Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-18

brought noteS1nto my bed room and
Gen asnr esa 20 was sna i9 see f h :.
ana aiohe. went. as you may be sure,
with az little delay as possible. found
him IN mis- sitting room. The lights were
evidently been shp all night.
Even l. whoahad seen the despair that
comes OF crime IN most of its worst forms,
greeted me politely and with perfect COM
posure He affected not to see the hand
tnat 1 held out to him, but asked me quite
hindiy 10 sit down and have a chat with
nlm !! sat down, and when I looked up
saw MIN standing in front of me, covering
me with a brace Of revolvers. My life, of
course. was absolutely at his mercy and
whatever l might have thought of myself
or the situation, there was obviously moth
velopments
He began very quietly to tell me why
ne haa sent for me. He said: I wanted to
see you, Mr.. Lipinzki, to clear up this mat
ter apout the big diamond. I have seen for
iong time-in fact from that Sunday
nshe-that you had worked out a pretty
correct notion as to the way that diamond
vanished You are quite right; it did fly
across the veldt to the Barkly hills l am
a DIT or chemist, you know. and when l
there Is no use in mincing words Eow--I
saw that 1T would be. perfectly absurd to
altenpt TO Esmuggle such stone out by
any OF the ordinary methods.
care say you wonder what these re-
voiVers are for They are to keep YOU
there in that, chair till I've done, for one
.ntng. Ii you attempt to get out CT it or
utter a sound shall shoot YOU If Won
near me out you will not be injured, so You
open.
To have any chance of success 1 must
nave had confederate, and made young
Lcmas one. If you look on that little table
uesloe your chair you will see bit of
e eio iead piping with tap in it. and a
piece OF thin sheet India rubber That is
the remains of the apparatus 1 used l.
make them present to you: you may like
to add them to your collection.
omas when he went on duty that
charged with compressed hydrogen and
at empty chffd's toy balloon with him.
you will remember that that night was
very dark, and that the wind had been
Barkly hills. Well when everything was
the diamond
s,, But how did he get the diamond out of
IN. ne SAFE! Inc secretary saw it locked up
mat evening! / exclaimed, my. curiosity
settlng the better of my prudence
II was not locked up in the safe at all
s .t.at n night, ne answered, smiling with a
scrt OF CHASTITY satisfaction. Tomas and l.
as you Know. took the tray of diamonds to
the safe, ana, as far as the secretary could
see; see, put them In, but as he put the tray
diamond as l had taught him to do in 2
eeo many lessons before. At the moment
| That shut the safe and locked If if was in
his pocket. ~
The secretary and his friends left the
room: Lomas and L went back to the tables.
ana told him to clean the scales as /
wanted to test them. While he was doing
50 ne slipped the diamond behind the box,
ana there 1t lay between the box and tbe
corner of the wall until it was wanted.
We all left the room as usual, and. as
YOU Know we were searched. When Tomas
went on night duty there was the diamond
ready for its balloon VOYAGE He filled
the balloon just so that it lifted the dia
ond and no more. Two of the windows
were o9t on account of the heat He
watched his opportunity and committed it
10 the air about two hours before dawn
You know what a sudden fall there is in
the temperature here just before daybreak
calculated upon that to contract the VOL
ume OF the gas sufficiently to destroy the
balance and bring the balloon to the ground
and knew that, if Tomas had obeyed my
instructions. it would fall either on the
veldt or on this side of the hills.
The balloon was a bright red. and,
to make long story short. 1 started out
before daybreak that morning, as You
know. to look for buck. When I got out
side the camp took compass bearings and
rode straight down the wind toward the
hills. By good luck good calculation,
OF both, / must have followed the course of
the balloon almost exactly, for in three
hours after left the camp ]: saw the lit
tie req speck ahead or me up among the
stones on the hillside. ID -. l..ts
lodged about for bit as though
l were really after buck, in case anybody
was watching me. 1 worked round to the
red spot, put my foot on the balloon and
burst 1t. l folded the india rubber up as
l didn't like to leave it there, and put it
in my pocket book. You remember that
when you searched me you didn't open my
pocket book, as, of course, it was perfectly
nat and the diamond couldn't possibly have
been in it, That's how you missed your
clue, though 1 don't suppose it would have
been much use to you. as you'd already
guessed it. However, there 1t is at your
service now
And the diamond?
"As 1 said these three words his whole
manner suddenly changed. So far he had
spoken quietly and deliberately, and with
out even Il trace of anger in his voice. but
now his white, sunken cheeks suddenly
flushed a bright fever red and his eyes
literally blazed at me. His voice sank to
a low, Kissing tone that was really hor-
rible to hear.
The diamondv he said. Yes, curse it,
and curse you, Mr.. Inspector Lipinzki-for
II and you have been curse to me! Day
and night I have seen the spot where 1
buried it, and day and night you have kept
your nets spread about my feet that I
could not move step to go and take it.
/ can hear the suspense no longer Be
tween you-you and that internal stone
you have wrecked my health and driven
me mad II 1 had all the wealth of De
Beers now 1t wouldn't be any use to me,
and tonight a new fear came to me-that
If this goes on much longer shall go mad
really mad, and in my delirium rob myself
of my revenge on you by letting out where
l hid it
Now, listen. Tomas has gone. He is
beyond your reach. He has changed his
name-nis very identity. I have sent him
by different posts, and to different names
al addresses, two letters. One is plan
ard the other is key to 1t. With those two
pieces of paper he can find the diamond
Without them you can hunt for a century
and never go near it.
And now that you know that-that your
Incompatible stone, that Should have been
mine, is out yonder somewhere where you
can never find it, you and the De Beers
people will be able to guess at the tortures
of Tantalus that you have made me en-
dure That is all you have got by your
smartness. That is my legacy to you-curse
you! If I had my way I would send you
all out there to hunt for 1t without food or
drink till you died of hunger and thirst
of body, as you have made me die living
death by hunger and thirst of mind
"AS he said this he covered me with one
revolver. and put the muzzle of the other
into his mouth. With an ungovernable i'm
pulse 1 sprang to my feet. He pulled both
triggers at once. One bullet passed between