tare goo-et.'
'Where are they?'
'The attendants?' queried the captain. 'Two are in charge of the pavilion, which remains closed. Lausch here was very clever; he sent for me at once, meantime keeping everything under cover; and when I saw how the land lay, I ordered close mouths all around, and put up a card "Closed for repairs." Then I sent for you, and we came back here. Of course you will want to see the place.'
'The place and the people,' I said, somewhat impatiently; 'and we can't get it over too quick.'
We spent three of the long morning hours in viewing, first the case where the real gems had been, and next the shams that had taken their place; then the surroundings, and last, and one by one, the people engaged about the Lausch pavilion. They were all Viennese, speaking the English language fairly well, far better than Mr. Lausch himself; and after we had questioned them closely and carefully, we closeted ourselves together and discussed the few 'points' so far gathered, if points, upon investigation, they proved to be.
'Carl,' chuckled my friend when we were at last alone, 'one of our missions here at the great Columbian Exposition was to hunt diamond thieves – eh!'
Of course his meaning was plain to me, but I chose to differ with him; there was no better way of rousing his wits.
'Of all the expert thieves on the two continents, the only ones who will not come here will be those whose faces are in every rogues' gallery in the land,' I replied. 'It would be too much good luck to find Bob and Delbras mixed up in this deal.'
'And yet,' declared he, 'I am willing to wager that it's the work of Delbras et al. Who but he would have prepared himself with a full assortment of paste jewels. Honestly, old man, don't you agree with me?'
'Yesterday,' I replied, 'I was ready to swear that Greenback Bob and his friend Delbras were circulating, perhaps issuing, those two-dollar Government notes.'
'And what's to hinder you thinking so still, eh?'
'Only that it would be too much of a fairy story to find our work cut out for us in such a way.'
Dave threw one sturdy leg across the chair nearest him, and settled himself in his favourite attitude for an argumentative discourse.
'Young man,' he began, 'if you can find anything connected with this White City that has sprung out of the lake and the prairie that has not a touch of the Arabian Nights about it, I want to know where it is. Can you show me anything more fairylike than this fairy city, built, as it has been, in the teeth of time?'
'Oh – '
'I tell you it's all a miracle, a nineteenth-century miracle! To come down to facts, now, you and I came here expecting to find Greenback Bob, didn't we?'
'Yes, of course.'
'And we have good reason to believe that Delbras is also here. Not much miracle about that, you'll admit.'
'No,' I assented, knowing that he must reach his climax in his own way.
'No; I should say so! But here is a miracle, a regular White City miracle. I wonder if Delbras and company know that – leaving a couple of thousand of blue-coated Columbian guards out of the question, and they're bright fellows, let me tell you – there are here three hundred and odd picked detectives, a squad at every gate, and every gate and every district connected by telephone with the main office here. Let a suspicious character appear, click goes the nearest telephone, sending the man's description to headquarters, and then, click, click, click, to every district, every gate, every man, goes this same description. Oh, the crooks whose faces are known will find a warm welcome here! It's only the fine workers, who have been so successful that they are not well known, who can make hay in this place.'
'All the same,' I here submitted, 'for such fellows as Delbras and his ilk, who know the world on both continents, this is a promising field, in spite of the telephone system and the detectives in plain clothes at every gate.'
'As how?'
'To the man who can speak several tongues, and is an adept at disguise, this Fair, with its citizens from every clime, will be a better place for concealment than London, Paris, and New York rolled into one.'
Dave gave utterance to a long, low whistle, and jerked himself to an upright position.
'You're right again!' he cried. 'Come, let's get down to business. What's your idea about this robbery?'
'About the same as yours, I fancy.'
'And what's that?'
I took out my notebook, wherein I had jotted down the most important items of testimony elicited from the Lausch attendants, saying:
'Get out your notes, Dave; let's see how they agree.' Dave produced his own briefer notes, and I began running my finger slowly down the pages.
'It was done during the day.'
'Of course!' impatiently.
'And slowly – that is, a little at a time.'
'How slowly?'
'Well, for instance, Lausch himself told of a young woman who was much taken with the pink topaz display – you remember?'
'Yes;' beginning to smile behind his book.
'He said that she wore a coat with a deep cape, and that she rested one arm upon the case.'
'Well, I did wonder what the woman's dress had to do with it. 'Gad, but you questioned those people until I began to feel sorry for them. What figure, now, is the dress likely to cut?'
I laughed.
'In this case let us suppose that the young woman is one of the gang.'
'Oh!'
'And let us fancy that while she peered at the pink topaz – you remember Lausch told us that she excused her nearness by saying that she was very near-sighted?'
'That's so.'
'Well, while looking at the gems, with her face bent over the case, one arm upon the edge, and with the voluminous cape outspread, what is to prevent her using the other hand and arm to draw a diamond point slowly and heavily along the glass, close to the metal?'
'By Jove! what indeed?'
'And why may not this act be repeated, three or four times, say, by the same woman, slightly changed as to dress, as she could have been? Lausch, you recall, accosted her.'
'Yes.'
When Dave grew laconic I knew him to be almost convinced.
'You will recall how each of the attendants remembered one or more instances of persons lingering long near the gems, or crowding so close as to attract the attention of some of them.'
'Umph!'
'And Lausch distinctly remembered how a good-natured guard came to his aid just as he was about to close his exhibits, and stood with his back to the case, and his arms carelessly outspread upon the edge chaffing with a group of late sight-seers, and keeping them from annoying him (Lausch) while he made things secure. Now I don't say that it was done, but I can see how that guard might have played into the hands of the gang, who might have been at hand three or four strong.
