“I don’t know anything about rubies, kid, but if it’s left there all night it’s phony.”

Just then two men came along, entered the store, and, locking the door behind them, went to the window and got the stone. They disappeared toward the back of the store.

“It must be genuine, kid. They are putting it away in the box.”

As we walked away, Sanc said: “The window has a burglar alarm. You can see the tape around the edges. If I could devise some way to put an inch hole through the glass without cracking it clear across to the tape, the alarm would not sound and I could take the stone out with a stiff wire. Tomorrow night I’ll try something I have long thought of.”