Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1873-06-07
A DIAMOND sELKER,s TALE.
BY AMY RANDOLPH.

little daisy OF a French girl like
Pearl Trillard? Well, it's quite a
romantic story.
had lust come home from two
years sojourn in the diamond fields
Of Port Natal. You've seen the
place on the map perhaps. Well,
! that gives you no more idea OF il
| than If YOU were blind, and deaf
and dumb into the bargain. Allthe
/ diamonds that ever glittered in the
valley of Sinbad the Sailor would
not make such place as that en-
durable / hadn't any home 10
! speak of, and vet / was homesicE
| the whole time / was at port Natal.
What sent me therel That Is what
/ cannot exactly answer. 4 rowing
disposition, | suppose. But once
| there, entered with a will into the
I business of making fortune. -.
! At first l had no great luck 10
| speak Of The fields were crowded
with seekers as eager and persistent
as myself, and after four or five
months l began 10 feel almost like
! despairing. But / resolved 10 stay
| on, and il was well that l did. For
on Friday, the 18th day of MAY, IS
| 40, found a great stone that looked
like a rough, dirt-incrusted pebble
at first, but the second glance told
me that il was a diamond Of rare
size and water, such rs is found on
| ly once in a score OF years
| / looked at il silently. Silently
dropped into my pocket, and strode
of homeward, slouching listlessly
along, as always did.
"Hallor cried q wiry little Cape
Cod man, "Densley's played out.
Why, Densley, it amt noon yet by
the best chrOnometer I'm Boston"
81 don't care" said L, Il am go
ing home"
"Home -
s'Yes. To the States"
"Phaw i thought you had more
pluck, Densley. Faint heart never
won big diamond yet. Don't give it
up, man J"
| ButI went back to the colony, won
| dering that they did not hear the
confused beating of my heart, which
| seemed to fill the tropical silence
/ with a noise like the TcCelie of a
/ hundred drums. And when ! was
alone, ] drew out the great stone
and feasted my eyes ON its fair pro-
portions. / danced sang-I re-
| peated odd scraps OF poetry / re-
membered seeing long ago-in short,
| so behaved that people would have
been fully justified in clapping me
into an insane asylum.
Ny fortune my fOrtunei | had
been seeking II score of years. i
had found il az last. That night
| dreamed of ivory palaces with col
umn of slistening pearl, and cell
ings all asparkle with the many
cleaning facets of iunumerable cut
diamonds, and walked up fevered and
unrcfreshed.
Well, l said nothing Of my dis
cOvery, and came back to the States;
to New York-with the diamond in
a little leather sack, stitched on the
waist of the flannel shirt l wore un-
derneath the linen one. | saw my
self in the full-length mirror in
front of a picture store, as came up
Broad Way-tall, sallow, ragged and
unkempt-and smiled 10 observe
how distrutful people eyed me,
They would soon turn their tunes,
thought. But in the meantime II
seemed rather necessary that
should ciyiliZe myself up little, so
| dropped into the first furnishing
store that lay in my way.
The young girl behind the couA-
ter struck my eye pleasantly, as a
Flower, or sunset, or star-sown
sky might have done. She was tall
and slight, very pale, with great al
mOnd-shaped eyes, a mouth like
scarlet coral, and an abundance OF
dead-black braids that seemed, as il
were, TO weigh her small head down
with their heavy bulkness. Pearl
Trillard looked wonderfully fair in
my eyes, with her sweet voice and
pretty WOmanly way.
was clumsy, and did not know
quite what | wanted. Pearl did.
She told me plainly what was neces-
sary ant what was not. So L bought
my outfit and paid for il, and went
home with part under my arm -
the rest was TO be sent home-with
PEARLS black almond-shaped Orbs
still haunting me.
1t was January, and sullcn cOal
fire had Just been lighted on the
hearth of the third-stOry room had
engaged. | sat down in front of it,
when supper was over, drew the
Kerosene lamp close TO me, on the
three legged pine table, and took
out my pocket-bOok, to the inner
compartment of which, since my
arrival in port, had transferred the
little chamois-leather sack which
held my fortune, to have n look at tho
precious stone.
There was no sack there.
At first 1 believed that nay eye
, must have played me some trick.
searched through and through thu
, faded leather flaps Of the well-worI
! pocket book. l shook out the skirti
. of my coat; l even got down on ml
knees 10 search tho floor beneath
but the diamond and its receptacl,
, were gone.
For a minute or two IL seemed a.
, if the room was in a whirl arOunC
me. Ny heart stopped pulsing, m!
, blood grew chill, and deadly sick
ness stole through my whole being
: The diamond the diamond l-th
! one glittering central sun OF light
. around which all my thoughts wer
! wont to revolve, which shon
through my future-for which | ha'
: toiled and striyen and waited ant
: suEered-the diamond and il wa
gone.
/ pressed my hands resolutel,
I over my eyes to exclude all sur
rounding objects, and tried to thin
: when had last seen it. l was sur
that | had it in the morning, for
> had carefully examined the pocket
book, and the pocket-book had no
. left my possession since.
Had il vanished into thin air lik
: a dream? Was it bewitched: or ha
! been the victim of some Of thos
. skillful slight-of-hand robbers @
. which | had often read and heard
: But in that case, the pocket-bOok II
: self would also have been gone.
Nv head sank on my hands; bit
ter groan burst from between IN
Inns as | remembered those drear
months in the diamond fields o
= Port Natal-the months that Wer
IS now so utterly fruitless. Could
y live them all over again? or even If
d did. was there the slightest likel
> hood that my toll would a secon
# time be repaid by the finding of sue
h a gem as greets a mans eye but one
n in his lifetime? No, no-a thousan
v times NO!
ie L believe / was for the moment II
, sane. rose and staggered blint
Ie ly toward the pistol which l alway
" carried in the breast pocket of III
e outer coat, with some vague idea I
Ir putting an end to the life which ha
+ been such an utter failure.
r When there came a soft lit
,e knock on the paunels OF the door,
A. suppose | must have answere
1 a Wr~sa- -
4 ed open, and Pearl Trillard stoC
d there, with little boy-her broJhC
pr As | learned at her side.
81 f,u,l a 1itrIa manor marcel 4