male lion returned to the dead impala and continued to chew.After he's had his fill, the rest of the family come close to eat the rest.Jamie backed away from the scene slowly and continued on his way.

It took him almost two weeks to pass through the Caro Prairie.He wanted to give up more than once, because he was not sure whether he could finish the journey. "What a fool I am. I should go back to Cripdrift and ask Mr. van der Merwe to get me another mule. But what if Van der Merwe withdraws the deal? No, I was right not to go back." In this way, Jamie continued to move forward step by step.One day, he saw four figures approaching him in the distance. "I'm really out of my mind," thought Jamie. "It's a mirage." But the figure was getting closer, and Jamie's heart was beating wildly. "It's a man, there's someone here!" He wondered if he had forgotten how to speak.He tried his voice at the top of his voice in the afternoon heat, but it sounded like a dead man talking.The four men approached.It turned out that they were prospectors returning to Kripdrift.He looked exhausted, as if he had lost a battle.

"Hi!" said Jamie. They nodded.One of them said, "There's nothing up there, boy. We've searched all over. Don't waste your time, go back." Then, they all left. ※※※ Jamie didn't think about anything anymore, just stared at the empty wasteland ahead.The sun and the black flies were unbearable, and there was nowhere to hide.There are only thorns, but the branches and leaves have been trampled by elephants.Jamie's eyes were blinded by the sun, and his skin was stinging and dizzy.Every time he inhaled, his lungs almost seemed to explode.He was no longer walking but stumbling, unconsciously putting one foot in front of the other.One afternoon, the scorching sun was scorching him. He took off his backpack and fell to the ground. He was so tired that he couldn't even take a step.He closed his eyes, and dreamed that he was in a huge cauldron, and the sun was like a huge radiant diamond, blinding his eyes, as if trying to melt him.In the middle of the night he woke up again, shivering with cold.He forced himself to take a few mouthfuls of dried meat sticks and drink a few mouthfuls of warm water.He knew he had to get up and go on, for the land and the air were cooler before the sun rose.He struggled, but it took great effort to stand up, and it was easy to lie on the ground forever and never move forward. "I just want to sleep a little longer," thought Jamie.But something deep in his heart told him that if he did, he would never wake up again.He thought of the vultures, who were going to find his body, like the hundreds of others. "No, my body—my bones." He endured great pain and forced himself to stand up slowly.The backpack became so heavy that he couldn't even lift it.Jamie started walking again, dragging his backpack on the ground and moving forward slowly.He lost count of how many times he fell on the sand and staggered to his feet.At one point, he yelled into the predawn sky: "I'm Jamie McGregor, and I've got to get there. I've got to live. God, do you hear me? I've got to live..." Voices boomed above his head.

"You're looking for diamonds? You must be crazy, son. It's all a myth—a way of the devil to keep people from doing their jobs." "Why don't you tell us where you're going to get your money? It's half the world away. You don't have any money." "Mr. van der Merwe, I am the man you are looking for. Believe me, sir, I will work day and night. I will bring you back more diamonds than you can count." Before he starts, he's going to be finished. "You have two choices," Jamie said to himself, "go on, or stay here and die... die... die..."

These thoughts kept swirling in his mind. "You can go one more step," thought Jamie. "Come on, Jamie. One more step, one more step. One more..." Jamie McGregor struggled his way to Magdam two days later.The sunburn on his body had been infected for a long time, and now he was bleeding and pus all over his body, and his eyes were so swollen that he could hardly keep them open.He collapsed in the middle of the street like a heap of rags.When some sympathetic diamond diggers tried to help him untie the backpack, Jamie struggled with what little strength he had, yelling incoherently, "Don't touch my diamonds, don't touch my diamonds..."

Three days later, he woke up in a small and empty room, naked except for the bandages wrapped around his body.The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a plump middle-aged woman sitting beside his crib. "Oh...?" His voice was hoarse and low, unable to speak. "Don't worry, dear. You are sick." She gently lifted his bandaged head and gave him a sip of water from an iron cup. Jamie struggled to prop himself up on his elbows. "This is...?" He swallowed and asked again, "What kind of place is this?" "You're in Magdam. My name is Alice Jardin. This is my inn. You're going to be all right. You just need a good rest. Lie down, lie down."

Jamie panicked, remembering the stranger who was about to take his backpack. "Where are my things...?" He tried hard to get up from the cot, but the woman's gentle voice persuaded him. "Everything is here, don't worry, kid." She pointed to the backpack in the corner of the room. Jamie lay back on the clean sheets. "I'm here. I've achieved my goal. Everything will work out." ※※※ Alice Jardin is an angel not only to Jamie McGregor, but also to Magdam Half.In that mining city, there are adventurers with the same dream everywhere.She fed them, cared for them, and encouraged them.She is British and came to South Africa with her husband.At that time, his husband gave up his teaching position in Leeds, England, and decided to go to South Africa to dig diamonds.Just three weeks after arriving here, my husband died of a high fever.Yet she was determined to stay.From then on, the miners became her children.

She stayed at Jamie's bedside for four more days, feeding him, changing his bandages, and helping him recover.On the fifth day, Jamie was ready to wake up. "You know, Mrs. Jardin, how much I appreciate you! At the moment, I can't repay you. But, one day, you will get a big diamond from me. This is from me, Jamie McGregor. ensure." Seeing the eager look of this handsome young man, she smiled.He had lost twenty pounds and was emaciated, his pale gray eyes still tinged with terror, but there was still a strength, a formidable determination. "He's really different," thought Mrs. Jardine.

※※※ Jamie puts on his clean laundry and heads out to find out what's going on in town.Magdam was a miniature version of Cripdrift, with tented carriages, dusty streets, and dirty shops full of diamond diggers.Jamie was walking past a bar when he heard a commotion and went in.A crowd was yelling around an Irishman in a red shirt. "What happened?" Jamie asked. "He wants Run Bao." "His what?" "He has made a fortune today, so he is the host here, and he will pay for how much wine everyone can drink today." Jamie struck up a conversation with a few disgruntled diamond diggers sitting around a round table.

"Where are you from, McGregor?" "Scotland." "I don't know what horse manure they feed you in Scotland. There are too few diamonds here, and you can't earn enough to spend." They also talked about other diamond digging camps: Ganga, Valley of the Lost, Puerto del Puerto, Poor Man's Mountain, Liuwentan... The miners all recounted the same story—years and years of backbreaking labor: carrying pebbles, digging gravel in hard sand, squatting by rivers panning for diamonds.Only a small number of diamonds can be found every day, which is not enough to make people rich, but can only make people want to stop and refuse to give up the idea of ​​making a fortune.The state of mind of the entire city is a curious mixture of optimism and pessimism.The hopeful come and the hopeless leave. Jamie knew which side he was on. He approached the drunken-eyed Irishman in the red shirt and showed him the map van der Merwe had given him. The man glanced at it and tossed the picture to Jamie. "It's no use. That area has been dug up and overturned. If I were you, I'd try my luck at the Vale of Budda." Jamie couldn't believe this.Van der Merwe's map was the only thing that made him come here, and the guiding star on which he made his fortune. Another diamond digger said: "Go up to Coesburg. There's a diamond there, boy." "Go to Fahrenhope—that's where the diamonds are dug." "If you ask my opinion, you might as well go to Moonlight Beach." ※※※ At dinner that night, Alice Jardine said: "Jamie, any place is a gamble. You pick the spot, dig with your own tools, and pray. That's what all the connoisseurs do. .” ※※※ That night, Jamie tossed and turned, after much thought, decided to forget Van der Merwe's map.Contrary to everyone's advice, he decided to go east along the Model River.Next morning Jamie said good-bye to Mrs. Jardine and set off. He walked for three days and two nights, and when he reached a place that looked decent, he stopped and pitched his little tent.Both sides of the river were covered with boulders. Jamie used some thick branches as levers and tried his best to move the boulders away, exposing the gravel underneath. He dug from morning to night, looking for yellow clay or blue sand containing diamonds, so that he could find out the veins of diamonds.But the land here was barren, and Jamie dug for a week without finding a stone like this.Over the weekend, he moved forward again. One day, as he was walking, he saw in the distance what seemed to be a silver house, shining in the sun. "I'm going blind," thought Jamie.But as he drew nearer he saw that it was a village, and all the houses seemed to be made almost of silver.Groups of shabby-dressed Indian men, women, and jerks bustled through the streets.Jamie stared at them in amazement.The silver houses that gleamed in the sun were all made of tin: tin cans flattened, spliced ​​together, and nailed to the sheds.After walking for an hour, he looked back and could still see the glory of the village.It was a sight he would never forget. Jamie continued walking north.He walked along the bank where there might be diamonds, and dug, dug, until he couldn't lift his pick off his arms.Then he sifts the wet gravel by hand.When night fell, he fell into a deep sleep as if he had taken an anesthetic. The following weekend he went up the river again, just north of a small settlement called Pardispan, where he stopped at a bend in the river, where he ate some kebabs over a wood fire and drank A little hot tea, and then sat down in front of the tent, looking up at the stars in the sky.For two weeks he had not seen a soul, and a sense of loneliness haunted him. "Damn it, what am I doing here?" he asked himself. "Sitting on this empty field like a big fool destroying myself by knocking rocks and digging up dirt? I'm much better off on the farm. If I don't get any more diamonds, I'm going home on Saturday Got it." He looked up at the indifferent stars, and sighed, "Damn it, did you hear that? Oh, Lord." He thought, "I'm out of my mind." ※※※ Jamie sat there, letting the sand run through his fingers, leaving a stone in his hand.He looked at it and threw it away again.In the past few weeks, he had seen countless such worthless stones.What did van der Merwe call this stone?Hillent.However, there was something different about this rock, which caught Jamie's attention again.He stood up, walked over and picked up the stone.It is larger than the other stones and has an odd shape.He wiped some of the dust off the stone with his trouser leg and examined it more closely.It looks like a diamond.The only thing that made him suspicious now was the size of the stone.It's almost as big as an egg. "Oh, God. If it's a diamond..." He was suddenly breathless.He grabbed the lantern and began to search the surrounding ground.Within fifteen minutes, he found four more such stones.These four pieces were not as big as the first one, but they were big enough, and it filled him with ecstasy. He got up before dawn, digging like crazy.By noon, he found six more diamonds.The next week he worked desperately to unearth the diamonds, burying them at night in a safe place from passers-by.Every day he dug up new diamonds, and Jamie was ecstatic to see his fortune pile up.Only half of the diamonds belonged to him, but they were enough to make him richer than he could even have dreamed of. Over the weekend, Jamie made a marker on his map, then carefully pickaxed the landmarks, marking ownership.He dug up the hidden diamonds again, put them in the depths of his backpack, and returned to Magdam. ※※※ A sign outside one of the cottages read: Diamond Testing Station. Jamie walked into the small, stuffy office with a sudden sense of panic.He had heard stories that many prospectors had found diamonds that turned out to be worthless stones. "What if I'm wrong too...? What if...?" A diamond inspector sits at a cluttered desk in this office. "Can I help you?" Jamie took a deep breath. "Yes, sir. I would like you to examine these gems." Under the watchful eye of the inspector, Jamie proceeded to place his rocks on the desk. When they were all twenty-seven, the inspector eyed them with wonder. "Where—where did you find it?" "Tell me first if these are diamonds, and I'll tell you later." The inspector picked up the largest stone and checked it again with a jeweler's special high-power magnifying glass. "My God!" he said, "it's the biggest diamond I've ever seen!" Jamie realized he hadn't dared to catch his breath, and he could have cried out happily. "Where..." the man begged, "Where did you find it?" "Meet me at the little restaurant in fifteen minutes," Jamie grinned, "and I'll tell you then." Jamie collected the diamonds, put them in his pocket, and hurried out.Jamie walked towards the registration office, which was two doors away from the diamond testing station. "I'm going to register my title," he said, "in the names of Salomon van der Merwe and Jamie McGregor." When he entered this door, he was still a penniless rural boy, and when he walked out of this door, he was already a multimillionaire. When Jamie entered the bistro, the diamond examiner was there waiting for him.It was obvious that he had spread the word because when Jamie walked in there was a sudden silence and people looked at him with admiration.There is an unspoken question in everyone's mind.Jamie strode up to the counter and said to the bartender, "I'm here to celebrate my discovery and have a drink." He turned to face the crowd and said, "Paldispan." ※※※ Alice Jardine was drinking tea when Jamie came into the kitchen.When she saw him, a happy smile appeared on her face. "Jamie, it's you! Thank God you're back safe and sound." She noticed his messy clothes and flushed face. "Things aren't going well, are they? That's all right. Come have a cup of tea with me, dear. You'll feel better." Without saying a word, Jamie reached into his pocket, took out a large diamond, and put it in the palm of her hand. "I kept my word," Jamie said. She stared at the stone for a long time, her eyes moistened. "No, Jamie, no." Her voice was unusually soft. "I don't need it. Do you understand, kid. It's going to ruin everything..." ※※※ Jamie McGregor did it with style when he returned to Kripdrift.He sold a smaller diamond and bought a horse and a carriage, keeping an account of the money spent so that his partners would not suffer.The trip back to Kripdrift was smooth and comfortable.He was amazed when he thought of the hell he had been through on his last trip. "That's the difference between the rich and the poor," he thought. "The poor travel on foot, and the rich travel in a carriage." He whipped the horse lightly, and rode contentedly across the prairie into night.