Show igl t 1899 bi the Short story pub co all rights reserved there Is a little taxidermists shop on fourth avenue which is a place it is very dusty and very full of strange fowl tucked in one behind the other on shelves that cover all of one side of the room and on the bother a wizened little old man sits all day long beside a p ie of most evil smelling skins and dispenses words of wisdom to whoever cares to listen one day when harriott ran into the shop before dinner he found tha old man in over a new bird skin that has j been bro in it was jarge and dirty and exceedingly ugly and it had a particularly evil smell but it was rare and marryott Marr lott looked it over respectfully where did you say this bird came froma he asked the old man stopped washing the bird s legs and began to recount its history the skin had been brought to him by a sea captain he said cap tain of the mary ann salters from south america yes he acs sure he was still in town would mr marriott like his address 7 mr mar it appeared would like it very much indeed he took it down cabe fully wrapped the lump of dirt in his and walked swiftly away down the street leaving the little tax staring after him with won deang eyes reginald ernest marryott Marr lott not long bince graduated as a mining engineer the college of applied science had his own way to make in the world and nothing to make it with but brains it Is true that he came of an ancient family whose name had survived its prosperity and that this connection let him into as much new bork society as was good for him but nobody felt called upon to assist alm ilm in any more practical way than iv inviting him to dinner and this is it happened was a very serious matter for there was a woman in he case it was edith ahard the daughter of mr G ho lived on madison avenue and had in office on broadway and was report id to be a millionaire though 10 one seemed to know exactly the dource of his income his style of alv ng bore out the assertion and on he strength of it mrs was baking an attack upon the portals of society naturally when it became apparent ip to her maternal eye that daughter was allowing her affect ions to drift in that unprofitable dl ecklon she looked with extreme dis approbation upon young marriott and husband had for him the pro aund contempt of the practical man or the man of schools and theories matters were in this state when he young man paid his visit to the shop and saw the bird ith the muddy feet that night he corked hard in the small laboratory e had fitted up in his room wrote a atter to edith packed his possessions nd paid his bills and the next morn ag at daybreak he sailed out of new ork harbor in a south bound steam with hope in his heart a wisp of londe hair in his watch case and a imp of black mud in his coat pocket it waa a year atter this and the pass was green again on madison cuare before news was heard of him inhere did you say this bird came from hen one april morning he present 1 himself at mr s office on roadway marriott asked atter mrs nd miss edith he said eagerly fou remember mr that I 1 ve her that I 1 hope to marry her ime day last year I 1 was poor but WI can support her as you would sire have property worth eight indred thousand dollars he added modestly and I 1 have a practical ilnay of more than ten times as uch wheeled his swivel chair d looked the young man in the face th very evident amazement ten times eight hundred thousand allars he cried incredulously what is this property of 1 platinum slid marryott Marr lott you e sir he went on quietly I 1 ran biross a sample of dust from south I 1 JM last winter nobody else knew about it so I 1 ent at once and discovered the place I 1 only brought up a te v thousand dollars worth but I 1 have halt a ton in dust and nuggets all ready down there and the rivers are full of it but the matter sira had turned pale and sank back in his chair he roused him elf however and q estion ed the young man qu egiy enough in what part of south america is thata saia he southern patagonia not far from magellan straits and near the coast wheeled in h s sw vel cha and look ed the young man in the face but will it be all right about edith sira well I 1 guess I 1 might as well give in mr barnott he said As you say things have changed call on edith it you I 1 ke As soon as you show your mine is as rich as you say it is she can do as she likes about marrying you but not before he held out his hand and barnott grasped it gratefully the three weeks he was obliged to spend turning his pounds of platinum into ready money and negotiating for a coasting steamer for the return to his treasure passed like a pleasant dream he spent part of every day with the and although he saw no more of the father who he was told had been suddenly called away from town he always saw edith and he was more than content when after the three weeks were over he sailed away again in the tramp steam er montevideo which he had char and manned espee ally for the voyage he was already counting the days before he could return for her he carried a picked crew of twenty men and in view of the wild region to which they were bound and the able return cargo shipped a few win chester rifles and plenty of ammini alon As the inner bay came in sight there was a cry of surprise for there anchored close inshore lay a small gray painted steamer marriott exam ined her carefully agh a power ful binocular her decks seemed deserted but natives could be seen swarming around the vessel canvas tents pitched on the beach and men moving about among the rocky hll locks where the platinum was con cealey if not already discovered it was in great danger barnott stood on the bridge acx lous but determined there wag eaf dently a good deal of hurry and bustle on shore but the stranger s deck re bained empty and the montevideo s salute remained unanswered alpar antly she had been left at anchor and her crew disembarked for work on shore marriott thought he had best inquire first on board tor some one in authority and be had a boat lowered and manned As it approached the strange steamer a face appeared at a forward port hole throw us a line cried marriott and a rope was i recently resent ly thrown from the deck by means of which the young man scrambled aboard leaving the sailors in the boat with ready rifles there was no one visible but the man who had thrown the line and to an inquiry for the captain he replied by jerking his thumb toward the after deck house barnott knocked on the closed door and then pushed it open two men were seated at the cabin table one was evidently the captain the other was mr G why ard of new aorl what does this mean young man boarding a peaceable ship in an armed boat its an act of p racy roared the captain then stopped him this gentleman s all right captain it you don t mind I 1 d like to talk with him a few minutes and the shipmaster sulkily retired well my boy he resumed at length in as parental a manner as he could command I 1 dian didn t look for you quite so soon perhaps I 1 ought to have told you at once in new york that I 1 am the american re presenta alve of a combination that practically controls the supply of jl t i num the tons of it you talked ot put ting on the market would ruin the price you see thanks for the hint replied mar dryly it really to I 1 think ou need not fear that your own stock will depreciate that is not very much but I 1 shall have to trouble you to see that your men do not load my property into the wrong vessel when harriott was married to edith some three months later ho was president of the magellan biati num mining company and the bride aa her father beamed upon them won dered that his e for the had been so quickly overcome but she never know anything of the little drama so intimately concerning her placed in that lonely patagonian onlan bay |