Alan Roderick, AKA Damon Maxwell, has a DNA quirk that prevents him from aging at any normal rate. He could be immortal. Then again, he could be killed. He decides to take risks anyway, to keep an incredibly long life interesting. In this, the 2nd in a series, he goes to Africa with a famous correspondent to report on the first Boer War. He winds up in the employ of Barney Barnato, owner of diamond mines, as Chief of Security. He's perfect in the job, until a woman from the past complicates things. She's the faux wife of a faux missionary, and they are helping the miners steal diamonds. Roderick faces a moral dilemma, complicated by the presence of a new love. His solution aggravates both Barnato and the new woman in his life. He accepts an odious mission from Barnato to recover his trust and to escape Africa. He can't tell the new love he can't stay very long in any woman's life, so the job has one good point. He'll either get killed or get out.