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

where we had last stopped. l. was fine,
clear morning, and gave promise of glorious
day. The professor was ON his mettle. He
had said to Il will succeed tomorrow"
and TO succeed he evidently intended
He stood for few minutes, blindfodcd as
usual, before he TOOK Mrs CargiIl's hand and
then commenced to move forward, but in AN
opposite direction u that he had been taking
when he had lost the clcw before. On he went,
and on, right through the wood, till the affair
began To grow tiresome. He was going well
to-day certainly; he had kept us at it u good
long time; but if only going to get
few hundred yards every night, and perhaps
not find the stone after 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 tho
professor, who had been going mt IA fair pace,
suddenly stopped. 1t seemed tn me only
natural that, as ne had gone further than nc
had ever gone before he should stop. His i'm
beetle mind could stand the strain no longer.
After considerable hesitation, however, hc
turned slowly 10 the left, bent over some
thick bruShwood and gradually strctccd out
his hand. Its that fox again To n certain
ty," whispered Harold To me; "the professors
as mad "a March hare" No signs of tho
fox, though, and the professor well into
the bush; If the diamond Was there, surely a
sudden flash of thought would assist him; but
it was not likely 10 be there any more than
our friend the fox, who would certainly have
made oil long before now.
Ere my ideas were completed the flash
of thought did come. y sudden dart down
ward ON the part of the professor was instan-
taneously succeeded by frightful yell that
rang through the woods. Mrs. Cargill's hand
was dropped Ia n second, and 1t seemed as
though the professor engaging blndfold
ell i'll some awful struggle with IA foe whom
none of Us had yet seen
1t was the fox after all The professor had
tracked him down this time, il not to his den,
at least To the trap in which the animal WAS
struggling.
Ccrtes, he was pretty severely punished for
his fox hunting propensltlcSl Foxes don't
usually attack until driven to the last ex
tremity, and the professor must have forced
the animal To the furthcst point it could 30
with the trap ON its fore paw ere he made
that sudden dive which was 81 disastrous for
him. Had 1t not been that the learned mans
hand was most terribly bitten we should have
been struck with the absurdIty Of the scene.
Mrs Cargill had had great fright; the pro
fcSSor was la towering rage, not merely at
the injury done to his hand, but that lac
should after all have again tracked down his
fox; Harold and | were alone in any con-
dition for action. The professor swore that
he must Kill the fox that had bitten him,
and so great was his wrath and haste that he
would scarcely wait till lac had stanchcd his
wound with "a handkerchief.
l took Mrs. Cargiil to some little distance,
and when 1 returned the fox well-ngh
demolished by the aid Of "a stout stick, with
which tho professor had promptly avenged
himself.
lie was calmcr now and rs we We're talking
over the little excitement OF the moment he
gave IL a. his decided opinion that either Mrs
Cargill must, unknown 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 1t, and lac was 80 I'M
pressed with it that the only course to CON
vince him Cfor had begun tn doubt his
sanity seemed to L. To dissect the animal
there and then. | left them to inform Mrs
CarEill of our last resolve when n shout Of
Joy from the professor aud OF surprise from
Harold made mo hastily turn to rcjoin them.
Mrs. Cargill hearing the shout, was with us
in tricc.
The diamond rad been foundl The fox had
not swallowed it, but tied tightly round its
neck roughly scwcd up in piece of brown
leather was the missing stone.
The professor was cXultant; his wound was
forgotten; he had been right, after all.
But who was the theft Some must
have committed the diamond to the foX's
care Was it true that the animal hal
slipped its collar; or had tho culprit freed it
for greater safety, in the belief that it would
return for its mealss Only the gardener
could tell US, and he would probably not miss
his fox till the morning.
Excited as we were, we talked il all over in
the wood and were considerable later than
usual in getting home, where we parted at
once silently, retiring to our several chambers
to take tho rest we had 50 well earned, after
mutual compliments all around
We had decided that the gardener alone
could be the thief, and that We would CON
front him with the charge in the morning
but We had reckOned without our host When
We assembled for breakfast, the professor
with his hand wrapped up in most ungainly
fashion, Mrs. Cargill met with blank
face A note which the servant had found
in the silver chest some minutes since, cx-
planned all. 1t was n filthy piece of work
manship, but still legible, and the contents,
alas too plainly spoke the truth 1t ran as
follows:
MIssUs, ii seen you and the Gentlemen too
mites waukin about the woods lookn for mi
fox You Kant find him eny more than me
SO imc off. | hop you may ketch mi fox
kant and my pals TUX a few spunes in
sted. Your obcdiant sirvent,
Tom BLAK.
ps-thcnlSs for levin the door opin.
The professor was the only one who made a
hearty breakfast. lie had proved the power
IF thought reading; 1t was our fault, not his,
that the gardener had been too sharp for
Now Of ,,uursc, we had the detectives down;
hut we never caught Mr.. Black. TUX a few
spunysi iustrd' | should rather think hc had;
there was not piece OF plate left in the house.
-Ma'millan's Magazine.
EidicaIinG Americas Social Condition.
l my last trip across, going To Europe,