Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1897-05-15
A DEAL IN OSTRICHES.
BY II. &. ELLIS,


Talking of the prices of birds, I've
seen an ostrich that cost e300," said
the taxidermist, recalling his youth of
travel. Three hundred pounos!'
He looked at me OYER his ~spectacles.
i've seen another that was refused at
four"
mo- he said. at wasn't any fancy
points. They was just plain ostriches,
\ little off color, ~too-owing to dietary.
And there wasn't any particular re-
striction of the demand, either. You'd
have thought five ostriches would have
ruled cheap on an East lndiaman. But
the point was, one of 'em had swallowed
a diamond.
The chap it got it off was Sir
Mohini Padishah, a tremendous swell
P~iccadilly swell, you might say, up
to the neck of him, and then an ugly
black head and a whooping turban, with
this diamond in it. The blessed bird
pecked suddenly and had it, and when
the chap made a fuss it realized it had
done wrong, | suppose, and went and
mixed itself with the others to preserve
its incog. 1t all happened in a minute.
| was among the first to arrive, and
there was this heather going over his
gods, and two sailors and the man who
had charge of the birds laughing fl
to split. 1t was a rummy way of losing
a Jewel. come to think of it. The man
in charge hadn't been about just at the
moment. so that lie didn't know which
bird it was. Clean lost, you see. !
didn't feel half sorry, to tell you the
truth. The beggar had been swagger-
ing over his blessed diamond ever since
be came aboard.
"a thing like that goes from stem to
stern of a ship in no time. Everyone
was talking about it. Padishah went
below TO hide his feelings. At dinner
he pigged at a table by himself, him and
two other Hindoos-the captain kind
of iecred at him about it, and he got
very excited. lie turned round and
talked into my ear. He would not buy
the birds; he would have his diamond.
lie demanded his rights as a British sub
iect. His diamond must be found. lie
was firm upon that. He would appeal
to the house of lords. The man in
charge of the birds was IL of those
wooden-headed chaps you can't get a
new idea into anyway. He refused any
proposal to interfere with the birds
by way of medicine. His instructions
were to feed them so-ard-so and treat
them so-and-so, and it was as much
as his place was worth not to feed them
so-and-so and treat them so-and-so,
Padishah had wanted a stomach pump
though you can't do that to a bird
you know. This Padishah was full OF
bad law, like most of those blessed Ben.
gals, and talked of having a lien on the
birds, and 50 forth. But an old boy
who said his son was IA London barrister
argued that what a bird swallowed be
came ipso facto part Of the bird, anC
that Pndishah's only remedy lay il
an action for damages, and even theI
it might be possible to show contribu
tory negligence. He hadn't any RICH
of way about an ostrich that didn'
belong to him. That upset Padishal
extremely, the more SO as most of u
expressed an opinion that that was tn,
reasonable view. There wasn't any law
yer aboard to settle the matter, so w,
all talked pretty free. At last, afte
Alden, it appears that he came round t.
the general opinion, and went p%rivatel,
to the man in charge and made an offe
for all five ostriches.
"The next morning there was a fin,
shindy at breakfast. The man hadn'
any authority to deal with the birds
and nothing or earth would induce hin
to sell; but it seems he told Padishal
that q Eurasian named Potter had al
ready made him an offer, and on tina
Padishah denounced Potter before Il
all. But Think the most of us though
it rather smart of Potter, and | kno,
that when Potter said that he'd wire,
at Alden to London to buy the birds
and would have an answer at Suez,
cursed pretty richly at a lost oppor
tunity.
"At Suez, Padishah gave way to tear
actual wet tears-when Potter becam
the owner Of the birds, and offered hin
$50 right off for the five, being NOR
than 200 per cent. on what Potter ha,
given. Potter said he'd be hanged /
he parted with feather of them-tha
he meant to kill them off one by on.
and find the diamond; but afterwards
thinking it over, he re.ented a little
He vas n gambling hound, was thi
Potter, a little queer at cards, and thi
kind of prize-packet business must hav
suited him down to the ground. ANY
how, he offered, for a lark, to sell tn,
birds separately to separate people b,
auction at a starting price of ESQ for
bird. But one of them, he said, h
meant to keep for luck.
"You must understand this damon,
was a valuable one-a little Jew char
a diamond merchant, who was with us
had put it at three or four thousan,
when Padishah had shown it to him
and this idea of an ostrich gambl
caught on. Now it happened that L,
been having a few talks on genera
subjects with the man who looked afte
these ostriches, and quite incidental,
he'd said n Of the birds was ailine
and he fancied IL had indigestion. |
had n feather in its tail almost al
white, by which l knew 1t, and so wher
next day, the auction started with Il
capped Padishah's IS by 90. I fancy
was q bit too sure and eager with m,
bid, and some Of the others spotted tn
fact that I was In the know. And Pr
dishah went for that particular bird lns
an irresponsible Iunatic. At last tn
5sW dlamoad merchant eot 4 q
- fTE.znn6 kr{1r<ra 80 = ~