The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-10-28

WDtTb huhll we luuh hIhbE
"In the box, thakine, eagerly inter
posed Hpo Thit. If the opium is not
there and ne has the ruby, there shall
we find it. "
So once more the sergeant continued
his interrupted search for the box.
There was nothing beyond pair of
Chinese patent leather shoes palm
leaf Buddhist bible and Moung Gu
rays silken headdresses, many Of them
packed away there in the bottom.
"There is nothing here, Hpo Thit,"
said the superintendent brusquely.
"Wbat really ought to do is to arrest
you, Hpo Thit, for dangerous lunatic;
but I'll see to that tomorrow In the
meantime, sergeant, just beat up the
surrounding country for the budmash
that has taken the ruby"
That the ruby was gone was facer
TO Hpo Thit First, the balls Of opium
had disappeared, but that he had at
tributed to Moung Ouray now the ruby
had vanished, and Moung Ouray had
been with the police all the time,
Then he saw something which gave
him olew. 1t was an innocent looking
circlet of jasmine flowers lying in
front of the box. II was such circlet
as the girls wore on their hair, and it
hadn't been lying there when they
searched the box before.
"Of certainty Mi MIRA as taken the,
ruby" murmured Hpo Thit, land has
gone to the house of San Shwe, who is
her father. If San Shwe will keep it,
there will it rest; but if his heart fail
him then will he tell her to take it to.
the police thakine.' There was NO
time to be lost, for it would be discov-
cred that he had stolen it, and he would
also lose the ruby.
His opportunity to steal the ruby had
come to him just as he was leaving
Moung Ouray's house, after having put
the opium in the box. For some un-
known reason, probably owing to the
poay, he had found the temple deserted
for a few minutes and had knocked the
ruby out of the alabaster with his dab.
Then the sudden fear and the chance to,
implicate Moung Ouray as the thief,
his other scheme having failed, had led
him to put it in the box. Now he knew
that Mi Mira must have seen him put
it there, and as he would be accused of
stealing it anyway he meant to get the
ruby back.
| Slipping away from the others as
they came out of Moung Ouray's house,
he quickly sped away to San Shwe's
, bungalow.
As he approached cautiously he could
! see Mi Mira and her mother and father
| sitting OH the bamboo floor earnestly
/ discussing something. "They will de-
, eide. / will wait, he muttered, squat
! ting ON his heels at the side of the road.
Then Mi MIRA came out and started
} off across the dried madam toward the
, superintendent bungalow.
That was Hpo Thit's chance.
/ "If you tell about it, " he said, as he
D left her, 81 will swear that you and
Moung Ouray stole 1t and gave 1t to
me- Then the judge thakine will ask
, how You should know that had it if
you had not given il to me. "
Mi MIRA went back to her father
, house She wanted to think, wanted to
q do that which was the least trouble.
q In the morning she told VALENTINE
4 Tbankyne about it, and in an hour he
and the sergeant and file of police
were chasing after Hpo Thit But Hpo
= Thit had gone One more dacoit had
q been created His brother the thug
q gie's gun had gone with him. The
thuggie didn't know that for Hpo Thit
had stolen it. 1t was an old fashioned
a muzzle loading musket.
a 1t is difficult to run down a Burman
+ in the jungle, and it was the next day
before they came up with their quarry.
He had couple of shots at them in
, laundering sort of way with the old
q musket without hitting anybody, but
+ just as VALENTINE charged i'll on him at
E, the head of his police Hpo Thit fired
/ again at close quarters, and the super
. intendent went down, shot in the shout
a., der
. Only for the sergeant Hpo Thit would
B.. have been carved up into regulation
. slices-only for the sergeant and Valen-
A tyne, too-for he beloved out: Don I
a kill him. Take the beast alive.
Bring him here and search him at
h once" said VALENTINE, who was sitting
q up now, though feeling deuced groggy,
T.. and while the sergeant bound up his
wound they stripped Hpo Thit clean as
h "a whistle. But there was no ruby
a nothing but much tattooing discovered
8 "What have you done with the
8 ruby?" asked the superintendent, but
/ Hpo Thit wouldn't answer.
Then they got back to Thayetmyo as
quickly as they could, carrying Valen-
q tyne on an improvised dhooly in the
4 shape of a oharpoy, which they got
v from the woon of neighboring village
= by the gentle art of zabar-dasti.
When Hpo Thit was brought back by
the police, he was met by reception
= committee composed of orthodox Bud
dhists, who were gathered together with
a the avowed object of honoring him
4 with the crucifxion.
n To guard against his attaining Mir
vana by a fiuke, as it Were he was to
be crucifed head downward.