Settlement day. The Superior Mine had officially changed hands. Luke and Tau drew their horses to a halt on high ground overlooking the deserted diggings. Spread out before them lay a rambling open-cut quarry of ten acres or more. The sides had been dug out first, and the excavation had taken on the shape of a vast wheel, with tall blocks of standing ground in the middle and piles of tailings round the edge. A ramshackle collection of yards, sheds and huts ran along the river on the eastern flank. A dozen draught horses, their ribs protruding, hung their heads over rails, and a few half-starved bullocks crowded together in the spindly shade of some thorn trees.
Luke clapped his companion on the back. ‘Lead on, Tau. I want the full tour.’
When Luke cheated Herman Smit out of his mine, he’d never intended to operate it. He’d meant to shut it down, free the workers from their labour contracts and send them on their way. However, when he arrived at the bank to execute the agreement, Eli had delivered some unwelcome news.
‘Are you sure you want to go through with this? Buying the mine will leave you perilously short of funds, Colonel. Even if I undervalue it, as of course I will . . .’
‘Do you speak as my banker or my friend?’
‘As both.’
Luke had stared at him, blankly. For years he’d been living off old Clarry’s fortune, careless of how he spent it. Travelling where he wanted, buying what he wanted. Sending his mother and sister generous monthly allowances. To a poor boy like him, it had seemed an inexhaustible amount. Yet, here was Eli saying he was running out of money.
‘How much is left?’
‘Enough to live comfortably for a year or so.’
‘No more than that?’
‘Not without an additional source of revenue. You’ve purchased a great many farms recently, but none will give a quick return. Can you call on family money? Or perhaps you have investments I’m unaware of?’
Luke shook his head. He had no investments. Not growing up with money meant never learning how to manage it. Putting it in the bank had been the extent of his financial plan. Still, a year was plenty of time. He could work a couple of his farms instead of turning them back to bush. Generate an income that way.
‘If you’re determined to go ahead, why not operate the mine?’ said Eli. ‘It’s foolish to close it down. Now Smit’s hit blue ground, it has potential.’
Luke turned the idea over in his mind. Playing safe and turning farmer wouldn’t complete the humiliation of Herman Smit. Finding diamonds would.
‘Execute the deed, Eli,’ he’d said at last. ‘Looks like I’m in the mining business.’
‘I’ve learned a bit about goldmines in my time,’ said Luke as Tau showed him round the open cut. ‘But I haven’t a clue about all this. I bloody well hope you do.’
‘What would I know?’ said Tau. ‘Hauling rocks all day like a donkey.’
Yet for a donkey he seemed surprisingly knowledgeable.
‘Why are the diggings shaped like a circle?’ asked Luke.
‘We dig out the sides first, because hauling is easiest from the edges.’
‘What’s this blue ground people talk about?’
Tau took him to the edge of an eighty-foot pit. ‘See how the earth changes colour down there?’ Luke peered over the cliff. The reef walls consisted of streaky yellow shale, but at the base the rocks turned a bluish-black. ‘That dark rock is blue ground. Holds the best diamonds, but it’s hard as iron.’
‘So . . .?’
Tau grinned and threw his arms wide. ‘Kaboom! We need dynamite. Baas Smit is an idiot. Sends us to dig out solid rock with picks and shovels, then rages and beats us when we can’t.’
Since the cave collapse that killed Bear, dynamite scared the hell out of Luke. Here, it would be an everyday tool of trade. He gazed out over the ruined landscape of craters and cliffs and mullock heaps. He intended to discover all there was to know about diamonds. He intended to turn this rundown, unproductive mine into a profitable business, but he would not spend his days in the noise and dust and heat. He’d had his fill of pits and explosions. What he needed was a manager he could trust, someone to run the mine while he established the game reserves.
‘Tau,’ he said. ‘I have a proposition for you.’
Luke checked the provisions in his saddlebags one last time, then tightened Caesar’s girth. ‘Choose two good men as your foremen,’ said Luke. ‘Buy new bullocks and horses, and turn out the old ones while I’m away.’
‘The storehouse is empty,’ said Tau.
‘And whose fault is that?’ Luke grinned. ‘Go into town and stock up. No stinting on quality, I want my workers well fed. You’re authorised to put things on my account.’ He turned to Sizani, who was stroking Caesar’s soft nose. ‘Go with him. Make sure he’s not robbed.’ Sizani and Tau exchanged broad smiles. They were sweet on each other and looked for any excuse to be together.
Luke hadn’t owned the mine for long, but things were moving quickly. He’d already renegotiated the workers’ labour contracts and offered to re-employ them. Without exception, they’d signed on. Full board and thirty shillings a week was six times what Smit had been paying them – or, more to the point, not paying them.
Tau had a reasonable working knowledge of the mine, and had thrown himself into the manager’s role with enthusiasm. Sizani was also proving useful, organising accounts, supplies and pay. So much so that she had little time for the house. ‘Find someone to take over your duties,’ Luke told her. ‘You’re worth more in the office.’
Leaving Tau in charge, Luke was heading off for a few weeks on a mission to learn all he could about modernising the mine. He thought back to the massive steam pumps and stamper rams of the Hills End mine. Henry Abbott might have been a monster, but he was a shrewd businessman. He’d understood the value of mechanisation. There must be a better way than picks and shovels and bullock carts.
Luke had spent the last few weeks identifying problems. The collapse of reef walls was a constant threat, and excavations were haphazard. Dirt was piled on adjacent ground for sorting, obstructing the digging of productive land. Diamond-bearing soil was carted out for washing in wagons: twelve-hundred-weight loads drawn by six oxen, and as many drivers and assistants. Getting those wagons from the bottom of the mine to the top was a nightmare, especially when it rained.
On his travels, Luke had made many friends, some of whom owed him favours. One such friend worked as a supervisor at the famous De Beers diamond mine at Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province. Luke planned to visit him and learn all he could.
Luke clasped Tau’s hand, then mounted Caesar. ‘Keep things running, brother. I’ll be back.’