The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-08-18

Ouc ptrort Ou lie went. ana on, r1Xnt
through the wood, till the affair began to
grow tiresome. He was going well to-
day certainly. he had kept us at it a
good long time but if We were only GO
| ing to get few hundred yards every
night and perhaps not find the stone af-
ter all, we might as well give the matter
up entirely. Harold appeared, from the
frown upon his face, to have begun to
consider matters in this light too, when
the Professor, who had been going at a
fair pace, suddenly stopped. II seemed
to me only natural that, as he had gone
further than he had ever gone before,
he should stop. His imbecile mind
could stand the strain no longer
After considerable hesitation, however,
ne turned slowly to the left, bent over
some thick brushwood and gradually
stretched out his hand. "It's that fox
again to certainty" whispered Harold
to me; the Professors as mad as a
March hare" No signs of the fox though
and the Professor was well into the bush !;
if the diamond was there, surely sud
den flash of thought would assist him /;
but it was not likely to be there any
more than our friend the fox, who would
certainly have made off long before now
Ere my ideas were completed the flash
of thought did come. A sudden dart
l AZ. or.t ba - Of ha
was instantaneously succeeded by a
| frightful yell that rang through the wood
Mrs. Cargilps hand was dropped in
second, and it seemed as though the
Professor was engaging blindfolded in
some awful struggle with foe whom
none of us had as vet seen.
1t was the fox after all. The Professor
had tracked him down this time, if not to
his den, at least to the trap in which the
animal was struggling.
Certes, he was pretty severely punish
ed for his fox-hunting propensities
Foxes don't usually attack until driven
to the last extremity, and the Professor
must have forced the animal 10 the fur
thest point it could go with the trap on
its fore paw ere he made that sudden
dive which was so disastrous for him.
Had it not been that the learned mans
hand was most terribly bitten we should
have been struck with the absurdity of
the scene Mrs. Cargiil had had great
fright the Professor was in towering
rage, not merely at the injury done to his
hand, but that he should after all have
again tracked down his fox; so Harold
and / alone were in any condition for
action. The Professor swore he must kill
the fox that had 30 bitten him, and so
great was his wrath and haste that he
would scarcely wait till we had stanched
his wound with handkerchief
took Mrs. Cargill tosome little dis
tance, and when | returned the fox was
wellnigh demolished by the aid of a stout
stick, with which the Professor had
promptly avenged himself.
He was calmer now, and as We were
talking over the little excitement of the
moment, he gave it as his decided opin-
ion that either Mrs. Cargill must, un-
known to herself, have been wearing the
diamond all the time, or the fox must
have swallowed it, The last idea seemed
to have something in it, and he was 80
impressed with it that the only course TO
convince him tfor we had begun to doubt
his sanity seemed to be to dissect the
animal there and then | left them to
inform Mrs. Cargill of our last resolve,
when shout of joy from the Professor
and Of surprise from Harold, made me
hastily turn to rejoin them Mrs. Cargill,
hearing the shout, was with us in mo-
ment.
The diamond had been found, The
fox had not swallowed it; but tied tight
ly round its neck, roughly sewn up in a
bit of brown leather, was the missing dia-
mond.
The Professor was exultant; his wound
was forgotten he had been right after
ali
But who was the thief? Some one
one must have committed the diamond
to the fox's care. Was it true that the
animal had slipped its collar. or had the
culprit freed it for greater safety in the
belief that it would return for its meals?
Only the gardener could tell us, and he
would probably not miss his fox till We
saw him in the morning.
Excited as We were We talked it all
over in the wood, and were considerably
later than usual in getting home, where
We parted at once silently, retiring to our
several chambers to take the rest we 80
well earned, after mutual compliments
all around.
We had decided that the gardener alone
could be the thief, and that we would
confront him with the charge in the
morning-but we had reeokoned without
our host, When We had assembled for
breakfast. the Professor with his hand
wrapped up in most ungainly fashion,
Mrs. Gardill met us with blank face.
A note, which the servant had found in
the silver chest some minutes since, ex-
planned all 1t was filthy piece of work
manship, but still iegible, and the con-
tents alas. too plainly spoke the truth.
1t ran as follows:
MIssus-i seen you and the gintlenen
too mites waukin about the woods lookin
for mi fox You kant find him eny more
than me 80 ime off hop YOU may ketch
my fox kant 50 me and my pals TUX
few spunes insted
Your obedian sirvent,
TOM BLAk.
ps-thenks for levin the door opin.
The Professor was the only one who
made hearty breakfast. He had proved
the power of thought reading it was our
fault, not his, the gardener had been too
sharp for US. Now, of course, we had the
detectives down, but We never caught
Mr. Black Tux few spunes instedr'
/ should rather think he had; there was
not a piece of plate left in the house =
M,,cmiAan's Magazine.
OF Convivial Californian.
senator McDougall, of California, was
convivial and witty to degree. Return
ing from the Capitol one night slightly