Arizona republican., 1915-08-08


 it, disappeared in Richmond. torn from your neck by the hands of an unseen thief the night of Mrs Randolph's ball. said Abe Bloom. the gambler. "The chances are q hundred to it is still hidden in this town. Whoever stole it will want money on it. that's reasonable enough to assume. It will turn up"
 " It ith enough to make a man put a thine in hith windowth thaying 'Higheth Pritheth Paid for Big Diamondth and Eo Questionths Athkedr" remarked Mr. Ike Bloom, who lisped when he was excited And excited he was when he heard tho romantic history of the Diamond from the Sky and its price. But especially did it's price excite him.
 ." It shant thlip through my handth again if geth hold of it." he added T wouldn't lent it to the queen of Spthain." And as he said this he gave his brothers "lady friend from New York" as he called her U meaning glance.
 Let bygones be bygones," Abe Bloom snarled at his brother. wi didn't lose it on purpose I have telephoned for Tom Blake. whom I consider the smartest detec- tive in this country. He does what you pay him to do and keeps his mouth shut. If the diamond is in Richmond Blake will find it."
 In a few moments the suave and reticent MT. Blake arrived Placed in possession of
 
 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 so- ciety friends would have been shocked be- yond expression did they know she paid an occasional secret visit to the establishment of Abe Bloom, gambler!
 Meanwhile, where is the Diamond from the Sky? It is not a pearl to be cast before swine nor is it fated to remain the tinseI plaything of negro lad who is herder of swine.
 In Arthur's frayed and dirty dress suit all the dirtier for its jail stains M-. Strap McGee makes across country. cursins his luck. He pauses by pig pen to piaE .l grim and intensely practical joke on a ne- gro boy bent over the sty. Mir. Strap Mc- Gee picks up a barrel slave and applies t to the person of the bent over negro "a l. Then Mir. McGee notes the boy. in sudden pain and fright. has dropped some bau5le plaything into the swill of the swine Nfr. McGee Is not fastidious. He fishes out tae bauble.
 It is the Diamond from the Sky!
 It looks good to Mir. McGee and he fees with 1t at his best speed, followed by \ shower of rocks from the colored pig boy. bereft of the sparkling thing he found in owls nest.
 Richmond is not far away and MT Strap McGee has some loose change he won nL gaming in the Jail He proceeds to i'm oibe biding his time to dispose of the bauble hidden in his rags. But when he drops into the curio shop, opium den joss house main tained by Chinese acquaintances his tipsy vanity impels him to show the bauble to the crafty Hung Ii, priest. den keeper. and tong leader.
 It Is a fatal thing to do. for lucl, has been bad with Hung Ii and his friends The police have closed their gambling joint and shut down on opium smoking. Hung Ii be- leves that the god of the sky the great god Lung. needs propitiatng. and then he will bring back good luck in plenty . Has word of the Diamond from the Sky traveled to China and back? The efHgy Of the great god Lung is in it's sanctuary in the next room, and Lung is the god of the sky. The body of a strangIed tramp is dropped through trap door, and the dIa- mond from the sky is hung about the neck of the great god Lung!
 This night Mrs. Burton Randolph wouII a stunning go. Blair and Miss Marston arc of the little party, and Tom Blake, the de- tective. is to be their guide. A significant glance of caution and silence passes be- tween the detective and Miss Marston when they meet again
 The Chinese quarter. with its joss house. Is the first place they visit The willy Hurg 2 u wishes no visitors to the inner sanctuary of his joss, the great god Lung but Blake will not be denied. He says his friends have come especially 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 sky!
 Detective so he is. and. possessing great and evil powers in the eyes of Hung Lf. Blake and his friends are forced from the place. The ladies. Mrs Randolph again in l "s state of nerves" are sent home. and Blake. from the nearest telephone summons Abe Bloom and his brother
 Meanwhile English lawyer has arrived tt the Randolph house seeking Blair Stan ey. Determined upon his quest. the lawyer sets directions and arrives at the joss louse. Hung Lii and his confreres will have lone of the London lawyer. But the exas- 'erated Marmaduke Smythe will not be enied He says he knows the persons he s searching for inside this beastly Chi ese place.
 Here now he is. reinforced by the excited nd money proffering Abraham and Isaac Bloom and the equally urgent but elf controlled private detective Tom 'lake.
 But all the while a desperate man is limbng the fire escapes at the back of the hinese den. He has noted a curtain draped -indow behind the joss. A crash of glass heard within. The frenzed Hung Li reaks from the invaders and rushes into he sanctuary. followed by the other Chi csc. the two Blooms, the detective and tho ewildered Englishman.
 hand through the broken glass behind le idol has torn the Diamond from the Sky -om the neck and breast of the great god ung. With demoniac scream the fren- ed Hung Ii seizes a keen Chinese sword the foot of the idol and aims a swift low at the disappearing hand.