Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-03-23
THE BIRD DETECTIVE.

A little wizened looking man of chunky
build with stubby and unprosperous beard
of lightish brown color, pair Of sharp, sus-
picious eyes which darted at your face now
and again very keenly, and a mouth that
seemed to have been wrung away from bit
ing kuotty crusts, or perhaps by the ravages
of neuralgia
Truthfully Dick had taken his share Of
crusts with the world, for they seemed to
have been his natural Inheritance He was
put Off with crusts when too small TO re-
monstrate at the injustice, and every one
seemed to have followed in the track of his
parents with their donations of crusts, sup
posing him to he receptacle for them. This
Is a way that the world seems to have This
stinting and stunning had warped Dicks ma
ture and given him a dry, harsh tone as it
had an unlovely face and figure, but he had
never budged at his destiny, taking to the
crusts as they came along and crunching
them bitter or sweet with the logged hope
that some day the people who had been get
ting the gingerbread would change places
with him
This was not a nice spirit for young man
to cultivate, and some people u good deal bet
ter Off than Dick might criticise it, although
they might have no objection to his eating
their crusts.
1t was, therefore, the fortune of Dick not
TO be loved much either by his family or his
neighbors, while against his greater neighbor,
mankind, no nursed almost msensibly little
well deserved grudge on his own account
Withal, he was prosperous in a way, a very
humble one, and i'll an avocation not usually
chosen by ambitious people. 1t was not
chosen by Dick, with whom necessity sup
Piled the place of preference in a good many
matters.
He was engaged in the sale of second hand
clothing in the great center of that trade, the
renowned Baxter street. of which the sur
roundings, although unique, are painfully
unromantic, and where the names of the house
OF lsaac predominant over all Others ancient
and modern. The store was not the property
OF Dick, but Of the Widow Creecy, upon
whose death it would belong to Dick, his
brother and two sisters.
Dick, however, constituted the manage
ment, as the widow was bedridden, the daugh-
ters lazy and the brother worthless
With these conflicting elements it was
hardly possible to expect an angelic dispo-
sition OF Dick, who, in order to get the crusts
which kept body and soul together, was shut
up eternally in egrim looking store among
the cast Off garments, while the others
abused Dick for variation.
The drudge confined his attention TO bust.
ness and let them go, a course he had found
TO be the most profitable and had consequent
ly adopted. By this means he had brought
the affairs of the family from bankruptcy
into the comfortable condition of a thousand
dollar surplus
This thousand dollars was Kept in a safe In
a store ready TO be expended at any moment
when a favorable opportunity presented for
sorting up stock.
The sole companion of Dick during all this
long apprenticeship to patience and thrift
and the miscellaneous virtues which 90 to
make a successful merchant, was a meager
and dilapitated jackdaw.
Between Dick and the jackdaw existed q
strong sympathy and something of q resem-
blance They both looked Injured to hard
knocks. The jackdaw was minus a leg and
an eye. His survival was due TO the inter
ference of Dick, who had purchased its i'm
munity from further mutilation at the hands
ofbrother by administering licking to him
Since then the bird had devoted itself to
Dick with the gratitude which the dumb Gre
alton invariably shows for kindness from
man. There was even a similarity in the
manner of speech of the jackdaw and its
master, for the bird could speak fuently a
few sentences which Dick with some care
had taught it to remember, and the incisive
style in which it said these things had been
copied unconsciously by Dick
There was also a sagacious and sententious
manner about the jackdaw which Dick, prob
ably from studying it, had adopted to ad-
vantage.
But If the jackdaw's preference for its de-
Gverer was marked, its dislike for the brother
who had manned it was quite as conspicuous
At his approach Jack would select dark and
secure corner, from which retreat it would
never venture till he had left the place From
this corner, with the red light of its eyes
cleaning like diabolic fire, it would watch its
enemy with malignant look terrible to wit
ness even in bird.
Enthusiastically they loathed one another,
and it was doubtful if the vanity Of the jack
daw could ever have been appeased for tho
loss Of its leg and eye, even if its hatred b ad
been overcome, pride being such strong in
gredient in its nature
1t was the custom of Dick to close up his
store at about 10 p. m, and after boiling
himself securely in, to retire to a comfortable
crib he had made himself in the back of the
store Sometimes, it was true, he consoled
himself for an hour with his story paper, but
AtSi o OA"SAi p~AAe Va cA, NO "chS oOi hb w
bed.
The jacldaw, perched on a beam some ten
feet above him, watched over the SAUNDERS
Of the young merchant Us If it had been his
guardian angel
1t was some two hours after he had nd
journed to bed, one wet, miserable winters
night, that Dick was awakened by his friend
the jackdaw in the way it usually awoke him
when he oversight himself in the morning or
when suspicious sounds reused tho fears Of
the watcher
1t was by pecking gently at its masters
nose that the jackdaw reused Dick from his
slumbers and brought him, rubbing his eyes,
to his feet.
Dick soon discovered the cause of the jacE-
DAVIS alarm. There was some one tapping
gently on the window. Pulling on his trous-
ers, Dick went Immediately to the front Of
the store, and found that his brother Harry
was outside beseeching admittance There
was not much love lost between the brothers,
as Dick looked upon Harry as a scapegrace,
whose deficiencies he had to make good by
extra labor, and Harry considered Dick a.
the worst kind of a curmudgeon-
30 with some reluctance Dick let the door
drop, and his brother walked in, smelling
very strongly Of rum aIsd tobacco and ap-
pearing to he In no good nunior. Dick 1zre-
fully boted the door after him and led the
way up the store to where the stove still
burned brightly, and pushing seat toward
his brother he sat down opposite TO him
saying:
well, what Is it you want with me now
you are insideT'
A drunken smile came over the face of the
loafer as he blurted out:
"Some Of that stuff as you have salted
down, my boy. Pm in a hole, and want a
hundred dollars to get me out of it."
"A hundred dollarsf" answered Dick with
amazement and indignation; land what do