Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-22
DAILY STORY,
THE LOST JEWEL.
lOriginal.1

HindOO who was bringing some fancy
chickens over To exhibit at the coming
: chicken show. He had them in coops
on deck, where they attracted a great
| deal of attention. In one coop We're
| two cocks and four hens, and very
| beautiful birds they were. There was
| n cockney Englishman aboard who
| spOrted Il splendid diamond stud in his
| shirt bosom which was the envy of ev-
| cry one, especially the women. One
| fine morning after breakfast, when We
were all beginning TO get into our
steamer chairs on deck for the day, we
| heard loud talking between the Hin
| doc and the cockney.
I'll cut him up hOwled the cock
| ney
You'll cut up nothing" retorted the
| Hindoo.
| do you keep the cock for that pur-
pose:" cried the cOckney.
"You call me thiefY' shrieked the
Hindoo.
BY this time dozen or more of us
had gathered around the coop where
the two men were disputing, many of
| us hopeful that the monotony of the
voyage was to be broken by ii fight.
al
cockney. This leather faced 'eathen
as these cocks and ems trained to pick
for valybles. One on 'em as nipped
my diamond and swallowed it. l was
leanin over the coop, when e. flung
his bill at it and pulled till 'e got it
out o. the settin'."
The statement was greeted by
laugh.
You may larf if you like. It's a
stone / got myself at the Kimberley
mines and worth 1850. The 'nasty
little cock or 'en rs got it ain'tsworth
; shillin'''
Il no take ESQ for any of EN-" the
Hindoo retorted.
The gambling propenSitfes of people
on shipboard are well known. Here
was an opportunity for some fun. 1t
was proposed TO form pool with 1.oOo
chances at a guinea chance, 300 TO
go to the cockney for his diamond, t2oO
to the Hindoo for his chickens and 600
to the winner The cockney. having
lost his diamond. agreed. but the Hin
doc declared that his six chickens We're
the delight of his heart, and declined.
He finally agreed provided one little
cepted. The cockney declared that he
saw that hen when the diamond was
taken from him in a,corner of the coop
with her head under her wing. So
eager were we for the sport that we
excepted her from the lottery. The
cOckney was not sure whether cock
or hen had stolen his jewel. but he
was sure that particular hen had moth
ing to do with the theft
A committee was appointed to make
a plan for the drawing. The, cockney
WAS appea sed. for he seemedtt to have
all to gain. The Hinboo had This dia-
mond. and possession was nire points
of the law. The possessor WIS surly,
declaring that he had counted on these
particular chickens to give him Il start
in the land presided over by the king
of birds. He made it a condition that
the chickens were not to be slaughter
ed till the eve of our arrival in New
York.
Well. that was the next evening but
one. so we curbed our irnpatience and
agreed to the terms. BESIDES, lit re-
quired some time to place all the
chances When the hour arrived for
killing the first bird l thought the Hin
doc would have a fit. He made as
much fuss as if he was to lose child.
A cock was slaughtered, his insides ex
amined, but no diamond. Then the
other cock was sacrificed. with no bet
ter success. The four hezs followed,
the Hindoo's lamentations increasing
in arithmetical progression as each of
his pets fell under the ak. When the
last hens head was choppedtoff and no
diamond found, we all looked at each
other in wonder.
The cockney changed front and said
he must have been mistaken in the hen
that had been left out. This started
the Hindoo again and it hooked as If
there would be n fight after,all Some
of our number demanded that the hen
he sacrificed, while Otherstdeclared tina t
a bargain was bargain. The HindoO
had not consented to the killing of the
chicken before he had been paid the
price, and the cockney had been treat
ed in the same businesslike fashion.
Well, the evening before our arrival
was pleasant enough as to the skies,
but stormy aboard ship. Some blamed
the cockney for giving two opinions
about the little hen, but most of us
considered the HindoO sharper who
had trained the hen to, pluck valuables
and purposely kept her out of the lot
terry. At one time Thought he would
have been mobbed. One man proposed
to have him up before the courts on
arrival for swindliBg. but the more
respectable element preferred to keep
dark about the affair. So we landed
and nothing was done.
One day soon after L was walking in |
Central park and who should l meet |
but the Asiatic and the Briton daw- |
ling along together. There was no |
fight in either of them. Indeed, they |
We're as friendly as two brothers.
How did you get on at the chicken |
show" / asked the Hindoo.
He looked at me with affected sur