Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1915-07-16
a
Gem
Bv DONALD CHAMBERLlN


about for something to do for living
| spent a good deal of time cropping Ill
the dark. l was of an adventurous
and longed for new neiuS'
Finally l settled on career.
went out to India to seek my lot
tune and found-well, for three years
/ found poverty, then found some
thing better. Walking ON Il street III /
Calcutta, / saw at my feet brilliant /
SPOT emitting the colOrs of the spec /
trum. l stopped and picked up, to my
surprise, a diamond. 1t was not one
of enormous proportions, nor yet was IL
small. 1t was worth not less than Slo'-
900 nor more than $4,000, but as
was no Judge Of diamonds, | did not
know. 1t was surely of sufficient value
to take me home to America and give
me new start
Nevertheless, l was sufficiently hon
est to look In such mediums as would
serve to advertise its loss. | did not
advertise it myself because there Is so
much rascality in that beniShted coun-
try that had l done so | would have
been beset by persons whose object
would have been to get possession of it
surreptitiously. | did not see any adj
vertisement of lost diamond, so |
considered myself its owner. My the
DRY of its loss was this: There had
been gathering of Indian potentates
In Calcutta, and some one of them had
rhnSa fal1nWC hnVn
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 Its finding troubled
me. Upon picking it up, while l was
examining 1t looked up suddenly to
learn If any one saw me and encoun-
tered the gaze Of an Indian. There
was diabOlical expression on his face
that told me IL he had 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.
| had a room in low grade hOstelry
Il could afford nothing better-and
that night In order to make sure of my
gem l tied it to the palm of my hand
and slept with 1t in my grip. During
the night l heard some one rummaging
In my room. l lay perfectly still, and
| by and by whoever was there went
out. ! had not told any one of my
find and could not understand who
could have had motive for robbing
one whose very appearance indicated
poverty.
l had friend in Calcutta who was
In good circumstances. I went to him.
told him of my find and that l 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 very uncomfortable feeling to
know that you are cooped up with one
who Is determined to relieve you of a
valuable article. 1t seemed to me that,
whatever did to conceal my diamond.
this Indian would get it from me.
was sure that he had come on board
for it, and the natives Of India are so
stealthy. have so many insidious ways
Of securing their ends, that | consid.
cred my property as good as lost
On the forward lower deck was a
coop containing chickens. They We're
Of rare variety and were going to
some American chicken fancier. One
morning, standing before the coop, a
singular plan of concealing my dia-
mond occurred to me. 1t was to let
one Of the chickens swallow it. He
would hold it in his crop. and could
shadow him as the Indian was shad-
owing me and In time get 1t away
from him. From my next meal took
away with me some crusts Of bread
and, going to the chicken coop as soon
as | was sure | was unobserved, be.
gan feeding stately rooster. He took
down one piece Of crust after another
and among them | fed him my dia,
mond. 1t was rather large for him
but he got 1t down, and | congratulate
ed myself that If 1t was lost to me that
rascally Indian would not get it.
l 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 word did
| say to any one on the subject. | met
the Indian later walking the deck and
fancied that there was a look of tri-
umph In his eye. AS for me, | 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 |
was resolved to kill him before would
permit him TO leave the ship with my
property.
Where did he keep the bird? was
not long in finding out. My stateroom
was In the stern of the ship directly
over the steerage. In the middle of
the night l heard crow. Jumping
from my berth. | threw on some
clothes, ran below and hunted for the
Grower. l found him In possession of
the Indian. | drew long knife. with
which made n pass at the man, SELF
ed the rooster and ran with him To nv