"If he had had half an opportunity he would have upset the glass, but I was on the watch for that. My right hand was in my pocket; the same in which I had placed the revolver, and from the expression upon his face I gathered that he was aware of the fact. At last, seeing that there was nothing for it but to do as I desired, he lifted the glass and tossed off the contents. I assured myself that he had left no heel-tap, and then bade him be seated, returning myself to the game of cards which the old man's entry had interrupted. The strength of the drug must have been considerable, for we had not played more than a dozen hands before his head had fallen forward on the table, and he was fast asleep. I convinced myself that he was not shamming, and then turned to the old man.
"'You see, my venerable friend,' I said, 'what your fate would have been had you drunk what was in that glass. For the future were I in your place, I should bestow my patronage elsewhere. This inn is not safe for you. And now let me escort you to your dwelling. Our friends here are none too amiably disposed towards you, and it is just possible they might take their revenge as soon as my back was turned.' With that we left the inn together and tramped along the track, till we reached the miserable hovel in which he lived. During our walk the old fellow had scarcely spoken. Now he became somewhat more communicative.
"'I am obliged to you, Señor, for what you have done for me,' he began. 'They hate me over there because they think I know more about diamonds than they do.' He was silent again for a few moments. 'And it's quite true,' he added solemnly to himself.
"At the time I regarded this as only another proof of the old boy's idiocy. I had often seen him polishing his pebbles, and, like every one else, had come to the conclusion that he believed them to be diamonds. Now, however, I have the very best of reasons for knowing that it was only another proof of his cleverness. It suited him to pose as a softy, and the pebbles were only a means he had adopted for putting us off the scent.
"'When you come to think of it, it was rather a good thing for you that I visited the hospederia to-night,' I said, when I had seated myself on a log that did duty for a chair, and had lit a cigar. For you see I wanted him to understand plainly that I had rendered him a service, and also that I expected him to be grateful for the same. 'If I hadn't been at hand they'd have played a nice game on you.' I thereupon furnished him with a brief outline of the intended amusement.
"As I proceeded I noticed the same look on his face that I had observed on a previous occasion. Had the jokers seen it, I fancy they would have treated him with more respect than they had hitherto done.
"'It was certainly good for me that you were there,' he replied, 'and I am very grateful to you, Señor, for the service you have rendered me.'
"After that he went to a corner of his hut, and having fumbled about for some time, produced a small leather bag. Taking his place once more on the log beside me, he unlaced the bag, and tilted half a dozen medium-sized stones into the palm of his hand. If the others he carried about with him, and of which he appeared to be proud, were only glittering pebbles, these were undoubtedly diamonds. Possibly they were not as valuable as he supposed, but, at any rate, they were worth quite enough to show me that what I had suspected was correct, namely, that his supposed ignorance was only a blind to cover his real cleverness. 'If the Señor will honour me by accepting one of these stones, he will add to the debt I already owe him,' he observed with a certain quiet dignity. 'It may remind him, in days to come, of his kindness to an old man who had no sort of claim upon him.'
"But I was not to be caught napping. The old fellow wanted me to believe that these few stones were the collection of a lifetime, stored as a provision against a rainy day. I knew better, however. My common sense told me that he wouldn't have been so ready to give them away if they had been the sole result of so much misery and toil. I accordingly declined his generous offer, taking a high hand, and stating that I had no desire to be paid for doing what was, after all, only a friendly act. The old fellow pretended to be hurt by my decision, and stowed the diamonds away once more in their hiding-place. Well, to make a long story short, I kept in close touch with him for the next fortnight. The practical jokers in the neighbourhood had had a lesson, and, seeing that I had constituted myself his protector, they left him severely alone. Presently I saw that he was contemplating some important step. A couple of fresh mules had made their appearance in his corral, and there were evident signs in the hut itself that he intended clearing out. I wondered what this could mean, and, since he had said nothing to me on the subject, I resolved to watch him the more closely. Knowing what I did, and guessing the rest, I had no intention of allowing him to give me the slip. For several days I watched him in this fashion. Then I noticed that his visits to the village became less and less frequent, and, when he did put in an appearance there, he invariably talked in such a way as to lead people to suppose that he had quite settled down in the neighbourhood, and had not the least intention of removing elsewhere for many a long day to come. Being aware of his character, this in itself was sufficient to put me on my guard.
"A night or two later, and fortunately when I was spending the evening with him, the climax came. The old fellow had, or pretended to have, taken a great fancy to me, and more than once he reiterated his desire that I should accept the diamond he had first offered to me. I steadfastly refused to do so, however, and could see that my decision increased his good opinion of me. On this occasion it was nearly ten o'clock before I left the hut. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and so still that you could have heard a leaf drop a hundred yards away. It was his own proposal that he should walk a portion of the way with me. We therefore set out, and had proceeded about half the distance, when there was a loud report of a rifle in the bushes close beside us, and a second later he uttered a cry and fell into my arms. That the shot was intended for myself, and that it was fired by one of my enemies in the village, I had not the least doubt. Bending over the old fellow, I asked him how he felt, but he did not answer. Then, carrying him as best I could, I retraced my steps as quickly as possible. When I reached the hut I laid him upon his bed, and, by the light of a lamp, endeavoured to discover the nature of his wound. The bullet, it appeared, had penetrated his right breast, and, from such knowledge of gun wounds as I possessed, it was evident to me that it was a fatal one. He was breathing heavily and with a considerable amount of difficulty, and must have realised that it was all up with him, for, when he spoke, he said as much.