The Opelousas courier., 1896-05-23
THE SUN SAPPHIRE.

Some years ago l had charge of
large hardwood lumber business on tn
west coast of Mexico. Toward til,
evening of a busy day, during Mhicl
we had been loading one of our larg,
lumber s%chooners with the Aromatic
Spanish cedar logs, two men rode up t.
my bcal, or temporary house of cane
and palm leaves, on the beach, where
held my Office as superintendent
They had come from the village of l.;
Chola, where we kept our permanent
office, upon my invitation to see us loat
the lumber vessel.
One was an Englishman, a mining
engineer, by the name of pickwicll
who had charge of some gold mine:
not far from La Chola; the other a DR.
Moses, a man of the world, accus
toned to danger, 1.-THE, quick-eyed ant
quick witted, a fatalist, an expert il
games of love and chance, generous am
friendly, his morality not of the high
est order; he was a good shot, a goot
liar, a good drinl.er and a good fellow.
L q SIiu NIOuSH " SCt tllClll, ~
n white face is eagerly welcomed il
that country of brown ones, and after
I had shown them the tanner of load.
ing the logs on the schooner, and We
had watched the big logs battle with
the breakers as they were slowly but
surely yanked out of the endless line,
we repaired to the jacal for our supper.
GI1rinr 4ha rona1 tho lnofor artor
tanned us by ~recounting his adventures
and showed us this ring which 1 now
wear.
Look closely" said he, and you will
see cleaning far down in the liquid
blue depths of this bisected ovoid stone
a brilliant golden sun, with its spark
ling corona darting out until it's rays
are quenched in a sea of sapphire blue"
We examined it sid greatly admired
Its beauty. Its central sun shone clear
~ and steadily.
"The Peruvians," continued the doc
tor, "prized these stones very highly.
They held them sacred and called them
Opu, and have u very pretty tradition
in regard to them: Whenever an inca
ruler was born the sum-, 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 pyrotechnic display in
honor of the happy event. All that was
pure and good i'll that world, was con-
centrated into this IL liquid lump and
deposited somewhere to be discovered
by some lucky person in the empire.
When the Incan assembled the throne
this lucky person came forward, pre-
sented the sapphire, and received from
him some high sinecure.
"The Inca carefully guarded the
stone, and usually had it set in a re-
splendent sunburst of pure gold.
Thenceforth it was his lucky stone, his
guiding star, his life. AS long as its
central sun remained bright SO long did
hat ruler prosper, but when the cen
trail sun commenced to pale he knew
some danger was coming, and when it
went out entirely his death accompan-
led it's 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 Hua-
can dynasty there still remain five
tolnbs undiscovered, and if either of
you gentlemen feels DESTROYS of pos
sessing one of these stones you can
take a pick and shovel and go to Peru
and prospect. Another curious thing
lis 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 thought could be done, to cut a
piece of corundum, the material COM
posing sapphires, in such a manner as
to concentrate the rays Of light in one
spot as this does, and thus produce a
sun.
"Now," continued the doctor, "suu-
pose we turn II attention from the dry
subject of jewelry and indulge, as the
French say, in re American game of
pokaire.' Are you all agreeable? ?"
Bidding Dona Maria, the cook, re-
the remains of the supper and
for o fourth hand, Theodore.
u Mexican foreman, a protege Of
mine, who. among other accomplish.
ments could have instructed Hoyle in
card playing, we sat down to play.
Playing the game of poker to me is
not very enjoyable, owing, no doubt,
TO the fact that / invariably lose. thas. {
however, always been my pleasure to
hear and tell poker stories, all of course !
absolutely true; hut never in the ]
of my observation or hearing, S
aor in the widest flights Of my imagin-
ation. have I known of such luck as q
Noses possessed. The way he held /
that took in our shekels was. d
twful, atrocious, blood-curdling; If III a
lad pairs, he had better ones; if / had /
hrees, he had a full house; if c
lad a full house he had fours \
y q straight flush. This continued I'M t
! was thoroughly Disguised. Even j
'heodoro lost. !,
Presently the doctor, who during the G
ast lew moments had grown quite pale,
auch to my surprise said: "Had we O
Iot better quit? 1t is not very v~alorous d
> me, who have been winning, to sug- a
'est It, but ] feel sleepy aud you have a f,
ard day before you Tomorrow. if Won Sc
flsh TO finish loading the schooner, e,
.ou may nav your revenge on me at d b
TER date" And notwithstanding our Il
'sses, we We're very glad to stop.
ln a early nananita, long before b
ne sun had risen. and while the thin i,
eAot mist asag low In the massive for. K