The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-12-08
THE
DIAMOND FROM
THE SKY
Continued from Second Page


Then the English lawyer had called
at the Powell mansion seeking further
information and. learning here that the
injured Mr.. Powell was so far recover
ed that his friends had taken him TO
the circus. had gone thither.
He arrived, as he usually arrived any
where in bewildering America. too
late The circus performance was end
ing in tragedy and panic. and the fee
ing. fighting. frenZied men that poured
out from the pandemonium within
bowled the English lawyer over and
trampled upon him. When he recover
ed from the excitement and jostlin2
the police were in possession and the
place deserted except by the disor
gained employees.
The protection of the box had pre-
served Arthur and his party from in
fury. The watehful Quabba had drawn
Esther aside at the first outbreak OF
the panic and the riot A slash in the
canvas walls of the tent had given
Quabba and Esther egress to safety,
and Quabba had led his daZed young
mistress away.
After Arthur had been conveyed by
Durand and the others to their waiting
motorcar, Arthur, through excitement
and drugs, collapsed. But he revived
new mansion, and demanded that
Esther be sought for.
81 am not crazyr' he vehemently de-
clared. 81 saw Esther there, and |
want you to bring me to herr
Nov, calm yourself, Mr.. Powell
said Durand soothingly. THE excite
ment which you have witnessed has
brought on another attack of this re-
current hallucination. A man cannot
suffer conclusion of the brain and 9th
er injuries, as you have, and hope to
escape serious mental as well as physi
cal reactions. There, there! We must
give you something to quiet your
And the hypocritical and unscrupu-
lous swindler administered a liberal
dose of the drug that he had permitted
Arthur to become secretly. as Arthur
thought, addicted to.
Vivian added her Establishments to
the soothing hypocrisies of Durand.
and De Vaux, the jackal, kept up a
murmur Of feigned concern and sym
pathy. Only Blair stood aloof. These
ways were not his, but Blair coveted
the power of the Powell millions, which
Arthurs incapacity placed him in posi-
ton to administer, and SO he gave his
negative aid to the despicable plot to
ruin Arthur bodily, mentally, spiritual
ly and financially.
By the drug and the power of sugges-
ton the conspirators succeeded in inn
pressing Arthur again that his seeing
Esther had been an illusion of his dis
ordered mind. They further Gained
him by convincing him there had been
an accident at the circus that had
caused excitement, but the triple trag-
edy he had witnessed was also a fig
ment Of his hysteria.
Guarded as Arthur was and suppned
with soul and body destroying drugs
it was easy for the cabal to keep news
papers, visitors and other sources of in
formation from aim. Even his private
secretary had been sent by Blair as a
manager of distant properties, so that
Arthur might by no chance gain any
confirmation of the presence of Esther
I'm Los Angeles.
It. was not wholly easy to convince
Arthur, even under these conditions,
though he was weak willed and his
physical strength only returned to him
In measure. But to keep him from
thinking Durand and the others incit-
ed him to one folly after another as his
strength came back to some degree.
Already they arranged for tallyho
party to the races on the morrow. They
feared to go too far in their efforts to
drive Esther from Los Angeles. Their
efforts were confined to keeping Ar
thur separated from her, to augment
his fear of complete mental collapse
under the threat of the recurrent hal
lucinations which they endeavored to
convince him his encounters with Es-
Their were
On the other hand, the conspirators
knew Esther's high spirit. They hoped
she would become discouraged and per-
haps Disguised at Arthur's eccentric
treatment of her-the cause of which
she was not likely to suspect-and re-
turn to Richmond and Hagar.
But Esther was resolved upon solving
the strange mystery Of Arthur's con-
duct. At each encounter since they
had been parted in the mining town of
Mammoth just before he was so griev-
ously injured he had been delighted
at sight of her. and then some strange