Page:Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers.djvu/188

178 "The diamond makers!" whispered Tom, hoarsely, pointing to several men grouped about a number of strange machines.

"Yes—the very place where I was," answered Mr. Jenks, "and there is the apparatus—the steel box—from which the diamonds are taken—now to see how they make them."

Fascinated, the adventurers looked into the cave. The men there were unaware of the presence of our friends, and were busily engaged. Some attended to the grinding machine, the roar and clatter of which made it possible for Tom and the others to talk and move about without being overheard. Into this machine certain ingredients were put, and they were then pulverized, and taken out in powdery form.

The power to run the mixing machine was a gasoline motor, which chug-chugged away in one corner of the cave.

As the powder was taken out, other men fashioned it into small balls, which were put on a pan, and into a sort of oven, that was heated by a gasoline stove.

"Is that how they make the diamonds?" asked Mr. Damon.

"That is evidently the first step," said Mr. Jenks. "Those balls of powdered chemicals are