Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1897-07-10
AN OSTRICH DEAL.

"Talking of the prices of birds, I've
seen an ostrich that cost $780," said
the taxidermist, recalling his youth Of
travel" e300!'
He looked at me over his spectacles.
GIVE seen another that was refused at
G400.
"No,' he said "it wasn't any fancy
points. They was just plain ostriches-
a little off color, too owing to dietary,
and there wasn't any particular restrio-
ton of the demand either. You'd have
thought five ostriches would have ruled
cheap on an East Indiaman. But the
point was, one of 'em had swallowed a
diamond.
"The chap it got it off was Sir Mo-
hini Padishah, a tremendous swell-a
Piccadilly swell, you might say, up to
the neck of him, and then an ugly black
head and whopping 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 I suppose, and went and mixed
itself with the others to preserve its in
cog 1t all happened in a minute. Twas
among the first to arrive, and there was
this heathen going over his gods, and
two sailors and the man who had charge
of the birds laughing fit to split. It was
rummy way of losing a jewel, come
to think of it. The man in charge had
not been about just at the moment, SO
that he didn't know which bird it was.
Clean lost, you see. 1 didn't feel half
sorry, to tell you the truth. The beggar
had been staggering over his blessed
diamond ever since he came aboard.
"A thing like that goes from stem to
stern of a ship i'll no time. Every one
was talking about it. Padishah went
below to hide his feelings. At dinner
he pigged at table by himself, he
and two other Hindoos-the captain
kind of jeered at him about it, and he
got very excited. He turned round and
talked into my ear. He would not buy
the birds; he would have his diamond.
He demanded his rights as British
subject. His diamond must be found.
He was firm upon that. He would ap-
peal to the house of lords. The man in
charge of the birds was one Of those
wooden headed chaps you can't get a
new idea into anyhow. He refused any
proposal to interfere with the birds by
way of medicine. His instructions were
to feed them so and 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. Pa
dishah had wanted a stomach pump,
though you can't do that to bird, you
know. This Padishah was full of bad
law, like most of these blessed Bengal
ese, and talked of having lien on the
birds and so forth. But al old boy, who
said his son was London barrister,
argued that what bird swallowed be-
came ipso facto part of the bird, and
that Padishah's only remedy lay IN an
action for damages, and even then 1t
might be possible to show contributory
negligence. He hadn't any right of way
about an ostrich that didn't belong to
him. That upset Padishah extremely,
the more SO as most OF us expressed an
opinion that that was the reasonable
view. There wasn't any lawyer aboard
to settle the matter, so we all talked
pretty free. At last, after Alden, 1t ap-
pears that he came round to the general
opinion and went privately to the man
in charge and made an offer for all five
ostriches
1.-The next morning there was fine
shindy at breakfast. The man hadn't
any authority to deal with the birds,
and nothing Oh earth would induce him
to sell, but it seems he told Padishah
that Eurasian named Potter had al
ready made him an offer, and ON that
Padishah denounced Potter before US
all. But think the most Of us thought
it rather smart of Potter, and know
that when Potter said that he'd wired
at Alden to London to buy the birds and
would have an answer at Suez l cursed
pretty richly at a lost opportunity.
"At Suez Padishah gave way to
tears-actual, wet tears-when Potter
became the owner of the birds ard
offered him e250 right off for the f1ve,
being more than 200 per cent on what
Potter had given. Potter said he'd be
hanged if he parted with feather of
them; that he meant to kill them off
one by one and find the diamond. But
afterward, thinking it over, he relented
"a little He was a gambling hound, was
this Potter, little queer at cards, and
this kind of prize packet business must
have suited him down to the ground.
Anyhow, he offered for lark to sell
the birds separately to separate people
by auction at a starting price of $50 for
bird. But one of them, he said, he
meant to keep for luck.
"You must understand this diamond
was valuable one-a little Jew chap,
diamond merchant, who was with us,
! had put it at $4,000 or GA. 900 when