The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-04-09


3 THE SUN SAPPHIRE.
Some years ago I had charge of q
large hardwood lumber business on thu
4 west coast of Mexico. Toward the
evening of q busy day, during which
we had been loading one of our largs
lumber schooners with the aromatic
Spanish cedar logs, two men rode up to
my jacal, or temporary house Of cane
and palm leaves, on the beach. where
held my office as superintendent
They had come from the village of In
Chola, where we kept our permanent
Office, upon my invitation to see us load
the lumber vessel.
engineer, by the name of PiclSwick,
who. had charge of some gold mines
not far from La Chola; the other q DIR.
Moses, q man Of the world, accus-
toned to danger. 1.-THE, quick-eyed and
quick witted, fatalist. an expert in
games of love and chance, generous anil
friendly, his morality not of the high
est order; he was q good shot, q GOOD
liar, a good drinker and a good fellow.
was glad enough to sec them, for
a white face is eagerly welcomed in
that country of brown ones, and;aftcr
I had shown them the manner 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 oursupper.
During tho meal the doctor enter
tanned us by recoqntihg his adventures
and showed us this ring which now
wear.
"Look closely" said he, 'and you will
Gee 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 its rays
are quenched in a sea of sapphire blue. :"
We examined it and greatly admired
its beauty. It's central sun shone clear
ly 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 world
"a sort of pyrotechnic display in
honor of the happy event. AL that was
pure and good in that world was con-
centrated into this one 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-
scented the sapphire. and received from
him some high sinecure.
1.-THE Inca carefully guarded the
stone, and usually had it set in re-
splendent suuburst of pure gold.
Thenceforth it was his lucky stone, his
guiding star, his life. As long as. it's
central sun remained bright SO long did
that 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
tho Inca and placedsal his jewels with
him, in mute testimony Of his earthly
wealth. OF the 18 rulers of the Hua-
can dynasty there still remain five
to,nbs undiscovered, and if either of
SOU gentlemen feels DESTROYS Of pos
sessing 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 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. 80 5'3&t
''Now," continued the doct tor. sup
pose we turn our attention from the dry
subject of jewelry and indulge. as the
French say: in ize American game OF
polsaire.' Are you all agreeabieT
ElIylNx GAC SUHC VI POhSA W liz -
not Yey=ehjoyable, owing, no doubt,
to The fact tthats Invariably lose. 1t has,
however, always been my pleasure to
1,car:and teA =Poker- stories, all Of course
absolutely @trube;z but never anf the
course Of my observation or hearing,
nor in the widest flights Of my imagin-
alton. have IFknown. of such luck, as
Moses poksessed. 81 The way he held
cards that took in our shelzels was
awful, ,atrocious, blood-curdling; if 1
had pairs, he had better ones; if I had
threes, he had Il full house; If l.
had full house he had tours
or 4 straig ht flush. This continued un-
til was thoroughly Disguised. Even
Theodore lost"
Presently the doctor, who dauring the
last few moments had grown quite pale,
much. to my surprise said: Hads xt
not better quit? 1t is not very va1orous| ):
In me, who have been winning, to sug-
gestit, butt feel sleepy aud'you have a
hard day before you tomorrow, if you
wish to finish loading the schooner.