The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-11-13
By ROY L. Me CARDBLL

pered Hagar when she regained her
-omposure. There we will discuss
the plans ! have long meditated upon
since my recovery and in your alb
sence. va
Perhaps this good friend will go
with us and give us the benefit Of his
able counsel" And she turned TO the
sympathetic. eccentric English lawyer.
who had accompanied Esther from
the west. and again thanked him
brokenly for his kindness to and his
protection Of Esther.
On prison roof in faraway Cali
fornia Quabba. burning his fingers with
plumbers furnace, was receiving a
verbal castigation from Cesare. the
Italian contractor
"You a fine bum rooferv the con-
tractor was declaring scornfully. you
no good for nottin'r
Quabba shrugged his shoulders and
replied, "Ha, what you tink you get
for scab job. jewellery"
"All right, tomorrow l fire you and
hire the monkey you have. He gotta
da more brains" And the contractor
spat in disgust and threw down the
loop OF scaffold ropes he was carrying
and hobbled away.
Quabba raised his voice in sing song
protest mingling Romany expressions
with his jargon Of Italian and broken
English. and he did so with purpose.
and the purpose had its effect.
At his cell window below the caves
of the prison roof the shaved and
shorn Luke Lowell caught the gypsy
jargon.
Luke tapped three times upon the
bar mt his window. Quabba heard and
understood. He tapped three times in
reply upon the gutter.
Then, taking u bah of cord from his
breast, Quabba slipped a hacksaw from
the tools, and, peering over the roof to
note no watchful eyes observed, he
lowered the instrument of liberty to
the cell window.
In was drawn within, and then
Quabba whispered over the gutter edge
in Romany that he had rope tied to
the cord and that the other extremity
of the rope was fastened to the chin
ney.
Further directions as to where Quab-
ba would wait for the prisoner with a
change Of clothing were whispered In
the gypsy tongue. The next night was
the time appointed.
At the Powell mansion 1.-THE last
night" is duly celebrated. De Vaux is
not there, but Durand and Vivian are
with Arthur In the library plying him
with liquor and encouraging him to
wild and foolish play at cards. Du.
rand has the money for the generous
check that Arthur gave him. But the
arch crook is not content with this.
Congenitally he Is diamond thief,
and big diamonds, rare diamonds, val
liable diamonds. are his obsesslon-not
to buy them, not TO keep them. but to
steal them
Tn the cabinet in John Powell's
room is the diamond from the sky.
John Powell. whom he has snatched
from the jaws of death and made a
drug fiend of. has given Durand his
congo as physician and associate. but
ere he goes upon his way Durand, the
king of diamonds. as the thief world
knows him, VIII have the diamond.
outside. disguised as workman and
hiding In the shrubbery, Is Durand's
one faithful ally. De Vaux. the jackal.
the knave OF clubs of 'the pack"
DuraDd has tempered with Vivian.
but he does not trust her. Nor does
Durand fear Blair. nor even John Pow
ell, the millionaire. once he has the
diamond In his hands and safe away.
Durand has lived too close to them
all not to be aware that there are Ger.
tain things in the lives of the two
young Nirginians that would make
them avoid any too close inquiry into
their records.
Everybody has q past-generally n
bad one said II cynic philosopher.
What John Powell had done In the
days he was Arthur Stanley Durnnd
has not known nor cared. Whatever
1t Is, 1t Is enough that once he, Durand,
has the great diamond no legal process
| TO recover 1t will be dared.
So. while the card game for high
stakes without limit is at its height,
Durand deftly takes occasion TO silt a
sleeping powder into the glass of John
| Powell, whose tongue Is thick and
whose taste IL deadened with his In.
| diligence with wine.
The game breaks up. owing TO the
sleepy languor Of the host, who is led