The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1900-12-12

and jingling In elfish dances Ground
iny sleepless head.
"Our journey was uneventful, and
in due time we reached a village lying
a few miles outside the walls of Da-
mascus. The hour of our arrival at
this village being late. and the men
tired with the days march, / deter
mined to rest the night here, and make
our entry into the town on the NOR
row. The donkeys were therefore un-
hamessed and tethered, their loads
stored away in an empty hut, and the
men dispersed themselves among the
crowd of villagers to smoke and gos-
sip.
With the first glimmer of the dawn,
the drivers, all anxious to reach the
city-the white domes and minarets
of which could be seen frescoed against
the gray sky-were up and busily re-
loading the donkeys. and adding to
the usual commotion of a caravan
breaking up its camp so jubilant a
hubbub that the little village was soon
awakened from its slumbers, and its
occupants gathering around to watch
our departure.
when all the preparations were
complete, l looked to see that every
thing was in place. and finally thrust
ing my hand into the saddlebag of my
donkey. where had rested I knew the
tobacco-pouch on the previous night,
when the saddlebags had been placed
in my tent, felt for my charge and
treasure. Gone!
Hardly daring to believe my fears,
I searched more closely, but only to
realize more certainly that I had been
robbed. That this should happen on
the threshold of my goal, and in spite
Of all my watehfulness and care, only
added to the keenness with which /
felt my position.
Virtually | was alone in this viii
lage, and could not expect the innab-
itants to interest themselves in the
matter, unless by so doing they could
dlsclaim any partisanship with the
thief Nor could one of the villagers
well have been the culprit, seeing that
the particular saddlebag had never
been out Of my own care, or that of
one of the drivers long enough to be
tampered with.
''If the thief, therefore, was to be
discovered, it was clear that he was
to be found among the men of my
own party, of whom there were some
dozen or more: but how to find him
out and recover the stolen property
was Gordian knot hard indeed to
unite. To question them was, of
course, Of little avail, each demand be-
ing met by ready denial Of the theft,
while searching them was almost as
idle, the Arab being well accustomed
to make the sand his silent treasurer.
f'The report of my loss, carried on
the tongues Of many an exaggerated
and fanciful version, soon swelled the
crowd of villagers who had fingered
to watch our caravan, and now, in ex-
cited chatter, talked the matter over,
or squatted silently among the bales
and beasts in true eastern unconcern.
Realizing the impossibility of OBJ
tanning any other redress than that
which the governor Of Damascus could
afford me. l was about to give the
word to proceed on our way, when
there stepped up to me a little old
Arab, who touched me on the sleeve.
saying:
" If the Howaga will make his men
do all ask Of them. ! will undertake
to find for him his lost money
"The speaker, a wizened, white
haired, man. clad in the most tattered
and obviously clean of camel-hair
cloaks. was such an odd little person
age that my trust in his proffered help
was not great; but there lurked in his
dark eyes something SO cunning that,
half involuntarily, | answered:
If you will try to discover the
thief, my men shall do everything that
you shall require them to do; and If
you succeed you and your village shall
have much thanks and reward
with this understanding between
us, the unkempt-looking individual
who had volunteered his services as
detective asked to be shown the
donkey from which the money had
been abstracted.
"On its being pointed out to him, he
had all the packages removed from
its back, and then solemnly bidding us
adieu while he talked to the donkey,
led it away to an empty hut that stood
near by.
"In few moments he returned
alone, having apparently found the
donkey's conversational powers linn
tied, and proceeded to set all the driv-
ers in row before him. like soldiers
at drill
Having arranged them to his salts
faction, he next asked them one by
one if they had stolen the money, and
in no wise disconnected at
the prompt negative that met each
repetition Of the question.
This formality gone through, he
addressed the men before him with the
following original speech:
"'You have all heard how beasts
could recognize a touch, though they
cannot see the hand that touches
them. thn truth of this T will n,ova |