Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-08-22
THE DIAMOND RIVER
MURRAY
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BY DAVID MURRAY

bogus copy made and false key After
my funeral Monboddo will possess him
self of these, and, not knowing how t.
use them to his advantage, will sell them
to my friend Ezekiel, My friend Ezekiel
will pay Oh, he'll pay! Monboddo shall
bleed him. Ha! ha! ha! Ezekiel viii
try to swindle his partners, of course.
He'll gloat and exult and sweat his
brains for nothing; and then I'll put Mon
boddo on to another of the gang, and
make him sell Ezekiel. Harvey" he said.
with sudden rage of exultation, III
make 'em drink the cup they poured for
mel | don't know if you know it," he
continued, with an immediate return TO
quietude of voice and manner, "but I've
carried my life in my hands for years
on end. I'm not a timid man by nature,
and custom has hardened me a good deal.
And yet, you know. the fact of being
hunted for ones life is not a pleasant
thing; and when you've had a year or
two of the wear and tear of it, it grows
irksome. Your nerves will play tricks
sometimes. You hear footsteps and
breathings in the dark. The thing comes
OH you in your dreams, and in my dreams
I'm an arrant coward. Ny friend Eze-
kiel, by the way, is fond of heavy sup
per. l fancy he'll be changing his habits,
in that respect before six months are
over"
Harvey surrendered himself. There
was a magnetism in the man who, while
threatened, hunted, and in peril of his
life. confronted the situation, and con-
trolled it and used it for his own angrily
1,-t1, f,,1 half N
the younger man was away at the elder
bidding in search of a photographic art
list. In an hour he was back with his
man, a sort of business mind whose vo-
cabulary seemed limited to the one
phrase "Ou, ayw Wanted TO transcribe
chess problems? lou, ayr On thin
vellum? lou, ayr OF this size, six
problems aside? "Ou, eay" Himself
chess player? lou, ayr Then the bust
ness man grew loquacious, and said, "a
bit of one,' and after that conversational
outburst withdrew to prepare his esti-
mate.
Jethroe insisted on going to the the
alter after dinner, but Harvey thought 1t
impolitic to accompany him, and he went
alone.
Il don't know myself" he declared
when he returned. I'm a trife short
sighted for the theater nowadays, and
stepped into an oculist's and bought
an eyeglass on my way. | was a dandy
at your age, Harvey, and it was a trick
of mine to wear one. l saw a tall, mill
tary looking fellow walking straight at
me in the vestibule of the theater, and
skipped out of his way. He skipped into
1T IL
he. 1t wasn't till the third skip | found
l was lodging my own reflection. It's a
good disguise, eh p
ITS an astonishing change" Harvey
assented, but 1 wouldn't rely upon it
too much. It's growing familiar to me
already. 1 can see the old frame about
the face. The eyes are there"
Yes" said Jethroe. examining him
self in the pier glass, Il suppose they
are''
And the voice is there" said Harvey.
Eyes, confound it! l know that. |
can't tune that laundering old bassoon
to another note. Never mind We're
out of action for the time being, and
under good shelter"
They sat till long after midnight, and
Jethroe the elder did the talking. He
spread out wild panorama of the rug
ged Andes, and he peopled these strange
places with Adventures, gold seekers,
diamond seekers, illicit diamond buyers,
the widest kinds of rascal and the sound
est hearted of men-a phantasma goria
of all that is best and worst in human
nature, sneak and swindler and bully and
hero, a most strange, mixed crowd of ex-
emplars of the highest and the lowest.
And the talker was a man with an eye
for character, and reported at first hand
of what he knew; so that his speech
fascinated the bankers clerk, who had
knewn nothing of the world but its rout-
inc. But JethrOe the younger had the
family eye for character, and the thing
that most impressed him was that this
remarkable uncle at every turn display
ed unconsciously a very sterling honor
and a rare good heart.
That nights talk made them comrades.
and their parting handshake was a COM
pact.