“Well, give me three dozen cigars.”
While they were chaffering, in walked a Hottentot, and said, “Will you buy this?” and laid a clear, glittering stone on the counter, as large as a walnut.
“Yes,” said the young man. “How much?”
“Two hundred pounds.”
“Two hundred pounds! Let us look at it;” he examined it, and said he thought it was a diamond, but these large stones were so deceitful, he dared not give two hundred pounds. “Come again in an hour,” said he, “then the master will be in.”
“No,” said the Hottentot quietly, and walked out.
Staines, who had been literally perspiring at the sight of this stone, mounted his horse and followed the man. When he came up to him, he asked leave to examine the gem. The Hottentot quietly assented.
Staines looked at it all over. It had a rough side and a polished side, and the latter was of amazing softness and lustre. It made him tremble. He said, “Look here, I have only one hundred pounds in my pocket.”
The Hottentot shook his head.
“But if you will go back with me to Bulteel's farm, I'll borrow the other hundred.”