The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-04-03

security 10 know Il was there. as a sort
Of counterblast 20 the gular
"fn those days the Thursday Island /
fisheries were unknown, and one OF the
discharged conylcts. who owed the
Pelhams o lot. went up there by |
chance and got a tremendous haul Of |
nne pearls and travelled back 10 pre- |
sent them to the Judges sister. Meth |
or OF them had the least idea of the |
value of the string I'm Miss Pelham
wore them at a ball given by the Gov
ornor, and then some expert saw them
and fairly electrified the Judge by say
ing the centre pearl alone-it was con-
siderably larger than the rest-was
worth thousands.
"As soon as Pelham got homo he and
his sister had In his clerk-a discharged
prisoner, a gentleman who had been
sent out for being IN some Irish rising
Of sorts-and showed him the string,
asking him at the same time to try
and find where the donor had gone to,
so that he might be Informed OF the
value of his discovery. Then he went
Off to bed, leaving the pearls in a dis
patch box on the table, and forgetting
TO lock IT, in his usual absent way.
In the night tremendous storm came
down, and swept through the house in
a hurricane, carrying everything into
| the verandas. The clerk Connolly
came rushing IN, shut the windows and
doors, and picked up the scattered
books and papers, assisted by the but
Ter, another time-expired man. Tie
dispatch box was found lying on the
floor. its contents blown away and the
pearls gone. Pelham insisted that
they must be somewhere near and
made the men spend the rest Of the
night searching with him through the
room, but with no result. Both men
were naturally rather frightened; there
had been a number of small r0bberies,
and the Governor a rigid old martinez,
was determined to put crime down
with heavy hand.
''He was very fond Of the cat. The
cat he used TO declare, is worth a
regiment in keeping order in a half
criminal community like this Pelham
was opposed to it with all his might,
and the two We're constantly at log
gerheads. The Governor got wind of
the disappearance Of the necklace, and
instantly sent a guard and shut up
both Pelham's men in BoggO, saying
he would give them five dozen apiece
unless they owned up to the pearls.
Connolly was a delicate little chap
and he almost died at the thought of it,
The other chap confessed on the spot
said he had been standing at the door
and seen Connolly take out the string
and put it in his pocket, statement
which the Judge declared was a lie
and one encouraged by the Governors
use OF such a brutal form Of punish
t ment. He didn't blame the butler, but
he stuck to it. Connolly couldn't have
taken the pearls or he would have seer
l him. Meantime, there was q row roya
| between the law and the administra
: ton, and the pearls kept out of sight
e Miss Pelham went to the GOverno
Z and begged him to give Connolly {
/ weeks respite before he was brough
: I'D for sentence. And in that tim
: she fairly turned the yellow ston
t house inside out, and still no sign 0
I the necklace. She was sitting ON tn
G veranda one night with the Judge, talk
Q ing and wondering.
: 81 cannot imagine said she, 'wher
they can have got to-
h "Td give n hundred pounds t
7 know replied Pelham, gloomily; poo
y little Connolly won't last three month
p if he goes back to the quarries.'
; "Tve looked everywhere said Mis-
a Pelham, and she looked up at the gulal
y He was sitting demurely on his stanC
Is and winking his red-rimmed eyes q
d If he knew al about ii.
It "'Ho! no! hon lie chuckled; z talythT
e Ger the table for M
"She sat looking up at him M "a
a. ment, while he kept repeating, Leo
AZ under the table,
1t "She got up. I will she said; 'e7
ID cry table in the house
IS "Now, she had removed everythin
a. out of the dining room where the Iii
'e patch box had been left, and the ca
Is pets had been taken up. The floor ha
ly been laid with very green wood an
OF when the covering was removed II
I'd boards were found to have shrun
lie 1t was sunset, and the light came
IS level with the house, which, like mo
SIS houses, was raised a little on piles
lg keep out the white ants She walkt
e, across, looking down. and suddenly 81