have not taken me completely into your confidence in this matter. I
mean," he added hastily, "that beyond a mere hint of their value I
know nothing whatever about the diamonds which Mr. Wynne had in the
gripsack. I gathered, however, that they were worth a large sum of
money--perhaps, even a million dollars?"

"Yah, a million dollars ad leasd," remarked Mr. Schultze grimly.

"Thank you," and the detective smiled shrewdly. "Your instructions
were to find where he got them. If there had been a theft of a
million dollars' worth of diamonds anywhere in this world, I would
have known it; so I took steps to examine the Custom House records
of this and other cities to see if there had been an unusual shipment
to Mr. Wynne, or to any one else outside of the diamond dealers,
thinking this might give me a clew."

"And what was the result?" demanded Mr. Latham quickly.

"My agents have covered all the Atlantic ports and they did not come
in through the Custom House," replied Mr. Birnes. "I have not heard
from the western agents as yet, but my opinion is--is that they were
perhaps smuggled in. Smuggling, after all, is simple with the
thousands of miles of unguarded coasts of this country. I don't know
this, of course; I advance it merely as a possibility."

Mr. Latham turned to Mr. Schultze and Mr. Czenki with a triumphant
smile. Diamonds in meteors! Tommyrot!

"Of course," the detective resumed, "the whole investigation centers
about this man Wynne. He has been under the eyes of my agents as no