You're the luckiest fellow alive." "This adventure is somewhat out of the usual order," declared Frank.
"It might furnish material for a detective story." "Whew!" whistled the dark-haired lad.

"Now you are making me curious.
Reel it off for us." Then Frank sat down and told Hodge the full particulars of his adventure with the mysterious man in black.
A look of wonder and delight grew on Bart's face as he listened, and, when the account was finished, he slapped his thigh, crying: "By Jove, Merriwell, this is great! Why, such things do actually happen, don't they! Why do you suppose that man is so determined to obtain possession of that ugly old ring?
Do you actually believe he is a collector of rings, with a mania for the quaint and curious ?" "It is possible, but, for some reason, I doubt it." "So do I." "He did not seem quite sincere in his manner of telling that story, and he was altogether too desperate in his determination to obtain the ring." "That's right." "Besides that, he wished to know how it came into my possession, and, when he learned my father's name, he declared he had never heard it before." "What do you make out of that ?" "Well, it strikes me that this man recognized the ring as one he had seen before." Bart nodded with satisfaction.
"Just the way I figured it out, old man!" "He did not seem so anxious to learn the history of the ring, although he pretended that it was his wish to know the history of every ring that came into his possession.

In this case he seemed far more anxious to discover how I came to have it." "And so he must already know its history ?" "Yes." "What do you know about it yourself, Frank ?" "Not much," was the serious reply.

"You know I once told you that my father was much away from home, traveling in the West, where he claimed to have business interests, and it was not till after his death that we knew what his business actually was--that of a note broker--with a passion for gambling ?" "Yes, I remember all this." "In his wanderings, father somehow got hold of that ring, and it is pretty certain that he considered it very valuable, for he sent it to mother, and wrote her to guard it faithfully, and not to let it part from her on any consideration.

He said that he would come for it some day; but he never did.