The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-03-22


"a. ts,,a,r.5; u. ,ea ~ ~ .7'N,ysi4i Ses!
'HallOoi,2 said nc, 'yoa.Vs BssA aat an
nightP .''ga =. N. is;ai. . - M
Yes, said !, and I've bad AnsladTeA.
turr.' .......-. =.
Good let me hear all aboutit'"
| told him how l had passed the night,
and all that had happened. !,-tl --.s-i (.
Capital Z he cried; and have you ex-
amined the thiefs bag?'
no, have not done that yet; but of
course it contains nothing but what is my
own .''.,
DO not be too sure of that. Come, we
will examining it together -. .--..-.-
lie followed me into my room, and
| fugged forth the bag, feeling confident
that the fertile Imagination Of my philo-
logical friend had misled bin, as it was
apt to do. To my astonishmcnt there
were in the bag, in addition to the money
rifled from my pocket. gold Napoleon, a
five frauc'picce, andu pair Of enormously
large circular, EARRINGS of alloyed gold,
such as one often sees in the ears of the
provincial immigrants who crowd the
whatves, the markets and warehouses of
Paris. i'"
'There' said my friend, you see chat
the rascal had more strings to his bow
than you gave him credit for. Ifyou had
made an uproar and charge of theft, he
could have retorted the charge upon you,
would have shown This owh empty
pockets, and might have stood as good n
chance Of criminating you as yoo Of erin
mating him However, you may forgive
him, since he has paid you for the trouble
of defeating his purpose; and really, !
think he has treated you handsomely
| ,'..gGi~.A adeRi@9 ht.tt, <Sciaxs.y, what
ought l to do? had not better put the
affair in the hands of the police ?
NJ ia, ~---~ +'.- ~.'A' =. '..ssls- eassG.
here2 If not, must tell you that-ifNg gou
put the thiefs money in the hands of the
police, you will also be compelled to hand
over the whole contents of the bag; and
how much of it you will get back, and
acIten you will get any, you must be clev-
ercr than am if you can guess ,,..
finally decided not to trouble the po-
lice with the business; but as could not
have made use of the scoundrel's money
any more than | could have worn the
huge earrings, wrapped both up in pa
per together, and placed them in my pock-
et-b0ok until time and circumstances
should present some fit and proper mode
Of disposing of them.
1t was about year after the above ad-
venture, and when the details Of it had
almost faded from my memory, that
was invited by friend from England to
accompany him on visit to one Of
! Partisan prisons-if recollect right it
was the New Bicctrc, which, after deal
Of solicitation and trouble, he had OBJ
tained permission to inspect. While we
were wandering through the workshops,
in which the prisoners labor together in
silence for so many hours day, as my
/ friend was committing his notes to paper,
amused myself by scanning the demoral
lzed physiogn0mies around me, little sus.
pecting that was destined to find an ac-
quaintance among them Close to my
elbow there stood man at a bench, bend
ing over his work, which was that of
carving sabots from unshapcly blocks of
willow wood. was admiring the rapidity
and boldnesS Of his execution, when he
suddenly lifted his head and exposed to
view the face, which had formerly stud
led with Snch delibrration, of the thief Of
the Rue de rOdcon. knew him at once;
and saw that the recognition was mutual,
for he lowered his head instantly, and
plainly sought to elude my gaze. could
not. of course, speak to him then, with
out contravening the rules Of the prison !;
hut on imparting my wish to do SO 10
the guide who had US in charge, he
promised to give me the opportunity
sought,'when we had finished our survey.
He was as good as his word, and before
leaving the prison. | was conducted to
the delinquent in his own cell, whittier
he had been rctnandcd that | might sec
him. The poor wretch, who, it was clear,
imagined that | was going to lodge a fresh
charge against him, seemed struck with
! m0rta. pa!ler as entered. .....
DO not he alarmed said Il have
no complaint to make against you; but
have been wishing to meet you, and TO
make a restoration Of property which
may perhaps be Of use to you. | un-
folded my pocket. book and took out the
little packet containing the Napoleon, the
five franc piece, and the ear-rngs.-
These, l think, belong to you-is it not
SOP
He bowed assent, but did not speak.
Take them,' said, and take better
care of them than you did when you had
them last
He glanced at the attendant, as if to
intimate that the mans presence prevent
ed his saying more, and merely replied,
with impressive earnestness, Msieu, you
are man Of honorn
| wish could return the compliment.