Wichita eagle., 1890-02-05
ever, was there, and had to make the

ever, was there, and had to make the
best of it.
"There were couple of fellows In the
camp whom took fancy ia, and so we
three pooled our issues, and, having 10
Gated a claim, went to work.
Zone Of my partners was from Lanea'
shire, and was as true friend as eve,
had, but quiet sort of boy. Poor fel
lowi he sailed from Cape Town a few
years later in vessel that was never
heard of after she left port. The third
member of our triumvirate was just the
opposite of the Lancashire lad, as far az
soberness of disposition goes. He, like
myself, was a Londoner, and was the
most jovial, whole souled fellow in the
district. Billy Thompson was his name
but the boys had abbreviated it into
'Tompy.' He was forever playing some
| joke or other on the miners, SO that they
were always on the lookout when Tompy
was around.
There was an Irishman in carnn hu
the name of Mike McShane. He was a
true son of the Emerald Isle, light heart
ed and 'aisy goin',' and, as was natural,
he and Tompy struck up warm friend
ship. He used to come down to our
quarters almost every night, and many
is the good yarn that he and Tompy used
to spin to while away the evening. All
that the rest of US needed to do was to
lie around and laugh at the right time.
81 think can hear Tompy now, as he
used to ask Mike, when the latter would
come up to our hut of an evening:
"'Well, Mike, have you found the big
diamond that's been waiting for you
these long years down in your pit?
Faith, me bhoys, yez kin joke az
much az yez loikes, but, begorra! it'll be
moy tonne to joke whin olive found the
jewel, as OF will some tonne. Whist. ye
spalpeens, don't OF tell yez DIVE seen it
in me dhramesY Mike was thorough
believer in dreams.
''His pit was an old one that had been
unsuccessfully worked for few weeks
by delicate young fellow, whom no
body knew anything about. He had be-
come more and more disheartened at his
i'll luck, and, at last, he was found dead
in the pit one morning, with bullet
hole in his head, and pistol in his hand.
Poor boy! he had given it up. For a
long while the pit stood empty-none of
the miners would go near it, for they
declared it was haunted by the ghost of
the dead man; but when Mike McShane
H.
took possession Of it, saying that the
spook would guide him to the right spot
to dig.
About eight months after Mixes ap-
pearance in camp a regular out and out
Yankee struck the district. He was a
good one and no mistake.
Zone night he sauntered into our hut.
Mike wasn't around, strange to say, and
sitting down by the fire, began to talk
and to spit tobacco juice at one particu-
lar flame. Somehow the conversation
gradually drifted on to the relative abili-
ty of the English and Americans. Tompy,
as usual, did most of the talking for Old
England, while the Yankee defended the
United States; and must say he downed
Tompy, so to speak, on every point the
latter would bring up. Finally, as a
clincher to a particularly strong argu-
ment, he ran his hand deep into his
pocket and brought out what I thought
at first was large, uncut diamond.
:" There said the Yankee, do you
think you Englishmen can make such
an imitation jewel as that? See how it
flashes even though in the roughp
"'Poohr said Tompy, not 8 bit abashed,
"a greenhorn could tell that wasn't genu-
inc. That will do to fool Americans
with
"'WIl it? replied the Yankee, with
his peculiar drawl, and he was about to
replace the false stone in his pocket-at
at that instant brilliant idea struck
Tompy.
"'Hold on, my friend he said; Let's
look at that minute
1.-The Yankee handed the false stone
over to Tompy, and the latter turned it
over and over in his hand. Presently he
looked up and said
"'You don't want to sell this piece Of
glass, DO you, Stranger!
That depends said the Yankee la
conically, as he neatly extinguished the
bright little flame by larger shower of
nicotine juice than usual.
"Well, to make short work of it, they
dickered around till. finally, Tompy
traded stone worth five pounds for the
paste jewel. As soon as the Yankee was
gone, Walters, the Lancashire lad, and
spoke up.
"'What the devil did you do that for?
we cried in a breath.
"'Never you mind replied Tompy,
coolly. I'll have some fun out of Mike
McShane and this paste diamond yet
1.-THE next morning. while we were
eating breakfast, we were startled by a
terrible racket coming from the other
end of the camp.
"'What's that?" l asked.
""Give it up said Tompy with an odd
sort of smile. Guess you'd better take
look outside.
"Walters and 1 rushed for the door,
and Tompy followed more leisurely. A
laughable sight met our eyes. At the
head of crowd of miners was Mike Nc
Shane. caperiDg about like mad, and yell
ing and singing by turns, but all the
while advancing towards our hut, and
crying:
"'Hcoray! Hooray! me bhoys, oi've
found it at last, OF said OF would, and yea
see me dhrames have come true. Och!
y7,a darlipt ysr farf,ypN's made
''At that instant happened to look at
Tompy, and saw that ne was trying to
keep from laughing, and it Immediately