The Ocala evening star., 1915-09-02
THE
DIAMOND FROM
THE SKY
Continued from Page Two)

NDAhAA b'AAas ~-AAA -AAN LlfbAAAs AAAH -sAAAl-
bier The chances are a hundred TO
one it Is still hidden In this town
Whoever stole it will want money on
it. That's reasonable enough to as
sumo. Ii will turn up
ut ith enough To make a man put a
thine I'm hith windowth thaying High
eth Pritheth Paid For Big DiamOndth
and No Questionths Affixed remark
ell Mr.. Ike Bloom, who lisped when he
was excited, and excited he was when
he heard the romantic history OF the
diamond from the sky and its price
But especially did its price excite him.
1T shan't thlip through my handth
again II 1 get hold Of it, he added
Il wouldn't lent IL to the queen OF
ThpaIn." And as he said this he gave
his brothers lady friend from New
York, as he called her, a meaning
glance.
Let bygones be bygonesT' Abe
Bloom snarled at his brother "Vi
didn't lose 1t on purpose. / have tele-
phoned for Tom Blake. whom / con-
slider the smartest detective I'm this
country. He does what you pay him
to do and keeps his mouth shut II
the diamond Is in Richmond Blake will
find it"
In few moments the suave and ret
icent Mr.. Blake arrived. Placed in pos
session OF all the facts the Blooms and
Vivian could give him, he remarked
that he would do his best, and the first
and last meeting of the syndicate TO
find the diamond from the sky broke
up and the detective departed
He was followed shortly afterward
by Miss Marston of New York. whose
Richmond society friends would have
been shocked beyond expression did
they know she paid an occasional Sc
cret visit TO the establishment Of Abe
Bloom.
Meanwhile where is the diamond
from the sky? 1t Is not a pearl to be
cast before swine, nor is IL fated to
remain the tinsel plaything of a negro
lad who is herder OF swine.
In the frayed and dirty dress suit,
all the dirtier for its jail stains, Mr.
Strap MCGEE makes across country,
cursing his luck. He pauses by a pig
pen to play a grim and intensely prac-
tical joke on a negro boy bent over
the sty. Mr.. Strap MCGEE picks up a
barrel stave and applies it to the per-
son Of the bent over negro lad.
Then Mr.. MCGEE notes the boy, in
sudden pain and fright, has dropped
some bauble plaything into the swin OF
the swine. Mr.. MCGEE is not fastidi-
Gus. He fishes out the bauble.
1t Is the diamond from the skyl
And 1t looks good to Mr.. MCGEE, and
he fees with It at his best speed, fol-
lowed by a shower OF rocks from the
colored pig boy, bereft OF the sparkling
thing he found In an owls nest.
Richmond is not far away, and Mr..
Strap MCGEE has some loose change
he won at gaming I'm the jail. He pro-
ceeds to imbibe, biding his time to dis
pose OF the bauble hidden I'm his rags.
But when he drops into the curio
shop, opium den joss house maintained
by Chinese acquaintances, his tipsy
vanity impels him to show the bauble
to the crafty Hung Ia, priest. den
keeper and tong leader.
1t is fatal thing TO do, for luck has
been bad with Hung Ii and his friends.
The police have closed their gambling
joint and shut down on opium smok-
ing. Hung Ii believes that the god of
the sky, the great god Lung. needs
propltiating, and then he will bring
back good luck In plenty.
Has word from the diamond from
the sky Travelled to China and back? !?
The efflgy OF the great god Lung is I'm
its sanctuary in the next room, and
Lung Is the god OF the sky. The body
OF a strangled tramp is dropped through
a trap door, and the diamond frOm.the
sky is hung about the neck OF the great
god Lung.
This night Mrs. Burton Randolph
would a Summing go. Blair and Miss
Marston are all the little parts, and
Tom Blake, the detective, Is to be their
guide. A significant glance OF caution
and silence passes between the de-
tective and Miss Marston when they
meet again.
The Chinese quarter, with its joss
house, is the first place they visit. The
willy Hung Ii wishes no visitors to the
inner sanctuary of his joss, the great
god Lung, but Blake will not be de-
MED.
He says his friends have come espe-
cially to burn incense for good luck
before the great god Lung. And so
they enter the sanctuary and behold
on the breast OF Lung the diamond
from the skyi
Detective as he is, and, possessing
great and evil powers in the eyes OF
Hung Ii. Blake and his friends are
forced from the place. The ladies.
Mrs. Randolph again I'm a ''state Of
nerves. are sent home, and Blake
from the nearest telephone summons
Abe Bloom and his brother.
Meanwhile an English lawyer has ar
rived at the Randolph house seeking
Blair Stanley. Determined upon his
quest, the lawyer gets directions and
arrives at the joss house. Hung IA
and his confreres will have none OF
the London lawyer.
But the exasperated Marmaduke
Smythe will not be denied He says
he knows the persons he Is searching
for are inside this beastly Chinese
place.
Here now he Is, REINFORCED by the
excited and mopev DrOffering Abraham
and Isaac Bloom and the equally Cr