Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-15

turned to my own room, again followed Dy
Rankeilor, who in his friendliest manner,
| laid his hand on my shoulder.
Campbell, old fellow, / don't mean to
leave you alone till you make a clean
breast of it! / see clearly that you sus-
| pect me of some completely in this business
and shall haunt you until you confess.
| Come out with it.''
gazed at him in bewildered fashion for
an instant. Why should be so anxious to
shield this mans reputation if he was him
self SO reckless of ita Or was this bold,
affectionate friendlinesS meant merely to
| draw all my information and let him know
where he stood9 Well, he should have it.
fascination of his look and manner, OF the
man altogether, had never been so strongly
present to my mind as now.
81 don't suspect know, Rankeilor," l
said, looking earnestly at him, II found
your diamond-where you lost it, in the very
mouth of that tunnel among the freshly
turned earth on the trowel."
A series of rapid, startling changes
crossed his features, leaving him as pale
as death; but his eyes never flinched from
their steady gaze into mine, only his hand
dropped from my shoulder.
'sYou found my diamond therea-my
mothers gift2" he said sternly.
'sYes, found it there. have it safely;
| and no eye has seen it but mine, nor shall
anyone hear of it from me- Rankeilorr'
His face softened again, and he repalced
his hand on MY shoulder with a smile. He
had but opened his lips to speak, when
hideous sound, or rather babel of sounds.
| arose from the opposite room in the same
| corridor; rain of heavy blows. mingled
| with howls and loud protestations, and
| groans of sob. sahib l not steal it. l not
| steal anothing! Oh-oh, sahibs''
| We both walked unceremoniously into
| Ashton's room, whence the sounds pro-
1 Id ~ 10 hnsn, a nf
| thing to find an officer beating his Hindoo
servant with his braces or anything that
| came handy; but Ashton was in furious
| passion. and was kicking savagely as well.
| Without 4 moments hesitation Rankeilor
sprang forward and wrenched the mans
| arm out of AshtOn'S any grip.
| ''Go-run,' he said, and the poor wretch
| needed no second bidding.
Ashton turned fercely on Rankellor.
"How dare you interiors? The dog has
been stealing! l have lost -" He stopped
short, looking blacker than thunder-cloud.
| Il know" said Rankeilor quietly. ''You
| have lost my rose diamond, which you took
from me last night at baccarat, knowing
well that he represented more than five
| times the value of the amount | owed you!
| Ashton, you shall send me in your papers
tomorrow! Fordyce, tool have felt for
some time that monkeys and ponies had
| gone quite far enough in your quarters;
the fort for money to supply your table it
must stop! l give you your choice-either
| send in your papers at once or the whole
story of where the diamond was found
among the fresh earth adhering to the
trowel-shall be told openly and freely"
Bah! Say no mOre!'' said Ashton, with
face and voice of exceeding disgust. II did
not mean to stay long in any case in corps
| of cads and tradeSmen; shall exchange
| into horse regiment!"
| 'sYou were glad enough to win the money
| of the cads and tradesmen," said Rankeilor
| coldly. "HOweyer, so long as you and For
| dyce retire at once, you can go where you
| please. Come along, Campbell" He took
| me by the arm, and we crossed again into
my room.
us it all right now, lad?" he asked,
| with his winning smile. "And you
| will restore me my mothers diamond You
say you found it,
''Rankeilor, sincerely beg your pardon
for having suspected you" l held out my
hand, and he grasped it warmly.
at was NATURAL he said 'but 1 could
| not bear to tell you how I had lost my
mothers beautiful gift; and, until my next
remittance from home, l knew should not
be able to redeem it. That was my reason
| for asking if you could lend me any money"
''And l could not l said ruefully. "But,
| Rankeilor how can you be sure that Ash
| ton and Fordyce are the defaultersa''
''I'll tell you how" he answered readily,
'sand, if 1 am not mistaken, the chief
| guesses it as shrewdly as l do When they
| reported the case the colonel told them that
| he would see to it, in half careless sort Of
| fashion; but he asked them to wait there,
in his house. until he performed an impor
tant duty. They did so with pleasure; and
| the old fellow, taking me along, went
| straight to the tunnel, and did exactly what
| you and your man Peterson, it seems, did.
| l crawled in he walked above, and / guided
| him by shouting. He examined the pickaX
| and trowel. The earth on them was fresh,
| quite different from that in the entrance.
| l am certain he believes, as l do, that that
| earth was turned over last night! Camp
bell, my dear fellow, 1 forgive you with all
my heart for suspecting me of-deuce
knows what; but / refuse utterly and indig-
| nantly to suspect you OF the least approach
to completely in this-crime! Give me the
| full credit deserve" He laughed in his
! quiet. cordial way; but l saw that he was
| little hurt, too. ''And let's make COM
pact firm and sure to help each other and
these young fiedglings in our corps to escape
| the snares of such fowlerS as Ashton and
| Fordyce. Shall we9'
| 81 shall never play for money again while
1 live l said firmly. 'And l don't think
| ! can ever again distrust you, Rankeilor.''
1t was impossible for anyone to guess
whether Col Pryor suspected anything I'M
| usual in receiving the resignation of two
officers on the same day, He could keep
| his own counsel-none better! The tunnel
was safely blocked up and the fort closely
| guarded. It was in 1860 that the incident
| occurred, and Rankeilor and / are still fast
friends after thirty years. The SHOWS of
winter are beginning to besprinkle our
heads, and our faces are tanned and wealth
erbeaten; but our hearts are fresh and
| firmly knit as in early manhood. His moth
! er's diamond still shines on his finger,
though she has long ago fallen asleep.