The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-08-08

| Miss winthrop. The stones are
taken to the bank. and upon a
later visit, when the Jewels are
once more in the box, the ruby
is missing. The stones are now
again out of the box on the table
here, and therefore the ruby
should be among them. In short,
the ruby has never been seen in
side the box-that is the crux of
the whole matter"
What sort of a magic box is ii,
then" demanded Colonel Win
throp, that a ruby will vanish
when put inside of it?"
"Oh, there's no trick or magic
about the box" laughed Poole.
Its a plain metal receptacle =
quite innocent. l assure you. The
missing ruby is not a ruby at all
At least, l should prefer to call II
a white sapphire"
"a white sapphire! Why, 1t
was as red as blood" objected
Jack. 900
Nevertheless = well, let me
tell you something first" said
Poole. His eye lifted to the
shelves of books across the room.
"One of the many pleasant MEM
cries l shall carry away from here
is that of the odd hours I spent
reading in that collection of East
ern legends which Jacks father
brought together. One of them
will be of interest to you. Cen
turtles ago the Hfndus termed the
white sapphire a ripening ruby.
and their belief was that a white
sapphire. IL left undisturbed in
its native rock long enough. would
grow or ripen into a blood-red
ruby.
"Of course the civilized world
dismissed this story with a smile;
but recent experiments have
proved that the sapphire will
change it's color. under radio
active influence.
To go back to the beginning,
the stone when Colonel Winthrop
brought il here was to all intents
ruby-literally, a red sapphire
or a white sapphire which in
its native habitata was turned by
some natural process in the rock
to an unstable red color. So it
remained. Placed in the box
among the diamonds, IL is abrupt
ly subjected to a powerful radio
active influence which during the
night causes 10 to lose it's un-
stable color and revert to white. -
But then there would be one
more diamond" interrupted Jack.
Precisely. and If Colonel Win
thrOp's memory as to the exact
number of the stones had not
gone back on him we might have
detected the mystery at the start.
The box of stones is then Civ
en- over to Jack. He puts 1t in
the pocket of his coat which
half hour later he carelessly
throws off. The case tumbles
from the pocket, and the stones
are spilled out. The white sap
phire, escaping from the influ-
ence of the box, is now subject
to the ultraviolet rays of the
sunshine, whereupon the radioac-
tivity of the box is counteracted
and the white stone speedily as
sumes its red color again. Miss
Winthrop therefore discovers
the ruby.
she puts the white sapphire
with the diamonds again in the
box and deposits the box in the
bank vault.
For two weeks the stone Is in
the box. and. naturally, when Miss
Winthrop takes me to the bank
to show me the ruby, the sap
phire is again white and indistin-
guishable from the diamonds. Ap-
parently. the impossible has hap
pened-the ruby has again been
stolen.
1T was at this point that I
took the box under examination"
went on Poole. The diamonds
and IL my theory Is correct, the
white sapphire among them -
we're left in a sealed package at
the bank. While we have been
talking I have purposely allowed
them to lie. wrapped only in the
thin tissue paper, here In the full
sunlight. The white sapphire.
therefore-ff e has not already
changed after being cut OF the
box for three days--should have
assumed It's ruby celoring again