Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1896-06-03
THE sun SAPPHIRE.


loading one of our large lumber schoon
ers with the aromatic Spanish cedar logs
two men rode up to my jacal. or tenn
porary house of cane and palm leaves
on the beach where held my office al
superintendent. They had come dowI
from the village of La Chola, where We
kept our permanent office, upon my in
yitation to see us load the lumber vessel
One was an Englishman, a mining
engineer, by the name of Pickwick, who
had charge of some gold mines not fal
from La Chola; the other, DIR. Moses
who, as his name implies, was Jew.
He was a man Of the world, accustomed
to danger, lithe quick eyed and quick
witted, fatalist, an expert in games Of
love and chance, generous and friendly
his morality not of the highest order.
He was a good shot. a good liar, good
drinker and good fellow.
was glad enough to see them, for q
white face is eagerly welcomed in that
country of brown ones, and after had
shown them the manner of loading the
logs on the schooner, and we had watch
ed the big logs battle with the breakers
as they were slowly but surely yanked
out on the endless line, we repaired to the
jacal for our supper.
During the meal the doctor entertain
ed us by recounting his adventures and
showed us this ring which now wear.
Look closely" said he, land you
will see cleaning far down in the liquid
blue depths of this bisected ovoid stone
a brilliant golden sun, with its sparkling
corona darting out until its rays are
quenohed in sea of sapphire blue"
We examined it and greatly admired
its beauty. Its central sun shone clearly
and steadily.
1.-THE Peruvians," continued the doc
tor, "prized these stones very highly.
They held them sacred and called them
opu and have a very pretty tradition in
regard to them Whenever an inca ruler
was born the sun, who, according to
their belief, was his father and whom
the Peruvians worshiped as the giver of
all things, dissipated a world-a sort of
pyrotechnio display in honor Of the
happy event. All that was pure and good
in that world was concentrated into this
one liquid lump and deposited some
where to be discovered by some lucky
person in the empire. When the inca
assembled the throne, this lucky person
came forward, presented the sapphire
and received from him some high sine.
cure.
1.-THE inca carefully guarded the stone
and usually had it set in a resplendent
sunburst of pure gold. This he wore on
his breast as insignia of his office.
Thonceforth it was his lucky stone, his
guiding star, his life. As long as its
central sun remained bright, SO long did
that ruler prosper, but when the central
sun commenced to pale he knew some
danger was coming, and when it went
out entirely his death accompanied its
extinguishment.
with stately pomp they inferred the
inca and placed all his jewels with him
in mute testimony of his earthly wealth.
Of the IS rulers of the Huacan dynasty
there still remain tombs undiscover-
ed. and if either Of you gentlemen feels
desirous of possessing one of these stones
you can take pick and shovel and 60 to
Peru and prospect. Another curious
thing is that no one has ever found one
of these stones in the rough, and no one
in modern times has been able, as some
folks have thought could be done, to cut
a piece Of corundum, the material COM
posing sapphires, in such manner as to
concentrate the rays of light in one spot
as this does, and thus produce sun.
"Now," continued the doctor, "sup.
pose we turn our attention from the
dry subject of jewelry and indulge as
the French say, in ze American game
of pokaire, Are you all agreeable9"
Bidding Dona Maria. the cook, re-
move the remains Of the supper, and
calling for fourth hand Theodore, oui
Mexican foreman, a protege of mine
who, among other accomplishments,
could have instructed Hoyle in card play
ing, we sat down to play.
Playing the game of poker to me ii
not very enjoyable, owing, no doubt, to
the fact that invariably lose. 1t has
however, always been my pleasure tt
hear and tell poker stories. all Of course
absolutely true, but never in the course
of my observation or hearing, nor in the
widest flights of my imagination, have
/ known of such luck as that jew pos
sessed. The way he held cards that tool
in our shekels was awful, atrocious
blood curdling. If had pairs, he hat
better ones if I had threes. he had
full house; if had full house, he hat
fours or a straight flush. This continued
until was thoroughly disgusted. Ever
Theodore lost.
Presently the doctor, who during TIN
last few moments had grown quite pale
much to my surprise said: "Had w
not better quitP 1t is not very valorou
in me, who have been winning, to sug
gest it, but feel sleepy and you hav
a hard day before you tomorrow, If yo'
wish to finish loading the schooner. Yo'
may have your revenge on me at late
date" And, Notwithstanding our losses
we were very glad to stop.
In the early mananita, long befor
tho sun had risen and while the thil
| Ill % .,,;,t buno low In tha massiy