Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen

It's been a weird night.The only costume that worked for me at the sales office was "Teddy Bear."I wouldn't mind dressing up as a bear on a winter night in England and hanging out with some pretty young girls - but it wouldn't be right at the equator.However, I still made a lot of fun and got the first prize. Mrs. Blair refused to wear makeup.Evidently she was of the same opinion as Pagett.So did Colonel Race.Anne Beddingfeld made herself a gypsy costume and it looked stunning.Pagett tweeted that he had a headache and didn't attend.I want a dwarf called Rivers in his place.He is an important member of the South African trade unions.He's a dreadful dwarf, but I want to be with him because he provides the information I need.I want to understand the events in the South African River Heights from both sides.

Dancing is a hot thing.I danced two dances with Anne Beddingfeld and she had to pretend she liked dancing with me.I danced with Mrs. Blair, but she didn't pretend she liked it, so I got some other good-looking girls to sacrifice. Then we went to dinner.I ordered champagne; the waiter suggested that the 1911 Crete was the best champagne on board, and I took his advice.I seemed to have found just the right thing for Colonel Race to open his mouth, and he, uncharacteristically silent, became talkative.This pleased me for a while, and then I realized that the central soul of our bunch had become not me but Colonel Race.He made fun of me by keeping a diary.

"That day will reveal all your indiscretions, Peterler." "My dear Rhys," said I, "with all due respect, I am not such a fool as you think. I may have done indiscretions, but I will not write them down. After my death, My executors will know how I feel about many people, but I doubt they will be able to find any clues in my diary that would change their opinion of me. The use of diaries is to record the habits of others-but Not my own." "Even so, it's inevitable that there will be unconscious self-disclosure." "In the eyes of a psychoanalyst, everything is ugly," I answered didactically.

"Your life must be very interesting, Colonel Race?" said Miss Beddingfield, her big bright eyes fixed on him. That's what they are, these girls!Othello in Shakespeare's plays charms Distina by telling stories, but oh, doesn't Distina charm Othello by listening? Either way, the girl had found the right topic for Reese.He began to tell the story of the lion.A man who shoots many lions always has an advantage over other men.It seems that it is time for me to tell the story of the lion as well.A lighter story. "By the way," I said, "that reminds me of a very exciting story I heard. A friend of mine went on a safari somewhere in East Africa. One night he came out of his The tent, frightened by a low growl. He turned suddenly and saw a lion crouching and about to jump over. He left his rifle in the tent and did not bring it out. In desperation, he had to duck quickly, and the lion Just jumped over his head. The lion didn't understand why he didn't jump on him, and roared and prepared to pounce again. He quickly bent down, and the lion jumped over his head again. This happened three times in a row, and by this time he was close the mouth of the tent, and galloped in to grab the rifle. When he came out with the rifle in hand, the lion was gone. That puzzled him. He crawled to the back of the tent, where there was a clearing. There, the lion The lion is busy practicing low-profile kills."

This was met with applause, and I took a sip of champagne. "Another time," said I, "this friend of mine had a second strange experience. He was on a long journey, anxious to reach his destination before the sun blazed, and when the light of day dawned, he urged his boy servant Harnessing the carts. They had a lot of trouble, because the mules were very disobedient, but finally they harnessed the carts and went on the road. The mules ran like the wind, and when it was dawn, they didn't know why. It turned out that in the dark sky Now, the boy servant harnessed a lion to the cart instead of a mule."

The story got a lot of applause, too, but I'm sure the biggest applause came from my friend—the union member—who looked pale and serious. "My God!" he said uneasily, "then who will untie the reins?" "I must go to Rhodesia," said Mrs. Blair. "After you told us those stories, Colonel Race, I must. It's a hard journey, five days' journey by train." "You can travel in my private carriage," I said courteously. "Oh, Sir Eustace, you are very kind! Do you mean it?" "Of course!" I said reproachfully, finishing another glass of champagne.

"We'll be in South Africa in a week or so," sighed Mrs. Blair. "Ah, South Africa," I said fondly, and began quoting from my recent speech to the Colonial Society. "What does South Africa show the world? What is it? Her fruit farms, her wool cedars, her herds and hides, her gold and diamonds—" I speak fast because I know that if I pause, Rivers will jump in and tell me that leather is worthless because animals are hanging themselves on caltrops and the like, while denying the value of everything else , and finally ended with the fact that the life of the miners in the riverside heights was anything but hard.And I don't want to be accused of being a capitalist either.Still, the obsessive word "diamond" drew a chime in.

"Diamonds!" said Mrs. Blair ecstatically. said Miss "Diamonds," breathlessly. They both asked Colonel Race in unison: "I guess you must have been to Kimberley?" I have also been to Kimberley, but I did not mention it in time.Colonel Race was overwhelmed with questions.What does the ore look like?Is it true that the natives are kept in enclosures?etc. Reese answered their questions, and at the same time showed that his knowledge in this area was quite good. He described the methods of resettling the natives, research institutions, and various anti-theft measures, etc.

"So it's practically impossible to get any diamonds?" asked Mrs. Blair, disappointed, as if she was going there to steal diamonds. "Nothing is impossible, Mrs. Blair. Theft happens all the same—like the case I told you about the Negro hiding the diamond in his wound." "Yes, but what about a large amount?" "There was one time, in recent years, just before the war, in fact. You must remember the case, Peterler, and you were in South Africa, weren't you?" I nod. "Tell us," cried Miss Beddingfield, "oh, tell us!" Rhys smiled.

"Well, I'll tell you, I think most of you have heard of Sir Lauros Ezrie? He was a South African mining magnate, mostly gold. He got involved in this story because of his son. Maybe you still I remember that just before the war broke out, rumors spread that there was a potential deposit of New Kimberley diamonds somewhere in the rocky places in the jungle of British Guiana. It is said that two young explorers came back from that area of ​​South America with special Some of them were quite large. Small diamonds had been found near the Esquibe and Mazaruni rivers, but the two young men, John Ezrie and his friend Lucas, Claiming that they found a large bed of diamonds at the common headwaters of two streams. Those diamonds came in various colors, pink, blue, yellow, green, black and pure white. Erzli and Lucas went to Kimberley to prepare The diamonds they found were taken to experts for identification. At that time, a sensational diamond heist occurred in De Beers. When diamonds were transported from De Beers to England, they were usually divided into loaves, so the security was very high, and two pairs of keys were divided. It is held by two persons, and only the third person knows that the combination of these two keys can open any bag. The diamonds are handed over to the bank, and then shipped to England by the bank. Each bag of diamonds is worth about 100,000 pounds.

"This time the bank found something wrong with the seal of the diamond bag, and was shocked. When I opened it, I found that the inside was not diamonds, but sugar cubes!" "How the charge fell on John Erdsley I don't know the details. It is remembered that he was a wild man at Cambridge, and his father paid his debts more than once. At any rate, this South American diamond farmer The story soon became a whim. John Erzley was arrested. Some of the diamond samples he had with him were found to be stolen diamonds. "But the case never came to court. Sir Lauros Erdsley paid for the stolen diamonds and so did not prosecute. As for the exact circumstances of the theft, no one knows. Yet his son became a thief and deeply Broken the old man's heart, he was soon paralyzed by apoplexy. As for John, his fate was queer. He joined the army, took part in the great war, and died gallantly in battle, thus washing away the stain on his reputation. Sir Lauros himself was the third He suffered a stroke and died about a month ago. He died intestate and his vast fortune was left to a distant relative of his, a man whom he barely knew." The Colonel paused.A burst of loud shouts and inquiries suddenly broke out.Something seemed to have caught Miss Beddingfield's attention, and she sank into her chair with a small breath.I also sit back in my chair. My new secretary, Rayburn, was standing in the aisle.His face was brown and white, as if he had seen a ghost.Clearly, Reese's story touched him deeply. When he suddenly realized that we were paying attention to him, he turned around and disappeared. "Do you know who that person is?" Anne Beddingfield asked suddenly. "That's another secretary of mine," I explained. "Mr. Raeburn, he's been sitting like an old hen until now." She played with the bread on the plate. "Has he been your secretary long?" "Not long," I said cautiously. But being cautious doesn't work for women, the more reserved you are, the harder she will push you.Anne Beddingfeld suddenly asked without hesitation: "how long?" "Oh—uh—just before I got on the boat. An old friend of mine introduced me to it." She didn't say anything, but fell into silent thought.Feeling it was my turn to express my interest in Race's story, I turned to him.