On the night in question, it rained so fast the hollow was soon a sheet of water, which pressed with such force against the dam that it gave way. In an instant, the fire-place was full to overflowing, and the Caffres, thus rudely awakened, gave one mighty yell as the waters covered them. Aroused by the noise, I peeped forth as they were struggling out, their black heads showing around the edge of the fire-place like those of so many hippopotami. After getting out, and giving some hearty shakes, they commenced fishing up their bed-clothes from the treacherous flood. Long before sunrise, next morning, they were at the tent door, calling loudly for ‘soupies,’ or what we denominate ‘eye-openers,’ and certainly their condition, after what they had gone through, demanded relief.” [Sidenote: THE LUCKY ONES.] Some of the stories told about the diamond finds are decidedly attractive. Some of the earlier miners made large fortunes in a short time. They had nothing to pay for their ground, and found from one to twenty diamonds every day. When the price of claims went up, they sold out, anywhere from two to ten thousand dollars, and went home. One man made fifty thousand dollars in a month, divided his claim into six parts, sold each part for one thousand five hundred dollars, and went away satisfied. A ship was wrecked on the coast. The captain, of course, was a very unfortunate man. Not knowing what to do, he went to the diamond fields, where he stayed three months, and went away with seventy-five thousand dollars. A Dutch Boer found, in one day, thirty-one diamonds, which weighed respectively thirty-three carats, eighteen, fifteen, nine, seven and a half, and other smaller ones. He went away from the fields, and on returning, after an absence of a month, his black servants, whom he had left in charge, turned over to him more than three hundred diamonds. One man found a stone, at the end of four days’ work, which brought him, in clean cash, eighty thousand dollars. [Sidenote: A CURIOUS FACT ABOUT DIAMONDS.] A curious fact about the diamond is that it sometimes bursts. The experts at the Cape can generally determine, by examining a stone, whether it will burst or not. When first taken out, a small speck is seen in it. If it is put aside in a dry place, it is in fragments by the next morning. The miners keep such a stone in water or oil, generally, until they find somebody green enough to buy it. The bursting is caused by disappearance of moisture in the stone, and, of course, it is retained there as long as the stone is kept moist. XXVII. THE UNDER-WORLD OF PARIS.