hat I'm looking for. It's been traced to him,
though--has he shown any of you ladies a large diamond?"

"No," said Mrs. Blough, quite tartly, "and none of us would have
believed it of him, either."

"I suppose not," said the officer, his face softening a little. "I've
seen plenty of such cases before, though. Besides, it isn't my first
call on Putchett--not by several."

Mrs. Blough walked indignantly away, but, true to her nature, she
quickly repeated her news to her neighbors.

"He's coming to!" shouted the captain, turning Mr. Putchett on his back
and attempting to provoke respiration. The officer was by his side in a
moment. Mr. Putchett's eyes had closed naturally, the captain said, and
his lips had moved. Suddenly the stranger laid a hand on the collar of
the insensible man, and disclosed a cord about his neck.

"Captain," said the officer, in a voice very low, but hurried and
trembling with excitement, "Putchett's had a very narrow escape, and I
hate to trouble him, but I must do my duty. There's been a five thousand
dollar diamond traced to him. He advanced money on it, knowing it was
stolen. I've searched his property and can't find it, but I'll bet a
thousand it's on that string around his neck--that's Putchett all over.
Now, you let me take it, and I'll let him alone; nobody else need know
what's happened. He seems to have behaved himself here, judging by the
good opinion folks have of him, and he deserves to have a chance which
he won't get if I take him to jail."

The women had comprehended, from the look of the stranger and the
captain, that something unusual was going on, and they had crowded
nearer and nearer, until they heard the officer's last words.

"You're a dreadful, hateful man!" exclaimed little Alice.

The officer winced.

"Hush, daughter," said Alice's mother; then she said: "Let him take it,
captain; it's too awful to think of a man's going right to prison from
the gates of death."

The officer did not wait for further permission, but hastily opened the
bathing-dress of the still insensible figure.

Suddenly the officer started back with an oath, and the people saw,
fastened to a string and lying over Mr. Putchett's heart, a small
scallop-shell, variegated with pink and yellow spots.

"It's one I gave him when I first came here, because he couldn't find
any," sobbed little Alice.

The officer, seeming suddenly to imagine that the gem might be secreted
in the hollow of the shell