The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 24, 1901, Page 8

THE SUNDAY CALL. rD P | ) . =Yy ARD Am-riea =c ng man s koned for him here N koffie huis s tal Pa vas a lifferent affair for a quiet 5 used to regard life in mp however, insisted; I hes- was los < P the siren of the doorwav A 14 f his hat Jack led the way tains into he sat with £ s.ore and f schna 1, timidiy St me, took stock of our sur- The hall was cloudy with cigar smake E 5 v Oriental iie earrin s € = was overh 1 the affec t Dutch woman; at the high minstrels, while the body of jed with a mc Tarry-Johns of m t they had just been ney was plentif; among g from their brick-red 1 the pets they had about em, they were probably East Indian bome rom a long cruise. evil-eyed monkev a second a green bird. while others m bulging pocke os and cuaint com- merchandise alk gre n of the general twos and threes the crowd ilors; exclama- uder ns of ent afose. cigars even were laid aside, so that it was [ en al object of curiosi'y was ed. Jack and I, mutu- B ieft our seats and edged mong the wd. Some bulbs sailor was to be the a: they w e which for size, color and superior to any that nbered hearin had recently bre it was appar- ment around me rtunate enoug new varlety er he was re- of its discov- ¢ only In number—were being hands 4 Jack and I had inspected them and had they were appar- i upon the table azain, 1 saw (he owner (who was with his back half turned to us dilated on his treasures) plucked by the sieeve and his attention Girected unmistakabiy toward ourselves . apparentiy the bulbs and ciously Interfered quat d fellow with a atyr's face manner that he self disagreeable. In another moment this proved to be the case, for with an oatn the tull whipped round us, and mentary Inspection of the bulbs thrust out his fist into « ices, and demandea something or ot r from stantly haa ch other won- Jack and T glanced a deringly, the t our challe opposite, who, growing quickly hott commenced to gesticulate vehemently with both hands under my very noss. Extending ers and thumbs, seemed to indicate the number te closing them, Le held up two « gers; finally, with reit gestures and a rs his ten fingers a All at once 1 gragped his meaning. Out of his twelve tulip bulbs two had seem- ingly disappeared. lmmediately I shook onate eld up J ; T “"HE HIMSELE ("MMENCED A VIGOR head indigne . held out open palms ce and commenced to stammer in broken Dutch to repudiate the to protest innoce ade audge and whisper with the result that nt after whipped out a our acc knifi some remarkably ugly pusses v.near our fuces. On the Jack spread out both arms (he seemed to th matter k it was but a a “maul” in goal), then, thrust- k with sundry other bystand- his cuffs, cried loud- ves, you coward; drop it, or ing me b Excessive noyed at his folly (his ther was s s woman,and Jack had been Lorn with a shillelah in his mouth), I clutched his 2rm and whispered, “Don't be a confounded fool; the an’s accusing us of stealing his bulbs, and the thing's serious enough without your making it worse. Jho!" said Jack, standing his ground, not a whit abashed, “that’s the game, is it? but it's not us, iy [riend,” ne contin- iz A - e ey ued, more peacefully. “bulbs are no use to us. Try again, try that fellow there, he's 2s ugly as sin and nearly as mis- chievous by the look of h'm,” and with that he pjointed to the very man ‘who had, as I have said, pointed us out to the owner. Now this supposition had crossed my own d also, due to the stealthy greedy way in which I noted he had ex- amined the bulbs as they were passed round, as also to his unprepossessing ap- pearance. A second after this man t0o had drawn his knife, and now, through Jack's pre- clpitation, we had two enemies to deal with. In despair at the turn things were tak- Ing 1 hastily stepped forward, and taking off my hat appealed in what Duteh I could command to the general company, by this time drawn thickly around us in a circle. “Gentlemen,” I stammered, “this man accuses us, I gather, of stealify his tulips, Lut 'tis a monstrous fabrication. What could two English students want with bulbs? See here,” I cried, and turned my OUS SEARCH muo-