The Columbus commercial., 1903-03-03

Finally he resolved upon the sacri-
fee Marking the choicest fruit of
those precious vines, he pronounced
the terrible sentence, Tomorrow
shall cut these 40 and take them to
the market at Cadiz. Happy shall he
be who eats themi'' He walked
homeward with a slow. pace, and
passed the night with the anxious
feeling of father who is to give his
daughter in marriage on the follow
ing day. MY poor pumpkins!" he
sighed many times, without being
able to compose himself to sleep.
Then he reflected, But what else is
to be done? For this purpose l have
raised them. They viii yield me at
least $15."
Imagine, then, his astonishment and
his fury the following morning, on
going to his garden, when he found
that during the night he had been
robbed of his forty pumpkins! Like
! SEakespeare's Jew, he reached the
l0ftiest paroxysm Of tragedy, repeat
ing franticaIly those terrible words
| of ShyIock, "Oh, if I find himl If I
find him,"
When he began to reflect more de-
! Hberately he reasoned that his be-
loved jewels could not be in Rota,
where it would be impossible TO sell
! them without risk of recognition, and
where. also, the price of pumpkins
was very low.
81 see it clearly; they are in Cadiz!"
/ he concluded ''The rascaIly scoun-
! drels must have stolen them last
/ night about nine or ten o'clock, and
| escaped with them at u on the
/ freight-boat. 7 shall leave for Cadiz
| this morning on the hour-boat, and it
| win be a wonder if I do not trap the
sneak-thief and recover the children
Of my toil!''
Having said this he remained for
about 20 minutes in the place of the
catastrophe, as though he were ca
ressing the mutiIated pumpkin vines,
or counting the pumpkins that re-
mained, or holding a sort Of inquest
for some trial which was about to
begin At about eight he left for
| the wharf
He had determined to leave for the
market at Cadiz in the hOur-bOat, the
humble sail-boat which starts every
morning at nine carrying passengers,
lust as the freight-boat sails every
night at - carrying fruit and vege-
tables. The first is called the hour
boat, because in that space Of time,
and even in 40 minutes, when the wind
is favorable, it crosses the three
leagues of water which stretch be
tween the ancient village of the duke
Of Arcos and the ancient city of Her
cules.
1t was half-past ten of that day
when Uncle Buscobeatas stopped in
front of vegetable stand in the
Cadiz market, and exclaimed to the
weary policeman who accompanied
him, There are my pumpkins! Ar
rest that mani" pointing out the re
taller.
ARREST mel" exclaimed the ac-
cused. full of surprise and anger.
These are my pumpkins; I bought
them
''You can tell that to the mayor!"
replied Uncle Buscobeatas.
u say no."
Il say yes!"
''You vagabond,"
''You thief"
''You must speak to each other
with more decency. Men should not
be lacking in this respect" said the
policeman, with much calmness, Civ
ing each a punch in the ribs.
Meanwhile a large crowd had as
sembled, and among them came the
magistrate in charge of the market
police-the market inspector, as he
is officially called. The policeman re
signed the jurisdiction to his superior
and informed that distinguished au-
thority of all that had taken place.
From whom did you buy these
pumPIlins?'' his majesty asked, in an
august manner.
From Uncle Fulano, resident of
Rota," he replied
VERY HkeIy!" ironically grOwled
Uncle Buscobeatas. HE is quite equal
to such things. When his own gar
den. which is wretchedly poor, pro-
duces little, he goes out to rob his
neighbOr.''
But" continued the magistrate
turning to the old gardener, admit
ting the hypothesis that you were
robbed last night of 40 pumpkins,
what assurance have you that these
are yours?'
Indeed" replied Uncle Buscobeat- |
as. because I know them like you
know your daughters, if you have
any. Don't you see I raised them? |
Look here, This one is named |
Roundy; this one is Plumpy; this is
Paunchy; that one is Afulatto; this
one IS Manuela, because it so much |
resembles my younger daughter"
And the poor man began to weep bit |
terly.
'.An that sounds very well,' replied |
the inspector, ''but the law is not |
satisfied with the mere recognition |
of your pumpkins. 1t is necessary |
that you should prove your claim by |
credible evidences. Gentlemen, there |
is nothing to smile at. I am law
yer.''
.'Then you shall see that I shall
quickly prove to all the world, with |
out moving from this place, that |
these pumpkins were raised in my |
garden said Uncle Buscobeatas, to /
the astonishment of the bystanders.
Letting fall to the ground a bundle |