The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-22

accordingly took passage in steamer
leaving New York for Mediterranean
ports, and touching at Gibraltar. Skill
and good fortune enabled him to elude
the authorities on both sides of the
water. and within q month he found
himself in the Spanish capital, SEEM
ingly quite free from danger of an
noyance by the police. But though he
had outstripped the officers of the law
an enemy quite as much to be dreaded
was overtaking him; namely poverty.
His funds had been somewhat scanty
when he left New York, and a thief
is seldom frugal. He had hoped to
thrive by his own iniquitious trade, but
Spain Is robbed too much by the Span
iards to afford a ready harvest to the
stranger. His knowledge of the lam
guage was all that time very imper-
feet, and the deficiency hampered him.
He could not easily form advantageous
alliances with the members of his own
profession nor catch the hints that
help q clever man to- rob his neighbor
Pinney's last dollar was in sight
when, in an eating house that had
once been frequented by English
pretense of effort to supply their wants,
he chanced to take up an American
magazine wherein he read the story of
the unlucky ring of King Alfonso MI.
That ring, as the reader may remem-
ber, was made for the father of the
present king. 1t was a regal trinket.
magnificently set with diamonds and
pearls. Alfonso gave it to his cousin,
Mercedes, on the day of their bethrotal,
and 1t is said she valued it more high
ly than is common with the great, to
whom such baubles are familiar. Per-
hapS the occasion gave it worth, but
we are not accustomed to regard the
marriages of royal personages as mat
ters of sentiment. However, Mercedes
wore the ring for the brief day that
remained to her of life, and when she
was gone, Alfonso gave the gold circlet
with its diamonds and pearls to Queen
Christina, his grandmother. Her days
were few. and the ring was the kings
again. He bestowed it upon his sister.
the Infanta del Pillar who survived the
fatal gift about one month. The ring
was then given to the youngest daugh-
ter of the Due de Montpensier, and she
died within three months.
Alfonso Mi. and all his court might
well have viewed the ring with sus-
picion after such series of events, and
yet not have been held more supersti-
tious than other people. That it was
so regarded by the king is matter of
record. He would not give it to any
one; yet strangely enough he allowed it
to be put away in his own treasure box:
and he died in less than year.
Evidently no mortal life was proof
against the evil power of the ring, The
rulers or the states, after the kings
death. so decided, and they ordered that
the deadly ring should pass out of hu-
man keeping. 1t was suspended by a
silken cord around the neck of the
bronze statue of the Maid of Almodma,
the patron saint of Madrid, whose sane
tity was deemed more than sufficient
to neutralize the malevolence of the
demon that dwelt in the ring. Though
the statue stood in public square no
watch was set to guard the costly trink-
ct. Its story was thought quite sufIic-
lent to protect it, and the course of
events seemed to prove the accuracy of
that judgment. No thief in all Spain
showed any disposition to barter his
life for the ring, doubly protected by
its own reputation and the sainted Maid
to whose care it had been committed.
But Jack Pinney was not Spaniard.
He was n cold-blooded Yankee who did
not believe in anything. He did not
even believe that the ring was there,
after he had read the account of it in
the magazine; but he thought it barely
worth while to go and investigate.
Much to his surprise he discovered that
the story was true.
when found that OUT said Pinney.
"I made I'D my mind that all Spain
needed was a roof over it to be a lunatic
asylum"
The rascal spent the remainder of
that day in blessing the chance that
had brought him to Madrid, and doubly
blessing the hand that had laid that
magazine in his way. There was little
need for making plans. To, steal the
ring was, for a person of his abilities,
as easy as knocking an apple off tree,
unless, indeed, some secret trap were
set to protect 1t. This possibility had
occurred to his mind early, and could
not be dismissed, although his EXAMINE
alton Of the place had not given him any
clsw to the means by which the ring