Litchfield enquirer., 1879-11-13

about the size of mans closed fist and look ing like bit of dirty glass let into the wall of the cliff. .'Thats it!" he cried--' -'tthats it! p
 '.That's what ?" ...,. s.,s.,. .,-..s ......re,
 "Why, man, c dinnaoed, and such one as 1 there isn't a monarch in Europe but would en- 2 " Tom Donahue the possession of Up with I your crowbar, and we'll soon exercise the de- mon of Sasassa Valley, -r,-, F. ....f. r-.t.s
 I was so astounded that for moment stood speeches. with surprise, geZing at the treasure which had so unexpectedly fallen into our hands. :a .sG.r. . ~. ...sua,o a .s s,}.oaa
 .'.Here, hand me the crowbar," said Tom.
 ''Now, by using this little round knob which | projects from the cliff here, as fulcrum we may be able to lever it off. Yes; there it goes.a I.never thought it could have come so easily. Now. Jack, the sooner we get back to bur hut and then down to Cape Town, the l better" ;" a} L.'" @2@ ~'.' '". f' t''9' r@s l ! We wrapped up our treasure; and made our 1 way across the hills towards home On the way, Tom told me how, while law-student in the Middle Temple, he had come upon dusty pamphlet in the library, by one Jans van Hou- nym, which told of an experience very simi- lar to ours, which had befallem that worthy Dutchman in the latter part of the seventeenth l century, and which resulted in the discovery | of diamond. This. tale it was which had come into Toms head as he listened to honest Dick Wharton's ghost-stery while the means which he had adopted to verify his .supposit- ion sprang from his own fertile Irish brain. -r
 "We'll take it down to Cape Town" contin- ued Tom, 'tandt if we can't dispose of it with advantage there, it will be worth our while to | ship for London with it. Let us go along to Madisons first; he knows something of these things, and can perhaps>s i've us me idea of what we may consider fair price for our l treasure" -..... .-..,l,f f..4. ...t -srg -t., - We turned off from the track accordingly, before reaching our hut and kept along the narrow path leading to Madison's farm. He was at lunch when we entered; and in a min | ute we were seated at each side of him, en- l toying South African hospitality, %, <
 :'Well," he said, after the servants were gone, 'what's in the wind now? I see you have something to say to me. What is ?" Tom produced his packet, and solemnly un- | tied the handkerchiefs which enveloped it. ''There!" he said, putting his crystal on the 1 table; 'what would you say was fair price | for that ?'' .... ...s.-.. ..-.... ... Madison took it up and examined it criti- cally. ''Well," be said, laying it down again, lin it's crude state about twelve shiilings per ton." -F .4.Els -. .Hr'.s
 Twelve shillings" cried Tom, starting to his feet. Don't you see what it is?"
 "Rock- -salt!" .r, -.r.-
 'Rock t1ddle a diamond"
 t'Taste it !' said Madison. 4.f ,.,...,u..
 Tom put it to his lips, dashed it down with dreadful exclamation, and rushed out of the room. ... :.,s ..... . ..,. p. 4....,.., felt sad and disappointed enough myself but presently remembering what Tom had said about the pistol, l. too, left the house, and made for the hut, leaving Madison open mouthed with astonishment When got in. 1 found Tom lying in his bunk with his face to the wall, too dispirited apparently to an- swer my consultations. Anathematizing Dick and Madison, the Sasassa demon, and every thing else, strolled out eff the hut, and re- freshed myself with pipe after our weari- some adventure. was about fifty yards away from the hut, when heard issuing from it the sound which of all others I least expected to hear. Had it been groan or an oath, should have taken It as 8 matter of course; but the souni which caused me to stop and take the.pipe out of my mouth was hearty roar of laughter! Next moment, Tom him. self emerged from the door, his whole face radiant With delight. ''Game for another ten mile walk, old fellow ?"
 ''What for another lump of rock-salI at twelve shllings n?"
 TWO nIOre Uf rtIat, Hal, 1u-y,r louo-, mo" grinned Tom. 'Now look here, Jack What blessed fools we are 10 be so floored by trif1e! Just sit op this stump for five minutes and I'll make it as clear as daylight. You've seen many lump of rock salt stuck in crag, and SD have l, though we did make such null of this one. Now, Jack, did any of the pieces you have ever seen shine in the barkness brighter than any fire fy?"
 ''Well, can't say they ever did"
 'Td venture to prophecy that if we waited until night, which we won't do, we would see that light still glimmering among the rocks. Therefore, Jack, when we took away this worthless salt, we took the wrong crystal It is no very strange thing in these hills that piece of rock salt should be lying within foot of diamond. It caught our eyes. and we were excited, and so we made fools of our selves, and 1eft the real stone behind. Depend upon it, Jack, tn Slsassa gem is lying ..within the magic circle of chalk upon the face of wonder cliff Come, old fellow, light your pipe and stow. your revolver, and we'll be off before that fellow Madison has time to put two and two together"
 don't know that was very sanguine this time I had q begnn in fact to look upon the diamond as most un.nitigated nuisance. However, rather than throw a damper on Toms expectations, l announced myself eager to start. What walk it was! Tom was always good mountaineer, but his excitement seemed to lend him wings that day, while scrambled along after him as best I could When we got within half mile he broke into the ''double," and never pulled up until he reached the round white circle upon the cliff. Poor old Tom! When 1 came up his mood had changed, and he was standing with his hands in his pockets, gazing vacantly before hlm with very rueful countenance. " ,....
 "Look :" he said-s'look P and he pointed at the cliff. Not sign of anything in the least resembling a diamond there. The circle included nothing but flat slate e-colored stone, with one large hole, where we had extracted the rock -salt and one or two smaller depres- sions. No sign of the gem. . .}.g'' 'E.
 "I've been over every inch of it. 7 said poor Tom ssTt's not there.-= some one has been here and rs,tlced the chalk, and taken it. Come home, Jack; feel sick and tired. Oh h. had any man ever luck like lnine!" l...,...
 turned to go but took one last look at the cliff first. Tom was already ahead, ten paces off. s3 e54a5 e.r 3@-ia. / a' -.
 '.Hollo '" I cried, ''don't you see any change in that circle since yesterday ?"
 "What dye mean ?" said Tom. 7
 "Don't you miss a thing that was there be- fore ?" .......- ....,-.
 ..sThe rock-salt ?" said Tom.
 "No; but the little round knob that we used for fulcrnm. I suppose we must have wrenched if off in using the lever. Let's have a look at what it's made off"
 Accordingly, at the foot of the cliff we searched about among the loose stones. }2
 i"Here you are Jack! We've done it at last! We're made men !"
 I turned round, and there was Tom radiant with delight, and with little corner of black rock in his hand. At first sight it seemed to be merely chip from the cliff; but near the base there was projecting from it an object which Tom was now exultingly pointing out It looked at first something like glass eye; but there was a depth and brilliancy about It such as glass never exhibited. There was no mistake this time; we had certainly got pos session of jewel of great value; and with light hearts we turned from the valley, bearing away with us the .'fend" which had so long reigned unulolested there.
 There SIT; I've spun my story out too long, and tired you perhaps. You see when get talking of those rough old days, kind of see the little cabin agaln, and the brook beside it, and the bush around, and seem to hear Toms honest voice once more. There's little for me to say now. We prospered on the gem. Tom Donahue, as you know, has set up here, and is we'll known about town. I have done we'll, farming and Ostrich-raising in Africa. We