The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1897-05-12
AN OSTRICH DEAL.

n y OhS hINIl BEAI.
Talking of the prices of birds, I've
seen am ostrich that cost G3o0, said
the taXidermist, recalling his youth OF
travel" e300H
He looked NJ me over his spcotacles.
Two seen another that was refused at
800.
No" he said. 1T wasn't any fancy
points. They was just plain ostriches--
a little off color too, owing to dietary,
tion of the demand either You'd have
Thought five ostriches would have ruled
cheap on an East lndiaman. But the
point VAS, one Of 'om had swallowed n
diamond.
Tho chap it got it off was Sir Mo
hini Padishah, II 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 i'll it, The blessed bird pecked
suddenly and had it, and when the chap
made fuss it realized it had done
wrong, ! suppose. and went and mixed
itself with the others to preserve its in
cog. 1t all happened III II 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. 1t was
a rummy WY of losing "A jewel, come
to think Of it. The man i'll charge had
not been about just at the moment, SO
that he didn't know which bird it was.
Clean lost. you zee. | 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
rtcTn of Il ship III no time Every one
was talking about it, Padishah went
below to hide his feelings. At dinner
he plugged mt table by himself, he
and two other liindous-the captain
| kind of iecrcd ut 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 MS u British
subject His diamond must he found
| He was firm upon that. lie would ap
|
| charge of the birds was one of thos,
wooden headed chaps you can + get !
| new idea into anyhow He refused any
| proposal to interfere with the birds by
way of medicine. His instructions wer,
to feed them so and so and treat then
so and so, and il was as much as hi
| place was worth not To feed them sc
and so and treat them so and so. Pa
dishah had wanted Il stomach pump
though you can't do that to n bird, yor
| know. This Padishah was full of bad
law, like most of these blessed Bengal
csc, and talked of having lien on the
birds and SO forth. But an old boy, who
said his son was Il London baIrister
argued that what u bird swallowed be.
came ips0 facto part of the bird, and
that Padishah's only remedy lay in III
action for damages, and even then il
might be possible to show cmtributory
negligence. He hadn't any right of way
about an ostrich that didn't belong tC
him. That upset Padishah extremely,
| tho 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 APP
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.
"Jhe next morning there was fine
shindy at breakfast. The man hadn I
any authority to deal with the birds,
and nothing on earth would induce him
TO sell, but 1t 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 Sucz | cursed
pretty richly at II lost opportunity.
"At Sucz Padishah gave way to
tears-aetual, wet tcars-when Potter
became the owner Of the birds and
offered him f95O right off for the five,
being more than 200 per cent on what
| Potter had given. Potter said he'd 10
hanged if he parted with feather Ot
| them; that he meant to kill them of
one by one and find the diamond. But
| afterward, thinking it over, he relented
a little. He was gambling hound, was
this Potter, a 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 ESQ for
bird. But one Of them, he said, no
meant to keep for luck.
60 You must understand this diamond
was valuable one-a little jew chap,
a diamond merchant, who was with u.s.
had put it at SO, 600 or "a, 900 when
/ Padishah had shown it to him-and
this idea Of an ostrich gamble caught
on Now, it hA5pened that I'd been
having few talks on general subjects
| with the man who looked after these
ostriches, and quite incidentally he'd
said cne Of the birds was ailinR. and he
fancied it had indigestion. 1t had one
| feather in its tail almost all white, by
which knew it, and so, when next day
the auction started with it | capped
4 Padishah's eS5 by 600.
II fancy / was a bit too sure and
eager with my bid, and some Of the 9TH
ers spotted the fact that | was the
know And Padishah went for that par
ticular bird like an irresponsible luna
| tic At last the jew diamond merchant
got it for fl75, and Padishah said ESQ
| just after the hammer came downs
Potter declared, At any rate the Jew