Isn't it possible that those _are_ Brazilian diamonds?
That new workings have been discovered somewhere in the interior?
That he has smuggled them in concealed in the sugar-bags, right into New York, under the noses of the customs officials?
I beg your pardon," he concluded.
Late in the afternoon of the following day a drunken man, unshaven, unkempt, unclean and clothed in rags, lurched into a small pawnshop in the lower Bowery and planked down on the dirty counter a handful of inert, colorless pebbles, ranging in size from a pea to a peanut.
"Say, Jew, is them real diamonds ?" he demanded thickly.
The man in charge glanced at them and nearly fainted.

Ten minutes later Red Haney, knight of the road, was placed under arrest as a suspicious character.

Uncut diamonds, valued roughly at fifty thousand dollars, were found in his possession.
"Where did you get them ?" demanded the amazed police.
"Found 'em." "_Where_ did you find them ?" "None o' your business." And that was all they were able to get out of him at the moment..