Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-31

~ ana JUDY always believed the valuables were
hidden about the place"
by Jove!" calculated Jim again
Colonel Winwood who had survived many Il.
I;ro I,lO',s, smiled wanly when he gave Sylvia and
% %oi1n permission to investigate The bassino Of
% %Vlu hilnnys IN the night, and Identification of
INC Keys as belonging to two old book cheats that
n., nau come out from England to ono Of their
SsnIyesstors' lent shade of additional color to
| Syvia's mirage
oDoi me s1 diamonds alone, my child" said the Col
Uvhe'' would make sufficient income for us 10
lve upon, and to leave you after me-"
1t was womans intuition that supplied the
OIe % me summer was ripening into autumn
wren Jim had exhausted exploration in au tbc
sPoCs he thought likely for such conceaiment
me Inc bottom of an old well. the cellar beneath
@ sno mousse the gardens, orchard chicken yard
| ioaii. V"e nahts walk an avenue Of cedats
leaulng INTO the negro buryine pround-all had
| proved unresponsive TO his search
me Two young people were sitting side bv
siue upon the ancient boards of the "bacs
Porch, where Sylvias mother had stood when
SapVain Sandys was shot to death From the
i a.i iu9iue, N9, Wnere the Colonel now listen
ing 10 Mrs. Sandys read aloud from recent
newspaper, a shaft of lamplight streamed over
Ihe pair: Jim had been telling Sylvia of cor
tam IN good news that had come to him from home.
onuer your influence, dear, took heart of
slace ana wrote to make up the quarrel with my
| hN'S to-udy letter tnat SllamcS
me Tor Keeping such long silence to them They
peg me to come home this winter, and my father
WIN SET me on my feet in financial way But
wont go unless can take you, Sylvia"
And | shall never go until we have found
the Luck, she answered saucily.
That's the oldest part of III asked NV
iather to look up the matter of 'Winwoods
Luck, and he has hunted it all out in the FAM
| lily documents. Your ancestor and mine were
prothers; and yours. the elder who had had Il
disappointment in love, gave up the estates to
mine, and retired to the wids of the new world
with the Luck You see, Sylvia. the direful
effects OF check to a Winwoods affections!"
Never mind that" replied Sylvia until we
have the wherewithal to make me an indepen-
dent bride"
There is always the chance, you know" sur.
gested Jim that some soldier or maraudin.
negro may have possessed himself of your for.
tune Don't stake too much upon it. Sylvia.
dear; let me look out for you and for the Col
onel. too"
Sylvia threw back her head and gazed upward
at the gaaxies of bright stars of the Southern
night An idea had struck her
why did we never think before, jim. what
my poor darling meant by asking them to close
the doors so that not even the stars might see
| their work! What doors at Winwood could be
so closed as to keep the stars from looking down
| inside?"
IF the big cellar had an outside opening
said Jim reflectively. But it hasn't"
That's it! That's it! cried the girl springing
to her feet, a-tremble with excitement Don't
you know that drawing of the house as it
looked before the fire. that hangs on the wall
IN the study? Between those two odd little
cupboards built like bow windows on the outer
wall of the still room is pair of slanting cellar
doors! 1t must have been those doors that
my mother meant They must have been at
work near that spot. Oh, Jim, dear darling
Jim, / feel in my bones we have struck it now!"
That same night, history-after twenty years
repeated itself Jim, who had worked hard
at his pick in the diamond dggngs of Africa,
dug and prodded with an eagerness he had never
| felt before. The Colonel dug with the vigor
of second youth. The negro iack-of-all-trades
about the place assisted sleepiv, but well.
Sylvia. who had strong muscles. did her share
with the rest. Even Mrs. Sandys deputed to
hold lanterns in suspected spots, took the infec-
tion and wanted to be in more active toll.
1t Sylvia to whom at last the glory fell
of striking something hollow that gave dull
sound. Uttering cry, she stood there-an
image of Victory!
Day had come when the Colonel knelt before
| the rotting remnants of the chests that con-
tanned his long-lost treasure. OVERLOOKING into
the excavation they had made were salvers,
beakers, candelabra silver vessels of various
other sorts and patterns, black as jet from con
tact with the chemicals of Mother Earth The
tattered cerements of costly silk that had COW
cred them held here and there gleam of their
former golden hue. OF the silver nothing was
missing The papers and parchments returned
to light damn. OF course. hut in condition to be
read. And last of all, Colonel Winwood found
on the wooden bottom of chest number of
little leathern bags.
From one Of them he extracted with shaking
fingers the snarkling diamonds that would re-
deem him from poverty and Winwood from
decay.
The last of the little bags to yield up its
precious contents enshrined an oval stone Of
palest Green enVraved in Fnehsh text and
rounded bv tarnshed old Italian gold work.
Holding this relic out to Jim, the old gentle
man said with quaint formality:
'It is yours. cousin. After me there be none
10 dispute your rioht to it: and know that
Sylvia will agree with me that Winwood's Luck
should 20 with the name"
"It doesn't matter about me, urandpapa." said
Sylvia. like sunburst in their aroup, "since
I, too, have promised to go with the name +"