i 5 4 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 



nullah, I happened to notice that the sandy bottom 

 sparkled here and there where the sunbeams pene- 

 trated the dense foliage. This at once filled my 

 head with thoughts of precious stones, and as the 

 spot looked likely enough, I started to dig vigorously 

 at the gravel with my hunting knife. After a few 

 minutes of this work, I came across what I at first 

 took to be a magnificent diamond sparkling in the 

 damp sand : it was about half an inch long, and its 

 facets looked as if they had been cut by an 

 Amsterdam expert. I tested the stone on my watch 

 glass and found that it cut my initials quite easily, 

 and though I knew that quartz would do this as 

 well, it did not seem to me to have either the general 

 appearance or angles of any quartz I had ever seen. 

 For a moment or two I was greatly delighted with 

 my discovery, and began to have rosy dreams of a 

 diamond mine ; but I am sorry to say that on closer 

 examination and testing I was forced to the con- 

 clusion that my find was not a diamond, though 

 unlike any other mineral I had ever come across. 



My hopes of rapidly becoming a millionaire having 

 thus been dashed to the ground, we proceeded on 

 our way, getting further and further into the depths 

 of a gloomy forest. A little distance on, I noticed 

 through a break in the trees a huge rhino standing 

 in full view near the edge of a ravine. Unfor- 

 tunately he caught sight of us as well, and before I 



