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ma i ~i The Diamoi Fr By ROYJL. . Copyrighted 1915, by Ray L. This instalment of this romantic novel and absorbing narrative will be shown in motion pictures at The Casino Theatre on Thursday afternoon nnd night. $10,000 For 1,000 Words or Less For an Idea For a Sequel to | "THE DIAMOND FROM THE SKY" The American Film Manufacturing Company's Picturized Romantic Novel In Chapters. This contest is open to any man. woman or child who is not connected, directly or indirectly, with the Film Company or the newspapers publishing the continued story. No literary ability is necessary to qualify as a contestant. You arc advised to see the continued photo play in the theaters where it will ' be shown ? to read ihc story as i! runs every week, and then send in your suggestion. Contestants must confine their contributions for the sequel to 1,000 tvoras or less. It is I the idea that is wanted. SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS. A feud has existed between Colonel Ar- I thur Stanley and his cousin, Judge Lamar Stanley, over an heirloom, the diamond from the sky, found in a fallen meteor by an ancestor. Also, the succession to the Stanley earldom in England may come t?? an American. When a daughter is born to the colonel and the mother dies the colonel buys a gypsy boy and substitutes him. Three years later the gypsy mother, i having had no part in this bargain, steals the girl, Esther, reared In secret, and leaves her son undetected as the heir. The ' gypsy has obtained possession of the diamond from the sky, and a document with the Stanley secret. Years later llagar, gypsy queen, returns to Virginia with Esther. Dr. lA'e, the late Colonel Stanley's "friend, adopts Esther. Arthur Stanley, son of 1-1 a gar, falls in love with Esther, and so ' .iJoes his companion and c-ousin. Blair Stanley, rightful male heir of Stanley. In stealing the diamond Blair causes the, death of the doctor and tries later to put the blame en Arthur, who takes the gem. Arthur Stanley eludes his pursuers and joins Hugar, who reveals his identity and upbraids him for his wild life. Needing jnouvy, he pawns the diamond in Richmond. At a ball, at whlcifr-ftn adventur-' ess, Vivian Marston, wears the borrowed gem, Luke Lovell, Hagar's gypsy guard, steals tile diamond. Arthur leaves Richmond and goes to the west, tjuabba, organ grinder, befriends Esther. ilagar takes Esther to Stanley hull. Tom Blake, a detective of Richmond, who is hired by llagar, produces linger prints convicting B'.'iir. Ilagar proposes silence to Mrs. .ley as the price of XJagar's and Ksi.. i s being received in Fairfax society. Blair strikes down ilagar and steals the linger prints, leaving the g.vpsy queen demented. Marmaduke Smythc, lawyer, arrives t<? announce Arthur is heir to the deceased Earl of Stanley. Beaming Arthur is a fugitive he seeks Blair instead. To win Vivian, Blair steals the diamond, later marrying her and leaving for the west. Their train is robbed, Vivian losing the diamond, which a slain train robber drops in tiie desert The $100,00'J he stole is found by Arthur, now known as John Powell, sheep herder. Vivian deserts Blair, telling him lie must regain the diamond for her Luke Bovcll. driven from the camp afar learning 1 lagar's secret, leaves to seek Blair. Ilagar is under treatment and Esther is in Richmond society. A he Bloom, gambler, knows: Blair's guilt and covets the diamond, lie calls it the price <>f his secrecy. The diamond is later picked up by an Indian woman. Dr. Bee, Arthur learns, died of heart disease. Becoming very rich he buys Stanley hall, sold at auction, through Blake, and also provides for Ilagar and Esther. Buke Bovell buys the diamond from the squaw, but loses it in a light. Vivian, desiring aid to ensnare Arthur, sends for Blair. Esther and Qiiabba, also Blair, go to the California mines to seek Arthur. Smythe is sent west by Blake. Vivian Marston is saved from drowning by PewAll \AT\\r\ ia l... 1- ?< _ _ -j- ? -W.., iiiiu in iiiiaiuaii'U uy IUT. Biliyill' finds the diamond and gives It to Esther to deliver to Arthur. Blair and Luke go to the yacht and find Esther there. Esther and Quabba escape while Blair and Luke battle. Blair in the meantime lias Joined Vivian in Los Angeles. Durand, "king of diamonds," a crook known to Vlvlun, goes to a saloon to try to discover the diamond. There he meets Luke Eovell. Esther and Arthur appear on the scene. The diamond Is lost in a melee Esther saves Arthur, who Is Injured, and Its goes to Los Angeles in care of the physlclan-crook. Durand. Esther follows and Is refused admittance to see him. In the meantime Smythe has hid the diamond In a tree. It Is later found by two bill posters, one of wborn murders the other for the diamond. Arthur is "doped" by Durand, f>e Vaux and Vivian, although Blair, who has taken charge of Arthur's business affairs, protests. The diamond passes in dice play from the hill poster to SantleA circus owner, who gives It to T^a Belle, lion tamer. / Splinters, the clown, her Jealous husband, shoots Santyey as the Hoh strikes down ,. x and kills the woman. The animal seizes ' the diamond. Sankey, a stableman, seizes It and hides it In hie stable. Blair and Vivian falsify a telegram from Blake to Arthur, making Arthur believe he suffered from hallucination In thinking he saw . ? , - I-,,::-'''- , id om the Sky McCARDEL McCARDEL Esther. Esther trie* it? :?eo Arthur, on his way to the races, but the plotters prevent her. CHAPTER X'LV. Still In the Clutch .of'Drugs. ?W ET the coachinanituke. the reins!'* I cried Dura ml, subconsciously jkjf chunking from ids. careless air of racegoer to tlte grave demeanor of physician. "l^end a hand, Hluir,M he added an the coachman workted around front the back sent by the groom to the driver's place -on the' tally ho. Blair and Vivian, assisting .as best' .they could, aided Durand in dragging Arthur from the box seat to the second one. Here the drug victim collapsed, murmuring: "Esther? How plainly T saw bor?In her gypsv dress! She spoke to u?e. The hunchback fellow was with her!" "It was imagination." sniel Vtvlnn soothingly to the stricken man as the pseudo physician. Duraiul, administered the all too handy hypodermic. ""A touch of ftuu, wasn't it. doctor?" "Yes," said Duraiul in equally sootte lns: accents. "1 think it was the sun liiul too much exertion. We shouldn't have let you drive, Mr. Powell; you are not strone: enough vet for these things." Blair said nothing, lie con Id have almost pitied Arthur that iu*Vo short a time as had elapsed since his injuries Ids characU** had heon so weakened from his hurts and the drugs administered that Arthur could he convinced that the evidence of his own eyes was but the phantom of a disordered imagination. Neither the coachman nor the groom had understood the signitieance of Ins master's collapse at the sight of two gypsy musicians with piano, pony cart and monkey by the roadside. The coachman and groom, like the other servants at the Powell mansion, only knew tlteir master had never been mentally the same since Ids injuries at the mines and his tirst homecoming to ids new, grand mansion, a battered, shattered. insensible form on a stretcher. in a few moments the effect of t lie stimulating drug had calmed Arthur, and he was sitting with closed eyes on the second seat, with Blair and Vivian j and Duraiul. The conspirators decided to return home. A passing auto coming in the same1 direction slowed beside the coach, and j the occupants called to the driver and the tallyho party that there was a man! on behind. "He looks like a tough customei;. too!"! added the driver of (he car. The groom on the rear seat looked: down and ordered the tough looking customer to get off. The tough looking customer was Luke Lovell. who had! come hack to Los Angeles sullenly de j (el'inined to make an asset of his secret : and blackmail either Arthur Stanley | or Blair, preferably both. Luke Lovell growled a curse hack at the groom and held <?u. The coachman with practiced dexterity lashed thej whip back of the coach at a signal j from the groom. The thong cut Luke ; across the face twice before he could! shield himself. But again and again; the lash cut and stung him cruelly on; neck and shoulders, and despite ills! hardihood and do.erminaiiou to stan 1 toe onslaught Luke was compelled to let go ami drop oil', ile limped to the s" lewalk of ilie quiet suburban resi deuce street and sat in the shade of a t ree by t lie curb. Near him i leaking lire hydrant trickled. Luke nmiipcd his brow and the burning ruts a cross his face with tin* cooling water. The pain slowly subsided, and Luke looked about him There, far off down the street, but yet dis iie t to the keen eyes of the! g.vpsy, were two figures plodding by a I )Oll V Ilia lift f:irl tu-11 li'"ii'nc !?/? L-iinii' i as well as lie knew his own?Ksthet ! and Ouahha. | Old emotions, old fealties stirred In1, Luke Lovell at the siuht. Esther, daughter of Haj;ar, the queen of the gypsies; Esther, whom he had always gazed upon with pride and a dull Ions-1 lug? she was not for hint. Luke knew; that. Hut yet there stirred in him llt^j old sense of all'eetion and mingled with it. a sense of shame. Had as the brute gypsy was there had always been some ! thinvc tine and tender In his regard for Esther. To injure her had been no part of all Ids wild plans to make merchandise of what he dimly surmised was the Stanley secret?and Ilagnr's. Luke's mental processes were slow. hut ho wiim niltolf tn rnuli'/ii 1i*? ti*i<l lu?<i' * "v have time to think of how he should in??et with Esther again did he wish to regain her confidence. as lie now desired to do. Luke I/>vell rose from the curb even while cogitating upon these things and concealed himself behind the tree. But he could have stood plain upon the aidewalk for nil he would have been seen for Esther and Quabbi/, their heads i . I bowed sadly to the (lust, trudged on be aide the patient pony. j The smart tallyho rattled on and enlong drew up before the portals of the Powell mansion, and Arthur was assisted off by bis whilom friends. Such is the power of suggestion upon n drug weakened miml that Arthur had thrown aside all depression and worry i i * ! THE HORBY HERA ^JjQfri ':^8B3li^P^j^pyij^jBjB^f ^ Si^h #n i' / Luke Was Compelled to Let Go anc Drop Off. soon after entering his luxurious homo Physically his strength hud almost fu! ly returned, and the plotters rejohe to see that under the stimnlaut admin istered and their cajolnienls the pnnit stricken remembrance of his ejaeountei with l ist her had boon disnilH?**tl by Ar thur as an illusion. A Am If hour later 10s t her and Quabba part at the alloy entrance that loads to Sankoy'v stables. IOslher dons her cloak a.urdn to cover her jrypsy attire and removes her headdress and thus uarbed seems a passing shopgirl, not does she attract undue attention si-- j she slips quietly l<? her room by the en trance of tin1 hotel on a side street. Qusibha stands ^a/.itiu' alter his youna mistress wistfully until she lists turned from the street some blocks stway Then Qustbbsi is roused by si lisincl upon his shoulder and turns to see the swarthy fsice of Luke Lovell. * **.- ? * * But meanwhile what of the Ssintley circus? Ssintley, the coarse grained tyrant owner of the show, lies dead in the inor.true downtown. Beside liini is , Splinters, the clown, who killed Santley and shot himself, and with the.u is the disfigured body of Lst Belle, wife 1 I I The Sheriff and His Party Grab the Stableman. of Splinters, the clown, killed hy the lion Lancelot. A triple tragedy :ind all because of a woman's < <? juetry and j the diamond from the sky! The new manager of the circus is j optimistic. lie is inclined to I eiieve "?!ie big blow off," as he cabs ttie tragedy. will be "groat press s;u,f foi the show." Hut the triple tragedy andj the panic and riot that followed ii have brought the creditors who are numerous?down upon the show, and it is seized for debt and wiil In' sold at nu"tlon. The disconsolate perform er$ ami attaches, their salaries long in arretir, realize It is a had season fot the show business and are fully aware the returns from a sheriff's auction will pay little if any of their salaries. Then Hill Hull, acrobat, re mem be rthe great diamond Santle.v gave La Belle before the lion Lancelot killed her?iiiHpired to the deed by the Jealous clown Splinters, the show believes i <1 ' ? . . a i- - t . a a.x i .1 <ju?mp ax iu uie vaiue 01 iniM great gem has been rife about the circus since Williams, the billposter, brought It in from the woods where he said he found it and lost it to Santley at dice If this diamond were recovered 1? j would l>e an asset that would perhaps j pay all salaries when sold. Hill Hull, the acrobat, remembers Sankey, th? stableman, was one who snatched at | the diamond. Hull knows Banke.v. In a previous season, with a smaller show, some of the animals had been wtntried at Sankey's. k The sheriff Is Informed, and the acrobat, donning an overcoat to hide his tights?for the sheriff's seizure has stopped the show?lends the way to LD. CONWAY. 8. O. Sankey'a stable. With the sheriff and the .acrobat go a policeman and the manager of the circus pro tern. They have reached the stable yard in an auto just previous to the arrival of Quabba with his monkey and pony and street piano cart that he stables bene. While Quabba faces Luke Lovell at the alley's mouth, the sheriff with the acrobat and others are in the stable. Sunkey has been hi the loft searching vainly for the diamond, where he ihld it beneath the hay. He comes <down the ladder and faces the sunlight from the opeu door, and there between him and the daylight, gleaming like a star, dangles from the hay rack over ithe pony's empty stall the diamond from the sky! Just hk Sunkey grasps the diamond from where it had been left unseeu by Quabba .In Ills pony's hay the sheriff and his party are at the door and grab ttie slinking stableman. Out from the place they struggle, the diamond glittering In the sun. clutched in San key's grimy hand, that is in turn clutched by the others. In wresting it from the desperate stableman the diamond Is parsed almost against the eyes of Quabba and '.Luke Lovell. who have hurried ujwu the scene from tlie alley mouth at tlie tiret sounds of the struggle. How well they know that dazzling Jewel! It had been a fortune for them both, n fortune briefly held and quickly lost! The next day the papers ring with fhe account of the recovery of the diamond. the aftermath of the grout circus tragedy. The mine of the diamond can hardly l?e estimated, the Los Angeles papers suv. There are conflicting stories as to how it came into the possession of the dead circus proprietor. This only is known: It will be sold at sheriff's auction as an asset of flte Santley circus, bankrupt. Homer (Sraydon. millionaire, reads the story. Homer flraydon is old In years, but. as he says, "young at heart." Wicked at heart would be the truer saying. CHAPTER XLVI. "I Am Not John Powclll" T her arrival in Los Anjxelos XtQi Vivian Murston uu/acted the /' ft attention of 1 loinor (Iraydon, a cm;noisst-ar ot' lair woin- | on. Since tiu> ueeidoiit to .lotui Low - ; oil. t lit* newly rich ymii:; oil and miniim man. it ?mor <?ra.\d; n h :s soon liltIc of Vivin ^inrston. I'ur ii somas slio is an old ft lend oi' Powell and old friend of Plair Stanley. ilio \ on tin tapilalisl and relative from tlio oast, now in charge of Powell's aliairs. She is also an old friend, it would appear, of Dr. l>urai.d. Powell's ptivato pii.vsien.n. "In fact. Vi." says (Iraydon to that fair charmer, "you sooin to ho an old friend to everybody but me in this 1 town." I Vivian sinilid. She has mot (Iraydoa in the park by telephone appointniont. Now that her charge has recovered Miss Marshal. who so capably nursed him has time for her social oimancinoids amiin. She mil. t be tactful in social matters, however.? as Iilair is .jealous! and Inirand suspicions. Dut (Jraydon is t< o ^ood a friend to lose, accord im; to .Miss .Marsion's "way of think in;:, and unknown to the others eon A ... <trued she lias driven to tin* park ami kept her su let appointment with the alii 1-iSlil. "You liavv I) M'li cruel ami neylcet fmI of mo. Yi." cent in lies (Ira.vilon. '"Hut j litre is somei hiuj? in the paper that may interest you. You ale < rar.y about < 1 i:1114< nils, and I romenil.er your telling me ul' a wonderful one that broke your heart when it was taken from you by train robbers. It was a wild story, and 1 eannot say I believed it. Hut there >eoni to be stranyo tragedies about biy <lianionds. ilere. the paper says, is a wonderful one Uhat canst d a triple tra yedy the o'.her day at the circus." Vivian paled as he showed her the newspaper account. "Yes. ! know." she said. "I was there. It was a wonderful diamond and"?she faltered?"a dreadful trayedy." Ilut she does net tell him the diamond was the veritable yon she lost. 1 lomer (Irjiyd .ui was a materialist. He was skeptiea of much he saw. and he believed little of what he heard. "He. he!" cackled the old man. "The papers are full of wild yarns that the circus owner yave the diamond to the lady lion tamer, and the clown, her husband, told his friend, the old lion, the lady was unfaithful. The lion killed the lady; the husband killed the yiver of the jewel. Then the lion pawed the bauble from tlie (lead woman's neck. and a stableman stole it. Uouauitic. to say the least, eh. what?" "1 was there," repeated Vivian. "I saw it all. The papers speak the truth." "Well, if you will he a good little girl I'll go to the auction and buy this wonderful diamond for you." chuckled the ,.i/i i.?..I ?. Dm Di'ii \ i \ am. "Will you?" asked Vivian eagerly. "I will if you promise to give up these 'old friends' who have recently monopolized you. Old friends? Pooh! Never mind old friends. Stick to good friends and you'll wear diamonds." "I will stick to good friends who get me the diamond," retorted Vivian "It is well enough to criticise my old friends, as you call them, but they have promised me ttie diamond too." "ill get it for you. I'll outbid them if it costs every eent 1 have!" cried Graydon excitedly. Vivian smiled at the thought of the compliment to her charms that sevcra 1 would bid for the diamond for hef sake. Let the cost be what It may, the diamond from the sky would be hers, no matter who bought It. Then Vivian bade goodby to Graydon and drove away. During her absence from the Powell mansion there i were callers she might have recognlz W Vivian P?/tarston Attracted tho Att?n> tion of Homer Graydon. I'd. Tlio llrst was Luke Lovell. set and determined upon what he called "liav- j iipr a stjuare deal." Luke Lovoll had encountered Blah i earlier in the day. and the suave man ! ner of Blair puzzled Luke. Blair told liini that he (Lukin was well within his rights in demanding a share of the xpo' IA i t Imr's weall h. "Call at the house." said Blair, "and kick up a row. You'll tret yours, tot I'll hack you up." The i when Luke had departed from the oilier Mlair called up the police and | .old them a tlireaicniint fellow ??us lanjrimr around tile IVweil mansion evidently hent on hlackinad. Another culler at the Louoll house was Mann.iduke Smytlie. loaal representative of '.he Lurls of Stanley. He a* 1 never ni"t Arthur Stanley. Arthur heinvr a fipr'tive from Virginia when Sill Vt ho had collie to not If v li 111 lie \v .< Larl of Stanley. Put l'lake. the 15it'll inoial date tive. had given Stnythe a letter to ".John Powell" in Los Airholes. Plaice informing Sinythe that I'owe'l eotth! tell him something of the missing Arthill* Stanley. As Vivian arrives an<l after LnUa left Sinythe has called and has been "I am not John Powell, but Arthur Stanley of Stanley Hall!" I admitted. Flushed with wine and enlivened with drugs. Arthur is wild and boastful. Stuythe produces a newspaper and speaks of the circus tragedy and recovery of the great diamond. Suddenly Arthur dashed down ins j wine glass and stood erect. "It is the diamond l'roin the sky!" he cried. "I will buy It at the auction. ! If you are the lawyer of the Far Is of Stanley, listen: I am the earl! 1 am not John Powell, but Arthur Stanley of ' Stanley hall!" Blair and Durand and De Vaux. who : were present, started in surprise at this announcement. The lawyer's Jaw I dropped, lie stepped back a pace and fell backward over Itis chair, j Just then tlie servant announced that a rough fellow was at the door who demanded to see Mr. Powell and Mr Blair Stanley, i Ttie party lteft the library and cross I ed to the door. Luke had followed the butler In. and Blair and Durand wlthi out ado seized the gypsy and thrust i him out A policeman was waiting, and Luke, straggling and protesting, was thrown into an automobile and taken to the station house, the others going along as complaining witnesses. At the station house Luke, strangely silent now, was searched. A claspknlfe and some silver colli . >. < < . ' 1 ww all-that whu found upon liim. ami I then the HKitk^iituU UahCil ft tun an <>b- I score |wbM a small. cioamHl. stained I slip of jiniHT. It was a broken tnniulu 1 baud, such im are put around packages I of banknotes. Printed on it were the I words: I W1CLLS PAROO KXFKKSS. I $000 I -Over tike iienite of those closest tcr I Liui Luke gluuced fixedly at Arthur. I who bluuched and trembled. It was a 1 slip of paixsr such. as had l?eeu around I the train robber treasure Arthur had J come upon in the desert* funds upou 1 which be had founded the great Johu I Powell fortune! I It bad been among the bank notes I Arthur bad given to Luke. It had been 1 hidden among tbem and Luke had held 1 to it, when the money was gone, us evi- I deuce against Arthur, for Luke had I suspicious where the money had come from. "This looks like train robbery stuff!'* said the desk sergeant. And then I hi rand spoke up. "1 remember tills fellow," he said, pointing to Luke. "I met him at a place said' to be a train robbers' haugout at the mining town of Mauiinoth. where Mr. Powell here was injured some weeks ago." "We'll bold him till we Hiul out." said the sergeant. "Lock him up!" ( And Luke was taken away. By the aid of the police station- i messenger. Luke got word of his plight to tjuablsi and asked that List her be brought to see him. Quabba apprised Esther by telephone. She had Just received n telegram from the convalescing llugar asking her to return to Richmond, and Esther had just wired in reply that she would come, guardedly adding that Arthur seemed to he under evil Influences licit1 and tliai she was discouraged reyardum liiin. At flic station house I\st her briefly explained that Luke had been a serv- y ant of her mother in Virginia for years 1 and that she knew him to be honest. Quabba waited for Ksther. More stranee eoni|ianv. ilioiiuht the serjreant. lint Ksther spoke of Tom Hhikc. the famous liiehmond detective, and tlie* sereeant alisolved her from suspicion, especially when she winsomely smiled' and admitted she n\ms of irypsy blood. At tlie eel! bars Luke Lu\eii seized There Was a Buzz of Excitement as Jehn Powell Doubled the Bid. lis young mistress' nand ami kissed it, while contrite tears rolled down his bron/.ed cheeks. Iirielly he explained what had happened. "There is but one tiling to do." said Esther. "Tell the truth. 1 am tired of subterfuge and deception. 1 am going back to my mother in Uichmond. She has recovered, and she needs me. 1 cannot shield Arthur at the expense of wronging any one, much as I have loved him and much as others have loved him. If he has done evil things he Is not worthy of further sacrifice and silence. 1 know Blair Stunt#..' to he wicked, as are ail those who live in luxury with Arthur. So tell the truth." "No, Miss Esther," said Luke huskily; "I will keep silent. They have double crossed me, and I will have revenge in my own way?the gypsy's way." "There is only one course to follow, nay poor Luke," said Esther gently, "and that Is the open and truthful course." "Do not mix up In this," replied Luke earnestly. "Go baek to Hmmr and ask her to forgive me and forget I ever rebelled against her. 1 will attend to my enemies and to hers. I will not. harm Arthur if I can help It. but on itlalr Stanley and the others I will have my revenge for their treachery.' Tell Hagar that when 1 can get away I shall return to her and serve her and you faithfully again, my little mistress." Luke's-determination and contrition were so evident that Esther made no