“An’ it’s fat！” Jim exclaimed irrelevantly and with joy.
“I’m sure tellin’ you， Jim， it’s fat. I’m plum’ anxious foranother look at ’em.”
Unconsciously the two men quickened their pace. Yetthey did not relax from their caution. Twice they changedtheir course in order to avoid policemen， and they madevery sure that they were not observed when they divedinto the dark hallway of a cheap rooming house downtown.
Not until they had gained their own room on thetop floor， did they scratch a match. While Jim lighteda lamp， Matt locked the door and threw the bolts intoplace. As he turned， he noticed that his partner waswaiting expectantly. Matt smiled to himself at the other’seagerness.
“Them search-lights is all right，” he said， drawingforth a small pocket electric lamp and examining it. “Butwe got to get a new battery. It’s runnin’ pretty weak. Ithought once or twice it’d leave me in the dark. Funnyarrangements in that house. I near got lost. His room wason the left， an’ that fooled me some.”
“I told you it was on the left，” Jim interrupted.
“You told me it was on the right，” Matt went on. “I guessI know what you told me， an’ there’s the map you drew.”
Fumbling in his vest pocket， he drew out a folded slip ofpaper. As he unfolded it， Jim bent over and looked.
“I did make a mistake，” he confessed.
“You sure did. It got me guessin’ some for a while.”
“But it don’t matter now，” Jim cried. “Let’s see what yougot.”
“It does matter，” Matt retorted. “It matters a lot . . . tome. I’ve got to run all the risk. I put my head in the trapwhile you stay on the street. You got to get on to yourselfan’ be more careful. All right， I’ll show you.”
He dipped loosely into his trousers pocket and broughtout a handful of small diamonds. He spilled them out in ablazing stream on the greasy table. Jim let out a great oath.
“That’s nothing，” Matt said with triumphant complacence.
“I ain’t begun yet.”
From one pocket after another he continued bringingforth the spoil. There were many diamonds wrappedin chamois skin that were larger than those in the firsthandful. From one pocket he brought out a handful ofvery small cut gems.
“Sun dust，” he remarked， as he spilled them on the tablein a space by themselves.
Jim examined them.
“Just the same， they retail for a couple of dollars each，”
he said. “Is that all？”
“Ain’t it enough？” the other demanded in an aggrievedtone.
“Sure it is，” Jim answered with unqualified approval.
“Better’n I expected. I wouldn’t take a cent less than tenthousan’ for the bunch.”
“Ten thousan’，” Matt sneered. “They’re worth twic’tthat， an’ I don’t know anything about joolery， either. Lookat that big boy！”
He picked it out from the sparkling heap and held itnear to the lamp with the air of an expert， weighing andjudging.
“Worth a thousan’ all by its lonely，” was Jim’s quickerjudgment.
“A thousan’ your grandmother，” was Matt’s scornfulrejoinder. “You couldn’t buy it for three.”
“Wake me up！ I’m dreamin’！” The sparkle of the gemswas in Jim’s eyes， and he began sorting out the largerdiamonds and examining them. “We’re rich men， Matt—we’ll be regular swells.”
“It’ll take years to get rid of ’em，” was Matt’s morepractical thought.
“But think how we’ll live！ Nothin’ to do but spend themoney an’ go on gettin’ rid of em.”
Matt’s eyes were beginning to sparkle， though sombrely，as his phlegmatic nature woke up.
“I told you I didn’t dast think how fat it was，” hemurmured in a low voice.
“What a killin’！ What a killin’！” was the other’s moreecstatic utterance.
“I almost forgot，” Matt said， thrusting his hand into hisinside coat pocket.
A string of large pearls emerged from wrappings of tissuepaper and chamois skin. Jim scarcely glanced at them.
“They’re worth money，” he said， and returned to thediamonds.
A silence fell on the two men. Jim played with the gems，running them through his fingers， sorting them into piles，and spreading them out flat and wide. He was a slender，weazened man， nervous， irritable， high-strung， andanaemic—a typical child of the gutter， with unbeautifultwisted features， small-eyed， with face and mouthperpetually and feverishly hungry， brutish in a cat-like way，stamped to the core with degeneracy.
Matt did not finger the diamonds. He sat with chin onhands and elbows on table， blinking heavily at the blazingarray. He was in every way a contrast to the other. No cityhad bred him. He was heavy-muscled and hairy， gorillalikein strength and aspect. For him there was no unseenworld. His eyes were full and wide apart， and there seemedin them a certain bold brotherliness. They inspiredconfidence. But a closer inspection would have shown thathis eyes were just a trifle too full， just a shade too wideapart. He exceeded， spilled over the limits of normality，and his features told lies about the man beneath.
“The bunch is worth fifty thousan’，” Jim remarkedsuddenly.
“A hundred thousan’，” Matt said.
The silence returned and endured a long time， to bebroken again by Jim.
“What in hell was he doin’ with ’em all at the house？ —that’swhat I want to know. I’d a-thought he’d kept ’em in thesafe down at the store.”
Matt had just been considering the vision of thethrottled man as he had last looked upon him in the dimlight of the electric lantern； but he did not start at themention of him.
“There’s no tellin’，” he answered. “He might a-bengettin’ ready to chuck his pardner. He might a-pulled outin the mornin’ for parts unknown， if we hadn’t happenedalong. I guess there’s just as many thieves among honestmen as there is among thieves. You read about such thingsin the papers， Jim. Pardners is always knifin’ each other.”
A queer， nervous look came into the other’s eyes. Mattdid not betray that he noted it， though he said—“What was you thinkin’ about， Jim？”
Jim was a trifle awkward for the moment.
“Nothin’，” he answered. “Only I was thinkin’ just howfunny it was—all them jools at his house. What made youask？”
“Nothin’. I was just wonderin’， that was all.”