Rough Bloody Diamonds

Pat van Zyl is a blacksmith/gunsmith and shottist whose trophies fill a mantlepiece back in his home in Ladysmith Natal. It is on the riverboat, Kimberley on the first leg of his journey up the Pungwe River to Umtali on the eastern border of Mashonaland that he meets two others. Brian Wood-Gush, whose family of Bristol accountants are happy to pay him to be somewhere else. Colin Grieve is a reporter/photographer with The Times of London sent out to write a feature story on Mashonaland. The three decide to join forces in their search for opportunities in this savage new land. On arrival at Umtali they are caught up in preparations to attack the Portuguese garrison just over the border at Massi-Kessi. The ingenuity of the three results in the garrison surrendering and the commandant and his officers taken prisoner. This victory settles the long-standing dispute over the border boundaries between the two countries. Circumstances resulting from this action sees Pat in possession of a map to Siakonza's diamond diggings on the banks of the Nyanyadzi River in the east of Mashonaland on the border with Mozambique. The three following the map find the diggings and the indications are that they are onto something big. Lacking the wherewithal to exploit the mine, Cecil Rhodes is invited to join the syndicate in return for the commodities and his expertise. Barney Barnato another of Kimberley's millionaires, always with an ear to the ground, has cunningly discovered the mine's whereabouts and wants to peg a claim of his own. It is his scheming that includes the involvement of President Kruger and his general together with his attempts at bribing king Lobengula that create the intrigue. However he is up against the resourcefulness of Cecil Rhodes and the ingenuity of Pat van Zyl.
About the Author: Waters was born in Wales but schooled in Bulawayo Southern Rhodesia. After a year as a police cadet he commenced an apprenticeship in the printing industry. He was employed by the Rhodesian Printing and Publishing Company and worked on The Chronicle in Bulawayo. On completing his apprenticeship he transferred to the Umtali branch of the Company where he learned printing estimating and advertising. He was to become the advertisement manager and later still, the manager of the branch. After the country attained independence from Britain in 1980 the country changed its name to Zimbabwe. Under the new dispensation all white managers were to be replaced by blacks. Waters resigned to start his own printing company with borrowed money. Brilprint repaid it debts and prospered moderately until in 2008 when the country achieved an inflation rate of 400 million per cent. This disastrous situation led to the closure of the business. Whereupon Waters retreated to his home in the Vumba Mountains outside Mutare to be supported by his wife Bobby. Between 1993 and 2003 Brilprint printed the monthly Mountain Digest on behalf of the Manicaland Publicity Association which was well received by the community. The profits from advertising paid the staff wages at the Publicity Bureau. Waters contributed to the editorial content and it was his back page articles under the banner "Making Waves by H2O" that eventually upset the media watchdog who would have us conform with regulations as they affect a newspaper. Sadly this caused us to cease publication. Boredom eventually drove Waters to the computer where he commenced writing Rough Bloody Diamonds. In 2014 he and his wife moved to the UK.