Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-08-13
The K~iteologist
Copyright. by s~hOrtstOry Pub. Coz
By Don Mark Lemon

/ a truly say that I'm not by ma
ture a covetous woman, but, naturally,
[ paused and watched the men a mo-
ment or two, thinking what l could do
if l had what was in just n of those
sacks. Why, there must have been as
much as $4,000 or $4,000 in each sack,
and there were dozens of them, l be-
lieve.
Suddenly, as l was standing there, a
darkness seemed to come over the
sun, and at the same time a strange
flying sound made me look up, and
there were the professors three eagles
broken loose from the cage-I felt real
sorry for the professor, to think that
his birds had got loose-and down
they came and lighted on the wagon
full of gold. l lifted up my apron to
shoe them back to the roof, when if
those three mischievous birds didn't
settle right down into the bags full of
gold, and each one grab a bag in his
claws, like / saw them grab a bag with
a dead rabbit in it on the roof one
day, and no sooner had they grabbed
the bags of gold than up they few
again to the roof.
l vas astonished beyond measure,
but the clerks who were carrying in
the gold were simply dumfounded.
And no wonder! Supposing the eagles
should spill the gold or fly away with
it, why the poor clerks might have to
return it out of their salaries, and I
hear they don't get paid so much,
though they are employed by the gov
eminent.
Well, sir, the moment l could collect
my scattered senses, l rushed back
into the house to tell the professor
what had happened, for, as l hadn't
seen him on the roof, l supposed he
was in his room. OF course the clerks
followed me, and we all hurried up
here where you are standing now.
The three eagles were gone, and the
professor was nowhere to be found.
Poor man, he was out somewhere in
the city, and | felt like running down
and warning him not to return, for
fear they would hold him responsible
for the gold.
/ saw that the eagles each had lately
had a long cord tied to it's legs and l
thought nothing of it more than
proper, but the clerks acted like a lot
Of wild men. They vowed that the
eagles had been let down to steal the
gold, and when they saw that this
roof leads over to the next building
yonder, they said that the owaer of the
birds had taken the gold and climbed
through an open window in that build
ing into an empty room, and that way
escaped with the $4,000.
OF course | saw at once how dread
fully dishonest it all might be made to
look, and | sat down and almost cried,
At first the clerks and the officers
paid no more attention to me than if
had been a sick kitten, but when they
learned that I was the landlady and
knew all about the eagles and the pro-
lessor, they asked me a thousand ques-
lions, and | was dragged off to court
like a criminal, and the poor profess
sor's name was mixed up with robbery
and thieving, and I don't know what
else. But, somehow, he learned about
the mischief his eagles had got into,
and never returned.
OF course the eagles flew away with
the gold bags poor birds, I don't
blame them a bit for making the most
of their liberty-and / wouldn't at all
be surprised If the police should find
that the birds had dropped the gold
on some roof, when they discovered
that the bags didn't contain rabbit, as
they had imagined.