Foreword—My father's family—"Old Body"—Dualla—A cruel experiment—"Old
Body"—and the goose—Cook and kitchen-maid—Scull and monkey—My mother's
family—Abbey view—The Bock of Cashel—Captain Meagher and early chess
Sir Dominic Corrigan—"Old Mary" and the sugar—Naval ambitions—Harper
Twelvetree and the burial agency
CHAPTER II
Improved health—Jimmy Kinsella—Veld food—I abscond—Father Healy on conversion—Father O'Dwyer and his whip—Confession—Construction of a volcano—The Fenian outbreak—Departure for South Africa—The tuneful soldier—Chess at sea—Madeira A gale—The Asia
CHAPTER III
Arrival at Cape Town—Port Elizabeth—First encounter with big game Grahamstown—Severe thunderstorm—King William's Town Natives and their ponies—Social peculiarities—Farming—The annual trek—Camp-life Surf-bathing—Self-sacrificing attitude of Larry O'Toole—Capture of an ant-bear—The coast scenery—A moral shock—School Chief Toise—Rainy seasons—Flooded rivers
CHAPTER IV
Trip to the Transkei—Tiyo Soga and his family—Trip to the seaside—The Fynns—Wild dogs—Start as a sheep farmer—My camp burnt out—First commercial adventure—Chief Sandile—Discovery of diamonds—Start for Golconda—Traveling companions—Manslaughter narrowly escaped—Old De Beers—Life at the Diamond Fields—Scarcity of water—First case of diamond stealing—I nearly discover Kimberley Mine—The rush to Colesberg Kopje—My first diamond—Its loss and my humiliation—Kimberley claims dear at 10—Camp-life in early days—I. D. B.—Canteen burning.
CHAPTER V
My claim a disappointment—Good results attained elsewhere—A surprised
Boer—"Kopje wallopers"—Thunderstorms—A shocking spectacle—"Old Moore"
and his love affair—The morning market—Attack of enteric—I go to King
William's Town to recruit Toby once more—A venture in onions—Return to
Kimberley—The West End mess—The Rhodes brothers—Norman Garstin—H. C.
Seppings Wright—"Schipka" Campbell—Cecil John Rhodes—A game of euchre
The church bell—Raw natives—Alum diamonds—Herbert Rhodes and the cannon
His terrible end.