W HEN Denton, to his infinite disgust, saw his scheme foiled by the return of Oliver and Bundy to the inn at Kelso, he was strongly tempted to go back also. But prudence withheld him. It was by no means certain that he had been recognized. Very probably Bundy really went back on account of some slight matter which he had forgotten.

Denton was of opinion that his visit to Kelso was not connected with the interest of his employer. Therefore he decided to return to Chicago and await the reappearance of Oliver and Bundy. Undoubtedly they would return to the same hotel where they had been stopping.

By the time he took his seat in the car he was in quite a philosophical frame of mind, and reconciled to the turn that events had taken.

It would have been well for Mr. Denton if he had become involved in no new adventures, but his lucky star was not in the ascendant.

He took a seat beside a stout, red-haired, coarse-featured man, with a mottled complexion, who might have been a butcher or a returned miner, but would hardly be taken for a "gentleman and a scholar." Yet there was something about this man that charmed and fascinated Denton. Not to keep the reader in suspense, it was an enormous diamond breastpin which he wore conspicuously in his shirt-front. Denton knew something about diamonds, and to his practised eyes it seemed that the pin was worth at least five thousand dollars. He only ventured to glance furtively at it, lest he should excite suspicion.

The stout man proved to be sociable.

"Fine mornin\'," he remarked.

"It is, indeed," said Denton, who had no objection to cultivating the acquaintance of the possessor of such a gem. "Pleasant for travelling."

"Yes, so \'tis. Speakin\' of travelling I\'ve travelled some in my time."

"Indeed," commented Denton.

"Yes, I\'ve just come from Californy."

"Been at the mines?"

"Well, not exactly. When I fust went out I mined a little, but it didn\'t pay; so I set up a liquor saloon in the minin\' deestrict, an\' that paid."

"I suppose it did."

"Of course it did. You see, them fellers got dry mighty easy, and they\'d pay anything for a drink. When they hadn\'t silver, I took gold-dust, an\' that way I got paid better."

"You must have made money," said Denton, getting more and more interested.

"You bet I did. Why, they used to call me the Rich Red-head. Hallo! why, you\'re a red-head, too!"

Denton was about to disclaim the imputation, when he chanced to think of his red wig, and answered, with a smile:

"Queer, isn\'t it, that two red-heads should come together?"

"Your hair\'s redder than mine," said the stout man with a critical glance.

"Perhaps it is," said Denton, who was not sensitive, since the hair belonged to a wig. "So you became rich?"

"I went to California without fifty dollars in my pocket," said the other complacently. "Now I can afford to wear this," and he pointed to the diamond.

"Dear me! why, what a splendid diamond!" exclaimed Denton, as if he saw it for the first time.

"It\'s a smasher, isn\'t it!" said the stout man proudly.

"May I ask where you got it?"

"I bought it of a poor cuss that drunk hisself to death. Gave a thousand dollars for it!"

"Why, it must be worth more!" said Denton almost involuntarily.

"Of course \'tis. It\'s worth three thousand easy."

And two thousand on top of that, thought Denton. He doesn\'t know the value of it. "How long have you had it?" he enquired.

"Risin\' six months."

"It\'s a beautiful thing," said Denton. "Are you going to stop in Chicago, may I ask?"

"Maybe I\'ll stop a day, but I guess not. I live in Vermont—that is, I was raised there. I\'m goin\' back to astonish the natives. When I left there I was a poor man, without money or credit. Then nobody noticed me. I guess they will now," and he slapped his pockets significantly.

"Money makes the man," said Denton philosophically.

"So it does, so it does!" answered the stranger. Then, with a loud laugh at his own wit, he added: "And man makes the money, too, I guess. Ho, ho!"

Denton laughed as if he thought the joke a capital one.

"By George, I never said a better thing!" said the stout man, apparently amazed at h............