Dick nodded emphatically.
“That’s it,” he returned quickly. “They were talking about somebody by the name of Randolph—Scott Randolph, who evidently had something to do with diamonds.”
“If I got their lingo straight, he had quite some to do with them,” Buckhart put in. “Unless I’m a whole lot wrong, those same two gents were saying that this Randolph manufactured ’em.”
“It did sound that way,” Merriwell returned; “but of course, that’s impossible. We must have misunderstood them. At any rate, they were very secretive about it, for the minute the little fellow noticed us, he nudged the big man and they shut up like clams.”
He paused and unfolded the letter he had just received from his brother.
“Here’s a letter which just came from Frank,” he went on. “He’s well and very busy and all that. Glad we’re having a nice trip and a lot more that won’t interest you. Then comes the coincidence. I just want you to listen to this:
“‘This will reach you while you are in Denver,’” Dick read. “‘I wish, if you have time, you would look up an old friend of mine who is located somewhere near there. He’s a rather retiring chap and doesn’t care at all for company; but we got to be pretty good friends at Yale, and afterward kept up a more or less regular correspondence for some time. I haven’t heard from him in over two years, and several letters of mine have been unanswered. I’d like to know whether he is still in the land of the living; and, if so, what he is doing and why he doesn’t write occasionally. He was a great fellow for experimenting with chemicals and had the most extraordinary inventive ability and talent for mechanics that I have ever seen. I fancy he is doing a lot of experimenting, though he never told me just what he was after. His name is Scott Randolph. If you find him, tell him I should very much like to hear from him again.’”
Dick folded the letter and restored it to the envelope. As he did so, a card dropped out of the latter and he stooped over to pick it up.
“Scott Randolph!” the big Texan exclaimed. “Now what do you think of that? This is a sure enough interesting gent. Mebbe he’s got the receipt of making diamonds out of these chemicals he experiments with.”
Dick secured the card from the bottom of the car and tucked it into his pocket.