ever found in this country."

Mr. Latham seemed surprised.

"Why, you astonish me," he remarked.

"Vait a minute und he'll astonish you some more," Mr. Schultze put in
confidently. "Vere else in der United States haf diamonds been
found, Czenki?"

"In California, in North Carolina, and in Hall County, Georgia,"
replied the expert readily. "There is good ground for the belief
that the stone found at Richmond had been washed down from the
mountains farther in the interior, and, if this is true, there is a
substantial basis for the scientific hypothesis that diamond fields
lie somewhere in the Appalachian Range, because the diamonds found in
both North Carolina and Georgia were 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.