The Firm of Girdlestone Chapter 19 - News From the Urals

Ashton Hoffman (0:00)

Chapter 19 of A Firm of Girdlestone by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Ashton Hoffman. News from the Earls.

Major Toby's cutterbook had naturally reckoned that the longer he withheld this trump card of his, the greater would be its effect when played.

An obstacle appeared at the last moment produces more consternation than when a scheme is still in its infancy. It proved, however, that he had only just levied his blackmail in time for within a couple of days of his interview with the head of the firm, news arrived of the great discovery of diamonds among the Ural Mountains. The first intimation was received through the Central News Agency in the form of the following telegram.

Moscow, August 22

It is reported from Tobolsk that an important discovery of diamond fields has been made amongst the spurs of the Ural Mountains, at a point not very far from that city. They are said to have been found by an English geologist who has exhibited many magnificent gems in proof of his assertion. These stones have been examined at Tobolsk and are pronounced to be equal if not superior in quality to any found elsewhere. A company has been already formed for the purpose of purchasing the land and working the mines. Some days afterward, there came a Reuters telegram giving fuller details with regard to diamond fields near Tobolsk. It is said that there is every reason to believe that they are of great and possible unsurpassed wealth. There is no question now as to their authenticity, since their discovery proves to be an English gentleman of high character, and his story is corroborated by villagers from the district who have dug up stones for themselves. The government contemplated buying out the company and taking over the mines, which might be profitable, worked by the forced labor of political prisoners on the system similar to that adopted in the salt mines of Siberia. The discovery is universally regarded as one which has material increased the internal resources of the country. And there is some talk of a presentation of a substantial testimony to the energetic and scientific travelers to whom it is due. Within a week or ten days of the receipt of the telegram in London, there came letters from the Russian correspondents of the various journals giving fuller details upon a subject of so much general interest. The Times directed attention to the matter in a leader. It appears, remarked the great paper, that most important addition has been made to the mineral wealth of the Russian Empire. The silver mines of Siberia and the petroleum wells of Krakasa are to be out-rivaled by the new diamond fields of the Ural Mountains. For untold thousands of years, these precious fragments of crystallized carbon have been lying unheated among the gloomy gorges waiting for the hand of man to pick them up. It has fallen to the lot of one of our countrymen to point out to the Russian nation the great wealth which lay untouched and unsuspected in the heart of their realm. The story is a romantic antique one. It appears that a Mr. Langsworthy, a wealthy English gentleman of good extraction, had in the course of his travels in Russia continued his journey as far as the Great Mountain Barrier which separates Europe from Asia. Being fond of sport, he was wandering in search of game down one of the Ural valleys when his attention was attracted by a thick gravel which was piled up along the track of the dried up water course. The appearance and situation of this gravel reminded him forcibly of the South African diamond fields and so strong was the impression that he at once laid down his gun and proceeded raking the gravel over and examining it. His search was rewarded by the discovery of several stones which conveyed harm with him and which proved after being cleaned to be gems of the first water. Elated at this success, he returned to the spot the next day with a spade and succeeded in obtaining many other specimens in convincing himself that the deposit stretched up and down for a long distance on both sides of the torrent. Having satisfied himself upon this point, or compatriot, for the working of the fields, he was so successful in that is, that the shares are already full above poor and or correspondant rights that there has been a rush of capitalists, all eager to invest the money in so promising a venture.

It is expected that within a few months, the necessary plant will have been erected and the concern be in working order. Daily Telegraph treated the matter from a jokist and historical point of view. It has long been a puzzle to aim to queries and geologists, it remarks, as to where those jewels which Solomon brought from the East were originally obtained. There has been much speculation to regarding the source of these less peripheral gems which spoke in the regalia of the Indian monarchs and adorned the palaces of the Delhi and Banaras. As a nation, we have personal interest in the question since the largest and most magnificent of these stones is now in the possession of our gracious queen.