The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1911-02-02
A Sudden
Transformation
By r. " KEENAN,
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation ISL
BY r. ". KEENAN,

at h,ae. was run down in health,
discouraged and felt that the only
way to pluck UP courage aGa get on
my feet was to l!@ht out. leave all
cares behind me /, strike hew
field My wifes father I'M excellent
man by the way agree, 70 take care
of my family till oould nd for therl
or return to them restored in healtA
and pluck.
left America sick and dish,'rtened.
a man sick il usually man d heart.
ened, and when he il, obliged II, y,
away by himself TO recover his health
he feels az if the bottoal has dfo. PED
out of his life. never rS,ituted to 500
my family again Ilo%e>er, the SEA
voyage helped me, and y; the TIM, [
reached Africa felt abe e. do some
thing for myself.
| went TO work In The !,nl!rYley dia.
mond mines. VIII re learned to tell
diamond when | saw IL. no matter IL
1t was i'll the rough. Gnr day in wall.
ing across iiell saw one and recoa.
nized 1t ut once. 1t was as big as il
small English walnut and about thu
same shape. pounced upon it. look
ed it over and, sure | was right about
it being diamond. put it in my
pocket. Even if of a poor grade it
would make rle rich.
l r.1de UP my mind to return to
Amer ica with my find. SO. procurin.,
little cham Dis, skin bag. put the
diamond in IT, first marking my name
on the bag in ink. Then | took n tray.
cling wagon FOR the coast
There were half a dozen Of as-trav-
cling togethe". but only two of my
fellow passengers attracted my atten-
zion, One vus a big. roGgh looking
man, who sat beside me, noticeable
for his vilainous appearance The
other was little man In the garb Of
a curate of the English church. He
was reading his prayer book most of
the time. seeming to be only interested
In holy matters, u typical British par
son OF the inferior Crude. one of those
miserable creatures who for some dirty
work done II lord gets living, though
this one, being in Africa, 1t appeared
more likely that he was missionary
clergyman
l hadn't been sitting long by the big.
rough man, whose accent marked ldm
for Yorkshire man. when | thought
Of my diamond, which was In one of
my pockets next to him. clapped my
hand on the place where 1t should be,
and, To- 1t was gone!
l knew 1t had passed into the pos
session Of the Yorkshlreman. But
what was l to do? ! was unarmed,
and could see the butt of his pistol
extending from his hip pocket. look
ed over the passengers to see If there
was one | could rely on tn help me I'll
case ! should accuse the man and
claim my property. But two of them
We're women, and the men in the
coach except the two | have men
toned. were weakly chaps who az
peared to have very little stuff IN
them. There seemed nothing for me
to do but wait till we got TO the end
of the route, keep the man in sight ar
all hazards and take my chances for
an opportunity to recover my diamond.
This | decided OH and lid not show ~
word or act that had been robbed.
The opportunity came sooner than |
looked for IT, Suddenly the wagon
was stopped by single man. who or
dered us NIL ont ana to line up, ms
road agents do in western America.
Only the curate refused. aud liz ap
peared to do so from abject coward
ice. Retrentng to a far corner he
begged the robber not to kill him.
The robbcr threatened Ia DO So II he
didn't GET OUT at once. hut the clergy
man only whmpcrrd and covered hia
face with his hands. The rubhcr,
transferring his revolver TO his left
hand. entered the wagon, seized the
little man by the collar with his right
hand and was pulling him out when
a sharp crack rang out and the robbcr
fell back out of the wagon dead.
If there was any life left In him T.
was knocked out by the curate, who
Jumped on him with both feet
never saw small man grow big so
quickly In my life. The next thing he
did was to plant his fist under the
jaw Of the Yorkshireman, who. re-
covering from the surprise Of the ep.
sode, was putting his hand to his hip
for his revolver. The big man did not
have time to get up before the curatc
was on him. hammering him in the
face with a Derringer. Having stunned
him, he took a pair of handouts ont
of his pocket and clappcd them on bis
wrists
"What can do for you?" | asked
of the parson.
get things In order to go on. I'm
Jack Sharp Of Scotland Yard. This
man was the others pard. | have been
following him to take him to England.
saw him rob you. and knew he was
here to help the other"
did as he directed. got the drivcr
into place, and. finding some rope un-
der a seat. Jack Sharp bound tho
prisoner firmly. Then we proceeded
on the journey. Sharp took my gem
out Of the mans pocket and banded 1t