The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1899-11-11
My FelloW-Pa55enger'5 Story.
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/A\ behind the newspaper in tie
SS corner of the railway carriage.
1t was a prolonged groan, followed by
a string Of adjectives. uttered In quick
succession, like the reports from a SIX
chambered revolver fired against time.
/ shifted my seat little further from
the newspaper and let down the win
dow, so as to be within reach or the
communication cord should necessity
arise. AS | did so. the paper fell on
to the fat, drab knees, disclosing req,
clean-shaven face and a pair OF saw
age gray eyes.
The man in the corner appeared 10
have experienced warm time OF IL
behind the newspaper, for drops Oh
perspiration stood like small glass
beads on his high forehead, and his
face was distorted oy passion, which
made him look anything but desira-
BILE fellow passenger. l wished the
train would reach a station; even
slight accident to stay Its headlong
speed would have been welcome to en-
able me to put few carriages between
me and the man In the corner. But
nothing of the kind happened. only
NV fellow passenger, after staring
fiercely at me a few seconds piurted
out:
..Them sales of great auks' eggs
made me wild. / hate the very name
of 'em. They say the blooming Dird
Is extinct, and the sooner them eggs
oil
felt relieved that my fellow passen-
gen wasn't mailman or In Mt, as
had been at first led to suppose. lie
was only laboring under little excite
ment occasioned by reading an account
of the recent sale of a couple OF great
auks eggs.
I smiled, and remarked that be was
not a lover of great auks' eggs.
mo: dash 'emr' returned the man,
savagely; 81 wish the whole seventy,
which, they say, are knocking about
the world, were burnt up, and the ashes
scattered to the winds of heaven!'
| felt interested and longed to hear
further particulars, so, taking out my
cIgsr-case. l handed II to him. at tde
same time venturing to inquire If he
had ever had any dealings in great
auks' eggs. l thought by his manner
he had.
He paused a moment before answer
ing, while he bit of the end of his cigar.
well, yes-or, more strictly speaking,
no." he said slowly. But there, it's a
queer story" 1oked interested, and
after lighting up he began:
at was one night some years ago l
was accosted IN the Commercial Road
by shabby fellow, who asked me to
buy a queer-looking thing which he
held In his arms. 1t looked something
between a football and an Edam
cheese, as hard as adamant, and the
color of walnut-peeler's hands. The
man said he had Just arrived In Eng
land from abroad, where many years
of his life had been spent. The ball
had been a present from some black
king; he did tell me his name. but for
get It now. l know it took ten minutes
to say 1t, and you had to- sneeze twice
at the end to pronounce 1t properly.
The man didn't know what the ball
was, but the king had valued 1t highly.
tod him it was no use to me, but he
begged so hard for enough to get him a
nights lodging that at last gave him
a trife for 1t, and took the thing home
thinking 1t would do to keep the door
open, If nothing else.
"For a long time the queer old thing
In al ha Z
useless for holding open the door. The
only use 1t appeared to be was for peo
pie to fall over l fell over 1t first and
injured the bridge of my nose anC
knocked leg off table My mother
in-.aw followed me over it a few days
after, and was laid up three week!
with a black eye and shock to the sys
tenn. Then one Of the kids let it fall
ON the cats back Md though they say
a cats spine Is MAJ. Of lndia-rubber +
couldn't stand that ball. and snapped
At last the baby made a desperate eff
fort to rid the house of that dashed
thing by eating 1t up, and injured tn
only two teeth II possessed. My wifi
grew very Indignant at this, and sal,
the injury to Obadiah's teeth was tn
last straw that made the load to.
heavy to bear, and she chucked tn
ball into the backyard, where 1t la
for months behind some boxes, forgot
ten and uncared for.
at was couple of days before tn
Derby, and friend Of mine had drop
ped in to arrange about going, and hoy
we were to raise the necessary funds
as we were at very low water. w
hn. crf,lnIr, tlAcrl,tl,l,r.