alf way out of town Jim Drake drew the coupe skillfully to the curb and turned off the motor. He had parked opposite the city library. Drake felt much better this morning. The sobering effect of the Morning Star had made a new man of him in short order. Dressed neatly in a brown sport suit, clean white shirt and white shoes, Jim looked his type perfectly. Young bachelor with cash to burn, yet with a certain dissatisfaction in himself that had etched little wrinkles around the clear brown eyes.
He pushed the door open and tapped Puffy Adams lightly on the shoulder. Exhausted from the events of the night before, Adams was cat-napping peacefully.
He sat up stiffly under Drake's touch and his face reddened.
"Huh?"
"This is where you get out," Jim grinned. "You're going to do some reading this afternoon."
Puffy was dumbfounded. His only association with the printed page was the Morning Star and the Police Gazette.
"Wait a minute," he protested. "Don't I get a look at that fox?"
Jim piloted him skillfully from the car.
"Look up a book on gems," he said. "I want to know how big the largest diamond was that has been found to date, where it came from, and if they've ever been found in the far north."