"'I have been expecting it, sir,' he said; 'and how I came to be
fool enough to go outside the tent by myself I cannot think. I was
uneasy, and could not sleep; I felt hot and feverish, and came out
for a breath of fresh air. I will tell you what caused it, sir.
About two years ago a cousin of mine, in one of the King's regiments,
who was dying, they said, of fever (but I know the doctors thought
he had been poisoned), said to me, "Here are some things that
will make your fortune if ever you get to England; but I tell you
beforehand, they are dangerous things to keep about you. I fancy
that they have something to do with my being like this now. A year
ago I went with some others into one of their great temples on
a feast day. Well, the god had got on all his trinkets, and among
them was a bracelet with the biggest diamonds I ever saw. I did not
think so much of it at the time, but I kept on thinking of them
afterwards, and it happened that some months after our visit we
took the place by storm. I made straight for the temple, and I got
the jewels. It don't matter how I got them--I got them. Well,
since that I have never had any peace; pretty near every night one
or other of our tents was turned topsy turvy, all the kits turned
out, and even the ground dug up with knives. You know how silently
Indian thieves can work. However, nothing was ever stolen, and as
for the diamonds, at the end of every day's march I always went
out as soon as it was quite dark, and buried the bracelet between
the tent pegs; it did not take a minute to do. When we moved, of
course, I took it up again. At last I gave that up, for however
early I turned out in the morning there was sure to be a native
about. I took then to dropping it down the barrel of my gun; that
way I beat them. Still, I have always somehow felt myself watched,
and my tent has been disturbed a great deal oftener than any of
the others. I have had half a mind to throw the things away many