Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-06-02

ti"i' VIC I!at'n dunlll having taken |
diamond: We turned back. overto
Van lloeck. and told him what had H..
ned. The poor wretch was ovorcol
emotion. not because OF the possiI
VEN ny Of the lost diamond (oi viii
.'N'''> 'tains strong doubt, but in bel
/, nv ehN treated as an honest man"
ohNs ph"N Van lloeck deserve TO
F N"w cfm honest man? That was {
tha'e" as',nA Igiye here Braces accou
qlSSt"n. iw in the woods, and
OF "h' cc'ufNs, W words:
near as tcanimA company in I,
'Nt:r' We lasN united around
*ood' ~ sald' ion. YOU will +
%raei !S vas my lpteM rawlin' like
fs~hibeE. Ninuisi @,''l \ the ferns.
vavmlnt eff nreptiie th.c0s. snnt -,
f"teEod him alto q coiss"Ilian pniu.
sayAt, Israel. | Sos, you aA Gro.
proT%esy what has gore OF IA -,
lic,iar. It's ~ IA hard SD, if ~ ="
yer mad to il. Tain't II chin - -
hard - prophesNtng what ~goirl tjaH,.
II had hold III nam 10y tive arm. r.
Of q sud'tent, he things himself 10 y.C,
grapplee Ni 20 me, AND fore Nn arr&a.
g: anything, I'm on nay back and Ns
two thumbs is into, my wind-Ipe. !
never thoueht hcdgS it inter hisl--sucl
strength AID agility Mld Iii allow he
would have s1raugled me Of TIE Kid
hadn't come up IN the rck and ~triSiten-
ci INN by singing out Tor YOU. L did
no LEse any tlAne, ana " BEN 1 had shown
l vas as stror y as him, ysrIf a little hit
10 spare, | gOs HIM TO p~rOphcsy. die
wanted a plagIv lot of pnrswsiin'. md
he got it; but v wen he couitln't stand 40
more Oh ii, he Us on that H. was inside II
a rotten willer aiengside "A pond in tIss-
hoiler. ] didt 'inow no S0nd. but +
fetched sight of rae Kid sno a,in' off. emo
. list sneakod afscr her. toxin Israel
along case he mighter made D mistake
IL his Biography. There was X walking
A-t with Israel over the lTarniles. end
J oost sight of the Kid; but it stood to
reason the holler was down hilN SO down
] went the way the Kid had gone, near
rs | could reckon. and there Tas the
pond and the rotten willer az he had
propheeiod, and there at the FOOT Of the
Wilrer was the empty case, buC NARY
l cooked my eye around, and
once moro | kntchcd sight of tie Kid
sneakin' OFT. | went for her naturally,
but L might jest as well nave went for n
tOm-tit. She got clean outer sight about
The same times | got cater wind. But
Israel wouldn't give mp. and we hunted
about for the Kid till we couldn't neither
1T us hunt any more; then we sat down
III Commute, and, artcr pretty warm dis
cuSsl0n, we came to the unanimous con
Clusi0n that, for the sake of everyone
concerned, we had better git rid of the
leather ease and say nothin' about il.
laid it down that the Kid had not took
the diamond for mere mischief. She
knew. In her own greascr way, that the
thing bad n power in it To bring happi-
ness to the OWnpr-like q charm. She
see that il clothed us decent end lodged
rs comfortable, and that while it seDgr-
ated yea ana her, il brought YOU and
fqlirc'S daughter together. And we laid
1t down mutual that the Kid had too
much gumtion to pitch the thing away.
but would hide il somewhere where she
could fetch it bilneby. Now, ef we'd
done Otherwavs what would have hap
pened; Van lioeok al have declared il
was all a lie. and wild horses woulln'tcr
dragged the secret onter the Kid. The
only hope Of gcttin' back the lIe6par was
ter let her pl&y her game and watch hor
close"
A cory OF this statement | sent TO Sir
Edmund, and | added:
Either Van Iioeck is possessed Of sup
eTnatural c%lairvoyance. or he must have
been in completely with the ma who
took the diamond from me.
Can that man have been the Turni-
val who obtained the address Of Brace
and -self from your
By the return mail Sir Edmund wrote:
81 felt it right to read that part Of YOUR
letter referring 10 the robbery to Van
Hoeck, who for the last few weeks has
been an accepted visitor here. and | may
add the object of Edith's sympathetic
COMMUNICATION. He declared upon his
oath that there had been no struggle be-
tween himself and Brace. and that no
statement had been ext0rted from him
by h violent means Indicated; that when
You left he felt his way 10 the road, and
waited there. Brace camcand undertook
to lead him home. He remembers stop
ping on the way while Brace asked him
if he thought YOU had really been robbed
of the diamond. He knew nothing of
the leather case, which Brace might well
have concealed in the manner YOU de-
scribe without his perception. ftcrthis
explanation, he sand that he must once
more relinquish our friendship until all
doubt is cleared up. But, he added en-
phatically, as he was about to leave Us,
If only n part of this story is truc-if the
girl got possession of the diamond. hidit,
n should restore it to Brace and Thorne,
they will make away with it. and YOU
will never see anyone OF them again."
IF Van Hocck is not the very old 'un
hissclf," said the Judge, when | showed
him this letter, hes hand in hand with
HIM"
We asked Lola if she had recognized
the man who dropped from the orieI win
dow.
no" she replied; 'thc night was too
thick; but he was about the size OF the
man | saw the night before going from
one win low 10 the other in the left-hand
side OF the house"
One morning Brace said TO me:
I've had my suspicious on it for some
time: but now fm sure OH it. We're be-
ing rotchei."
1 asked ilim what reason he had for
this belief.
My reason is this" he replied. "The
ong-icgged niger rs comes here for
scraps give one OF the house helps half-a-
dollar ,iis morning. IT looked like he'd
been buying up your silver spoons, so l
jest bad the rascal searched: but there
warnt nairy thing on him but varmin.
Lay your life. sir, that NIGER didn't give
half-n-dollar for nothin'. We're got to
Isan p,,r nygAG nrnnf'