“That’s right—­I didn’t,” asserted the captive.

The jeweler looked doubtful.

“Why did you run?” he asked.

“I told you, I thought there was a fire.”

“That’s right, I don’t believe he’s the fellow you want,” put in another man.  “I was standing on the corner, near White’s grocery store, and I noticed this lad.  That was before I heard you yelling, and saw you coming, and then I joined in the chase.  I guess the man you were after got away, Track.”

“He did,” asserted Tom.  “He came back here, a little while ago, and he ran away just now, as he heard you coming.”

“Where did he go?” asked the jeweler, eagerly.

“I don’t know,” answered Tom.  “Only you’ve got the wrong lad here.”

“Well, perhaps I have,” admitted the diamond merchant.  “You can go, youngster, but next time, don’t run if you’re not guilty.”

“I thought there was a fire,” repeated the lad, as he hurriedly slipped through the crowd in the store, and disappeared down the dark street.

“Well, I guess the excitement’s all over, and, anyhow, you weren’t robbed, Track,” said a stout man, as he left the store.  The others soon followed, and Tom and the jeweler were once more alone in the shop.

“Can you tell me something about this man, Tom?” asked Mr. Track, eagerly.  “So he really makes diamonds.  Who is he?”

“I’d rather not tell—­just now,” replied the young inventor.  “I don’t take much stock in him, myself.  I think he’s visionary.  He may think he has made diamonds, and he may have made some stones that look like them.  I’m very skeptical.”

“If you could bring me some, Tom, I could soon tell whether they were real or not.  Can you?”

The lad shook his head.

“I don’t expect to see Mr. Jenks again,” he said.  “He talked rather wildly about waiting to meet me, but that man is odd—­crazy, perhaps—­and I don’t imagine I’ll see him.  He’s harmless,but he’s eccentric.  Well, there was quite some excitement for a time.”

“I should say there was.  I thought it was a plan to rob me,” and the jeweler began putting away the diamond pins.  In fact, the excitement so filled the minds of himself and Tom that neither of them thought any more of the object of the lad’s visit, and the young inventor departed without purchasing the pin he had come after.

It was not until he was out on the street, walking toward his home, that the matter came back to his mind.

“I declare!” he exclaimed.  “I didn’t get that pin for Mary, after all!  Well, never mind, I have a week until her birthday, and I can get it to-morrow.”

He walked rapidly toward home, for the weather looked threatening, and Tom had no umbrella.  He was musing on the happenings of the evening when he reached his house.  His father was out, as was Garret Jackson, the engineer; and Mrs. Baggert, the housekeeper, was entertaining a lady in the sitting-room, so, as Tom was rather tired, he went directly to his own room, and, a little later got into bed.