It was shortly before his death that Mr. Meyer became my
partner, for I forgot to say that I had told him the story, and we
determined to have a try for that great wealth. You know the rest. We
trekked to Bambatse, pretending to be traders, and found the old Molimo
who knew of me as having been Tom Jackson's friend. We asked him if the
story he had told to Jackson were true, and he answered that, surely as
the sun shone in the heavens, it was true--every word of it--for it,
and much more than he had spoken of, had been handed down from father to
son, and that they even knew the name of the white lady who had killed
herself. It was Ferreira--your mother's name, Benita, though a common
one enough in South Africa.
"We asked him to allow us to enter the topmost stronghold, which stands
upon the hill, but he refused, saying that the curse still lay upon
him and his, and that no man should enter until the lady Ferreira came
again. For the rest the place was free to us; we might dig as we would.
So we did dig, and found some gold buried with the ancients, beads and
bangles and wire--about L100 worth. Also--that was on the day when the
young Seymours came upon us, and accounts for Meyer's excitement, for
he thought that we were on the track of the treasure--we found a single
gold coin, no doubt one that had been dropped by the Portuguese.
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