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THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 151
there
was commonly a shout and a rallying of exultant friends around the
lucky finder, and all through the fields a redoubled fervor of work
from the spur of the signal success. Every one felt that the good
fortune of a comrade might be his own the next moment, and,if this hope
was cast down, the diggers toiled on with indomitable pluck and
sanguine spirit, ever lifting the glittering image of better luck some
day. So the rasping of shovels, the splashing of gravel, the rumbling
of carts, the dumping of loads, and the rattle of cradles went on
incessantly with a lively din from morning till night.
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For
the sorting of the concentrated gravel shady spots were chosen beneath
spreading tree-branches, where tables were set, or under the cover of
canvas screens stretched over posts. Here the miners bent over the thin
layer of gravel, scraping along the pebbles bit by bit, and gluing
their eyes to the sliding stones in anxious search for the coveted tiny
white crystals ; or stretched out at full length on their stomachs,
they scraped the gravel over the face of the boards or iron sheets laid
flat on the ground. In this branch of diamond winning, where keen eyes
were essential, the native blacks were largely employed, sometimes
under close watch of a white overseer, and sometimes without any
oversight. Part of the black sorters were strictly
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