Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1897-05-15

| chant secured it, and there and then
! he got a gun and shot il. Potter made
a hades of a fuss because he said il
would injurc the sale OF the other three,
and Padishah, OF course, behaved like
an idiot; but all of US were very much
excited. | can tell yop | was precious
glad when that dissection was over,
and no diamond had turned up-pre-
| ciouS glad. I'd gone TO one-forty on that
particular bird myself.
"The little jew was like most Jews
he didn't make any great fuss over bad
luck but Potter declined TO go on with
the auction until ii was understood
that the goods could not be delivered
| until the sale was over. The little jew
| wanted to argue shat the ease was eX-
ceptional, aud as the discussion ran
| pretty even, the thing was postponed
until the next morning. We had a live
" dinner-table that evening, | can tell
you, but in the end, Potter got his way
since il would stand to reason he would
I'VE SAFER II ne NtuCh ~ an NhC nllH9' oiA''
that we owed him some consideration
for his sportsman-like behavior. And
the Old gentleman whose son was a law
| yer said he'd been thinking the thing
over and that ii was very doubtful if,
| when a bird had been opened and the
diamond recovered, it ought not to be
handed back to the proper owner. Ire
| member ! suggested it came under the
laws of the treasure-trove-which was
really the truth of the matter. There
was a hot argument, and We settled il
was certainly foolish TO kill the bird on
board the ship. Then the old gentle
man, going at large through his legal
talk, tried to make out the sale was a
lottery and illegal, and appealed to the
! captain: but Potter said he sold the
| birds as ostriches. He didn't want to
sell any diamonds, he said, and didn't
offer that as an inducement. The three
birds he put up, to the best Of his
knowledge and belief, did not contain
n diamond. Ii was in the one he kept
so he hoped,
Prices ruled high next day all the
same. The fact that now there were
four chances instead of five of course
caused a rise. The blessed birds
averaged two hundred and twenty
seven, and, oddly enough, this Padisha
didn't secure one OF 'em-not one. lie
made too much shindy, and when h.
ought to have been hiding be was talk.
ing about liens, and, besides, Potter was
a bit down on him. One fell to a quiet
little officer chap, another 10 the little
Jew. and the third was syndicated by
the engineers, And then Potter seemed
suddenly sorry for having sold them
and said he'd flung away a clear 6 900
and that ye-y likely he'd draw a blank
and that he always had been a fool: bu'
when | went and had a bit Of a talk Il
him, with the idea of getting him tC
hedge on his last chance, | found he'C
already sold the bird he'd reserved tC
a political chap that was on board;
chap who'd been studying Indian MOI
ais and social questions in his vacation
That last was the & 800 bird, Well. they
landed three of the blessed creature
at Brindisi-though the old gentleman
said it was a breach of the customs
regulations-and Potter and Padishal
landed too. The IIiudoo seemed hal
mad as he saw his blessed diamond go
ing this way and that, so to speak. IL
kept on saying he'd get an injunction
he had injunction on the brain-anC
giving his name and address to tn
chaps who'd bought the birds, so tina
they'd know where TO send the dia
mond. None of them wanted hi
name and address and none O
them would give their own. ]
was a fine row, | can tell you-on tn
platform. They all went off by differ
ent trains. | came on to Southampton
and there ! saw the last of the bird;
as | came ashore; it was the n tn
engineers bought, and it was standin
} up near the bridge, in a kind of crate
| and looking as leggy and silly a setting
for a valuable diamond as ever you say
If it was a setting for a valuable dia
mond.
: How did it end? OH like that
Well-perhaps. Yes, there's one nor
; thing that may throw light on it.
week or so after landing | was dow
Regent street doing a bit of shopping
4 and who should | see arm-in-arm an
= having n purple time of it but Padisha
7 and Potter. If you come TO think of it
, "Ies. I've thought that. Only, yo
see, there's no doubt The diamond wa
: real. And Padishah was an eminer
Hindoo. I've seen his name in the p;
y, ~pers-often. But whether the Dir
swallowed the diamond certainly is al
other matter, as you say,"-San Fran
u cisco Argonaut.