The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1892-04-09

that we were bou to give some kind
of 8 rect entertainment.
We found a bank, and streamed in,
a small crowd collecting round the
door, as it swung to behind the Kid.
The clerks suspended their opcI atoms,
and looked at us in open.mouthed as
constituent as we ranged ourselves
along the counter.
"Is the manager of this concern in?"
asked the Judge. "Hands off," he
added, in a roar, as the Kid, slipping
her 1.-the hand under the brasswork
protecting the counter, began to finger
the scales.
The Kid, unmoved, satisfied her
curiosity, then, withdrawingherhan
rested her elbow on the
counter, and, dropping her chin in the
palm, gazed at the clerks with stolid
Indifference.
'The manager is in; what do you
want?" asked the clerk.
"Let up, Israel" said the Judge,
falling back a step, and waving his
hand significantly toward Van
Hoeck.
"We wish to negotiate a loan on
the security of a large diamond that
we have brought home from the
CAPE" said Van Hoeck.
eight hundred and twenty carats,
fust water" added the Judge; the
grandest stone in this almighty uni
verse!'-.
There was a whispered consulta-
ton amongst the clerks, and one
went into a private room at the
back of the bank, from which he
presently returned with the mama
ger.
II am the manager; what do you
want?"
Van Hoeck repeated his statement.
"And what security can you give
me that the diamond is genuine"
asked the manager with a pleasant
smile, "or that it is legitimately yours
to dispose of"
"You will allow, sir, if any one he'd
lost a stone of this kind he would
have made it on safe for us to walk
about with it in daylight" replied
the Judge, "and as for it's bein' genu-
inc, you kin hev the security Of your
own eyesight."
81 do not profess to be a judge of
diamonds, and l can have nothing to
do with it," said the manager defni-
lively.
We streamed out of that bank as
we had streamed into it, and tried
another, but with no better result,
the manager telling us that transac-
L;o., ,s S,,b l,;,1 y, ,1+ooo+bo,
beyond the range of his business; and
we found a third, but the manager
was absent, and by this time, being
convinced that the plan we had pro-
posed was impracticable, we put our
heads together in counsel at the
corner of the street to determine
what course we should take.
We were disguised with Southamp-
ton, and, had we possessed the mea
we should have gone or at once to
London, where we might have found
some former acquaintance to help us
out Of our present difficulty. But we
had nothing in the world but the
things we stood upwright in,
and the great diamond. For
our smaller finds and our
implements we had sold at Natal to
make up enough to pay our steerage
knives, every available thing, we had
bartered away in our passage forfood
to supplement the miserably insuffici-
ent steerage fare.
1--WE kin not pawn the Kid" said
the Judge, lend that's about the only
perkisit as we could we'll do Without"
1t was now nea upon three o'clock,
and we felt the need of food, having
eaten nothing since six, when our last
rations were served out to us on the
Southern Cross. Our position was a
desperate one. With millions in our
possession, we might starve in the
street, or have to take refuge in the
workhouse. 1t WAS odd, indeed, and
very unpleasant also. At length, be-
ing unable to see any way out OF our
difficulty, we made our way to a po-
lice station, and laid our case before
the Inspector.
"Well, my good fellows" said he,
having heard us out, II don't see how
I'm to help you. The Mayor is the
proper person to go to, but he's away
Yachting The only party { can think
of, " he added, after a moments retlec-
ton, "who might serve you, is Sir Ed
mund Lascelles. He's got kind ofmu-
scum and buys up curiosities, I know;
and a kind old gentleman he is, too.
Now, if he's at home"
We asked him hurriedly where Sir
Edmund lived, and he replied that it
was out Lymington way-Monken
Abbey-eight or nine miles, and any
one could tell us the way.
Well, there was nothing better to be
done; so we got the director to give
us a more definite direction, and then
started off in search of the Abbey.
The Judge swinging along ahead at a
good four miles an hour, the Kid had
to trot to keep up With us; but I gave
her my hand, and she did not com
plain,-it was not in her. nature to
show suffering in the ordinary way.
1t must have been about six o'clock
when we found the park entrance to
Monken Abbey, and there we were
stopped by the lodge-keer, who refused
TO let us pass without permission
from Sir Edmund; but when
he heard that we had been
sent by the Inspector OF police at
Southampton, he sent his wife up to
the house to know ii the Baronet
would see U.S..
We sat on a bank near the lodge
gate for close upon an hour before we
learned our fate; for Sir Edmund was
at dinner when the message reached
the house, and the servants did not
choose to deliver it until hehaddined.
A servant led us through the park to