The Springfield herald., 1912-05-31

with him.
If these things troubled my man.
the Jewel / had purchased In Tunis
troubled him still more. How he
learned that had 1t heaven alone
could tell; but he did not fail to come
to me at dejeuner each morning and
to repeat with unfailing regularity
the monition. "If Allah wills, the
jewel Is stolen" used to tolerate
this at first. but in the end he exas-
perated me. and upon the seventh
morning showed him the model and
said. emphatically. "Sidi. you will
please to observe that Allah does not
will the loss of the jewel-let us
change the subject" He gave me no
answer, but on the next morning
had from him the customary greeting
and the laugh was all upon his side,
for the scimitar was gone.
say that the laugh was with Sidi.
but in very truth do not believe that
this worthy fellow ever laughed in
his life. He possessed stolid immo-
bility of countenance that would have
remained in repose even at the sound
of the last trumpet. The intelligence
which l conveyed to him. l doubt not
with pathetic anger and much bad
language. moved him no more than
the soft south wind moved the statue
of the first governor general out by
the mosque there. He examined my
ravished bag with provoking silence,
muttered a few pessimistic sentences
In Arabic, and then fell back upon
Ill 50 thn
prophet
Although fatter myself that I con-
cealed my annoyance under placid
exterior, this loss affected me more
than ! cared to tell. For one thing.
the jewel was very valuable Il was
certain that l could have obtained
thousand pounds for it in Bond
street,; was convinced. moreover.
that l should hardly discover its fel-
low II searched Europe through.
During my stay at the Hotel d'Orleans
l had kept 1t locked in a well-con-
trived leather pouch in my travelling
trunk, and as this pouch had been
opened with my own keys it was evil
dent that the thief had access to my
bedroom during the night-a conclu-
sion which led me to think again of
this stolid Moor and to declare that
the case against him was singulaHy
convincing. So strong, in fact. were
my suspicious that l made it my first
care to go to the maitre of the hotel
and to demand satisfaction from him
with all the justiT BILE indignation
which fitted the case. When he heard
my tale his face would have given
Rembrandt study.
"How?" said he Monsieur is
robbed and cheZ-moi?"
l repeated that l was and told him
that II he did not recover the bauble
in "a hours consequences would fol-
low which would be disastrous to his
establishment. Then l asked him
protested with tears in his eyes that
he would as soon accuse his own
mother.
From the hotel to the bureau of
police was an easy transition, but
very hopeless one. A number of ex-
tremely polite and elaborately braided
officials heard me with interest and
pity. and having covered some folios
of paper with notes declared that
nothing could be done. For them
selves, their theory was that the
Moor. Sidi. had been talking about
my treasure and that some other do
mestic In the Hotel de la Regence had
opened my door while slept and got
possession of the ornament with little
risk. But that any one should recover
the property was in their idea pre-
posterous assumption.
at is on its way to Paris" said one
of them, as he closed his notebook
with a snap. land there's an end of it.
We shall, without doubt. watch the
servants of the hotel closely for some
time, but that should not encourage
you. 1t is possible that the man Mo-
hammed. the porter of the place. may
know something of the affair. but, my
friend, ne vous montez pas la tete, we
are not in Paris and the upper town
is worse than beehive. / am afraid
that your hope of seeing the thing
again is small"
l was afraid so. too. but, being ac-
customed to strange losses and to
strange recoveries. I determined to
venture something in the hazard and
to remain in Algiers for a few weeks,
at any rate. The most difficult part
of my work lay in my Ignorance
of the city and in that matter Sidi
alone could help me. Every day we
went with measured and expectant
tread through that labyrinth of fantas-
tic and half-dark streets, where repul-
sive hags grin at the wickets below
and dark eyes coquette at the gratings
above; every day we delved in booths
and bazaars, we haggled with the Jew
ell sellers, we bartered with the gold
workers, but to no purpose. l had
come to think at last that the loss
was not worth further trouble, and
had made up my mind to return to
London, when l recollected with some
self-reproach that l had as yet neg
lected one of the very simplest means
to grapple with the occasion-that l
had in fact, offered no reward for the
recovery of the jeweled scimitar, and
to this omission owed, 1 did not doubt,