The Black Tortoise

rst letter fro

five o'clock. He is expecting an Englishman to-day, a son of one of hi

ur

ID F

entional piece of writing one could receive; and yet it caused me great happin

had employed the time in falling in love as deplorably as ever a man can do, and I could see that my attenti

allarat, I found old Fri

e most faithful friend in the whole world. I don't think my old friend, even when he was young, had such

ld Howell, but luckily his niece recalled him to the present by intimating that he

and of the dark English type. His manners were easy an

ewhat dark, almost black, in fact, but without the fire in them that usually accompanies

arned to like

o quarrel with him. But as this was only a repetition of what had happened in the past two months with half a dozen other

probably because he saw "how the

e, spoke in the young Englishman's

and the passengers and crew had had to take to the boats. Only one of the boats had reached land-the one in which Reginald Howell and eight others had saved themselves. But the boat foundered on a cor

but it was only after repeated appeals from old Frick that Mr. Howell was at last

circumstances, and that it was only due to his presence of mind and courage that he was able to

d been brought up, or by nature, seldom or never of speaking about

en of the East, and the fate of the crew. The account had been published in several of the English papers, and

d written and asked the son to visit him in Norway. The young man had received Frick's letter just when he was on the poin

e you intend to spend the winter with us. You can learn to go on 'ski' here; a fine sport, I can

on for one or two months; he was a keen sportsman, and had long a

ter dinner you shall hear what I owe him. I don't suppose I need offer to assist you with any money, for in his last letter to me your father wrote that he would leave you everyth

-naturedly, and smiling at the kind old man's l

name from my will; it has, until now, been

eartily and rose

d Frick began the story of his friendship with Howell the elder,

ut that couldn't be managed, and after having heard old Frick's story, I must confess t

old Frick's words, but I cannot, and I must restric

o sea in 1830; his desire for adventure and his

ndia, South Africa, and Australia, sometimes as a sail

ginning to rage. Soon after, a party of three people started for Melbourne to proceed to the g

good family-was not of long standing; but it developed, in the course of

and sometimes, when they were lucky, they would go off

of seven years, they at last came across a rich find

hem, bought a large piece of land and took to sheep farming. In this way he was able to pre

money they had made enabled them to carry out a plan which Frick had t

ca. He then followed the settlers who trekked to the north across the Orange River,

ies from the natives of the great quantities of these stones which were to be found in c

cient. But he could not then get any companions to form an expedition, as the supposed place lay far away in the desert, blocked by wild and hostile negro tribes. Nor had he at that t

ked old Frick, when he had gone thus far in his narrative; "he

t once to the Cape, bought themselves an excellent outf

t spend on the outfit they

all that; he was the most

the Vaal, but did not return

hey should be only a day's journey from the diamond caves, they let the natives

s, and they filled a whole sack with diamonds. But when they reached the camp they found it

e also captured aft

eded in escaping, but Frick, who had receive

iamonds, and promised immediately on reaching civilizat

and farther inland, where it was impossible for him to t

ntinent where the tribe lived, and before the blacks had thought of keeping guar

after such a long time, come to l

on the first thing he did was

dition for Frick. On the contrary, he had given out that Frick was dead, and had gone straight to

ad a few small diamonds with him, which he had found during his stay among the blacks

now living, a landed proprietor, in Yorkshire. Frick set off to visit Davis at his country house, but was not even allowed to enter. Davis refused to

to force his way in to the scoundrel

m to take legal proceedings. He would have to engage

Frick would guarantee them their fees and expenses first. Davis was rich and powerful, and would naturally use

lled himself together and shipped to Australia before he ha

tory, he became just as furious over Davis's rascality as Frick himself. It was, however, an unfortunate period with

lty, a loan of ￡5000 on his property. This money he forced upon Frick, and when the latter saw that h

ken up. A clever lawyer was engaged, and the case ag

to bay. Davis had understood how to make use of the time to gu

fortunate enough to discover some dark doings in Davis'

ounty, had to, at any price, prevent them being made public. He was therefore obliged to agree to a c

ly offered to pay all I asked for, but he even wrote me a humble letter, and begged me,

not told the story to any one. I did not give any promise to this effect, but it's just as well that you, who have now heard it, also k

g more than the ￡5000 he had lent me, although I was now much richer tha

rest to old Frick's long story. In spite of Mr. Howell's good manners, his i

r father, Reginald; so for your sake it was hardly necessary to tell it. But I am anxious tha

r two or three times. But you can understand he did not lay so much stress upon the help he ga

tisfied until he had seized the Englishman's hand and shaken

hing later about Davis?

ble in managing his large property, after he had been obliged to take out so much capital. Ah, well, that's his own lookout; we have, thank God, something else to talk about than that scoundrel. One thing, however, I forgot to mention, is, that when Davis was forced to pay me back half