Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers | Page 7

rap on the glass, and why were you staring in so intently?"
"I wasn't lookin' in."
"Well, if it wasn't you, it was some one just like you. But why did you run when I raced down the street?"
"I--I don't know," and the lad began to snivel. "I--I jest ran- -that's all--'cause I see everybody else runnin', an' I thought there was a fire."
"Ha! That's a likely story! You ran because you are guilty! I'm going to hand you over to the police."
"Did he get anything, Mr. Track?" asked one of the men who had joined the jeweler in the chase.
"No, I can't say that he did. He didn't get a chance. Tom Swift was in here at the time. But this fellow was only waiting for a chance to steal, or else to aid his confederates."
"But, if he didn't take anything, I don't see how you can have him arrested," went on the man.
"On suspicion; that's how!" asserted Mr. Track. "Will some one get me a constable?"
"I wouldn't call a constable," said Tom, quietly.
"Why not?"
"Because that isn't the person who looked in your window."
"How do you know, Tom?"
"Because that person came back while you were out. I saw him."
"You saw him? Did he try to steal any of my diamonds, Tom?"
"No, I guess he doesn't need any."
"Why not?" There was wonder in the jeweler's tone.
"Why, he claims he can make all he wants."
"Make diamonds?"
"So he says."
"Why, he must be crazy!" and Mr. Track laughed.
"Perhaps he is," admitted Tom, "I'm only telling you what he says. He's the person who acted so suspiciously. He came back here, I'm telling you, while you were running down the street, and spoke to me."
"Oh, then you know him?" The jeweler's voice was suspicious.
"I didn't at first," admitted Tom. "But when he said he was Mr. Barcoe Jenks, I remembered that I had met him when I was cast away on Earthquake Island."
"And he says he can make diamonds?" asked Mr. Track.
"What did he want of you?" and the jeweler looked at Tom, quizzically.
"He wanted to have a talk with me," replied the lad, "and when he saw me in your store, he tried to attract my attention by knocking on the glass."
"That's a queer way to do," declared Mr. Track. "What did he want?"
"I don't know exactly," answered Tom, not caring to go into details just then. "But I'm sure, Mr. Track, that you've got the wrong person there. That lad never looked in the window, nor knocked on the glass."
"That's right--I didn't," asserted the captive.
The jeweler looked doubtful.
"Why did you run?" he asked.
"I told you, I thought there was a fire."
"That's right, I don't believe he's the fellow you want," put in another man. "I was standing on the corner, near White's grocery store, and I noticed this lad. That was before I heard you yelling, and saw you coming, and then I joined in the chase. I guess the man you were after got away, Track."
"He did," asserted Tom. "He came back here, a little while ago, and he ran away just now, as he heard you coming."
"Where did he go?" asked the jeweler, eagerly.
"I don't know," answered Tom. "Only you've got the wrong lad here."
"Well, perhaps I have," admitted the diamond merchant. "You can go, youngster, but next time, don't run if you're not guilty."
"I thought there was a fire," repeated the lad, as he hurriedly slipped through the crowd in the store, and disappeared down the dark street.
"Well, I guess the excitement's all over, and, anyhow, you weren't robbed, Track," said a stout man, as he left the store. The others soon followed, and Tom and the jeweler were once more alone in the shop.
"Can you tell me something about this man, Tom?" asked Mr. Track, eagerly. "So he really makes diamonds. Who is he?"
"I'd rather not tell--just now," replied the young inventor. "I don't take much stock in him, myself. I think he's visionary. He may think he has made diamonds, and he may have made some stones that look like them. I'm very skeptical."
"If you could bring me some, Tom, I could soon tell whether they were real or not. Can you?"
The lad shook his head.
"I don't expect to see Mr. Jenks again," he said. "He talked rather wildly about waiting to meet me, but that man is odd-- crazy, perhaps--and I don't imagine I'll see him. He's harmless, but he's eccentric. Well, there was quite some excitement for a time."
"I should say there was. I thought it was a plan to rob me," and the jeweler began putting away the diamond pins. In fact, the excitement so filled the minds of himself and Tom that neither of them thought any more of the object of the lad's visit, and the young inventor departed without purchasing the pin he