Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1893-06-08
THE LOST PEARL.

The LOST PEARL.
Il How Truth WINS Found, Not Mt the
Bottom of u Well.
Pooh! pooh! my dear" said Pujol,
teasingly, "why seek to dissimuate?
Why not admit at once that you have
a lover in the Arab town.
His wife responded with an angry
/ shrug Of her shapely shoulders.
"A lOver-black as a stove," said
she.
Very black" said Pujol but very
handsome and very rich. The biggest
coffee dealer and vender Of the purest
mocha in Alden. Well go there to-mor-
row and see. Such rugs: Such cakes,
sweetmeats and gewgaws! A regular
bazaar, you know. My wife spends
hours there, and Mouloud, good soul,
strip his house for our benefit under
the plea that the objects that adorn it
so much please madame here"
Nonsense, how you exaggerate"
Nine. Pujol returned, more and more
tAAo5AAttll. Avn a. "Olu VI AZ IL uS'
The idea that 1 affect the company
Of that negro! l haven't been at his
shop for more than il fortnight"
The consul laughed with fresh amuse-
ment at the storm he raised.
MY wife is cross to-day said he,
eXplainingly, turning to me. because of
jewel that she lost this morning"
Il am not cross ut all, but very much
grieved. All day long ! have sought it,
too-one Of the two black pearls that
my husband bought for me in CeylOn.
You can see by the one remaining how
superb they WERE"
She leaned toward me smilingly. I
examined the jewel and satisfied my
self of two things-that my friends
pretty wife used violet perfume and
that she had a singularly we'll shaped
ear. Then we talked Of other mat
ters, drank our coffee, and I dropped
into nap on the roof Of the house,
according to the after-dinner custom
prescribed by Oriental manners and
temperature. Next morning, as ar
ranged, we set out-the consul and I
to pay visit to the native quarter
and also to Nine. Pujol's dusky ad-
mirer.
Mouloud Ben Said, as his name indi-
Gated, was a full FLOODED Arab, q coffee
merchant by trade, several times mil
lionaire, and understanding the gro
GERS of Paris-of the finest and best
mocha in all Of the world. With us
on the trip was fellow traveller and
compatriot of mine, whose name
have forgotten, but who had just been
around the world, or nearly so-a So
want by trade great taker Of notes
aad Inscriptions, and scribbler Of treat
Uses for the French academy.
Mouloud Ben Said, who spoke French
like a native and was truly superb
specimen of the genuine Arab race
the handsomest in the world, perhaps
received us cordially, and royalty did
the honors, not only Of his shop, but
also of his dwelling, which pleased us
still more. The visit over, he wound
up his hospitality with a cup of coffee
the coffee Of the Orient, that fra
grant beverage resembling ours as
champagne resembles soda--and &C
companied, as usual, with the inevita-
BILE chibouque and jar of fresh water.
Water bottled up in skin and car
ried for seven leagues on camel back
was not to me an ideal refreshment,
but I was dying Of thirst, had once
! drunk worse in the Chinese rice fields,
and-oddest of all-this water did not,
as usual smell of goat skim 1t could
not be called irreproachably, crystally
limpid, but it certainly did have
: rather agreeable taste. I took another
sniff-violet beyond doubt-violet in
an atmosphere of Abyssinia! The
savant, too, had noticed it. He
shifted. ,as;el sniffu! ssain. and
demanded Of me in the most judicial
4 of tones if did not observe a special
flavor about the water.
eyes," said I, slipping again; "violets,
it seems to me-"
"Just so, violets This water then,
sir, dare assert, has come in contact
with layers of coal Coal, sir, coal here
at Alden, where every lump is worth
q fortune and must be brought here all
the way from England! Eli? How SO?
g You do not believe me? You do not
know then, sir, that numerous deriva-
3 tiyes Of the valuable black diamond
family are certain products, the odor
OF which is not unlike that of the
* flower in question? So well, however,
do perfumers know it that they freely
use 1t to cheaper and falsify their
wares"
And he fairly swamped our host with
questions as to the precise location OF
the spring that furnished the camels
with their daily loads, and, in spite
u of the distance, would have gone there
at once to see for himself, but the
packet sailed that evening, and he was
Z booked, like myself, to sail with it.
At any rate, he could and must have a
vial Of it to carry away with him for
analysis at the School Of Mines-a
Il statement, or discovery, I was unable
sss to decide which, that seemed, l won
! dered why, to throw the worthy Mo-
y loud Ben Said into peck Of trouble.
But the wonder was passing, we were
Il lust going to leave, and was pour
al ii1g out for myself parting glassful,
when 4 heard In the tankard the rat
fling clink of, a hard substance that
passed into the goblet at the same time