Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/23

 the first-day stories and mentioned previous jewel thefts, giving numerous details of what may have happened to the two lots of gems, speculation as to what may have become of the missing Obert Goles, with details of the debate among county and city authorities as to whether or not Goles's disappearance was connected with the Wrest robbery.

Now Charles Urleigh, being a free lance, had very many questionable acquaintances among his friends in public, financial, political, up-the-bank and down-the-river acquaintances. He knew the boss pig sticker in town, for example, and a hundred moored and tripping shanty-boaters on the river. He was a frequent visitor in the little back office of a certain liquor emporium where the upper met the lower world on terms something like equal. Now he sought his most questionable friends, one after another, and listened with acute ears to their suggestions.

Speaking of diamond robberies, Urleigh's friends were reminded of many other strange things which had happened and which had never been fully explained. Suppose Goles had disappeared—was that so unusual? It was astonishing how many people knew of men, women, and girls who had suddenly vanished from sight without leaving a trace behind them—not even a reason for their going. Lost diamonds, it was suggested, were more interesting than