“I did not want to agree to this, but they insisted, and I gave in, foolishly perhaps.  At any rate I was blindfolded one night, placed in a wagon, and we drove off into the mountains.  After traveling for some distance I was led, still blindfolded, up a steep trail.

“When the bandage was taken off my eyes I saw that I was in a large cave.  The men were with me, and they apologized for the necessity that caused them to blindfold me.  They said they were ready to proceed with the making of diamonds, but I must promise not to seek to discover the secret until they gave me permission, nor was I to attempt to leave the cave.  I had to agree.

“Next they demanded that I give them a large sum, which I had promised when they showed me, conclusively, that they could make diamonds.  I refused to do this until I had seen some of the precious stones, and they agreed that this was fair, but said I would have to wait a few days.

“Well, I waited, and, all that while, I was virtually a prisoner in the cave.  All I could learn was that it was in the midst of a great range, near the top, and that one of the peaks was called Phantom Mountain.  Why, I did not learn until later.

“At last one night, during a terrific thunder storm, the leader of the diamond makers—­Folwell—­announced that I could now see the stones made.  The men had been preparing their chemicals for some days previous.  I was taken into a small chamber of the cave, and there saw quite a complicated apparatus.  Part of it was a great steel box, with a lever on it.

“We will let you make some diamonds for yourself,” Folwell said to me, and he directed me to pull the lever of the box, at a certain signal.  The signal came, just as a terrific crash of thunder shook the very mountain inside of which we were.  The box of steel got red-hot, and when it cooled off it was opened, and was given a handful of white stones.”

“Were they diamonds?” asked Tom, eagerly.

Mr. Jenks held out one hand.  In the palm glittered a large stone—­ostensibly a diamond.  In the rays of the moon it showed all the colors of the rainbow—­a beautiful gem.  “That is one of the stones I made—­or rather that I supposed I had made,” went on Mr. Jenks.  “It is one of several I have, but they have not all been cut and polished as has this one.

“Naturally I was much impressed by what I saw, and, after I had made certain tests which convinced me that the stones in the steel box were diamonds, I paid over the money as I had promised.  That was my undoing.”

“How?”

“As soon as the men got the cash, they had no further use for me.  The next I remember is eating a rude meal, while we discussed the future of making diamonds.  I knew nothing more until I found myself back in the small hotel at Indian Ridge, whence I had gone some time previous, with the men, to the cave in the mountain.”

“What happened?” asked Tom, much surprised by the unexpected outcome of the affair.  “I had been tricked, that was all!  As soon as the men had my money they had no further use for me.  They did not want me to learn the secret of their diamond making, and they drugged me, carried me away from the cave, and left me in the hotel.”