The herald., 1893-07-09

-~-'fT
new experience. eat
While laughter and song came from
the little house, and the Americans were
Whispering love nothings in the ears Of
newly found amoreux, IN another house
not far from the water more serious
words were passing between Old China
and the tall lover Of Muriella. The old
dealer in green oocoanuts and occult
mysteries was listening with i'll con-
cealed pleasure to the man who was beg
ging favor at her hands. No love
scrape about the shores of that pretty
bay ever escaped her notice. and nothing
pleased the stout old bumboat woman so
much as to be sought out by the amor
ous Of the upper classes to listen to such
information from her lips as is sought
from the second sight" mediums of our
own country.
$50 you want to buy the Black Pearl2
To buy it'll You foolr' shrieked Old
China when the Mexican had finished
his story. What do you know about
it?"
III know what was said when the COM
andante was found dead, and that the
police were afraid to search for 1t. Five
hundred pesos for its use tonight-that
Is all ask"
"The police are fools, and you are a
fool. know nothing about the Black
Pearl"
"Come, China. A thousand pesos for
Its use and the knowledge how to use it,"
"a thousand pesos" muttered the old
woman. "Have. you the money with
your
"Aye, that have. and want Its use
for only this one night"
China waddled into an adjoining room,
whence after much delay she brought
forth package carefully wrapped and
sealed. "You must not undo this, senior" "
she said, "or you, too, win suffer if You
see the pearl"
The laughter and song in the adobe
casita stopped at knock on the outer
door, and Ned Warren's pretty Acapul-
can answered the summons. A neat
parcel was handed her by the messenger,
which she eagerly unfolded. with the
compliments of -" it said, but she
knew the handwriting.
s"How funny at this hourw she thought,
but her swapping black eyes danced with
glee as she undid the parcel and found II
to contain an immense black pearl set
in beaten yellow metal of quaint work
manship At her exclamation Of delight
the others grouped about, and the object
of their admiring glances was laid upon
the table for inspection.
An instructive shudder passed through
Sanford as Muriella laid it under the
candle light. 1t seemed to emit pecu-
liar light, and queer, pricking sensa-
ton went through his veins as he viewed
the jewel-the largest of its kind he had
ever seen. AS he looked feeling of ex-
hilaration came over him, such as he
had not felt during the evening.
"That last drink of tequila was too
much" he thought, but the others, too,
were beginning to evince signs of liveli-
ness even greater than all the hilarity OF
the night had brought forth. A faint
blue haze seemed to cover every object
in the room. The figures of the girls al
intervals looked far away and then neal
by, while feeling Of utter recklessness
pervaded his whole being. All the phan
| tasms of the opium eater could not bt
more weird than those which came intc
Sanford's brain as his gaze was riveteC
on the jewel lying among the candles
grouped around it on the table. In theil
dim light it seemed to grow and grow
emitting demoniacal glow that, but fol
the spirit of recklessness which possessed
him, would have filed his soul with
dread.
1.-THE fandango," cried one Of the girls
with wild burst of laughter. Let III
dance once more, for feel as though my
feet were on fire." and when the guital
sounded the notes of the dance the dane
ers seemed to enter into it with fiendisl
delight and boisterious enthusiasm. Bacl
and forth they crossed, swaying like viii
lows in the wind, with hands on hips and
heads well back, their feet pattering ant
stamping to the twanging of the guitar
Faster and faster their movements be
came, as the music seemed to fill every
fiber with its wild action.
\
Five bodies were found in the adobe
casita next morning, but with no marks
of violence or other signs to show th'
cause of death.
The gossips of that quaint Mexican
seaport tell weird tale of black pearl
taken from the gulf, that acts upon be
holders as does the loco weed upon al
who taste that evil plant, and they tell
too, of a mad dance of death years ag'
when two foreigners and three beautie
of the place fell exhausted about tn
jewel, whose demoniacal fire kept then
treading the fandango till every ener4'
was gone and life went from them.-
John Craig in San Francisco Argonaut
"A New Glass OF Compounds.
The nitro metals" are a new class Q