The Dickinson press., 1892-04-09
THE GREAT HESPER.
TALE OF A BIG DIAMOND.
How an Immense Gem Was Lost.
Recovered. and Lost Again.
CHAPTER I.

-SSs
Recovered. and Lost Again.
CHAPTER L.
We landed at Southampton, Sep
TENDER IA, 1886, and a ragged crew
we were.
The Judge" Joe Brace, led the
way,-a great gaunt man, with long,
long legs, a stoopinh his shoulders, and
q swaying movement OF his body and
arms when he walked, as if he had a
load on his back and a long way to
go; a man with a black fell on the
back of his hands, a dark beard
growing high upon his cheek
bones, and q great bush of
iron-gray hair sticking out all round
his head, and a forelock s~tickingdown
over his eye. One could see nothing
OF his features but a long red nose and
deep-set beady black eyes. His fustian
jacket was worn to rags at the elbows,
and so was mine, as for %that-split
i'll the 8 ANS between the shoulders
with the constant strain OF the labor
ing arms. Once upon a time his top
boots had been black, but now they
were all the same yellow clay color
with the trousers that were tucked
into them, and just as badly in need
Of repair.
followed with Van Hoeck. He
held my ARM, not for support, but for
guidance, because he was stone blind.
He was thirty or thereabouts, l be-
lieve; but he looked twenty years
older than l, who am now but
twenty-six. Though he was Dutch by
birth he looked like an Asiatic, beinga
small. dark Jew, with all the charac-
teristics OF his people; while /, with
my fair skin, light hair, and large
frame, am pretty truei appearanceto
my Northern race. He was better dress.
ed than any OF us, for, though he had
accompanied us, and roughed it so
Jar as board andlodging were concern
ed, he had taken only a financial
part in the enterprise, his blindness
naturally debarring him from a lab
orious part. His clothes retained
something OF their original appear
ance. Albeit he had worn them day
after day for eighteen months at the
least; whereas mine, what with
exposure to the sun, the sweat
OF work, rough usage, and the
strange devices employed in repairing
them, were scarcely recognizable as
Christian clothing. His face gave
nor sign OF strain and fatigue than
either the Judges or mine, which
might well be, seeing how great a re-
lief to the mind physical labor is.
There was q furrow between hisbrows,
deep lines descending from the inner
angle of the eyes, apinched look about
fho n0ofri1o o,1 ochIoco nhoo1,, {lo&
gave a fearful, strenuous eagerness to
the weird expression Of his face. And
that expression was wierd, nay, even
repulsive, though his features were
not ill-shaped, and it was due chiefly
to the peculaility OF his eyes. Most
people OF dark complexion like
his, haye q dark iris to the eye;
but his OF q steely gray, and
was the more noticeable because there
was the iris and nothing else; there
was no pupil,-nothing but that gray
patch upon the yellowish ball of the
eye. He kept his eyes open when his
mind was pre-occupied. Often when
he was sitting near me while worked,
have changed my position that l
might not see those ghostly eyes wide
open to m African sun, yet uncon-
scious OF it's glare. There was some
thing terrible in his blindness.
Our rear a brought up by the
"Kid." The name by constant use
and familiarity had long ceased to be
slangy to my ear.
Poor little Lola! she vas the rag
gedest and most disreputable of the
lot, though it was not for that reason
she walked behind us; indeed, had
she suspected that to follow implied
inferiority, she would have marched
ahead of her own father. That was
her character.
The child wore a ragged red flannel
p%etticoat, q camisole that had once
been white, and q colored handker-
chief tied loosely round her neck. She
had a string OF colored beads uponh her
wrist, but neither hat on her head nor
shoe on her foot. Her purple black
hair grew low down on her temple,
and broke into curl over the ears, at
the nape of her neck, and wherever it
was uncontrolled; it was matted to-
gether in a thick, loose plat that fell
down to her waist, and tied at the
end with a strip of red flannel
torn from her petticoat. She
ia SAO PlCCOlCSU llUCl0 ldlluS dIlu |
feet, a dark olive skin, a large but
beautifully shaped mouth, with the
finest teeth ever seen, and a pair of
glorious black eyes. full of audacity,
and betraying only too faithfully her
wild and ungovernable disposition.
Properly dressed land washed), she
might have passed tor @ Spanish
princess; in her present condition there
was no installing herfor anything but
the self-willed little savage she was.
The Kid had given us a deal of
troLble,-had we foreseen how much,
do not think Van Hoeck or l would
have put in that postscript to the agree
ment which her father, the Judge, in
duced rs to subscribe.
"'rhe Kid has eyes in her head to see
with, the Judge said,i urging her claim
upon our future consideration, lend
she a use 'em as we'll as us in look
in for stones, end likewise, bein' a
female, she kin cook our meals for us;
she kin wash our shuts, end she kin
sew us up, end keep us nice and tidy"
Whether she was capable OF helping
us in these matters, l can not say; all
know is, that she didn't. "What
kin you expect?" asked her father in
e%xtenuation; cher mother was the
darter Of a burned greaser, end it
amt the Kids fault if she's got
greaser blood in her."
We came up with the Judge at the
dock gates, where he stopped to
address a policeman stationed there.
"Kin you tell me, my FRIEND" he
said "where the best bank in this
town is located?"
l think the poiiceman's first impress
sion as he regarded us was that we
had %felonions prrp,s" in nskin" this
question, for he did not reply imme-
diately, and with reluctance directed
US to the High Street, and told us to
inquire there OF some one else.
CHAPTER II.
We marched ar to tho u;ch c+,o,A