bottom of his shoe, touched the flame to his cigarette. "I had to go
to the Explorer's Club to get the dope on him. Lardner has been
spending a lot of time in the Baker Lake district just east of Hudson
Bay in Canada."

Drake's foot released its pressure on the gas pedal. "Thought that
country was pretty well explored years ago," he said mildly. "Nothing
much but snow and ice up there, is there?"

"And maybe diamonds," Puffy said. "At least that's what Lardner and
some of the boys at the Explorer's Club think."

Drake's interest was increasing.

"Is that where he found that big gem he displayed at the club the
other night?"

Puffy's lips split in a wide, toothy grin.

"Cinderella Drake knows the answers," he admitted. "Yes! That's where
he found the diamond and that's how he happened to get in with the
stuffed shirts at the Explorer's Club."

Drake was silent.

Adams hesitated, then added,

"Lardner showed up there six months ago claiming he had found the
world's largest diamond. He claimed he got it from a secret valley
somewhere in the Baker Lake district."

"Fantastic!" They had reached their destination and Drake pulled the
coupe in smoothly to the curb. The lights over the door of the Owl
Limb Night Club were darkened.

"The Explorer's Club doesn't think so. They are mighty stirred up
about his find. The only thing that puzzles them is how come the stone
is cut. Lardner refuses to tell them who did the job. As for finding
it where he did, it seems they've had an idea there were diamonds in
that country and were just waiting for someone to prove it."[1]

[Footnote 1: Professor Hobbs of the University of Michigan has found
several small diamonds and diamond particles in the strata of the
glacial flow throughout certain northern states.

Hobbs, a careful and painstaking research worker, used his knowledge
of geology to trace the strata of the glacial flow. He determined
several years ago that the diamonds came from the north, somewhere in
the Hudson Bay area. Although his co-workers are confident that he is
correct, a rush of prospectors failed to find anything that would
prove his theory.

Although opinions among geologists vary, many believe in Hobbs and his
work. A consulting gem expert at the world famous Field Museum put
forth this story to your editor, and convinced him that Hobbs is a
clear headed expert who knows what he is talking about. Somewhere
under the waste of snow, probably a little