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Chapter 5 | An Ugly Charge | A Dash From Diamond City
As everyone knows, the declaration of war was not long in coming, and the news came like a thunderclap to all in Kimberley, where those who had been in doubt as to the wisdom of the preparations previously made were the loudest in finding fault because more had not been done.
“But do you think it’s true, Ingle?” said West.
“Think what is true?”
“That the Boers have invaded Natal.”
“I’m sure it is,” was the reply; “and before very long we shall have them here.”
“Why should they come here?” said West.
“Because they have plenty of gold at Johannesburg, and they want to utilise it for settings to our diamonds, my lad. They’re a nice, modest, amiable people, these Boers, with very shrewd eyes for the main chance. They’ll soon be down here to take possession, so if you feel at all uncomfortable you had better be off south.”
“Is that what you are going to do?” asked West quietly.
“I? Of course not! I shall keep with the volunteers.”
“Of course,” said West; “and I shall too.”
Ingleborough smiled grimly and went on with his work, West following suit, and they were busy enough till “tiffin-time” that morning.
Their “tiffin” went on as usual; but out in the town there was a buzz of excitement which resembled that heard in a beehive when some mischievous boy has thrust in a switch and given it a good twist round before running for his life.
So eager and excited did everyone seem that West could hardly tear himself away from the main street, which was full of talking groups, everyone seeming to be asking the same question—“What is to be done first?”—but getting no reply.
“We ought to fortify the place,” said West to himself, and full of this idea, which he intended to propound to Ingleborough and Anson as soon as he reached the office, he hurried in that direction, all the faster from the fact that he had been so interested in the busy state of the streets that he had overstayed his time.
On approaching the office door the conscious blood rose to his cheeks, for he could hear an angry voice speaking, upon which he could only place one interpretation—namely, that one of the principals was finding fault severely because he, the guilty one, was not back to his time.
“What a fool I am!” muttered West. Then, pulling himself together, he stepped forward, muttering again: “Must take my dose like a man.”
The next moment he had opened the door quickly, entered and closed it, and then stood staring in wonder at the scene before him.
For there was no angry principal present—only his two fellow-clerks: Ingleborough stern and frowning, and Anson with his ordinarily pink face turned to a sallow white, and, instead of being plump and rounded, looking sunken and strange.
“What’s the matter?” said West, for Anson, who had the moment before been talking rapidly, suddenly ceased. “You’re not quarrelling, are you?” he continued, for no one replied. “Oh well, I’ll be off till you’ve done.”
“No, don’t go,” cried Anson, springing forward and grasping his arm.
“Let go!” cried West. “I don’t want to be mixed up with any quarrels; but you might have got them over outside. There, I’m off.”
“Stop where you are!” cried Ingleborough. “You have a perfect right to hear what I have said, and you’re welcome.”
“Yes, stop where you are, West,” cried Anson, clinging to the young fellow’s arm. “I believe that the war scare has sent Ingle off his head. You never heard such a bit of scandal as he is trying to hatch up. I believe it’s all out of jealousy.”
“No, you do not,” said Ingleborough coldly.
“But I do,” cried Anson. “It’s scandalous. He’s trying to ruin me.”
“How?”
“By hatching up a story which, if it got to the principals’ ears, would mean me being turned off neck and crop, no matter how innocent I am.”
“How what?” replied Ingleborough ironically. “Innocent? Why, I’ve suspected you for some months past.”
“Oh, my gracious!” cried Anson. “Hark at him! He does mean it—he must mean it, unless we can bring him to his senses, West. You will help me, won’t you?”
“How can I tell till I know what it’s all about? What’s the quarrel, Ingle?”
“Ask him,” answered the young man addressed, frowning.
“Very well, then; I’ll ask him. What’s the row, Anson?”
“I have hardly patience to tell you, West,” was the reply. “But I suppose I must, though it makes my face burn with shame.”
“Humph!” grunted Ingleborough.
“Then it is something you are ashamed of?” said West quickly.
“Me? Oh no, West; I’m not ashamed. I’ve nothing to be ashamed of: only being accused by a fellow-clerk, a brother-clerk, I might say, of doing a terrible thing.”
“And did you?” said West sharply.
“I? Good gracious, no! I was out in the main street about half-an-hour ago, being of course interested in the news, when I saw a couple of Kaffirs talking, and it made me wonder what would become of them if it came to fighting, and I naturally enough asked the poor fellows whether they’d stay in Kimberley or go back to their own country.”
“Well?” said West, for the speaker stopped.
“Well, that’s all as far as I’m concerned,” said Anson; “only just then Ingleborough, who is never happy without he’s mixing himself up somehow with the police folk, and who must have been watching me in a miserable underhanded way, suddenly pounced upon me; and you’ll never believe it, my dear West, he actually accused me of illicit-diamond-buying from the Kaffirs.”
“And that means very severe punishment,” said West. “Well, were you doing it?”
“Was I? Oh, for shame, West! How could you think such a thing possible? My dear fellow, I couldn’t do such a thing? Is it likely?”
“Ingleborough says it is,” replied the young man addressed, shortly.
“Yes, but only because he is absurdly jealous of me, and dislikes to see me in the office. It would ruin me for ever if it were reported, and he says he is going to, although I have been begging and praying him not to do such a thing. What do you say?”
“If it’s true, and Ingleborough says it is, I don’t see how he could help, reporting your conduct to the directors.”
“But it isn’t true!” cried Anson, almost in a whine. “Oh, West, how can you? You know I couldn’t do such a thing!”
“Do you mean to say that you are quite innocent?”
“Oh, quite!” cried Anson. “It was as I told you. I only asked the two poor hard-working fellows what they meant to do, and then to my utter astonishment Ingleborough pounced upon me with that terrible charge. Help me, my dear friend, to make him see that he has deceived himself!”
“Do you hear, Ingle?” cried West sympathetically. “It is a terrible charge to bring against a fellow.”
“Terrible!” said Ingleborough sternly.
“And you have thought what it means?”
“Of course.”
“His dismissal and imprisonment?”
“Yes.”
“But—”
“There is no room for buts, my lad,” said Ingleborough harshly. “Diamond-buying from the natives is, as we all well know, penal; and we know, too, that it is our duty to help to protect the property of our employers, and to see that the laws are obeyed.”
“Of course, my dear Ingleborough,” said Anson; “and that’s what I have always tried to do, as you know.”
“I know that you have been playing a false game for months—that is, I feel perfectly sure you have, though I cannot prove it. But this I can prove: that you were buying stolen diamonds from two natives this afternoon, all parties choosing the time because you believed the excitement would secure you from notice.”
“Oh, West, hark at him!” cried Anson, in a piteous tone. “Ingleborough, you don’t know how wrong you are!”
“That’s true!” said their fellow-clerk.
“Look here, Anson,” cried West angrily; “what’s the good of going on like a great girl—oh-ing, and making weak appeals? Why don’t you speak out like a man? Is it true, or is it not, that you bought these diamonds?”
“It’s all a mistake of Ingleborough’s and as false as false can be! I couldn’t do such a thing!”
“Nor yet throw them away as soon as you found that you were seen?”
“Of course not!” cried Anson excitedly.
“What are these, then?” cried Ingleborough sternly, as he took a couple of rough crystals from his trousers pocket and held them out in his hand to the astonished gaze of his comrades.
“Those?” said Anson, whose face began to turn of a sickly green; “they look like diamonds.”
“Yes: they are the two that you threw away, and which I went and picked up.”
“Oh!” cried Anson, with a piteous groan; “hark at him, West! I wouldn’t have believed that a man could have been so base as to hatch up such a plot as this to ruin his brother-employé. West, I assure you that I never set eyes upon those diamonds before in my life. It’s all a cruel, dastardly plot, and I— Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear! Is it possible that a man can be so base?”
He took out his handkerchief and applied it to his eyes, uttering a low piteous groan the while.
“You hear this, Ingleborough?” said West.
“Yes, I hear,” said Ingleborough sourly, as he thrust the gems back in his pocket. “So do you, and you know now what it is my duty to do.”
West was silent.
“Oh, do speak and help me!” cried Anson. “Don’t stand by and see me ruined, West! You know how he has taken up lately with the new superintendent of police, and been always with him, and watching the poor natives till he is half a detective himself, and goes about suspecting innocent people. I am innocent, West, and it’s all a horrible mistake of his, or a cruel trick to ruin me; and I’m afraid I’ve been mistaken in him altogether, and that it is a wicked conspiracy.”
“Ingleborough wouldn’t do a mean thing!” said West warmly.
“That’s what I want to believe,” whined Anson; “but he’s got hold of two diamonds, and he’s going to charge me with buying them, and he’ll get me sent to Cape Town breakwater.”
“Not if you are innocent!” said West.
“Well, that’s what I am, and he can’t prove that I’ve any of the precious stones about me. Come and search me if you like!”
“You will be searched by the police authorities,” said Ingleborough sternly.
“What!—Oh, it’s abominable!” cried Anson. “Here, West, aren’t you going to do anything to help an innocent man?”
“What can I do,” said West, “but look on? I’ll tell you this, though: I don’t believe it possible of you! There must be some mistake!”
“Thank you for nothing,” cried Anson bitterly. “It’s the old story—and you call yourself a friend! Well, I’m not going to be bullied. I’ve given you both a chance to own that you are all wrong; but you always were both of you dead against me. I’ll do now what I ought to have done at once—go to the principals. I shall get justice there.”
Saying this, he clapped on his hat, giving it a fierce cock on one side, passed out, and banged the door after him.
Ingleborough paid no heed to his companion’s enquiring look, but crossed quickly to the window and looked out.
“Anson thinks he is going to make a bolt,” said Ingleborough, half to himself; “but he’ll soon find out his mistake.”
“How?” said West eagerly.
“Norton is outside with a couple of the police,” Ingleborough replied.
“But this is very horrible!” cried West. “Once more, are you quite sure that you have not made a mistake?”
“Quite! I am certain!”
“But is it wise to be so certain?”
“Yes,” replied Ingleborough quietly. “Surely I can believe my own eyes!”
“But might he not have been questioning the Kaffirs, as he said?”
“Certainly,” replied Ingleborough, with a grim smile; “but I do not see why he should receive two diamonds from them and give them money in exchange, and lastly why he should flick the two diamonds away into the dust as soon as he caught sight of me. Do you?”
“No,” said West thoughtfully. “Well, I am very sorry. What will be the next proceeding?”
“The next thing in an ordinary way would be that the scoundrel would bolt; but, as he must have found out by this time that he is carefully watched, he will no doubt go straight to the principals and brave it out by telling them his own tale and trying to persuade them that I have hatched up a conspiracy against him.”
“And of course he will not be believed,” replied West thoughtfully; “for it is next door to high treason for anyone to be found buying diamonds illicitly from the natives.”
“High treason?” cried Ingleborough, laughing. “Why, my dear boy, it’s much worse than regicide. The authorities in Kimberley look upon diamond-smuggling or stealing as the blackest crime in the calendar.”
“Hallo!” cried West just then. “So soon?”
For there was a sharp rap at the door, and a man entered to announce that the principals of the great company desired the presence of Ingleborough and West directly.
“I don’t see why they want me!” said West. “I know nothing about the matter.”
“You’ll have to go all the same,” said Ingleborough. “He has dragged your name into the case, and he trusts to you to speak in his behalf.”
“And of course I shall,” said West; “for I’m horribly sorry for the poor fellow. He couldn’t withstand the temptation to buy the diamonds for a mere nothing and sell them at a heavy price.”
“I don’t want to be malicious, Noll,” said Ingleborough; “but I’ve for some time been under the impression that Master Anson was a humbug. There, come along! Of course I don’t like a piece of business like this; but we must make rogues go to the wall. You’re too soft-hearted, Noll, my boy.”
“Perhaps so,” replied the lad; “but I’d rather be so than too hard-hearted.”
