Wichita eagle., 1890-02-05
"'Well, my lads" he said impatiently

"'Well, my lads" he said impatiently,
What can do for your"
Taking off his shabby cap, that he
kept twiriing nervously in his fingers,
Nike stepped to the front and said:
"'Plaze, yer honor, olive found dia-
mint in me- diggings this narnin'. an
olive brought it down for to find out how
much it is worth and the quality of the
shtone. Begorra! the bho5s say oi'm
clane gone crazy, and have been dhram.
in, but oi1l lave it all with yer honor
"Whereupon Mike thrust his hand
into his pocket and, slowly drawing it
forth, deposited on the table sparkling
white stone of unusual size. Giving it
hasty glance, and taking it for the
Yankees paste jewel, turned to look
at Tompy. l could not catch his eye,
however, for he was leaning forward
like the others, breathless with interest.
"'Humphr muttered, 'one might
think to look at him that he knew moth
ing about it. I did not know before
that Tompy was quite SO deceitful.'
Meanwhile the assayer was examin-
ing the gem very carefully. He turned
| it over in his hand, squinted at it through
aagnifying glass, looking for flaws, I
suppose, and, finally held it up between
his thumb and forefnger, that it might
| catch the rays of the morning sum, as
they poured in through the square hole
in the wall that answered for window.
The jewel certainly had, or seemed to
have, lot of fire in it, and could not
help admiring its brilliaucy.
''Then the assayer, laying the jewel
gently down upon the table, spoke, say
ing very slowly:
"sThat is the finest diamond that I
have seen for six months. It is of the
finest water, and is absolutely fawless.'
Taking advantage of the yells and
cheers that rose from the half hundred
threats at the assayer's words, Tompy
leaned quickly toward me and whispered:
"'By jove! Mike must have missed the
paste stone, and has really made findri
''Then, before could reply, Mike him.
self rushed up to US, dancing from one
to the other. and began hugging us like
mad, until almost agreed with the old
Scotchman, that he was possessed.
"'Hold on, my good man. said the
assayer kindly, tell Us how you came to
find this valuable jewel
Gas the cheers subsidized, Mike cooled
off little and told the following story
of his great find:
SSSTVoIl hbouo, ho ha~oD ,1Jroec.-,r
himself to the crowd, 'yez all know az
how how OF wuz forever sayin' that the
shperrit of the poor fellow phat killed
himself crest his soul now would some
guide me to the roight sphot to dig. Yis-
terday OF began new shaft, little fur
ther to the east of the old one, fur sez OF
to meself, There's nothin' loike havin'
two oirns in the fire, Moike, me bhoy."
"'Well, last night OF wuz onaisy loike,
and couldn't Shape, SO OF got up to take
bit of walk. Oh hadn't no more than
reached the door of the cabin when I saw
somethin' movin' from the bushes to me
new shaft.
"sWhistv sez OF, 'uts the ghost of the
former owner come back to look for some
"'Well, me boys, OF laid meself down
close by me hat an watched the ghost.
1t wasn't SO dhark but what OF could see
him diggin' away for dear loife in me
new shaft, but all ON a suddent he
Shtopped and felt in his pocket
"'Ghosts don't have pockets yelled
some one derisively from the rear of the
crowd.
"'Arrah, now, v galootr replied Mike
quickly, your ghost wouldn't have need
of one;;' and not needing the laugh pro-
duced by this sally. he resumed:
"'As OF wuz agoin' to say, he shtooped
down, an seemed to put somethin' in the
hole be had dug. After that, he filed it
up again, and smoother it off so as tc
make it look natural loike shouldered
his spade, az any miner would, and
gioided away. When he had vanished
into the air entoirely Tompy almost
laughed out herel, Oh got up an sez:
Arrah! We spalpeen, it's there where
We buries yer threasures, is it? By St.
Patrick! but it'll shtay theretn marnin'.
an no longer; and with that Oh wint IN
an soon wul phast aSnlape. In the
marnin' bright and earlyoi wuz up, an,
takin' nae shpade, wint out and dug as
near the place as oi could judge that ths
shperrit had dug the noight before, an
begorra! the first lick OF turned up ths
sIfsame jewel before yez'
LAS Mike finished his wonderful tale
the crowd began to murnur. 1t sound
ed too improbable for them to believe, |
although had heard nanS of the same
fellows declare before that they had seen
the ghost that Mike described. How.
ever. Tompy, who evidently did not want
the ghost story investigated. came gal
lantly to Mixes relief.
Never mind about the ghost he
cried, but let's give three cheers fol
Nora IN old Irelandr