The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1895-02-09
I'll finish reading IL when I've done

Maria" to the town jail. We were rid
of his presence for four years at any
rate. He was soon removed to Port
land, and there, no doubt, made him
self perfectly comfortable.
forgot all about. Jimmy's parting
request until week or two later.
Then, finding myself one day in the
neighborhood of the lodging house
which had served as Jimmy's home, l
went inside and asked the deputy to
hand over the convict's possessions.
He did so with an air of scorn, remark
ing that Jimmy's belongings were not
worth twopence to anybody. thought
he was right when / subsequently
turned over the contents of the bundle.
There was nothing there of any conse-
quence, and l wondered very much
that Jimmy Timble should have been
so particular about having his little
properties handed over to his brother
Jerry. The pilgrims Progress" was
the most homogeneous object turned
out of the blue handkerchief which
held Jimmy Timble's belongings. 1
shook my head perplexedly as stared
at it. What was Jimmy Timble, thief,
burglar, thrice-convicted criminal, do
ing with the ''Pilgrim's Progress?" And
how was it that that particular work
was the only book he possessed? And
how did he come to possess it at all? 1
turned the leaves over carelessly and
could see nothing unfamiliar about the
book finally concluded that Jimmy
Timble had picked it up somewhere,
nd -
that tied it up again with the rest of
his possessions.
The days passed by, but saw moth
ing of Jerry Timble He had left the
county Jail, but he did not present
himself at his usual haunts in Wool
ford. l preserved the bundle for him,
and waited, knowing quite well that,
If he was in the town, we should see
him at the police Office sooner or later.
It was impossible for either jimmy or
Jerry Timble to keep his hands from
picking and stealing But time passed
on, and Jerry did not appear. / began
to think that he had removed himself
to some other town.
About nine months after Jimmy Tim
BILE had gone back to penal servitude,
CHANGED to go one day into second
hand book shop, the proprietor of which
was an old acquaintance of mine.
Somehow, our conversation drifted to
the criminal classes, and ere long the
shopi.eeper mentioned the name of
Jimmy Timble. "IIe was queer Gus
toner, was Jimmy" said he. HE
came in here one day last time he was
out of prison, and looked round him as
if he wanted something. Now, SIR
says /, what can find for YOU? Give
me an old book to read. mister an
swered Jimmy. We don't give books
here says /; we sell EN- lie said
nothing to that; but after awhile he
pulled out twopence. What can have
for that?' he asked. Here you are
says l. "a Pilgrims Progress, pictures
and all, for twopence.' So he walked
off with his book"
That explained Jimmy's possession of
the Pilgrims Progress" then lying at
my house. / went home and had my
supper, and then sat down to have n
thorough examination of the book. 1
was confident that there was some
thing about that book which it would
repay anybody to discover, and l was
determined to solve the mystery. But
though / went carefully through it
page by page, once, twice, and three
times l saw nothing. There was no
writing, no hieroglyphic signals, moth
ing to attract attention. But at the
fourth time of examination l made
discovery. Underneath the first 1.-THE"
on the first page there was the plain
mark of pin-priclk, just as if n pin had
been carelessly jabbed into the paper
and quickly withdrawn. The mark
was very faint, but it was there. as
sured myself that the pin-prick had not
penetrated to the second page, and
then / came to the conclusion that
Jimmy Timble's "Pilgrim's Progress"
concealed some private message from
himself to his brother Jerry.
l began what proved a long and
weary task! The next pin-prick 1
found was under the letter u" on page
s; the next under re" on page IL; the
next under wv" on page IL. Then
came pricks under the letters re" 81"
So all on different pages, and thus 1
had spelt out two words, 1.-THE Jewels"
l took courage at that, and went on.
There was, no doubt, much to follow.
All that evening l worked away at
my task. 1t was anything but easy.
Sometimes the pin pricSs were faint
and hardly decipherable; sometimes
there were several on one page; some
times the spelling puzzled me; some
times l seemed to lose the track alto
gether. But l persevered; and just as
midnight struck had solved the mys-
terry, and had written out Jimmy
Timble's ingenious message to his
brother Jerry:
"The jewels as I got from the mares wife Is
berried underneath the lilac tree in old George
Atkinson's garden in Lilywood road. Keep an
eye ON them and don't disterb them unles they
are going to bid ON the garden. II they build
dig them up and keep them safe till come out
agen your brother JAMES,"
So there was an explanation of the
mystery or rather of two mysteries. 1
had been right, after all-the burglary
at the mayors residence was the work
Of Jimmy Timble.
lost no time next morning in inter-
viewing Mr.. George Atkinson, and in
persuading him to let me dig under his
lilac tree. There, sure enough, found
tho p,iceipo diarnon1c carafu11,v