898—The $100,000 Kiss By Nicholas Carter 899—Just One Slip By Nicholas Carter 900—On a Million-dollar Trail By Nicholas Carter 901—A Weird Treasure By Nicholas Carter 902—The Middle Link By Nicholas Carter 903—To the Ends of the Earth By Nicholas Carter 904—When Honors Pall By Nicholas Carter 905—The Yellow Brand By Nicholas Carter 906—A New Serpent in Eden By Nicholas Carter 907—When Brave Men Tremble By Nicholas Carter 908—A Test of Courage By Nicholas Carter 909—Where Peril Beckons By Nicholas Carter 910—The Gargoni Girdle By Nicholas Carter 911—Rascals & Co. By Nicholas Carter 912—Too Late to Talk By Nicholas Carter 913—Satan’s Apt Pupil By Nicholas Carter 914—The Girl Prisoner By Nicholas Carter 915—The Danger of Folly By Nicholas Carter 916—One Shipwreck Too Many By Nicholas Carter 917—Scourged by Fear By Nicholas Carter The Great Diamond Syndicate OR, THE HARDEST CREW ON RECORD BY NICHOLAS CARTER Author of the celebrated stories of Nick Carter’s adventures, which are published exclusively in the NEW MAGNET LIBRARY, conceded to be among the best detective tales ever written. [Illustration] STREET & SMITH CORPORATION PUBLISHERS 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York Copyright, 1909 By STREET & SMITH The Great Diamond Syndicate (Printed in the United States of America) All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian. THE GREAT DIAMOND SYNDICATE. CHAPTER I. A DARK NIGHT’S WORK. “Your uncle murdered! It seems incredible!” Nick Carter leaned back in his chair and looked at his visitor, dismay showing in his face. “It is too true, old friend, Uncle Alvin was murdered in his bed last night, and diamonds to the value of half a million dollars stolen from the house.” The speaker, Charley Maynard, was greatly excited. He was a young man who had arrived at legal age only a few months before. Almost from boyhood he had been a friend of the man of whom he now sought sympathy and advice. “Half a million in diamonds!” echoed the detective. “I was not aware that Alvin Maynard possessed diamonds to that value.”