"Mr. Czenki, have you any very definite idea as to where those diamonds came from?" asked Mr. Latham.
"No," was the unhesitating response.
"Is it possible that they might have been found in the—in the United
States?" Mr. Latham went on.
"Certainly. They might have been found anywhere."
"As a matter of fact, were any diamonds ever found in the United
States?"
"Yes, frequently. One very large diamond was found in 1855 at Manchester, across the James River from Richmond, Virginia. It weighed twenty-four carats when cut, and is the largest, I believe, ever found in this country."
Mr. Latham seemed surprised.
"Why, you astonish me," he remarked.
"Vait a minute und he'll astonish you some more," Mr. Schultze put in confidently. "Vere else in der United States haf diamonds been found, Czenki?"
"In California, in North Carolina, and in Hall County, Georgia," replied the expert readily. "There is good ground for the belief that the stone found at Richmond had been washed down from the mountains farther in the interior, and, if this is true, there is a substantial basis for the scientific hypothesis that diamond fields lie somewhere in the Appalachian Range, because the diamonds found in both North Carolina and Georgia were adjacent to these mountains." He paused a moment. "This is all a matter of record."