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G ----.
"Oh, yes," he replied, coloring violently, "I got it from him the next
morning. Nothing should tempt me to part with that scarabæus. Do you
know that Jupiter is quite right about it?"
"
In what way?" I asked, with a sad foreboding at heart.
"In supposing it to be a bug of real gold." He said this with an air of
profound seriousness, and I felt inexpressibly shocked.
"
This bug is to make my fortune," he continued, with a triumphant smile,
to reinstate me in my family possessions. Is it any wonder, then, that
"
I prize it? Since Fortune has thought fit to bestow it upon me, I have
only to use it properly and I shall arrive at the gold of which it is
the index. Jupiter; bring me that scarabæus!"
"
What! de bug, massa? I'd rudder not go fer trubble dat bug--you mus git
him for your own self." Hereupon Legrand arose, with a grave and
stately air, and brought me the beetle from a glass case in which it was
enclosed. It was a beautiful scarabæus, and, at that time, unknown to
naturalists--of course a great prize in a scientific point of view.
There were two round, black spots near one extremity of the back, and
a long one near the other. The scales were exceedingly hard and glossy,
with all the appearance of burnished gold. The weight of the insect
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