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every tomorrow may be the evil day, it is fair enough to say that a fat proportion of the gold that is dug out of one corner of the
earth is at once buried again in another corner.'
Bond smiled at Colonel Smithers's eloquence. This man lived gold, thought gold, dreamed gold. Well, it was an interesting
subject. He might just as well wallow in the stuff. In the days when Bond had been after the diamond smugglers he had had
first to educate himself in the fascination, the myth of the stones. He said, 'What else ought I to know before we get down to
your immediate problem?'
'You're not bored? Well, you were suggesting that gold production was so vast nowadays that it ought to take care of all
these various consumers. Unfortunately that is not so. In fact the gold content of the world is being worked out. You may think
that large areas of the world have still to be explored for gold. You would be mistaken. Broadly speaking, there only remains
the land under the sea and the sea itself, which has a notable gold content. People have been scratching the surface of the world
for gold for thousands of years. There were the great gold treasures of Egypt and Mycenae, Montezuma and the Incas. Croesus
and Midas emptied the Middle Eastern territories of gold. Europe was worked for it - the valleys of the Rhine and the Po,
Malaga and the plains of Granada. Cyprus was emptied, and the Balkans. India got the fever. Ants coming up from under the
earth carrying grains of gold led the Indians to their alluvial fields. The Romans worked Wales and Devon and Cornwall. In the
Middle Ages there were the finds in Mexico and Peru. These were followed by the opening up of the Gold Coast, then called
Negro-land, and after that came the Americas. The famous gold rushes of the Yukon and Eldorado, and the rich strikes at
Eureka sounded off the first modern Gold Age. Meanwhile, in Australia, Bendigo and Ballarat had come into production, and
the Russian deposits at Lena and in the Urals were making Russia the largest gold producer in the world in the middle of die
nineteenth century. Then came the second modern Gold Age - the discoveries on the Wit-watersrand. These were helped by the
new method of cyanid-ing instead of separation of the gold from the rock by mercury. Today we are in the third Gold Age with
the opening up of the Orange Free State deposits." Colonel Smithers threw up his hands. 'Now, gold is pouring out of the earth.
Why, the whole production of the Klondike and the Home-stake and Eldorado, which were once the wonder of the world,
would only add up to two or three years of today's production from Africa! Just to show you, from 1500 to 1900, when
approximate figures were kept, the whole world produced about eighteen thousand tons of gold. From 1900 to today we have
dug up forty-one thousand tons! At this rate, Mr Bond,' Colonel Smithers leaned forward earnestly, ' - and please don't quote
me - but I wouldn't be surprised if in fifty years' time we have not totally exhausted the gold content of the earth!'
Bond, smothered by this cataract of gold history, found no difficulty in looking as grave as Colonel Smithers. He said, 'You
certainly make a fascinating story of it. Perhaps the position isn't as bad as you think. They're already mining oil under the sea.
Perhaps they'll find a way of mining gold. Now, about this smuggling.'
The telephone rang. Colonel Smithers impatiently snatched up the receiver. 'Smithers speaking.' He listened, irritation
growing on his face. 'I'm sure I sent you a note about the summer fixtures, Miss Philby. The next match is on Saturday against
the Discount Houses.' He listened again. "Well, if Mrs Flake won't play goals, I'm afraid she'll have to stand down. It's the only
position on the field we've got for her. Everybody can't play centre forward. Yes, please do. Say I'll be greatly obliged if just
this once. I'm sure she'll be very good - right figure and all that. Thank you, Miss Philby.'
Colonel Smithers took out a handkerchief and mopped his forehead. 'Sorry about that. Sports and welfare are becoming
17
almost too much of a fetish at the Bank. I've just had the women's hockey team thrown into my lap. As if I hadn't got
enough to do with the annual gymkhana coming on. How ever' - Colonel Smithers waved these minor irritations aside - 'as you
say, time to get on to the smuggling. Well, to begin with, and taking only England and the sterling area, it's a very big business
indeed. We employ three thousand staff at the Bank, Mr Bond, and of those no less than one thousand work in the exchange
control department. Of those at least five hundred, including my little outfit, are engaged in controlling the illicit movements of
valuta, the attempts to smuggle or to evade the Exchange Control Regulations.'
'That's a lot.' Bond measured it against the Secret Service which had a total force of two thousand. 'Can you give me an
example of smuggling? In gold. I can't understand these dollar swindles.'
'All right.' Colonel Smithers now talked in the soft, tired voice of an overworked man in the service of his Government. It
was the voice of the specialist in a particular line of law enforcement. It said that he knew most things connected with that line
and that he could make a good guess at all the rest. Bond knew the voice well, the voice of the first-class Civil Servant. Despite
his prosiness, Bond was beginning to take to Colonel Smithers. 'All right. Supposing you have a bar of gold in your pocket
about the size of a couple of packets of Players. Weight about five and a quarter pounds. Never mind for the moment where
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