The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1897-05-15

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no one saved. The lieutenant's body
) probably washed ashore in the lon
ground swell which rolls in upon that
coast in the spring, and the Angra
man despoiled 1t of watch, chain and
pendant. Only the guinea will ever
be heard Of again.
"Did you write Hufeland?" queried
his friend.
"Yes, out of curtesy, thanking him,
and telling him where the coin had
started and how it had probably
reached him, and asking him not to
return it, but to set it on it's travels
again in the regular course of business.
l 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, "Irkutc,"
Mackor Stunt" and the sheet within
was headed "Yakutsk." The letter
was in English.
To the Unknown: Except to drink vodka,
attend Greek church and gamble there re-
mains nothing for u Christian (?) to do in
this "heel Of the world" but write. Two
days since, when paying for some furs which
had bought from Tunyuse Indians, one of
| them gave me in change an English guinea,
Happening to examine 1t later discovered
engraved in small letters near the head,
| "Write P. O. Box 1901, London" AS an
american | have all a Yankees curiosity,
and therefore am writing. must insist.
however, upon reply. My personal
knowledge Of this coin begins on y as stated:
but when l saw the inscription l hunted 40
the native and dragged from him by bride and
irrigation all that he knew of the same. He
had received it months before from Rus
sian official, recently arrived from st. Peters,
DurG, whom he met on the Lena River.
where that man got it is only to be con-
jectured. shall probably spend it, set it
ID motion again soon; but would bo
pleased to hear why it bears this strange re-
quest. 1 am United States naval officer
sent to this far land by my Government to
aid Ill the search for the crow OF the lost
jeanette. Very respectfully,
JOHN NJ. HARLOW.
The American laughed.
"Qulte a characteristic letter. You
surely wrote Mr.. Harlow?"
"Oh, yes" replied the other, "and
have still on epistolary acquaintance
with him, maintained in desultorv
manner ever since. He is now in
Washington, 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 letter."
"LoEEro, LOWER CAL,
Dec. IS. 1889.
"For month have anticipated tho time
when should BIZ strong enough to write P.
.. Box 1901, London. Dear old, smoky.
fosgy London! II you only knew how
strong Is the love that wraps an English
mans heart about for his Great City, espe-
cially 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 .:es &c ~escs on his back in cot bed |
with forty'caliIser hole through ono lung.
Ned-that's my chum-says have slept with |
the home guinea claspei in INV hand nirht
after night. Well, may have done 50. II
is the first thing that has come direct from |
dear old England to me in three long years
and | doubt If ever I sce anything 50 near
my beloved home again. am one OF the
neer-do-wels who has drifted up and down
the earth, never content, never at rest, until, |
perchance, put to rest as I have been, by an !
enemys shot from behind Il mesquite bush, |
This little coin was paid mo for gold dust |
one Wild night across the Gulf in Guayamas.
Mexico, three months ago, and although |
gulneas don't grow on trees in this blazing |
desert, l have clung to 1t.
"Write me, Box 1O01--write mo for hn.
manity's sale They tell me I'm going to
get well, but know better. The catch at
my heart and the hole in my lung don't mean
life, but something else. And perhaps it Is
just a5 we'll. The world has not been the
better for me; it will not be much the worse
without me; but my soul is hungry for let
ter. A Dig yellow envelope, with my name in
round hand on the outside. My friends do
not know where am, and if l am to die it
is better So Even my dearest sister, who
never gave mo up, has lost me; for l have
been ashamed to tell her how low 1 had
.'''''N' ou., DoN AVA, Ou Ou'y KNOW mat
have your guinea, and you don't know all
my Ooilsh and my evil deods. Write me.
here; Tor shall never go away.
ARTHUR JAMESON"
"You see how long o time had passed
since the third letter." SAID the Eng
lishman; "six years. I had all but
forgotten my golden wanderer when
this came; but you may know that 1
wrote at once and ut length to poor
Jameson, dying amid the horrible
wastes of Lower California. I even
wrote twice; but no answer came, and
| concluded that his course was run.
Sometimes l remembered the fellow.
plying his loneliness if living; but as
time passed the recollection slowly
faded from my mind, when, two
years ago, the fifth and last of the
series came to hand"
The American took the letter, It
was written in q ladv's hand mot