The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-01-31


| had written a few hurried iine'
from Sacramento telling Sir Edmund
that Lola had taken the Great Hes
/ per, and intended to restore it as soor
as the snow had melted and allowed
us to reach the cavern in which it was
concealed. In answering this letter be
wrote:
after reading your good news, Ed
it'll and I went for a stroll through
the park, where we encountered poor
van Hoeck, whose woe-begone appear
ance appealed more to Edith's heart
and mine also. Why she asked,
should we any longer treat him as a
possible scoundrel now that the Braces
admit having taken the diamond?' We
| turned back, overlook Van Hoeck and
! told him what had happened. The
poor wretch was overcome with emo
ton. not because of the possible re-
covery Of the lost diamond (of which
he entertains strong doubt, but in
being once more treated as an honest
man.
Now. did Van Hoeck deserve to be
treated as an honest man? That was
the question. / viii give here Braces
account Of what .occurr i in the woods,
and as near as can in his own words.
when we parted company in the
wood" he said, Il hunted around for
Israel, as was my intention, You will
remember. / found him crawlin' like
varmint of reptile through the
ferns. ! fetched him into convenr
lent spot. and says /, Israel | SEES,
you air goin' to prophesy what has
gone Of the Great Hesper It's not a
hard job, if you give yer mind to it.
'Tain't nothin' near so hard as pro-
phesying what's goin' to be-
II had hold on him by the arm. All
of a suddint he filings himself round,
grapples on to me, and fore I'm aware
of anythin', I'm on my back, and his
two thumbs is inter my windpipe. I
never thought he'd got it inter him
such strength and agility and I'll all
low he would have strangled me lief
the Kid hadn't come up in the nick
and frightened him by singing out for
you. ! did not lose any time, and when
had shown I was as strong as him,
with a little bit TO spare, got him to
prophesy He wanted d piaguey lot
of perswadin', and he got it; but when
he couldn't stand no more on it, he
let on that it was inside rotten will
Ter alongside pond in the holler.
didn't know no pond, but | ketched
sight of the Kid sneakin' of, end jest
sneaked after her, takin' Israel along,
case he mighter made a mistake in his
Biography. There was no walking fast
with Israel over the brambles, end |
lost sight Of the Kid; but it stood to
reason the holler was down hill, so
down l went the wav the Kid had
gone, near as ] could reckon, and there
was the pond and the rotten willer all
as he had prophesied, /. nd there at the
foot of the willer was the empty case,
but nary diamond | cooked my eye
around, end once more I ketched sight
of the Kid sneakin' off. l went for
her naturally, but might jest as well
went for a tom-tit. She got clean out
Ell sight about the same times ! got
outer wind. But Israel wouldn't give
up, and we hunted about for the Kid
till we couldn't neither of us hunt any
more; then we sat down in commit
tee, and, after pretty warm discussion,
we came to the unanimous conclusion
that, fur the sake of every one con-
cerned, we had better get rid of the
leather case md say nothin' about it.
laid it down that the Kid had not
took the diamond for mere mischief.
She knew, in her own greaser way,
that the thing had power in it to
bring happiness to the owner-like a
charm She see that it clothed us de-
cent and lodged us comfortable, and
that while it separated you and her,
it brought you and squlre's daughter
together. And we laid it down mutual
that the Kid had too much gumption
to pitch the thing away, but would hide
it somewhere where sue could fetch it
bimeby. Now, hef we'd done other
ways what would have happened? Van
Hoeck nd have declared it was all a
lie, and the wild horses wouldn't er
dragged the secret outer the Kid. The
only hope of gettin' back the Hesper
was ter let her play her game and
watch her close"
A copy Of this statement I sent to
Sir Edward, and / added:
EITHER Van Hoeck is possessed of
supernatural clairyoyance, or he must
have been in completely with the man
who took the diamond from me.
TO be Continued