The Diamond Master | Page 9

as to the tremendous find
which makes the production of all those possible?"
"Id iss der miracle, Mr. Vynne," admitted the German gravely, after a
little pause. "Dere iss someding before us as nefer vas in der vorld. I am
gonvinced!"
"Up to this moment, gentlemen, the De Beers Syndicate has controlled
the diamond market," Mr. Wynne announced, "but now, from this
moment, I control it. I hold it there, in the palm of my hand, with the
unlimited supply back of me. I am offering you an opportunity to
prevent the annihilation of the market. It rests with you. If I turn loose a
billion dollars' worth of diamonds within the year you are ruined--all of
you. You know that--it's hardly necessary to tell you. And, gentlemen, I
don't care to do it."
"What is your proposition?" queried Mr. Latham quietly. His face was
ghastly white; haggard lines, limned by amazement and realization,
were marked clearly on it. "What is your proposition?" he repeated.
"Wait a minute," interposed Mr. Solomon protestingly, and he turned to
the young man. "The Syndicate controls the market by force of a
reserve stock of ten or fifteen million dollars. Do we understand that
you have more than these ready for market now?"

Mr. Wynne stooped and lifted the small sole-leather grip which had
been unheeded on the floor. He unfastened the catch and turned the bag
upside down upon the table. When he raised it again the assembled
jewelers gazed upon a spectacle unknown and undreamed of in the
history of the world--a great, glittering heap of diamonds, flashing,
colorful, prismatic, radiant, bedazzling. They rattled like pebbles upon
the mahogany table as they slipped and slid one against another, and
then, at rest, resolved themselves into a steady, multi-colored blaze
which was almost blinding.
"Now, gentlemen, on the table before you there are about thirty million
dollars' worth of diamonds," Mr. Wynne announced calmly. "They are
all perfect, every one of them; and they're mine. I know where they
come from; you can't find out. It's none of your business. Are you
satisfied _now_?"
Mr. Latham looked, looked until his eyes seemed bursting from his
head, and then, with an inarticulate little cry, fell forward on the table
with his face on his arms. The German importer came to his feet with
one vast Teutonic oath, then sat down again; Mr. Solomon plunged his
hand into the blazing heap and laughed senselessly. The others were
silent, stunned, overcome. Mr. Wynne walked around the table and
replaced the spheres and replicas in his pocket, after which he resumed
his former position.
"I have stated my case, gentlemen," he continued quietly, very quietly.
"Now for my proposition. Briefly it is this: For a consideration I will
destroy the unlimited supply. I will bind myself to secrecy, as you must;
I will guarantee that no stone from the same source is ever offered in
the market or privately, while you gentlemen," and his manner was
emphatically deliberate, "purchase from me at one-half the carat price
you now pay _one hundred million dollars' worth of diamonds!_"
He paused. There was not a sound; no one moved.
"You may put them on the market as you may agree, slowly, thus
preventing any material fluctuation in value," he went on. "How to hold
this tremendous reserve secretly and still permit the operation of the

other diamond mines of the world is the great problem you will have to
face."
He leaned over, picked up a handful from the heap and replaced them
in the leather bag. The others he swept off into it, then snapped the
lock.
"I will give you one week to decide what you will do," he said in
conclusion. "If you accept the proposition, then six weeks from next
Thursday at three o'clock I shall expect a cash payment of ten million
dollars for a portion of the stones now cut and ready; within a year all
the diamonds will have been delivered and the transaction must be
closed." He hesitated an instant. "I'm sorry, gentlemen, if the terms
seem hard, but I think, after consideration, you will agree that I have
done you a favor by coming to you instead of going into the market and
destroying it. I will call next Thursday at three for your answer. That is
all. Good day!"
The door opened and closed behind him. A minute, two minutes, three
minutes passed and no one spoke. At last the German came to his feet
slowly with a sigh.
"Anyhow, gendlemens," he remarked, "dat young man has a hell of a
lod of diamonds, ain'd id?"
CHAPTER V
THE ASTUTE MR. BIRNES
It was a few minutes past four o'clock when Mr. Wynne strode through
the immense retail sales department of the