Page:Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers.djvu/182



" that noise?" asked Tom, as their guide flashed the lantern to show them the way.

"That's the men getting ready to make diamonds, I guess," was the answer. "You see it takes quite a while to get the stuff ready. I don't know what they use—they never tell me any of their secrets."

"Oh, I know the ingredients well enough," said Mr. Jenks, "but I don't know the secret of how they apply the terrific heat and pressure necessary to fuse the materials into diamonds."

"Well, you'll soon know," declared Bill Renshaw. "Of course it isn't always successful. I've known 'em to try half a dozen times before they got any diamonds big enough to satisfy 'em. They gave me some of the small ones when I asked for my wages."

"How did you come to get in with these men?" asked Tom, curious to understand how a person seemingly as honest as Renshaw