inoleum
keep in
eum
Fics the
pasion,
8.
ee. Uda
IONG'S
ON
HERS
tie.
rsdale
~~
rk
RCIAL?
3ST AND
car
te
:
Road.
rices
com-
rder
PENNA.
mr —
m——
hio
Is
, 20,
D
AYS
Full
OUGH.
re, Wis,
ar Com-
y severe
‘emedies
ired his
Foley's
' similar
ways in-
ere.
} appear
, and in
the im-
els reg-
stipated
lepends-
inconve-
athartie
x Tortoise
Frederic
“That's right,” cried old Frick, clink-
ing his ¢hampagne glass against that of
the Englishman. “The whole house and
all that I posssess is at the disposal of
my old friend’s son. After dinner you
shall hear what I owe him. I don’t
suppose I need offer to assist you with
any money, for in his last letter to me
your father wrote that he would leave
you evervthing he possessed. for your
mother died when you were a little boy,
and you were the only child. Your
father was not so very rich, but I think
he wrote something about £1,200 a year.”
“Yes, thereabouts,” replied the young
man, good-naturedly, and smiling at the
kind old man’s loguacity; “and that is
more than enough for me.”
“Then perhaps I had better strike out
your name from my will; it has, until
now, been standing beside those of Sig-
rid and Einar.”
We all laughed heartily and rose from
the table.
When we were drinking our coffee,
and had lighted our cigars, old Frick
began the story of his friendship with
Howell the elder, and the adventures
which bound these two so closely to-
gether:
To tell the truth, I tried my best to slip
away, hoping for a chat alone with Sig-
rid; but that couldn’t be managed, and
after ha¥ing heard old Frick’s story, I
must confess that only a man in love
could dream of anything more interest-
ing than his account of it.
I should like to give it in all its de-
tail, and in old Frick’s words, but I
cannot, and I must restrict myself to
giving you the main points in his story.
Bartholomew Frick had left Norway
and run away to sea in 1830; his desire
for adventure and his dislike for the
schoolroom had driven him to this.
For many years he roamed about in
the great East, in India, South Africa,
and Australia, sometimes as a sailor, and
sometimes as a hunter and adventurer
on shore.
Then at the end of the forties he found
himself in Australia when the gold fever
was just beginning to rage. Soon after,
a party of three people started for Mel-
bourne to proceed to the gold districts.
One was Frick, who was the eldest of
them, and two Englishmen, Howell and
Davis.
The acquaintanceship of these three
men—they were adventurers, but all of
good family—was not of long standing;
but it developed, in the course of the
following year, into strong friendship
and most faithful comradeship.
They led the usual life of gold diggers
for many years, and sometimes, when
they were lucky, they would go off to
Melbourne and spend their money in a
few days’ time. :
Having gone through many ups and
downs in the course of seven years, they
at last came across a rich find of gold,
and realized a fortune in a couple of
months.
The partnership was then dissolved.
Howell, who was the guietest and most
level-headed of them, bought a large
piece of land and took to sheep farming.
In this way he was able to preserve
his fortune and even to add to it, al-
though he had not been one of the most
fortunate.
On the other hand, Frick and Davis did
not think they had enough. The money
they had made enabled them to carry
out a plan which Frick had thought of,
. and which for a long time they had
been anxious to carry out.
In the middle of the thirties Frick,
when quite a young man, had been in
South Africa. He then followed the
settlers who trekked to the north across
the Orange River, and who had joined
sin raids across the river Vaal, and still
farther to the north.
When on these expeditions Frick him-
self had found diamonds, and had heard
wonderful stories from the natives of
the great quantities of these stones
which were to be found in caverns of a
peculiar formation, reminding one more
of deserted mines than anything else.
Frick had obtained the report through
a source which did not admit of doubt
that there was at least some truth in
it; and the location given with regard
to the place seemed to be efficient. But
he could not then get any companions
to form an expedition, as the supposed
place lay far away in the desert, blocked
by wild and hostile negro tribes. Nor
had he at that time the means to fit out
an expedition by himself, and he was
therefore obliged to give up all thoughts
of it. These were the diamonds in
search ‘of which Frick and Davis decided
to go.
“Davis seemed to me to be just the
right sort of a man,” remarked old
Frick, when he had gone thus far in his
narrative; “he was at least double as
grees about finding the diamonds as
Now that they were able, the two
companions journeyed at once to the
Cape, bought themselves an excellent
outfit, and hired people sufficient for a
‘
large expedition.
EY SE Mh Ss Wo of
TET EET RTE TY YR
The money which they did not spend
on the outfit they sent to the bank in
London.
It was Davis who managed all that;
he was the more businesslike of the
two.
This expedition got as far as the Vaal,
but did not return, and this is how it
happened.
When they had got so far that, ac-
cording to Frick’s and Davis’s calcula-
tions, they should be only a day’s jour-
ney from the diamond caves, they let
the natives, with the ox wagons, camp,
while they themselves continued their
journey alone.
They were lucky enough to find what
Frick maintained must have been Solo-
mon’s deserted mines, and they filled a
whole sack with diamonds. But when
they reached the camp they found it had
been plundered, and all the members of
the expedition killed by a hostile negro
tribe.
Frick and Davis were also captured
after a hard struggle.
In the night Davis, who was unin-
jured, succeeded in escaping, but Frick,
who had received an arrow in his thigh,
could not follow him.
Davis, with Frick’s consent, took with
him the bag of diamonds, and promised
immediately on reaching civilization to
prepare a new expedition for the release
of Frick,
In the meantime, the blacks dragged
him with them farther and farther in-
land, where it was impossible for him to
think of flight, and he lived with them
for three years.
At last a gang of European pioneers
turned up far in the interior of the dark
continent where the tribe lived, and be-
fore the blacks had thought of keeping !
guard on Frick, he had joined the whites
and followed them to their own settle-
ments.
In all probability the blacks had, after
such a long time, come to look upon
Frick as one of themselves.
When Frick reached civilization the
first thing he did was to ask after his
friend Davis.
Yes, hé had returned safely to the
Cape Colony, but had not mentioned a
word about any relief expedition. for
Frick. On the contrary, he had given
out that Frick was dead, and had gone
straight to England. He had mentioned ’
that he had some diamonds with him,
but he had not shown them to any one.
Frick was not very well pleased with
this information, as you can imagine.
He still had a few small diamonds with
him, which he had foynd during his stay
among the blacks. These he sold for a
couple of hundred pounds, and set out
for England to find Davis.
Here he discovered that the latter had
drawn all the money out of the bank,
had sold all the diamonds, and having
bought a large country estate, was now
living, a landed proprietor, in Yorkshire.
Frick set off to visit Davis at his country
house, but was not even allowed to en-
ter. Davis refused to deliver up any part
whatsoever of the money that had been
deposited in the bank, or any of that
which he had received from the sale of
the diamonds.
When Frick became furious and tried
to force his way in to the scoundrel, he
was turned away by the servants.
Frick them applied to the police, but
they advised him to take legal proceed-
ings. He would have to engage a law-
yer in order to proceed against his old
comrade.
It was not a difficult matter to find a
lawyer, or even lawyers, but none of
them would take up the case unless
Frick would guarantee them their fees
and expenses first. Davis was rich and
powerful, and would naturally use all |
the weapons with which the English law
so lavishly favors those who have few
scruples and plenty of money.
Frick raged awhile like a lion in a
cage, but happily he pulled himself to-
gether and shipped to Australia before
he had become quite “mad from anger,”
as he expressed it himself.
In Australia he was well received by
the third member of the late partner-
ship, and when Howell got to learn of
the story, he became just as furious over
Davis's rascality as Frick himself. It
was, however, an unfortunate period
with Howell. His farm had just been
visited by a huge flood, and the larger
‘part of his flock of sheep had been
drowned.
But Howell did not give in. He would
not hear of Frick’s remonstrances, but
raised, with much difficulty, a loan of
£5,000 on his property. This money he
forced upon Frick, and when the latter
saw that his friend would not listen to
reason, he no longer hesitated, but went
back to England with the money.
There was now no difficulty in get-
ting the affair taken up. A clever law-
yer was engaged, and the case against
Davis was carried on with all possible
despatch.
Frick himself thought he should never
succeed in bringing him to bay. Davis
had understood how to make use of the :
time to guard himself well, and had em-
ployed all means to delay the case.
Frick’s £5,000 was fast disappearing,
when his lawyer was fortunate enough |
to discover some dark doings in Davis's
life before the time when Frick had
learnt to know him.
These doings were of such a character
that Davis, who in the meantime had
been elected M.P. for his county, had
to, at any price, prevent them being
made public. He was therefore obliged
to agree to a compromise, and to pay
Frick half of what he was worth, which
after all was only what was Frick’s
due.
“In the end, I got such a good hold
of the rascal,” continued old Frick,
“that he not only offered to pay all I
asked for, but he even wrote me a hum-
ble letter, and begged me, for God’s
sake, not to make the affair public. ‘It
would completeiy ruin him,” he wrote.
“as Davis had invested all the cash
in his estate, it was difficult to get ready
money. But the affair was at last set-
tled, and I have not told the story to any
one. 1 did not give any promise to this
effect. but it's just as well that you, who
have now heard it, also keep it quiet.
If it can help the scoundrel to repent
of his sins in peace and comfort for
the rest of his days, it is no doubt the
best.
“It was not possible to get your father,
Mr. Reginald, to accept anything more
than the £5,000 he had lent me, although
I wae now much richer than he. No,
he was proud as Lucifer, just as
proud as he was faithful.”
With the exception of Mr. Howell, we
had all listened with greatest interest to
old Frick’s long story. In spite of Mr.
) Howell's good manners, his impatience
had several times been noticeable, even
to the story-teller himself.
The latter remarked: “Yes, you have,
of course, heard the story several times
before from your father, Reginald; so
for your sake, it was hardly necessary to
tell it. But I am anxious that those who
stand nearest to me in the world should
know what a friend your father was to
me.”
Mr. Howell smiled, somewhat em-
barrassed ; “Yes, of course, I have heard
the story from my father two or three
times. But you can understand he did
not lay so much stress upon the help he
gave you. It was no more, he said,
than a man’s duty to a friend; and that’s
what I think also.”
“He is his father’s son!” exclaimed
old Frick, and was not satisfied until he
had seized the Englishman’s hand and
shaken it vigorously, although the latter
| modestly tried to avoid it.
“Did you ever hear anything later
!
i
about Davis?” he asked after a pause.
"No, not much!” answered old Frick.
“He was already married when I took
proceedings against him, but I don’t
! think it was a very happy marriage; his
wife took care to see that a good deal
of the punishment he so well deserved
was carried out. Later on. I also heard
that he had much trouble in managing
his large property, after he had been
obliged to take out so much capital. Ah,
well, that’s his own lookout; we have,
. thank God, something else to talk about
i than that scoundrel. One thing, however,
i 1 forgot to mention, is, that when Davis
i was forced to pay me back half the
i money, I took the black diamond in
| 'jts present setting, the one we call ‘the
tortoise.” I took that over for £2,000,
which would be about its value in its un-
cut condition. We found it, just as it
is, up in Solomon’s mines. It was the
only one of the diamonds that Davis had
not sold.”
CHAPTER IV.
THE BLACK TORTOISE AGAIN.
1 have little to relate about the months
which followed after that Sunday at Mr.
Frick’s.
Young Mr. Howell still lived in the
house; he took a fancy to “ski” sport,
and learnt it in a surprisingly short
time. f
He accepted Frick’s pressing invita-
tion to remain in Christiania till the
summer, when he intended visiting Fin-
land and Spitzbergen.
Einar Frick and Reginald Howell be-
came good friends, in spite of the differ-
ence in age, much to the satisfaction of
old Frick. They were always together,
and I fancy old Frick was not very strict
rduring this time with regard to his
nephew’s office hours.
A detective, however, incidentally gets
to know a good many things, and I soon
discovered that the two young men did
not always pursue the most innocent
. pleasures. Even in Christiania, there are
always to be found at least a dozen young
good-for-nothings, who have plenty of
money and nothing to do. Einar and
Mr. Reginald became regular visitors in
this circle, where later it became the
fashion to gamble, and not for very low
stakes, either.
I became uneasy about this, and one
day I spoke to Einar and gave him a
: serious warning.
By the young man’s blushing and
frank confession, I saw that he had not
. as yet entirely fallen a victim to evil
influence. Besides, he added that he
had latterly had more pocket money
* from his uncle, and didi’t play higher
{ than he could afford. Mr. Howell had
several times prevented him from play-
ing for high stakes. "He also promised
to withdraw altogether from the gam-
bling circle, which Mr. Howell had said
he also was inclined to do.
This reassured me, and on the whole
I must confess that Mr. Howell's be-
havior was in every respect that“of a
gentleman. That I, in spite of this, en-
tertained a shadow of antipathy or sus-
picion about him, is one of those things
which cannot be explained.
One thing I cannot pass over in my
story: One fine day, when I summoned
up courage and put the all-important
question to Miss Frick, I received as
gatisfactory an answer as any man could
wish.
She desired that we should, for a time,
keep our engagement secret, for she
shrank from telling her uncle, who
would scarcely take the prospect of los-
ing her with composure. Old Frick was
| within the last few hours.
|
|
i! remarkably fond of his brother’s chil- ;
dren. The old man had lived his life
‘ for many years without having felt the
sunshine of tenderness other than that
‘ of comradeship; now he seemed to be
making up for it in the fond relations
{ between him and the two young people
! who were tied to him by the ties of
blood as well as by those of gratitude.
I have, all the same, a suspicion that
the old fox had an idea of what had
passed between Sigrid and mre; and at
the same time, I also think that I had
been fortumate enough to win his re-
spect, so that if he were to lose his
niece, he would rather have given her to
me than to any one else.
* * * * * ® =
It was the tenth of May, and a beau-
tiful day; the spring had come unusu-
ally early that year, and the trees were
already covered with leaves.
My work was finished. It had been a
long and troublesome day, and I was
just standing in my room, wondering if,
as a reward, I should give myself an
evening off and spend it at Villa Bal
§ larat. I had not had time to visit Sigrid
for several days.
— A ——— +8 it
TID
Just then 1 Reara the telephone bell
“Hello! is that you, Monk?”
It was old Frick’s voice; I knew it
well; it was the same voice that, eight
months ago, had asked me for the first
time to come to Villa Ballarat.
“Yes, itis 1.”
“Can you come out here at once?
Something has happened !”
“I shall be with you in ten minutes.”
At St. Olaf’s Place I took a carriage;
I didn’t want to lose a minute.
An uncomfortable feeling possessed |
me that some misfortune was pending,
or had already occurred. I do not know
if one can really have a presentiment |
in this !
case the feeling had sufficient ground by |
without some material cause;
old Frick’s abrupt message.
At the outer gate stood Frick himself, :
He locked the |
gate carefully after us, stuck the key |
holding it open for me.
in his pocket, and then said, as he
stopped in front of me with his hands
in his pockets:
“The black tortoise is gone again!”
“Gone?”
“Yes, gone!
raised his voice.
I asked him not to speak so loudly and
to explain the matter. It was a relief
for me to hear that it was nothing
worse.
thing worse could have happened.
“There is fo one about who can hear
us,” said Frick. “It is as I say; the
black tortoise has been stolen again, and
Since five
o'clock.”
I looked at my watch; it was exactly
twenty-five minutes to eight.
“How can you be sure it happened
after five o'clock? Didn’t the black tor-
toise lie in the case with the iron shut.
ters, in the museum?”
“Yes, of course; but now you shall
hear. Oid Jurgens, the lawyer, you
know him, of course? He who has that
collection of curios, the old idiot! Well,
_he dined with us, and afterward we
drank our coffee out in the museum, as
we often do. At five o'clock Jurgens
left, and we all went over to the house.
For some reason, as I shall presently
“explain, I forgot to lock the door of
the muesum and cupboard. In about
half an hour's time I suddenly remem-
bered this. I then had a look into the
cupboards before I locked them, and so
discovered that the tortoise was gone.”
“Are you sure it was there at five
o'clock ?”
“Yes; we had been looking at it just
before we all left the museum; I was
the last who went out, and I had put it
in its place before I left.”
“Have you told any one that the tor-
toise is gone?”
“No; the first thing I did when I was
sure of what had happened was to tele-
phone to you; since then I have watched
and seen that no one has gone in or out
of the gate.”
A long life rich in thanges and events
had taught this old man expediency and
presence of mind.
He had done just the right thing, and
his information and answers were clear-
er than nine-tenths of those which de-
tectives®are accustomed to get under
similar conditions.
#Is Miss Sigrid or your nephew at
home?”
“No; Einar went to Hamburg on busi-
ness for me the day before yesterday;
he will be there about a week, and Sigrid
went for a walk about half an hour ago.
It was while accompanying her to the
gate that I came to remember the door
of the museum wasn’t locked.”
“Haven't you missed anything else in
the museum but the tortoise?”
“Not so far as I can see; in any case,
there are still a number of small and
costly articles which would be much
| easier to turn into ready money than the
| tortoise.
It could not have been any
ordinary thief, or if so, it must have
been an unusually stupid one!”
“Has the black tortoise any special
value to you or to any one else apart
from the worth of the gold and the
stone ?”’
“No, that I can gladly swear! You
mean, I suppose, is there anything about
this diamond, as one reads of in the
English detective stories, where black
and yellow people sneak about with dag-
| gers in their belts and vengeance in their
eyes! No! there is nothing of that kind
in this case. We found it in the cavern,
as I told you, together with all the other
diamonds. Man has not set foot there
for thousands of years; and the negroes
who live thereabout do not care a fig for
diamonds. For that reason they let
Davis keep the bag, which he took with
him when he escaped in the night. It
is only when negroes have learned to
know the blessing of civilization that
they get a taste for diamonds.”
“One thing must be done,” I said,
“while it is yet light. Will you take
care that no one passes in or out
through the gate, while I meanwhile find
out if any one has got into the garden
over the railing?”
As already mentioned, the whole of
Frick’s property, which was about three
or four acres and laid out in a garden,
was closed in by a high iron railing.
The distance between the rails was so
little that even a child could not equeeze
himself through. It was not altogether
improbable, though difficult enough, that
a daring and agile man might have
climbed over the railings, notwithstand-
ing the spikes.
It was, however, easy to find out if
any one had got over in that way. It
had lately rained a good deal, and the
ground on either side of the railing was
soft. Any footstep would therefore
leave a trace, especially on the outer side
where there was a newly ploughed field.
I went all round the garden; no
one had come that way.
(To be Continued.)
mA NA
Children Cry
FOR FLETCHER'S
CASTORILA
re mm INP IIIT SI
All kinds of job work here.
Stolen, I say!” and he i
Little did I suspect that any- |
er's
%
dh
Re A
rea.
The Kind You Have Always Bought, and which has been
in use for over 30 years, has borne the signature of
and has been made under his pere
A sonal supervision since its infancy.
AL I ledth Allow no one to deceive you in this.
All Counterfeits, Imitations ahd ¢¢ Just-as-good ’>’ are but
Experiments that trifle with and endanger the health of
Infants and Children—Experience against Experiment
What is CASTORIA
Castoria is a harmless substitute for Castor Cu, Pare=
oric, Drons and Soothing Syrups.
g ’ I 8
It is pleasant. It
contains neither Opium, Morphine nor other Narcotic
substance.
and allays Feverisuncss.
its age is its guarantee.
It destroys Worms
For more than thirty years it
has been in constant use for the rclicf of Constipation,
Tlatulency,
Diarrhoea.
Wind Colic,
all Teething
It regulates the Stomach and Bowels,
Troubles and
assimilates the ¥ood, giving healthy and natural sleep.
The Children’s Panacea—The Mother’s Friend.
oENUINE CASTORIA ALwaYs
Bears the Signature of rt
#
I Use For Over 30 Years
_The Kind /ou Have Always Bought
THE CENTALR “OMPANY, NEW YORK CITY,
xn .
The four famous
Waverly Gasolines
76°— Special
Motor—Auto
are all distilled and refined from
Pennsylvania Crude Oil. Clean,
Uniform. More miles per Gallon.
Contain no com; natural
gas product.
WAVERLY OIL WORKS CO.
fodependent Reflners PITTSBURGH, PA.
IMuminants—Y,ubricants
Paraffine Wax
FREE 3% 2% aboot on,
Waverly Products Sold by
BITTNER MACHINE WORKS,
D. H. WEISEL,
P. J. COVER & SON,
MEYERSDALE PA
® *
CHANGES ARE MADE IN
MOTHERS’ PENSION FUND
amr t
The trustees of Mothers’ Pensions
throughout the state, recently re-
ceived a notice from the officials at
Harrisburg that three important
changes have been made in the acts
governing their bureau.
The first amendment will make lit-
tle change. It states that women shall
be awarded pensions if they have
children under 16, and their husbands
are dead, or if they are permanently
confined to an institution for the in-
sane when such women are of good
repute but poor and dependent on
their own efforts for support, as aid
, in supporting their -chilren.
The officials of the boards all over
the state are well pleased with the
next amendment. It has been quite
a difficulty for children under 16 to
find employment to aid their wid-
owed mothers, who were not provi-
ded with a large enough pension to
' support children over 14 years of age.
The law now raises the age from 14
to 16, to which children can be sup-
ported with their mother’s pension,
in conformity with school and employ-
ment laws.
The third change relates to the ad-
ministration. In the past a maximum
amount was allowed such county for
expenses. The counties were divided
into classes. In the future, the admin-
istration expenses will be limited
to ten per cent of the appropriations
received from the state.
These changes, with several others
less important, were approved by the
governor, June 18, 1915.
Pennsylvania licensed automo-
mobiles will display orange and black
| tags in 1916, accordig to an announce-
"made by Highway Commissioner
' Cunningham.
[01m
$C. Eada... Nana.
US
Sede
nr
BOW: AN'S
MAGIC SEAL, GOLDEN
OIL,
Yustard Ointment
Manufactured by
U. J. & J. BOWMAN,
Johnstown, Pa.
FOR SALE BY
J. W. WASMUTH,
MEYERSDALE, PENN’A
CATARRH CANNOT BE CURED.
‘with LOCAL APPLICATIONS, as they
cannot reach the seat of the dis-
ease. Catarrh is a blood or constitu-
tional disease, and inorder to cure it
you must take internal remedies.
Hall's Catarrh Cure is taken inter-
nally and acts directly on the blood
and mucous surface. Hall's Catarrh
Cure is ont a quack medicie. It was
prescribed by one of the best physi-
cians in this country for years and is
a regular prescription. It is compos-
ed of the best tonics known, combine
ed with the best blood purifiers, act-
ing directly on the mucous surfaces.
The perfect combination of the two in-
gredients is what produces such
wonderful results in curing Catarrh.
Send for testimonials free.
Send for testimonials
F. J. CHENEY, & Co., Toledo, O
Sold by all Druggists, 75 cents pur
bottle.
Take Hall’s Family Pills for Con
sipation. ad
—— ND mm
Wm. C, Price
Successor to W. A. Clarke
Funeral Director
Business conducted at the same place
Prompt attention given to all calls
at all times. Both Phones.
50 YEARS’
EXPERIENCE
Patents
TRADE MARKS
DESIGNS
COPYRIGHTS &cC.
Anyone sending a sketch and description may
quickly gseeriai our SE EE ie
invention is probably patentable. -
tions strictly confident! ANDBOOK on Patents
sent free. Oldest agen tents.
Patents taken through Munn receive
special notice, without charge, in the
Scientific American.
A handsomely {llustrated weekly. Largest eir-
culation of any scientific journal Terms, £5 a
year ; four months, $ Sold by all newsdeal
MUNN & Co,ze1ersaaver. New Yo:
Branch Office. 625 F St.. Washington, D.
How to Cure a La Grippe Cough.
Lagrippe coughs demand instant
treatment. They show a serious cond
tion of the system and are weakening
Postmaster Collins, Barnegat, N. J.
says: “I took Foley’s Honey and Tar
Compound for a violent Ilagrippe
cough that compietely exhausted me
and less than a half bottle stopped tha
cough.” Try it. Sold everywhere.