The Huttig news., 1910-02-05
That was the first adventure of the

That was the first adventure of the l 'ronze Maha1eya Then came Mr. i Dahn's rich customer and bought it and carried it of. The Rt Hon. Josiah 3undy was as rich as Croesus, and had as little taste as a Fiji islander; ] he was now furnishing up big coun- l try place most gorgeously and elab- orately. And among the great load of things that left knotter and Dahns big store for the country place of Mir Bundy, was the beieweled Mahadeva ] It was to stand in the front hall, where all visitors were to be blinded by it's magnificence
 It sat there, glaring in it's ugliness, for two or three weeks, and in the meanwhile, MT Bundy's household got swiftly into running order The sec ond seemed-to the outside world at i least, for the Mahadeva kept it's ugly frown and said nothing-more terrible yet. A great festival was in prepara- ton at the Bundy place, aI | the world was being turned upside q VI. 1t seemed to secure for the Bundy man. sion all possible stunning and stupefy ing glitter and splendor. On the third morning before this stupendous occa- sion, the parlor-maid descended the steps into the front hall She had al most reached their foot, when she sud i denly stopped, turned pale. and clutched the banister. She looked down at the floor only once, and ran back upstairs. She came back with the butler and the janitor's assistant
 They found that it was the footman. and the side of his head was smashed i in. Beside him lay half made-up bundle of the Bundy plate and jewels; most wonderful haul it would have . been. His horse was tied to the front curb
 'Hm!" said Mir. Bundy. But NJ. Bundy hated to worry. so he hired ,. detective to worry for him.
 Mrs. Rundy was a nervous soul. The ugliness of the bronze Mahadeva made her shudder worse and worse every time she beheld it The affair Of the footman upset her worse than ever
 Mrs. Bundy refused to let the idol as she called it, stay in the house an other day. So Mr. Bundy made suit able arrangements with KnDtter & Dahn and it was returned to the store
 MT. Holt was naturally painstaking in things, but even had it not been his nature, he would have been pains taking in telling Miss Worth things So when Miss Worth wanted to know about Mahadeva and felt inclined to talk about the Bundy tragedies, he fel; thrilled beyond measure.
 Do you think it is a real idol?. asked Miss Worth.
 Tt looks like one" said MT. Holt: I've read the strangest stories about those things-the wonderfully costly idols in the temples of India where they are regarded with superstition and reverence; and all sorts of wild mystic things are told about them, un- earthly powers and doings attributed to them"
 And isn't it a strange coincidence that Mahadeva should be the Hindoo god of destruction ?" interrupted Miss Worth. Do you think it really came from India?"
 Good ideal" said Mir Holt. We must find out where it came from
 MT. Dahn could tell nothing about it. Perhaps it's coming to the store antedated his connection with the firm; at least it had been there sev- eral years. and he knew nothing about it save it's value. MT. Holt deter mined to see Mir. Knotter. The senior partner seldom came to the store he was old, and somewhat of an invalid and spent good deal of his time in an easy chair on his shady veranda Here he received MT. Holt, and gladly told him what he knew about tke Hin doc image
 "I bought 1t in with g tot of other Hindoo things he said, mostly jew els. The rest of them are all gone now The rascal that had them wanted a ridiculous amount for the thing, and I never would have bought it, but he would not sell the rest of the things without it, and I saw good profit in them. He was a small, dark fellow, Hindoo I'm sure, and wickedlooking enough. He came in on a merchantmen and brought his stuff in a teak chest I remember dis tinctly that 1 wondered whether his queer manner was due to an effort to conceal his eagerness to dispose of his goods, or to his embarrassment with the English language. Save perhaps a wild look in his eyes, I did not notice anything queer about him at first, when he came in in a sailors costume, with some other rags show ing beneath it around his neck, and a big turban around his head. Blu. when he came in a second time with a derby hat on, 1 had to shuider at the appearance of the top of his head as he removed his hat Ii actually seemed as if piece of it had been knocked off. or fiattened in; all scared up and knocked out of shape. it was nearly sickening Then I noticed that | hjc aotionS cpanod iponncictauf avau