Middletown transcript., 1897-04-03

that coast in the spring, and the An
gra man despoiled it of watch. chain
and pendant. Only the guinea will
ever be heard of again.
! ''Did you write HufelandP" queried
his friend.
"Yes, out of courtesy, thanking him,
and telling him WHERE the coin had
started and how it had PROBABLY reach
ed him, and asking him not to return
it. but to set it on its travels again in
the regular course of business. had
no reply to my letter and doubt
whether the Boer ever received it.
Something more than year later this
third chapter arrived"
He handed the American large,
square envelope of rough paper, bear
ing the strange postmark "Irkute,"
"Mackor Sunt," and the sheet within
was headed "Yakutsk." The letter
was in English.
''To the Ur1EnoWn: Except to drink
vodka, attend Greek church and gam
BILE there remains nothing for Chris
tain ~ to do in this heel Of world
but write. Two days since, when pay
ing for some furs which I had bought
from .Tunguse Indians, one of them
gave me in change an English guiena.
Happening to examine it later dis
covered engraved iu small letters near
the head, Write P. o. Box 10O1, Lon
don.' As an American l have all
Yankees curiosity, and therefore am
writing. must insist. however, upon |
reply. My personal Knowledge of
this coin begins only as stated; but |
when l saw the inscription l hunted |
up the native and dragged from him
by bribe and irrigation all thath he knew
of the same. He had received it
months before from a Russian official
recently arrived from St. Petersburg,
whom he met on the Lena River.
Where that man got it is only to be
conjectured. L shall probably spend it,
set it in motion again soon; but l
would be pleased to hear why it bears
this strange request. l am United
States Naval officer sent to this far
land by my Government to. aid in the
search for the crew of the lost jean
ette.' Very respectfully,
John NJ. HARLOW"
The American laughed.
''Quite characteristic letter. You
surely wrote Mr.. HarloW?"
"Oh yes," replied the other, ''and
have still an epistolary acquaintance
with him, maintained in desultory
manner ever since. He is now in WASH
ington, in your country, think. He
has promised to visit me should he ever
get to England on leave. OF course
how the guinea reached Russia from
South Africa I shall never know.
Here is the fourth Iet.er.,'
LORETO. LOWER CAL,
Dec. 25th, 1889.
'For month l have anticipated the
time when Ishould bs strong enough to !
write P. 0. Box 1901. London. Dear
old, smoky, foggy Londohl II you on
ly knew how strong is the love that
wraps an Englishman's heart about for
his Great City, especially when far
from the place of his birth, you will be
able to estimate how such love and
longing is increased when the English
man lies for weeks OH his back in cot
bed, with 40 caliber hole through one
lung. Ned-that's my ehum-says l
have slept with the home guinea
clasped in my hand night after night.
Well, may have done so. 1t is the
first thing that has come direct from !
dear old England to NE in three long
years, and doubt if ever l see any
thing SO near my beloved home again.
am one of the ne'er-d0-Wells who
has drifted up and down the earth,
never content, never at rest, until, per-
chance, put to rest as have been by
an enemy's shot from behind mes
quite bush. This little coin was paid
me for gold dust one wild night across 9
the Gulf in Guayamas, Mexico, three q
months ago, and altho guineas don't
grow on trees in this blazing desert, I
have clung to it. q
"Write me, Box 1001-write me for :
sake! They tell me I'm :
going to get well, but / know better.
The catch at my heart and the hole in :!
ny lung don't mean life, but something =
slse. And perhaps it is just as we'll. :
The world has not been the better for me =
t will not be much the worse without :.
ne; but my soul is hungry for a letter. = :,
4 big yellow eavelop, with my name -
u round hand on the outside. My friends
10 not know where Lam, and il am n'
% die it is better 50. Even my dearest u
lister, who never gave me up, has lost nl
ne; for ] have been ashamed to tell ID
Ter how low I had fallen. But, Box al
001, you only know that have your Je
.uinea, and you don't know all my W
oollsh and my evil deeds. Write me, ca
lere; for shall never 90 away. h'
"ABTHUR JAMEsoN.v 50
"You see how long time had pas.
ed since the third letter." said the wi
.ssix years. had all but rel
orgotten my golden wanderer when bl
his came; but you may know that l de
Erote at once and at length to poor Oil
JAMESON, dying amid the horrible ~
wastes of Lower California. I even ~
Vrote twice; butn answer came, and Of
concluded that his course was run. We
sometimes / remembered the fellow, co
itying his loneliness il living; but as BIZ
ime passed the recollection slowly dill