The Diamond Master

he door, and a clerk

see you, sir,

ham. "Sit down, both of you, an

ve's face when he entered. He glanced inquiringly at Mr. Sc

" he added. "We are a

with a sharp scrutiny. There was that in the thin, scarred face and in the beady black eyes which inevita

omitting embarrassing details such as the finding of two notes addressed to himself-

left here I knew instantly how he got rid of them. He transferred them to some person

Latham repeated

n id," remarked Mr. Schult

quaint them with the search that had been made by a dozen of his men to find a trace of the woman from the time she climbed the elevated stairs at Fifty-eighth

n me completely into your confidence in this matter. I mean," he added hastily, "that beyond a mere hint of their value I know nothing whatever abo

rs ad leasd," remarke

' worth of diamonds anywhere in this world, I would have known it; so I took steps to examine the Custom House records of this and other cities t

result?" demanded

heard from the western agents as yet, but my opinion is-is that they were perhaps smuggled in. Smuggling, after all, is simple wi

and Mr. Czenki with a triumphant s

my agents as no other man ever was, and in spite of this has been able to keep in correspondence with his accomplices.

s the first time he had spoken, and the detective t

ds and receives messages from the roof of his h

Laadham?" Mr. Schultze taun

e adjoining Mr. Wynne's" (it was the maid-servant next door) "has, on at least one occasion, seen him remove a tissue-paper strip from a carrier pigeon's leg and read what was written on it, after which he kisse

I dell you!" comm

use, then Mr. Birnes

s others from the house in Thirty-seventh Street to that person who sent him the message. If he sends messages to that person it means that he has received a pigeon or pigeons from that person within a week. And how were these pigeons shipped? In all

," commented Mr. Laadh

ed his head

the records of all the express companies in the city-and there are a great many-for the pigeon shipments. If,

m," Mr. Schultze advised. "Dey are his diamonds,

ly, of course," th

at the impassive face of Mr. Czenki with keen, questioning eyes; and for on

is case. He is an orphan. His mother was a Van Cortlandt of old Dutch stock, and his father was a merchant downtown. He left a few th

thin, scarred face reflected for a second some su

wn sugar. He imports it from Cuba and Porto Rico and Brazil

e with his fingers working nervously. His beady eyes were glitt

anded Mr. Schu

n't you see?" the expe

t this man has don

t, he regained control of hi

at?" asked

red at his employer; then hi

re Brazilian diamonds? That new workings have been discovered somewhere in the interior? That he has smuggled them in con

lothed in rags, lurched into a small pawnshop in the lower Bowery and planked down on the

real diamonds?" h

y, knight of the road, was placed under arrest as a suspicious character. Uncut

t them?" demanded

nd '

id you f

your bu

were able to get out