Page 72 - DENG102_COMMUNICATION_SKILLS_II

Unit 4: Dialogue Writing

“You must understand this diamond was a valuable one—a little Jew chap, a diamond merchant, who notes
was with us, had put it at three or four thousand when Padishah had shown it to him—and this idea of an
ostrich gamble caught on. Now it happened that I’d been having a few talks on general subjects with the
man who looked after these ostriches, and quite incidentally he’d said one of the birds was ailing, and he
fancied it had indigestion. It had one feather in its tail almost all white, by which I knew it, and so when,
next day, the auction started with it, I capped Padishah’s eighty-five by ninety. I fancy I was a bit too sure
and eager with my bid, and some of the others spotted the fact that I was in the know. And Padishah went
for that particular bird like an irresponsible lunatic. At last the Jew diamond merchant got it for £175, and
Padishah said £180 just after the hammer came down—so Potter declared. At any rate the Jew merchant
secured it, and there and then he got a gun and shot it. Potter made a Hades of a fuss because he said it
would injure the sale of the other three, and Padishah, of course, behaved like an idiot; but all of us were
very much excited. I can tell you I was precious glad when that dissection was over, and no diamond had
turned up precious glad. I’d gone to one-forty on that particular bird myself.
“The little Jew was like most Jews; he didn’t make any great fuss over bad luck; but Potter declined to go on
with the auction until it was understood that the goods could not be delivered until the sale was over. The
little Jew wanted to argue that the case was exceptional, and as the discussion ran pretty even, the thing
was postponed until the next morning. We had a lively dinner-table that evening, I can tell you, but in the
end Potter got his way, since it would stand to reason he would be safer if he stuck to all the birds, and that
we owed him some consideration for his sportsmanlike behaviour. And the old gentleman whose son was a
lawyer said he’d been thinking the thing over and that it was very doubtful if, when a bird had been opened
and the diamond recovered, it ought not to be handed back to the proper owner. I remember I suggested it
came under the laws of treasure-trove, which was really the truth of the matter. There was a hot argument,
and we settled it was certainly foolish to kill the bird on board the ship. Then the old gentleman, going at
large through his legal talk, tried to make out the sale was a lottery and illegal, and appealed to the captain;
but Potter said he sold the birds as ostriches. He didn’t want to sell any diamonds, he said, and didn’t offer
that as an inducement. The three birds he put up, to the best of his knowledge and belief, did not contain a
diamond. It was in the one he kept—so he hoped.
“Prices ruled high next day all the same. The fact that now there were four chances instead of five of
course caused a rise. The blessed birds averaged 227, and, oddly enough, this Padishah didn’t secure one of
‘em--not one. He made too much shindy, and when he ought to have been bidding he was talking about
liens, and, besides, Potter was a bit down on him. One fell to a quiet little officer chap, another to the little
Jew, and the third was syndicated by the engineers. And then Potter seemed suddenly sorry for having sold
them, and said he’d flung away a clear thousand pounds, and that very likely he’d draw a blank and that he
always had been a fool, but when I went and had a bit of a talk to him, with the idea of getting him to hedge
on his last chance, I found he’d already sold the bird he’d reserved to a political chap that was on board,
a chap who’d been studying Indian morals and social questions in his vacation. That last was the three
hundred pounds bird. Well, they landed three of the blessed creatures at Brindisi, though the old gentleman
said it was a breach of the Customs regulations and Potter and Padishah landed too. The Hindu seemed
half mad as he saw his blessed diamond going this way and that, so to speak. He kept on saying he’d get an
injunction—he had injunction on the brain—and giving his name and address to the chaps who’d bought
the birds, so that they’d know where to send the diamond. None of them wanted his name and address, and
none of them would give their own. It was a fine row I can tell you on the platform. They all went off by
different trains. I came on to Southampton, and there I saw the last of the birds, as I came ashore; it was the
one the engineers bought, and it was standing up near the bridge, in a kind of crate, and looking as leggy
and silly a setting for a valuable diamond as ever you saw—if it was a setting for a valuable diamond.
“How did it end? Oh! like that. Well perhaps. Yes, there’s one more thing that may throw light on it. A
week or so after landing I was down Regent-street doing a bit of shopping, and who should I see arm-in-arm
and having a purple time of it but Padishah and Potter. If you come to think of it–
“Yes. I’ve thought that. Only, you see, there’s no doubt the diamond was real. And Padishah was an
eminent Hindu. I’ve seen his name in the papers often. But whether the bird swallowed the diamond
certainly is another matter, as you say.”

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