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[The Diamoi 1 Fr By ROY L. ^Copyrighted 1915, by Roy L i This instalment of this romantic novel and absorbing narrative will be shown in motion pictures at The Casino Theatre on Thursday afternoon ; and 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. r This contest is open to any man. 1 woman or child who is not connected. ' directly or indirectly, with the Film / i 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 wiil be shown to read the story as it run^ every week, and then send in your suggestion. Contestants must confine their contributions for the sequel to l,OGO cvoras or less. It is the trie a that is wanted. , - ~~ ~ .. < ? '* SYNOPSIS OP PRECEDING CHAP- 1 TERS. A foud has existed between Colonel Ar thur Stanley and his cousin. Judge I: Stanley, over an heirloom, the diamond from the sky, found in a fallen meteor b\ an ancestor. Also the succession to the Stanley earldom in England may come to an American. When a daughter is horn to the colonel and the mother dies the colonel buys a gypsy boy and snbf'tutcs? him. Three years later the gypsy mother. ' having had no part in this bargain, steals the girl, Esther, reared In secret, and leaves her sou 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. l.ce. the late Colonel Stanley's friend, adopts Esther. Arthur Stanley, son of Hagar, falls in love with Esther, and so does his companion and cousin, 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 on Arthur, who takes the gem. Arthur Stanley eludes his pursuers and joins Hagar, who reveals his identity and upbraids him for his wild life. Needing money, lie pawns the diamond in Richmond. At a ball, at which an adventuress, Vivian Murslon, wears the borrowed gem. Kuke Lovell, Hagar's gypsy guard, steals the diamond., Arthur leaves Richmond and goes Io tlo6 \\vst. ^Quabba, or* ( gan griiKpr, befriends Ksther. ^_.Ton^ iflake, 7i ctetecitve of Richmond, Is hired by Ha gar, produces finger prlnlfl P6Tivicting Blair. Hagar proposes silence to Mrs. Stanley as the price of *Hagar's and Ksther's being received in Fairfax society. ^r strikes down Ha-' gar and st^alq f] "uger prints, leaving the queen uemented. Marniaduke *~Smvtbe, lawyer, arrives to jinnouh^' Artnur is heir to I Tie deceased Karl of. Stanley. Reaming Artiiur is u fugitive, he seeks Blair instead. To win Vivian, Blair steals t!ie diamond, later marrying liei and leaving for the West. Their train is' robbed, Vivian losing the diamond, which; a slain train robber drops in tlie desert The $100,000 lie stole Is found by Arthur, now known as John l'owell, sheep herder Kuke Lovell. driven from the camp after learning llagur's secret, leaves to seek Blair. H agar is under treatment, and Ksther is i;i Richmond society. Alio Bloom. Rambler, knows Blair's guilt and eovetstlre diamond. The diamond is later tricked up hv an Indian woman. Br. Roe. Arthur learns, died of heart disease. Becoming very rich, he buys Stanley Hall, sold at auction, through Blake, and also provides for I lagar and Ksther Luke Lovell buys the dia IIIUIMJ, MUl II 111 f\ Ilgill. Vivian is saved from drowning by Powell, who is infatuated by her. Smythe finds the diamond and gives it to Esther to deliver to A i liur Hlair loins Vivian in Los Angeles. Durand, "King of diamonds," a crook known to Vivian, goes to a saloon to try to discover tho diamond. There ho meets Luke Lovell. Esther and Arthur appear on the sceno. The diamond is lost in a melee. Ksther stives Arthur, who is injured, and ho goes to Los Angeles in care of the physiclan-crook, Durand. Esther follows and is refused admittance to see him. In the meantime the diamond is found by two billposters, one of whom murders the other for it. Arthur is "doped" by Durand, Do Vaux and Vivian. Blair makes Arthur believe he suffered from hallucination In thinking ho saw Ksther. Luke is "railroaded" to prison by Blair. Arthur buys the diamond. Blair, trying to take tho gem from Durand, who steals It from Arthur, hurls Durand from si window, killing him. Esther and Smythe return to Virginia, the girl rejoining linear at the sanitarium. The diamond is stolen by De Vaux, who assumes tho name I^ancla and hides with it. Ho Is struck down and the diamond tuken nfter Luke, Aided by Quabba, escapes. Esther will not leave Hagar and takes her rightful place in society. Smythe examines an old parchment bearing Itagar'n pedigree. The diamond is given by Luke to Esther, who Will not keep It, but sends it back to Arthur. Hagar and Esther, rejoining the 4gypelea, travel westward. Arthur, repentant and informed of the treachery of Vivian and Blair, is about to take poison Just as Luke breaks into his room. CHAPTER LV. nd om the Sky McCARDEL McCARDEL A Romany Ryo. STRANGE Irony of fnte! The gem desired, the great Jewel thnt from "n chnrm against harm" had come to be a curse, was grasped again by Luke Lovell's g.vpsy j hands that, strong ns they were, were I never to hold It! John Powell, sometime Arthur Stanley of Stanley Ilall. born son of llagarj i Harding, snt collapsed In his chair. As Luke Lovell grasped the diamond the prayer of Ilagar fluttered to the table. Luke growled and tore it from Arthur's resisting grasp, glanced at it and tossed It back in scorn. "You live soft!" he sneered. "Live soft in your luxury while I have wandered like a hunted wolf In the wilds. Rut now I shall live soft, and you shall be my servant and my banker. First, you shall feed me!" Aud Luke, placing the diamond again t- 1 "? .... HI ins rims, s:u llOWIl ilixl Dotted the food t tint had been brought, the master of the house hours ago. but which that soul shattered wretch had not the heart to taste. As in a daze, as in a dream. Arthur stood without hope and without tear. Without hope and without fear! Yes. he had reached the end of everything. The prayer of his mother had come ' home as a curse in this hour of Ids shame and humiliation. lie had been the sorrow and saerilice of her young motherhood and the heartbreak of her maturity. Bsther. whom he had despoiled of birthright and patrimony, her steadfast faith outraged at last, had left him in scorn and contempt. i Blair, for whose sake he had home undeservedly the brand ??f Cain and by his (light from Virginia had accepted tla? onus of Blair's guilt for the murder of Dr. Lee?Blair, too. had been false and faithless to every trust! Vivian? The scales had dropped from his eyes. She. too, was false, as she had always been. Without fear and without hope! i Crushed, dazed, the so called .lohn Powell gazed at the poisoned glass of brandy with which he had stood to pledge a toast to death when Luke had burst in upon him. 'ri.Ai. "i.e. . i..IT 1 * - ' i uvu inrs i f?> uii iicu ujton lukc noil- j Ing his food like a ravenous animal. "I look strange to you. hull7" said I.uke. answering the look and speaking , with a mouth full. "They shaved nie and they clipped ; me hi the pen, where you and iilair Stanley sent mo. The express slip was I all the proof that was needed against the poor, ignorant, gypsy. "They shut me up like a r*t in a trap from the light and air in a rotten prison for stealing the money that you I stole, the money from the train rob | hery! Oh. I went hack over all our j tracks and I found the dead horse, and I found the empty cache. There were clews plain enough, when I got out of prison and wont back. ' Thai stolen money you foutyl in the, desert was the start of your fortune. Mr John Powell. The money was j secretly repaid by you, hut when they caught one of the poor robbers?as they thought?ia me, they sent me to the pen. "i don't look like I used to, do 17 < ? That's prison pallor that even the sun of the desert couldn't wholly take away. "I'm thinner, too, hut I'll fatten on you. I'll spare your life, for you are I Invar's son. hut if 1 go to prison again you will go with mo. for 1 have the proofs yon found and used tinstolen money, and I know you left Yir giuia as Arthur Stanley, accused of murder! "Whore is your so called cousin, your pal and fellow crook. Blair Stanley': Out with the fair lady, I suppose'/ Ilej shall feed and clothe me and he my j banker too. "Durand. who helped you two rail j road me to prison is dead. I hear All tine gentlemen, eh. the whole of you. Well. 1 shall he a gentleman, too. a regular Romany Rye. You know what that means?It means gypsy gentle-, man. And now that 1 have fed. come] and clothe me. Your flunkies are] asleep, so you shall be my flunky! One! Romany R.ve as valet to another!" And I.uke rose from where he had gorged, and Arthur followed him with <?ut a word to his suit of rooms and wardrobe upstairs. * * * * The storm had passed; a few heavy drops fell from the leafage of the live oak and hissed as they died on the em bers of the smoking ruins of llagar'.- j van. Upon the ground Ksther knelt, hold ing the head of the dying llagar, foi ! Ilagar was dying, slowly dying. Since their Journey westward she had failed and faded, slowly but surely Nothing but her deep love for Lsthci and her strong faith that she could reach her son in time and save him had hold Ilagar to life. A harvest of Si on viae lies through tin years, sorrows and sacrifice had sapI ped her spirit and her physical strength. Only a sweet, complacent faith had sustained her. But now the shock of the lightning stroke, the burning of the van and the THE BOKkTJEBi Jrt : \/ Ql" x-: SjKa i| IBK^^WK^bBS^* 3MiFl^flir5yrnilHiflff||BBrirffl Arthur Stood Without Hop? and Without Fear. exposure to the storm had hastened tu< passing of linear. In their loin; journey westward slowly but surely moviug onward. the.\ had renehod within some twenty miles of Los Angeles and the end of their quest for Arthur. Resolute in this jrront sorrow and on lainity. Esther whispered to the ever helpful and loyal (Juahlxt to mount oiu of the van horses and hurry hack to he slower moving cavalcade of j;yp lies and bid them hasten. ThisQuabba ilid. rt^t - ' " i no caravan was not far behind tboil), for noaring Los Angeles Ilngat had given order* to move through th? night that they might camp the nexi Esther Sent Quabba Back to the Gypsies. _ , day on the outskirts of (ho city that Was their Journey's end. Hearing (juabba's cries, the gypsies lushed their tired horses, and soon linear was in I the loving care of the women of her j trihe. wit I? lOsther always beside her. holding her hand and comforting the ii.viim woman with a communion ot silence. (?n the outskirts of the town, driven from their open roadster to the shelter of a roinilmiisc by tbc rain, i?:aii* and I Vivian drank :iml reveled, little know . iii ? John Powell waited opportunity In | the departure of Luke to drink Ids toast to Death at liis mansion in Los Angeles. 't liey drank and reveled while a score of miles si way linear and Kxthcr. hand , in hand, wailed no' the end of tinie and j the beginning eternity for the eldei j of t he t wain l'p the steps of the roadhouse piazza, scattering the last raindrops iroin hi apparel, came Dick Jones. With him was a lady whom lie addressed as (left It was not the tirst roadhouse tliesi late arrived Joy riders had stopped at Mr. Jones was thick of speech, flushed of face and unsteady of gait. The lad\ he called (Jert was more seasoned. She was voicing the remark that she was as dry as a fish and hungry as a wolf. At the sight of Blair Stanley Mr Jones was somewhat abashed. Bui some recollection came to him that steadied him. and he greeted Blair with an assumed IndlfYerenee. Blair gave the newcomers a surly, supcrclli ous stare. "Who are they?" asked Vivian. "I do'i't know the blond female with him," replied Blair carelessly, "but the boozy gentleman is Dick Jones, who was our shipping clerk at the Good IIo|k? OH company offices?until I fired him for coming to work after being out the night before, as you see him now." "You didn't fire yourself for that ofsense, or John Towel 1, the boss, 1 assume?" remarked Vivian sarcastically. "No matter what I do the night before, my head is clear and my hands steady the next day," Blair answered. "As for John Powell?my boss, as you call him?since he hus taken to i kU). COlfWAY. 8. O. uU|ic uuu u.i UiUv-iiiUtr v?*> uv av/t see hi 111 at the office. Ami that reinidds I we. 1 aw sick of this whole business. "I have got the money in my own name. 1 am tired of hanging ou like a parasite to the poor boob until he dopes himself to death. When do we wake a getaway V** "When we get the diamond from the sky," replied Vlvlnu. "1 have set wy heart and soul ou huving It. It must turn up again.** Nothing ever happens and everything happens. While Bluir drank in gloomy silence and wade no answer to Vivian's last remark. Jones, the tipsy exshipping clerk at the next table tulked I with the lady he called Uert. Upon her ample bosom there hung a flashy lavalliere. suspended by a heavy chain. "Pretty nifty piece of Junk. (Serf!** said Jones. "But you should have seen the big diamond that John Powell got by express. It came in a sealed package, and our head clerk sent me up to Mr. Powell's house with It. He opened the package and nearly threw a lit. for there inside was a case and* in that case was a letter that stung him hard, and with It was] a chain and locket about 1.000 years old. And In that locket was a diamond as big as an English walnut. "I think It was the same diamond that the circus guy gave the lady lion tan\cr Then the lion killed the lady, and her husband, the clown, killed the ircus guy and then shot himself. "John Powell bought the diamond atthe auction of the busted eircus; thou some gink stole it from him umi !?<?%?-. oil got It back by express. just as I'm tolling .vuu. They say John Powell is i crazy. lie sure acted crazy when he j read the note that came with the big sparkler. He give me $r>0 to keep my mouth shut about it. "Rut 1 don't have to keep my mouth shut about anything for anybody, for all I got for the way I worked in his i otHee was to be thrown out! Wait till I see Powell: I'll get my Job back all right, and nobody won't stop me!" CHAPTER LVI. Luke Loveli's End. BLAIR and Vivian had sat up as ; though electrified at the lirst words about the diamond they overheard. Now that the tipsy clerk had ceased speaking lilair stood beside him. "You'll get your job back all right, i Jones!" lie said hoarsely "Here's $."0 from me. Tell me again about the diamond coming by express." And the elerk repeated bis story Even while he was speaking Vivian had called the waiter to bring tin- bill and their auto wraps. Onee in their great roadster Blair put on full speed through the night ami cursed fervently "The cunning dope!" he cried. "Ar- i tlmr lias had the diamond safe and hidden from us right under our noses , for si\ months!" 4,IIow wiil we got It?" asked Vivian eagerly. "Don't pull any more rough stuff. Blair. There has heen too much of that. It gets us nothing, not even the diamond." "Leave that to me!" said Blair tierce ly. "The time is ripe. We've got his money; Durand is dead; I)e Yaux was evidently paid ids price and sent the diamond hack. lie has sklp|H?d far away and need not lie reckoned with. "John Powell is no good to himself or any one else: lie is better dead. When lie is dead I can tell who he really was. and the earldom in Kngland will he mine. You will he a peeress, VI." ''(Jet me the diamond from the sky first." answered Vivian. "There won't be any trouble about that." remarked Blair. "Tlk? diamond is hidden in the house, and we will find it after Arthur Stanley, alius John., Powell, is dead!" As he spoke he stopped the machine, for they had reached the aviation tield and the hangar where John Powell, amateur aeronaut, kept his latest toy. his aeroplane. Blair took a tiro iron from the tool box. wrenched the hasp from the door and entered the hanger A file was on the work bench beneath the electric light Blair switched v ' "Leava that to ma!" said Blair. on. Just a little tampering with the stay brace wires, but sufficient, I ? The next time John Powell took a | flight Death would riue beside him! Vivian nsked no <)uestiou8. But she, j shuddered. For the man who was to i die had been In her arms and her ca* i resses had Ifeguilcd hltu. But she must choose, and as between the masterful Blair and the weakling doomed to die there was but one choice?for with Arthur Stanley dead and Blair Stanley come into his heritage all would be hers, she knew. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 In the luxurious chambers of John Powell Luke Lovell. gy|>sy and escaped convict, stands attired, if not In purple and tine linen, at least in line linen and tailored clothes of a cut aud texture as only millionaires, or ut least tlie rich, may have, and around his neck hangs the diumoud from the sky! Arthur. stood dumbly by. He had> handed Luke the apparel In servile silence. the clothes, the tine kid boots, the snowy shirt and even Fnglish walking gloves. Luke laughed as he gazed at -his gloved hands and from them to his entire reflect ion in t he cheval glass. "And 1 now I am the Romany Rye for sure." he cried. "But where is my ring and my watch and my scarf pin V Why, here they are on the bureau. You are a careless valet. Powell. "Suppose some ex-convict would walk right through my library window and come upstairs and coolly take them." And Luke threw back his head and laughed again, for as he spoke he had taken the costly ring from the hand of the unresisting John Powell, removed Ills glove ami put on the ring and re placed the glove, all with the moek actions of a dandy, such as Luke had seen in cheap vaudeville at some time. lie took the gold repeater and Its din tiiond studded chain from the dressing table, lie stuck the costly star sapphire pin from the cushion into the gay necktie he had selected. Finding Arthur's liionogrnmined wallet. well filled with banknotes and some private papers, in the tipper drawer of the dressing case. Luke had also taken it and remarked: "I'll have a bank account soon, but Just ut present I'll use the ready cash. And now. if you don't mind, for it is getting toWlli-rt lnoi'iLti'i' I will ln'ifii iw?ii "No; 1 won't g?> out the front door." he remarked ms the.v walked from the room and down the grand staircase in the silent mansion, "i'll go out the way 1 came in. It's good Inclc." In the library Arthur sank again Into the easy chair Not one word had he spoken, lie was ready to part with the blackmailer as he was ready to part with life itself?without fear and without hope. At the thought his eyes fell upon the brandy glass, the poisoned chalice with which he was to drink his toast to Death. Luke's eyes followed his. "Why. I declare." he cried, with an air of clum- I sy playfulness. "1 actually forgot to take my brandy with my colTee!" lie picked up the glass. "At parting." he said, "the Romany Rye drinks yout it: mil I i/i*i It 11 (5W"W MVU II II Arthur stirred as though to stop him. Rut he was without fear and without hope. This was destiu.v. What man may rend the hook of his fate? It was gypsy kismet that Luke and not he was to pledge the toast to Death. Luke drained the brandy at a gulp, then licked his lips. "Cjueer stufl that!" he said. "Why. curse it. it burns like acid!" He looked at Ilagar's son. and plain as words he read what was in the dark eyes of the other. "It. was a trap!" he shrieked. "I>? n your grinning, treacherous face. It was a trap! A gypsy trick! You have poisoned me!" And. reeling and cursing and grasp ing at himself as though to stay the agony that burned at his vitals. Luke staggered through the window low to the lawn and across the grass plot to the driveway at the back of the man siou. And then a great glare of light play ed upon him like a mighty beam ot incandescence, and with a rasping shriek from the electric horn Blair's heavy roadster tore around the corner of the great mansion and in a Hash had struck the poisoned man. crushing in his face and leaving him a huddled, quivering mass in the roadway. John Powell clutched at ids heart In the agony of the moment his soul seemed to leap from him as he peered from behind tlie window shad.? at this lust tragic toll taking of Death, the guardian of the diamond from the sky! There was a shriek from Vivian us the swift auto struck the poisoned man. Then a grinding of the brakes, the car stopped with a jerk, and Blair ran hack to tlie quivering figure in the j roadway. One glance at the crushed, disfigured face and Blair, in merciful pity strange to him. placed his coat over it to hide the dreadful sight, lie bent down. There was every evidence in the attire as to who it was. The wallet laid fallen from the breast coat pocket of j the dead man Blair knew it. He called for Vivian, and as she ran toward him he tore from the breast of tlie dead man the diamond from tlie sky. while the halted auto throbbed and panted as 'though It gloated at I what it and Blair had done! * #?? * "A gypsy trick!'* the dying man had cried. There were other gypsy tricks. John Powell was dead; with him should Arthur Stanley pas9t The now nameless man ran to his room and hastily donned a heavy dark suit of clothes. The cries of Vivian and Blair had ronsed the honse. and the nameless man heard the half dressed servants rushing down the stairs and out by the front door to the back of the house. 1 Unseen, he passed to the library, and then, as they bore the corpse of him i It Luke Lovell Stands Attired In Fine Clothes. nil-,, thought John Powell to tlio front mikI Into his mansion for the last time, tlio man win* had boon Arthur Stanley and .lohn Powell slipped from the window. stole across the lawn and made lis way through the iniM'k before dawn fo the hangar. [' ringing out the great. hirdliko tnaeliiiie. he rose with ii and e'.imhcd U|> ilie stairway of the wind and rod? upon the wings of the morning! Out to sea. far out! This wim n death to die! Hut the wings of the morning wafted exaltation to Ids soul lie east aside the husk of Ins degradation and turned and wheeled Ids distant Might? clear of mind and clean of soul again! On the wind's of the morning, and far below a gypsy caravan. "Ksther!" he thought. "Kstlier. my beloved, and linear, inv di ur mother!" And then, on the wings of the morning. something sunpp'. d. I town, down, he plunged. He s.;w in the bright fight ' of day that now tilled the earth ttio gypsies swarming.out. and he could discern the slight figure of Psthcr. Then lie felt the air rise up on either side as lie sank down like a plummet. Aim so nu \wni ciown. down?seeing, lie believed, the outstretched arms itnj upturned fare of lOsther?wit hout fear and without hope. * * * * * * At the mansion of the late .John Powell a wreath of flowers is on the door. The newspapers screech sensationally of his death and the stram:e story P.lair has disclosed that the mad millionaire, who took poison and threw himself ill the way of an ourushing automobile, was hot .John Powell, but Arthur Stan JB < :-. ^ViS^T'^k -JBL H fHHKI The 8uppoeed Death of Arthur Stanley. ley, fugitive from justice in Virginia and heir to an English earldom and the diamond from the sky! A gypsy hunchback riding to the dead man's house on a travel tired horse la told all this. He turns sadly