The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-08

occupied, and as he was an exceedingly I'M
calmly man. obviously never born for feats of
agility, seemed rather an extraordinary pro-
ceeding. Over he would go, however, and
over Mrs. Cargill must 60 with him; when q
man Is in a trance he is very unreasonable;
how Mrs. Cargill stood it l cannot tell, save
that she herself was, perhaps, a little affected.
We were helping them quietly over when
the professor got into a most unaccountabie
hurry, and, had We not both devoted our at
tention to Mrs. CargiIl, she and her leader
must have fallen and the train Of thought
been probably broken. We had been asked
To maintain a discreet silence, but l could al
most have sworn caught smothered ex-
clamation from Harold Mrs Cargill's foot
WAS brought smartly round upon the side of
his head, owing to the professors unreasona-
BILE haste.
Once over the paling the scent seemed To
have grown weaker. OF course there
hesitation in the avenue, and "a very evident
absence of such feeling when palings had to
be surmounted; but once Oh the dewy grass
things might bic taken more easily 1 went
back To the palinss to join Harold, and we
left the pair To themselves till they got fairly
across the field. Then the professor seemed to
recognize the proximity of another paling,
and We had to run to be in time to help them
over. We were getting more used to it now,
and Mrs. Cargill was bearing up wonderfully.
We handed them over without any mishap,
save that the professors foot got twisted in
the fence, and his boot lone of those elastic
sided monstrosities and very old, came of in
the struggle ~ extricate him.
1t by this time thoroughly light;
must have been out for nearly half an hour
and Yet had done nothing but climb palings
and get our feet very wet. Still, it certainly
seemed that there might be some method in
this madness, and so on we went, more slowly
now, owing to the brushwoOd, which happily
was not very thick. Suddenly the professor
stopped, III SD decided IA manner that l could
not but think it possible that Were near the
object of our search. He was at the moment
Just opposite "a thick laurel bush. l looked
hastily at Harold, who appeared as confident
myself that must have como to some
thing t. Gauss such decided and prolonged
stop. A few minutes of silence and suspense
passed like hours then, IA step forward, and
the professor commenced to stoop slowly
downward, when we heard n rustling among
the laurel leaves, and a fox skunk out from the
other side of the lush and made off through
the wood This distracted my attention for a
moment, and when l looked round the pro-
fessor had resumed his usual stiff backed atti-
tude. We waited for full five minutes
What had gone wrong! Where was the pro
fessor's promise! Was there nothing in the
bush after all.
He slowly relaxed Mrs. Cargills hand: 1T
Is no use, gentlemen; l can do nothing moro
Just nowl" But whys What was the rea-
son. Why stop himself just as discovery ap-
pcared certain. The professor could under
stand it no more than we. Il came here" ne
said, guided by airs. Cargilfs thought. L
don't know where 1 I'm. had the diamond
or the Glow to it, five invites ago; now it is
lost. Whether Mrs. Cargill had ceased to as
sist me or not l cannot tell But know
can do nothing more just now"
1t seemed best, if wished to preserve any
secrecy in the matter, To make our way home
quick as We could. l gave the professor
his boot, and Ms. Cargin (who was
thing exhaustedl nay arm; and we returned,
glOomily, almost we had come, that is to
say, by the shortest and most direct way.
We were all too disgusted with tho professor
To be able To discuss the matter amcably with
him at the moment, So we parted quietly and
like guilty creatures in the hall to court the
sleep which We all began to feel would bc
beneficial
His explanations later in the day made tho
matter no clearer He was certain that he
had been on the track and it certainly had
looked like it,, but the reason for the sudden
stop he could not tell Still, in tho end, he
managed To talk over, and Mrs. Cargill
was induced to go through the experiment
again; hut this time We We're tn start where
We had left OF. Ono thing alone the pro-
fc.sor would swear To; the diamond could not
bo in the house, else he would never have como
outside. Also he informed us that his foot,
notwithstanding his thick stocking, was CON
siderably the worse for wear
The hour at length came again Harold
and had decided To dispense with sleep. Mrs.
Cargill and the professor turned up very pune
tually within a few seconds Of one another
ha mn Lear Va
walked to the laurel bush, where, having
blindfolded the professor AS before, Mrs. Car
gill took his hand. He soon started of, tax
ing no notice Of the laurel bush, but away
through the wood. We must have been walk
ing for several minutes, and at pretty quick
pace, when, like an evil omen, n fox (proba-
bly, the one we had seen on the previous night
sprang out Of n ciump of underwood and van
ished among the trees
1t was the same story over again Our
leaders pace slackenet, then he stopped.
Could it be that fox was, as it were, n non
conducting agentf 1 put the question to the
professor: nay, further limited that, perhaps,
when in "a mesuneric state the sense of smell
might bc heightened that he had been fol-
lowing like foxhound, for two nights in sue
ceesion, this evil denizcn OF tho woods. He
put the suggestion aside with scorn, but the
more l thought the more felt there might be
something in it, and Harold SO far agreed
with me as to question the learned professor
next day as tn whether ne had ever been fond
of hunting
We hal gone home as before nonplussed;
we had retired to our rooms, siumbcrcd late
and met for fresh discussion, all Ia no pur-
pose. Mrs. Cargiii wished to give up the at
tempt AMI call in the detectives. Harold and
l were Inclined somewhat ANONYMOUSLY To
agree But we had forgotten the professor;
Is MAS mn tan hn SI.ht ..rt
of fox hunting had aggravated him more
than We had fancicd Prove himself right he
would; his honor, he insisted, was at stake; he
must be successful in the end He appealed
to Mrs Cargill to stand by him, and the long
and the short of it was that she agreed To
make n third and last trial the professor
on his side promising that it should be the
Last