The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-11-15

Sight trousers, dark mustache astraRhap
overcoat, soft folt hat, he muttcrod, check
Ing off tho items with n cablcgram he held
In his hand. "And he speaks Dutch prot
ty well, but with foreign accent. Yes,
my friend, I'm afraid wo shall have to
take charge of you for the present, in spite
of your clover little rusc. Just put tho
rest of your things on, please, and como
along quietly"
but what's tho meaning of all this?"
asked i'll bowildcrmcnt, rs tho handouts
were clicked on directly / had finished
dressing. "a man steals my clothes and
my money, and you lock me up for it and
allow him to escape. Is that tho way
things are usually managed in Hollands'
you'll see how things arc managed in
Holland where diamond thieves are con-
ccrncd quite soon enough, sir, said tho
man CURLY, evidently annoyed at my tone.
Amy explanations or excuses you can give
later on; in the meantime perhaps you
will accompany us quietly"
Yes, and in the meantime this gentle
,nnn Is hurrying off rs fast ns trains can
carry him to some out Of the way corner
Of Europe" 1 grumblcd, but resistance
WAS worse than useless and, followed by
q small crowd Of stolid urchins wo made
our way along the tree lined Bompjos to
tho police station.
and fierce mustachcd official told mo tho
nature Of my supposed olfensc but did not
In any way improve my prospects of re-
lease. The object OF my cabin companion
was now quito clear TO me, though all my
! ordinations with regard to tho change of
clothes wcro smiled Mt by the officials, who
evidently thought them very clumsy cx-
cuses. 1 WINS accused of being concerned
In large diamond robbery and was sup
posed to have been travelling to Amstcr-
dam in order to mako use of my knowl-
/, edge of precious stones in disposing of the
spoil among tho fences in the jewish
quarter of the town.
Tho actual thief was confidential clerk
to u largo firm of diamond merchants in
London His escape with the booty had
boen noticed n few hours after his tepar-
ture from town, and full particulars of his
clothing and general appearance had been
cablcd to Rotterdam, with instructions to
bctain him on the arrival of tho boat But
my friend" had forcscon some difficulty
of this kind and had laid his plans accord
ingly.
Selecting mo rs q man of about his OVID
height and appearance, he had managed
easily enough TO change the clothes in the
cabin, tho druggcd cigar aiding him in his
scheme Clad in my brown ulster and
travelling cap, ho had passed off the deck
with the other passengers without attract
ing any special attention and was probably
in the act of negotiating with Amsterdam
traders mt the moment of my examination
by the official mt the station.
The fact that l had no diamonds in my
possession at tho time of my arrest meant
nothing. They might have been concealed
anywhere in the vessel, or even have been
thrown overheard. The steward, to whom
7 npnpulpI i'm Si1DDort nf my ctor,- no,,I,i
only assert that he had found mo asleep.
or fcigning sleep, while the other passcn-
gers wcro all preparing to land-and Of
course, this told against me- There was
only ono man in Holland who could helm
me out of my scrape, and ut tho name OF
| Van der DEM, diamond merchants, of
| Amsterdam and Hatton Garden, tho Off
Gals looked even more suspicious, though
they promised that he should DO commu.
nicated with "in due course" was com.
pcllcd to content myself with this, and re-
signed myself to my fate.
suppose must have spent four or five
hours III confinement and was beginning
| to wonder whether was fatel to pass the
night in like fashion, when the key sud-
denly turned in the lock, and wardcr en-
tered, closely followed by my friend Van
| der Denn
My dear fellow" said the old hoy ef-
fusivcly, rushing toward me and gripping
mo by tho hands, what an adventure to
have had, to be sure But all's we'll that
| ends well. and when you have changed
| your clothes We'll start for Amsterdam mt
| once. Chris is getting quite xious about
| you.
why, certainly. We've got tho clothes
and the jcwclry, and the diamonds, and,
| what's quite as important, the man him
self It's the most curious thing ever
knew in my life. Christina and were OK
rccting you hours back, and was going
to tho station to SEQ what had become of
| you, when suddenly caught back Wow
| of your Very MISUNDERSTANDING cap
| and that brown ulster OF yours, English
every inch of it--Why, l should know 1t q