126
DIAMOND
Prinsloo
had been living and farming at Madderfontein in the Transvaal when the
gold strike was first made, in 1886, and his farm was right in the
middle of all the excitement. It had proved a difficult matter for the
gold speculators to persuade him to sell out. He was a man of habit: he
didn't like moving. But he listened, finally, to the voice of
temptation and sold Madderfontein, which was soon developed into a
prosperous gold mine. Prinsloo put the large purchase price in his
pocket and moved off glumly, and bought another farm at a place called
Kaalfontein. Hardly had he begun to feel settled, however, when those
pesky prospectors were at his heels again. This time, it seemed, he was
sitting on diamonds instead of gold, but the net result was the same.
Bewailing his bad luck, he accepted another large sum and wearily moved
on to a third location in the vicinity of Pretoria, and that was where
he was when Cul-linan decided to buy his farm—sitting on his stoep with a loaded rifle by his chair, determined to stay put this time, come what might.
Cullinan
sent an agent to negotiate, riding as everyone did in a two-wheeled
Cape cart. When the agent asked that all too familiar question as to
what the farmer wanted for his land, Prinsloo flatly refused even to
discuss the matter. The agent persevered; that is, he came back a
second time, whereupon the old man yelled at him, "You had better not
get off that cart or I will shoot." One sees his point. At any rate the
agent did: he stayed on his cart and drove away, and reported to his
employer that there was nothing doing. Cullinan gave up for the time
being, but he remembered the kopje and the big diamond, and as
soon as he heard of Prinsloo's death not long afterward he returned to
the attack. The old man's daughter, who inherited
