The Raymer enterprise., 1911-09-07
THE PEARL OF
THE GODS

AAStC 10 = VIC SooSb nv Joob
said the chief Of police. "and the work
will take you far away from Russia.
] would have selected you for the task,
myself. but even /. had been In.
cline1 to assign some one else to the
matter. could not have done 80"
why not?" Queried Michael Dane
Witch.
Because" replied the chief. his ma.
jesty was pleased to order that 10 you
alone should be allotted the solving OF
the problem. Now listen, and | will
tell you all know about the world IA
nous gem called the pearl Of the
gods Two years have passed since an
Ihdian diver brought It up from the
depths Of the sea. When It was de-
tached from It's she'll experts pro-
n0unced 1t to be one OF the most per
feet pearls that had ever cons to light,
and the value put upon It was tremen.
dous. It became the property OF
Gammage G Lallal. the well.known
dealers In precious stones, whose
headquarters are In Bombay. Its iri-
descence and beauty were so great
that the fame OF the marvellous gem
spread al through India, and 1t was
named the pearl OF the gods 1t was
natural that the dealers should seek to
Gsspose OF It in royal circles, for the
gem was indeed tit to rank among the
Broudest possessions OF any monarch.
Az you know. our little father Is ex.
tremely proud of his collection OF pre-.
ciouB stones and gems, and when the
news OF this particular find reached
him he gave orders to have 1t pur-
chased for the imperial household.
This was done. In SO far as the terms
OF the purchase being agreed on; and
the money. an immense sum. was paid
over to Messrs. Gammage < Lallal
by his majesty's agent. But 1t was
agreed that for safetys sake the
pearl had better remain in the deal
ers' strong room until the steamer. on
which the cars messenger intended
to sail with the gem in his charge,
was ready to leave port. But this ar.
rangenent was Unexpectedly upset by
the disappearance OF the gem from the
strong room. At the close Of business
one evening. Gammage & Lallal testi-
fled that the pearl was In their pos.
session On the following morning 1t
WAS gone. and nothing else In the
strong room had been touched, al
though there were many thousands OF
rubles' worth OF other jewels there.
To add to the mystery the room had
seemingly not been tampered with.
The door was Intact, and the compli-
Gated locks were all perfect. II was
next to impossible that anyone could
have gained entrance by means OF
false keys. The room was about four.
teen feet square, solidly concreted,
aud with walls eighteen inches thick,
In the center OF one OF the walls was
u massive iron door OF enormous
strength This door fitted into an iron
frame imbcdded In concrete, and into
this frame the tremendous bolts were
shot There were " bolts. and they
were all shot at one time by means OF
a lever 10 the center O.: the door. Set
into the door was register dial.
which showed that the door was
properly locked, and this dial would
have indicated any attempt to tamper
with the locks. Although one action
OF lever locked the door. the
mechanism was so ingenious that no
less than eight keys were required to
unlock Il Nor was this all. BY pc.
culiar arrangement the locks could be
readjusted every day. so that fresh
set OF keys was required each morning
To open the safe, and no one but the
Two members OF the firm knew which
set was TO be used
Yet. despite all these safeguards,
the pearl had disappeared. and that,
too. after the money for It's purchase
had been received from the cars
agent. Mcssrs. Gammage G. Lallal at
once refunded the purchase money.
and offered an apology to his majesty
for having unwittingly disappointed
him; and investigations were at once
commenced with view to solving the
puzzle. Both OF the members OF the
firm were positive In declaring that
they both saw tho gem deposited In
the strong room. and both saw the
door locked Immediately afterward.
The pearl had been placed in a small
box on q bed OF cottonwood. and the
box was covered with glass lid.
Next morning the pearl was gone. but
the box. glass lid and cottonwood were
intact. II almost seemed as II the
thing had been spirited away by su.
ptrnatural agency.
"Our little father was not satisfied
with tho return OF the purchase
money. lie had set his heart on add.
log that gem to bis collection. and no
tilted tho Indian firm that In case the
pearl came TO light he was anxious to
secure Il. Also was Instructed to
send one OF our men to India to help in
tho hunt for the thief or thieves. You
we're engaged on the case Of the
stolen treaty at the time. and | could