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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 1904)
January 10, 19Ck THE ILLUSTRATED REE. you're going to lie here, If you don't mind. That's good whisky, captain. It's a crnsy Idea that they have that he's going out this way. lies more llktly sate on the conti nent by this time. If they would watc h the railway stations right there In London Closer, and give us turn on duty along the coast more time to spend with our families, they'd do better. It's a queer case, any way." The captain looked at Parton first and then Rave a quick glance at the detective. Mr. Coast was busy Idling with the bottle, and again the captain threw Us strungo wink at Parton, aa he said: "By John, tell us about It." "Why. it's like till-," said Mr. Coast. "It seems that a young man named Henry Partem came up from the Cfipe the other day it was a week or more ago with about G),00O worth of rough diamonds. He came by them honestly enough. Kmm what we can learn, he worked hard to get them and had wonderful luck be tde. We've found two or three men who knew him out there, and they nil speak well of him. He comes of a. good family, too, although that doesn't seem to mean much when there's a duke pin In? a hurdy-gurdy on the streets In London!" This c-mnrmition. of the fact that he was really the man whom the Inspector had come out to find was a little shock to Parton, hut he showed no slRns of It. "It's strange about some men's luck," went on the lnsprclor. "Now I could go out there and stay twenty year snl never Bee a diamond. There's this very ca , for example. There's luck In this very case for some one; but It won't be me!" "How do you mean there's luck In It?" asked the captain. "Why, there's Cl.Wft pounds reward f'ir him," said the Inspector. "Now 1 CO) would just set me up for the re.it of my life. With what I've got it wou'd fix me In splendid shape. I don't want to weir these boots all my life," and the Inspector tuck out a big shoe of the regulation Scot land Yard, prison labor type. The cbptaln poured cut another drink for all three, and Parton drank his somewhat eagerly. It is unpUasant to think that you are sitting next to a man who can make hlrrs.lf neaily JG0)0 richer by de priving you of your liberty. "Struck it ilch, c:id he?" asked the cip taln, glancing quick y at Parton, who was making a business of running the Scotch and water around in his glass. "We're told that he hud JC6J.000 worth of rough stones when he came home," said the inspector. "He went away outside of the Kimberly region, and struck a iittle dia mond hole all by himself. I think they c.ill them chimneys," "Well, and now he's run away with 'em?' Bald the captain. "Why shouldn't he? Think I'd run away myself, for a while anyway, an' kick up my heels pretty lively, now, by John, if I had I3OO.0U0 worth o' di'monds or anythin' else. Why shouldn't a man run away with his own di'monds? They let men run away with other fellers' wives an' never say nothln' 'bout it." "It's a queer mess," said the Inspector. "'I don't blame the young fellow much, even on the say of his father-in-law the man who Is making the accusation." "Got a father-in-law?" Bald the captain. "So he's married, is ht?" "No," said the detective. "You Amer icans would call MacFarren his stepfather. We speak the same language, but we don't always use the same words to speak It with." All three men laughed. Parton was In tensely Interested In the detective's ver sion of his own story, and was beginning to feel less worried about his present sit uation, lie woi dered if he was very palo as he listened to this official version of his experiences at the Russell square house. The lnsptctor went on: "The folks at home had not hoard from him for a long time. He had been away beyond the reach of the mails for more than a year and had been unable to write to them. He had been away from London for about five years, and when he had left there his mother had been a widow. Well, after he made his strike he did not write to her at all, but just hurried home as fast an he could to surprise her with his good fortune, bringing the rough stones with him. "Everything about his getting them was all right, for they were properly registered with the government down there. Bvery stone that is exported has to be registered, you know, as a protection against thieves end such. Well, when, he got to London, expecting to surprise his mother, he was probably as much surprised as she was. for he found that she had married again. Her husband Is a man named MacFarren, an Irish barrister who has never amounted to very much, I fancy, lie has an awfully pretty niece or daughter or something I've forgotten which and she Is all for the young man. She says that she believes that he Is in the right and that the old man Is all wrong; but that don't put the law on the young man's side. That's all on the side of the old one. "Well, the young man was, of eourse, aw fully glad to see Ms mother. From what, we can learn they had always been pls. She was pretty ill when he arrived and she grew steadily worse after he got there. I fancy that she was a bit cut up about his rot having written to her for so long and generally a little unreasonable. They had 0 seine, I'm told or rnther she made a scene and said that he had not written to lier because he had been so fortunate and did not want to share his good fortune with her. This I learned from questioning Miss MacFarren." Parton's heart beat wildly. "She tells me," went on the Inspector, he felt bud, and then did a silly trlek. He "that when the mother reproach d Parton wrote out for hrr on half a sheet of tnte pttr an assignment of all his interests in the stones, and gave It to her, Jut-1 to prove that he loved her as much us tver and that whatever he had was also hers. Ho ought to have been an attorney, that young man, for that assignment whs hs legal and shipshape a document as you ever saw In your life, although there were only n few words In It. I suppose that it was understood between them, really, that they should share his good fortune, and I presumes everything would have been all right if she had lived." "What?" asked the captain. "Did she die?" "Yes," ?ld the Inspector, "she died that night. No one expected her to and no ono was with her when she died. MacFarren was the llrst person fo go to her room after she died, and he found under her pillow the assignment that the young man had given to her. He put it Into his pocket, of course." I'arton had been listening to his narra tion with a strained attention that attr.ic e.l the captain's notice. The skipper inter rupted the narrative so that Parton would have an opportunity to recover himself, and Insisted that they should all three take an other drink. After he had finished with his whisky, the detective went on: "MacFarren soon showed his hand. The mother, having believed that her son was dead, not having heard from him for so long, had made MacFarren her sole heir and executor. Of course, you see what that meant. He had in his possession tho assignment, and that .placed the diamonds which the son had brought from the Cape among the mother's personal property. "Well, he was a bit too greedy, for he went to young Parton that very diy and demanded to know where the stones were. Parton must bo something of a cool cus tomer, for he never turned a hair, but treated the demand as a matter of course. He had the diamonds lu some safety de posit vault, and he gave tho old man a key which the old fellow believed to be the right one. That was yesterday. Luckily for the young man, it was a foggy day, and the old man, eager as he was to get hold of the Jewels, did not start after them at once. He has the rheumatism, and I fancy that he was afraid of his legs. 1 lon't believe that any respect for the dead would have kept him at home. "Well, bright and early this morning he went to the vault and found that It was one where tho young fellow had held a life drawer given to him by his father when he was a small boy, and all there was in it when the old man pulled It out were some old letters, an old savings bank book, which carried an account started by him when a mere lad, and a few little keepsakes such as a boy would think were the most valuable things in the world. The diamonds were not there. "This, as I have said, was early in the morning, and as the young man had not been at home the night before, although he had telegraphed to them that he would be there late, the old man nt once mads up his mind that he had run away. "He telegraphed to us, and one of our men found out In abont half an hour that the young man had had a box also at the Itoyal Union companies and that he had gone there the afternoon before and taken out some things which he had carried away with him. Of course, no one knows Just what it was that he carried away; but it Is reasonable to suppose that It was the diamonds. The old man at once declared that his stepson had stolen the stones, and in the circumstances it was theft. He put our people to work at once and we had no difficulty in getting the trail. "He went to the Safety Deposit company In a cab, and from there he took another cab to a telegraph office stopping once or twice on the way. Then he went to the Charing Cross hotel and took a room under a false name. While he was there or Just before he took the room he took a first-class circular tour ticket to Paris under his own name. That seems like a strange thing for him to do; but these young fellows when they are at their first offense always make some break like that. Th.ro are those at the Yard who don't believe that he used, tho ticket, and we won't know until tonight whether ho did or not. "Some folks up there at the ofllce have an Idea that the Paris ticket was a Wind and that really ha lias stilled out on some ship or other. We have bnd all the liners watched, and If he went by any of them he Is probably already in custody. But you knew how thorough wo are at the Yard, and they thought that In addition to watching the steamers there ought to be one or two men along the Channel looking out for sailing craft that might have got started away before the alarm for him was out and oil which he might have shipped aa a sailor or a rassenger. That's why I'm bothering you. "From what I know nbout the rase I sh.nild believe that he did quite right In getting away; but the law says the other thing fund we are In office to support tho 1m w, so I suppose. 1 ought not to feel that way. That the old man's position under tho l.iw is secure there Is no doubt, l'.ven if he was t'itught and the diamonds l e coven d, he would, as his mother's heir get a part of them: but ho might also Ret a long term In prison for trying to sivo them. There's no doubt about it he's In a bad place if we catch him. Hut. some how, I uiniost Iiuih' that we won't catch him." . He paused a moment an I Unlabel his ill ink. Then be s.il.l: "He's gut ono go.od friend, anyway." "Who's that?" nskel the captain, with a quirk glunee at Parton. "The old fellow's nl.ee," said the dc teeiive. "1 though sh'd b.te my bead off when I was asking her quetlom about him, and here she Is, this morning, adver tising to him in "The Ti nea" by name and advising him to run uway as last us his legs will carry him for fear that the ill man will catch him. She makes no bones of it, ilther. She udvetli.se I for him by name and rigns her own Initials. I hive the cutting here In my po ket." And Mr. Const projuccil a small news paper c Ippl'ig exactly like one which Par ton had lu his own pocket. The remark which followed did more to steady the young man's nerves than all the wbt ky eer els llle.l In Scotland could have done. "I bc.ieve slip's lu love with htm," sill the In p.e;o-. "You should have hcu.d what slu said to me when 1 was question ing her. She made no b -ncs of te ling mo that she helved MicFnrien was all In the wrong und Parton i.ll In the right, and she said sho hoped they'd ti"vc , never catch him. I fancy that it would h-ivo pleased that young man If le could have seen her. She's us pretty an Irish girl as I ever saw, und she m ant what the aulj with every ounce of Ikt." The Inspector paused for a moment und looked ut bis watch. "Well, it's got lug along," ho suid, "ami I must be goln ashore." "Have another Ui Ink," s.ild the c.iptaln. He tilled his own and the in pe.'lor's glasses and then he turned to Parton. "Ain't you goln' to drink, Mr. Cuter?" he Bald. "I be. I'm gvng to drink tu th' young feller that's tryin' to ke p 1. 1 4 own from fu lln' Into th' hands' o' that step father o' hls'n." While tho old skipper was filling the glasses, Purton lost the last particle of doubt that he really knew who be was. There was something signillcant, some thing congratulatory and ptrsonal In the way the old man looked at him which spoke louder than words. He knew now that Captain Ilurgee was fully in possession of his secret, and ho knew, equally well, that the secret was safe In his poasesrlon. His heart went out to the rugged old seaman, who wns thus easily nnd without murmur letting u large share of tho big reward Blip through l is lingers rather than betray him to the Inspector. It filled his heart with comfort and swept the worry away from his brain as mist tiles before n summer sun. The captain held up his gluss. "Wha'd you say his name was, inspec tor" he asked. "Henry Parton," said the Inspector. "Well," said the captain, "here's to Henry Tarton." "I'll drink It," said the Inspector, "though it's my business to got him if I can." "Of course," said the captain. "But I hope you can't." The sun was setting as he climbed over the Lydla's rail. A good breeze was spring ing up, and before the fo'c'sle bell had struck two bells the Lydla Skolfcld was heeling ajid toeing befoie the wind, upon Its way to Poston harbor. Until after supper no reference was made to the events of the afternoon, because of tho constraint cast over such conversation by the presence of the mate. After the meal was finished the captain and Parton sat upon the nfterdeck together, Purton In a steamer chair and the old man upon the low cabin skylight. After a long silence, during which he kept the bowl of his pipe In active glow, the captain said slowly: "Well, we got rid of that man, all right, Mr. Purton." Yes, I am Parton," said the other, ner vously, "and I am rcnnlng away with those diamonds In a belt around my waist. You havo been very good to me so far, and I hope and believe thnt you will continue to be. I shan't Insult you by telling you that you will not lose by It, because I don't believe that you have been protecting me with any notion of making money out of It In your mind. You see how I wa placed. I gave that assignment to my mother when she was very ill, really only to please her. If she had not been 111. and, therefore, a little unreasonable, I should not have made out any paper. She took It playfully, and tucked It underneath her pillow, after acting more like herself than she had since my return from Africa. She said that she should give It back to me In the morning when I brought the stones for her to see, and that after she had seen them we should hum the paper up to gether. That night f-he died, and so our little Joniflcation will never come to pass. "Her husband was the first one to enter her room after her d-"th, and whn he lifted he head In his horror ut discovering what had happen U, his h ind touched the paper lying there beneath the pillow where she bad tuckid it. Sii.xlng nothing to any one of it, he put it in the pocket of his coat. 1 had completely forgotten It lu tho grb f of her sudden death. "Of course there mlht be tomo doubt as to how the courts would Inttipiet such a document In such Ircuniptunces, but when the very nfteinoon tho III was read he came to me with that assignment In his hand and demanded Immediate knowledge of their whereabouts, offering, in his sneak ing way, to let me have a part of them, and to see to It that 1 not from my moth er's things a keeps. ike or two. I made up my mind that he should never have any of them at all if I could help It. "There was nothing left In London for which 1 cared at all-that Is -well, any way, 1 told him that 1 would go to the safely depcslt vaults and get the stones, luted as If he feartd that I would run away so that he mllit see them on the morrow, and ho mid that he would go with me, und with thtiu. "That Ket me thinking nnd made me do what I have done. When I was a smnll boy my father-he died that same year tried to teach me to bo businesslike. Ho gave me some money to start a savings bank neceunl, und he gave me some Inter est bearing bonds, from which I was myself to draw the Income. As a place of "keeping for thctn ho gavo mo his perpetual holding of a safety deposit drawer In one of the old establishments. "It seemed u wonderful thing to me, und, in my boyish way, I kept all my den rest treasures In It. One day when he was very down with me to the vaults ho was vi ry much amused by what was there. There were some letters from him and some from my mother, which I hud received when I was at Imarriing school; there was a lock of some little girl's hair, nnd there was one ear of a pet rabbit which bad died. "That day that I had my talk with Mac Farren I bad the key to that drawer In my pocket as well as the key to the drawer III the other vaults where the diamonds really were. The whole scheme of disappearing with my diamonds occurred to me In a Hash nt that moment, Before that I bad Intended to fight for them In tho courts, whire I had very little hope that I would succeed without giving him a very large nnd wholly undeserved share of them. Put that minute the plan which I have curried out came into my mind. "I gave him the key to the old safety de posit box with the dried rabbit's cur In It, and a power of attorney to go there and re movo such parts of the contents for ap praisal as he wished. Then I went out and took the diamonds from the other vault, put the belt that held them around my waist, nnd, after covering up my tracks as well as I could and leaving what we call on the veldt a blind trail, for Paris, went down to the West India docks after an all night tramp In the fog, and here I am." "I'm John glad you be, too," Mild tho cap tain, when Parton paused. "I think you did Jest about dead right. Whether or not the old man really Intended to trent you fair, was showed by th' fact that he put th' police on y'r trail within less'n twenty-four hours, an' give It out to all th' papers that you was a thief. You'd think, from what ho says, that he'd dug them dlmnn's out down In South Afrlcky hlmaelf after un heard of trials an' hardships. "I wouldn't never let 'lm see the shine o one side o' th' smallest one of 'cm, If I was you. "T seems a pity 't you sh'd have to run nway as if you wns a thief, but I'd let folks think I was a cuttlefish 'fore I'd let a man like that do me." He rose and held out Ids hand to Turton, who grasped It heartily. "You c'n count on me," the captain said, as he looked straight Into the young man's eyes. "You c'n count on Cup' 11 Obed Pur gee o th' bark'ntine Lyddy Skolfcld, ' long's you want to. Where'd you say you had th' stones?" "In a belt around my wnlsl." said Parton, "und I'll Jump overboard with them and go down with them still there, before I'd let him get them." "An' by John, I'd help you drown. Jest to disapp'int Mm," said the captain, with en thusiasm. As the captain spoke there came a slight noise through the open cabin skylight. He bent down quickly to look In and see what had occasioned It. When he straightened up there was a grim, hard look upon his face that had not been there at any time during his conver sation with Parton. "Well, by John Qulney Adams," he a!4 softly, "we're a pair o fools!" Rut that night he did not tell Parton why he said It. (To be Continued.) An Infallible Sign Your house destroyed by fire signifies change of residence. Throwing stones Into the windows of strange houses brings mtefortnne. Slipping on a banana peel is bad luck tf lxrth feet leave the pavement. A needy person receiving a large Inherit ance will experience a change of fortune. New York Times,