the leaders, which consisted of a rock known in Australian mining circles
as illegitimate granite. The white folk, fearing that the poor heathen
might become debauched if they possessed too much wealth, had gathered
those diamonds in--when they could--and later had started mining for the
precious gems, with what success the heathen did not know. I tried the
Dutchman on the same point, but I might as well have interviewed an oyster
in regard to the science of gastronomy. He dodged around my question like a
fox terrier round a fence, until I gave him up in despair. But, for all
that, I rather fancy they have found diamonds round that way, only they
don't want the British to know anything about it.





RED WAR WITH RUNDLE.

NEAR SENEKAL.


In our rear lies the little village of Senekal, a shy little place,
seemingly too modest to lift itself out of the miniature basin caused by
the circumambient hills. Khaki-clad figures, gaunt, hungry, and dirty,
patrol the streets; the few stores are almost denuded of things saleable,
for friend and foe have swept through the place again and again, and both
Boer and Briton have paid the shops a visit. At the hotel I managed to get
a dinner of bread and dripping, washed down with a cup of coffee, guiltless
of both milk and sugar. But, if the bill of fare was meagre, the bill of
costs made up for it in its wealth of luxuriousness. If I rose from the
table almost as hollow as when I sat down, I only had to look at the