The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-05-12

an irresponsible lunatlc. AL laSL Cno
jew. diamond merchant got it for
IT'S, and Padishah said ESQ just
after the hammer came down-so Pot
ter declared. AT any rate the jew mer-
chant secured it, and there and then
he got gun and shot it. Potter made
u hades of fuss because he said it
would injure the sale OF the other three,
and Padishah, of course, behaved like
an idiot; but all of us were very much
excited. | can tell You / 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.
1.-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 it was understood
that the goods could not be delivered
until the sale was over. The little Jew
wanted to argue that the case was ex-
ceptional, and as the discussion ran
pretty even, the thing was postponed
until the next morning. We had live
ly dinner-table that evening, l can tell
you, but in the end, Potter got his way,
since it would stand to reason he would
he safer if he stuck to all the birds, and
that we owed him some consideration
for his sportsman-like behavior. And
the old gentleman whose son was law
yer said he'd been thinking the thing
over and that it 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. / re-
member 1 suggested it came under the
laws of the reasure-trove-which was
really the truth of the matter. There
was hot argument, and we settled it
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
a 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. He
made too much shindy, and when he
ought to have been hiding he was talk
ing about liens, and, besides, Potter was
a bit down on him. One fell to quiet
little officer chap, another to 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 1000,
and that very likely he'd draw blank,
and that he always had been fool; but
when / went and had bit of a talk to
him, with the idea of getting him to
hedge on his last chance, found he'd
already sold the bird he'd reserved to
a political chap that was on board-a
chap who'd been studying Indian NOR
ais and social questions in his vacation.
l.
landed three of the blessed creatures
at Brindisi-though the old gentleman
said it was a breach of the customs
regulations-and Potter and Padishah
landed too. The Hindoo seemed half
mad as he saw his blessed diamond GO
ing this way and that, so to speak. He
kept on saying he'd get an Injunction
he had injunction on the brain-and
giving his name and address to the
chaps who'd bought the birds, so that
they'd know where to send the dia-
mond. None of them wanted his
name and address and none of
them would give their own. 1t
was fine row, can tell you-on the
platform. They all went off by differ
ent trains. 1 came on to Southampton,
and there l saw the last-of the birds,
as I came ashore; it was the one the
engineers bought, and it was standing
up near the bridge, in kind of crate,
and looking as leggy and silly setting
for valuable diamond as ever you saw
if it was setting for valuable dia-
mond.
,"How did it end? Oh! like that.
Well-perhaps. Yes, there's one more
thing that may throw light on it. A
week or so after landing was down
Regent street doing bit of shopping.
and who should l see arm-in-arm and
having a purple time of it but Padishah
and Potter. If you come to think of it
Eyes. I've thought that. Only, you
see, there's no doubt the diamond was
real. And Padishah was an eminent
Hindoo. I've seen his name in the pa
pers-often. But whether the bird
swallowed the diamond certainly is an
other matter, as you say."-San Fran
cisco Argonaut.
Cautious Criticism at Putney.
Intelligent Waterman Ito inquisitive