The San Francisco call., 1909-09-26

there's some one coming"
"Oh. the gardener he said, as one
would say "Oh, fiddlesticks!'
The gardener had be her first
thought. But now she Sc, uneasily,
since she saw it was ncE he. asking
herself, who else, at sucn an hour?p
BY this time Chatworth. still seated.
4 had caught sight of Il. Hello he said.
what sort of thing is thktf
1t was a short shabby script
little figure shuffiing rapidi1eN1qhg the
winding walk between fhe Fosf bushes.
Now they saw the tQp Of h}H round
black felt hat. Now fhly +&hkling
pair of legs. Now, farot t last
clump of bushes, As appeaxeUA full
length. and suddenlX5 ,ping N4 bosi-
nesslike shuttle apbE ed thetn at
a1 Flora ora 1asa 1garsaaspeaH rth.sJafrn in
nervous terror. alto lgos she
whispered; make a3ay'Is
The blue eyedA was blanted
before them stoiis, the curious
blind look of hisSg eSes blinking
in his withered sAce- Hs wore for the
first time the blouse people. and
his hands weresfpldef sleeves
Who's this?"@ SAT twcrth,, ap-
pealing to Flora
At this the Gilman spoke. S~Mr.
Crew" he croaked. ~
THE Englishman. 10, from ne
oriental to Flora, still uapded x
plantations with expos 2 gesture.
TT is the maF who the y p
phire." she whispere' Oh. vlnat
does he want of yoH?
"Eh?" said ChntW -rogsTing
the goldsmith with h What
do you want?
The little man fin $ ''1s, and
what had seemed hi stare, then
dived into his sEeevs. drew forth
a crumpled thing Nv seemed to
be a pellet and / IS proceeded to
unfold. Flora erept cautiously for
ward, loath to come near, but curious.
and saw him spread out and hold up
roughly torn triangle of news
paper. She gave a cry at sight OF 1T.
Across the. top in thick black type ran
the figures $4,000.
Chatworth pointed stern fore
finger. What is it?' he said, though
by his tone he knew.
The Chinaman also pointed at 1t.
but cautious and apologetic Twenty
thousand dollar. You lfkee twenty
thousand dollar?" He waited mo-
ment Then with a glimmer Of re-
turning sight, presented the alterna-
tive. you likee god?-little joss?-
come so?" And with his finger he
traced in the air a. curve OF such deli
cate accuracy that the EEglishman
with an exclamation made step
toward him But the Chinaman did
not move. 1t sounded an impersonal
statement, but nevertheless 1T was
quite evident this time to whom IL ap-
splied
The Englishman measured off his
words slowly as If to an incomplete
understanding. which Flora was aware
was all too miraculous1y quick. This
little god, this ring-do you know
where 1t is? Can you take me to it?'
The goldsmith nodded emphatically
at each word. but when all was said
he only reiterated, Twenty thousand
dollar.
shamefaced glance. and she saw with
a curious twinge of jealousy that he
was intensely excited. Might as we'll
have potshot at it," he said; and
sitting down on the edge of the foun-
tain and taking out his check book.
rested it on his knee and wrote. Then
he rose; he held up the filed in slip
before the Chinaman's eyes.
Here" he said twenty thousand
dollars" He held the paper well out
of the little mans reach. Now" he
Challenged, "tell me where it is?"
Into the goldsmith's eyes came a
lightning flash Of intelligence, such as
Flora remembered to have seen there
when Farrell Wand, leaning on the
dusty counter had hidden him go and
bring something pretty. He seemed to
quiver a moment in indecfsion. Then
he whipped his hanp out of his
sleeve and held it forth palm up
ward. This time it was Chatworth
who cried out. The thing that lay
on the goldsmiths palm Flora
had never seen, though once 1t had been
described to her-"a bit of an old gold
heather god, curled around himself.
with his head of two yellow sapphires
opJ hiC b1uas Stona on TOM
There it blazed at her, the jewel she