Роберт Фиш - Rough Diamond

There was silence again as Rhodes considered what Beit had said. Like Rudd, Rhodes had a lot of respect for Beit’s opinion. He also knew that Jameson listened to Beit’s words, and Rhodes had no intention of losing his leadership of the company by misjudging the temper of the board. There was too much in the future at stake. He sighed.

“All right,” he said at last. “I’ll talk to the little Jew.” He glanced at Rudd a moment. “And don’t tell me, Charles, that I once said I never would. I’m not a stubborn man.” He turned back to the others, choosing to disregard Rudd’s discreet cough, raising a finger for emphasis. “But one thing must be clear! If I get nowhere talking to him — which in my opinion is what is going to happen — then obviously other steps must be taken. I’m sure we all agree with Alfred that things simply cannot go on as they are. Should I fail to convince Barnato to agree to the control of the release of all stones, then I must have your authority to take whatever steps I feel are necessary to resolve the matter.” He looked around. “Is that agreeable?”

“Of course,” Pickering said instantly, and flushed.

“I agree,” Jameson said quietly.

“What steps?” Rudd asked curiously.

“Whatever steps would be required,” Rhodes said enigmatically.

“You’d use discretion, of course?” Beit said a bit dubiously. It was more a statement than a question.

“Obviously,” Rhodes said, looking at Beit a bit coldly, and came to his feet, indicating the meeting was at an end.

Rudd crushed out his cigar and looked up at Rhodes towering above him. “When will you talk to him?”

“Now is as good a time as any,” Rhodes said, and held up his hand. “No need for you boys to get up; stay and enjoy your drinks.”

He nodded to them and walked from the room.

Barney looked up from the tray of diamonds Jack Joel and two of the helpers he had hired had just completed sorting and registering. As Barney had accurately predicted, the illicit diamond trade had continued to flourish despite the native compounds at the sorting yards, and the searches, and the castor oil and all the rest. As a result a new law had been passed, requiring that all diamonds had to be registered in a book that was open for inspection at any time by the Illicit Diamond Detection Squad. The book noted the date of acquisition of each stone, from whom acquired, the weight of the stone, and disposition when sold or sent on to London or Paris for cutting or sale there.

He came to his feet at once, surprised. Cecil Rhodes had just walked into his office, and Cecil Rhodes was the last person he had ever expected to have visit him. He was also, Barney was thinking, the last person he would ever have invited. He moved forward.

“Mr. Rhodes, I believe.”

Rhodes merely nodded. “Barnato.” He looked around. “Where can we talk in privacy?”

“About what?” Barney sounded curious. “Do we have anything to talk about?”

Rhodes felt his face getting red and fought down his temper. Oh, what a pleasure it would be to take this uppity little Jew down a peg or two! “Why don’t we talk and then you’ll find out?”

Barney shrugged. “All right. I don’t mind talking. I talk to lots of people. Come back to my little cubbyhole. I don’t have fancy offices like De Beers.” He led the way to the rear of the long trading office and into a little partitioned section that served as his private office. He closed the door and sat down without offering Rhodes a chair. Rhodes pulled one around and sat down, his anger growing at this open sign of ill manners which he knew was far from accidental. Barnato looked at him evenly.

“Well?”

“Well,” Rhodes began, “the price of diamonds has been falling—”

“You came to tell me that?” Barney’s eyebrows went up. The man across the desk from him was the man who had sworn he would never allow Barnato to join the Kimberley Club or even be invited there, and who had made no bones about the statement; this was the man who openly referred to him contemptuously as “that little upstart kike from the London slums”; this was the man who had gotten Solly Loeb to join the Kimberley Club to point out to Barney his particular ostracism, as well as to try and learn the secrets of Barnato Mining. No, Barney thought, studying the man across from him, you have a few things coming to you, Mr. Rhodes, and this is as good a time as any to let you know it. “I already knew the price of diamonds has been falling, Mr. Rhodes,” he said.

“Let me finish!” Rhodes said, and now his voice was almost savage. “The price of diamonds has been falling and we both know why. There are too many stones being put on the market. It’s simply common sense to control the output of the mines as well as the release of the stones into the market. And we can’t do it as long as we’re competing the way we are now.”

Barney nodded. “I agree. So stop mining stones and stop releasing them. I’ll be very happy to cooperate by taking over the entire market. I’ve meant to for a very long time, anyway. And when I do, I promise to raise prices.”

“I’m trying not to lose my temper,” Rhodes said angrily, stung beyond the limits of his patience. “You’re supposed to be a smart man, Barnato, but you don’t sound like one from the way you talk. We control the output of three of the four mines in Kimberley; you control half of one mine!”

Barney considered the other man mildly. “So what are you worried about? Dump your stones on the market and I’ll dump mine. And we’ll see who’s still eating afterwards.” He looked at Rhodes calmly for a moment and then changed his tone, becoming businesslike. “Now, look, Mr. Rhodes. You didn’t come here to tell me the market for diamonds is falling. And you didn’t come here to try and establish some way we can ration the release of stones between us, because you knew before you walked in that door that I would never go along with such foolishness. You don’t trust me and I don’t trust you, so how could any agreement between us possibly work? And don’t tell me we could keep track through the registry books, because despite your books and your compounds and your IDD Squad, this town is still flooded with illicit stones. So why don’t you tell me the real reason you’re here? I promise I’ll keep it a secret.”

“All right!” Rhodes said. He hadn’t meant to bring it up in that fashion but the little Jew was intolerable! “I want to buy you out. Lock, stock and barrel!”

Barney laughed in pure enjoyment. “And I bet you’d throw in first-class coach fare for me to go to Cape Town and never come back, too, wouldn’t you? That’s an even more ridiculous suggestion than that we cooperate in setting limits on the stones.” He shook his head. “No, Mr. Rhodes. Neither Barnato Mining nor Barnato Brothers, Trading, is for sale.”

“We’re not interested in the trading end of your business. Just the mine.”

“And Barnato Trading would get their diamonds from who, Mr. Rhodes?”

“From the combine, of course.”

“You’re going to make me laugh again, Mr. Rhodes. The answer is still no.”

“But why not?” Now that Rhodes was in this far his very stubbornness made it imperative that he continue. “What’s wrong with one group controlling the entire output of Kimberley, all four mines, and setting prices? It makes sense!”

“Of course it makes sense,” Barney said agreeably. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the idea. The only thing wrong is, it’s going to be Barnato who controls, not De Beers. Besides, what would you buy me out with? Shares in De Beers?”

Rhodes was stung. “What’s wrong with De Beers shares?” he demanded hotly.

“If you don’t know,” Barney said calmly, “then you haven’t been watching the London ’Change. You’ve got diamonds — which are losing value every day — but you don’t have cash. I’ve got diamonds and cash. You say you control the output of three mines while I only have half of one mine — but to get that control you put up too many of your shares. Your control isn’t all that firm. Then you had to put up a lot of money for the equipment to dig into the blue ground and crush it at a time when machinery prices were sky-high. You waited to dig shafts until mine were in operation, in the meantime continuing to work in wet claims, and when you finally decided that shafts were the way to go, it cost you three times as much to sink every foot than when I did. You were late and you paid for it. And you’re still paying and will for a long time. You see, Mr. Rhodes — and you see I call you Mr. Rhodes, not Rhodes — I know your business a lot better than you know mine. When a little outfit like ours can sell a few diamonds and make the great De Beers hurt, you’re in serious trouble. Now, to get back to business, if you want to sell your controlling interest in De Beers, maybe we really do have something to talk about.”