“No, but I vill.  I have said I shall tink of it.  Dat is my vay.  So I say yah.”

“An English company?  They will cheat you without mercy.  No, they shall not, though, for I will have a hand in the bargain.”

He set to work directly, added up the value of the claims, at ten shillings per month, and amazed the poor Hollander by his statement of the value of those fifteen acres, capitalized.

And to close this part of the subject, the obnoxious diamonds obtained him three times as much as his father had given for the whole six thousand acres.

The company got a great bargain, but Bulteel received what for him was a large capital, and settling far to the south, this lineal descendant of le philosophe sans savoir carried his godliness, his cleanliness, and his love of peace, out of the turmoil, and was happier than ever, since now he could compare his placid existence with one year of noise and clamor.

But long before this, events more pertinent to my story had occurred.

One day, a Hottentot came into Bulteel’s farm and went out among the diggers, till he found Staines.  The Hottentot was one employed at Dale’s Kloof, and knew him.  He brought Staines a letter.

Staines opened the letter, and another letter fell out; it was directed to “Reginald Falcon, Esq.”

“Why,” thought Staines, “what a time this letter must have been on the road!  So much for private messengers.”

The letter ran thus:—­

Dear sir,—­This leaves us all well at Dale’s Kloof, as I hope it shall find you and my dear husband at the diggings.  Sir, I am happy to say I have good news for you.  When you got well by God’s mercy, I wrote to the doctor at the hospital and told him so.  I wrote unbeknown to you, because I had promised him.  Well, sir, he has written back to say you have two hundred pounds in money, and a great many valuable things, such as gold and jewels.  They are all at the old bank in Cape Town, and the cashier has seen you, and will deliver them on demand.  So that is the first of my good news, because it is good news to you.  But, dear sir, I think you will be pleased to hear that Dick and I are thriving wonderfully, thanks to your good advice.  The wooden house it is built, and a great oven.  But, sir, the traffic came almost before we were ready, and the miners that call here, coming and going, every day, you would not believe, likewise wagons and carts.  It is all bustle, morn till night, and dear Reginald will never be dull here now; I hope you will be so kind as tell him so, for I do long to see you both home again.