Rope of Sand Page #4

And that can turn we confused

with desirability, with

virtue, with great passion.

Say, why are you here?

I mean you, I, any of us?

Why do we stay here

in diamond stud?

Simply because we're infatuated.

Yes.

Infatuated.

Plucking at the skirts of this

woman, this desert, this

heartless courtesan.

But we, we stay here, eternally

hopeful for some

small glittering favor.

Amazing place, this place here

in the desert where the gems

lie just a few inches below the

surface, free, free for

the taking.

Were if not for certain

unfortunate restrictions.

Here go away.

You'll spoil the resin.

Dr. Hunter's famous

prescription for

pickling the heart.

One injection every 15 minutes.

The rhythm is very important.

Doc.

Michael.

Whiskey and soda.

You did a good job

on my boy, doc.

Did a good job on you, Michael.

Scar's almost gone.

Why not?

It has almost two years to heal.

Why did you come back?

I had business with Martingale.

And?

Now I'm in business for myself.

I'm making a survey.

Which of Vogel's boys drinks

the most, owes the most?

Henry.

What's happened to our

friend, Thompson?

He deserted you for Oscar.

I couldn't say, doctor.

He's drinking too much, Henry.

Far too much.

So I'm sitting in Oscar's

this afternoon.

He was already three

parts elephant.

He's probably still there.

The desert must be getting him.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Thanks, doc.

Still play poker here?

They should be starting soon.

Thanks.

Take the diamond itself,

for instance.

Carbon, soot chemically

speaking.

And yet, the hardest

of all matters.

So hard, in fact,

that whatever it

touches much suffer...

glass, steel, the human soul.

Why don't you go sell your

rugs somewhere else?

Heard a curious story the

other day, Mr. Davis.

It's about a young man, a hunter

who used to make his

living around here as

a guide until uh...

until he got into trouble.

What kind of trouble?

Oh, it seems he took an

impetuous gentleman somewhat

beyond the main hunting party.

This gentleman, he was

obsessed by one idea.

He wanted to shoot a lion.

So one night, they... they

camped quite near to the

prohibited area.

And to amuse the gentleman, he

started to tell him some of

the tales of the prohibited

diamond area.

Perhaps the one about the clerk.

You know the clerk that made a

quick dash past a barrier and

scooped up a bushel

or so of diamonds.

They're lying only a few

inches under the sand.

And he fled to Angola and from

there to england, and there

he's supposed to be living now

like a fabulous prince.

At any rate, in the morning when

the guide woke up, his

gentleman was gone past have

been into the prohibited area.

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