James Barnes

“ The deep-breathing silence that followed was broken at last by the presiding officer.
"Control yursilf, O'Fallon. Let's think what we'd better be doin'," he said, in a futile effort to calm his own desire for self-obliteration.
"Takin' to our heels and crossin' the ocean," replied the medical adviser; "we're swamped entirely, high and dry."
"The police have Fitzpatrick," commented Mooney, "that's shure!"
"And phwat could he tell thim?" blurted the doctor. "It's Benton and the Dutch overseer I'm afraid of. . . . Perhaps we're watched now!" ”

“ Sees there's been some illicit diamond buying going on—thought they'd run all the 'I. D. Bs.' out long ago—risky business nowadays. Hard job to dispose of uncut stones."
"Have they caught any wan?" asked the tall clerk, marking the place in the ledger.
"No," replied Mr. Weedon; "but the Kimberley and Dorn Spruit people have suspected a leak for some time—appears to trickle toward Cape Town."
As Mr. Fitzpatrick displayed no further interest, the manager turned to the sporting page and smoked on silently. All at once he looked at his watch and swung himself round in his chair. ”

“ Mooney was warming. "Full amount to be paid"—he paused confidingly—"afther—"
"Afther phwat?" queried Mr. Fitzpatrick.
"Afther yure demise, me biy! You can have a good toime pwhile you're living 'for you'll be a long toime dead'—pwhich is an old wan. . . . Ye l'ave it all to me! Ye'll be the mine, I'll be the prisident, priss agint, board o' directors, and gineral manager. We'll let Doctor O'Fallon in as medical adviser and minority holder; dhraw a conthract—bindin' to all parties—and go ahead with the projec'! Our fortune's made, me biy. . . . Whish! take care! Here comes Weedon outside. . . ”

“ Now, it has been noticed in scientific circles that men's dispositions are often changed to diametrical opposites as the result of shock, wound, or accident. Mr. Patrick Fitzpatrick had developed into a querulous, irritable, exacting, self-opinionated convalescent. His numberless incisions, punctures, scratches, and shot-holes were healing nicely, but he was obsessed with a fear of his future—and in this he received no little encouragement.
"Shure, Fitz," observed Mr. Mooney one evening, as he sat by the bedside, "you're a human p'int of the law in regard to which there is no pricedint ”

“ Doctor O'Fallon's sudden and unexplained departure excited neither grief nor comment, although, odd to relate, Mr. "Social" Benton and Piet van Troomp, the Boer overseer, saw him off on the Union Castle Line dock at Cape Town Bay.
On the second day out Mr. Mooney had discovered that controlling a walking diamond mine and ostensibly managing a shoe shop were two different matters. The Mine displayed a complaining irritability. ”

“ Mr. Mooney, by all rights, should have been on the lookout for strange departures. At exactly five minutes past five in the afternoon the Mine escaped from his observation. Having sought hopefully but fruitlessly at the bar, the president bethought himself of the hotel reading-room, and there he found the rubber-tipped walking-sticks and the huge goloshes—but Fitzpatrick was gone!
Now, London is a large place in which to search for any wandering body whose orbit may be eccentric. To the president's accurate knowledge Mr. ”

“ Mooney, and the pungent sizzling of a block of soft coal in the open grate.
Doctor O'Fallon had read the blotters through from cover to cover and now sat twirling his thumbs, until he could stand it no longer—his nerves demanded movement. Just as he rose softly in order not to disturb the sleeper, he heard a voice monotonously calling from a distance: "Mr. Michael Mooney! Mr. Michael Mooney!" and as the sound penetrated to the reading-room the president and board of directors awoke with a start.
In the doorway stood the hotel page-boy. "Morning pipers for Mr. ”

“ The visitor, his curiosity satisfied, gazed out of the door.
"Beastly dull prospect you have here, isn't it? Beastly dull," he said. "Why don't you plant some trees about—eh, what?"
"Wouldn't grow," returned Mr. ”