The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-07-02
Concealing.. a
Gem. -,
By DONALD CHAMBERLlN

uUOut LUZ SOLlcluluS " w LUZ Il llNluk |
] spent a good deal Of time cropping in
The dark. l was Of an adventurous |
disposition and lOnged for new fields.
Finally l settled OH a career.
1 went out to India to seek my for
u and found-well, for three years
! found poverty, then I found some
thing better. Walking On Il street In
Calcutta, l saw at my feet a brilliant
spot emitting the colors Of the spec
surprise, a diamond. 1t was not one
Of enormous proportions. nor yet was it |
small. 1t was worth not less han $1O,-
GOO nor more than $4,000, but as l
was no judge Of diamonds. l did not
know. 1t was surely of sufficient value
to take me home to America and give |
me a new start.
Nevertheless, l was sufficiently hon
est to look in such mediums as would
serve to advertise it's loss. l did not
advertise it myself because there is so
much rascality in that benighted coun-
try hat had l done so l would have
been beset by persons whose object
would have been to get possession Of it
surreptitiously. l did not see any adj
vertisement Of a lost diamond, so |
considered myself its owner. My the.
Dry of it's loss was this: There had
been a gathering Of Indian pOtentates
in Calcutta, and some one of them had
dropped it. These fellows have so
many jewels that the loser may not
have missed it, or perhaps if he did
miss it he may have considered it be-
meath his dignity to issue any public
notice of the fact.
One incident in it's finding troubled
me. Upon picking it up, while l was
examining 1t l looked up suddenly to
learn If any one saw me and encOun-
tered the gaze Of an Indian. There
was a diabolical expression on his face
that told me il he had a chance he
would murder me to relieve me Of my
find. l put the gem in my vest pocket
and walked away, not looking at the
man to see what became of him.
l had a room in a low grade hostelry
Il could afford nothing better-and
that night in order to make sure of my
gem | tied it to the palm Of my hand
and slept with it in my grip. During
the night l heard some one rummaging
in my room. I lay perfectly still, and
by and by whoever was there went
out. l had not told any one of my
find and could not understand who
could have had a motive for robbing
n whose very appearance indicated
poverty.
l had a friend in Calcutta who was
2 in good circumstances. l went to him.
: told him of my find and that I wished
to go home. He loaned me the money
, to pay my fare, and l sailed for San
Francisco. l had not been out twelve
hours before l recognized in one of
the passengers the man who had seen
, me pick up the diamond.
1t is Il very uncomfortable feeling to
l know that yOu are cooped up with one
2 who is determined to relieve you of a
valuable article. 1t seemed to me that.
whatever l did to conceal my diamond,
= this Indian would get it from me. I
t wa sure that he had come on board
n for it, and the natives Of India are SO
stealthy, have so many insidious ways
of securing their ends. that I consid-
cred my property as good as lost.
. On the forward lower deck was a
} coop containing chickens. They were
. Of q rare variety and were going to
some American chicken fancier. One
morning. standing before the coop. a
singular plan Of c%ancealing my dia-
mOnd occurred to me. 1t was to let
x one Of the chickens swallow it. He
a would hold it in his crop, and l could
shadow him as the Indian was shad
owing me Inc in time get 1t away
= from him. From my next meal l took
away with me SOM crusts of bread
- and, going to the chicken coop as soon
, as l was sure l was unObserved, be
gan feeding a stately rooster. He took
down one piece of crust after another.
and among them l fed him my dia-
mond. 1t was rather large for him.
but he got it down, and l congratulate
ed myself that If it was lost to me that
rascally Indian would not get it.
visited the bird, that was now
worth a small fortune, the same even
ing and went again to the coop the
next morning. He was there in the
evening, but at my morning visit was
Mortified to see that he was missing
from the coop. l knew that the Indian
had got him, but did not trouble my
self to discover how. Not a word did
l say to any one on the subject. l met
the Indian later walking the deck and
fancied that there was a look of tri-
umph in his eye. AS for me, l en-
deavored to conceal any evidence of
knowing that he had secured posses
sion Of my property. If he was obliged
to kill the rooster for the diamond l
was resolved to kill him before l would
permit him to leave the ship with my
property.
Where did he keep the bird? l was
not long in finding out. My stateroom
was In the stern of the ship directly
over the steerage. In the middle of