Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-05-18
The Great Hesper.
by FRANK BARRErr.

When we parted company in the
wood" he said, Il hunted around for
Israel, as was my intention, you will
remember | found him crawiin'
through the ferns l fetched him
into convenient spot. and says i,
Israel, | ses, you air goin' to proph-
esy what has gone of tho Great Hes
per. It's not hard joo, IL you give
yer mind to it, Tain't nothln' near
so hard as prophesying what's goin'
to be.
al had hold on him by the arm.
All OF a student, he filings himself
round. grapples on to me, and fore
I'm aware of anythin', I'm on my
back, and his two thumbs is inter my
wind-pipe. never thought he'd got
it inter him-such strength and
agility-and I'll allow he would have
strangled mo hef the Kid hadn't
come up in the nick and frightened
him by singing out for you. did
not lose any time. and when l had
shown | was as strong as him, with
a little bit to spare. got him to
prophesy. He wanted a plaguey lot
OF perswadin', and he got it; but
when he couldn't stand no more on
it, he let on that it was inside of
rotten willer alongside pond in the
holler. / didn't know no pond, but /
ketched sight of the Kid sneakin'
off, end | Jest sneaked after her,
takin' Israel along case he mighter
made q mistake in his Biography.
There was no walking fast with Is
rael over the brambles, end l lost
sight OF the Kid; but it stood TO rea-
son the hollcr was downhill. so down
went the way the Kid had gone,
near as l could reckon, and there
was the pond and the rotten willer as
he had prophesied, and there Ut the
foot of the willer was the empty case,
but NARY diamond. / cooked my eve
around. end once more l ketched
sight OF the Kid sneakin' OF. / went
for her naturally, but | might jest as
well have went for a tom-tit She
got clean outer sight about the same
times | got outer wind. But Israel
wouldn't give up, AID we hunted
about for the Kid till We couldn't
neither of us hunt any more; then
we sat down in committee, and arter
pretty warm discussion. we came to
the unanimous conclusion that, for
the sake of every one concerned, we
had better get rid of the leather case
and say nothin' about it. i laid it
down that the Kid had not took the
diamond for mere mischief. She
knew, in her own gSeaser way, that
the thing had power in it to brin o
happiness TO the owner-like q
charm. She see that il clothed us
decent end Logged US comfortable.
and that while it separated you and
her, it brought you and the squire's
daughter together And we laid it
down mutual that the Kid had too
much gumtion to pitch the thing
away, but would hide it somewhere
where she could fetch it bimeby.
Now, hef we'd done otherways what
would have happened? Van Hoeck
I'D have declared it all lie, and wild
horses wouldn'ter dragged the Sc
cret outer the Kid. The only hope
ofgettln' back the Hesper was ter Lei
her play her game and watch her
close.
a copy OF this statement 1 sent to
Sir Edmund, and / added:
EITHER Van Hoeck is possessed OF
supernatural clairvoyance. or he
must have been in completely with
the man who took the diamond from
me.
''Can that man have been the Fur
uival' who obtained the address OF
Brace and myself from you?"
BY the return mail Sir Edmund
wrote
ii felt it right to read that part OF
your letter referring to the robbery
to Van Hoeck, who for the last few
weeks has been an accepted visitor
here, and / may add the object OF
Edith's Sympathetic commiseration.
Ho declared upon his oath that there
had been no struggle between him
self and Brace and that no statement
had been extorted from him by the
violent means indicated; that when
you left he felt his way to the road,
and waited there Brace Game and
uuQeTbOOh W lcdu MIN 1OIuO. I1C
remembers stopping on the way
while Brace asked him IL he thought
you had really been robbed OF the
diamond. He knew nothing OF the
leather case, which Brace might well
have concealed in the manner you
describe without his perception. AZ.
ter this explanation, no said he must
once more relinquish our friendship
until all doubt is cleared up. But,
he added emphatically, as he was
ABOUT to leave us, If only part oil
this story is true-if the girl got
possession OF the diamond. hid it,ano
should restore it to Brace and
Thorne, they will make away with It.
and you will never see any OF them
again.
III Van Hoeck is not the very ole
'un hisself," said the Judge, when
showed him this letter, 'he's b and In
hand with him."
We asked Lola IL she had recog
nlzed the man who dropped from the
oriel window.