store and went to the same counter. She wanted to look at some new style rings. While the clerk was producing a couple of trays, Dick, who was close by, saw her place her hand under the bottom ledge of the showcase and run it along there about a foot, an action the office boy thought strange. When she removed her hand she fumbled for her pocket. A moment or two later she was looking at the rings the clerk placed before her. At that juncture the manager called Dick and sent him down the block with a message. As he was coming back he saw the man who had been suspected of taking the diamond standing near the curb about a hundred yards from the store. He seemed to be waiting for some one.

Down the street came the lady whom Dick had left examining the rings. She went directly up to the man and handed him something. Dick saw him hold the article up and pick at it. In another moment he tossed something away and put his finger and thumb into his vest pocket, then the couple walked away. The meeting of these two persons struck Dick as having a suspicious bearing on the missing diamond, though just what the connection was he could not say. He looked at the place where he had seen the man toss what the woman had handed him and saw a small, dark object. He went and picked it up. It proved to be a wad of chewing gum. Dick was disappointed with his discovery and was about to drop it when he noticed a deep impression in it that looked like the imprint of a diamond.

Then the truth came to his bright mind like a flash of inspiration. The missing diamond had been stuck in the gum. Still that didn't explain to his mind how the diamond had got there, or how the lady who had been in the store half an hour after the man had come in possession of the diamond. The matter puzzled him greatly, but of one thing he was confident, and that was that the missing diamond was now in the man's pocket. Under such circumstances he believed that it was his duty to follow the pair. The couple turned into Nassau street and walked leisurely northward. Dick kept on behind them in a rather doubtful frame of mind. They kept straight on, passing the Tribune Building and the other newspaper offices of the Row, and so on under the Brooklyn Bridge entrance to the corner of North William, a narrow and short street that cuts into Park Row at that point. They crossed the head of this street and walked into a well-known pawnshop that stood there.

"I'll bet the man is going to pawn that diamond," thought Dick. "Well, I'm going to see if he is."

He immediately followed them into the public room. He found them standing before the long counter. A clerk came up to them.

"How much will you advance me for a month on that diamond?" asked the man, taking the unset stone out of his pocket and laying it down on the counter.

The size of the diamond corresponded with the missing one, and on the spur of the moment Dick glided to the counter and grabbed it before the clerk's fingers touched it.

"I don't think this shop will advance you a dollar on a stolen diamond," he said, stepping back defiantly, ready to maintain his employer's claim to the stone.

The woman gave a stifled exclamation and looked frightened.

"Give me that diamond!" cried the man.

"No, sir. Will you send for a policeman to settle this matter?" said Dick to the clerk.

"Do you want me to send for an officer?" the clerk asked the man.

"No; I can settle my own business without a cop butting into it," replied the man savagely.

"Call an officer for me, then," said Dick. "I accuse this man of stealing the diamond he asked you to fix a price on."

"How dare you call me a thief!" roared the man.

"Because that's what you are," answered Dick defiantly.

Customers coming into the pawnshop stopped to see what was going on. As the case stood, all the advantage lay with Dick, for he had the article in dispute, and possession is nine points of the law. As the racket was highly undesirable in the pawnshop, the clerk decided to telephone for a policeman to come and straighten things out, since neither Dick nor the man showed any signs of giving in. The man himself realized that things were growing desperate. The lady said something to him in a low tone, but he shook his head impatiently. Evidently somebody had told a policeman of the case, for just at this time an officer appeared.

CHAPTER V.—Dick Carries His Point.

"Well, what's the trouble here?" asked the officer.

"The trouble is that man stole a five-carat unset diamond from our store and came here to pawn it. I followed him and got it away from him. I expect the manager of the store here any moment so I want that man detained till he comes," said Dick.

"It's a lie. The diamond is my property," said the accused wrathfully.

"He brought a lady with him and she has just run away," said Dick. "That looks suspicious."

"She was frightened by the trouble that you raised, you young imp."

The policeman turned to the head clerk and asked for the facts as far as he knew them. The chief clerk told the officer all that had happened from the moment the parties to the dispute made their appearance.

"This boy has the diamond, then?" said the policeman.

"He has," answered the pawn clerk.

"Hand it to me, young man."

Dick took it out of his pocket and turned it over to the officer.

"You charge this man with the theft of the stone from your store?"

"I do."

"Did you see him take it?"

"I did not."

"Then how do you know he stole it?"

"Because circumstances point towards him."

"What do you mean by circumstances?"

Dick explained that the accused had called at the store and asked to be shown some diamonds. A tray of the stones had been submitted to his inspection under the eyes of the salesman. He looked over quite a number, and finally said the prices were too high for him to pay. Then he started to leave, but the salesman called him back because he noticed that one of the diamonds was missing. The man finally submitted to a search in the manager's office, and the diamond not being found on him, he was allowed to go.

"You see," said the accused, brightening up, "there is no evidence against me."

"You admit, then, you were in our store?" said Dick quickly.

"Yes, I never denied the fact."

"Is that so?" returned the boy. "A few minutes ago you said before this clerk that you had not been in any store this morning. Isn't that a fact?" added Dick, turning to the head clerk.

"Yes, he did say that," admitted the clerk.

"There you are," said Dick triumphantly.

"I couldn't have said such a thing," protested the man. "At any rate, you have shown that I didn't steal the diamond from your store."

"I have merely admitted that I did not see you take the stone. You'll have to explain how you came to have the missing stone in your possession when you came here to pawn it."

"That stone belongs to the lady who was with me. It never came out of your store."

"All right. When the manager arrives he will know the stone."

"I don't care what he will have to say about it. The stone belongs to the lady."

"You have been claiming it as your own right along."

"Well, what's hers is mine, in a way."

"Is she your wife?"

"It's none of your business whether she is or not."

"She did not claim the stone from the time I grabbed it till she ran away. If it was her property, I should think she would have put up a big kick."

"Where is the store you claim to be connected with?" asked the policeman.

"It's at No. — John street. Mr. Roger Bacon is the proprietor."

At that moment the manager of the store entered with the diamond salesman. Both of them immediately identified the accused as the man who had visited the store an hour or more since, and the