Arthur's first though was to employ the means he had at hand in the finding of the train robbers' stolen plunder, to aid Esther and his gypsy mother. Then he would save Stanley Hall from the hands of strangers. He resolved to entrust his affairs to Tom Blake, the Richmond detective. Arthur wired Blake ample funds and full instructions. In a few hours he received a satisfactory reply. But it was a bitter though to the supposed heir of the Stanleys that even in going to the rescue of Esther and his mother he was using means not rightfully his. He resolved to make every effort to found his own fortune and refund with interest. Meanwhile, Esther, having assured herself that Hagar was provided for in the sanitarium, and that, no matter what move Mrs. Stanley might make, the gypsy's woman cure would go on, left Richmond in the company of Quabba. She she felt sure that Arthur was prospering in far California. Mrs. Stanley remained cool in the face of the girl's disappearance, though Blair raged and fumed. All Fairfax turned out at the auction of Stanley Hall. No one locally interested had the means to purchase the place an the Stanleys had not expected competitive bidding. When Tom Blake, who also had come down from Richmond, asked that the house and furnishings be offered as a whole, and tendered an opening bid of $2,000, Mrs. Stanley and Blair bid desperately. Their limit was soon reached. The old family estate went for $20,000 to Blake, who admitted that he was acting for an unknown client. The Stanleys, too chagrined to make themselves agreeable, did not return with Mrs. Randolph to Richmond. Luke Lovell, who had become an illicit whiskey peddler, in passing an adobe hut in Lower California, saw the diamond from the sky dangling from the neck of an Indian baby. The necklace was only a bit of glass and tinsel to the sodden Indian father, and he gladly bartered it for whiskey to the eager gypsy. Luke and his companion pushed on toward Santa Barbara. Arthur Stanley, alias "John Powell," had fallen into the hands of oil sharks. All that remained of the outlaw plunder he had invested in the worthless Good Hope wells, and he is now penniless. "I'm from Pennsylvania," confided Jack Wilson, the foreman. "I believe if we torpedoed the big well we'd start the oil. The shysters are coming to take the property away from you because we didn't strike oil. So, let's do something desperate, boss; let's torpedo the big well!" "John Powell" agreed. As a result of the explosion there arose a geyser of mud and a spuming fountain of roaring oil and gas. "John Powell" was a millionaire. The evening that his associates feted and banqueted "John Powell," oil magnate, Vivian Marston dined with an elderly admirer at the same restaurant. The adventuress' eyes were fixed upon the young man. Where had she seen this lauded favorite of fortune before? The stranger held a telegram in his hand, which read: "Esther Stanley has left for parts unknown. Tom Blake." The next morning, Luke Lovell and his pal stood looking down over the paradise of Santa Barbara to the bay. Luke's eyes were fixed on a great, white yacht riding at anchor. "A guy rich enough to own a skiff like that," he growled, "can afford to buy the diamond from us." That evening the two men pulled out in a row boat. Suddenly, Luke's confederate struck him down. The boat went over. A drowning man gasped in agony. And the diamond from the sky was fast becoming the diamond beneath the sea. Moving Picture World, August 7, 1915
See Chapter One for cast list.
Ro