1026 Local Police
In the middle of the night, Li Du was roused from his sleep. The rain was beating against the window as if it was about to break the glass.
It was the first rain since the beginning of spring in South Africa, marking the start of the rainy season.
Li Du got up and looked outside. Thunder, lightning, and rainstorm all struck at once, and the weather was dismal. Fortunately, they did not live in a tent, which would have been doubtless washed away by the heavy rain.
He fell asleep again to the sound of the rain.
After some time, Ah Meow and Ah Ow started to cry. The voice was not loud enough, but it sounded upset, "Hem...Hem...Hem…"
Li Du rubbed his eyes, got up, and turned on the flashlight to see what was going on. He knew it must be something that made them unhappy if both of them cried so.
The cone of light illuminated the ground, and he saw the four little ones huddled together among the puddles, looking unhappily at their wet paws.
Little Flathead slept soundly. The cold rain made it a little uncomfortable, but it shook its head and slept on, determined to get his rest no matter what.
There was no doubt that the rain has leaked into the house.
Li Du got out of bed to have a look. Brother Wolf woke up and said "I'll make a diversion canal, everything will be fine if the water flows out. Boss, you go back to sleep, I will handle this."
It was lucky that he hired Brother Wolf, who was extremely responsible. Whatever happened, as long as he could handle it, he would not bother others on any account.
Li Du knew he could trust Brother Wolf, and went back to bed.
The night had passed, and when he woke up the next morning it was still raining, a little less, still heavily.
Other rooms were wet as well, and people were throwing the water out with pails.
Their house had a drainage system, but during especially heavy rains some manpower was needed to drain away the water. On other times the rainwater would be discharged from the corner of the house with circulation drainage.
It was the first time for Li Du to experience the African rainy season, and the rain was pouring down as if from a bucket.
Looking at the stormy sky and the nearby mountains, Li Du was very worried about landslides. If this happened, they would be doomed.
Fortunately, although the rain continued for forty or fifty hours, the mountains stood still.
The rain stopped at noon on the third day. The heavy rains in Africa came and went quickly. It was stormy a moment ago, and just like that, it was sunny again.
The weather cleared up and the men went on working in the river.
At this time, the river swelled and almost doubled in width. Nevertheless, the Africans did not care. The faster the river flowed, the quicker they could find diamonds.
Whoever found diamonds here kept a low profile, unlike in the United States diamond park, where people would boast and draw attention if they found a diamond.
Li Du was frustrated. He was not interested in the abandoned mines. After the heavy rain had passed, he was ready to leave.
Li Du was going to find Buick to bid him farewell. After all, Buick and his fellows had given them shelter from the rain. He had to thank them for it.
When he walked out of the hut, he saw Buick and the others standing by the river, in a confrontation with a few police officers in uniform.
The people around the river kept coming up, and the people in the houses kept coming out to stand behind Buick and his group.
The police officer opposite them waved his hand impatiently and shouted, "Get away, all of you, leave this place! The rainy season is beginning, do you want to risk your lives? If there is a landslide, you will all die."
Li Du nodded. What the policeman said made sense. It was dangerous here now.
The Africans looked at the policeman in silence. They said nothing, but they did not move back either.
The policeman became more and more impatient and said, "Get out of here quickly. Come and stand in line for inspection, and quickly leave after it."
A young man behind Buick wanted to speak. Buick waved and stopped him. Then he said to the policeman, "Officer, if you want us to leave, we will. We can leave now. But there is no need to inspect us, right?"
The tall policeman gave him a contemptuous look and said, "Really? So you can steal something away from here? Leave everything but clothes and bedding behind, and get the hell out of here!"
Li Du thought the police were right. During the rainy season, such places were dangerous.
But from what they said, it seemed these policemen wanted to take away the diamonds that the people had found through so much hard work.
Some of the Africans crossed the river and tried to get away, but when they were about to run, a line of police officers appeared out of the woods, caught up with them, knocked them over and searched them.
Seeing these policemen, Buick's face showed anger. Others were angry too, and some directly called out, "He is a traitor!"
One tall native man shouted across the river, "Hey, did you get anything?"
A police officer laughed loudly and said, "It is not bad. These bastards have diamonds."
The miners were unhappy and struggled against giving up their diamonds.
The policemen got angry, drew out their clubs and began to beat the miners.
Buick could not resist. He shouted, "Scotty, are you beating them too? Attacking your own people?"
The others shouted, "Scotty, you've gone too far!"
"It's a pity a boa constrictor did not get you when you were a child. You shouldn't have been saved!"
"You dishonor the tribe! You have shamed the god of Gibra!"
A young man with a Mohawk hair shouted, "Be honest, Buick, you are suspected of a crime! Cooperate with our investigation!"
The tall cop pointed at Buick and said, "Shut up and cut the crap. Get over there, line up for inspection. Come on, we don't have time to hang out with you here."
Buick looked back in disappointment and said, "Officer, we are not thieves. We are from the neighborhood..."
"Your word cannot prove anything. Come here, line up for inspection, I think you are the thief who stole the diamond," interrupted the policeman.
One young man shouted, "The diamonds here belong to nobody. The mine is abandoned. The government has declared it does not have an owner."
"Shut up!" shouted the tall policeman and punched him. "This mine does have an owner. It belongs to the country. What you have stolen is government property."
The young man wanted to fight back, and several policemen pulled out their guns at the same time.
Seeing this, Buick shouted, "Charlie, stop, squat down! You squat down!"
The police were going to beat the young man, and the officers across the river were coming around. Scotty, the young man with the weird haircut, said to the tall officer, "Chief, stop it! Stop it!"
The tall policeman leered at him and said, "What's wrong, boy?"
"Charlie is my brother. Don't do this to him."
The policeman nodded and said, "Well, for your sake, I'll let this boy go."