The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1924-02-29
BY VICTOR ROUSSEAU


! dug and dug and didn't get enough Out
Of It to pay their board people goI
} tired and moved away. But few OF
the far-slghted ones stayed. The syn
dicate had gcbbled up quarter Of the
claims. and II stayed. The Diamond
Fields Amalgamated owned another
quarter-that's Van Beers concern
and 1t stayed. That ought to have
showed people there was something In
MalOpo.
"But, anyway, they thought the
claims was good for nothing, and set
out to unload the rotten shares wher-
ever they could. That's how you got
your shares, Mr.. Garrett. Then, last
week, Kid Tottie girl coming into
town with basket to buy -four picked
up big pebble right there In that
hole. That was the De Witt stone.
Ninety-five carats, they estimate 1t Will
weigh, when It's been cut. She showed
1t to me. ! gave her five pounds for
It, and Mr.. De Witt called me fool.
and swore when he paid me back.
That's Mr.. De Witt, but don't know
4
critic Judge Davis.
Somehow the news got into the
papers down-country. Forty-eight hours
the first rush of prospectors from
Taungs took to get up here, and they
couldn't understand why people In
Malopo was ignorant of what had hap
pened. Next day hundred came from
the Transvaal. Next day comes the
colony rush. And today the popula-
ton Of Malopo looks like doubling
every week. You may have passed
some of them on the roads?"
Eyes, the roads alive with them"
"It's one Of the big rushes, Mr.. Gar
rett, like in the old Kimberley days,
and you can guess how De Wits
crowd is kicking itself for not having
gobbled up the Big Malopo. They're
finding stones everywhere as they get
down toward the bottom of the yellow
ground. And De Witt let the property
go down when he could have gobbled 1t
for a song"
Il seem to have walked into the stu
alton at the most interesting moment"
suggested Winton.
"You certainly have, Mr.. Garrett.
Not but what l was expecting some
thing to turn up. l was lying awake
last night. puzzling and worrying, and
1 thought I'd find what the book had
to say. So l opened 1t In the dark and
struck light. and the first words my
eyes fell upon was that passage where
David danced before the Ark and his
wife nagged him for making a show
Of himself. And he'd took Off his |
clothes in his frenzy, as you'll no |
doubt remember. Now, sir. / put 1t |
to you, could there have been anything
more like signT
but what was your interpretations
inquired Winton.
''Why, it's perfectly simple, sir, to
them that's got the gift to understand,
David's Judge Davis, Of course, and his
wife's De Witt, who's always girding
at him to be crookeder than God made
took off is his SNUG Pharisee face
that's going to be unmasked. And the
l thought that was Malopo.
But now l see it's you. He's going
to dance before you. sir, and you're
going to be the piper"
II hope so. Mr.. Burns" said Winton
Ned Burns laid a hand on Winton's
arm. Tell me one thing" he said
How many people know you are in
Malopo?"
"Two." answered Winton. ''Your-
self and a colored man"
Ned Burns stared at him. 81 don't
quite make that out" he said you've
kept your business to yourself mostly,
but you've told a niggerY"
",1he man Sam from the Chronicle"
"Sam Simpson," cried Ned. Then
you might as wen have gone straight {
% Mr.. De Witt and his crowd Sans !
he whole Chronicle and the Chron-
cle's Judge Davis. The Chronicle
couldn't run without Sam. There |
lint anybody here with the education
o run it but Sam, for all his play about !
,elng newsboy. That's just one Of I
Judge Davis tricks. How did you /
.ome to tell Sam SIMPSON,
II met him selling papers, he showed t
ne the way here, and we, got into con- I
-ersation." said Winton. feeling I'M S
commonly foolish. mo doubt that ex- t
,lains why he left me rather sudden
y" he added O
mo doubt" answered Ned dryly. t
He Just run. back as hard as he could L
o to tell the judge. Now, Mr. Garrett.
IL come to the point. You've got a s
ig game TO play, and you've just come a
n time to play 1t. There's to be v
leeting of the shareholders of the Big h
falopo in the Chamber of Commerce t
uilding tomorrow morning at ten r
hat means MIR. De Witt, Judge Davis, K
nd maybe two or three more-and n
GU. And they're going to wind up and
arm the Big Malopo over to the syn D
icate." @
II don't think So" said Winton. W
I'm glaG 20 hear you say that" an Il
wered Ned earnestly. "But De Witt f,
nd Judge Davis won't stop at nothing n
, get hold of the Big Malopo. You 81