The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-10-09
AGreenhorn
By F. A. Mitchell

~ " As$AA - "a w "ALns F-
Young man. would you like to make
some money" J.
II certainly would" " ~@ .
"Give me your name and. address,
Johnny gave both. and the stranger
made u note of them.
"Can you keep a secret?"
Il think ! can" T
"Well. here's a twenty dollar bill for
you and u box" Take car Of the. box
for me till l call for il and I'll give
you another $40. Don't you give the
box to any one else"
Johnny made the required promises;
the man gave him the box and went
his way.
The transaction had taken place
within less than a minute. and Johnny
was left looking after the man. who
was walking away from him. Johnny
was about eighteen. but not yet we'll
versed in the ways Of the world. es-
pecially Of the commercial world. He
thought at first he would open the box
at once. but concluded to take it to his
room. He vas a country boy who had
come to the city to find a job and lived
in a lodging house.
As soon as he was alone Johnny I'M
rolled the bill. and. true enough. it was
q twenty dollar note. Being pretty
near out Of money. it was very accept
able to him. OF course he wondered
why the man had hired him to
take care Of a box and was curious to
know what was in it. 1t was about an
inch and a half square and covered
with blue plush. Opening it. there nes-
tied a ring set with two diamonds.
each as big as a large pea.
Naturally Johnny was very much
astonished. Not being used to city
ways, he did not reach a conclusion
that the thing had been stolen and the
thief had found it best to get rid of it.
What object could any one have in
asking him to take care of property 50
valuable? Johnny racked his brain for
some time. then gave it up. There
was a cornice in his room. and. stand
ing upon his bureau. he put the prop
erty on the cornice. Descending to
the floor. he was satisfied that 1t could
not be e Probably it vas in about
as safe a place as it could be put.
Not finding q position, Johnny lived
on the 500 that had been given him.
When it was all gone he began to get
hungry. The longer he went without
eating the weaker he became. At last
he took to his bed.
One day there were sounds OF foot
steps coming up the stairs and a rap
at Johnny's door. He said Come n
so family that he was not heard. but
this made no difference to his callers.
for they entered anyway. q well dress
ed gentleman and a policeman.
"Are you John Ormsby?" asked the
gentleman.
Yes. sir"
did a man some time ago give you
a box containing a diamond ring to
keep"
Yes"
well. l want It."
HE told me to give it to no o but
him"
"Oh, he did. did he? Well. young
man. that ring was stolen. The man
has been arrested for other thefts and
to secure immunity has agreed to re-
turn every article he has taken. he
told me to come to you and get the
ring"
Il don't know what he told you"
said Johnny. He gave me a twenty
dollar bill to take are Of the property
and said I va to give it to no one
but him. "
"Come off. young man." said the po-
liceman. You can't make the gentle
man believe you're so green as all
that -
why are you lying in bed?' asked
the gentleman, Are you sick" r.
mo. | haven't had anything to eat
for several days"
whats become Of the money the
man gave you"
"All gone for food"
"Have you got the ring"
Yes" "
The gentleman looked at the boy in
wonder. "Why didn't you get some
money for it," j..
Il don't. own it." r.
The gentleman looked at the police
man: the policeman returned the
glance. HE is a greenhorn and no
mistake" said the latter. -.
"Do you mean to tell me-" asked the
gentleman. that you're lying here
starving with a diamond ring worth
$500 in your possession? !"
That's about. it. sir"
well. here's a dollar: go get some
thing to eat. but first give me the
ring"
II couldn't give it to any one except
the man that left It with me-"
"Don't bother with him. sir: I'll run
him in" said the cop.
mo, you won't. know an honest
| face when | see n Take the cab
to the Jail and bring the crook here.
I'll wait for you"
Within half an hour the man who
| had intrusted Johnny with the ring