What became of Slack? That was a question often asked, but never answered in a satisfactory way. As I said, the last time I ever saw him was when I left the diamond fields with the Janin party. He and Rubery remained behind. When these two separated Rubery came to San Francisco, while Slack took an eastbound train. Many attempts were made to locate him at a later day. He was heard from at various points--St. Louis, New Orleans, Memphis and Mobile. Always it turned out to be another Slack. Finally the impression became general that he must have gone abroad and hid his identity in another land. But the strange part of it was that Arnold had all the money, or nearly all of it, as appears by his signed statements and later by the inventory of his estate, which corresponded. Granting every possible contingency, the share of Slack was either practically nothing or very small, not to exceed $30,000 at the utmost. As they always figured as partners, and as Slack, though not the spokesman, appeared a man of force, I have always considered that a deep mystery hung over his fate. It seems not unlikely that he died somewhere in the Western country, probably among strangers, and never participated in the profits of the diamond fraud at all. CHAPTER XXXIV. DIAMOND FRAUD LOSS FALLS ON SHOULDERS OF ORIGINAL DUPES; RALSTON REIMBURSES ALL STOCKHOLDERS. _Gossips Make Unjust Charge Against Men Who Acted in Good Faith and Were Deceived by Swindlers._ The losses growing out of the diamond fraud fell on the shoulders of the original dupes--W. C. Ralston, William M. Lent, George Dodge and myself. My impression is that the money obtained by Mr. Lent from Arnold very nearly, if not quite, balanced his account. Perhaps he may have given a portion of this to General Dodge, his business associate. Mr. Ralston promptly paid the twenty-five stockholders who subscribed $2,000,000 for a half interest in the company, dollar for dollar. Not a man of them lost a cent. This involved a sacrifice of the last $300,000 paid to Arnold and Slack. Mr. Ralston had the receipts in full of the various parties neatly framed and I am told that it was one of the mural decorations of his private office in the Bank of California. The remaining balance of loss was borne by Mr. Roberts and myself. The diamond fraud story has covered acres of newspaper space. This, however, is the first time that the narrative has been told from start to finish, all the facts assembled in connected form. From what has gone before, certain points stand out in bold relief.