Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-02-03
looking at me. and 7 noddea.

looking at me. and I nodded.
saw Pigot's eyes flame and his
face flush with anger, for Grady's tone
was almost Insulting. For an instant
! thought that he would refuse to pro-
coed; but he controlled himself
Standing there facing me, in the fun
hight IL was possible for me to ex-
anime him much more closely than
had been possible on board the boat.
and ! looked at him with interest. He
was typically French-smooth slaven.
WIN II race scanned with little wrinkles
and very white, eyes Swallowed by
enormously bushy lashes. and close
cropped hair as white us his face. But
what attracted me most was the mouth
ii mouth at once delicate and humor-
GUS, a little large and with the lips fun
enough to betoken vigor, yet not too
nun Tor flneness. He was about 60
years or age: l guessed, and there was
ABOUT nm the air OF Il man who had
experiences, without once losing his
aplomb. Certainly he was not going to
lose il now.
The story which | have to relate"
ne began in his careful English. clip
ping ms words Il little now and then.
has to do with the theft of the famous
Mlchaelovitch diamonds. You MAY.
perhaps, remember the case"
! remembered 1T, certainly. for the
robbery had been conceived and car
RED out with such brilliancy and dar-
ing thai its etails had at once ar
the fact that the diamonds, which
formed the celebrated collection be-
longing to the Grand Duke Michael. of
Rnssia--sojourning in Paris because
uhappreclated in his native lane and
also because of the supreme attraction
of tho French capital to one of his
temperament-were valued at some
thing like 5000, 900 francs.
That theft" continued NJ. Pigot,
was accomplished In u manner at
once SO bold and so unique that we
were certain it could be the work of
a~rochard, who calls himself also the
lnVlncible'--a rascal who has given us
very great trouble, but whom we have
never been able to convict. In this case
we mad against him no direct evidence;
we subjected him to an Interrogation
and found that he had taken care to
provide a perfect alibi: so we were
compelled to release him. We knew
that 1T would be quite useless to ar
rest him unless We should find some
OF the stolen jewels in his possession.
re appeared as usual upon the boule-
wards, at the cafes, everywhere. He
laughed in our faces. For us, it was
not pleasant, but our law is strict. For
us 20 accuse a man, to arrest him, and
then to be compelled to own ourselves
ny uutllCI.
Blu we did what we could. We kept
trochard under constant surveillance:
we searched his rooms and those of
ms mistress not once but many times.
On n occasion. when he passed the
barrier at Vincennes, our agents fell
upon him and searched him, under
pretense of robbing him.
He was, understand we'll, not
ior an instant deceived. He
knew thoroughly we'll we We're
dong. for what we We're searching. He
knew also that nowhere in Europe
would he dare to attempt to sell a
single one OF those jewels. We sus-
Iected that he would attempt to bring
them to this country, and we warned
your department OF customs. For we
Knew that here he could sell all but the
very largest not only almost without
danger. bNt at Il price far greater than
he could obtain them in Europe. We
Closed every avenue to him, as we
thought-and then. all at once. he dis
appeared.
For two weeks we heard nothing
then came the story of this man Drouet.
killed by a stab on the hand. AT once
We recognized the work of Crochard.
for ne alone of living men possesses the
secret OF the poison OF the Medici. 1t is
a fearful secret. which, in his who're
life. he had used but once-and tina
upon a man who had betrayed him
M. Psgot paused and passed his hand
across his forehead.
We're at a loss to understand
connection with Drouet,''
NJ. Pigot continued. "Drouet. while a
mere hanger-on of the cafes of the bou-
levards. was not a criminal. Then came
the death of that reature Morel. in an
effort to gain possession of this cab
met, we began to understand. We
made inquiries concerning the cabinet:
we learned it's history, and the secret
or It's construction. n we arrived at
a certain conclusion. 1t was to ascer-
tain if that conclusion is correct that 1
came to America"
What is the conclusion?' aueried
! Grady. who had listened to all this with
Il manifest Impotence in strong con-
trast to my own absorbed interest.
For i had already guessed what the
conclusion was, and my pulses were
bounding with excitement.
Our theory" replied M. Pigot. with
l out the slightest acceleration of speech,
"is that the Mic~haelovitch diamonds
are concealed in this cabinet. Every
thing points to it-and we shall soon
see."
AS he spoke. he drew from his pocket
q steel gauntlet. m~arvelously like the
n Godfrey had used, and slipped It
over his right hand.
when n attempts to fathom the
secrets of L'Invincible." he said with
q smile: "one must go armored. AL
ready three men have paid with their
lives h penalty of their rashness."
'Three men!" repeated Grady. won.
deringly.
Three" and Pigot checked them off
upon his fingers. FIRST the man who
gave his name as d'Aurelle. but who
was really a blackmailer named
Drouet; second. NJ. Vantine. the con-
noisseur; and third. the creature Morel.
Vt these. the only n that really mat