prospectors
from Colesberg. After the naming of the town of Kimberley, the mine
came to be known as the Kimberley Mine. The young men from Colesberg
arrived on the spot July 16, 1871; since it was winter, they all wore
red stocking caps, and they called themselves the Red-Cap Company.
Their leader was Fleetwood Rawstorne—surely the prettiest name in
diamond history. They camped near the little kopje, which was
shaded by camel's-thorn trees, and for a day or so they prospected in
the ordinary fashion, digging here and there or merely looking over the
bare ground in the hope of finding a diamond. One evening, when they
went to their leader's tent for dinner, they discovered that Damon, the
Rawstorne family's old native retainer, had got drunk. This was a
habit of Damon's, and to punish him, Rawstorne sent him out in the dark
and set him to digging by moonlight while the party ate their dinner.
Damon came back sooner than expected, grinning triumphantly, with a
few small diamonds glittering in his hand. That night, at least,
Fleetwood Rawstorne didn't discipline him further.
The
young men were exultant and excited, but they faced an awkward problem.
It was Sunday night, and the Diggers' Committee had laid down a rule
that people couldn't stake out claims on Sunday. On the other hand, it
would be very foolish to wait for Monday morning; whenever a find of
this sort was made the news leaked out immediately, no matter how hard
the discoverers tried to conceal it. Damon was sure to tell other
natives soon, if he hadn't told them already. So the Red-Caps staked
out their claims then and there—Rawstorne's holdings centered on the
spot where Damon had made his finq —and, as it turned out, they got
away with it. They also sent
