CHAPTER IV
THE UNLIMITED SUPPLY
"If you will all be seated again, please?" requested Mr. Wynne, whostill stood, cool and self-certain, at the end of the table.
The sound of his voice brought a returning calm to the others, andthey resumed their seats--all save Mr. Cawthorne, who walked over toa window with the three spheres in his hand and stood there examiningthem under his glass.
"You gentlemen know, of course, the natural shape of the diamond inthe rough?" Mr. Wynne resumed questioningly. "Here are a dozenspecimens which may interest you--the octahedron, the rhombicdodecahedron, the triakisoctahedron and the hexakisoctahedron." Hespread them along the table with a sweeping gesture of his hand,colorless, inert pebbles, ranging in size from a pea to a peanut."And now, you ask, where do they come from?"
The others nodded unanimously.
"I'll have to state a fact that you all know, as part answer to thatquestion," replied Mr. Wynne. "A perfect diamond is a perfectdiamond, no matter where it comes from--Africa, Brazil, India or NewJersey. There is not the slightest variation in value if the stoneis perfect. That being true, it is a matter of no concern to you, asdealers, where these come from--sufficient it is that they are here,and, being here, they bring home to you the necessity of concertedaction to uphold the diamond as a thing of value."
"You said der vorld's oudpud had been increased fiftyfold?" suggestedMr. Schultze. "Do ve understand you prove him by dese?"
The young man smiled slightly and drew a leather packet from an innerpocket. He stripped it of several rubber bands, and then turned toMr. Czenki again.
"Mr. Czenki, I have been told that a few years ago you had anopportunity of examining the Koh-i-noor. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"I believe the Koh-i-noor was temporarily removed from its setting,and that you were one of three experts to whom was intrusted thetask of selecting four stones of the identical coloring to be setalongside it?"
"That is correct," Mr. Czenki agreed.
"You held the Koh-i-noor in your hand, and you would be able toidentify it?"
"_I_ would be able to identify it," said Mr. Cawthorne positively.
He had turned at the window quickly; it was the first time he hadspoken. Mr. Wynne walked around the table to Mr. Czenki, and Mr.Cawthorne approached them.
"Suppose, then, you gentlemen examine this together," suggested Mr.Wynne.
He lifted a great glittering jewel from the leather packet and heldit aloft that all might see. Then he carefully placed it on thetable in front of the experts; the others came to their feet andstood gazing as if fascinated.
"By Jove!" exclaimed Mr. Cawthorne.
For a minute or more the two experts studied the huge diamond--onehundred and six carats and a fraction--beneath their glasses, andfinally Mr. Cawthorne picked it up and led the way toward the window.Mr. Czenki and the German followed him.
"Gentlemen," and Mr. Cawthorne now turned sharply to face the others,"this _is_ the Koh-i-noor! Mr. Czenki didn't mention it, but I wasone of the three experts who had opportunity to examine theKoh-i-noor. This _is_ the Koh-i-noor!"
Startled, questioning eyes were turned upon Mr. Wynne; he wassmiling. There was a question in his face as he regarded Mr. Czenki.
"It is either the Koh-i-noor or an exact duplicate," said Mr. Czenki.
"It _is_ the Koh-i-noor," repeated Mr. Cawthorne doggedly.
"Id seems to me," interposed Mr. Schultze, "dat if der Koh-i-noor vasmissing somebody would haf heard, ain'd id? I haf nod heard. Mr.Czenki made a misdake der oder day--maybe you make id to-day?"
"You _have_ made a mistake, I assure you, Mr. Cawthorne," remarkedMr. Wynne quietly. "You identify that as the Koh-i-noor, of course,by a slight inaccuracy in one of the facets adjoining the _collet_.That inaccuracy is known to every diamond expert--the mistake youmake is a compliment to that as a replica."
He resumed his position at the end of the table, and Mr. Schultze satbeside him. Amazement was a thing of the past, as far as he wasconcerned. Mr. Czenki dropped into his chair again.
"And now, Mr. Czenki, speaking as an expert, what would you say wasthe most perfect diamond the world?" asked Mr. Wynne.
"The five blue-white stones you mailed to these gentlemen," repliedthe expert without hesitation.
"Perhaps I should have specified the most perfect diamond known tothe world at large," Mr. Wynne added smilingly.
"The Regent."
Again Mr. Cawthorne looked around, with bewilderment in his eyes.The others nodded their approval of Mr. Czenki's opinion.
"The Regent, yes," Mr. Wynne agreed; "one hundred and thirty-six andthree-quarter carats, cut as a brilliant, worn by Napoleon in hissword-hilt, now in the Louvre at Paris, the property of the FrenchGovernment--valued at two and a half million dollars." His handdisappeared into the leather packet again; poised on his finger-tips,when he withdrew them, was another huge jewel. He dropped it intoMr. Schultze's hand. "There is further proof that the diamond outputhas increased fiftyfold."
Mr. Schultze seemed dazed as he turned and twisted the diamond in hishand. After a moment he passed it on down the table without a word.
"A duplicate also," and Mr. Wynne glanced at Mr. Cawthorne. "It isreasonably certain that you would have heard of that if it haddisappeared from the Louvre." He turned to Mr. Schultze again. "Imay add that this fiftyfold increase in output is not confined tosmall stones," he went on tauntingly. "They are of all sizes andvalues. For instance?"
He lifted still another jewel from the packet and held it aloft foran instant.
"The Orloff!" gasped Mr. Solomon.
"No," the young man corrected; "this, too, is a duplicate. Theoriginal is in the Russian sceptre. This is a replica--color, weightand cutting being identical--one hundred and ninety-three carats,nearly as large as a pigeon's egg."
Again Mr. Wynne glanced along the table. Suddenly the frankamazement had vanished from the faces of these men, and he foundonly the tense interest of an audience watching a clever juggler.For a time Mr. Schultze studied the Orloff duplicate, then passed italong to the experts.
"Der grand Cullinan diamond weighs only two or d'ree pounds," hequestioned in a tone of deep resignation. "Maybe you haf _him_ inder backage, alretty?"
"Not yet," replied Mr. Wynne, "but I may possibly get that on my nexttrip out. Who knows?"
There was a long, tense silence. Mechanically Mr. Czenki placed thethree spheres and the replicas in an orderly little row on the tablein front of him and the uncut stones beside them--six, seven, eightmillion dollars' worth of diamonds.
"Gentlemen, are you convinced?" demanded Mr. Wynne suddenly. "Isthere one lingering doubt in any mind here as to the tremendous findwhich makes the production of all those possible?"
"Id iss der miracle, Mr. Vynne," admitted the German gravely, aftera little pause. "Dere iss someding before us as nefer vas in dervorld. I am gonvinced!"
"Up to this moment, gentlemen, the De Beers Syndicate has controlledthe diamond market," Mr. Wynne announced, "but now, from this moment,I control it. I hold it there, in the palm of my hand, with theunlimited supply back of me. I am offering you an opportunity toprevent the annihilation of the market. It rests with you. If Iturn loose a billion dollars' worth of diamonds within the year youare ruined--all of you. You _know_ that--it's hardly necessary totell you. And, gentlemen, I don't care to do it."
"What is your proposition?" queried Mr. Latham quietly. His face wasghastly white; haggard lines, limned by amazement and realization,were marked clearly on it. "What is your proposition?" he repeated.
"Wait a minute," interposed Mr. Solomon protestingly, and he turnedto the young man. "The Syndicate controls the market by force of areserve stock of ten or fifteen million dollars. Do we understandthat you have more than these ready for market now?"
Mr. Wynne stooped and lifted the small sole-leather grip which hadbeen unheeded on the floor. He unfastened the catch and t
urned thebag upside down upon the table. When he raised it again theassembled jewelers gazed upon a spectacle unknown and undreamed ofin the history of the world--a great, glittering heap of diamonds,flashing, colorful, prismatic, radiant, bedazzling. They rattledlike pebbles upon the mahogany table as they slipped and slid oneagainst another, and then, at rest, resolved themselves into asteady, multi-colored blaze which was almost blinding.
"Now, gentlemen, on the table before you there are about thirtymillion dollars' worth of diamonds," Mr. Wynne announced calmly."They are all perfect, every one of them; and they're mine. I knowwhere they come from; you can't find out. It's none of yourbusiness. Are you satisfied _now_?"
Mr. Latham looked, looked until his eyes seemed bursting from hishead, and then, with an inarticulate little cry, fell forward on thetable with his face on his arms. The German importer came to hisfeet with one vast Teutonic oath, then sat down again; Mr. Solomonplunged his hand into the blazing heap and laughed senselessly. Theothers were silent, stunned, overcome. Mr. Wynne walked around thetable and replaced the spheres and replicas in his pocket, afterwhich he resumed his former position.
"I have stated my case, gentlemen," he continued quietly, veryquietly. "Now for my proposition. Briefly it is this: For aconsideration I will destroy the unlimited supply. I will bindmyself to secrecy, as you must; I will guarantee that no stone fromthe same source is ever offered in the market or privately, while yougentlemen," and his manner was emphatically deliberate, "purchasefrom me at one-half the carat price you now pay _one hundred milliondollars' worth of diamonds!_"
He paused. There was not a sound; no one moved.
"You may put them on the market as you may agree, slowly, thuspreventing any material fluctuation in value," he went on. "How tohold this tremendous reserve secretly and still permit the operationof the other diamond mines of the world is the great problem you willhave to face."
He leaned over, picked up a handful from the heap and replaced themin the leather bag. The others he swept off into it, then snappedthe lock.
"I will give you one week to decide what you will do," he said inconclusion. "If you accept the proposition, then six weeks from nextThursday at three o'clock I shall expect a cash payment of tenmillion dollars for a portion of the stones now cut and ready; withina year all the diamonds will have been delivered and the transactionmust be closed." He hesitated an instant. "I'm sorry, gentlemen, ifthe terms seem hard, but I think, after consideration, you will agreethat I have done you a favor by coming to you instead of going intothe market and destroying it. I will call next Thursday at three foryour answer. That is all. Good day!"
The door opened and closed behind him. A minute, two minutes, threeminutes passed and no one spoke. At last the German came to his feetslowly with a sigh.
"Anyhow, gendlemens," he remarked, "dat young man has a hell of a lodof diamonds, ain'd id?"
The Diamond Master Page 4