adjacent to these mountains."
He paused a moment. "This is all a matter of record."

His employer was leaning forward in his chair, gripping the arms
fiercely as he stared at him.

"Do you believe it possible, Mr. Czenki," he asked deliberately,
"that Mr. Wynne has found these diamond fields?"

The expert shrugged his slender shoulders.

"It is possible, of course," he replied. "From time to time great
sums of money have been spent in searching for them, so--" He waved
his hand and was silent.

"Zo you see, Laadham," Mr. Schultze interpolated, "ve don'd know
anyding much. Ve _know_ der African fields, und der Australian
fields, und der Brazilian fields, und der fields in India, bud ve
_don'd_ know if new fields haf been found. By der time you haf lived
so long as me you won't know any more as I do."

There was silence for a long time. Mr. Czenki sat with impassive
face, and his hands at rest on the arms of the chair. At last he
spoke:

"If you'll pardon me, Mr. Latham, I may suggest another possibility."

"_Vas iss?_" demanded Mr. Schultze quickly.

"Did you ever hear of the French scientist, Charles Friedel?" Mr.
Czenki asked, addressing Mr. Latham.

"Never, no."

"Well, this idea has occurred to me. Some years ago he discovered two
or three small diamonds in a meteor. We may safely assume, from the
fact that there were diamonds in one meteor, that there may be
diamonds in other meteors, therefore--"

The German importer anticipated his line of thought and arose with a
guttural burst of Teutonic expletives.

"Therefore," the expert went on steadily, "is it not possible that
Mr. Wynne has stumbled upon a huge deposit of diamonds in some
meteoric substance some place in this country? A meteor may have
fallen anywhere, of course, and it may have been only two months
ago, or it may have been two thousand years ago. It may even be
buried in his cellar."

The huge German nodded his head vigorously, with sparkling eyes.

"It seems extremely probable that if diamond fields had been
discovered in the Appalachian Range," Mr. Czenki went on, "it would
have become public in spite of every effort to prevent it; whereas,
it is possible that a meteor containing diamonds might have been
hidden away easily; and, also, the production of diamonds from such
a source in this country would not make it necessary for the diamonds
to pass through the Custom House. Is it clear, sir?"

"Why, it's absurd, fantast