Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-11-14
n said Madison

y aSte IL. said Madison.
Tom put it to his lips, and dashed Il
down with dreadful exclamation, abr
rushed out of the room.
| felt sad and disappointed enousb
myself; but presently rememberifs
what Tom had said about The pistol, !
too left the house, and made for The
hut leaving Madison open-inouthbd
with astdnishment.
When l got in / found Tom lyins In
his bunk with his face 10 the wall. to8
dispirited apparently 10 answer my
consultations. Anathematizing Dick
and Madison, the Sasassa demon, and
everything else, strolled out of the
hut and refreshed myself with pipe
after our wearisome adventure. was
about fifty yards from the hut when
heard issuing from 1t the sound which
Of all Others | least expected to hear.
Had 1t been a groan or an oath, should
have taken it as matter of course; but
the sound which caused me to stop and
take the pipe out of my mouth was a
hearty roar of laughter. Next moment
Tom emerged from the door his whole
face radiant with delight.
g Game for another ten-mile walk,
old fellowP"
"Whatl for another lump of rock
salt, at twelve shillings a tonp'
&c No more of that, Hal, an you love
me, grinhed Tom. "Now look here,
Jack, What blessed fools we are, to
be so floored by trihe. just sit on this
stump for five minutes, and I'll make
it as clear as daylight. You've seen
many lump of rock. salt stuck in a
crag, and so 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 darkness brighter
than any fire hyp'
"Well, can't say they ever did"
"Pd venture to prophesy that if we
waited until night, which we won't dc,
we would see that light still glimmeriny
among the rocks. Therefore, Jack,
when we took away this worthless salt,
we took away the wrong crystal. 1t is
no very strange thing in these hills that
a piece of rock-salt should be lying
within foot of a diamond. 1t caught
our eyes, and we were excited, and so
we made fools of ourselves, and left the
real stone behind. Depend upon it,
Jack, the Sasassa gem is lying within
that magic circle of chalk upon the face
of yonder 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 sangnine
this time. / had begun, in fact, to look
upon the diamond as most unmitigated
nuisance. However, rather than throw
a damper on Toms expectations, an
nounced myself eager to start. What
a walk it was!
Tom was always good mountaineer,
but his excitement seemed to lend him
wings that day, while l scrambled
along after him as best l 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 Toni When
l came up his mood had changed, and
he was standing with his hands in his
pockets, gazing vacantly before him
with rueful countenance.
"LOokr he said" lookr' and he
pointed at the cliff. Not a sign of any.
thing in the least resembling diamond
there. The circle included nothing but
flat slate-colored stone, with one large
hole, where we had extracted the rock
salt, and one or two smaller depressions.
No sign of the gem.
"rve been over every inch of it,
said poor Tom. "It's not there. Some
one has been here and noticed the
chalk and taken it off. Come home,
Jack; feel sick and tired. o, had any
man ever luck like miner'
| turned to go, but took one last look
at the cliff first. Tom was already ten
PAGES off.
"Hallo," l cried, "don't you see
any change in that circle since Wednes-
dayP"
"What dye mean?" said Tom.
Don't you miss a thing that was
there before?"
"The rock salt?" said Tom.
"No, but the little round knob that
we used for fulcrum. suppose we
must have wrenched it off in using the
lever. Let's have look at what it 5
made of"
Accordingly at the foot of the cliff we
searched about among the loose stones.
"Here you are, Jack. We've done
it at last! We're made menr'
l turned round, and there was Tom
radiant with delight, and little corner
of black rock in his hand At first
sight it seemed to be merely a chip
from the cliff; but near the base there
was projecting from it an object which
Tom was now exultingly pointing out.
1t looked at first something like a
glass eye; but there was depth and
brilliancy about it such as glass never
exhibited. There was no mistake this
time; we had certainly got possession
of a jewel of great value; and with
light hearts we turned from the valley,
bearing away with us the fiend''
which had so long reigned there.
There, sir, 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
again, and the brook beside it, and the
Bush around, and seem to hear Tom S
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 well-known
about town. l have done well, farming
and ostrich-raising in Africa. We set
old Dick Wharton up in business, and
he is one of our nearest neighbors. II
you should ever be coming up our way,
sir, you'll not forget to ask for Jack
Turnbull-Jack Turnbull, of Sasassa
Farm.
Western Titles.