Master of the Game

Chapter 5

Behind them was the raging ocean. Ahead was unbroken desert from the sea to the foothills of the distant, rugged, purple mountains of the Richterveld escarpment, a world of kloofs and canyons and twisted peaks, lit by the pale moon. At the foot of the mountains was the Hexenkessel Valley - "the witch's cauldron" - a bleak wind trap. It was a primeval, desolate landscape that went back to the beginning of time itself. The only clue that man had ever set foot in this place was a crudely printed sign pounded into the sand. By the light of the moon, they read:

VERBODE GEBIED

SPERRGEBIET

Forbidden.

There was no escape toward the sea. The only direction left open to them was the Namib Desert.

"We'll have to try to cross it and take our chances," Jamie said.

Banda shook his head. "The guards will shoot us on sight or hang us. Even if we were lucky enough to slip by the guards and dogs, there's no way to get by the land mines. We're dead men." There was no fear in him, only a resigned acceptance of his fate.

Jamie looked at Banda and felt a sense of deep regret. He had brought the black man into this, and not once had Banda complained. Even now, knowing there was no escape for them, he did not utter one word of reproach.

Jamie turned to look at the wall of angry waves smashing at the shore, and he thought it was a miracle that they had gotten as far as they had. It was two A.M., four hours before dawn and discovery, and they were both still in one piece. I'll be damned if I'm ready to give up, Jamie thought.

"Let's go to work, Banda."

Banda blinked. "Doing what?"

"We came here to get diamonds, didn't we? Let's get them."

Banda stared at the wild-eyed man with his white hair plastered to his skull and his sopping trousers hanging in shreds around his legs. "What are you talking about?"

"You said they're going to kill us on sight, right? Well, they might as well kill us rich as poor. A miracle got us in here. Maybe a miracle will get us out. And if we do get out, I damned well don't plan to leave empty-handed."

"You're crazy," Banda said softly.

"Or we wouldn't be here," Jamie reminded him.

Banda shrugged. "What the hell. I have nothing else to do until they find us."

Jamie stripped off his tattered shirt, and Banda understood and did the same.

"Now. Where are all these big diamonds that you've been talking about?"

"They're everywhere," Banda promised. And he added, "Like the guards and the dogs."

"We'll worry about them later. When do they come down to the beach?"

"When it gets light."

Jamie thought for a moment. "Is there a part of the beach where they don't come? Someplace we could hide?"

"There's no part of this beach they don't come to, and there's no place you could hide a fly."

Jamie slapped Banda on the shoulder. "Right, then. Let's go."

Jamie watched as Banda got down on his hands and knees and began slowly crawling along the beach, his fingers sifting sand as he moved. In less than two minutes, he stopped and held up a stone. "I found one!"

Jamie lowered himself to the sand and began moving. The first two stones he found were small. The third must have weighed over fifteen carats. He sat there looking at it for a long moment. It was incredible to him that such a fortune could be picked up so easily. And it all belonged to Salomon van der Merwe and his partners. Jamie kept moving.

In the next three hours, the two men collected more than forty diamonds ranging from two carats to thirty carats. The sky in the east was beginning to lighten. It was the time Jamie had planned to leave, to jump back on the raft, sail over the reefs and make their escape. It was useless to think about that now.

"It will be dawn soon," Jamie said. "Let's see how many more diamonds we can find."

"We're not going to live to spend any of this. You want to die very rich, don't you?"

"I don't want to die at all."

They resumed their search, mindlessly scooping up diamond after diamond, and it was as though a madness had taken possession of them. Their piles of diamonds increased, until sixty diamonds worth a king's ransom lay in their torn shirts.

"Do you want me to carry these?" Banda asked.

"No. We can both - " And then Jamie realized what was on Banda's mind. The one caught in actual possession of the diamonds would die more slowly and painfully.

"I'll take them," Jamie said. He dumped the diamonds into the rag that was left of his shirt, and carefully tied it in a knot. The horizon was light gray now, and the east was becoming stained with the colors of the rising sun.

What next? That was the question! What was the answer? They could stand there and die, or they could move inland toward the desert and die.

"Let's move."

Jamie and Banda slowly began walking away from the sea, side by side.

"Where do the land mines start?"

"About a hundred yards up ahead." In the far distance, they heard a dog bark. "I don't think we're going to have to worry about the land mines. The dogs are heading this way. The morning shift is coming to work."

"How soon before they reach us?"

"Fifteen minutes. Maybe ten."

It was almost full dawn now. What had been vague, shimmering patterns turned into small sand dunes and distant mountains. There was no place to hide.

"How many guards are on a shift?"

Banda thought for a moment. "About ten."

"Ten guards aren't many for a beach this big."

"One guard is plenty. They've got guns and dogs. The guards aren't blind, and we're not invisible."

The sound of the barking was closer now. Jamie said, "Banda, I'm sorry. I should never have gotten you into this."

"You didn't."

And Jamie understood what he meant.

They could hear voices calling in the distance.

Jamie and Banda reached a small dune. "What if we buried ourselves in the sand?"

"That has been tried. The dogs would find us and rip our throats out. I want my death to be quick. I'm going to let them see me, then start running. That way they'll shoot me. I - I don't want the dogs to get me."

Jamie gripped Banda's arm. "We may die, but I'll be damned if we're going to run to our deaths. Let's make them work for it."

They could begin to distinguish words in the distance. "Keep moving, you lazy bastards," a voice was yelling. "Follow me...stay in line...You've all had a good night's sleep...Now let's get some work done..."

In spite of his brave words, Jamie found he was retreating from the voice. He turned to look at the sea again. Was drowning an easier way to die? He watched the reefs tearing viciously at the demon waves breaking over them and he suddenly saw something else, something beyond the waves. He could not understand what it was. "Banda, look..."

Far out at sea an impenetrable gray wall was moving toward them, blown by the powerful westerly winds.

"It's the sea mis!" Banda exclaimed. "It comes in two or three times a week."

While they were talking, the mis moved closer, like a gigantic gray curtain sweeping across the horizon, blotting out the sky.

The voices had moved closer, too. "Den dousant! Damn this mis! Another slowdown. The bosses ain't gonna like this..."

"We've got a chance!" Jamie said. He was whispering now.

"What chance?"

"The mis! They won't be able to see us."

"That's no help. It's going to lift sometime, and when it does we're still going to be right here. If the guards can't move through the land mines, neither can we. You try to cross this desert in the mis and you won't go ten yards before you're blown to pieces. You're looking for one of your miracles."

"You're damned right I am," Jamie said.

The sky was darkening overhead. The mis was closer, covering the sea, ready to swallow up the shore. It had an eerie, menacing look about it as it rolled toward them, but Jamie thought exultantly, It's going to save us!

A voice suddenly called out, "Hey! You two! What the hell are you doin' there?"