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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5087.txt b/5087.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..94070c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/5087.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10689 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure-Train, by Arthur B. Reeve + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Treasure-Train + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Posting Date: September 15, 2012 [EBook #5087] +Release Date: February, 2004 +First Posted: April 24, 2002 +Last Updated: February 24, 2006 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE-TRAIN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + + +THE TREASURE-TRAIN + +BY + +ARTHUR B. REEVE + +FRONTISPIECE BY WILL FOSTER + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE TREASURE-TRAIN + + II. THE TRUTH-DETECTOR + + III. THE SOUL-ANALYSIS + + IV. THE MYSTIC POISONER + + V. THE PHANTOM DESTROYER + + VI. THE BEAUTY MASK + + VII. THE LOVE METER + +VIII. THE VITAL PRINCIPLE + + IX. THE RUBBER DAGGER + + X. THE SUBMARINE MINE + + XI. THE GUN-RUNNER + + XII. THE SUNKEN TREASURE + + + + +I + +THE TREASURE-TRAIN + + +"I am not by nature a spy, Professor Kennedy, but--well, sometimes one +is forced into something like that." Maude Euston, who had sought out +Craig in his laboratory, was a striking girl, not merely because she +was pretty or because her gown was modish. Perhaps it was her sincerity +and artlessness that made her attractive. + +She was the daughter of Barry Euston, president of the Continental +Express Company, and one could readily see why, aside from the position +her father held, she should be among the most-sought-after young women +in the city. + +Miss Euston looked straight into Kennedy's eyes as she added, without +waiting for him to ask a question: + +"Yesterday I heard something that has made me think a great deal. You +know, we live at the St. Germaine when we are in town. I've noticed for +several months past that the lobbies are full of strange, +foreign-looking people. + +"Well, yesterday afternoon I was sitting alone in the tea-room of the +hotel, waiting for some friends. On the other side of a huge palm I +heard a couple whispering. I have seen the woman about the hotel often, +though I know that she doesn't live there. The man I don't remember +ever having seen before. They mentioned the name of Granville Barnes, +treasurer of father's company--" + +"Is that so?" cut in Kennedy, quickly. "I read the story about him in +the papers this morning." + +As for myself, I was instantly alive with interest, too. + +Granville Barnes had been suddenly stricken while riding in his car in +the country, and the report had it that he was hovering between life +and death in the General Hospital. The chauffeur had been stricken, +too, by the same incomprehensible malady, though apparently not so +badly. + +How the chauffeur managed to save the car was a miracle, but he brought +it to a stop beside the road, where the two were found gasping, a +quarter of an hour later, by a passing motorist, who rushed them to a +doctor, who had them transferred to the hospital in the city. Neither +of them seemed able or willing to throw any light on what had happened. + +"Just what was it you overheard?" encouraged Kennedy. + +"I heard the man tell the woman," Miss Euston replied, slowly, "that +now was the chance--when any of the great warring powers would welcome +and wink at any blow that might cripple the other to the slightest +degree. I heard him say something about the Continental Express +Company, and that was enough to make me listen, for, you know, father's +company is handling the big shipments of gold and securities that are +coming here from abroad by way of Halifax. Then I heard her mention the +names of Mr. Barnes and of Mr. Lane, too, the general manager." She +paused, as though not relishing the idea of having the names bandied +about. "Last night the--the attack on him--for that is all that I can +think it was--occurred." + +As she stopped again, I could not help thinking what a tale of strange +plotting the casual conversation suggested. New York, I knew, was full +of high-class international crooks and flimflammers who had flocked +there because the great field of their operations in Europe was closed. +The war had literally dumped them on us. Was some one using a band of +these crooks for ulterior purposes? The idea opened up wide +possibilities. + +"Of course," Miss Euston continued, "that is all I know; but I think I +am justified in thinking that the two things--the shipment of gold here +and the attack--have some connection. Oh, can't you take up the case +and look into it?" + +She made her appeal so winsomely that it would have been difficult to +resist even if it had not promised to prove important. + +"I should be glad to take up the matter," replied Craig, quickly, +adding, "if Mr. Barnes will let me." + +"Oh, he must!" she cried. "I haven't spoken to father, but I know that +he would approve of it. I know he thinks I haven't any head for +business, just because I wasn't born a boy. I want to prove to him that +I can protect the companies interests. And Mr. Barnes--why, of course +he will approve." + +She said it with an assurance that made me wonder. It was only then +that I recollected that it had been one of the excuses for printing her +picture in the society columns of the Star so often that the pretty +daughter of the president of the Continental was being ardently wooed +by two of the company's younger officials. Granville Barnes himself was +one. The other was Rodman Lane, the young general manager. I wished now +that I had paid more attention to the society news. Perhaps I should +have been in a better position to judge which of them it was whom she +really had chosen. As it was, two questions presented themselves to me. +Was it Barnes? And had Barnes really been the victim of an attack--or +of an accident? + +Kennedy may have been thinking the problems over, but he gave no +evidence of it. He threw on his hat and coat, and was ready in a moment +to be driven in Miss Euston's car to the hospital. + +There, after the usual cutting of red tape which only Miss Euston could +have accomplished, we were led by a white-uniformed nurse through the +silent halls to the private room occupied by Barnes. + +"It's a most peculiar case," whispered the young doctor in charge, as +we paused at the door. "I want you to notice his face and his cough. +His pulse seems very weak, almost imperceptible at times. The +stethoscope reveals subcrepitant sounds all over his lungs. It's like +bronchitis or pneumonia--but it isn't either." + +We entered. Barnes was lying there almost in a state of +unconsciousness. As we stood watching him he opened his eyes. But he +did not see us. His vision seemed to be riveted on Miss Euston. He +murmured something that we could not catch, and, as his eyes closed +again, his face seemed to relax into a peaceful expression, as though +he were dreaming of something happy. + +Suddenly, however, the old tense lines reappeared. Another idea seemed +to have been suggested. + +"Is--Lane--hiring the men--himself?" he murmured. + +The sight of Maude Euston had prompted the thought of his rival, now +with a clear field. What did it mean? Was he jealous of Lane, or did +his words have a deeper meaning? What difference could it have made if +Lane had a free hand in managing the shipment of treasure for the +company? + +Kennedy looked long and carefully at the face of the sick man. It was +blue and cyanosed still, and his lips had a violet tinge. Barnes had +been coughing a great deal. Now and then his mouth was flecked with +foamy blood, which the nurse wiped gently away. Kennedy picked up a +piece of the blood-soaked gauze. + +A moment later we withdrew from the room as quietly as we had entered +and tiptoed down the hall, Miss Euston and the young doctor following +us more slowly. As we reached the door, I turned to see where she was. +A distinguished-looking elderly gentleman, sitting in the waiting-room, +had happened to glance up as she passed and had moved quickly to the +hall. + +"What--you here, Maude?" we heard him say. + +"Yes, father. I thought I might be able to do something for Granville." + +She accompanied the remark with a sidelong glance and nod at us, which +Kennedy interpreted to mean that we might as well keep in the +background. Euston himself, far from chiding her, seemed rather to be +pleased than otherwise. We could not hear all they said, but one +sentence was wafted over. + +"It's most unfortunate, Maude, at just this time. It leaves the whole +matter in the hands of Lane." + +At the mention of Lane, which her father accompanied by a keen glance, +she flushed a little and bit her lip. I wondered whether it meant more +than that, of the two suitors, her father obviously preferred Barnes. + +Euston had called to see Barnes, and, as the doctor led him up the hall +again, Miss Euston rejoined us. + +"You need not drive us back," thanked Kennedy. "Just drop us at the +Subway. I'll let you know the moment I have arrived at any conclusion." + +On the train we happened to run across a former classmate, Morehead, +who had gone into the brokerage business. + +"Queer about that Barnes case, isn't it?" suggested Kennedy, after the +usual greetings were over. Then, without suggesting that we were more +than casually interested, "What does the Street think of it?" + +"It is queer," rejoined Morehead. "All the boys down-town are talking +about it--wondering how it will affect the transit of the gold +shipments. I don't know what would happen if there should be a hitch. +But they ought to be able to run the thing through all right." + +"It's a pretty ticklish piece of business, then?" I suggested. + +"Well, you know the state of the market just now--a little push one way +or the other means a lot. And I suppose you know that the insiders on +the Street have boosted Continental Express up until it is practically +one of the 'war stocks,' too. Well, good-by--here's my station." + +We had scarcely returned to the laboratory, however, when a car drove +up furiously and a young man bustled in to see us. + +"You do not know me," he introduced, "but I am Rodman Lane, general +manager of the Continental Express. You know our company has had charge +of the big shipments of gold and securities to New York. I suppose +you've read about what happened to Barnes, our treasurer. I don't know +anything about it--haven't even time to find out. All I know is that it +puts more work on me, and I'm nearly crazy already." + +I watched him narrowly. + +"We've had little trouble of any kind so far," he hurried on, "until +just now I learned that all the roads over which we are likely to send +the shipments have been finding many more broken rails than usual." + +Kennedy had been following him keenly. + +"I should like to see some samples of them," he observed. + +"You would?" said Lane, eagerly. "I've a couple of sections sawed from +rails down at my office, where I asked the officials to send them." + +We made a hurried trip down to the express company's office. Kennedy +examined the sections of rails minutely with a strong pocket-lens. + +"No ordinary break," he commented. "You can see that it was an +explosive that was used--an explosive well and properly tamped down +with wet clay. Without tamping, the rails would have been bent, not +broken." + +"Done by wreckers, then?" Lane asked. + +"Certainly not defective rails," replied Kennedy. "Still, I don't think +you need worry so much about them for the next train. You know what to +guard against. Having been discovered, whoever they are, they'll +probably not try it again. It's some new wrinkle that must be guarded +against." + +It was small comfort, but Craig was accustomed to being brutally frank. + +"Have you taken any other precautions now that you didn't take before?" + +"Yes," replied Lane, slowly; "the railroad has been experimenting with +wireless on its trains. We have placed wireless on ours, too. They +can't cut us off by cutting wires. Then, of course, as before, we shall +use a pilot-train to run ahead and a strong guard on the train itself. +But now I feel that there may be something else that we can do. So I +have come to you." + +"When does the next shipment start?" asked Kennedy. + +"To-morrow, from Halifax." + +Kennedy appeared to be considering something. + +"The trouble," he said, at length, "is likely to be at this end. +Perhaps before the train starts something may happen that will tell us +just what additional measures to take as it approaches New York." + +While Kennedy was at work with the blood-soaked gauze that he had taken +from Barnes, I could do nothing but try to place the relative positions +of the various actors in the little drama that was unfolding. Lane +himself puzzled me. Sometimes I felt almost sure that he knew that Miss +Euston had come to Kennedy, and that he was trying, in this way, to +keep in touch with what was being done for Barnes. + +Some things I knew already. Barnes was comparatively wealthy, and had +evidently the stamp of approval of Maude Euston's father. As for Lane, +he was far from wealthy, although ambitious. + +The company was in a delicate situation where an act of omission would +count for as much as an act of commission. Whoever could foresee what +was going to happen might capitalize that information for much money. +If there was a plot and Barnes had been a victim, what was its nature? +I recalled Miss Euston's overheard conversation in the tea-room. Both +names had been mentioned. In short, I soon found myself wondering +whether some one might not have tempted Lane either to do or not to do +something. + +"I wish you'd go over to the St. Germaine, Walter," remarked Kennedy, +at length, looking up from his work. "Don't tell Miss Euston of Lane's +visit. But ask her if she will keep an eye out for that woman she heard +talking--and the man, too. They may drop in again. And tell her that if +she hears anything else, no matter how trivial, about Barnes, she must +let me know." + +I was glad of the commission. Not only had I been unable to arrive +anywhere in my conjectures, but it was something even to have a chance +to talk with a girl like Maude Euston. + +Fortunately I found her at home and, though she was rather disappointed +that I had nothing to report, she received me graciously, and we spent +the rest of the evening watching the varied life of the fashionable +hostelry in the hope of chancing on the holders of the strange +conversation in the tea-room. + +Once in a while an idea would occur to her of some one who was in a +position to keep her informed if anything further happened to Barnes, +and she would despatch a messenger with a little note. Finally, as it +grew late and the adventuress of the tea-room episode seemed unlikely +to favor the St. Germaine with her presence again that night, I made my +excuses, having had the satisfaction only of having delivered Kennedy's +message, without accomplishing anything more. In fact, I was still +unable to determine whether there was any sentiment stronger than +sympathy that prompted her to come to Kennedy about Barnes. As for +Lane, his name was scarcely mentioned except when it was necessary. + +It was early the next morning that I rejoined Craig at the laboratory. +I found him studying the solution which he had extracted from the +blood-soaked gauze after first removing the blood in a little distilled +water. + +Before him was his new spectroscope, and I could see that now he was +satisfied with what the uncannily delicate light-detective had told +him. He pricked his finger and let a drop of blood fall into a little +fresh distilled water, some of which he placed in the spectroscope. + +"Look through it," he said. "Blood diluted with water shows the +well-known dark bands between D and E, known as the oxyhemoglobin +absorption." I looked as he indicated and saw the dark bands. "Now," he +went on, "I add some of this other liquid." + +He picked up a bottle of something with a faint greenish tinge. + +"See the bands gradually fade?" + +I watched, and indeed they did diminish in intensity and finally +disappear, leaving an uninterrupted and brilliant spectrum. + +"My spectroscope," he said, simply, "shows that the blood-crystals of +Barnes are colorless. Barnes was poisoned--by some gas, I think. I wish +I had time to hunt along the road where the accident took place." As he +said it, he walked over and drew from a cabinet several peculiar +arrangements made of gauze. + +He was about to say something more when there came a knock at the door. +Kennedy shoved the gauze arrangements into his pocket and opened it. It +was Maude Euston, breathless and agitated. + +"Oh, Mr. Kennedy, have you heard?" she cried. "You asked me to keep a +watch whether anything more happened to Mr. Barnes. So I asked some +friends of his to let me know of anything. He has a yacht, the Sea +Gull, which has been lying off City Island. Well, last night the +captain received a message to go to the hospital, that Mr. Barnes +wanted to see him. Of course it was a fake. Mr. Barnes was too sick to +see anybody on business. But when the captain got back, he found that, +on one pretext or another, the crew had been got ashore--and the Sea +Gull is gone--stolen! Some men in a small boat must have overpowered +the engineer. Anyhow, she has disappeared. I know that no one could +expect to steal a yacht--at least for very long. She'd be recognized +soon. But they must know that, too." + +Kennedy looked at his watch. + +"It is only a few hours since the train started from Halifax," he +considered. "It will be due in New York early to-morrow morning--twenty +million dollars in gold and thirty millions in securities--a seven-car +steel train, with forty armed guards!" + +"I know it," she said, anxiously, "and I am so afraid something is +going to happen--ever since I had to play the spy. But what could any +one want with a yacht?" + +Kennedy shrugged his shoulders non-committally. + +"It is one of the things that Mr. Lane must guard against," he +remarked, simply. She looked up quickly. + +"Mr. Lane?" she repeated. + +"Yes," replied Kennedy; "the protection of the train has fallen on him. +I shall meet the train myself when it gets to Worcester and come in on +it. I don't think there can be any danger before it reaches that point." + +"Will Mr. Lane go with you?" + +"He must," decided Kennedy. "That train must be delivered safely here +in this city." + +Maude Euston gave Craig one of her penetrating, direct looks. + +"You think there is danger, then?" + +"I cannot say," he replied. + +"Then I am going with you!" she exclaimed. + +Kennedy paused and met her eyes. I do not know whether he read what was +back of her sudden decision. At least I could not, unless there was +something about Rodman Lane which she wished to have cleared up. +Kennedy seemed to read her character and know that a girl like Maude +Euston would be a help in any emergency. + +"Very well," he agreed; "meet us at Mr. Lane's office in half an hour. +Walter, see whether you can find Whiting." + +Whiting was one of Kennedy's students with whom he had been lately +conducting some experiments. I hurried out and managed to locate him. + +"What is it you suspect?" I asked, when we returned. "A wreck--some +spectacular stroke at the nations that are shipping the gold?" + +"Perhaps," he replied, absently, as he and Whiting hurriedly assembled +some parts of instruments that were on a table in an adjoining room. + +"Perhaps?" I repeated. "What else might there be?" + +"Robbery." + +"Robbery!" I exclaimed. "Of twenty million dollars? Why, man, just +consider the mere weight of the metal!" + +"That's all very well," he replied, warming up a bit as he saw that +Whiting was getting things together quickly. "But it needs only a bit +of twenty millions to make a snug fortune--" He paused and straightened +up as the gathering of the peculiar electrical apparatus, whatever it +was, was completed. "And," he went on quickly, "consider the effect on +the stock-market of the news. That's the big thing." + +I could only gasp. + +"A modern train-robbery, planned in the heart of dense traffic!" + +"Why not?" he queried. "Nothing is impossible if you can only take the +other fellow unawares. Our job is not to be taken unawares. Are you +ready, Whiting?" + +"Yes, sir," replied the student, shouldering the apparatus, for which I +was very thankful, for my arms had frequently ached carrying about some +of Kennedy's weird but often weighty apparatus. + +We piled into a taxicab and made a quick journey to the office of the +Continental Express. Maude Euston had already preceded us, and we found +her standing by Lane's desk as he paced the floor. + +"Please, Miss Euston, don't go," he was saying as we entered. + +"But I want to go," she persisted, more than ever determined, +apparently. + +"I have engaged Professor Kennedy just for the purpose of foreseeing +what new attack can be made on us," he said. + +"You have engaged Professor Kennedy?" she asked. "I think I have a +prior claim there, haven't I?" she appealed. + +Kennedy stood for a moment looking from one to the other. What was +there in the motives that actuated them? Was it fear, hate, love, +jealousy? + +"I can serve my two clients only if they yield to me," Craig remarked, +quietly. "Don't set that down, Whiting. Which is it--yes or no?" + +Neither Lane nor Miss Euston looked at each other for a moment. + +"Is it in my hands?" repeated Craig. + +"Yes," bit off Lane, sourly. + +"And you, Miss Euston?" + +"Of course," she answered. + +"Then we all go," decided Craig. "Lane, may I install this thing in +your telegraph-room outside?" + +"Anything you say," Lane returned, unmollified. + +Whiting set to work immediately, while Kennedy gave him the final +instructions. + +Neither Lane nor Miss Euston spoke a word, even when I left the room +for a moment, fearing that three was a crowd. I could not help +wondering whether she might not have heard something more from the +woman in the tea-room conversation than she had told us. If she had, +she had been more frank with Lane than with us. She must have told him. +Certainly she had not told us. It was the only way I could account for +the armed truce that seemed to exist as, hour after hour, our train +carried us nearer the point where we were to meet the treasure-train. + +At Worcester we had still a long wait for the argosy that was causing +so much anxiety and danger. It was long after the time scheduled that +we left finally, on our return journey, late at night. + +Ahead of us went a dummy pilot-train to be sacrificed if any bridges or +trestles were blown up or if any new attempts were made at producing +artificially broken rails. We four established ourselves as best we +could in a car in the center of the treasure-train, with one of the +armed guards as company. Mile after mile we reeled off, ever southward +and westward. + +We must have crossed the State of Connecticut and have been approaching +Long Island Sound, when suddenly the train stopped with a jerk. +Ordinarily there is nothing to grow alarmed about at the mere stopping +of a train. But this was an unusual train under unusual circumstances. + +No one said a word as we peered out. Down the track the signals seemed +to show a clear road. What was the matter? + +"Look!" exclaimed Kennedy, suddenly. + +Off a distance ahead I could see what looked like a long row of white +fuses sticking up in the faint starlight. From them the fresh west wind +seemed to blow a thick curtain of greenish-yellow smoke which swept +across the track, enveloping the engine and the forward cars and now +advancing toward us like the "yellow wind" of northern China. It seemed +to spread thickly on the ground, rising scarcely more than sixteen or +eighteen feet. + +A moment and the cloud began to fill the air about us. There was a +paralyzing odor. I looked about at the others, gasping and coughing. As +the cloud rolled on, inexorably increasing in density, it seemed +literally to grip the lungs. + +It flashed over me that already the engineer and fireman had been +overcome, though not before the engineer had been able to stop the +train. + +As the cloud advanced, the armed guards ran from it, shouting, one now +and then falling, overcome. For the moment none of us knew what to do. +Should we run and desert the train for which we had dared so much? To +stay was death. + +Quickly Kennedy pulled from his pocket the gauze arrangements he had +had in his hand that morning just as Miss Euston's knock had +interrupted his conversation with me. Hurriedly he shoved one into Miss +Euston's hands, then to Lane, then to me, and to the guard who was with +us. + +"Wet them!" he cried, as he fitted his own over his nose and staggered +to a water-cooler. + +"What is it?" I gasped, hoarsely, as we all imitated his every action. + +"Chlorin gas," he rasped back, "the same gas that overcame Granville +Barnes. These masks are impregnated with a glycerin solution of sodium +phosphate. It was chlorin that destroyed the red coloring matter in +Barnes's blood. No wonder, when this action of just a whiff of it on us +is so rapid. Even a short time longer and death would follow. It +destroys without the possibility of reconstitution, and it leaves a +dangerous deposit of albumin. How do you feel?" + +"All right," I lied. + +We looked out again. The things that looked like fuses were not bombs, +as I had expected, but big reinforced bottles of gas compressed at high +pressure, with the taps open. The supply was not inexhaustible. In +fact, it was decidedly limited. But it seemed to have been calculated +to a nicety to do the work. Only the panting of the locomotive now +broke the stillness as Kennedy and I moved forward along the track. + +Crack! rang out a shot. + +"Get on the other side of the train--quick!" ordered Craig. + +In the shadow, aside from the direction in which the wind was wafting +the gas, we could now just barely discern a heavy but powerful +motor-truck and figures moving about it. As I peered out from the +shelter of the train, I realized what it all meant. The truck, which +had probably conveyed the gas-tanks from the rendezvous where they had +been collected, was there now to convey to some dark wharf what of the +treasure could be seized. There the stolen yacht was waiting to carry +it off. + +"Don't move--don't fire," cautioned Kennedy. "Perhaps they will think +it was only a shadow they saw. Let them act first. They must. They +haven't any too much time. Let them get impatient." + +For some minutes we waited. + +Sure enough, separated widely, but converging toward the treasure-train +at last, we could see several dark figures making their way from the +road across a strip of field and over the rails. I made a move with my +gun. + +"Don't," whispered Kennedy. "Let them get together." + +His ruse was clever. Evidently they thought that it had been indeed a +wraith at which they had fired. Swiftly now they hurried to the nearest +of the gold-laden cars. We could hear them, breaking in where the +guards had either been rendered unconscious or had fled. + +I looked around at Maude Euston. She was the calmest of us all as she +whispered: + +"They are in the car. Can't we DO something?" + +"Lane," whispered Kennedy, "crawl through under the trucks with me. +Walter, and you, Dugan," he added, to the guard, "go down the other +side. We must rush them--in the car." + +As Kennedy crawled under the train again I saw Maude Euston follow Lane +closely. + +How it happened I cannot describe, for the simple reason that I don't +remember. I know that it was a short, sharp dash, that the fight was a +fight of fists in which guns were discharged wildly in the air against +the will of the gunner. But from the moment when Kennedy's voice rang +out in the door, "Hands up!" to the time that I saw that we had the +robbers lined up with their backs against the heavy cases of the +precious metal for which they had planned and risked so much, it is a +blank of grim death-struggle. + +I remember my surprise at seeing one of them a woman, and I thought I +must be mistaken. I looked about. No; there was Maude Euston standing +just beside Lane. + +I think it must have been that which recalled me and made me realize +that it was a reality and not a dream. The two women stood glaring at +each other. + +"The woman in the tea-room!" exclaimed Miss Euston. "It was about +this--robbery--then, that I heard you talking the other afternoon." + +I looked at the face before me. It was, had been, a handsome face. But +now it was cold and hard, with that heartless expression of the +adventuress. The men seemed to take their plight hard. But, as she +looked into the clear, gray eyes of the other woman, the adventuress +seemed to gain rather than lose in defiance. + +"Robbery?" she repeated, bitterly. "This is only a beginning." + +"A beginning. What do you mean?" + +It was Lane who spoke. Slowly she turned toward him. + +"You know well enough what I mean." + +The implication that she intended was clear. She had addressed the +remark to him, but it was a stab at Maude Euston. + +"I know only what you wanted me to do--and I refused. Is there more +still?" + +I wondered whether Lane could really have been involved. + +"Quick--what DO you mean?" demanded Kennedy, authoritatively. + +The woman turned to him: + +"Suppose this news of the robbery is out? What will happen? Do you want +me to tell you, young lady?" she added, turning again to Maude Euston. +"I'll tell you. The stock of the Continental Express Company will fall +like a house of cards. And then? Those who have sold it at the top +price will buy it back again at the bottom. The company is sound. The +depression will not last--perhaps will be over in a day, a week, a +month. Then the operators can send it up again. Don't you see? It is +the old method of manipulation in a new form. It is a war-stock gamble. +Other stocks will be affected the same way. This is our reward--what we +can get out of it by playing this game for which the materials are +furnished free. We have played it--and lost. The manipulators will get +their reward on the stock-market this morning. But they must still +reckon with us--even if we have lost." She said it with a sort of grim +humor. + +"And you have put Granville Barnes out of the way, first?" I asked, +remembering the chlorin. She laughed shrilly. + +"That was an accident--his own carelessness. He was carrying a tank of +it for us. Only his chauffeur's presence of mind in throwing it into +the shrubbery by the road saved his life and reputation. No, young man; +he was one of the manipulators, too. But the chief of them was--" She +paused as if to enjoy one brief moment of triumph at least. "The +president of the company," she added. + +"No, no, no!" cried Maude Euston. + +"Yes, yes, yes! He does not dare deny it. They were all in it." + +"Mrs. Labret--you lie!" towered Lane, in a surging passion, as he +stepped forward and shook his finger at her. "You lie and you know it. +There is an old saying about the fury of a woman scorned." She paid no +attention to him whatever. + +"Maude Euston," she hissed, as though Lane had been as inarticulate as +the boxes of gold about, "you have saved your lover's +reputation--perhaps. At least the shipment is safe. But you have ruined +your father. The deal will go through. Already that has been arranged. +You may as well tell Kennedy to let us go and let the thing go through. +It involves more than us." + +Kennedy had been standing back a bit, carefully keeping them all +covered. He glanced a moment out of the corner of his eye at Maude +Euston, but said nothing. + +It was a terrible situation. Had Lane really been in it? That question +was overshadowed by the mention of her father. Impulsively she turned +to Craig. + +"Oh, save him!" she cried. "Can't anything be done to save my father in +spite of himself?" + +"It is too late," mocked Mrs. Labret. "People will read the account of +the robbery in the papers, even if it didn't take place. They will see +it before they see a denial. Orders will flood in to sell the stock. +No; it can't be stopped." + +Kennedy glanced momentarily at me. + +"Is there still time to catch the last morning edition of the Star, +Walter?" he asked, quietly. I glanced at my watch. + +"We may try. It's possible." + +"Write a despatch--an accident to the engine--train delayed--now +proceeding--anything. Here, Dugan, you keep them covered. Shoot to kill +if there's a move." + +Kennedy had begun feverishly setting up the part of the apparatus which +he had brought after Whiting had set up his. + +"What can you do?" hissed Mrs. Labret. "You can't get word through. +Orders have been issued that the telegraph operators are under no +circumstances to give out news about this train. The wireless is out of +commission, too--the operator overcome. The robbery story has been +prepared and given out by this time. Already reporters are being +assigned to follow it up." + +I looked over at Kennedy. If orders had been given for such secrecy by +Barry Euston, how could my despatch do any good? It would be held back +by the operators. + +Craig quickly slung a wire over those by the side of the track and +seized what I had written, sending furiously. + +"What are you doing?" I asked. "You heard what she said." + +"One thing you can be certain of," he answered, "that despatch can +never be stolen or tapped by spies." + +"Why--what is this?" I asked, pointing to the instrument. + +"The invention of Major Squier, of the army," he replied, "by which any +number of messages may be sent at the same time over the same wire +without the slightest conflict. Really it consists in making wireless +electric waves travel along, instead of inside, the wire. In other +words, he had discovered the means of concentrating the energy of a +wireless wave on a given point instead of letting it riot all over the +face of the earth. + +"It is the principle of wireless. But in ordinary wireless less than +one-millionth part of the original sending force reaches the point for +which it is intended. The rest is scattered through space in all +directions. If the vibrations of a current are of a certain number per +second, the current will follow a wire to which it is, as it were, +attached, instead of passing off into space. + +"All the energy in wireless formerly wasted in radiation in every +direction now devotes itself solely to driving the current through the +ether about the wire. Thus it goes until it reaches the point where +Whiting is--where the vibrations correspond to its own and are in tune. +There it reproduces the sending impulse. It is wired wireless." + +Craig had long since finished sending his wired wireless message. We +waited impatiently. The seconds seemed to drag like hours. + +Far off, now, we could hear a whistle as a train finally approached +slowly into our block, creeping up to see what was wrong. But that made +no difference now. It was not any help they could give us that we +wanted. A greater problem, the saving of one man's name and the +re-establishment of another, confronted us. + +Unexpectedly the little wired wireless instrument before us began to +buzz. Quickly Kennedy seized a pencil and wrote as the message that no +hand of man could interfere with was flashed back to us. + +"It is for you, Walter, from the Star," he said, simply handing me what +he had written on the back of an old envelope. + +I read, almost afraid to read: + +Robbery story killed. Black type across page-head last edition, +"Treasure-train safe!" + McGRATH. + +"Show it to Miss Euston," Craig added, simply, gathering up his wired +wireless set, just as the crew from the train behind us ran up. "She +may like to know that she has saved her father from himself through +misunderstanding her lover." + +I thought Maude Euston would faint as she clutched the message. Lane +caught her as she reeled backward. + +"Rodman--can you--forgive me?" she murmured, simply, yielding to him +and looking up into his face. + + + + +II + +THE TRUTH DETECTOR + + +"You haven't heard--no one outside has heard--of the strange illness +and the robbery of my employer, Mr. Mansfield--'Diamond Jack' +Mansfield, you know." + +Our visitor was a slight, very pretty, but extremely nervous girl, who +had given us a card bearing the name Miss Helen Grey. + +"Illness--robbery?" repeated Kennedy, at once interested and turning a +quick glance at me. + +I shrugged my shoulders in the negative. Neither the Star nor any of +the other papers had had a word about it. + +"Why, what's the trouble?" he continued to Miss Grey. + +"You see," she explained, hurrying on, "I'm Mr. Mansfield's private +secretary, and--oh, Professor Kennedy, I don't know, but I'm afraid it +is a case for a detective rather than a doctor." She paused a moment +and leaned forward nearer to us. "I think he has been poisoned!" + +The words themselves were startling enough without the evident +perturbation of the girl. Whatever one might think, there was no doubt +that she firmly believed what she professed to fear. More than that, I +fancied I detected a deeper feeling in her tone than merely loyalty to +her employer. + +"Diamond Jack" Mansfield was known in Wall Street as a successful +promoter, on the White Way as an assiduous first-nighter, in the +sporting fraternity as a keen plunger. But of all his hobbies, none had +gained him more notoriety than his veritable passion for collecting +diamonds. + +He came by his sobriquet honestly. I remembered once having seen him, +and he was, in fact, a walking De Beers mine. For his personal +adornment, more than a million dollars' worth of gems did relay duty. +He had scores of sets, every one of them fit for a king of diamonds. It +was a curious hobby for a great, strong man, yet he was not alone in +his love of and sheer affection for things beautiful. Not love of +display or desire to attract notice to himself had prompted him to +collect diamonds, but the mere pleasure of owning them, of associating +with them. It was a hobby. + +It was not strange, therefore, to suspect that Mansfield might, after +all, have been the victim of some kind of attack. He went about with +perfect freedom, in spite of the knowledge that crooks must have +possessed about his hoard. + +"What makes you think he has been poisoned?" asked Kennedy, betraying +no show of doubt that Miss Grey might be right. + +"Oh, it's so strange, so sudden!" she murmured. + +"But how do you think it could have happened?" he persisted. + +"It must have been at the little supper-party he gave at his apartment +last night," she answered, thoughtfully, then added, more slowly, "and +yet, it was not until this morning, eight or ten hours after the party, +that he became ill." She shuddered. "Paroxysms of nausea, followed by +stupor and such terrible prostration. His valet discovered him and sent +for Doctor Murray--and then for me." + +"How about the robbery?" prompted Kennedy, as it became evident that it +was Mansfield's physical condition more than anything else that was on +Miss Grey's mind. + +"Oh yes"--she recalled herself--"I suppose you know something of his +gems? Most people do." Kennedy nodded. "He usually keeps them in a +safe-deposit vault downtown, from which he will get whatever set he +feels like wearing. Last night it was the one he calls his sporting-set +that he wore, by far the finest. It cost over a hundred thousand +dollars, and is one of the most curious of all the studies in personal +adornment that he owns. All the stones are of the purest blue-white and +the set is entirely based on platinum. + +"But what makes it most remarkable is that it contains the famous +M-1273, as he calls it. The M stands for Mansfield, and the figures +represent the number of stones he had purchased up to the time that he +acquired this huge one." + +"How could they have been taken, do you think?" ventured Kennedy. Miss +Grey shook her head doubtfully. + +"I think the wall safe must have been opened somehow," she returned. + +Kennedy mechanically wrote the number, M-1273, on a piece of paper. + +"It has a weird history," she went on, observing what he had written, +"and this mammoth blue-white diamond in the ring is as blue as the +famous Hope diamond that has brought misfortune through half the world. +This stone, they say, was pried from the mouth of a dying negro in +South Africa. He had tried to smuggle it from the mine, and when he was +caught cursed the gem and every one who ever should own it. One owner +in Amsterdam failed; another in Antwerp committed suicide; a Russian +nobleman was banished to Siberia, and another went bankrupt and lost +his home and family. Now here it is in Mr. Mansfield's life. I--I hate +it!" I could not tell whether it was the superstition or the recent +events themselves which weighed most in her mind, but, at any rate, she +resumed, somewhat bitterly, a moment later: "M-1273! M is the +thirteenth letter of the alphabet, and 1, 2, 7, 3 add up to thirteen. +The first and last numbers make thirteen, and John Mansfield has +thirteen letters in his name. I wish he had never worn the thing--never +bought it!" + +The more I listened to her the more impressed I was with the fact that +there was something more here than the feeling of a private secretary. + +"Who were in the supper-party?" asked Kennedy. + +"He gave it for Madeline Hargrave--the pretty little actress, you know, +who took New York by storm last season in 'The Sport' and is booked, +next week, to appear in the new show, 'The Astor Cup.'" + +Miss Grey said it, I thought, with a sort of wistful envy. Mansfield's +gay little bohemian gatherings were well known. Though he was not +young, he was still somewhat of a Lothario. + +"Who else was there?" asked Kennedy. + +"Then there was Mina Leitch, a member of Miss Hargrave's new company," +she went on. "Another was Fleming Lewis, the Wall Street broker. Doctor +Murray and myself completed the party." + +"Doctor Murray is his personal physician?" ventured Craig. + +"Yes. You know when Mr. Mansfield's stomach went back on him last year +it was Doctor Murray who really cured him." + +Kennedy nodded. + +"Might this present trouble be a recurrence of the old trouble?" + +She shook her head. "No; this is entirely different. Oh, I wish that +you could go with me and see him!" she pleaded. + +"I will," agreed Kennedy. + +A moment later we were speeding in a taxicab over to the apartment. + +"Really," she remarked, nervously, "I feel lost with Mr. Mansfield so +ill. He has so many interests downtown that require constant attention +that just the loss of time means a great deal. Of course, I understand +many of them--but, you know, a private secretary can't conduct a man's +business. And just now, when I came up from the office, I couldn't +believe that he was too ill to care about things until I actually saw +him." + +We entered the apartment. A mere glance about showed that; even though +Mansfield's hobby was diamonds, he was no mean collector of other +articles of beauty. In the big living-room, which was almost like a +studio, we met a tall, spare, polished-mannered man, whom I quickly +recognized as Doctor Murray. + +"Is he any better?" blurted out Miss Grey, even before our +introductions were over. Doctor Murray shook his head gravely. + +"About the same," he answered, though one could find little reassurance +in his tone. + +"I should like to see him," hinted Kennedy, "unless there is some real +reason why I should not." + +"No," replied the doctor, absently; "on the contrary, it might perhaps +rouse him." + +He led the way down the hall, and Kennedy and I followed, while Miss +Grey attempted to busy herself over some affairs at a huge mahogany +table in the library just off the living-room. + +Mansfield had shown the same love of luxury and the bizarre even in the +furnishing of his bedroom, which was a black-and-white room with +furniture of Chinese lacquer and teakwood. + +Kennedy looked at the veteran plunger long and thoughtfully as he lay +stretched out, listless, on the handsome bed. Mansfield seemed +completely indifferent to our presence. There was something uncanny +about him. Already his face was shrunken, his skin dark, and his eyes +were hollow. + +"What do you suppose it is?" asked Kennedy, bending over him, and then +rising and averting his head so that Mansfield could not hear, even if +his vagrant faculties should be attracted. "His pulse is terribly weak +and his heart scarcely makes a sound." + +Doctor Murray's face knit in deep lines. + +"I'm afraid," he said, in a low tone, "that I will have to admit not +having been able to diagnose the trouble, I was just considering whom I +might call in." + +"What have you done?" asked Kennedy, as the two moved a little farther +out of ear-shot of the patient. + +"Well," replied the doctor, slowly, "when his valet called me in, I +must admit that my first impression was that I had to deal with a case +of diphtheria. I was so impressed that I even took a blood smear and +examined it. It showed the presence of a tox albumin. But it isn't +diphtheria. The antitoxin has had no effect. No; it isn't diphtheria. +But the poison is there. I might have thought it was cholera, only that +seems so impossible here in New York." Doctor Murray looked at Kennedy +with no effort to conceal his perplexity. "Over and over I have asked +myself what it could be," he went on. "It seems to me that I have +thought over about everything that is possible. Always I get back to +the fact that there is that tox albumin present. In some respects, it +seems like the bite of a poisonous animal. There are no marks, of +course, and it seems altogether impossible, yet it acts precisely as I +have seen snake bites affect people. I am that desperate that I would +try the Noguchi antivenene, but it would have no more effect than the +antitoxin. No; I can only conclude that there is some narcotic irritant +which especially affects the lungs and heart." + +"Will you let me have one of the blood smears?" asked Kennedy. + +"Certainly," replied the doctor, reaching over and taking a glass slide +from several lying on a table. + +For some time after we left the sick-room Craig appeared to be +considering what Doctor Murray had said. + +Seeking to find Miss Grey in the library, we found ourselves in the +handsome, all-wood-paneled dining-room. It still showed evidences of +the late banquet of the night before. + +Craig paused a moment in doubt which way to go, then picked up from the +table a beautifully decorated menu-card. As he ran his eye down it +mechanically, he paused. + +"Champignons," he remarked, thoughtfully. "H-m!--mushrooms." + +Instead of going on toward the library, he turned and passed through a +swinging door into the kitchen. There was no one there, but it was in a +much more upset condition than the dining-room. + +"Pardon, monsieur," sounded a voice behind us. + +It was the French chef who had entered from the direction of the +servants' quarters, and was now all apologies for the untidy appearance +of the realm over which he presided. The strain of the dinner had been +too much for his assistants, he hastened to explain. + +"I see that you had mushrooms--creamed," remarked Kennedy. + +"Oui, monsieur," he replied; "some that Miss Hargrave herself sent in +from her mushroom-cellar out in the country." + +As he said it his eye traveled involuntarily toward a pile of ramekins +on a table. Kennedy noticed it and deliberately walked over to the +table. Before I knew what he was about he had scooped from them each a +bit of the contents and placed it in some waxed paper that was lying +near by. The chef watched him curiously. + +"You would not find my kitchen like this ordinarily," he remarked. "I +would not like to have Doctor Murray see it, for since last year, when +monsieur had the bad stomach, I have been very careful." + +The chef seemed to be nervous. + +"You prepared the mushrooms yourself?" asked Kennedy, suddenly. + +"I directed my assistant," came back the wary reply. + +"But you know good mushrooms when you see them?" + +"Certainly," he replied, quickly. + +"There was no one else in the kitchen while you prepared them?" + +"Yes," he answered, hurriedly; "Mr. Mansfield came in, and Miss +Hargrave. Oh, they are very particular! And Doctor Murray, he has given +me special orders ever since last year, when monsieur had the bad +stomach," he repeated. + +"Was any one else here?" + +"Yes--I think so. You see, I am so excited--a big dinner--such +epicures--everything must be just so--I cannot say." + +There seemed to be little satisfaction in quizzing the chef, and +Kennedy turned again into the dining-room, making his way back to the +library, where Miss Grey was waiting anxiously for us. + +"What do you think?" she asked, eagerly. + +"I don't know what to think," replied Kennedy. "No one else has felt +any ill effects from the supper, I suppose?" + +"No," she replied; "at least, I'm sure I would have heard by this time +if they had." + +"Do you recall anything peculiar about the mushrooms?" shot out Kennedy. + +"We talked about them some time, I remember," she said, slowly. +"Growing mushrooms is one of Miss Hargrave's hobbies out at her place +on Long Island." + +"Yes," persisted Kennedy; "but I mean anything peculiar about the +preparation of them." + +"Why, yes," she said, suddenly; "I believe that Miss Hargrave was to +have superintended them herself. We all went out into the kitchen. But +it was too late. They had been prepared already." + +"You were all in the kitchen?" + +"Yes; I remember. It was before the supper and just after we came in +from the theater-party which Mr. Mansfield gave. You know Mr. Mansfield +is always doing unconventional things like that. If he took a notion, +he would go into the kitchen of the Ritz." + +"That is what I was trying to get out of the chef--Francois," remarked +Kennedy. "He didn't seem to have a very clear idea of what happened. I +think I'll see him again--right away." + +We found the chef busily at work, now, cleaning up. As Kennedy asked +him a few inconsequential questions, his eye caught a row of books on a +shelf. It was a most complete library of the culinary arts. Craig +selected one and turned the pages over rapidly. Then he came back to +the frontispiece, which showed a model dinner-table set for a number of +guests. He placed the picture before Francois, then withdrew it in, I +should say, about ten seconds. It was a strange and incomprehensible +action, but I was more surprised when Kennedy added: + +"Now tell me what you saw." + +Francois was quite overwhelming in his desire to please. Just what was +going on in his mind I could not guess, nor did he betray it, but +quickly he enumerated the objects on the table, gradually slowing up as +the number which he recollected became exhausted. + +"Were there candles?" prompted Craig, as the flow of Francois's +description ceased. + +"Oh yes, candles," he agreed, eagerly. + +"Favors at each place?" + +"Yes, sir." + +I could see no sense in the proceeding, yet knew Kennedy too well to +suppose, for an instant, that he had not some purpose. + +The questioning over, Kennedy withdrew, leaving poor Francois more +mystified than ever. + +"Well," I exclaimed, as we passed through the dining-room, "what was +all that?" + +"That," he explained, "is what is known to criminologists as the +'Aussage test.' Just try it some time when you get a chance. If there +are, say, fifty objects in a picture, normally a person may recall +perhaps twenty of them." + +"I see," I interrupted; "a test of memory." + +"More than that," he replied. "You remember that, at the end, I +suggested several things likely to be on the table. They were not +there, as you might have seen if you had had the picture before you. +That was a test of the susceptibility to suggestion of the chef. +Francois may not mean to lie, but I'm afraid we'll have to get along +without him in getting to the bottom of the case. You see, before we go +any further we know that he is unreliable--to say the least. It may be +that nothing at all happened in the kitchen to the mushrooms. We'll +never discover it from him. We must get it elsewhere." + +Miss Grey had been trying to straighten out some of the snarls which +Mansfield's business affairs had got into as a result of his illness; +but it was evident that she had difficulty in keeping her mind on her +work. + +"The next thing I'd like to see," asked Kennedy, when we rejoined her, +"is that wall safe." She led the way down the hall and into an +ante-room to Mansfield's part of the suite. The safe itself was a +comparatively simple affair inside a closet. Indeed, I doubt whether it +had been seriously designed to be burglar-proof. Rather it was merely a +protection against fire. + +"Have you any suspicion about when the robbery took place?" asked +Kennedy, as we peered into the empty compartment. "I wish I had been +called in the first thing when it was discovered. There might have been +some chance to discover fingerprints. But now, I suppose, every clue of +that sort has been obliterated." + +"No," she replied; "I don't know whether it happened before or after +Mr. Mansfield was discovered so ill by his valet." + +"But at least you can give me some idea of when the jewels were placed +in the safe." + +"It must have been before the supper, right after our return from the +theater." + +"So?" considered Kennedy. "Then that would mean that they might have +been taken by any one, don't you see? Why did he place them in the safe +so soon, instead of wearing them the rest of the evening?" + +"I hadn't thought of that way of looking at it," she admitted. "Why, +when we came home from the theater I remember it had been so warm that +Mr. Mansfield's collar was wilted and his dress shirt rumpled. He +excused himself, and when he returned he was not wearing the diamonds. +We noticed it, and Miss Hargrave expressed a wish that she might wear +the big diamond at the opening night of 'The Astor Cup.' Mr. Mansfield +promised that she might and nothing more was said about it." + +"Did you notice anything else at the dinner--no matter how trivial?" +asked Kennedy. + +Helen Grey seemed to hesitate, then said, in a low voice, as though the +words were wrung from her: + +"Of course, the party and the supper were given ostensibly to Miss +Hargrave. But--lately--I have thought he was paying quite as much +attention to Mina Leitch." + +It was quite in keeping with what we knew of "Diamond Jack." Perhaps it +was this seeming fickleness which had saved him from many entangling +alliances. Miss Grey said it in such a way that it seemed like an +apology for a fault in his character which she would rather have +hidden. I could not but fancy that it mitigated somewhat the wistful +envy I had noticed before when she spoke of Madeline Hargrave. + +While he had been questioning her Kennedy had been examining the wall +safe, particularly with reference to its accessibility from the rest of +the apartment. There appeared to be no reason why one could not have +got at it from the hallway as well as from Mansfield's room. + +The safe itself seemed to yield no clue, and Kennedy was about to turn +away when he happened to glance down at the dark interior of the closet +floor. He stooped down. When he rose he had something in his hand. It +was just a little thin piece of something that glittered iridescently. + +"A spangle from a sequin dress," he muttered to himself; then, turning +to Miss Grey, "Did any one wear such a dress last night?" + +Helen Grey looked positively frightened. "Miss Hargrave!" she murmured, +simply. "Oh, it cannot be--there must be some mistake!" + +Just then we heard voices in the hall. + +"But, Murray, I don't see why I can't see him," said one. + +"What good will it do, Lewis?" returned the other, which I recognized +as that of Doctor Murray. + +"Fleming Lewis," whispered Miss Grey, taking a step out into the +hallway. + +A moment later Doctor Murray and Lewis had joined us. + +I could see that there was some feeling between the two men, though +what it was about I could not say. As Miss Grey introduced us, I +glanced hastily out of the corner of my eye at Kennedy. Involuntarily +his hand which held the telltale sequin had sought his waistcoat +pocket, as though to hide it. Then I saw him check the action and +deliberately examine the piece of tinsel between his thumb and +forefinger. + +Doctor Murray saw it, too, and his eyes were riveted on it, as though +instantly he saw its significance. + +"What do you think--Jack as sick as a dog, and robbed, too, and yet +Murray says I oughtn't to see him!" complained Lewis, for the moment +oblivious to the fact that all our eyes were riveted on the spangle +between Kennedy's fingers. And then, slowly it seemed to dawn on him +what it was. "Madeline's!" he exclaimed, quickly. "So Mina did tear it, +after all, when she stepped on the train." + +Kennedy watched the faces before us keenly. No one said anything. It +was evident that some such incident had happened. But had Lewis, with a +quick flash of genius, sought to cover up something, protect somebody? + +Miss Grey was evidently anxious to transfer the scene at least to the +living-room, away from the sick-room, and Kennedy, seeing it, fell in +with the idea. + +"Looks to me as though this robbery was an inside affair," remarked +Lewis, as we all stood for a moment in the living-room. "Do you suppose +one of the servants could have been 'planted' for the purpose of +pulling it off?" + +The idea was plausible enough. Yet, plausible as the suggestion might +seem, it took no account of the other circumstances of the case. I +could not believe that the illness of Mansfield was merely an +unfortunate coincidence. + +Fleming Lewis's unguarded and blunt tendency to blurt out whatever +seemed uppermost in his mind soon became a study to me as we talked +together in the living-room. I could not quite make out whether it was +studied and astute or whether it was merely the natural exuberance of +youth. There was certainly some sort of enmity between him and the +doctor, which the remark about the spangle seemed to fan into a flame. + +Miss Grey manoeuvered tactfully, however, to prevent a scene. And, +after an interchange of remarks that threw more heat than light on the +matter, Kennedy and I followed Lewis out to the elevator, with a +parting promise to keep in touch with Miss Grey. + +"What do you think of the spangle?" I queried of Craig as Lewis bade us +a hasty good-by and climbed into his car at the street-entrance. "Is it +a clue or a stall?" + +"That remains to be seen," he replied, noncommittally. "Just now the +thing that interests me most is what I can accomplish at the laboratory +in the way of finding out what is the matter with Mansfield." + +While Kennedy was busy with the various solutions which he made of the +contents of the ramekins that had held the mushrooms, I wandered over +to the university library and waded through several volumes on fungi +without learning anything of value. Finally, knowing that Kennedy would +probably be busy for some time, and that all I should get for my pains +by questioning him would be monosyllabic grunts until he was quite +convinced that he was on the trail of something, I determined to run +into the up-town office of the Star and talk over the affair as well as +I could without violating what I felt had been given us in confidence. + +I could not, it turned out, have done anything better, for it seemed to +be the gossip of the Broadway cafes and cabarets that Mansfield had +been plunging rather deeply lately and had talked many of his +acquaintances into joining him in a pool, either outright or on +margins. It seemed to be a safe bet that not only Lewis and Doctor +Murray had joined him, but that Madeline Hargrave and Mina Leitch, who +had had a successful season and some spare thousands to invest, might +have gone in, too. So far the fortunes of the stock-market had not +smiled on Mansfield's schemes, and, I reflected, it was not impossible +that what might be merely an incident to a man like Mansfield could be +very serious to the rest of them. + +It was the middle of the afternoon when I returned to the laboratory +with my slender budget of news. Craig was quite interested in what I +had to say, even pausing for a few moments in his work to listen. + +In several cages I saw that he had a number of little guinea-pigs. One +of them was plainly in distress, and Kennedy had been watching him +intently. + +"It's strange," he remarked. "I had samples of material from six +ramekins. Five of them seem to have had no effect whatever. But if the +bit that I gave this fellow causes such distress, what would a larger +quantity do?" + +"Then one of the ramekins was poisoned?" I questioned. + +"I have discovered in it, as well as in the blood smear, the tox +albumin that Doctor Murray mentioned," he said, simply, pulling out his +watch. "It isn't late. I think I shall have to take a trip out to Miss +Hargrave's. We ought to do it in an hour and a half in a car." + +Kennedy said very little as we sped out over the Long Island roads that +led to the little colony of actors and actresses at Cedar Grove. He +seemed rather to be enjoying the chance to get away from the city and +turn over in his mind the various problems which the case presented. + +As for myself, I had by this time convinced myself that, somehow, the +mushrooms were involved. What Kennedy expected to find I could not +guess. But from what I had read I surmised that it must be that one of +the poisonous varieties had somehow got mixed with the others, one of +the Amanitas, just as deadly as the venom of the rattler or the +copperhead. I knew that, in some cases, Amanitas had been used to +commit crimes. Was this such a case? + +We had no trouble in finding the estate of Miss Hargrave, and she was +at home. + +Kennedy lost no time introducing himself and coming to the point of his +visit. Madeline Hargrave was a slender, willowy type of girl, +pronouncedly blond, striking, precisely the type I should have imagined +that Mansfield would have been proud to be seen with. + +"I've just heard of Mr. Mansfield's illness," she said, anxiously. "Mr. +Lewis called me up and told me. I don't see why Miss Grey or Doctor +Murray didn't let me know sooner." + +She said it with an air of vexation, as though she felt slighted. In +spite of her evident anxiety to know about the tragedy, however, I did +not detect the depth of feeling that Helen Grey had shown. In fact, the +thoughtfulness of Fleming Lewis almost led me to believe that it was +he, rather than Mansfield, for whom she really cared. + +We chatted a few minutes, as Kennedy told what little we had +discovered. He said nothing about the spangle. + +"By the way," remarked Craig, at length, "I would very much like to +have a look at that famous mushroom-cellar of yours." + +For the first time she seemed momentarily to lose her poise. + +"I've always had a great interest in mushrooms," she explained, +hastily. "You--you do not think it could be the mushrooms--that have +caused Mr. Mansfield's illness, do you?" + +Kennedy passed off the remark as best he could under the circumstances. +Though she was not satisfied with his answer, she could not very well +refuse his request, and a few minutes later we were down in the dark +dampness of the cellar back of the house, where Kennedy set to work on +a most exhaustive search. + +I could see by the expression on his face, as his search progressed, +that he was not finding what he had expected. Clearly, the fungi before +us were the common edible mushrooms. The upper side of each, as he +examined it, was white, with brownish fibrils, or scales. Underneath, +some were a beautiful salmon-pink, changing gradually to almost black +in the older specimens. The stem was colored like the top. But search +as he might for what I knew he was after, in none did he find anything +but a small or more often no swelling at the base, and no "cup," as it +is called. + +As he rose after his thorough search, I saw that he was completely +baffled. + +"I hardly thought you'd find anything," Miss Hargrave remarked, +noticing the look on his face. "I've always been very careful of my +mushrooms." + +"You have certainly succeeded admirably," he complimented. + +"I hope you will let me know how Mr. Mansfield is," she said, as we +started back toward our car on the road. "I can't tell you how I feel. +To think that, after a party which he gave for me, he should be taken +ill, and not only that but be robbed at the same time! Really, you must +let me know--or I shall have to come up to the city." + +It seemed gratuitous for Kennedy to promise, for I knew that he was by +no means through with her yet; but she thanked him, and we turned back +toward town. + +"Well," I remarked, as we reeled off the miles quickly, "I must say +that that puts me all at sea again. I had convinced myself that it was +a case of mushroom poisoning. What can you do now?" + +"Do?" he echoed. "Why, go on. This puts us a step nearer the truth, +that's all." + +Far from being discouraged at what had seemed to me to be a fatal blow +to the theory, he now seemed to be actually encouraged. Back in the +city, he lost no time in getting to the laboratory again. + +A package from the botanical department of the university was waiting +there for Kennedy, but before he could open it the telephone buzzed +furiously. + +I could gather from Kennedy's words that it was Helen Grey. + +"I shall be over immediately," he promised, as he hung up the receiver +and turned to me. "Mansfield is much worse. While I get together some +material I must take over there, Walter, I want you to call up Miss +Hargrave and tell her to start for the city right away--meet us at +Mansfield's. Then get Mina Leitch and Lewis. You'll find their numbers +in the book--or else you'll have to get them from Miss Grey." + +While I was delivering the messages as diplomatically as possible +Kennedy had taken a vial from a medicine-chest, and then from a cabinet +a machine which seemed to consist of a number of collars and belts +fastened to black cylinders from which ran tubes. An upright roll of +ruled paper supported by a clockwork arrangement for revolving it, and +a standard bearing a recording pen, completed the outfit. + +"I should much have preferred not being hurried," he confessed, as we +dashed over in the car to Mansfield's again, bearing the several +packages. "I wanted to have a chance to interview Mina Leitch alone. +However, it has now become a matter of life or death." + +Miss Grey was pale and worn as she met us in the living-room. + +"He's had a sinking-spell," she said, tremulously. "Doctor Murray +managed to bring him around, but he seems so much weaker after it. +Another might--" She broke off, unable to finish. + +A glance at Mansfield was enough to convince any one that unless +something was done soon the end was not far. + +"Another convulsion and sinking-spell is about all he can stand," +remarked Doctor Murray. + +"May I try something?" asked Kennedy, hardly waiting for the doctor to +agree before he had pulled out the little vial which I had seen him +place in his pocket. + +Deftly Kennedy injected some of the contents into Mansfield's side, +then stood anxiously watching the effect. The minutes lengthened. At +least he seemed to be growing no worse. + +In the next room, on a table, Kennedy was now busy setting out the +scroll of ruled paper and its clockwork arrangement, and connecting the +various tubes from the black cylinders in such a way that the recording +pen just barely touched on the scroll. + +He had come back to note the still unchanged condition of the patient +when the door opened and a handsome woman in the early thirties +entered, followed by Helen Grey. It was Mina Leitch. + +"Oh, isn't it terrible! I can hardly believe it!" she cried, paying no +attention to us as she moved over to Doctor Murray. + +I recalled what Miss Grey had said about Mansfield's attentions. It was +evident that, as far as Mina was concerned, her own attentions were +monopolized by the polished physician. His manner in greeting her told +me that Doctor Murray appreciated it. Just then Fleming Lewis bustled +in. + +"I thought Miss Hargrave was here," he said, abruptly, looking about. +"They told me over the wire she would be." + +"She should be here any moment," returned Kennedy, looking at his watch +and finding that considerably over an hour had elapsed since I had +telephoned. + +What it was I could not say, but there was a coldness toward Lewis that +amounted to more than latent hostility. He tried to appear at ease, but +it was a decided effort. There was no mistaking his relief when the +tension was broken by the arrival of Madeline Hargrave. + +The circumstances were so strange that none of them seemed to object +while Kennedy began to explain, briefly, that, as nearly as he could +determine, the illness of Mansfield might be due to something eaten at +the supper. As he attached the bands about the necks and waists of one +after another of the guests, bringing the little black cylinders thus +close to the middle of their chests, he contrived to convey the +impression that he would like to determine whether any one else had +been affected in a lesser degree. + +I watched most intently the two women who had just come in. One would +certainly not have detected from their greeting and outward manner +anything more than that they were well acquainted. But they were an +interesting study, two quite opposite types. Madeline, with her +baby-blue eyes, was of the type that craved admiration. Mina's black +eyes flashed now and then imperiously, as though she sought to compel +what the other sought to win. + +As for Fleming Lewis, I could not fail to notice that he was most +attentive to Madeline, though he watched, furtively, but none the less +keenly, every movement and word of Mina. + +His preparations completed, Kennedy opened the package which had been +left at the laboratory just before the hasty call from Miss Grey. As he +did so he disclosed several specimens of a mushroom of pale-lemon +color, with a center of deep orange, the top flecked with white bits. +Underneath, the gills were white and the stem had a sort of veil about +it. But what interested me most, and what I was looking for, was the +remains of a sort of dirty, chocolate-colored cup at the base of the +stem. + +"I suppose there is scarcely any need of saying," began Kennedy, "that +the food which I suspect in this case is the mushrooms. Here I have +some which I have fortunately been able to obtain merely to illustrate +what I am going to say. This is the deadly Amanita muscaria, the +fly-agaric." + +Madeline Hargrave seemed to be following him with a peculiar +fascination. + +"This Amanita," resumed Kennedy, "has a long history, and I may say +that few species are quite so interesting. Macerated in milk, it has +been employed for centuries as a fly-poison, hence its name. Its deadly +properties were known to the ancients, and it is justly celebrated +because of its long and distinguished list of victims. Agrippina used +it to poison the Emperor Claudius. Among others, the Czar Alexis of +Russia died of eating it. + +"I have heard that some people find it only a narcotic, and it is said +that in Siberia there are actually Amanita debauchees who go on +prolonged tears by eating the thing. It may be that it does not affect +some people as it does others, but in most cases that beautiful +gossamer veil which you see about the stem is really a shroud. + +"The worst of it is," he continued, "that this Amanita somewhat +resembles the royal agaric, the Amanita caesarea. It is, as you see, +strikingly beautiful, and therefore all the more dangerous." + +He ceased a moment, while we looked in a sort of awe at the fatally +beautiful thing. + +"It is not with the fungus that I am so much interested just now, +however," Kennedy began again, "but with the poison. Many years ago +scientists analyzed its poisonous alkaloids and found what they called +bulbosine. Later it was named muscarin, and now is sometimes known as +amanitin, since it is confined to the mushrooms of the Amanita genus. + +"Amanitin is a wonderful and dangerous alkaloid, which is absorbed in +the intestinal canal. It is extremely violent. Three to five +one-thousandths of a gram, or six one-hundredths of a grain, are very +dangerous. More than that, the poisoning differs from most poisons in +the long time that elapses between the taking of it and the first +evidences of its effects. + +"Muscarin," Kennedy concluded, "has been chemically investigated more +often than any other mushroom poison and a perfect antidote has been +discovered. Atropin, or belladonna, is such a drug." + +For a moment I looked about at the others in the room. Had it been an +accident, after all? Perhaps, if any of the others had been attacked, +one might have suspected that it was. But they had not been affected at +all, at least apparently. Yet there could be no doubt that it was the +poisonous muscarin that had affected Mansfield. + +"Did you ever see anything like that?" asked Kennedy, suddenly, holding +up the gilt spangle which he had found on the closet floor near the +wall safe. + +Though no one said a word, it was evident that they all recognized it. +Lewis was watching Madeline closely. But she betrayed nothing except +mild surprise at seeing the spangle from her dress. Had it been +deliberately placed there, it flashed over me, in order to compromise +Madeline Hargrave and divert suspicion from some one else? + +I turned to Mina. Behind the defiance of her dark eyes I felt that +there was something working. Kennedy must have sensed it even before I +did, for he suddenly bent down over the recording needle and the ruled +paper on the table. + +"This," he shot out, "is a pneumograph which shows the actual intensity +of the emotions by recording their effects on the heart and lungs +together. The truth can literally be tapped, even where no confession +can be extracted. A moment's glance at this line, traced here by each +of you, can tell the expert more than words." + +"Then it was a mushroom that poisoned Jack!" interrupted Lewis, +suddenly. "Some poisonous Amanita got mixed with the edible mushrooms?" + +Kennedy answered, quickly, without taking his eyes off the line the +needle was tracing: + +"No; this was a case of the deliberate use of the active principle +itself, muscarin--with the expectation that the death, if the cause was +ever discovered, could easily be blamed on such a mushroom. +Somehow--there were many chances--the poison was slipped into the +ramekin Francois was carefully preparing for Mansfield. The method does +not interest me so much as the fact--" + +There was a slight noise from the other room where Mansfield lay. +Instantly we were all on our feet. Before any of us could reach the +door Helen Grey had slipped through it. + +"Just a second," commanded Kennedy, extending the sequin toward us to +emphasize what he was about to say. "The poisoning and the robbery were +the work of one hand. That sequin is the key that has unlocked the +secret which my pneumograph has recorded. Some one saw that robbery +committed--knew nothing of the contemplated poisoning to cover it. To +save the reputation of the robber--at any cost--on the spur of the +moment the ruse of placing the sequin in the closet occurred." + +Madeline Hargrave turned to Mina, while I recalled Lewis's remark about +Mina's stepping on the train and tearing it. The defiance in her black +eyes flashed from Madeline to Kennedy. + +"Yes," she cried; "I did it! I--" + +As quickly the defiance had faded. Mina Leitch had fainted. + +"Some water--quick!" cried Kennedy. + +I sprang through the door into Mansfield's room. As I passed I caught +sight of Helen Grey supporting the head of Mansfield--both oblivious to +actresses, diamonds, everything that had so nearly caused a tragedy. + +"No," I heard Kennedy say to Lewis as I returned; "it was not Mina. The +person she shielded was wildly in love with her, insanely jealous of +Mansfield for even looking at her, and in debt so hopelessly in +Mansfield's ventures that only the big diamond could save him--Doctor +Murray himself!" + + + + +III + +THE SOUL-ANALYSIS + + +"Here's the most remarkable appeal," observed Kennedy, one morning, as +he tossed over to me a letter. "What do you make of that?" It read: + +MONTROSE, CONN. + +MY DEAR PROFESSOR KENNEDY: + +You do not know me, but I have heard a great deal about you. Please, I +beg of you, do not disregard this letter. At least try to verify the +appeal I am making. + +I am here at the Belleclaire Sanatorium, run by Dr. Bolton Burr, in +Montrose. But it is not a real sanatorium. It is really a private +asylum. + +Let me tell my story briefly. After my baby was born I devoted myself +to it. But, in spite of everything, it died. Meanwhile my husband +neglected me terribly. After the baby's death I was a nervous wreck, +and I came up here to rest. + +Now I find I am being held here as an insane patient. I cannot get out. +I do not even know whether this letter will reach you. But the +chambermaid here has told me she will post it for me. + +I am ill and nervous--a wreck, but not insane, although they will tell +you that the twilight-sleep treatment affected my mind. But what is +happening here will eventually drive me insane if some one does not +come to my rescue. + +Cannot you get in to see me as a doctor or friend? I will leave all to +you after that. + +Yours anxiously, + +JANET (MRS. ROGER) CRANSTON. + +"What do you make of it yourself?" I returned, handing back the letter. +"Are you going to take it up?" He slowly looked over the letter again. + +"Judging by the handwriting," he remarked, thoughtfully, "I should say +that the writer is laboring under keen excitement--though there is no +evidence of insanity on the face of it. Yes; I think I'll take up the +case." + +"But how are you going to get in?" I asked. "They'll never admit you +willingly." + +Kennedy pondered a minute. "I'll get in, all right," he said, at +length; "come on--I'm going to call on Roger Cranston first." + +"Roger Cranston?" I repeated, dumfounded. "Why, he'll never help you! +Ten to one he's in on it." + +"We'll have to take a chance," returned Kennedy, hurrying me out of the +laboratory. + +Roger Cranston was a well-known lawyer and man about town. We found him +in his office on lower Broadway. He was young and +distinguished-looking, which probably accounted for the fact that his +office had become a sort of fashionable court of domestic relations. + +"I'm a friend of Dr. Bolton Burr, of Montrose," introduced Kennedy. +Cranston looked at him keenly, but Kennedy was a good actor. "I have +been studying some of the patients at the sanatorium, and I have seen +Mrs. Cranston there." + +"Indeed!" responded Cranston. "I'm all broken up by it myself." + +I could not resist thinking that he took it very calmly, however. + +"I should like very much to make what we call a psychanalysis of Mrs. +Cranston's mental condition," Kennedy explained. + +"A psychanalysis?" repeated Cranston. + +"Yes; you know it is a new system. In the field of abnormal psychology, +the soul-analysis is of first importance. To-day, this study is of the +greatest help in neurology and psychiatry. Only, I can't make it +without the consent of the natural guardian of the patient. Doctor Burr +tells me that you will have no objection." + +Cranston thoughtfully studied the wall opposite. + +"Well," he returned, slowly, "they tell me that without treatment she +will soon be hopelessly insane--perhaps dangerously so. That is all I +know. I am not a specialist. If Doctor Burr--" He paused. + +"If you can give me just a card," urged Kennedy, "that is all Doctor +Burr wishes." + +Cranston wrote hastily on the back of one of his cards what Kennedy +dictated. + + Please allow Doctor Kennedy to make a psychanalysis of my + wife's mental condition. + +"You will let me know--if there is--any hope?" he asked. + +"As soon as I can," replied Kennedy, "I'll let you have a copy of my +report." + +Cranston thanked us and bowed us to the door suavely. + +"Well," I remarked, as we rode down in the elevator, "that was clever. +He fell for it, too. You're an artist. Do you think he was posing?" + +Kennedy shrugged his shoulders. + +We lost no time in getting the first train for Montrose, before +Cranston had time to reconsider and call up Doctor Burr. + +The Belleclaire Sanatorium was on the outskirts of the town. It was an +old stone house, rather dingy, and surrounded by a high stone wall +surmounted by sharp pickets. + +Dr. Bolton Burr, who was at the head of the institution, met us in the +plainly furnished reception-room which also served as his office. +Through a window we could see some of the patients walking or sitting +about on a small stretch of scraggly grass between the house and the +wall. + +Doctor Burr was a tall and commanding-looking man with a Vandyke beard, +and one would instinctively have picked him out anywhere as a physician. + +"I believe you have a patient here--Mrs. Roger Cranston," began +Kennedy, after the usual formalities. Doctor Burr eyed us askance. +"I've been asked by Mr. Cranston to make an examination of his wife," +pursued Craig, presenting the card which he had obtained from Roger +Cranston. + +"H'm!" mused Doctor Burr, looking quickly from the card to Kennedy with +a searching glance. + +"I wish you would tell me something of the case before I see her," went +on Kennedy, with absolute assurance. + +"Well," temporized Doctor Burr, twirling the card, "Mrs. Cranston came +to me after the death of her child. She was in a terrible state. But we +are slowly building up her shattered nerves by plain, simple living and +a tonic." + +"Was she committed by her husband?" queried Kennedy, unexpectedly. + +Whether or not Doctor Burr felt suspicious of us I could not tell. But +he seemed eager to justify himself. + +"I have the papers committing her to my care," he said, rising and +opening a safe in the corner. + +He laid before us a document in which appeared the names of Roger +Cranston and Julia Giles. + +"Who is this Julia Giles?" asked Kennedy, after he had read the +document. + +"One of our nurses," returned the doctor. "She has had Mrs. Cranston +under observation ever since she arrived." + +"I should like to see both Miss Giles and Mrs. Cranston," insisted +Kennedy. "It is not that Mr. Cranston is in any way dissatisfied with +your treatment, but he thought that perhaps I might be of some +assistance to you." + +Kennedy's manner was ingratiating but firm, and he hurried on, lest it +should occur to Doctor Burr to call up Cranston. The doctor, still +twirling the card, finally led us through the wide central hall and up +an old-fashioned winding staircase to a large room on the second floor. + +He tapped at the door, which was opened, disclosing an interior +tastefully furnished. + +Doctor Burr introduced us to Miss Giles, conveying the impression, +which Kennedy had already given, that he was a specialist, and I his +assistant. + +Janet Cranston was a young and also remarkably beautiful girl. One +could see traces of sorrow in her face, which was exceedingly, though +not unpleasingly, pale. The restless brilliancy of her eyes spoke of +some physical, if not psychical, disorder. She was dressed in deep +mourning, which heightened her pallor and excited a feeling of mingled +respect and interest. Thick brown coils of chestnut hair were arranged +in such a manner as to give an extremely youthful appearance to her +delicate face. Her emotions were expressed by the constant motion of +her slender fingers. + +Miss Giles was a striking woman of an entirely different type. She +seemed to be exuberant with health, as though nursing had taught her +not merely how to take care of others, but had given her the secret of +caring, first of all, for herself. + +I could see, as Doctor Burr introduced us to his patient, that Mrs. +Cranston instantly recognized Kennedy's interest in her case. She +received us with a graceful courtesy, but she betrayed no undue +interest that might excite suspicion, nor was there any hint given of +the note of appeal. I wondered whether that might not be an instance of +the cunning for which I had heard that the insane are noted. She showed +no sign of insanity, however. + +I looked about curiously to see if there were evidences of the +treatment which she was receiving. On a table stood a bottle and a +glass, as well as a teaspoon, and I recalled the doctor's remark about +the tonic. + +"You look tired, Mrs. Cranston," remarked Kennedy, thoughtfully. "Why +not rest while we are here, and then I will be sure my visit has had no +ill effects." + +"Thank you," she murmured, and I was much impressed by the sweetness of +her voice. + +As he spoke, Kennedy arranged the pillows on a chaise lounge and placed +her on it with her head slightly elevated. Having discussed the subject +of psychanalysis with Kennedy before, I knew that this was so that +nothing might distract her from the free association of ideas. + +He placed himself near her head, and motioned to us to stand farther +back of him, where she could not see us. + +"Avoid all muscular exertion and distraction," he continued. "I want +you to concentrate your attention thoroughly. Tell me anything that +comes into your mind. Tell all you know of your symptoms. Concentrate, +and repeat all you think of. Frankly express all the thoughts that you +have, even though they may be painful and embarrassing." + +He said this soothingly, and she seemed to understand that much +depended upon her answers and the fact of not forcing her ideas. + +"I am thinking of my husband," Mrs. Cranston began, finally, in a +dreamy tone. + +"What of him?" suggested Kennedy. + +"Of how the baby--separated us--and--" She paused, almost in tears. + +From what I knew of the method of psychanalysis, I recalled it was the +gaps and hesitations which were most important in arriving at the truth +regarding the cause of her trouble. + +"Perhaps it was my fault; perhaps I was a better mother than wife. I +thought I was doing what he would want me to do. Too late I see my +mistake." + +It was easy to read into her story that there had been other women in +his life. It had wounded her deeply. Yet it was equally plain that she +still loved him. + +"Go on," urged Kennedy, gently. + +"Oh yes," she resumed, dreamily; "I am thinking about once, when I left +him, I wandered through the country. I remember little except that it +was the country through which we had passed on an automobile trip on +our honeymoon. Once I thought I saw him, and I tried to get to him. I +longed for him, but each time, when I almost reached him, he would +disappear. I seemed to be so deserted and alone. I tried to call him, +but my tongue refused to say his name. It must have been hours that I +wandered about, for I recall nothing after that until I was found, +disheveled and exhausted." + +She paused and closed her eyes, while I could see that Kennedy +considered this gap very important. + +"Don't stop," persisted Kennedy. "Once we quarreled over one of his +clients who was suing for a divorce. I thought he was devoting too much +time and attention to her. While there might not have been anything +wrong, still I was afraid. In my anger and anxiety I accused him. He +retorted by slamming the door, and I did not see him for two or three +days. I realized my nervous condition, and one day a mutual friend of +ours introduced me to Doctor Burr and advised me to take a rest-cure at +his sanatorium. By this time Roger and I were on speaking-terms again. +But the death of the baby and the quarrel left me still as nervous as +before. He seemed anxious to have me do something, and so I came here." + +"Do you remember anything that happened after that?" asked Craig, for +the first time asking a mildly leading question. + +"Yes; I recall everything that happened when I came here," she went on. +"Roger came up with me to complete the necessary arrangements. We were +met at the station by Doctor Burr and this woman who has since been my +nurse and companion. On the way up from the station to the sanatorium +Doctor Burr was very considerate of me, and I noticed that my husband +seemed interested in Miss Giles and the care she was to take of me." + +Kennedy flashed a glance at me from a note-book in which he was +apparently busily engaged in jotting down her answers. I did not know +just what interpretation to put on it, but surmised that it meant that +he had struck what the new psychologists call a "complex," in the +entrance of Miss Giles into the case. + +Before we realized it there came a sudden outburst of feeling. + +"And now--they are keeping me here by force!" she cried. + +Doctor Burr looked at us significantly, as much as to say, "Just what +might be expected, you see." Kennedy nodded, but made no effort to stop +Mrs. Cranston. + +"They have told Roger that I am insane, and I know he must believe it +or he would not leave me here. But their real motive, I can guess, is +mercenary. I can't complain about my treatment here--it costs enough." + +By this time she was sitting bolt upright, staring straight ahead as +though amazed at her own boldness in speaking so frankly before them. + +"I feel all right at times--then--it is as though I had a paralysis of +the body, but not of the mind--not of the mind," she repeated, tensely. +There was a frightened look on her face, and her voice was now wildly +appealing. + +What would have followed I cannot guess, for at that instant there came +a noise outside from another of the rooms as though pandemonium had +broken loose. By the shouting and confusion, one might easily have +wondered whether keepers and lunatics might not have exchanged places. + +"It is just one of the patients who has escaped from his room," +explained Doctor Burr; "nothing to be alarmed about. We'll soon have +him quieted." + +Doctor Burr hurried out into the corridor while Miss Giles was looking +out of the door. + +Quickly Kennedy reached over and abstracted several drops from a bottle +of tonic on the table, pouring it into his handkerchief, which he +rolled up tightly and stuffed into his pocket. Mrs. Cranston watched +him pleadingly, and clasped her hands in mute appeal, with a hasty +glance at Miss Giles. + +Kennedy said nothing, either, but rapidly folded up a page of the +note-book on which he had been writing and shoved it into Mrs. +Cranston's hand, together with something he had taken from his pocket. +She understood, and quickly placed it in her corsage. + +"Read it--when you are absolutely alone," he whispered, just as Miss +Giles shut the door and turned to us. + +The excitement subsided almost as quickly as it had arisen, but it had +been sufficient to put a stop to any further study of the case along +those lines. Miss Giles's keen eyes missed no action or movement of her +patient. + +Doctor Burr returned shortly. It was evident from his manner that he +wished to have the visit terminated, and Kennedy seemed quite willing +to take the hint. He thanked Mrs. Cranston, and we withdrew quietly, +after bidding her good-by in a manner as reassuring as we could make it +under the circumstances. + +"You see," remarked Doctor Burr, as we walked down the hall, "she is +quite unstrung still. Mr. Cranston comes up here once in a while, and +we notice that after these visits she is, if anything, worse." + +Down the hall a door had been left open, and we could catch a glimpse +of a patient rolled in a blanket, while two nurses forced something +down his throat. Doctor Burr hastily closed the door as we passed. + +"That is the condition Mrs. Cranston might have got into if she had not +come to us when she did," he said. "As it is, she is never violent and +is one of the most tractable patients we have." + +We left shortly, without finding out whether Doctor Burr suspected us +of anything or not. As we made our way back to the city, I could not +help the feeling of depression such as Poe mentioned at seeing the +private madhouse in France. + +"That glimpse we had into the other room almost makes one recall the +soothing system of Doctor Maillard. Is Doctor Burr's system better?" I +asked. + +"A good deal of what we used to think and practise is out of date now," +returned Kennedy. "I think you are already familiar with the theory of +dreams that has been developed by Dr. Sigmund Freud, of Vienna. But +perhaps you are not aware of the fact that Freud's contribution to the +study of insanity is of even greater scientific value than his dream +theories taken by themselves. + +"Hers, I feel sure now, is what is known as one of the so-called +'border-line cases,'" he continued. "It is clearly a case of +hysteria--not the hysteria one hears spoken of commonly, but the +condition which scientists know as such. We trace the impulses from +which hysterical conditions arise, penetrate the disguises which these +repressed impulses or wishes must assume in order to appear in the +consciousness. Such transformed impulses are found in normal people, +too, sometimes. The hysteric suffers mostly from reminiscences which, +paradoxically, may be completely forgotten. + +"Obsessions and phobias have their origin, according to Freud, in +sexual life. The obsession represents a compensation or substitute for +an unbearable sexual idea and takes its place in consciousness. In +normal sexual life, no neurosis is possible, say the Freudists. Sex is +the strongest impulse, yet subject to the greatest repression, and +hence the weakest point of our cultural development. Hysteria arises +through the conflict between libido and sex-repression. Often +sex-wishes may be consciously rejected but unconsciously accepted. So +when they are understood every insane utterance has a reason. There is +really method in madness. + +"When hysteria in a wife gains her the attention of an otherwise +inattentive husband it fills, from the standpoint of her deeper +longing, an important place, and, in a sense, may be said to be +desirable. The great point about the psychanalytic method, as +discovered by Breuer and Freud, is that certain symptoms of hysteria +disappear when the hidden causes are brought to light and the repressed +desires are gratified." + +"How does that apply to Mrs. Cranston?" I queried. + +"Mrs. Cranston," he replied, "is suffering from what the psychanalysts +call a psychic trauma--a soul-wound, as it were. It is the neglect, in +this case, of her husband, whom she deeply loves. That, in itself, is +sufficient to explain her experience wandering through the country. It +was the region which she associated with her first love-affair, as she +told us. The wave of recollection that swept over her engulfed her +mind. In other words, reason could no longer dominate the cravings for +a love so long suppressed. Then, when she saw, or imagined she saw, one +who looked like her lover the strain was too great." + +It was the middle of the afternoon when we reached the laboratory. +Kennedy at once set to work studying the drops of tonic which had been +absorbed in the handkerchief. As Kennedy worked, I began thinking over +again of what we had seen at the Belleclaire Sanatorium. Somehow or +other, I could not get out of my mind the recollection of the man +rolled in the blanket and trussed up as helpless as a mummy. I wondered +whether that alone was sufficient to account for the quickness with +which he had been pacified. Then I recalled Mrs. Cranston's remark +about her mental alertness and physical weakness. Had it anything to do +with the "tonic"? + +"Suppose, while I am waiting," I finally suggested to Craig, "I try to +find out what Cranston does with his time since his wife has been shut +off from the world." + +"That's a very good idea," acquiesced Kennedy. "Don't take too long, +however, for I may strike something important here any minute." + +After several inquiries over the telephone, I found that since his wife +had been in Montrose Cranston had closed his apartment and was living +at one of his clubs. Having two or three friends who were members, I +did not hesitate to drop around. + +Unfortunately, none of my friends happened to be there, and I was +forced, finally, to ask for Cranston himself, although all that I +really wanted to know was whether he was there or not. One of the +clerks told me that he had been in, but had left in a taxicab only a +short time before. + +As there was a cab-stand outside the club, I determined to make an +inquiry and perhaps discover the driver who had had him. The starter +knew him, and when I said that it was very important business on which +I wanted to see him he motioned to a driver who had just pulled up. + +A chance for another fare and a generous tip were all that was +necessary to induce him to drive me to the Trocadero, a fashionable +restaurant and cabaret, where he had taken Cranston a short time +before. It was crowded when I entered, and, avoiding the headwaiter, I +stood by the door a few minutes and looked over the brilliant and gay +throng. Finally, I managed to catch a glimpse of Cranston's head at a +table in a far corner. As I made my way down the line of tables, I was +genuinely amazed to see that he was with a woman. It was Julia Giles! + +She must have come down on the next train after we did, but, at any +rate, it looked as though she had lost no time in seeking out Cranston +after our visit. I took a seat at a table next them. + +They were talking about Kennedy, and, during a lull in the music, I +overheard him asking her just what Craig had done. + +"It was certainly very clever in him to play both you and Doctor Burr +the way he did. He told Doctor Burr that you had sent him, and told you +that Doctor Burr had sent him. By whom do you suppose he really was +sent?" + +"Could it have been my wife?" + +"It must have been, but how she did it is more than I can imagine." + +"How is she, anyway?" he asked. + +"Sometimes she seems to be getting along finely, and then, other days, +I feel quite discouraged about her. Her case is very obstinate." + +"Perhaps I had better go out and see Burr," he considered. "It is early +in the evening. I'll drive you out in my car. I'll stay at the +sanatorium tonight, and then, perhaps, I'll know a little better what +we can do." + +It was his tone rather than his words which gave me the impression that +he was more interested in being with Miss Giles than with Mrs. +Cranston. I wondered whether it was a plot of Cranston's and Miss +Giles's. Had he been posing before Kennedy, and were they really trying +to put Mrs. Cranston out of the way? + +As the music started up again, I heard her say, "Can't we have just one +more dance?" A moment later they were lost in the gay whirl on the +dancing-floor. They made a handsome couple, and it was evident that it +was not the first time that they had dined and danced together. The +music ceased, and they returned to their places reluctantly, while +Cranston telephoned for his car to be brought around to the cabaret. + +I hastened back to the laboratory to inform Craig what I had seen. As I +told my story he looked up at me with a sudden flash of comprehension. + +"I am glad to know where they will all be tonight," he said. "Some one +has been giving her henbane--hyoscyamin. I have just discovered it in +the tonic." + +"What's henbane?" I asked. + +"It is a drug derived from the hyoscyamus plant, much like belladonna, +though more distinctly sedative. It is a hypnotic used often in mania +and mental excitement. The feeling which Mrs. Cranston described is one +of its effects. You recall the brightness of her eyes? That is one of +the effects of the mydriatic alkaloids, of which this is one. The +ancients were familiar with several of its peculiar properties, as they +knew of the closely allied poison hemlock. + +"Many of the text-books at the present time fail to say anything about +the remarkable effect produced by large doses of this terrible +alkaloid. This effect can be described technically so as to be +intelligible, but no description can convey, even approximately, the +terrible sensation produced in many insane patients by large doses. In +a general way, it is the condition of paralysis of the body without the +corresponding paralysis of the mind." + +"And it's this stuff that somebody has been putting into her tonic?" I +asked, startled. "Do you suppose that is part of Burr's system, or did +Miss Giles lighten her work by putting it into the tonic?" + +Kennedy did not betray his suspicion, but went on describing the drug +which was having such a serious effect on Mrs. Cranston. + +"The victim lies in an absolutely helpless condition sometimes with his +muscles so completely paralyzed that he cannot so much as move a +finger, cannot close his lips or move his tongue to moisten them. This +feeling of helplessness is usually followed by unconsciousness and then +by a period of depression. The combined feeling of helplessness and +depression is absolutely unlike any other feeling imaginable, if I may +judge from the accounts of those who have experienced it. Other +sensations, such as pain, may be judged, in a measure, by comparison +with other painful sensations, but the sensation produced by hyoscyamin +in large doses seems to have no basis for comparison. There is no +kindred feeling. Practically every institution for the insane used it a +few years ago for controlling patients, but now better methods have +been devised." + +"The more I think of what I saw at the Trocadero," I remarked, "the +more I wonder if Miss Giles has been seeking to win Cranston herself." + +"In large-enough doses and repeated often enough," continued Kennedy, +"I suppose the toxic effect of the drug might be to produce insanity. +At any rate, if we are going to do anything, it might better be done at +once. They are all out there now. If we act to-night, surely we shall +have the best chance of making the guilty person betray himself." + +Kennedy telephoned for a fast touring-car, and in half an hour, while +he gathered some apparatus together, the car was before the door. In it +he placed a couple of light silk-rope ladders, some common wooden +wedges, and an instrument which resembled a surveyor's transit with two +conical horns sticking out at the ends. + +We made the trip out of New York and up the Boston post-road, following +the route which Cranston and Miss Giles must have taken some hours +before us. In the town of Montrose, Kennedy stopped only long enough to +get a bite to eat and to study up in the roads in the vicinity. + +It was long after midnight when we struck up into the country. The +night was very dark, thick, and foggy. With the engine running as +muffled as possible and the lights dimmed, Kennedy quietly jammed on +the brakes as we pulled up along the side of the road. + +A few rods farther ahead I could make out the Belleclaire Sanatorium +surrounded by its picketed stone wall. Not a light was visible in any +of the windows. + +"Now that we're here," I whispered, "what can we do?" + +"You remember the paper I gave Mrs. Cranston when the excitement in the +hall broke loose?" + +"Yes," I nodded, as we moved over under the shadow of the wall. + +"I wrote on a sheet from my note-book," said Kennedy, "and told her to +be ready when she heard a pebble strike the window; and I gave her a +piece of string to let down to the ground." + +Kennedy threw the silk ladder up until it caught on one of the pickets; +then, with the other ladder and the wedges, he reached the top of the +wall, followed by me. We pulled the first ladder up as we clung to the +pickets, and let it down again inside. Noiselessly we crossed the lawn. + +Above was Mrs. Cranston's window. Craig picked up some bits of broken +stone from a walk about the house and threw them gently against the +pane. Then we drew back into the shadow of the house, lest any prying +eyes might discover us. In a few minutes the window on the second floor +was stealthily opened. The muffled figure of Mrs. Cranston appeared in +the dim light; then a piece of string was lowered. + +To it Kennedy attached a light silk ladder and motioned in pantomime +for her to draw it up. It took her some time to fasten the ladder to +one of the heavy pieces of furniture in the room. Swaying from side to +side, but clinging with frantic desperation to the ladder while we did +our best to steady it, she managed to reach the ground. She turned from +the building with a shudder, and whispered: + +"This terrible place! How can I ever thank you for getting me out of +it?" + +Kennedy did not pause long enough to say a word, but hurried her across +to the final barrier, the wall. + +Suddenly there was a shout of alarm from the front of the house under +the columns. It was the night watchman, who had discovered us. + +Instantly Kennedy seized a chair from a little summer-house. + +"Quick, Walter," he cried, "over the wall with Mrs. Cranston, while I +hold him! Then throw the ladder back on this side. I'll join you in a +moment, as soon as you get her safely over." + +A chair is only an indifferent club, if that is all one can think of +using it for. Kennedy ran squarely at the watchman, holding it out +straight before him. Only once did I cast a hasty glance back. There +was the man pinned to the wall by the chair, with Kennedy at the other +end of it and safely out of reach. + +Mrs. Cranston and I managed to scramble over the wall, although she +tore her dress on the pickets before we reached the other side. I +hustled her into the car and made everything ready to start. It was +only a couple of minutes after I threw the ladder back before Craig +rejoined us. + +"How did you get away from the watchman?" I demanded, breathlessly, as +we shot away. + +"I forced him back with the chair into the hall and slammed the door. +Then I jammed a wedge under it," he chuckled. "That will hold it better +than any lock. Every push will jam it tighter." + +Above the hubbub, inside now, we could hear a loud gong sounding +insistently. All about were lights flashing up at the windows and +moving through the passageways. Shouts came from the back of the house +as a door was finally opened there. But we were off now, with a good +start. + +I could imagine the frantic telephoning that was going on in the +sanatorium. And I knew that the local police of Montrose and every +other town about us were being informed of the escape. They were +required by the law to render all possible assistance, and, as the +country boasted several institutions quite on a par with Belleclaire, +an attempt at an escape was not an unusual occurrence. + +The post-road by which we had come was therefore impossible, and +Kennedy swung up into the country, in the hope of throwing off pursuit +long enough to give us a better chance. + +"Take the wheel, Walter," he muttered. "I'll tell you what turns to +make. We must get to the State line of New York without being stopped. +We can beat almost any car. But that is not enough. A telephone message +ahead may stop us, unless we can keep from being seen." + +I took the wheel, and did not stop the car as Kennedy climbed over the +seat. In the back of the car, where Mrs. Cranston was sitting, he +hastily adjusted the peculiar apparatus. + +"Sounds at night are very hard to locate," he explained. "Up this side +road, Walter; there is some one coming ahead of us." + +I turned and shot up the detour, stopping in the shadow of some trees, +where we switched off every light and shut down the engine. Kennedy +continued to watch the instrument before him. + +"What is it?" I whispered. + +"A phonometer," he replied. "It was invented to measure the intensity +of sound. But it is much more valuable as an instrument that tells with +precision from what direction a sound comes. It needs only a small dry +battery and can be carried around easily. The sound enters the two +horns of the phonometer, is focused at the neck, and strikes on a +delicate diaphragm, behind which is a needle. The diaphragm vibrates +and the needle moves. The louder the sound the greater the movement of +this needle. + +"At this end, where it looks as though I were sighting like a surveyor, +I am gazing into a lens, with a tiny electric bulb close to my eye. The +light of this bulb is reflected in a mirror which is moved by the +moving needle. When the sound is loudest the two horns are at right +angles to the direction whence it comes. So it is only necessary to +twist the phonometer about on its pivot until the sound is received +most loudly in the horns and the band of light is greatest. I know then +that the horns are at right angles to the direction from which the +sound proceeds, and that, as I lift my head, I am looking straight +toward the source of the sound. I can tell its direction to a few +degrees." + +I looked through it myself to see how sound was visualized by light. + +"Hush!" cautioned Kennedy. + +Down on the main road we could see a car pass along slowly in the +direction of Montrose, from which we had come. Without the phonometer +to warn us, it must inevitably have met us and blocked our escape over +the road ahead. + +That danger passed, on we sped. Five minutes, I calculated, and we +should cross the State line to New York and safety. + +We had been going along nicely when, "Bang!" came a loud report back of +us. + +"Confound it!" muttered Kennedy; "a blowout always when you least +expect it." + +We climbed out of the car and had the shoe off in short order. + +"Look!" cried Janet Cranston, in a frightened voice, from the back of +the car. + +The light of the phonometer had flashed up. A car was following us. + +"There's just one chance!" cried Kennedy, springing to the wheel. "We +might make it on the rim." + +Banging and pounding, we forged ahead, straining our eyes to watch the +road, the distance, the time, and the phonometer all at once. + +It was no use. A big gray roadster was overtaking us. The driver +crowded us over to the very edge of the road, then shot ahead, and, +where the road narrowed down, deliberately pulled up across the road in +such a way that we had to run into him or stop. + +Quickly Craig's automatic gleamed in the dim beams from the side lights. + +"Just a minute," cautioned a voice. "It was a plot against me, quite as +much as it was against her--the nurse to lead me on, while the doctor +got a rich patient. I suspected all was not right. That's why I gave +you the card. I knew you didn't come from Burr. Then, when I heard +nothing from you, I let the Giles woman think I was coming to Montrose +to be with her. But, really, I wanted to beat that fake asylum--" + +Two piercing headlights shone down the road back of us. We waited a +moment until they, too, came to a stop. + +"Here they are!" shouted the voice of a man, as he jumped out, followed +by a woman. + +Kennedy stepped forward, waving his automatic menacingly. + +"You are under arrest for conspiracy--both of you!" he cried, as we +recognized Doctor Burr and Miss Giles. + +A little cry behind me startled me, and I turned. Janet Cranston had +flung herself into the arms of the only person who could heal her +wounded soul. + + + + +IV + +THE MYSTIC POISONER + + +"It's almost as though he had been struck down by a spirit hand, +Kennedy." + +Grady, the house detective of the Prince Edward Charles Hotel, had +routed us out of bed in the middle of the night with a hurried call for +help, and now met us in the lobby of the fashionable hostelry. All that +he had said over the wire was that there had been a murder--"an +Englishman, a Captain Shirley." + +"Why," exclaimed Grady, lowering his voice as he led us through the +lobby, "it's the most mysterious thing, I think, that I've ever seen!" + +"In what way?" prompted Kennedy. + +"Well," continued Grady, "it must have been just a bit after midnight +that one of the elevator-boys heard what sounded like a muffled report +in a room on the tenth floor. There were other employees and some +guests about at the time, and it was only a matter of seconds before +they were on the spot. Finally, the sound was located as having come +probably from Captain Shirley's room. But the door was locked--on the +inside. There was no response, although some one had seen him ride up +in the elevator scarcely five minutes before. By that time they had +sent for me. We broke in. There was Shirley, alone, fully dressed, +lying on the floor before a writing-table. His face was horribly set, +as though he had perhaps seen something that frightened and haunted +him--though I suppose it might have been the pain that did it. I think +he must have heard something, jumped from the chair, perhaps in fear, +then have fallen down on the floor almost immediately. + +"We hurried over to him. He was still alive, but could not speak. I +turned him over, tried to rouse him and make him comfortable. It was +only then that I saw that he was really conscious. But it seemed as if +his tongue and most of his muscles were paralyzed. Somehow he managed +to convey to us the idea that it was his heart that troubled him most. + +"Really, at first I thought it was a case of suicide. But there was no +sign of a weapon about and not a trace of poison--no glass, no packet. +There was no wound on him, either--except a few slight cuts and +scratches on his face and hands. But none of them looked to be serious. +And yet, before we could get the house physician up to him he was dead." + +"And with not a word?" queried Kennedy. + +"That's the strangest part of it. No; not a word spoken. But as he lay +there, even in spite of his paralyzed muscles, he was just able to +motion with his hands. I thought he wanted to write, and gave him a +pencil and a piece of paper. He clutched at them, but here is all he +was able to do." + +Grady drew from his pocket a piece of paper and handed it to us. On it +were printed in trembling, irregular characters, "G A D," the "D" +scarcely finished and trailing off into nothing. + +What did it all mean? How had Shirley met his death, and why? + +"Tell me something about him," said Kennedy, studying the paper with a +frown. Grady shrugged his shoulders. + +"An Englishman--that's about all I know. Looked like one of the younger +sons who so frequently go out to seek their fortunes in the colonies. +By his appearance, I should say he had been in the Far East--India, no +doubt. And I imagine he had made good. He seemed to have plenty of +money. That's all I know about him." + +"Is anything missing from his room?" I asked. "Could it have been a +robbery?" + +"I searched the room hastily," replied Grady. "Apparently not a thing +had been touched. I don't think it was robbery." + +By this time we had made our way through the lobby and were in the +elevator. + +"I've kept the room just as it was," went on Grady to Kennedy, lowering +his voice. "I've even delayed a bit in notifying the police, so that +you could get here first." + +A moment later we entered the rooms, a fairly expensive suite, +consisting of a sitting-room, bedroom, and bath. Everything was in a +condition to indicate that Shirley had just come in when the shot, if +shot it had been, was fired. + +There, on the floor, lay his body, still in the same attitude in which +he had died and almost as Grady had found him gasping. Grady's +description of the horrible look on his face was, if anything, an +understatement. + +As I stood with my eyes riveted on the horror-stricken face on the +floor, Kennedy had been quietly going over the furniture and carpet +about the body. + +"Look!" he exclaimed at last, scarcely turning to us. On the chair, the +writing-table, and even on the walls were little pitted marks and +scratches. He bent down over the carpet. There, reflecting the electric +light, scattered all about, were little fine pieces of something that +glittered. + +"You have a vacuum cleaner, I suppose?" inquired Craig, rising quickly. + +"Certainly--a plant in the cellar." + +"No; I mean one that is portable." + +"Yes; we have that, too," answered Grady, hurrying to the room +telephone to have the cleaner sent up. + +Kennedy now began to look through Shirley's baggage. There was, +however, nothing to indicate that it had been rifled. + +I noted, among other things, a photograph of a woman in Oriental dress, +dusky, languorous, of more than ordinary beauty and intelligence. On it +something was written in native characters. + +Just then a boy wheeled the cleaner down the hall, and Kennedy quickly +shoved the photograph into his pocket. + +First, Kennedy removed the dust that was already in the machine. Then +he ran the cleaner carefully over the carpet, the upholstery, +everything about that corner of the room where the body lay. When he +had finished he emptied out the dust into a paper and placed it in his +pocket. He was just finishing when there came a knock at the door, and +it was opened. + +"Mr. Grady?" said a young man, entering hurriedly. + +"Oh, hello, Glenn! One of the night clerks in the office, Kennedy," +introduced the house detective. + +"I've just heard of the--murder," Glenn began. "I was in the +dining-room, being relieved for my little midnight luncheon as usual, +when I heard of it, and I thought that perhaps you might want to know +something that happened just before I went off duty." + +"Yes; anything," broke in Kennedy. + +"It was early in the evening," returned the clerk, slowly, "when a +messenger left a little package for Captain Shirley--said that Captain +Shirley had had it sent himself and asked that it be placed in his +room. It was a little affair in a plain, paper-wrapped parcel. I sent +one of the boys up with it and a key, and told him to put the package +on the writing-desk tip here." + +Kennedy looked at me. That, then, was the way something, whatever it +might be, was introduced into the room. + +"When the captain came in," resumed the night clerk, "I saw there was a +letter for him in the mailbox and handed it to him. He stood before the +office desk while he opened it. I thought he looked queer. The contents +seemed to alarm him." + +"What was in it?" asked Kennedy. "Could you see?" + +"I got one glimpse. It seemed to be nothing but a little scarlet bead +with a black spot on it. In his surprise, he dropped a piece of paper +from the envelope in which the bead had been wrapped up. I thought it +was strange, and, as he hurried over to the elevator, I picked it up. +Here it is." + +The clerk handed over a crumpled piece of notepaper. On it was scrawled +the word "Gadhr," and underneath, "Beware!" I spelled out the first +strange word. It had an ominous sound--"Gadhr." Suddenly there flashed +through my mind the letters Shirley had tried to print but had not +finished, "G A D." + +Kennedy looked at the paper a moment. + +"Gadhr!" he exclaimed, in a low, tense tone. "Revolt--the native word +for unrest in India, the revolution!" + +We stared at each other blankly. All of us had been reading lately in +the despatches about the troubles there, hidden under the ban of the +censorship. I knew that the Hindu propaganda in America was as yet in +its infancy, although several plots and conspiracies had been hatched +here. + +"Is there any one in the hotel whom you might suspect?" asked Kennedy. + +Grady cleared his throat and looked at the night clerk significantly. + +"Well," he answered, thoughtfully, "across the hall there is a new +guest who came to-day--or, rather, yesterday--a Mrs. Anthony. We don't +know anything about her, except that she looks like a foreigner. She +did not come directly from abroad, but must have been living in New +York for some time. They tell me she asked for a room on this floor, at +this end of the hall." + +"H'm!" considered Kennedy. "I'd like to see her--without being seen." + +"I think I can arrange that," acquiesced Grady. "You and Jameson stay +in the bedroom. I'll ask her to come over here, and then you can get a +good look at her." + +The plan satisfied Kennedy, and together we entered the bedroom, +putting out the light and leaving the door just a trifle ajar. + +A moment later Mrs. Anthony entered. I heard a suppressed gasp from +Kennedy. + +"The woman in the photograph!" he whispered to me. + +I studied her face minutely from our coign of vantage. There was, +indeed, a resemblance, too striking to be mere coincidence. + +In the presence of Grady, she seemed to be nervous and on guard, as +though she knew, intuitively, that she was suspected. + +"Did you know Captain Shirley?" shot out Grady. + +Kennedy looked over at me and frowned. I knew that something more +subtle than New York police methods would be necessary in order to get +anything from a woman like this. + +"No," she replied, quietly. "You see, I just came here to-day." Her +voice had an English accent. + +"Did you hear a shot?" + +"No," she replied. "The voices in the hall wakened me, though I did not +know what was the matter until just now." + +"Then you made no effort to find out?" inquired Grady, suspiciously. + +"I am alone here in the city," she answered, simply. "I was afraid to +intrude." + +Throughout she gave the impression that she was strangely reticent +about herself. Evidently Kennedy had not much faith that Grady would +elicit anything of importance. He tiptoed to the door that led from the +bedroom to the hall and found that it could be opened from the inside. + +While Grady continued his questioning, Craig and I slipped out into the +hall to the room which Mrs. Anthony occupied. + +It was a suite much plainer than that occupied by Shirley. Craig +switched on the light and looked about hastily and keenly. + +For a moment he stood before a dressing-table on which were several +toilet articles. A jewel-case seemed to attract his attention, and he +opened it. Inside were some comparatively trifling trinkets. The thing +that caused him to exclaim, however, was a necklace, broken and +unstrung. I looked, too. It was composed of little crimson beads, each +with a black spot on it! + +Quickly he drew from his pocket the photograph he had taken from +Shirley's baggage. As I looked at it again there could be no doubt now +in my mind of the identity of the original. It was the same face. And +about the neck, in the picture, was a necklace, plainly the same as +that before us. + +"What are the beads?" I asked, fingering them. "I've never seen +anything like them." + +"Not beads at all," he replied. "They are Hindu prayer-beans, sometimes +called ruttee, jequirity beans, seeds of the plant known to science as +Abrus precatorius. They produce a deadly poison--abrin." He slipped +four or five of them into his pocket. Then he resumed his cursory +search of the room. There, on a writing-pad, was a note which Mrs. +Anthony had evidently been engaged in writing. Craig pored over it for +some time, while I fidgeted. It was nothing but a queer jumble of +letters: + +SOWC FSSJWA EKNLFFBY WOVHLX IHWAJYKH 101MLEL EPJNVPSL WCLURL GHIHDA +ELBA. + +"Come," I cautioned; "she may return any moment." + +Quickly he copied off the letters. + +"It's a cipher," he said, simply, "a new and rather difficult one, too, +I imagine. But I may be able to decipher it." + +Kennedy withdrew from the room and, instead of going back to Shirley's, +rode down in the elevator to find the night clerk. + +"Had Captain Shirley any friends in the city?" asked Craig. + +Glenn shrugged his shoulders. + +"He was out most of the time," he replied. "He seemed to be very +occupied about something. No, I don't think I ever saw him speak to a +soul here, except a word to the waiters and the boys. Once, though," he +recollected, "he was called up by a Mrs. Beekman Rogers." + +"Mrs. Beekman Rogers," repeated Kennedy, jotting the name down and +looking it up in the telephone-book. She lived on Riverside Drive, and, +slender though the information was, Kennedy seemed glad to get it. + +Grady joined us a moment later, having been wondering where we had +disappeared. + +"You saw her?" he asked. "What did you think of her?" + +"Worth watching," was all Kennedy would say. "Did you get anything out +of her?" + +Grady shook his head. + +"But I am convinced she knows something," he insisted. + +Kennedy was about to reply when he was interrupted by the arrival of a +couple of detectives from the city police, tardily summoned by Grady. + +"I shall let you know the moment I have discovered anything," he said, +as he bade Grady good-by. "And thank you for letting me have a chance +at the case before all the clues had been spoiled." + +Late though it was, in the laboratory Kennedy set to work examining the +dust which he had swept up by the vacuum cleaner, as well as the +jequirity beans he had taken from Mrs. Anthony's jewel-case. + +I do not know how much sleep he had, but I managed to snatch a few +hours' rest, and early in the morning I found him at work again, +examining the cipher message which he had copied. + +"By the way," he said, scarcely looking up as he saw me again, "there +is something quite important which you can do for me." Rather pleased +to be of some use, I waited eagerly. "I wish you'd go out and see what +you can find out about that Mrs. Beekman Rogers," he continued. "I've +some work here that will keep me for several hours; so come back to me +here." + +It was such a commission as he had often given me before, and, through +my connection with the Star, I found no difficulty in executing it. + +I found that Mrs. Rogers was well known in a certain circle of society +in the city. She was wealthy and had the reputation of having given +quite liberally to many causes that had interested her. Just now, her +particular fad was Oriental religions, and some of her bizarre beliefs +had attracted a great deal of attention. A couple of years before she +had made a trip around the world, and had lived in India for several +months, apparently fascinated by the life and attracted to the +mysteries of Oriental faiths. + +With my budget of information I hastened back again to join Kennedy at +the laboratory. I could see that the cipher was still unread. From +that, I conjectured that it was, as he had guessed, constructed on some +new and difficult plan. + +"What do you think of Mrs. Rogers?" I asked, as I finished reciting +what I had learned. "Is it possible that she can be in this +revolutionary propaganda?" He shook his head doubtfully. + +"Much of the disaffection that exists in India to-day," he replied, "is +due to the encouragement and financial assistance which it has received +from people here in this country, although only a fraction of the +natives of India have ever heard of us. Much of the money devoted to +the cause of revolution and anarchy in India is contributed by worthy +people who innocently believe that their subscriptions are destined to +promote the cause of native enlightenment. I prefer to believe that +there is some such explanation in her case. At any rate, I think that +we had better make a call on Mrs. Rogers." + +Early that afternoon, accordingly, we found ourselves at the door of +the large stone house on Riverside Drive in which Mrs. Rogers lived. +Kennedy inquired for her, and we were admitted to a large +reception-room, the very decorations of which showed evidence of her +leaning toward the Orient. Mrs. Rogers proved to be a widow of baffling +age, good-looking, with a certain indefinable attractiveness. + +Kennedy's cue was obvious. It was to be an eager neophyte in the +mysteries of the East, and he played the part perfectly without +overdoing it. + +"Perhaps you would like to come to some of the meetings of our Cult of +the Occult," she suggested. + +"Delighted, I am sure," returned Kennedy. She handed him a card. + +"We have a meeting this afternoon at four," she explained. "I should be +glad to welcome you among us." + +Kennedy thanked her and rose to go, preferring to say nothing more just +then about the problems which vexed us in the Shirley case, lest it +should make further investigation more difficult. + +Nothing more had happened at the hotel, as we heard from Grady a few +minutes later, and, as there was some time before the cult met, we +returned to the laboratory. + +Things had evidently progressed well, even in the few hours that he had +been studying his meager evidence. Not only was he making a series of +delicate chemical tests, but, in cases, he had several guinea-pigs +which he was using also. + +He now studied through a microscope some of the particles of dust from +the vacuum cleaner. + +"Little bits of glass," he said, briefly, taking his eye from the +eyepiece. "Captain Shirley was not shot." + +"Not shot?" I repeated. "Then how was he killed?" + +Kennedy eyed me gravely. + +"Shirley was murdered by a poisoned bomb!" + +I said nothing, for the revelation was even more startling than I had +imagined. + +"In that package which was placed in his room," he went on, "must have +been a little infernal machine of glass, constructed so as to explode +the moment the wrapper was broken. The flying pieces of glass injected +the poison as by a myriad of hypodermic needles--the highly poisonous +toxin of abrin, product of the jequirity, which is ordinarily destroyed +in the stomach but acts powerfully if injected into the blood. Shirley +died of jequirity poisoning, or rather of the alkaloid in the bean. It +has been used in India for criminal poisoning for ages. Only, there it +is crushed, worked into a paste, and rolled into needle-pointed forms +which prick the skin. Abrin is composed of two albuminous bodies, one +of which resembles snake-venom in all its effects, attacking the heart, +making the temperature fall rapidly, and leaving the blood fluid after +death. It is a vegetable toxin, quite comparable with ricin from the +castor-oil bean." + +In spite of my horror at the diabolical plot that had been aimed at +Shirley, my mind ran along, keenly endeavoring to piece together the +scattered fragments of the case. Some one, of course, had sent the +package while he was out and had it placed in his room. Had it been the +same person who had sent the single jequirity bean? My mind instantly +reverted to the strange woman across the hall, the photograph in his +luggage, and the broken necklace in the jewel-case. + +Kennedy continued looking at the remainder of the jequirity beans and a +liquid he had developed from some of them. Finally, with a glance at +his watch, he placed a tube of the liquid in a leather case in his +pocket. + +"This may not be the only murder," he remarked, sententiously. "It is +best to be prepared. Come; we must get up to that meeting." + +We journeyed up-town and arrived at the little private hall which the +Cult of the Occult had hired somewhat ahead of the time set for the +meeting, as Kennedy had aimed to do. Mrs. Rogers was already there and +met us at the door. + +"So glad to see you," she welcomed, leading us in. + +As we entered we could breathe the characteristic pervading odor of +sandalwood. Rich Oriental hangings were on the walls, interspersed with +cabalistic signs, while at one end was a raised dais. + +Mrs. Rogers introduced us to a rather stout, middle-aged, sallow-faced +individual in a turban and flowing robes of rustling purple silk. His +eyes were piercing, small, and black. The plump, unhealthy, milk-white +fingers of his hands were heavy with ornate rings. He looked like what +I should have imagined a swami to be, and such, I found, was indeed his +title. + +"The Swami Rajmanandra," introduced Mrs. Rogers. + +He extended his flabby hand in welcome, while Kennedy eyed him keenly. +We were not permitted many words with the swami, however, for Mrs. +Rogers next presented us to a younger but no less interesting-looking +Oriental who was in Occidental dress. + +"This is Mr. Singh Bandematarain," said Mrs. Rogers. "You know, he has +been sent here by the nizam of his province to be educated at the +university." + +Mrs. Rogers then hastened to conduct us to seats as, one by one, the +worshipers entered. They were mostly women of the aristocratic type who +evidently found in this cult a new fad to occupy their jaded craving +for the sensational. In the dim light, there was something almost +sepulchral about the gathering, and their complexions seemed as white +as wax. + +Again the door opened and another woman entered. I felt the pressure of +Kennedy's hand on my arm and turned my eyes unobtrusively. It was Mrs. +Anthony. + +Quietly she seemed to glide over the floor toward the swami and, for a +moment, stood talking to him. I saw Singh eye her with a curious look. +Was it fear or suspicion? + +I had come expecting to see something weird and wild, perhaps the +exhibition of an Indian fakir--I know not what. In that, at least, I +was disappointed. The Swami Rajmanandra, picturesque though he was, +talked most fascinatingly about his religion, but either the +theatricals were reserved for an inner circle or else we were subtly +suspected, for I soon found myself longing for the meeting to close so +that we could observe those whom we had come to watch. + +I had almost come to the conclusion that our mission had been a failure +when the swami concluded and the visitors swarmed forward to talk with +the holy man from the East. Kennedy managed to make his way about the +circle to Mrs. Rogers and soon was in an animated conversation. + +"Were you acquainted with a Captain Shirley?" he asked, finally, as she +opened the way for the question by a remark about her life in Calcutta. + +"Y-yes," she replied, hesitating; "I read in the papers this morning +that he was found dead, most mysteriously. Terrible, wasn't it? Yes, I +met him in Calcutta while I was there. Why, he was on his way to +London, and came to New York and called on me." + +My eye followed the direction of Mrs. Rogers's. She was talking to us, +but really her attention was centered on Mrs. Anthony and the swami +together. As I glanced back at her I caught sight of Singh, evidently +engaged in watching the same two that I was. Did he have some suspicion +of Mrs. Anthony? Why was he watching Mrs. Rogers? I determined to study +the two women more closely. I saw that Kennedy had already noticed what +I had seen. + +"One very peculiar thing," he said, deliberately modulating his voice +so that it could be heard by those about us, "was that, just before he +was killed, some one sent a prayer-bean from a necklace to him." + +At the mention of the necklace I saw that Mrs. Rogers was all +attention. Involuntarily she shot a glance at Mrs. Anthony, as if she +noted that she was not wearing the necklace now. + +"Is that Englishwoman a member of the cult?" queried Kennedy, a moment +later, as, quite naturally, he looked over at Mrs. Anthony. "Who is +she?" + +"Oh," replied Mrs. Rogers, quickly, "she isn't an Englishwoman at all. +She is a Hindu--I believe, a former nautch-girl, daughter of a +nautch-girl. She passes by the name of Mrs. Anthony, but really her +name is Kalia Dass. Every one in Calcutta knew her." + +Kennedy quietly drew his card-case from his pocket and handed a card to +Mrs. Rogers. + +"I should like to talk to you about her some time," he said, in a +careful whisper. "If anything happens--don't hesitate to call on me." + +Before Mrs. Rogers could recover from her surprise Kennedy had said +good-by and we were on our way to the laboratory. + +"That's a curious situation," I observed. "Can you make it out? How +does Shirley fit into this thing?" + +Craig hesitated a moment, as though debating whether to say anything, +even to me, about his suspicions. + +"Suppose," he said, slowly, "that Shirley was a secret agent of the +British government, charged with the mission of finding out whether +Mrs. Rogers was contributing--unknowingly, perhaps--to hatching another +Indian mutiny? Would that suggest anything to you?" + +"And the nautch-girl whom he had known in Calcutta followed him, hoping +to worm from him the secrets which he--" + +"Not too fast," he cautioned. "Let us merely suppose that Shirley was a +spy. If I am not mistaken, we shall see something happen soon, as a +result of what I said to Mrs. Rogers." + +Excited now by the possibilities opened up by his conjecture regarding +Shirley, which I knew must have amounted to a certainty in his mind, I +watched him impatiently, as he calmly set to work cleaning up the +remainder of the laboratory investigation in the affair. + +It was scarcely half an hour later that a car drove up furiously to our +door and Mrs. Rogers burst in, terribly agitated. + +"You remember," she cried, breathlessly, "you said that a jequirity +bean was sent to Captain Shirley?" + +"Yes," encouraged Kennedy. + +"Well, after you left, I was thinking about it. That Kalia Dass used to +wear a necklace of them, but she didn't have it on to-day. I began +thinking about it. While she was talking to the swami I went over. I've +noticed how careful she always is of her hand-bag. So I managed to +catch my hand in the loop about her wrist. It dropped on the floor. We +both made a dive for it, but I got it. I managed, also, to open the +catch and, when I picked it up to hand to her, with an apology, what +should roll out but a score of prayer-beans! Some papers dropped out, +too. She almost tore them from my hands; in fact, one of them did tear. +After it was over I had this scrap, a corner torn off one of them." + +Kennedy took the scrap which she handed to him and studied it +carefully, while we looked over his shoulder. On it was a queer +alphabetical table. Across the first line were the letters singly, each +followed by a dash. Then, in squares underneath, were pairs of +letters--AA, BA, CA, DA, and so on, while, vertically, the column on +the left read: AA, AB, AC, AD, and so on. + +"Thank you, Mrs. Rogers," Craig said, rising. "This is very important." + +She seemed reluctant to go, but, as there was no excuse for staying +longer, she finally left. Kennedy immediately set to work studying the +scrap of paper and the cipher message he had copied, while I stifled my +impatience as best I could. + +I could do nothing but reflect on the possibility of what a jealous +woman might do. Mrs. Rogers had given us one example. Did the same +explanation shed any light on the mystery of the nautch-girl and the +jequirity bean sent to Shirley? There was no doubt now that Shirley had +known her in Calcutta--intimately, also. Perhaps the necklace had some +significance. At least, he must have remembered it, as his agitation +over the single bean and the word "Gadhr" seemed to indicate. If she +had sent it to him, was it as a threat? To all appearance, he had not +known that she was in New York, much less that she was at the same +hotel and on the same floor. Why had she followed him? Had she +misinterpreted his attentions to Mrs. Rogers? + +Longing to ask Kennedy the myriad questions that flashed through my +mind, I turned to him as he scowled at the scrap of paper and the +cipher before him. + +Presently he glanced up at me, still scowling. + +"It's no use, Walter," he said; "I can't make it out without the +key--at least, it will take so long to discover the key that it may be +useless." + +Just then the telephone-bell rang and he sprang to it eagerly. As I +listened I gathered that it was another hurried call from Grady. + +"Something has happened to Mrs. Anthony!" cried Craig, as he hooked up +the receiver and seized his hat. + +A second time we posted to the Prince Edward Charles, spurred by the +mystery that surrounded the case. No one met us in the lobby this time, +and we rode up directly in the elevator to Mrs. Anthony's room. + +As we came down the hall and Grady met us at the door, he did not need +to tell us that something was wrong. One experience like that with +Shirley had put the hotel people on guard, and the house physician was +already there, administering stimulants to Mrs. Anthony, who was lying +on the bed. + +"It's just like the other case," whispered Grady. "There are the same +scratches on her face and hands." + +The doctor glanced about at us. By the look on his face, I read that it +was a losing fight. Kennedy bent down. The floor about the door was +covered with little glittering slivers of glass. On Mrs. Anthony's face +was the same drawn look as on Shirley's. + +Was it a suicide? Had we been getting too close on her trail, or had +Mrs. Anthony been attacked? Had some one been using her, and now was +afraid of her and sought to get her out of the way for safety? + +What was the secret locked in her silent lips? The woman was plainly +dying. Would she carry the secret with her, after all? + +Kennedy quickly drew from his pocket the vial which I had seen him +place there in the laboratory early in the day. From the doctor's case +he selected a hypodermic and coolly injected a generous dose of the +stuff into her arm. + +"What is it?" asked the doctor, as we all watched her face anxiously. + +"The antitoxin to abrin," he replied. "I developed some of it at the +same time that I was studying the poison. If an animal that is immune +to a toxin is bled and the serum collected, the antitoxin in it may be +injected into a healthy animal and render it immune. Ricin and abrin +are vegetable protein toxins of enormous potency and exert a narcotic +action. Guinea-pigs fed on them in proper doses attain such a degree of +immunity that, in a short time, they can tolerate four hundred times +the fatal dose. The serum also can be used to neutralize the toxin in +another animal, to a certain extent." + +We crowded about Kennedy and the doctor, our eyes riveted on the drawn +face before us. Would the antitoxin work? + +Meanwhile, Kennedy moved over to the writing-table which he had +examined on our first visit to the room. Covered up in the writing-pad +was still the paper which he had copied. Only, Mrs. Anthony had added +much more to it. He looked at it desperately. What good would it do if, +after hours, his cleverness might solve the cipher--too late? + +Mrs. Anthony seemed to be struggling bravely. Once I thought she was +almost conscious. Glazed though her eyes looked, she saw Kennedy +vaguely, with the paper in his hand. Her lips moved. Kennedy bent down, +though whether he heard or read her lip movements I do not know. + +"Her pocket-book!" he exclaimed. + +We found it crushed under her coat which she had taken off when she +entered. Craig opened it and drew forth a crumpled sheet of paper from +which a corner had been torn. It exactly fitted the scrap that Mrs. +Rogers had given us. There, contained within twenty-seven horizontal +and twenty-seven vertical lines, making in all six hundred and +seventy-six squares, was every possible combination of two letters of +the alphabet. + +Kennedy looked up, still in desperation. It did him no good. He could +have completed the table himself. + +"In--the--lining." Her lips managed to frame the words. + +Kennedy literally tore the bag apart. There was nothing but a plain +white blank card. With a superhuman effort she moved her lips again. + +"Smelling-salts," she seemed to say. + +I looked about. On the dressing-table stood a little dark-green bottle. +I pulled the ground-glass stopper from it and a most pungent odor of +carbonate of ammonia filled the room. Quickly I held it under her nose, +but she shook her head weakly. + +Kennedy seemed to understand. He snatched the bottle from me and held +the card directly over its mouth. As the fumes of the ammonia poured +out, I saw faintly on the card the letters HR. + +We turned to Mrs. Anthony. The effort had used up her strength. She had +lapsed again into unconsciousness as Craig bent over her. + +"Will she live?" lasted. + +"I think so," he replied, adding a hasty word to the doctor. + +"What's that? Look!" I exclaimed, pointing to the card from which the +letters HR had already faded as mysteriously as they had appeared, +leaving the card blank again. + +"It is the key!" he cried, excitedly. "Written in sympathetic ink. At +last we have it all." + +On the queer alphabetical table which the two pieces of paper made, he +now wrote quickly the alphabet again, horizontally across the top, +starting with H, and vertically down the side, starting with R, thus: + + + H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G +R a- b- c- d- e- f- g- h- i- j- k- l- m- n- o- p- q- r- s- t- u- v- w- +x- y- z-S aa ba ca da ea fa ga ha ia ja ka la ma na oa pa qa ra sa ta +ua va wa xa ya za T ab bb cb db eb fb gb hb ib jb kb lb mb nb ob pb qb +rb sb tb ub vb wb xb yb zb U ac bc cc dc ec fc gc hc ic jc kc lc mc nc +oc pc qc rc sc tc uc vc wc xc yc zc V ad bd cd dd ed fd gd hd id jd kd +ld md nd od pd qd rd sd td ud vd wd xd yd zd W ae be ce de ee fe ge he +ie je ke le me ne oe pe qe re se te ue ve we xe ye ze X af bf cf df ef +ff gf hf if jf kf lf mf nf of pf qf rf sf tf uf vf wf xf yf zf Y ag bg +cg dg eg fg gg hg ig jg kg lg mg ng og pg qg rg sg tg ug vg wg xg yg zg +Z ah bh ch dh eh fh gh hh ih jh kh lh mh nh oh ph qh rh sh th uh vy wh +xh yh zh & ai bi ci di ei fi gi hi ii ji ki li mi ni oi pi qi ri si ti +ui vi wi xi yi zi A aj bj cj dj ej fj gj hj ij jj kj lj mj nj oj pj qj +rj sj tj uj vj wj xj yj zj B ak bk ck dk ek fk gk hk ik jk kk lk mk nk +ok pk qk rk sk tk uk vk wk xk yk zk C al bl cl dl el fl gl hl il jl kl +ll ml nl ol pl ql rl sl tl ul vl wl xl yl zl D am bm cm dm em fm gm hm +im jm km lm mm nm om pm qm rm sm tm um vm wm xm ym zm E an bn cn dn en +fn gn hn in jn kn ln mn nn on pn qn rn sn tn un vn wn xn yn zn F ao bo +co do eo fo go ho io jo ko lo mo no oo po qo ro so to uo vo wo xo yo zo +G ap bp cp dp ep fp gp hp ip jp kp lp mp np op pp qp rp sp tp up vp wp +xp yp zp H aq bq cq dq eq fq gq hq iq jq kq lq mq nq oq pq qq rq sq tq +uq vq wq xq yq zq I ar br cr dr er fr gr hr ir jr kr lr mr nr or pr qr +rr sr tr ur vr wr xr yr zr J as bs cs ds es fs gs hs is js ks ls ms ns +os ps qs rs ss ts us vs ws xs ys zs K at bt ct dt et ft gt ht it jt kt +lt mt nt ot pt qt rt st tt ut vt wt xt yt zt L au bu cu du eu fu gu hu +iu ju ku lu mu nu ou pu qu ru su tu uu vu wu xu yu zu M av bv cv dv ev +fv gv hv iv jv kv lv mv nv ov pv qv rv sv tv uv vv wv xv yv zv N aw bw +cw dw ew fw gw hw iw jw kw lw mw nw ow pw qw rw sw tw uw vw ww xw yw zw +O ax bx cx dx ex fx gx hx ix jx kx lx mx nx ox px qx rx sx tx ux vx wx +xx yx zx P ay by cy dy ey fy gy hy iy jy ky ly my ny oy py qy ry sy ty +uy vy wy xy yy zy Q az bz cz dz ez fz gz hz iz jz kz lz mz nz oz pz qz +rz sz tz uz vz wz xz yz zz + + +"See!" exclaimed Kennedy, triumphantly, working rapidly. "Take the word +'war' for instance. The square which contains WA is in line S, column +D. So I put down SD. The odd letter R, with a dash, is in line R, +column Y. So I put down RY. WAR thus becomes SDRY. Working it backward +from SDRY, I take the two letters SD. In line S, column D, I find WA in +the square, and in line R, column Y, I find just R--making the +translation of the cipher read 'War.' Now," he went on, excitedly, +"take the message we have: + +"SOWC FSSJWA EKNLFFBY WOVHLX IHWAJYKH 101MLEL EPJNVPSL WCLURL GHIHDA +ELBA. + +"I translate each pair of letters as I come to them." He was writing +rapidly. There was the message: + +Have located New York headquarters at 101 Eveningside Avenue, Apartment +K. Kennedy did not pause, but dashed from the room, followed by Grady +and myself. + +As our taxi pulled up on the avenue, we saw that the address was a new +but small apartment-house. We entered and located Apartment K. + +Casting about for a way to get in, Craig discovered that the +fire-escape could be reached from a balcony by the hall window. He +swung himself over the gap, and we followed. It was the work of only a +minute to force the window-latch. We entered. No one was there. + +As we pressed after him, he stopped short and flashed his electric +bull's-eye about with an exclamation of startled surprise. There was a +fully equipped chemical and electrical laboratory. There were +explosives enough to have blown not only us but a whole block to +kingdom come. More than that, it was a veritable den of poisons. On a +table stood beakers and test-tubes in which was crushed a paste that +still showed parts of the red ruttee beans. + +"Some one planned here to kill Shirley, get him out of the way," +reconstructed Kennedy, gazing about; "some one working under the cloak +of Oriental religion." + +"Mrs. Anthony?" queried Grady. Kennedy shook his head. + +"On the contrary, like Shirley, she was an agent of the Indian Secret +Service. The rest of the cipher shows it. She was sent to watch some +one else, as he was sent to watch Mrs. Rogers. Neither could have known +that the other was on the case. She found out, first, that the package +with the prayer-bean and the word 'Gadhr' was an attempt to warn and +save Shirley, whom she had known in Calcutta and still loved, but +feared to compromise. She must have tried to see him, but failed. She +hesitated to write, but finally did. Then some one must have seen that +she was dangerous. Another poisoned bomb was sent to her. No; the +nautch-girl is innocent." + +"'Sh!" cautioned Grady. + +Outside we could hear the footsteps of some one coming along the hall. +Kennedy snapped off his light. The door opened. + +"Stand still! One motion and I will throw it!" + +As Kennedy's voice rang out from the direction of the table on which +stood the half-finished glass bombs, Grady and I flung ourselves +forward at the intruder, not knowing what we would encounter. + +A moment later Kennedy had found the electric switch and flashed up the +lights. + +It was Singh, who had used both Mrs. Rogers's money and Raimanandra's +religion to cover his conspiracy of revolt. + + + + +V + +THE PHANTOM DESTROYER + + +"Guy Fawkes himself would shudder in that mill. Think of it--five +explosions on five successive days, and not a clue!" + +Our visitor had presented a card bearing the name of Donald MacLeod, +chief of the Nitropolis Powder Company's Secret Service. It was plain +that he was greatly worried over the case about which he had at last +been forced to consult Kennedy. + +As he spoke, I remembered having read in the despatches about the +explosions, but the accounts had been so meager that I had not realized +that there was anything especially unusual about them, for it was at +the time when accidents in and attacks on the munitions-plants were of +common occurrence. + +"Why," went on MacLeod, "the whole business is as mysterious as if +there were some phantom destroyer at work! The men are so frightened +that they threaten to quit. Several have been killed. There's something +strange about that, too. There are ugly rumors of poisonous gases being +responsible, quite as much as the explosions, though, so far, I've been +able to find nothing in that notion." + +"What sort of place is it?" asked Kennedy, interested at once. + +"Well, you see," explained MacLeod, "since the company's business has +increased so fast lately, it has been forced to erect a new plant. +Perhaps you have heard of the Old Grove Amusement Park, which failed? +It's not far from that." + +MacLeod looked at us inquiringly, and Kennedy nodded to go on, though I +am sure neither of us was familiar with the place. + +"They've called the new plant Nitropolis--rather a neat name for a +powder-works, don't you think?" resumed MacLeod. "Everything went along +all right until a few days ago. Then one of the buildings, a +storehouse, was blown up. We couldn't be sure that it was an accident, +so we redoubled our precautions. It was of no use. That started it. The +very next day another building was blown up, then another, until now +there have been five of them. What may happen to-day Heaven only knows! +I want to get back as soon as I can." + +"Rather too frequent, I must admit, to be coincidences," remarked +Kennedy. + +"No; they can't all be accidents," asserted MacLeod, confidently. +"There's too great regularity for that. I think I've considered almost +everything. I don't see how they can be from bombs placed by workmen. +At least, it's not a bit likely. Besides, the explosions all occur in +broad daylight, not at night. We're very careful about the men we +employ, and they're watched all the time. The company has a guard of +its own, twenty-five picked men, under me--all honorably discharged +United States army men." + +"You have formed no theory of your own?" queried Kennedy. + +MacLeod paused, then drew from his pocket the clipping of a despatch +from the front in which one of the war correspondents reported the +destruction of wire entanglements with heat supposed to have been +applied by the use of reflecting mirrors. + +"I'm reduced to pure speculation," he remarked. "To-day they seem to be +reviving all the ancient practices. Maybe some one is going at it like +Archimedes." + +"Not impossible," returned Craig, handing back the clipping. "Buffon +tested the probability of the achievement of Archimedes in setting fire +to the ships of Marcellus with mirrors and the sun's rays. He +constructed a composite mirror of a hundred and twenty-eight plane +mirrors, and with it he was able to ignite wood at two hundred and ten +feet. However, I shrewdly suspect that, even if this story is true, +they are using hydrogen or acetylene flares over there. But none of +these things would be feasible in your case. You'd know it." + +"Could it be some one who is projecting a deadly wireless force which +causes the explosions?" I put in, mindful of a previous case of +Kennedy's. "We all know that inventors have been working for years on +the idea of making explosives obsolete and guns junk. If some one has +hit on a way of guiding an electric wave through the air and +concentrating power at a point, munitions-plants could be wiped out." + +MacLeod looked anxiously from me to Kennedy, but Craig betrayed nothing +by his face except his interest. + +"Sometimes I have imagined I heard a peculiar, faint, whirring noise in +the air," he remarked, thoughtfully. "I thought of having the men on +the watch for air-ships, but they've never seen a trace of one. It +might be some power either like this," he added, shaking the clipping, +"or like that which Mr. Jameson suggests." + +"It's something like that you meant, I presume, when you called it a +'phantom destroyer' a moment ago?" asked Kennedy. + +MacLeod nodded. + +"If you're interested," he pursued, hastily, "and feel like going down +there to look things over, I think the best place for you to go would +be to the Sneddens'. They're some people who have seen a chance to make +a little money out of the boom. Many visitors are now coming and going +on business connected with the new works. They have started a +boarding-house--or, rather, Mrs. Snedden has. There's a daughter, too, +who seems to be very popular." Kennedy glanced whimsically at me. + +"Well, Walter," he remarked, tentatively, "entirely aside from the +young lady, this ought to make a good story for the Star." + +"Indeed it ought!" I replied, enthusiastically. + +"Then you'll go down to Nitropolis?" queried MacLeod, eagerly. "You can +catch a train that will get you there about noon. And the company will +pay you well." + +"MacLeod, with the mystery, Miss Snedden, and the remuneration, you are +irresistible," smiled Kennedy. + +"Thank you," returned the detective. "You won't regret it. I can't tell +you how much relieved I feel to have some one else, and, above all, +yourself, on the case. You can get a train in half an hour. I think it +would be best for you to go as though you had no connection with me--at +least for the present." + +Kennedy agreed, and MacLeod excused himself, promising to be on the +train, although not to ride with us, in case we should be the target of +too inquisitive eyes. + +For a few moments, while our taxicab was coming, Kennedy considered +thoughtfully what the company detective had said. By the time the +vehicle arrived he had hurriedly packed up some apparatus in two large +grips, one of which it fell to my lot to carry. + +The trip down to Nitropolis was uninteresting, and we arrived at the +little station shortly after noon. MacLeod was on the train, but did +not speak to us, and it was perhaps just as well, for the cabmen and +others hanging about the station were keenly watching new arrivals, and +any one with MacLeod must have attracted attention. We selected or +were, rather, selected by one of the cabmen and driven immediately to +the Snedden house. Our cover was, as Craig and I had decided, to pose +as two newspaper men from New York, that being the easiest way to +account for any undue interest we might show in things. + +The powder-company's plant was situated on a large tract of land which +was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, six feet high and constructed in +a manner very similar to the fences used in protecting prison-camps in +war-times. At various places along the several miles of fence gates +were placed, with armed guards. Many other features were suggestive of +war-times. One that impressed us most was that each workman had to +carry a pass similar, almost, to a passport. This entire fence, we +learned, was patrolled day and night by armed guards. + +A mile or so from the plant, or just outside the main gate, quite a +settlement had grown up, like a mushroom, almost overnight--the product +of a flood of new money. Originally, there had been only one house for +some distance about--that of the Sneddens. But now there were scores of +houses, mostly those of officials and managers, some of them really +pretentious affairs. MacLeod himself lived in one of them, and we could +see him ahead of us, being driven home. + +The workmen lived farther along the line, in a sort of company town, +which at present greatly resembled a Western mining-camp, though +ultimately it was to be a bungalow town. + +Just at present, however, it was the Snedden house that interested us +most, for we felt the need of getting ourselves established in this +strange community. It was an old-fashioned farm-house and had been +purchased very cheaply by Snedden several years before. He had altered +it and brought it up to date, and the combination of old and new proved +to be typical of the owner as well as of the house. + +Kennedy carried off well the critical situation of our introduction, +and we found ourselves welcomed rather than scrutinized as intruders. + +Garfield Snedden was much older than his second wife, Ida. In fact, she +did not seem to be much older than Snedden's daughter Gertrude, whom +MacLeod had already mentioned--a dashing young lady, never intended by +nature to vegetate in the rural seclusion that her father had sought +before the advent of the powder-works. Mrs. Snedden was one of those +capable women who can manage a man without his knowing it. Indeed, one +felt that Snedden, who was somewhat of both student and dreamer, needed +a manager. + +"I'm glad your train was on time," bustled Mrs. Snedden. "Luncheon will +be ready in a few moments now." + +We had barely time to look about before Gertrude led us into the +dining-room and introduced us to the other boarders. + +Knowing human nature, Kennedy was careful to be struck with admiration +and amazement at everything we had seen in our brief whirl through +Nitropolis. It was not a difficult or entirely assumed feeling, either, +when one realized that, only a few short months before, the region had +been nothing better than an almost hopeless wilderness of scrub-pines. + +We did not have to wait long before the subject uppermost in our minds +was brought up--the explosions. + +Among the boarders there were at least two who, from the start, +promised to be interesting as well as important. One was a tall, +slender chap named Garretson, whose connection with the company, I +gathered from the conversation, took him often on important matters to +New York. The other was an older man, Jackson, who seemed to be +connected with the management of the works, a reticent fellow, more +given to listening to others than to talking himself. + +"Nothing has happened so far to-day, anyhow," remarked Garretson, +tapping the back of his chair with his knuckle, as a token of respect +for that evil spirit who seems to be exorcised by knocking wood. + +"Oh," exclaimed Gertrude, with a little half-suppressed shudder, "I do +hope those terrible explosions are at last over!" + +"If I had my way," asserted Garretson, savagely, "I'd put this town +under martial law until they WERE over." + +"It may come to that," put in Jackson, quietly. + +"Quite in keeping with the present tendency of the age," agreed +Snedden, in a tone of philosophical disagreement. + +"I don't think it makes much difference how you accomplish the result, +Garfield," chimed in his wife, "as long as you accomplish it, and it is +one that should be accomplished." + +Snedden retreated into the refuge of silence. Though this was only a +bit of the conversation, we soon found out that he was an avowed +pacifist. Garretson, on the other hand, was an ardent militarist, a +good deal of a fire-eater. I wondered whether there might not be a good +deal of the poseur about him, too. + +It needed no second sight to discover that both he and Gertrude were +deeply interested in each other. Garretson was what Broadway would call +"a live one," and, though there is nothing essentially wrong in that, I +fancied that I detected, now and then, an almost maternal solicitude on +the part of her stepmother, who seemed to be watching both the young +man and her husband alternately. Once Jackson and Mrs. Snedden +exchanged glances. There seemed to be some understanding between them. + +The time to return to the works was approaching, and we all rose. +Somehow, Gertrude and Garretson seemed naturally to gravitate toward +the door together. + +Some distance from the house there was a large barn. Part of it had +been turned into a garage, where Garretson kept a fast car. Jackson, +also, had a roadster. In fact, in this new community, with its +superabundant new wealth, everybody had a car. + +Kennedy and I sauntered out after the rest. As we turned an angle of +the house we came suddenly upon Garretson in his racer, talking to +Gertrude. The crunch of the gravel under our feet warned them before we +saw them, but not before we could catch a glimpse of a warning finger +on the rosy lips of Gertrude. As she saw us she blushed ever so +slightly. + +"You'll be late!" she cried, hastily. "Mr. Jackson has been gone five +minutes." + +"On foot," returned Garretson, nonchalantly. "I'll overtake him in +thirty seconds." Nevertheless, he did not wait longer, but swung up the +road at a pace which was the admiration of all speed-loving +Nitropolitans. + +Craig had ordered our taxicab driver to stop for us after lunch, and, +without exciting suspicion, managed to stow away the larger part of the +contents of our grips in his car. + +Still without openly showing our connection with MacLeod, Kennedy +sought out the manager of the works, and, though scores of +correspondents and reporters from various newspapers had vainly applied +for permission to inspect the plant, somehow we seemed to receive the +freedom of the place and without exciting suspicion. Craig's first move +was to look the plant over. As we approached it our attention was +instantly attracted to the numerous one-story galvanized-iron buildings +that appeared to stretch endlessly in every direction. They seemed to +be of a temporary nature, though the power-plants, offices, and other +necessary buildings were very substantially built. The framework of the +factory-buildings was nothing but wood, covered by iron sheathing, and +even the sides seemed to be removable. The floors, however, were of +concrete. + +"They serve their purpose well," observed Kennedy, as we picked our way +about. "Explosions at powder-mills are frequent, anyhow. After an +explosion there is very little debris to clear away, as you may +imagine. These buildings are easily repaired or replaced, and they keep +a large force of men for these purposes, as well as materials for any +emergency." + +One felt instinctively the hazard of the employment. Everywhere were +signs telling what not and what to do. One that stuck in my mind was, +"It is better to be careful than sorry." Throughout the plant at +frequent intervals were first-aid stations with kits for all sorts of +accidents, including respirators, for workmen were often overcome by +ether or alcohol fumes. Everything was done to minimize the hazard, yet +one could not escape the conviction that human life and limb were as +much a cost of production in this industry as fuel and raw material. + +Once, in our wanderings about the plant, I recall we ran across both +Garretson and Jackson in one of the offices. They did not see us, but +seemed to be talking very earnestly about something. What it was we +could not guess, but this time it seemed to be Jackson who was doing +most of the talking. Kennedy watched them as they parted. + +"There's something peculiar under the surface with those people at the +boarding-house," was all he observed. "Come; over there, about an +eighth of a mile, I think I see evidences of the latest of the +explosions. Let's look at it." + +MacLeod had evidently reasoned that, sooner of later, Kennedy would +appear in this part of the grounds, and as we passed one of the shops +he joined us. + +"You mentioned something about rumors of poisonous gases," hinted +Craig, as we walked along. + +"Yes," assented MacLeod; "I don't know what there is in it. I suppose +you know that there is a very poisonous gas, carbon monoxide, or +carbonic oxide, formed in considerable quantity by the explosion of +several of the powders commonly used in shells. The gas has the curious +power of combining with the blood and refusing to let go, thus keeping +out the oxygen necessary for life. It may be that that is what accounts +for what we've seen--that it is actual poisoning to death of men not +killed by the immediate explosion." + +We had reached the scene of the previous day's disaster. No effort had +yet been made to clear it up. Kennedy went over it carefully. What it +was he found I do not know, but he had not spent much time before he +turned to me. + +"Walter," he directed, "I wish you would go back to the office near the +gate, where I left that paraphernalia we brought down. Carry it +over--let me see--there's an open space there on that knoll. I'll join +you there." + +Whatever was in the packages was both bulky and heavy, and I was glad +to reach the hillside he had indicated. + +Craig was waiting for me there with MacLeod, and at once opened the +packages. From them he took a thin steel rod, which he set up in the +center of the open space. To it he attached a frame and to the frame +what looked like four reversed megaphones. Attached to the frame, which +was tubular, was an oak box with a little arrangement of hard rubber +and metal which fitted into the ears. For some time Kennedy's face wore +a set, far-away expression, as if he were studying something. + +"The explosions seem always to occur in the middle of the afternoon," +observed MacLeod, fidgeting apprehensively. + +Kennedy motioned petulantly for silence. Then suddenly he pulled the +tubes out of his ears and gazed about sharply. + +"There's something in the air!" he cried. "I can hear it!" + +MacLeod and I strained our eyes. There was nothing visible. + +"This is an anti-aircraft listening-post, such as the French use," +explained Craig, hurriedly. "Between the horns and the microphone in +the box you can catch the hum of an engine, even when it is muffled. If +there's an aeroplane or a Zeppelin about, this thing would locate it." + +Still, there was nothing that we could see, though now the sound was +just perceptible to the ear if one strained his attention a bit. I +listened. It was plain in the detector; yet nothing was visible. What +strange power could it be that we could not see or feel in broad +daylight? + +Just then came a low rumbling, and then a terrific roar from the +direction of the plant. We swung about in time to see a huge cloud of +debris lifted literally into the air above the tree-tops and dropped to +earth again. The silence that succeeded the explosion was eloquent. The +phantom destroyer had delivered his blow again. + +"The distillery--where we make the denatured alcohol!" cried MacLeod, +gazing with tense face as from other buildings, we could see men +pouring forth, panic-stricken, and the silence was punctured by shouts. +Kennedy bent over his detector. + +"That same mysterious buzzing," he muttered, "only fainter." + +Together we hastened now toward the distillery, another of those +corrugated-iron buildings. It had been completely demolished. Here and +there lay a dark, still mass. I shuddered. They were men! + +As we ran toward the ruin we crossed a baseball-field which the company +had given the men. I looked back for Kennedy. He had paused at the wire +backstop behind the catcher. Something caught in the wires interested +him. By the time I reached him he had secured it--a long, slender metal +tube, cleverly weighted so as to fall straight. + +"Not a hundred per cent. of hits, evidently," he muttered. "Still, one +was enough." + +"What is it?" asked MacLeod. + +"An incendiary pastille. On contact, the nose burns away anything it +hits, goes right through corrugated iron. It carries a charge of +thermit ignited by this piece of magnesium ribbon. You know what +thermit will penetrate with its thousands of degrees of heat. Only the +nose of this went through the netting and never touched a thing. This +didn't explode anything, but another one did. Thousands of gallons of +alcohol did the rest." + +Kennedy had picked up his other package as we ran, and was now busily +unwrapping it. I looked about at the crowd that had collected, and saw +that there was nothing we could do to help. Once I caught sight of +Gertrude's face. She was pale, and seemed eagerly searching for some +one. Then, in the crowd, I lost her. I turned to MacLeod. He was +plainly overwhelmed. Kennedy was grimly silent and at work on something +he had jammed into the ground. + +"Stand back!" he cautioned, as he touched a match to the thing. With a +muffled explosion, something whizzed and shrieked up into the air like +a sky-rocket. + +Far above, I could now see a thing open out like a parachute, while +below it trailed something that might have been the stick of the +rocket. Eagerly Kennedy followed the parachute as the wind wafted it +along and it sank slowly to the earth. When, at last, he recovered it I +saw that between the parachute and the stick was fastened a small, +peculiar camera. + +"A Scheimpflug multiple camera," he explained as he seized it almost +ravenously. "Is there a place in town where I can get the films in this +developed quickly?" + +MacLeod, himself excited now, hurried us from the scene of the +explosion to a local drug-store, which combined most of the functions +of a general store, even being able to improvise a dark-room in which +Kennedy could work. + +It was some time after the excitement over the explosion had quieted +down that MacLeod and I, standing impatiently before the drug-store, +saw Snedden wildly tearing down the street in his car. He saw us and +pulled up at the curb with a jerk. + +"Where's Gertrude?" he shouted, wildly. "Has any one seen my daughter?" + +Breathlessly he explained that he had been out, had returned to find +his house deserted, Gertrude gone, his wife gone, even Jackson's car +gone from the barn. He had been to the works. Neither Garretson nor +Jackson had been seen since the excitement of the explosion, they told +him. Garretson's racer was gone, too. There seemed to have been a sort +of family explosion, also. + +Kennedy had heard the loud talking and had left his work to the +druggist to carry on and joined us. There was no concealment now of our +connection with MacLeod, for it was to him that every one in town came +when in trouble. + +In almost no time, so accurately did he keep his fingers on the fevered +pulse of Nitropolis, MacLeod had found out that Gertrude had been seen +driving away from the company's grounds with some one in Garretson's +car, probably Garretson himself. Jackson had been seen hurrying down +the street. Some one else had seen Ida Snedden in Jackson's car, alone. + +Meanwhile, over the wire, MacLeod had sent out descriptions of the four +people and the two cars, in the hope of intercepting them before they +could be plunged into the obscurity of any near-by city. Not content +with that, MacLeod and Kennedy started out in the former's car, while I +climbed in with Snedden, and we began a systematic search of the roads +out of Nitropolis. + +As we sped along, I could not help feeling, though I said nothing, +that, somehow, the strange disappearances must have something to do +with the mysterious phantom destroyer. I did not tell even Snedden +about the little that Kennedy had discovered, for I had learned that it +was best to let Craig himself tell, at his own time and in his own way. +But the man seemed frantic in his search, and I could not help the +impression that there was something, perhaps only a suspicion, that he +knew which might shed some light. + +We were coming down the river, or, rather, the bay, after a fruitless +search of unfrequented roads and were approaching the deserted Old +Grove Amusement Park, to which excursions used, years ago, to come in +boats. No one could make it pay, and it was closed and going to ruin. +There had been some hint that Garretson's racer might have disappeared +down this unfrequented river road. + +As we came to a turn in the road, we could see Kennedy and MacLeod in +their car, coming up. Instead of keeping on, however, they turned into +the grove, Kennedy leaning far over the running-board as MacLeod drove +slowly, following his directions, as though Craig were tracing +something. + +With a hurried exclamation of surprise, Snedden gave our car the gas +and shot ahead, swinging around after them. They were headed, following +some kind of tire-tracks, toward an old merry-go-round that was +dismantled and all boarded up. They heard us coming and stopped. + +"Has any one told you that Garretson's car went down the river road, +too?" called Snedden, anxiously. + +"No; but some one thought he saw Jackson's car come down here," called +back MacLeod. + +"Jackson's?" exclaimed Snedden. + +"Maybe both are right," I ventured, as we came closer. "What made you +turn in here?'" + +"Kennedy thought he saw fresh tire-tracks running into the grove." + +We were all out of our cars by this time, and examining the soft +roadway with Craig. It was evident to any one that a car had been run +in, and not so very long ago, in the direction of the merry-go-round. + +We followed the tracks on foot, bending about the huge circle of a +building until we came to the side away from the road. The tracks +seemed to run right in under the boards. + +Kennedy approached and touched the boards. They were loose. Some one +had evidently been there, had taken them down, and put them up. In +fact, by the marks on them, it seemed as though he had made a practice +of doing so. + +MacLeod and Kennedy unhooked the boarding, while Snedden looked on in a +sort of daze. They had taken down only two or three sections, which +indicated that that whole side might similarly be removed, when I heard +a low, startled exclamation from Snedden. + +We peered in. There, in the half-light of the gloomy interior, we could +see a car. Before we knew it Snedden had darted past us. An instant +later I distinguished what his more sensitive eye had seen--a woman, +all alone in the car, motionless. + +"Ida!" he cried. + +There was no answer. + +"She--she's dead!" he shouted. + +It was only too true. There was Ida Snedden, seated in Jackson's car in +the old deserted building, all shut up--dead. + +Yet her face was as pink as if she were alive and the blood had been +whipped into her cheeks by a walk in the cold wind. + +We looked at one another, at a loss. How did she get there--and why? +She must have come there voluntarily. No one had seen any one else with +her in the car. + +Snedden was now almost beside himself. + +"Misfortunes never come singly," he wailed. "My daughter Gertrude +gone--now my wife dead. Confound that young fellow Garretson--and +Jackson, too! Where are they? Why have they fled? The scoundrels--they +have stolen my whole family. Oh, what shall I do? what shall I do?" + +Trying to quiet Snedden, at the same time we began to look about the +building. On one side was a small stove, in which were still the dying +coals of a fire. Near by were a work-bench, some tools, pieces of wire, +and other material. Scattered about were pieces of material that looked +like celluloid. Some one evidently used the place as a secret workshop. +Kennedy picked up a piece of the celluloid-like stuff and carefully +touched a match to it. It did not burn rapidly as celluloid does, and +Craig seemed more than ever interested. MacLeod himself was no mean +detective. Accustomed to action, he had an idea of what to do. + +"Wait here!" he called back, dashing out. "I'm going to the nearest +house up the road for help. I'll be back in a moment." + +We heard him back and turn his car and shoot away. Meanwhile, Kennedy +was looking over carefully Jackson's roadster. He tapped the gas-tank +in the rear, then opened it. There was not a drop of gas in it. He +lifted up the hood and looked inside at the motor. Whatever he saw +there, he said nothing. Finally, by siphoning some gas from Snedden's +tank and making some adjustments, he seemed to have the car in a +condition again for it to run. He was just about to start it when +MacLeod returned, carrying a canary-bird in a cage. + +"I've telephoned to town," he announced. "Some one will be here soon +now. Meanwhile, an idea occurred to me, and I borrowed this bird. Let +me see whether the idea is any good." + +Kennedy, by this time, had started the engine. MacLeod placed the +bright little songster near the stove on the work-bench and began to +watch it narrowly. + +More than ever up in the air over the mystery, I could only watch +Kennedy and MacLeod, each following his own lines. + +It might, perhaps, have been ten minutes after MacLeod returned, and +during that time he had never taken his eyes off the bird, when I began +to feel a little drowsy. A word from MacLeod roused me. + +"There's carbon monoxide in the air, Kennedy!" he exclaimed. "You know +how this gas affects birds." + +Kennedy looked over intently. The canary had begun to show evident +signs of distress over something. + +"It must be that this stove is defective," pursued MacLeod, picking up +the poor little bird and carrying it quickly into the fresh air, where +it could regain its former liveliness. Then, when he returned, he +added, "There must be some defect in the stove or the draught that +makes it send out the poisonous gas." + +"There's some gas," agreed Kennedy. "It must have cleared away mostly, +though, or we couldn't stand it ourselves." + +Craig continued to look about the car and the building, in the vain +hope of discovering some other clue. Had Mrs. Snedden been killed by +the carbonic oxide? Was it a case of gas poisoning? Then, too, why had +she been here at all? Who had shut her up? Had she been overcome first +and, in a stupor, been unable to move to save herself? Above all, what +had this to do with the mysterious phantom slayer that had wrecked so +much of the works in less than a week? + +It was quite late in the afternoon when, at last, people came from the +town and took away both the body of Mrs. Snedden and Jackson's car. +Snedden could only stare and work his fingers, and after we had seen +him safely in the care of some one we could trust Kennedy, MacLeod, and +I climbed into MacLeod's car silently. + +"It's too deep for me," acknowledged MacLeod. "What shall we do next?" + +"Surely that fellow must have my pictures developed by this time," +considered Kennedy. "Shoot back there." + +"They came out beautifully--all except one," reported the druggist, who +was somewhat of a camera fiend himself. "That's a wonderful system, +sir." + +Kennedy thanked him for his trouble and took the prints. With care he +pieced them together, until he had several successive panoramas of the +country taken from various elevations of the parachute. Then, with a +magnifying-glass, he went over each section minutely. + +"Look at that!" he pointed out at last with the sharp tip of a pencil +on one picture. + +In what looked like an open space among some trees was a tiny figure of +a man. It seemed as if he were hacking at something with an ax. What +the something was did not appear in the picture. + +"I should say that it was half a mile, perhaps a mile, farther away +than that grove," commented Kennedy, making a rough calculation. + +"On the old Davis farm," considered MacLeod. "Look and see if you can't +make out the ruins of a house somewhere near-by. It was burned many +years ago." + +"Yes, yes," returned Kennedy, excitedly; "there's the place! Do you +think we can get there in a car before it's dark?" + +"Easily," replied MacLeod. + +It was only a matter of minutes before we three were poking about in a +tangle of wood and field, seeking to locate the spot where Kennedy's +apparatus had photographed the lone axman. + +At last, in a large, cleared field, we came upon a most peculiar heap +of debris. As nearly as I could make out, it was a pile of junk, but +most interesting junk. Practically all of it consisted in broken bits +of the celluloid-like stuff we had seen in the abandoned building. +Twisted inextricably about were steel wires and bits of all sorts of +material. In the midst of the wreckage was something that looked for +all the world like the remains of a gas-motor. It was not rusted, +either, which indicated that it had been put there recently. + +As he looked at it, Craig's face displayed a smile of satisfaction. + +"Looks as though it might have been an aeroplane of the tractor type," +he vouchsafed, finally. + +"Surely there couldn't have been an accident," objected MacLeod. "No +aviator could have lived through it, and there's no body." + +"No; it was purposely destroyed," continued Craig. "It was landed here +from somewhere else for that purpose. That was what the man in the +picture was doing with the ax. After the last explosion something +happened. He brought the machine here to destroy the evidence." + +"But," persisted MacLeod, "if there had been an aeroplane hovering +about we should have seen it in the air, passing over the works at the +time of the explosion." + +Kennedy picked the pieces, significantly. + +"Some one about here has kept abreast of the times, if not ahead. See; +the planes were of this non-inflammable celluloid that made it +virtually transparent and visible only at a few hundred feet in the +air. The aviator could fly low and so drop those pastilles +accurately--and unseen. The engine had one of those new muffler-boxes. +He would have been unheard, too, except for that delicate air-ship +detector." + +MacLeod and I could but stare at each other, aghast. Without a doubt it +was in the old merry-go-round building that the phantom aviator had +established his hangar. What the connection was between the tragedy in +the Snedden family and the tragedy in the powder-works we did not know, +but, at least, now we knew that there was some connection. + +It was growing dark rapidly, and, with some difficulty, we retraced our +steps to the point where we had left the car. We whirled back to the +town, and, of course, to the Snedden house. + +Snedden was sitting in the parlor when we arrived, by the body of his +wife, staring, speechless, straight before him, while several neighbors +were gathered about, trying to console him. We had scarcely entered +when a messenger-boy came up the path from the gate. Both Kennedy and +MacLeod turned toward him, expecting some reply to the numerous +messages of alarm sent out earlier in the afternoon. + +"Telegram for Mrs. Snedden," announced the boy. + +"MRS. Snedden?" queried Kennedy, surprised, then quickly: "Oh yes, +that's all right. I'll take care of it." + +He signed for the message, tore it open, and read it. For a moment his +face, which had been clouded, smoothed out, and he took a couple of +turns up and down the hall, as though undecided. Finally he crumpled +the telegram abstractedly and shoved it into his pocket. We followed +him as he went into the parlor and stood for several moments, looking +fixedly on the strangely flushed face of Mrs. Snedden. "MacLeod," he +said, finally, turning gravely toward us, and, for the present, seeming +to ignore the presence of the others, "this amazing series of crimes +has brought home to me forcibly the alarming possibilities of applying +modern scientific devices to criminal uses. New modes and processes +seem to bring new menaces." + +"Like carbon-monoxide poisoning?" suggested MacLeod. "Of course it has +long been known as a harmful gas, but--" + +"Let us see," interrupted Kennedy. "Walter, you were there when I +examined Jackson's car. There was not a drop of gasolene in the tank, +you will recall. Even the water in the radiator was low. I lifted the +hood. Some one must have tampered with the carburetor. It was adjusted +so that the amount of air in the mixture was reduced. More than that, I +don't know whether you noticed it or not, but the spark and gas were +set so that, when I did put gasolene in the tank, I had but to turn the +engine over and it went. In other words, that car had been standing +there, the engine running, until it simply stopped for want of fuel." +He paused while we listened intently, then resumed. "The gas-engine and +gas-motor have brought with them another of those unanticipated menaces +of which I spoke. Whenever the explosion of the combustible mixture is +incomplete or of moderated intensity a gas of which little is known may +be formed in considerable quantities. + +"In this case, as in several others that have come to my attention, +vapors arising from the combustion must have emitted certain noxious +products. The fumes that caused Ida Snedden's death were not of carbon +monoxide from the stove, MacLeod. They were splitting-products of +gasolene, which are so new to science that they have not yet been named. + +"Mrs. Snedden's death, I may say for the benefit of the coroner, was +due to the absorption of some of these unidentified gaseous poisons. +They are as deadly as a knife-thrust through the heart, under certain +conditions. Due to the non-oxidation of some of the elements of +gasolene, they escape from the exhaust of every running gas-engine. In +the open air, where only a whiff or two would be inhale now and then, +they are not dangerous. But in a closed room they may kill in an +incredibly short time. In fact, the condition has given rise to an +entirely new phenomenon which some one has named 'petromortis.'" + +"Petromortis?" repeated Snedden, who, for the first time, began to show +interest in what was going on about him. "Then it was an accident?" + +"I did not say it was an accident," corrected Craig. "There is an old +adage that murder will out. And this expression of human experience is +only repeated in what we modern scientific detectives are doing. No man +bent on the commission of a crime can so arrange the circumstances of +that crime that it will afterward appear, point by point, as an +accident." + +Kennedy had us all following him breathlessly now. + +"I do not consider it an accident," he went on, rapidly piecing +together the facts as we had found them. "Ida Snedden was killed +because she was getting too close to some one's secret. Even at +luncheon, I could see that she had discovered Gertrude's attachment for +Garretson. How she heard that, following the excitement of the +explosion this afternoon, Gertrude and Garretson had disappeared, I do +not pretend to know. But it is evident that she did hear, that she went +out and took Jackson's car, probably to pursue them. If we have heard +that they went by the river road, she might have heard it, too. + +"In all probability she came along just in time to surprise some one +working on the other side of the old merry-go-round structure. There +can be no reason to conceal the fact longer. From that deserted +building some one was daily launching a newly designed invisible +aeroplane. As Mrs. Snedden came along, she must have been just in time +to see that person at his secret hangar. What happened I do not know, +except that she must have run the car off the river road and into the +building. The person whom she found must have suddenly conceived a +method of getting her out of the way and making it look like an +accident of some kind, perhaps persuaded her to stay in the car with +the engine running, while he went off and destroyed the aeroplane which +was damning evidence now." + +Startling as was the revelation of an actual phantom destroyer, our +minds were more aroused as to who might be the criminal who had +employed such an engine of death. + +Kennedy drew from his pocket the telegram which had just arrived, and +spread it out flat before us on a table. It was dated Philadelphia, and +read: + +MRS. IDA SNEDDEN, Nitropolis: + +Garretson and Gertrude were married to-day. Have traced them to the +Wolcott. Try to reconcile Mr. Snedden. + +HUNTER JACKSON. + +I saw at once that part of the story. It was just a plain love-affair +that had ended in an elopement at a convenient time. The fire-eating +Garretson had been afraid of the Sneddens and Jackson, who was their +friend. Before I could even think further, Kennedy had drawn out the +films taken by the rocket-camera. + +"With the aid of a magnifying-glass," he was saying, "I can get just +enough of the lone figure in this picture to identify it. These are the +crimes of a crazed pacifist, one whose mind had so long dwelt on the +horrors of--" + +"Look out!" shouted MacLeod, leaping in front of Kennedy. + +The strain of the revelation had been too much. Snedden--a raving +maniac--had reeled forward, wildly and impotently, at the man who had +exposed him. + + + + +VI + +THE BEAUTY MASK + + +"Oh, Mr. Jameson, if they could only wake her up--find out what is the +matter--do something! This suspense is killing both mother and myself." + +Scenting a good feature story, my city editor had sent me out on an +assignment, my sole equipment being a clipping of two paragraphs from +the morning Star. + +GIRL IN COMA SIX DAYS--SHOWS NO SIGN OF REVIVAL + +Virginia Blakeley, the nineteen-year-old daughter of Mrs. Stuart +Blakeley, of Riverside Drive, who has been in a state of coma for six +days, still shows no sign of returning consciousness. + +Ever since Monday some member of her family has been constantly beside +her. Her mother and sister have both vainly tried to coax her back to +consciousness, but their efforts have not met with the slightest +response. Dr. Calvert Haynes, the family physician, and several +specialists who have been called in consultation, are completely +baffled by the strange malady. + +Often I had read of cases of morbid sleep lasting for days and even for +weeks. But this was the first case I had ever actually encountered and +I was glad to take the assignment. + +The Blakeleys, as every one knew, had inherited from Stuart Blakeley a +very considerable fortune in real estate in one of the most rapidly +developing sections of upper New York, and on the death of their mother +the two girls, Virginia and Cynthia, would be numbered among the +wealthiest heiresses of the city. + +They lived in a big sandstone mansion fronting the Hudson and it was +with some misgiving that I sent up my card. Both Mrs. Blakeley and her +other daughter, however, met me in the reception-room, thinking, +perhaps, from what I had written on the card, that I might have some +assistance to offer. + +Mrs. Blakeley was a well-preserved lady, past middle-age, and very +nervous. + +"Mercy, Cynthia!" she exclaimed, as I explained my mission, "it's +another one of those reporters. No, I cannot say anything--not a word. +I don't know anything. See Doctor Haynes. I--" + +"But, mother," interposed Cynthia, more calmly, "the thing is in the +papers. It may be that some one who reads of it may know of something +that can be done. Who can tell?" + +"Well, I won't say anything," persisted the elder woman. "I don't like +all this publicity. Did the newspapers ever do anything but harm to +your poor dear father? No, I won't talk. It won't do us a bit of good. +And you, Cynthia, had better be careful." + +Mrs. Blakeley backed out of the door, but Cynthia, who was a few years +older than her sister, had evidently acquired independence. At least +she felt capable of coping with an ordinary reporter who looked no more +formidable than myself. + +"It is quite possible that some one who knows about such cases may +learn of this," I urged. + +She hesitated as her mother disappeared, and looked at me a moment, +then, her feelings getting the better of her, burst forth with the +strange appeal I have already quoted. + +It was as though I had come at just an opportune moment when she must +talk to some outsider to relieve her pent-up feelings. + +By an adroit question here and there, as we stood in the +reception-hall, I succeeded in getting the story, which seemed to be +more of human interest than of news. I even managed to secure a +photograph of Virginia as she was before the strange sleep fell on her. + +Briefly, as her sister told it, Virginia was engaged to Hampton Haynes, +a young medical student at the college where his father was a professor +of diseases of the heart. The Hayneses were of a fine Southern family +which had never recovered from the war and had finally come to New +York. The father, Dr. Calvert Haynes, in addition to being a well-known +physician, was the family physician of the Blakeleys, as I already +knew. "Twice the date of the marriage has been set, only to be +postponed," added Cynthia Blakeley. "We don't know what to do. And +Hampton is frantic." + +"Then this is really the second attack of the morbid sleep?" I queried. + +"Yes--in a few weeks. Only the other wasn't so long--not more than a +day." + +She said it in a hesitating manner which I could not account for. +Either she thought there might be something more back of it or she +recalled her mother's aversion to reporters and did not know whether +she was saying too much or not. + +"Do you really fear that there is something wrong?" I asked, +significantly, hastily choosing the former explanation. + +Cynthia Blakeley looked quickly at the door through which her mother +had retreated. + +"I--I don't know," she replied, tremulously. "I don't know why I am +talking to you. I'm so afraid, too, that the newspapers may say +something that isn't true." + +"You would like to get at the truth, if I promise to hold the story +back?" I persisted, catching her eye. + +"Yes," she answered, in a low tone, "but--" then stopped. + +"I will ask my friend, Professor Kennedy, at the university, to come +here," I urged. + +"You know him?" she asked, eagerly. "He will come?" + +"Without a doubt," I reassured, waiting for her to say no more, but +picking up the telephone receiver on a stand in the hall. + +Fortunately I found Craig at his laboratory and a few hasty words were +all that was necessary to catch his interest. + +"I must tell mother," Cynthia cried, excitedly, as I hung up the +receiver. "Surely she cannot object to that. Will you wait here?" + +As I waited for Craig, I tried to puzzle the case out for myself. +Though I knew nothing about it as yet, I felt sure that I had not made +a mistake and that there was some mystery here. + +Suddenly I became aware that the two women were talking in the next +room, though too low for me to catch what they were saying. It was +evident, however, that Cynthia was having some difficulty in persuading +her mother that everything was all right. + +"Well, Cynthia," I heard her mother say, finally, as she left the room +for one farther back, "I hope it will be all right--that is all I can +say." + +What was it that Mrs. Blakeley so feared? Was it merely the unpleasant +notoriety? One could not help the feeling that there was something more +that she suspected, perhaps knew, but would not tell. Yet, apparently, +it was aside from her desire to have her daughter restored to normal. +She was at sea, herself, I felt. + +"Poor dear mother!" murmured Cynthia, rejoining me in a few moments. +"She hardly knows just what it is she does want-except that we want +Virginia well again." + +We had not long to wait for Craig. What I had told him over the +telephone had been quite enough to arouse his curiosity. + +Both Mrs. Blakeley and Cynthia met him, at first a little fearfully, +but quickly reassured by his manner, as well as my promise to see that +nothing appeared in the Star which would be distasteful. + +"Oh, if some one could only bring back our little girl!" cried Mrs. +Blakeley, with suppressed emotion, leading the way with her daughter +up-stairs. + +It was only for a moment that I could see Craig alone to explain the +impressions I had received, but it was enough. + +"I'm glad you called me," he whispered. "There is something queer." + +We followed them up to the dainty bedroom in flowered enamel where +Virginia Blakeley lay, and it was then for the first time that we saw +her. Kennedy drew a chair up beside the little white bed and went to +work almost as though he had been a physician himself. + +Partly from what I observed myself and partly from what he told me +afterward, I shall try to describe the peculiar condition in which she +was. + +She lay there lethargic, scarcely breathing. Once she had been a tall, +slender, fair girl, with a sort of wild grace. Now she seemed to be +completely altered. I could not help thinking of the contrast between +her looks now and the photograph in my pocket. + +Not only was her respiration slow, but her pulse was almost +imperceptible, less than forty a minute. Her temperature was far below +normal, and her blood pressure low. Once she had seemed fully a woman, +with all the strength and promise of precocious maturity. But now there +was something strange about her looks. It is difficult to describe. It +was not that she was no longer a young woman, but there seemed to be +something almost sexless about her. It was as though her secondary sex +characteristics were no longer feminine, but--for want of a better +word--neuter. + +Yet, strange to say, in spite of the lethargy which necessitated at +least some artificial feeding, she was not falling away. She seemed, if +anything, plump. To all appearances there was really a retardation of +metabolism connected with the trance-like sleep. She was actually +gaining in weight! + +As he noted one of these things after another, Kennedy looked at her +long and carefully. I followed the direction of his eyes. Over her +nose, just a trifle above the line of her eyebrows, was a peculiar red +mark, a sore, which was very disfiguring, as though it were hard to +heal. + +"What is that?" he asked Mrs. Blakeley, finally. + +"I don't know," she replied, slowly. "We've all noticed it. It came +just after the sleep began." + +"You have no idea what could have caused it?" + +"Both Virginia and Cynthia have been going to a face specialist," she +admitted, "to have their skins treated for freckles. After the +treatment they wore masks which were supposed to have some effect on +the skin. I don't know. Could it be that?" + +Kennedy looked sharply at Cynthia's face. There was no red mark over +her nose. But there were certainly no freckles on either of the girls' +faces now, either. + +"Oh, mother," remonstrated Cynthia, "it couldn't be anything Doctor +Chapelle did." + +"Doctor Chapelle?" repeated Kennedy. + +"Yes, Dr. Carl Chapelle," replied Mrs. Blakeley. "Perhaps you have +heard of him. He is quite well known, has a beauty-parlor on Fifth +Avenue. He--" + +"It's ridiculous," cut in Cynthia, sharply. "Why, my face was worse +than Virgie's. Car--He said it would take longer." + +I had been watching Cynthia, but it needed only to have heard her to +see that Doctor Chapelle was something more than a beauty specialist to +her. + +Kennedy glanced thoughtfully from the clear skin of Cynthia to the red +mark on Virginia. Though he said nothing, I could see that his mind was +on it. I had heard of the beauty doctors who promise to give one a skin +as soft and clear as a baby's--and often, by their inexpert use of +lotions and chemicals, succeed in ruining the skin and disfiguring the +patient for life. Could this be a case of that sort? Yet how explain +the apparent success with Cynthia? + +The elder sister, however, was plainly vexed at the mention of the +beauty doctor's name at all, and she showed it. Kennedy made a mental +note of the matter, but refrained from saying any more about it. + +"I suppose there is no objection to my seeing Doctor Haynes?" asked +Kennedy, rising and changing the subject. + +"None whatever," returned Mrs. Blakeley. "If there's anything you or he +can do to bring Virginia out of this--anything safe--I want it done," +she emphasized. + +Cynthia was silent as we left. Evidently she had not expected Doctor +Chapelle's name to be brought into the case. + +We were lucky in finding Doctor Haynes at home, although it was not the +regular time for his office hours. Kennedy introduced himself as a +friend of the Blakeleys who had been asked to see that I made no +blunders in writing the story for the Star. Doctor Haynes did not +question the explanation. + +He was a man well on toward the sixties, with that magnetic quality +that inspires the confidence so necessary for a doctor. Far from +wealthy, he had attained a high place in the profession. + +As Kennedy finished his version of our mission, Doctor Haynes shook his +head with a deep sigh. + +"You can understand how I feel toward the Blakeleys," he remarked, at +length. "I should consider it unethical to give an interview under any +circumstances--much more so under the present." + +"Still," I put in, taking Kennedy's cue, "just a word to set me +straight can't do any harm. I won't quote you directly." + +He seemed to realize that it might be better to talk carefully than to +leave all to my imagination. + +"Well," he began, slowly, "I have considered all the usual causes +assigned for such morbid sleep. It is not auto-suggestion or trance, I +am positive. Nor is there any trace of epilepsy. I cannot see how it +could be due to poisoning, can you?" + +I admitted readily that I could not. + +"No," he resumed, "it is just a case of what we call +narcolepsy--pathological somnolence--a sudden, uncontrollable +inclination to sleep, occurring sometimes repeatedly or at varying +intervals. I don't think it hysterical, epileptic, or toxemic. The +plain fact of the matter, gentlemen, is that neither myself nor any of +my colleagues whom I have consulted have the faintest idea what it +is--yet." + +The door of the office opened, for it was not the hour for consulting +patients, and a tall, athletic young fellow, with a keen and restless +face, though very boyish, entered. + +"My son," the doctor introduced, "soon to be the sixth Doctor Haynes in +direct line in the family." + +We shook hands. It was evident that Cynthia had not by any means +exaggerated when she said that he was frantic over what had happened to +his fiancee. + +Accordingly, there was no difficulty in reverting to the subject of our +visit. Gradually I let Kennedy take the lead in the conversation so +that our position might not seem to be false. + +It was not long before Craig managed to inject a remark about the red +spot over Virginia's nose. It seemed to excite young Hampton. + +"Naturally I look on it more as a doctor than a lover," remarked his +father, smiling indulgently at the young man, whom it was evident he +regarded above everything else in the world. "I have not been able to +account for it, either. Really the case is one of the most remarkable I +have ever heard of." + +"You have heard of a Dr. Carl Chapelle?" inquired Craig, tentatively. + +"A beauty doctor," interrupted the young man, turning toward his +father. "You've met him. He's the fellow I think is really engaged to +Cynthia." + +Hampton seemed much excited. There was unconcealed animosity in the +manner of his remark, and I wondered why it was. Could there be some +latent jealousy? + +"I see," calmed Doctor Haynes. "You mean to infer that this--er--this +Doctor Chapelle--" He paused, waiting for Kennedy to take the +initiative. + +"I suppose you've noticed over Miss Blakeley's nose a red sore?" +hazarded Kennedy. + +"Yes," replied Doctor Haynes, "rather refractory, too. I--" + +"Say," interrupted Hampton, who by this time had reached a high pitch +of excitement, "say, do you think it could be any of his confounded +nostrums back of this thing?" + +"Careful, Hampton," cautioned the elder man. + +"I'd like to see him," pursued Craig to the younger. "You know him?" + +"Know him? I should say I do. Good-looking, good practice, and all +that, but--why, he must have hypnotized that girl! Cynthia thinks he's +wonderful." + +"I'd like to see him," suggested Craig. + +"Very well," agreed Hampton, taking him at his word. "Much as I dislike +the fellow, I have no objection to going down to his beauty-parlor with +you." + +"Thank you," returned Craig, as we excused ourselves and left the elder +Doctor Haynes. + +Several times on our journey down Hampton could not resist some +reference to Chapelle for commercializing the profession, remarks which +sounded strangely old on his lips. + +Chapelle's office, we found, was in a large building on Fifth Avenue in +the new shopping district, where hundreds of thousands of women passed +almost daily. He called the place a Dermatological Institute, but, as +Hampton put it, he practised "decorative surgery." + +As we entered one door, we saw that patients left by another. +Evidently, as Craig whispered, when sixty sought to look like sixteen +the seekers did not like to come in contact with one another. + +We waited some time in a little private room. At last Doctor Chapelle +himself appeared, a rather handsome man with the manner that one +instinctively feels appeals to the ladies. + +He shook hands with young Haynes, and I could detect no hostility on +Chapelle's part, but rather a friendly interest in a younger member of +the medical profession. + +Again I was thrown forward as a buffer. I was their excuse for being +there. However, a newspaper experience gives you one thing, if no +other--assurance. + +"I believe you have a patient, a Miss Virginia Blakeley?" I ventured. + +"Miss Blakeley? Oh yes, and her sister, also." + +The mention of the names was enough. I was no longer needed as a buffer. + +"Chapelle," blurted out Hampton, "you must have done something to her +when you treated her face. There's a little red spot over her nose that +hasn't healed yet." + +Kennedy frowned at the impetuous interruption. Yet it was perhaps the +best thing that could have happened. + +"So," returned Chapelle, drawing back and placing his head on one side +as he nodded it with each word, "you think I've spoiled her looks? +Aren't the freckles gone?" + +"Yes," retorted Hampton, bitterly, "but on her face is this new +disfigurement." + +"That?" shrugged Chapelle. "I know nothing of that--nor of the trance. +I have only my specialty." + +Calm though he appeared outwardly, one could see that Chapelle was +plainly worried. Under the circumstances, might not his professional +reputation be at stake? What if a hint like this got abroad among his +rich clientele? + +I looked about his shop and wondered just how much of a faker he was. +Once or twice I had heard of surgeons who had gone legitimately into +this sort of thing. But the common story was that of the swindler--or +worse. I had heard of scores of cases of good looks permanently ruined, +seldom of any benefit. Had Chapelle ignorantly done something that +would leave its scar forever? Or was he one of the few who were honest +and careful? + +Whatever the case, Kennedy had accomplished his purpose. He had seen +Chapelle. If he were really guilty of anything the chances were all in +favor of his betraying it by trying to cover it up. Deftly suppressing +Hampton, we managed to beat a retreat without showing our hands any +further. + +"Humph!" snorted Hampton, as we rode down in the elevator and hopped on +a 'bus to go up-town. "Gave up legitimate medicine and took up this +beauty doctoring--it's unprofessional, I tell you. Why, he even +advertises!" + +We left Hampton and returned to the laboratory, though Craig had no +present intention of staying there. His visit was merely for the +purpose of gathering some apparatus, which included a Crookes tube, +carefully packed, a rheostat, and some other paraphernalia which we +divided. A few moments later we were on our way again to the Blakeley +mansion. + +No change had taken place in the condition of the patient, and Mrs. +Blakeley met us anxiously. Nor was the anxiety wholly over her +daughter's condition, for there seemed to be an air of relief when +Kennedy told her that we had little to report. + +Up-stairs in the sick-room, Craig set silently to work, attaching his +apparatus to an electric-light socket from which he had unscrewed the +bulb. As he proceeded I saw that it was, as I had surmised, his new +X-ray photographing machine which he had brought. Carefully, from +several angles, he took photographs of Virginia's head, then, without +saying a word, packed up his kit and started away. + +We were passing down the hall, after leaving Mrs. Blakeley, when a +figure stepped out from behind a portiere. It was Cynthia, who had been +waiting to see us alone. + +"You--don't think Doctor Chapelle had anything to do with it?" she +asked, in a hoarse whisper. + +"Then Hampton Haynes has been here?" avoided Kennedy. + +"Yes," she admitted, as though the question had been quite logical. "He +told me of your visit to Carl." + +There was no concealment, now, of her anxiety. Indeed, I saw no reason +why there should be. It was quite natural that the girl should worry +over her lover, if she thought there was even a haze of suspicion in +Kennedy's mind. + +"Really I have found out nothing yet," was the only answer Craig gave, +from which I readily deduced that he was well satisfied to play the +game by pitting each against all, in the hope of gathering here and +there a bit of the truth. "As soon as I find out anything I shall let +you and your mother know. And you must tell me everything, too." + +He paused to emphasize the last words, then slowly turned again toward +the door. From the corner of my eye I saw Cynthia take a step after +him, pause, then take another. + +"Oh, Professor Kennedy," she called. + +Craig turned. + +"There's something I forgot," she continued. "There's something wrong +with mother!" She paused, then resumed: "Even before Virginia was taken +down with this--illness I saw a change. She is worried. Oh, Professor +Kennedy, what is it? We have all been so happy. And now--Virgie, +mother--all I have in the world. What shall I do?" + +"Just what do you mean?" asked Kennedy, gently. + +"I don't know. Mother has been so different lately. And now, every +night, she goes out." + +"Where?" encouraged Kennedy, realizing that his plan was working. + +"I don't know. If she would only come back looking happier." She was +sobbing, convulsively, over she knew not what. + +"Miss Blakeley," said Kennedy, taking her hand between both of his, +"only trust me. If it is in my power I shall bring you all out of this +uncertainty that haunts you." + +She could only murmur her thanks as we left. + +"It is strange," ruminated Kennedy, as we sped across the city again to +the laboratory. "We must watch Mrs. Blakeley." + +That was all that was said. Although I had no inkling of what was back +of it all, I felt quite satisfied at having recognized the mystery even +on stumbling on it as I had. + +In the laboratory, as soon as he could develop the skiagraphs he had +taken, Kennedy began a minute study of them. It was not long before he +looked over at me with the expression I had come to recognize when he +found something important. I went over and looked at the radiograph +which he was studying. To me it was nothing but successive gradations +of shadows. But to one who had studied roentgenography as Kennedy had +each minute gradation of light and shade had its meaning. + +"You see," pointed out Kennedy, tracing along one of the shadows with a +fine-pointed pencil, and then along a corresponding position on another +standard skiagraph which he already had, "there is a marked diminution +in size of the sella turcica, as it is called. Yet there is no evidence +of a tumor." For several moments he pondered deeply over the +photographs. "And it is impossible to conceive of any mechanical +pressure sufficient to cause such a change," he added. + +Unable to help him on the problem, whatever it might be, I watched him +pacing up and down the laboratory. + +"I shall have to take that picture over again--under different +circumstances," he remarked, finally, pausing and looking at his watch. +"To-night we must follow this clue which Cynthia has given us. Call a +cab, Walter." + +We took a stand down the block from the Blakeley mansion, near a large +apartment, where the presence of a cab would not attract attention. If +there is any job I despise it is shadowing. One must keep his eyes +riveted on a house, for, once let the attention relax and it is +incredible how quickly any one may get out and disappear. + +Our vigil was finally rewarded when we saw Mrs. Blakeley emerge and +hurry down the street. To follow her was easy, for she did not suspect +that she was being watched, and went afoot. On she walked, turning off +the Drive and proceeding rapidly toward the region of cheap tenements. +She paused before one, and as our cab cruised leisurely past we saw her +press a button, the last on the right-hand side, enter the door, and +start up the stairs. + +Instantly Kennedy signaled our driver to stop and together we hopped +out and walked back, cautiously entering the vestibule. The name in the +letter-box was "Mrs. Reba Rinehart." What could it mean? + +Just then another cab stopped up the street, and as we turned to leave +the vestibule Kennedy drew back. It was too late, however, not to be +seen. A man had just alighted and, in turn, had started back, also +realizing that it was too late. It was Chapelle! There was nothing to +do but to make the best of it. + +"Shadowing the shadowers?" queried Kennedy, keenly watching the play of +his features under the arc-light of the street. + +"Miss Cynthia asked me to follow her mother the other night," he +answered, quite frankly. "And I have been doing so ever since." + +It was a glib answer, at any rate, I thought. + +"Then, perhaps you know something of Reba Rinehart, too," bluffed +Kennedy. + +Chapelle eyed us a moment, in doubt how much we knew. Kennedy played a +pair of deuces as if they had been four aces instead. + +"Not much," replied Chapelle, dubiously. "I know that Mrs. Blakeley has +been paying money to the old woman, who seems to be ill. Once I managed +to get in to see her. It's a bad case of pernicious anemia, I should +say. A neighbor told me she had been to the college hospital, had been +one of Doctor Haynes's cases, but that he had turned her over to his +son. I've seen Hampton Haynes here, too." + +There was an air of sincerity about Chapelle's words. But, then, I +reflected that there had also been a similar ring to what we had heard +Hampton say. Were they playing a game against each other? Perhaps--but +what was the game? What did it all mean and why should Mrs. Blakeley +pay money to an old woman, a charity patient? + +There was no solution. Both Kennedy and Chapelle, by a sort of tacit +consent, dismissed their cabs, and we strolled on over toward Broadway, +watching one another, furtively. We parted finally, and Craig and I +went up to our apartment, where he sat for hours in a brown study. +There was plenty to think about even so far in the affair. He may have +sat up all night. At any rate, he roused me early in the morning. + +"Come over to the laboratory," he said. "I want to take that X-ray +machine up there again to Blakeley's. Confound it! I hope it's not too +late." + +I lost no time in joining him and we were at the house long before any +reasonable hour for visitors. + +Kennedy asked for Mrs. Blakeley and hurriedly set up the X-ray +apparatus. "I wish you would place that face mask which she was wearing +exactly as it was before she became ill," he asked. + +Her mother did as Kennedy directed, replacing the rubber mask as +Virginia had worn it. + +"I want you to preserve that mask," directed Kennedy, as he finished +taking his pictures. "Say nothing about it to any one. In fact, I +should advise putting it in your family safe for the present." + +Hastily we drove back to the laboratory and Kennedy set to work again +developing the second set of skiagraphs. I had not long to wait, this +time, for him to study them. His first glance brought me over to him as +he exclaimed loudly. + +At the point just opposite the sore which he had observed on Virginia's +forehead, and overlying the sella turcica, there was a peculiar spot on +the radiograph. + +"Something in that mask has affected the photographic plate," he +explained, his face now animated. + +Before I could ask him what it was he had opened a cabinet where he +kept many new things which he studied in his leisure moments. From it I +saw him take several glass ampules which he glanced at hastily and +shoved into his pocket as we heard a footstep out in the hall. It was +Chapelle, very much worried. Could it be that he knew his society +clientele was at stake, I wondered. Or was it more than that? + +"She's dead!" he cried. "The old lady died last night!" + +Without a word Kennedy hustled us out of the laboratory, stuffing the +X-ray pictures into his pocket, also, as we went. + +As we hurried down-town Chapelle told us how he had tried to keep a +watch by bribing one of the neighbors, who had just informed him of the +tragedy. + +"It was her heart," said one of the neighbors, as we entered the poor +apartment. "The doctor said so." + +"Anemia," insisted Chapelle, looking carefully at the body. + +Kennedy bent over, also, and examined the poor, worn frame. As he did +so he caught sight of a heavy linen envelope tucked under her pillow. +He pulled it out gently and opened it. Inside were several time-worn +documents and letters. He glanced over them hastily, unfolding first a +letter. + +"Walter," he whispered, furtively, looking at the neighbors in the room +and making sure that none of them had seen the envelope already. "Read +these. That's her story." + +One glance was sufficient. The first was a letter from old Stuart +Blakeley. Reba Rinehart had been secretly married to him--and never +divorced. One paper after another unfolded her story. + +I thought quickly. Then she had had a right in the Blakeley millions. +More than that, the Blakeleys themselves had none, at least only what +came to them by Blakeley's will. + +I read on, to see what, if any, contest she had intended to make. And +as I read I could picture old Stuart Blakeley to myself--strong, +direct, unscrupulous, a man who knew what he wanted and got it, +dominant, close-mouthed, mysterious. He had understood and estimated +the future of New York. On that he had founded his fortune. + +According to the old lady's story, the marriage was a complete secret. +She had demanded marriage when he had demanded her. He had pointed out +the difficulties. The original property had come to him and would +remain in his hands only on condition that he married one of his own +faith. She was not of the faith and declined to become so. There had +been other family reasons, also. They had been married, with the idea +of keeping it secret until he could arrange his affairs so that he +could safely acknowledge her. + +It was, according to her story, a ruse. When she demanded recognition +he replied that the marriage was invalid, that the minister had been +unfrocked before the ceremony. She was not in law his wife and had no +claim, he asserted. But he agreed to compromise, in spite of it all. If +she would go West and not return or intrude, he would make a cash +settlement. Disillusioned, she took the offer and went to California. +Somehow, he understood that she was dead. Years later he married again. + +Meanwhile she had invested her settlement, had prospered, had even +married herself, thinking the first marriage void. Then her second +husband died and evil times came. Blakeley was dead, but she came East. +Since then she had been fighting to establish the validity of the first +marriage and hence her claim to dower rights. It was a moving story. + +As we finished reading, Kennedy gathered the papers together and took +charge of them. Taking Chapelle, who by this time was in a high state +of excitement over both the death and the discovery, Kennedy hurried to +the Blakeley mansion, stopping only long enough to telephone to Doctor +Haynes and his son. + +Evidently the news had spread. Cynthia Blakeley met us in the hall, +half frightened, yet much relieved. + +"Oh, Professor Kennedy," she cried, "I don't know what it is, but +mother seems so different. What is it all about?" + +As Kennedy said nothing, she turned to Chapelle, whom I was watching +narrowly. "What is it, Carl?" she whispered. + +"I--I can't tell," he whispered back, guardedly. Then, with an anxious +glance at the rest of us, "Is your sister any better?" + +Cynthia's face clouded. Relieved though she was about her mother, there +was still that horror for Virginia. + +"Come," I interrupted, not wishing to let Chapelle get out of my sight, +yet wishing to follow Kennedy, who had dashed up-stairs. + +I found Craig already at the bedside of Virginia. He had broken one of +the ampules and was injecting some of the extract in it into the +sleeping girl's arm. Mrs. Blakeley bent over eagerly as he did so. Even +in her manner she was changed. There was anxiety for Virginia yet, but +one could feel that a great weight seemed to be lifted from her. + +So engrossed was I in watching Kennedy that I did not hear Doctor +Haynes and Hampton enter. Chapelle heard, however, and turned. + +For a moment he gazed at Hampton. Then with a slight curl of the lip he +said, in a low tone, "Is it strictly ethical to treat a patient for +disease of the heart when she is suffering from anemia--if you have an +interest in the life and death of the patient?" + +I watched Hampton's face closely. There was indignation in every line +of it. But before he could reply Doctor Haynes stepped forward. + +"My son was right in the diagnosis," he almost shouted, shaking a +menacing finger at Chapelle. "To come to the point, sir, explain that +mark on Miss Virginia's forehead!" + +"Yes," demanded Hampton, also taking a step toward the beauty doctor, +"explain it--if you dare." + +Cynthia suppressed a little cry of fear. For a moment I thought that +the two young men would forget everything in the heat of their feelings. + +"Just a second," interposed Kennedy, quickly stepping between them. +"Let me do the talking." There was something commanding about his tone +as he looked from one to the other of us. + +"The trouble with Miss Virginia," he added, deliberately, "seems to lie +in one of what the scientists have lately designated the 'endocrine +glands'--in this case the pituitary. My X-ray pictures show that +conclusively. + +"Let me explain for the benefit of the rest. The pituitary is an oval +glandular body composed of two lobes and a connecting area, which rest +in the sella turcica, enveloped by a layer of tissue, about under this +point." He indicated the red spot on her forehead as he spoke. "It is, +as the early French surgeons called it, l'organe enigmatique. The +ancients thought it discharged the pituita, or mucus, into the nose. +Most scientists of the past century asserted that it was a vestigial +relic of prehistoric usefulness. To-day we know better. + +"One by one the functions of the internal secretions are being +discovered. Our variously acquired bits of information concerning the +ductless glands lie before us like the fragments of a modern picture +puzzle. And so, I may tell you, in connection with recent experimental +studies of the role of the pituitary, Doctor Cushing and other +collaborators at Johns Hopkins have noticed a marked tendency to pass +into a profoundly lethargic state when the secretion of the pituitary +is totally or nearly so removed." + +Kennedy now had every eye riveted on him as he deftly led the subject +straight to the case of the poor girl before us. + +"This," he added, with a wave of his hand toward her, "is much like +what is called the Frohlich syndrome--the lethargy, the subnormal +temperature, slow pulse, and respiration, lowered blood pressure, and +insensitivity, the growth of fat and the loss of sex characteristics. +It has a name--dystrophia adiposogenitalis." + +He nodded to Doctor Haynes, but did not pause. "This case bears a +striking resemblance to the pronounced natural somnolence of +hibernation. And induced hypopituitarism--under activity of the +gland--produces a result just like natural hibernation. Hibernation has +nothing to do with winter, or with food, primarily; it is connected in +some way with this little gland under the forehead. + +"As the pituitary secretion is lessened, the blocking action of the +fatigue products in the body be-comes greater and morbid somnolence +sets in. There is a high tolerance of carbohydrates which are promptly +stored as fat. I am surprised, Doctor Haynes, that you did not +recognize the symptoms." + +A murmur from Mrs. Blakeley cut short Doctor Haynes's reply. I thought +I noticed a movement of the still face on the white bed. + +"Virgie! Virgie!" called Mrs. Blakeley, dropping on her knee beside her +daughter. + +"I'm here--mother!" + +Virginia's eyes opened ever so slightly. Her face turned just an inch +or two. She seemed to be making a great effort, but it lasted only a +moment. Then she slipped back into the strange condition that had +baffled skilled physicians and surgeons for nearly a week. + +"The sleep is being dispelled," said Kennedy, quietly placing his hand +on Mrs. Blakeley's shoulder. "It is a sort of semi-consciousness now +and the improvement should soon be great." + +"And that?" I asked, touching the empty ampule from which he had +injected the contents into her. + +"Pituitrin--the extract of the anterior lobe of the pituitary body. +Some one who had an object in removing her temporarily probably counted +on restoring her to her former blooming womanhood by pituitrin--and by +removing the cause of the trouble." + +Kennedy reached into his pocket and drew forth the second X-ray +photograph he had taken. "Mrs. Blakeley, may I trouble you to get that +beauty mask which your daughter wore?" + +Mechanically Mrs. Blakeley obeyed. I expected Chapelle to object, but +not a word broke the death-like stillness. + +"The narcolepsy," continued Kennedy, taking the mask, "was due, I find, +to something that affected the pituitary gland. I have here a +photograph of her taken when she was wearing the mask." He ran his +finger lightly over the part just above the eyes. "Feel that little +lump, Walter," he directed. + +I did so. It was almost imperceptible, but there was something. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"Located in one of the best protected and most inaccessible parts of +the body," Kennedy considered, slowly, "how could the pituitary be +reached? If you will study my skiagraph, you will see how I got my +first clue. There was something over that spot which caused the +refractory sore. What was it? Radium--carefully placed in the mask with +guards of lead foil in such a way as to protect the eyes, but direct +the emission full at the gland which was to be affected, and the +secretions stopped." + +Chapelle gave a gasp. He was pale and agitated. + +"Some of you have already heard of Reba Rinehart," shot out Kennedy, +suddenly changing the subject. + +Mrs. Blakeley could not have been more astounded if a bomb had dropped +before her. Still kneeling before Virginia's bed, she turned her +startled face at Kennedy, clasping her hands in appeal. + +"It was for my girls that I tried to buy her off--for their good +name--their fortune--their future," she cried, imploringly. + +Kennedy bent down, "I know that is all," he reassured, then, facing us, +went on: "Behind that old woman was a secret of romantic interest. She +was contemplating filing suit in the courts to recover a widow's +interest in the land on which now stand the homes of millionaires, +hotel palaces, luxurious apartments, and popular theaters--millions of +dollars' worth of property." + +Cynthia moved over and drew her arms about the convulsed figure of her +mother. + +"Some one else knew of this old marriage of Stuart Blakeley," proceeded +Kennedy, "knew of Reba Rinehart, knew that she might die at any moment. +But until she died none of the Blakeleys could be entirely sure of +their fortune." + +It flashed over me that Chapelle might have conceived the whole scheme, +seeking to gain the entire fortune for Cynthia. + +"Who was interested enough to plot this postponement of the wedding +until the danger to the fortune was finally removed?" I caught sight of +Hampton Haynes, his eyes riveted on the face on the bed before us. + +Virginia stirred again. This time her eyes opened wider. As if in a +dream she caught sight of the face of her lover and smiled wanly. + +Could it have been Hampton? It seemed incredible. + +"The old lady is dead," pursued Kennedy, tensely. "Her dower right died +with her. Nothing can be gained by bringing her case back again--except +to trouble the Blakeleys in what is rightfully theirs." + +Gathering up the beauty mask, the X-ray photographs, and the papers of +Mrs. Rinehart, Kennedy emphasized with them the words as he whipped +them out suddenly. + +"Postponing the marriage, at the possible expense of Chapelle, until +Reba Rinehart was dead, and trusting to a wrong diagnosis and Hampton's +inexperience as the surest way of bringing that result about quickly, +it was your inordinate ambition for your son, Doctor Haynes, that led +you on. I shall hold these proofs until Virginia Blakeley is restored +completely to health and beauty." + + + + +VII + +THE LOVE METER + + +"Since we brought him home, my brother just tosses and gasps for air. +Oh, I think Eulalie and I shall both go mad!" + +The soft, pleading voice of Anitra Barrios and her big, appealing brown +eyes filled with tears were doubly affecting as, in spite of her own +feelings, she placed her hand on that of a somewhat younger girl who +had accompanied her to the laboratory. + +"We were to have been married next month," sobbed Eulalie Sandoval. +"Can't you come and see Jose, Professor Kennedy? There must be +something you can do. We fear he is dying--yes, dying." + +"Poor little girl!" murmured Anitra, still patting her hand +affectionately, then to us, "You know, Eulalie is the sister of Manuel +Sandoval, who manages the New York business of my brother." She paused. +"Oh, I can't believe it, myself. It's all so strange, so sudden." + +For the moment her own grief overwhelmed Anitra, and both sister and +sweetheart of Jose Barrios clung to each other. + +"What is the trouble?" soothed Craig. "What has happened? How can I +help you?" + +"Everything was so happy with us," cried Anitra, "until Jose and I came +to New York--and--now--" She broke down again. + +"Please be calm," encouraged Kennedy. "Tell me everything--anything." + +With an effort Anitra began again. "It was last night--quite late--at +his office at the foot of Wall Street--he was there alone," she strove +to connect her broken thoughts. "Some one--I think it must have been +the janitor--called me up at home and said that my brother was very +ill. Eulalie was there with me. We hurried down to him. When we got +there Jose was on the floor by his desk, unconscious, struggling for +breath, just as he is now." + +"Did you observe anything peculiar?" queried Kennedy. "Was there +anything that might give you a hint of what had happened?" + +Anitra Barrios considered. "Nothing," she replied, slowly, "except that +the windows were all closed. There was a peculiar odor in the room. I +was so excited over Jose, though, that I couldn't tell you just what it +was like." + +"What did you do?" inquired Craig. + +"What could we do, just two girls, all alone? It was late. The streets +were deserted. You know how they are down-town at night. We took him +home, to the hotel, in a cab, and called the hotel physician, Doctor +Scott." + +Both girls were again weeping silently in each other's arms. If there +was anything that moved Kennedy to action it was distress of this sort. +Without a word he rose from his desk, and I followed him. Anitra and +Eulalie seemed to understand. Though they said nothing, they looked +their gratitude as we four left the laboratory. + +On the way down to the hotel Anitra continued to pour out her story in +a fragmentary way. Her brother and she, it seemed, had inherited from +their father a large sugar-plantation in Santa Clara, the middle +province of Cuba. + +Jose had not been like many of the planters. He had actually taken hold +of the plantation, after the revolution had wrecked it, and had +re-established it on modern, scientific lines. Now it was one of the +largest independent plantations on the island. + +To increase its efficiency, he had later established a New York office +to look after the sale of the raw sugar and had placed it in charge of +a friend, Manuel Sandoval. A month or so before he had come to New York +with his sister to sell the plantation, to get the high price that the +boom in sugar had made it worth. It was while he had been negotiating +for the sale that he had fallen in love with Eulalie and they had +become engaged. + +Doctor Scott met us in the sitting-room of the suite which Anitra and +her brother occupied, and, as she introduced us, with an anxious glance +in the direction of the door of the sick-room, he shook his head +gravely, though he did his best to seem encouraging. + +"It's a case of poisoning of some kind, I fear," he whispered aside to +us, at the first opportunity. "But I can't quite make out just what it +is." + +We followed the doctor into the room. Eulalie had preceded us and had +dropped down on her knees by the bed, passing her little white hand +caressingly over the pale and distorted face of Jose. + +He was still unconscious, gasping and fighting for breath, his features +pinched and skin cold and clammy. Kennedy examined the stricken man +carefully, first feeling his pulse. It was barely perceptible, rapid, +thready, and irregular. Now and then there were muscular tremblings and +convulsive movements of the limbs. Craig moved over to the side of the +room away from the two girls, where Doctor Scott was standing. + +"Sometimes," I heard the doctor venture, "I think it is aconite, but +the symptoms are not quite the same. Besides, I don't see how it could +have been administered. There's no mark on him that might have come +from a hypodermic, no wound, not even a scratch. He couldn't have +swallowed it. Suicide is out of the question. But his nose and throat +are terribly swollen and inflamed. It's beyond me." + +I tried to recall other cases I had seen. There was one case of +Kennedy's in which several deaths had occurred due to aconite. Was this +another of that sort? I felt unqualified to judge, where Doctor Scott +himself confessed his inability. Kennedy himself said nothing, and from +his face I gathered that even he had no clue as yet. + +As we left the sick-room, we found that another visitor had arrived and +was standing in the sitting-room. It was Manuel Sandoval. + +Sandoval was a handsome fellow, tall, straight as an arrow, with bushy +dark hair and a mustache which gave him a distinguished appearance. +Born in Cuba, he had been educated in the United States, had taken +special work in the technology of sugar, knew the game from cane to +centrifugal and the ship to the sugar trust. He was quite as much a +scientist as a business man. + +He and Eulalie talked for a moment in low tones in Cuban Spanish, but +it needed only to watch his eyes to guess where his heart was. He +seemed to fairly devour every move that Anitra made about the apartment. + +A few minutes later the door opened again and a striking-looking man +entered. He was a bit older than Sandoval, but still young. As he +entered he bowed to Sandoval and Eulalie but greeted Anitra warmly. + +"Mr. Burton Page," introduced Anitra, turning to us quickly, with just +the trace of a flush on her face. "Mr. Page has been putting my brother +in touch with people in New York who are interested in Cuban +sugar-plantations." A call from Doctor Scott for some help took both +girls into the sick-room for a moment. + +"Is Barrios any better?" asked Page, turning to Sandoval. + +Sandoval shook his head in the negative, but said nothing. One could +not help observing that there seemed to be a sort of antipathy between +the two, and I saw that Craig was observing them both closely. + +Page was a typical, breezy Westerner, who had first drifted to New York +as a mining promoter. Prom that he had gone into selling ranches, and, +by natural stages, into the promotion of almost anything in the +universe. + +Sugar being at the time uppermost in the mind of the "Street," Page was +naturally to be found crammed with facts about that staple. One could +not help being interested in studying a man of his type, as long as one +kept his grip on his pocket-book. For he was a veritable pied piper +when it came to enticing dollars to follow him, and in his promotions +he had the reputation of having amassed an impressive pile of dollars +himself. + +No important change in the condition of Barrios had taken place, except +that he was a trifle more exhausted, and Doctor Scott administered a +stimulant. Kennedy, who was eager to take up the investigation of the +case on the outside in the hope of discovering something that might be +dignified into being a clue, excused himself, with a nod to Anitra to +follow into the hall. + +"I may look over the office?" Craig ventured when we were alone with +her. + +"Surely," she replied, frankly, opening her handbag which was lying on +a table near the door. "I have an equal right in the business with my +brother. Here are the keys. The office has been closed to-day." + +Kennedy took the keys, promising to let her know the moment he +discovered anything important, and we hurried directly down-town. + +The office of the Barrios Company was at the foot of Wall Street, where +the business of importing touched on the financial district. From the +window one could see freighters unloading their cargoes at the docks. +In the other direction, capital to the billions was represented. But in +all that interesting neighborhood nothing just at present could surpass +the mystery of what had taken place in the lonely little office late +the night before. + +Kennedy passed the rail that shut the outer office off from a sort of +reception space. He glanced about at the safe, the books, papers, and +letter-files. It would take an accountant and an investigator days, +perhaps weeks, to trace out anything in them, if indeed it were worth +while at all. + +Two glass doors opened at one end to two smaller private offices, one +belonging evidently to Sandoval, the other to Barrios. What theory +Craig formed I could not guess, but as he tiptoed from the hall door, +past the rail, to the door of Jose's office, I could see that first of +all he was trying to discover whether it was possible to enter the +outer office and reach Jose's door unseen and unheard by any one +sitting at the desk inside. Apparently it was easily possible, and he +paused a moment to consider what good that knowledge might do. + +As he did so his eye rested on the floor. A few feet away stood one of +the modern "sanitary" desks. In this case the legs of the desk raised +the desk high enough from the floor so that one could at least see +where the cleaning-woman had left a small pile of unsanitary dust near +the wall. + +Suddenly Kennedy bent down and poked something out of the pile of dust. +There on the floor was an empty shell of a cartridge. Kennedy picked it +up and looked at it curiously. + +What did it mean? I recalled that Doctor Scott had particularly said +that Barrios had not been wounded. + +Still regarding the cartridge shell, Kennedy sat down at the desk of +Barrios. + +Looking for a piece of paper in which to wrap the shell, he pulled out +the middle drawer of the desk. In a back corner was a package of +letters, neatly tied. We glanced at them. The envelopes bore the name +of Jose Barrios and were in the handwriting of a woman. Some were +postmarked Cuba; others, later, New York. Kennedy opened one of them. + +I could not restrain an exclamation of astonishment. I had expected +that they were from Eulalie Sandoval. But they were signed by a name +that we had not heard--Teresa de Leon! + +Hastily Kennedy read through the open letter. Its tone seemed to be +that of a threat. One sentence I recall was, "I would follow you +anywhere--I'll make you want me." + +One after another Kennedy ran through them. All were vague and veiled, +as though the writer wished by some circumlocution to convey an idea +that would not be apparent to some third, inquisitive party. + +What was back of it all? Had Jose been making love to another woman at +the same time that he was engaged to Eulalie Sandoval? As far as the +contents of the letters went there was nothing to show that he had done +anything wrong. The mystery of the "other woman" only served to deepen +the mystery of what little we already knew. + +Craig dropped the letters into his pocket along with the shell, and +walked around into the office of Sandoval. I followed him. Quickly he +made a search, but it did not seem to net him anything. + +Meanwhile I had been regarding a queer-looking instrument that stood on +a flat table against one wall. It seemed to consist of a standard on +each end of which was fastened a disk, besides several other +arrangements the purpose of which I had not the slightest idea. Between +the two ends rested a glass tube of some liquid. At one end was a lamp; +the other was fitted with an eyepiece like a telescope. Beside the +instrument on the table lay some more glass-capped tubes and strewn +about were samples of raw sugar. + +"It is a saccharimeter," explained Kennedy, also looking at it, "an +instrument used to detect the amount of sugar held in solution, a form +of the polariscope. We won't go into the science of it now. It's rather +abstruse." + +He was about to turn back into the outer office when an idea seemed to +occur to him. He took the cartridge from his pocket and carefully +scraped off what he could of the powder that still adhered to the outer +rim. It was just a bit, but he dissolved it in some liquid from a +bottle on the table, filled one of the clean glass tubes, capped the +open end, and placed this tube in the saccharimeter where the first one +I noticed had been. + +Carefully he lighted the lamp, then squinted through the eyepiece at +the tube of liquid containing what he had derived from the cartridge. +He made some adjustments, and as he did so his face indicated that at +last he began to see something dimly. The saccharimeter had opened the +first rift in the haze that surrounded the case. + +"I think I know what we have here," he said, briefly, rising and +placing the tube and its contents in his pocket with the other things +he had discovered. "Of course it is only a hint. This instrument won't +tell me finally. But it is worth following up." + +With a final glance about to make sure that we had overlooked nothing, +Kennedy closed and locked the outside door. + +"I'm going directly up to the laboratory, Walter," decided Kennedy. +"Meanwhile you can help me very much if you will look up this Teresa de +Leon. I noticed that the New York letters were written on the +stationery of the Pan-America Hotel. Get what you can. I leave it to +you. And if you can find out anything about the others, so much the +better. I'll see you as soon as you finish." + +It was rather a large contract. If the story had reached the newspaper +stage, I should have known how to go about it. For there is no +detective agency in the world like the Star, and even on the slender +basis that we had, with a flock of reporters deployed at every point in +the city, with telephones, wires, and cables busily engaged, I might +have gathered priceless information in a few hours. But, as it was, +whatever was to be got must be got by me alone. + +I found Teresa de Leon registered at the Pan-America, as Craig had +surmised. Such inquiries as I was able to make about the hotel did not +show a trace of reason for believing that Jose Barrios had been +numbered among her visitors. While that proved nothing as to the +relations of the two, it was at least reassuring as far as Anitra and +Eulalie were concerned, and, after all, as in such cases, this was +their story. + +Not having been able to learn much about the lady, I decided finally to +send up my card, and to my satisfaction she sent back word that she +would receive me in the parlor of the hotel. + +Teresa de Leon proved to be a really striking type of Latin-American +beauty. She was no longer young, but there was an elusiveness about her +personality that made a more fascinating study than youth. I felt that +with such a woman directness might be more of a surprise than subtlety. + +"I suppose you know that Senor Barrios is very seriously ill?" I +ventured, in answer to her inquiring gaze that played from my card to +my face. + +For a fleeting instant she looked startled. Yet she betrayed nothing as +to whether it was fear or surprise. + +"I have called his office several times," she replied, "but no one +answered. Even Senor Sandoval was not there." + +I felt that she was countering as cleverly as I might lead. "Then you +know Mr. Sandoval also?" I asked, adding, "and Mr. Page?" + +"I have known Senor Barrios a long time in Cuba," she answered, "and +the others, too--here." + +There was something evasive about her answers. She was trying to say +neither too much nor too little. She left one in doubt whether she was +trying to shield herself or to involve another. Though we chatted +several minutes, I could gain nothing that would lead me to judge how +intimately she knew Barrios. Except that she knew Sandoval and Page, +her conversation might have been a replica of the letters we had +discovered. Even when she hinted politely, but finally, that the talk +was over she left me in doubt even whether she was an adventuress. The +woman was an enigma. Had revenge or jealousy brought her to New York, +or was she merely a tool in the hands of another? + +I was not ready to return to Kennedy merely with another unanswered +question, and I determined to stop again at the hotel where Barrios and +his sister lived, in the hope of picking up something there. + +The clerk at the desk told me that no one had called since we had been +there, adding: "Except the tall gentleman, who came back. I think +Senorita Barrios came down and met him in the tea-room." + +Wondering whether it was Page or Sandoval the clerk meant, I sauntered +down the corridor past the door of the tea-room. It was Page with whom +Anitra was talking. There was no way in which I could hear what was +said, although Page was very earnest and Anitra showed plainly that she +was anxious to return to the sick-room up-stairs. + +As I watched, I took good care that I should not be seen. It was well +that I did, for once when I looked about I saw that some one else in +another doorway was watching them, too, so intently that he did not see +me. It was Sandoval. Jealousy of Page was written in every line of his +face. + +Studying the three, while I could not escape the rivalry of the two +men, I was unable to see now or recollect anything that had happened +which would convey even an inkling of her feelings toward them. Yet I +was convinced that that way lay a problem quite as important as +relations between the other triangle of Eulalie, Teresa, and Barrios. I +was not psychologist enough to deal with either triangle. There was +something that distinctly called for the higher mathematics of Kennedy. + +Determined not to return to him entirely empty-mouthed, I thought it +would be a good opportunity to see Eulalie alone, and hurried to the +elevator, which whisked me up to the Barrios apartment. + +Doctor Scott had not left his patient, though he seemed to realize that +Eulalie was a most efficient nurse. + +"No change," whispered the doctor, "except that he is reaching a +crisis." + +Interested as I was in the patient, it had been for the purpose of +seeing Eulalie that I had come, and I was glad when Doctor Scott left +us a moment. + +"Has Mr. Kennedy found out anything yet?" she asked, in a tremulous +whisper. + +"I think he is on the right track now," I encouraged. "Has anything +happened here? Remember--it is quite as important that you should tell +him all as it is for him to tell you." + +She looked at me a moment, then drew from a fold of her waist a yellow +paper. It was a telegram. I took it and read: + + Beware of Teresa de Leon, Hotel Pan-America. + + A FRIEND. + +"You know her?" I asked, folding the telegram, but not returning it. + +Eulalie looked at me frankly and shook her head. "I have no idea who +she is." + +"Or of who sent the telegram?" + +"None at all." + +"When did you receive it?" + +"Only a few minutes ago." + +Here was another mystery. Who had sent the anonymous telegram to +Eulalie so soon after it had been evident that Kennedy had entered the +case? What was its purpose? + +"I may keep this?" I asked, indicating the telegram. + +"I was about to send it to Professor Kennedy," she replied. "Oh, I hope +he will find something Won't you go to him and tell him to hurry?" + +I needed no urging, not only for her sake, but also because I did not +wish to be seen or to have the receipt of the telegram by Kennedy known +so soon. + +In the hotel I stopped only long enough to see that Anitra was now +hurrying toward the elevator, eager to get back to her brother and +oblivious to every one around. What had become of Page and the sinister +watcher whom he had not seen I did not know, nor did I have time to +find out. + +A few moments later I rejoined Kennedy at the laboratory. He was still +immersed in work, and, scarcely stopping, nodded to me to tell what I +had discovered. He listened with interest until I came to the receipt +of the anonymous telegram. + +"Did you get it?" he asked, eagerly. + +He almost seized it from my hands as I pulled it out of my pocket and +studied it intently. + +"Strange," he muttered. "Any of them might have sent it." + +"Have you discovered anything?" I asked, for I had been watching him, +consumed by curiosity, as I told my story. "Do you know yet how the +thing was done?" + +"I think I do," he replied, abstractedly. + +"How was it?" I prompted, for his mind was now on the telegram. + +"A poison-gas pistol," he resumed, coming back to the work he had just +been doing. "Instead of bullets, this pistol used cartridges charged +with some deadly powder. It might have been something like the +anesthetic pistol devised by the police authorities in Paris some years +ago when the motor bandits were operating." + +"But who could have used it?" I asked. + +Kennedy did not answer directly. Either he was not quite sure yet or +did not feel that the time was ripe to hazard a theory. "In this case," +he continued, after a moment's thought, "I shouldn't be surprised if +even the wielder of the pistol probably wore a mask, doubly effective, +for disguise and to protect the wielder from the fumes that were to +overcome the victim." + +"You have no idea who it was?" I reiterated. + +Before Kennedy could answer there came a violent ring at the laboratory +bell, and I hurried to the door. It was one of the bell-boys from the +hotel where the Barrioses had their apartment, with a message for +Kennedy. + +Craig tore it open and read it hurriedly. "From Doctor Scott," he said, +briefly, in answer to my anxious query. "Barrios is dead." + +Even though I had been prepared for the news by my last visit, death +came as a shock, as it always does. I had felt all along that Kennedy +had been called in too late to do anything to save Barrios, but I had +been hoping against hope. But I knew that it was not too late to catch +the criminal who had done the dastardly, heartless deed. A few hours +and perhaps all clues might have been covered up. But there is always +something that goes wrong with crime, always some point where murder +cannot be covered up. I think if people could only be got to realize +it, as my experience both on the Star and with Kennedy have impressed +it on me, murder would become a lost art. + +Without another word Kennedy seized his hat and together we hurried to +the hotel. + +We found Anitra crying softly to herself, while near her sat Eulalie, +tearless, stunned by the blow, broken-hearted. In the realization of +the tragedy everything had been forgotten, even the mysterious +anonymous telegram signed, Judas-like, "A Friend." + +Sandoval, we learned, had been there when the end came, and had now +gone out to make what arrangements were necessary. I had nothing +against the man, but I could not help feeling that, now that the +business was all Anitra's, might he not be the one to profit most by +the death? The fact was that Kennedy had expressed so little opinion on +the case so far that I might be pardoned for suspecting any one--even +Teresa de Leon, who must have seen Jose slipping away from her in spite +of her pursuit, whatever actuated it. + +It was while I was in the midst of these fruitless speculations that +Doctor Scott beckoned us outside, and we withdrew quietly. + +"I don't know that there is anything more that I can do," he remarked, +"but I promised Senor Sandoval that I would stay here until he came +back. He begged me to, seems scarcely to know how to do enough to +comfort his sister and Senorita Barrios." + +I listened to the doctor keenly. Was it possible that Sandoval had one +of those Jekyll-Hyde natures which seem to be so common in some of us? +Had his better nature yielded to his worse? To my mind that has often +been an explanation of crime, never an adequate defense. + +Kennedy was about to say something when the elevator door down the hall +opened. I expected that it was Sandoval returning, but it was Burton +Page. + +"They told me you were here," he said, greeting us. "I have been +looking all over for you, down at your laboratory and at your +apartment. Would you mind stepping down around the bend in the hall?" + +We excused ourselves from Doctor Scott, wondering what Page had to +reveal. + +"I knew Sandoval had not returned," he began as soon as we were out of +ear-shot of the doctor, "and I don't want to see him--again--not after +what happened this afternoon. The man is crazy." We had reached an +alcove and sank down into a soft settee. + +"Why, what was that?" I asked, recalling the look of hate on the man's +face as he had watched Page talking to Anitra in the tea-room. + +"I'm giving you this for what it may be worth," began Page, turning +from me to Kennedy. "Down in the lobby this afternoon, after you had +been gone some time, I happened to run into Sandoval. He almost seized +hold of me. 'You have been at the office,' he said. 'You've been +rummaging around there.' Well, I denied it flatly. 'Who took those +letters?' he shot back at me. All I could do was to look at him. 'I +don't know about any letters. What letters?' I asked. Oh, he's a queer +fellow all right. I thought he was going to kill me by the black look +he gave me. He cooled down a bit, but I didn't wait for any apology. +The best thing to do with these hot-headed people is to cut out and let +them alone." + +"How do you account for his strange actions?" asked Kennedy. "Have you +ever heard anything more that he did?" + +Page shrugged his shoulders as if in doubt whether to say anything, +then decided quickly. "The other day I heard Barrios and Sandoval in +the office. They were quite excited. Barrios was talking loudly. I +didn't know at first what it was all about. But I soon found out. +Sandoval had gone to him, as the head of the family, following their +custom, I believe, to ask whether he might seek to win Anitra." + +"Have you ever heard of Teresa de Leon?" interrupted Kennedy suddenly. + +Page looked at him and hesitated. "There's some scandal, there, I'm +afraid," he nodded, combining his answers. "I heard Sandoval say +something about her to Barrios that day--warn him against something. +That was when the argument was heated. It seemed to make Barrios angry. +Sandoval said something about Barrios refusing to let him court Anitra +while at the same time Barrios was engaged to Eulalie. Barrios retorted +that the cases were different. He said he had decided that Anitra was +going to marry an American millionaire." + +There could be no doubt about how Page himself interpreted the remark. +It was evident that he took it to mean himself. + +"Sandoval had warned against this De Leon?" asked Kennedy, evidently +having in mind the anonymous telegram. + +"Something--I don't know what it was all about," returned Page, then +added, in a burst of confidence: "I never heard of the lady until she +came to New York and introduced herself to me. For a time she was +interesting. But I'm too old for that sort of thing. Besides, she +always impressed me as though she had some ulterior motive, as though +she was trying to get at something through me. I cut it all out." + +Kennedy nodded, but for a moment said nothing. + +"I think I'll be getting out," remarked Page, with a half smile. "I +don't want a knife in the back. I thought you ought to know all this, +though. And if I hear anything else I'll let you know." + +Kennedy thanked him and together we rode down in the next elevator, +parting with Page at the hotel entrance. + +It was still early in the evening, and Kennedy had no intention now of +wasting a moment. He beckoned for a cab and directed the man to drive +immediately to the Pan-America. + +This time Teresa de Leon was plainly prepared for a visit, though I am +not sure that she was prepared to receive two visitors. + +"I believe you were acquainted with Senior Barrios, who died to-night?" +opened Kennedy, after I had introduced him. + +"He was acquainted with me," she corrected, with a purr in her voice +that suggested claws. + +"You were not married to him," shot out Kennedy; then before she could +reply, "nor even engaged." + +"He had known me a long time. We were intimate--" + +"Friends," interrupted Kennedy, leaving no doubt as to the meaning of +his emphasis. + +She colored. It was evident that, at least to her, it was more than +friendship. + +"Senor Sandoval says," romanced Kennedy, in true detective style, "that +you wrote--" + +It was her turn to interrupt. "If Senor Sandoval says anything against +me, he tells what is not--the truth." + +In spite of Kennedy's grilling she was still mistress of herself. + +"You introduced yourself to Burton Page, and--" + +"You had better remember your own proverb," she retorted. "Don't +believe anything you hear and only half you see." + +Kennedy snapped down the yellow telegram before her. It was a dramatic +moment. The woman did not flinch at the anonymous implication. Straight +into Kennedy's eyes she shot a penetrating glance. + +"Watch both of THEM," she replied, shortly, then turned and +deliberately swept out of the hotel parlor as though daring us to go as +far as we cared. + +"I think we have started forces working for us," remarked Kennedy, +coolly consulting his watch. "For the present at least let us retire to +the laboratory. Some one will make a move. My game is to play one +against the other--until the real one breaks." + +We had scarcely switched on the lights and Kennedy was checking over +the results he had obtained during his afternoon's investigations, when +the door was flung open and a man dashed in on us unexpectedly. It was +Sandoval, and as he advanced furiously at Kennedy I more than feared +that Page's idea was correct. + +"It was you, Kennedy," he hissed, "who took those letters from Jose's +desk. It is you--or Page back of you--who are trying to connect me with +that woman, De Leon. But let me tell you--" + +A sharp click back of Sandoval caused him to cut short the remark and +look about apprehensively. Kennedy's finger, sliding along the edge of +the laboratory table, had merely found an electric button by which he +could snap the lock on the door. + +"We are two to one," returned Kennedy, nonchalantly. "That was nothing +but the lock on the door closing. Mr. Jameson has a revolver in the top +drawer of his desk over there. You will pardon me if I do a little +telephoning--through the central office of the detective bureau? Some +of our friends may not be overanxious to come here, and it may be +necessary to compel their attendance." + +Sandoval subsided into a sullen silence as Kennedy made arrangements to +have Burton Page, Anitra, Eulalie, and Teresa de Leon hurried to us at +once. + +There was nothing for me to do but watch Sandoval as Kennedy prepared a +little instrument with a scale and dial upon which rested an indicator +resembling a watch hand, something like the new horizontal clocks which +have only one hand to register seconds, minutes, and hours. In them, +like a thermometer held sidewise, the hand moves along from zero to +twenty-four. In this instrument a little needle did the same thing. +Pairs of little wire-like strings ran to the instrument. + +Kennedy had finished adjusting another instrument which was much like +the saccharimeter, only more complicated, when the racing of an engine +outside announced the arrival of the party in one of the police +department cars. + +Between us, Craig and I lost no time in disposing the visitors so that +each was in possession of a pair of the wire-like strings, and then +disdaining to explain why he had gathered them together so +unceremoniously, Kennedy turned and finished adjusting the other +apparatus. + +"Most people regard light, so abundant, so necessary, so free as a +matter of course," he remarked, contemplatively. "Not one person in ten +thousand ever thinks of its mysterious nature or ever attempts to +investigate it. In fact, most of us are in utter darkness as to light." + +He paused, tapped the machine and went on, "This is a polarimeter--a +simple polariscope--a step beyond the saccharimeter," he explained, +with a nod at Sandoval. "It detects differences of structure in +substances not visible in ordinary light. + +"Light is polarized in several ways--by reflection, by transmission, +but most commonly through what I have here, a prism of calcite, or +Iceland spar, commonly called a Nicol prism. Light fully polarized +consists of vibrations transverse to the direction of the ray, all in +one plane. Ordinary light has transverse vibrations in all planes. +Certain substances, due to their molecular structure, are transparent +to vibrations in one plane, but opaque to those at right angles. + +"Here we have," he explained, tapping the parts in order, "a source of +light, passing in through this aperture, here a Nicol polarizer, next a +liquid to be examined in a glass-capped tube; here on this other side +an arrangement of quartz plates with rotary power which I will explain +in a moment, next an analyzer, and finally the aperture for the eye of +an observer." + +Kennedy adjusted the glass tube containing the liquid which bore the +substance scraped from the cartridge--he had picked up in the office of +Jose. "Look through the eyepiece, Walter," he directed. + +The field appeared halved. He made an adjustment and at once the field +of vision appeared wholly the same tint. When he removed the tube it +was dark. + +"If a liquid has not what we call rotary power both halves of the +double disk appear of the same tint," he explained. "If it has rotary +power, the halves appear of different tints and the degree of rotation +is measured by the alteration of thickness of this double quartz plate +necessary to counteract it. It is, as I told Mr. Jameson early to-day, +a rather abstruse subject, this of polarized light. I shall not bore +you with it, but I think you will see in a moment why it is necessary, +perhaps why some one who knew thought it would never be used. + +"What I am getting at now is that some substances with the same +chemical formula rotate polarized light to the right, are +dextro-rotary, as, for instance, what is known as dextrose. Others +rotate it to the left, are levo-rotary, as the substance called levose. +Both of them are glucose. So there are substances which give the same +chemical reactions which can only be distinguished by their being left +or right rotary." + +Craig took a bit of crystalline powder and dissolved it in ether. Then +he added some strong sulphuric acid. The liquid turned yellow, then +slowly a bright scarlet. Beside the first he repeated the operation +with another similar-looking powder, with the identical result. + +"Both of those," he remarked, holding up the vials, "were samples of +pure veratrine, but obtained from different sources. You see the +brilliant reaction--unmistakable. But it makes all the difference in +the world in this case what was the source of the veratrine. It may +mean the guilt or innocence of one of you." + +He paused, to let the significance of his remark sink in. "Veratrine," +he resumed, "is a form of hellebore, known to gardeners for its fatal +effect on insects. There are white and green hellebore, Veratrum alba +and Veratrum viride. It is the pure alkaloid, or rather one of them, +that we have to deal with here--veratrine. + +"There are various sources of veratrine. For instance, there is the +veratrine that may be derived from the sabadilla seeds which grow in +the West Indies and Mexico. It is used, I am informed, by the Germans +in their lachrymatory and asphyxiating bombs." + +The mention of the West Indies brought, like a flash, to my mind +Sandoval and Senorita de Leon. + +"Then, too," continued Kennedy, "there is a plant out in our own +Western country, of which you may have heard, known as the death camas, +very fatal to cattle when they eat it. The active principle in this is +also veratrine." + +I began to see what Kennedy was driving at. If it were veratrine +derived from death camas it would point toward Page. + +"Abderhalden, the great German physiological chemist, has discovered +that substances that once get into the blood produce specific ferments. +Not long ago, in a case, I showed it by the use of dialyzing membranes. +But Abderhalden has found that the polariscope can show it also. And in +this case only the polariscope can show what chemistry cannot show when +we reach the point of testing Senor Barrios's blood--if that becomes +necessary." + +It was plain that Kennedy was confident. "There are other sources of +drugs of the nature used in this case to asphyxiate and kill, but the +active principle of all is veratrine. The point is, veratrine from what +source? The sabadilla is dextro-rotary; the death camas is levo-rotary. +Which is it here?" + +As I tried to figure out the ramifications of the case, I could see +that it was a cruel situation for one or the other of the girls. Was +one of her lovers the murderer of Anitra's brother? Or was her own +brother the murderer of Eulalie's lover? I looked at the faces before +me, now tensely watching Kennedy, forgetful of the wire-like strings +which they held in their hands. I studied Teresa de Leon intently for a +while. She was still the enigma which she had been the first time I saw +her. + +Kennedy paused long enough to look through the eyepiece again as if to +reassure himself finally that he was right. There was a tantalizing +suspense as we waited for the verdict of science on this intensely +human tragedy. Then he turned to the queer instrument over which the +needle-hand was moving. + +"Though some scientists would call this merely a sensitive form of +galvanometer," he remarked, "it is, to me, more than that. It registers +feelings, emotions. It has been registering your own every moment that +I have been talking. + +"But most of all it registers the grand passion. I might even call it a +love meter. Love might seem to be a subject which could not be +investigated. But even love can be attributed to electrical forces, or, +perhaps better, is expressed by the generation of an electric current, +as though the attraction between men and women were the giving off of +electrons or radiations of one to the other. I have seen this +galvanometer stationary during the ordinary meeting of men and women, +yet exhibit all sorts of strange vibrations when true lovers meet." + +Not used to Kennedy's peculiar methods, they were now on guard, +ignorant of the fact that that alone was sufficient to corroborate +unescapably any evidence they had already given of their feelings +toward each other. + +Kennedy passed lightly over the torn and bleeding heart of Eulalie. +But, much as he disliked to do so, he could not so quickly pass Anitra. +In spite of her grief, I could see that she was striving to control +herself. A quick blush suffused her face and her breath came and went +faster. + +"This record," went on Kennedy, lowering his voice, "tells me that two +men are in love with Anitra Barrios. I will not say which exhibits the +deeper, truer passion. You shall see for yourself in a moment. But, +more than that, it tells me which of the two she cares for most--a +secret her heart would never permit her lips to disclose. Nor will I +disclose it. + +"One of them, with supreme egotism, was so sure that he would win her +heart that he plotted this murder of her brother so that she would have +the whole estate to bring to him--a terrible price for a dowry. My love +meter tells me, however, that Anitra has something to say about it yet. +She does not love this man. + +"As for Teresa de Leon, it was jealousy that impelled her to follow +Jose Barrios from Cuba to New York. The murderer, in his scheming, knew +it, saw a chance to use her, to encourage her, perhaps throw suspicion +on her, if necessary. When I came uncomfortably close to him he even +sent an anonymous telegram that might point toward her. It was sent by +the same person who stole in Barrios's office and shot him with an +asphyxiating pistol which discharged a fatal quantity of pure veratrine +full at him. + +"My love meter, in registering hidden emotions, supplements what the +polarimeter tells me. It was the levo-rotary veratrine of the fatal +death camas which you used, Page," concluded Craig, as again the +electric attachment clicked shut the lock on the laboratory door. + + + + +VIII + +THE VITAL PRINCIPLE + + +"That's the handwriting of a woman--a jealous woman," remarked Kennedy, +handing to me a dainty note on plain paper which had come in the +morning mail. + + I did not stop to study the writing, for the contents of the + letter were more fascinating than even Kennedy's new science + of graphology. + + You don't know me [the note read], but I know of your work + of scientific investigation. + + Let me inform you of something that ought to interest you. + + In the Forum Apartments you will find that there is some + strange disease affecting the Wardlaw family. It is a queer + disease of the nerves. One is dead. Others are dying. + + Look into it. + + A FRIEND. + +As I read it I asked myself vainly what it could mean. There was no +direct accusation against any one, yet the implication was plain. A +woman had been moved by one of the primal passions to betray--some one. + +I looked up from the note on the table at Craig. He was still studying +the handwriting. + +"It's that peculiar vertical, angular hand affected by many women," he +commented, half to himself. "Even at a glance you can see that it's +written hastily, as if under the stress of excitement and sudden +resolution. You'll notice how those capitals--" The laboratory door +opened, interrupting him. + +"Hello, Kennedy," greeted Doctor Leslie, our friend, the coroner's +physician, who had recently been appointed Health Commissioner of the +city. + +It was the first time we had seen him since the appointment and we +hastened to congratulate him. He thanked us absently, and it was +evident that there was something on his mind, some problem which, in +his new office, he felt that he must solve if for no other purpose than +to justify his reputation. Craig said nothing, preferring to let the +commissioner come to the point in his own way. + +"Do you know, Kennedy," he said, at length, turning in his chair and +facing us, "I believe we have found one of the strangest cases in the +history of the department." + +The commissioner paused, then went on, quickly, "It looks as if it were +nothing less than an epidemic of beriberi--not on a ship coming into +port as so often happens, but actually in the heart of the city." + +"Beriberi--in New York?" queried Craig, incredulously. + +"It looks like it," reiterated Leslie, "in the family of a Doctor +Wardlaw, up-town here, in the Forum--" + +Kennedy had already shoved over the letter he had just received. Leslie +did not finish the sentence, but read the note in amazement. + +"What are the symptoms?" inquired Craig. + +"What makes you think it is beriberi, of all things?" + +"Because they show the symptoms of beriberi," persisted Leslie, +doggedly. "You know what they are like. If you care to go into the +matter I think I can convince you." + +The commissioner was still holding the letter and gazing, puzzled, from +it to us. It seemed as if he regarded it merely as confirming his own +suspicions that something was wrong, even though it shed no real light +on the matter. + +"How did you first hear of it?" prompted Kennedy. + +Leslie answered frankly. "It came to the attention of the department as +the result of a reform I have inaugurated. When I went in office I +found that many of the death certificates were faulty, and in the +course of our investigations we ran across one that seemed to be most +vaguely worded. I don't know yet whether it was ignorance--or something +worse. But it started an inquiry. I can't say that I'm thoroughly +satisfied with the amended certificate of the physician who attended +Mrs. Marbury, the mother of Doctor Wardlaw's wife, who died about a +week ago--Doctor Aitken." + +"Then Wardlaw didn't attend her himself?" asked Kennedy. + +"Oh no. He couldn't, under the circumstances, as I'll show you +presently, aside from the medical ethics of the case. Aitken was the +family physician of the Marburys." + +Kennedy glanced at the note. "One is dead. Others are dying," he read. +"Who are the others? Who else is stricken?" + +"Why," continued Leslie, eager to unburden his story, "Wardlaw himself +has the marks of a nervous affection as plainly as the eye can see it. +You know what it is in this disease, as though the nerves were wasting +away. But he doesn't seem half as badly affected as his wife. They tell +me Maude Marbury was quite a beauty once, and photographs I have seen +prove it. She's a wreck now. And, of course, the old lady must have +been the most seriously affected of them all." + +"Who else is there in the household?" inquired Kennedy, growing more +and more interested. + +"Well," answered Leslie, slowly, "they've had a nurse for some time, +Natalie Langdale. Apparently she has escaped." + +"Any servants?" + +"Some by the day; only one regularly--a Japanese, Kato. He goes home at +night, too. There's no evidence of the disease having affected him." + +I caught Leslie's eye as he gave the last information. Though I did not +know much about beriberi, I had read of it, and knew that it was +especially prevalent in the Orient. I did not know what importance to +attach to Kato and his going home at night. + +"Have you done any investigating yourself?" asked Kennedy. + +Leslie hesitated a moment, as though deprecating his own efforts in +that line, though when he spoke I could see no reason why he should, +except that it had so often happened that Kennedy had seen the obvious +which was hidden from most of those who consulted him. + +"Yes," he replied, "I thought perhaps there might be some motive back +of it all which I might discover. Possibly it was old Mrs. Marbury's +fortune--not a large one, but substantial. So it occurred to me that +the will might show it. I have been to the surrogate." + +"And?" prompted Kennedy, approvingly. + +"Mrs. Marbury's will has already been offered for probate. It directs, +among other things, that twenty-five thousand dollars be given by her +daughter, to whom she leaves the bulk of her fortune, to Doctor Aitken, +who had been Mr. Marbury's physician and her own." + +Leslie looked at us significantly, but Kennedy made no comment. + +"Would you like to go up there and see them?" urged the commissioner, +anxious to get Craig's final word on whether he would co-operate in the +affair. + +"I certainly should," returned Kennedy, heartily, folding up the letter +which had first attracted his interest. "It looks as if there were more +to this thing than a mere disease, however unusual." + +Doctor Leslie could not conceal his satisfaction, and without delaying +a moment more than was necessary hurried us out into one of the +department cars, which he had left waiting outside, and directed the +driver to take us to the Forum Apartments, one of the newest and most +fashionable on the Drive. + +Miss Langdale met us at the door and admitted us into the apartment. +She was a striking type of trained nurse, one of those who seem +bubbling over with health and vivacity. She seemed solicitous of her +patients and reluctant to have them disturbed, yet apparently not +daring to refuse to admit Doctor Leslie. There was nothing in her +solicitude, however, that one could take exception to. + +Miss Langdale conducted us softly down a hallway through the middle of +the apartment, and I noted quickly how it was laid out. On one side we +passed a handsomely furnished parlor and dining-room, opposite which +were the kitchen and butler's pantry, and, farther along, a bedroom and +the bath. On down the hall, on the right, was Doctor Wardlaw's study, +or rather den, for it was more of a library than an office. + +The nurse led the way, and we entered. Through the windows one caught a +beautiful vista of the Drive, the river, and the Jersey shore. I gazed +about curiously. Around the room there were bookcases and cabinets, a +desk, some easy-chairs, and in the corner a table on which were some of +Wardlaw's paraphernalia, for, although he was not a practising +physician, he still specialized in his favorite branches of eye and ear +surgery. + +Miss Langdale left us a moment, with a hasty excuse that she must +prepare Mrs. Wardlaw for the unexpected visit. The preparation, +however, did not take long, for a moment later Maude Wardlaw entered, +supported by her nurse. + +Her lips moved mechanically as she saw us, but we could not hear what +she said. As she walked, I could see that she had a peculiar gait, as +though she were always lifting her feet over small obstacles. Her eyes, +too, as she looked at us, had a strange squint, and now and then the +muscles of her face twitched. She glanced from Leslie to Kennedy +inquiringly, as Leslie introduced us, implying that we were from his +office, then dropped into the easy-chair. Her breathing seemed to be +labored and her heart action feeble, as the nurse propped her up +comfortably. + +As Mrs. Wardlaw's hand rested on the arm of the chair I saw that there +was a peculiar flexion of her wrist which reminded me of the so-called +"wrist-drop" of which I had heard. It was almost as if the muscles of +her hands and arms, feet and legs, were weak and wasting. Once she had +been beautiful, and even now, although she seemed to be a wreck of her +former self, she had a sort of ethereal beauty that was very touching. + +"Doctor is out--just now," she hesitated, in a tone that hinted at the +loss of her voice. She turned appealingly to Miss Langdale. "Oh," she +murmured, "I feel so badly this morning--as if pins and needles were +sticking in me--vague pains in all my limbs--" + +Her voice sank to a whisper and only her lips moved feebly. One had +only to see her to feel sympathy. It seemed almost cruel to intrude +under the circumstances, yet it was absolutely necessary if Craig were +to accomplish anything. Maude Wardlaw, however, did not seem to +comprehend the significance of our presence, and I wondered how Kennedy +would proceed. + +"I should like to see your Japanese servant, Kato," he began, directly, +somewhat to my surprise, addressing himself rather to Miss Langdale +than to Mrs. Wardlaw. + +The nurse nodded and left the room without a word, as though +appreciating the anomalous position in which she was placed as +temporary mistress of the household. + +A few moments later Kato entered. He was a typical specimen of the +suave Oriental, and I eyed him keenly, for to me East was East and West +was West, and I was frankly suspicious, especially as I saw no reason +to be otherwise in Kennedy's manner. I waited eagerly to see what Craig +would do. + +"Sit here," directed Kennedy, indicating a straight-backed chair, on +which the Japanese obediently sat. "Now cross your knees." + +As Kato complied, Kennedy quickly brought his hand, held flat and palm +upward, sharply against the Jap's knee just below the kneecap. There +was a quick reflex jerk of the leg below the knee in response. + +"Quite natural," Kennedy whispered, turning to Leslie, who nodded. + +He dismissed Kato without further questioning, having had an +opportunity to observe whether he showed any of the symptoms that had +appeared in the rest of the family. Craig and the Health Commissioner +exchanged a few words under their breath, then Craig crossed the room +to Mrs. Wardlaw. The entrance of Kato had roused her momentarily and +she had been watching what was going on. + +"It is a simple test," explained Kennedy, indicating to Miss Langdale +that he wished to repeat it on her patient. + +Mrs. Wardlaw's knee showed no reflex! As he turned to us, we could see +that Kennedy's face was lined deeply with thought, and he paced up and +down the room once or twice, considering what he had observed. + +I could see that even this simple interview had greatly fatigued Mrs. +Wardlaw. Miss Langdale said nothing, but it was plainly evident that +she objected strongly to the strain on her patient's strength. + +"That will be sufficient," nodded Craig, noticing the nurse. "Thank you +very much. I think you had better let Mrs. Wardlaw rest in her own +room." + +On the nurse's arm Mrs. Wardlaw withdrew and I looked inquiringly from +Kennedy to Doctor Leslie. What was it that had made this beautiful +woman such a wreck? It seemed almost as though the hand of fate had +stretched out against one who had all to make her happy--wealth, youth, +a beautiful home--for the sullen purpose of taking away what had been +bestowed so bounteously. + +"It is polyneuritis, all right, Leslie," Craig agreed, the moment we +were alone. + +"I think so," coincided Leslie, with a nod. "It's the CAUSE I can't get +at. Is it polyneuritis of beriberi--or something else?" Kennedy did not +reply immediately. + +"Then there are other causes?" I inquired of Leslie. + +"Alcohol," he returned, briefly. "I don't think that figures in this +instance. At least I've seen no evidence." + +"Perhaps some drug?" I hazarded at a venture. + +Leslie shrugged. + +"How about the food?" inquired Craig. "Have you made any attempt to +examine it?" + +"I have," replied the commissioner. "When I came up here first I +thought of that. I took samples of all the food that I could find in +the ice-box, the kitchen, and the butler's pantry. I have the whole +thing, labeled, and I have already started to test them out. I'll show +you what I have done when we go down to the department laboratory." + +Kennedy had been examining the books in the bookcase and now pulled out +a medical dictionary. It opened readily to the heading, +"Polyneuritis--multiple neuritis." + +I bent over and read with him. In the disease, it seemed, the nerve +fibers themselves in the small nerves broke down and the affection was +motor, sensory, vasomotor, or endemic. All the symptoms described +seemed to fit what I had observed in Mrs. Wardlaw. + +"Invariably," the article went on, "it is the result of some toxic +substance circulating in the blood. There is a polyneuritis psychosis, +known as Korsakoff's syndrome, characterized by disturbances of the +memory of recent events and false reminiscences, the patient being +restless and disorientated." + +I ran my finger down the page until I came to the causes. There were +alcohol, lead, arsenic, bisulphide of carbon, diseases such as +diabetes, diphtheria, typhoid, and finally, much to my excitement, was +enumerated beriberi, with the added information, "or, as the Japanese +call it, kakke." + +I placed my finger on the passage and was about to say something about +my suspicions of Kato when we heard the sound of footsteps in the hall, +and Craig snapped the book shut, returning it hastily to the bookcase. +It was Miss Langdale who had made her patient comfortable in bed and +now returned to us. + +"Who is this Kato?" inquired Craig, voicing what was in my own mind. +"What do you know about him?" + +"Just a young Japanese from the Mission downtown," replied the nurse, +directly. "I don't suppose you know, but Mrs. Wardlaw used to be +greatly interested in religious and social work among the Japanese and +Chinese; would be yet, but," she added, significantly, "she is not +strong enough. They employed him before I came here, about a year ago, +I think." + +Kennedy nodded, and was about to ask another question, when there was a +slight noise out in the hall. Thinking it might be Kato himself, I +sprang to the door. + +Instead, I encountered a middle-aged man, who drew back in surprise at +seeing me, a stranger. + +"Oh, good morning, Doctor Aitken!" greeted Miss Langdale, in quite the +casual manner of a nurse accustomed to the daily visit at about this +hour. + +As for Doctor Aitken, he glanced from Leslie, whom he knew, to Kennedy, +whom he did not know, with a very surprised look on his face. In fact, +I got the impression that after he had been admitted he had paused a +moment in the hall to listen to the strange voices in the Wardlaw study. + +Leslie nodded to him and introduced us, without quite knowing what to +say or do, any more than Doctor Aitken. + +"A most incomprehensible case," ventured Aitken to us. "I can't, for +the life of me, make it out." The doctor showed his perplexity plainly, +whether it was feigned or not. + +"I'm afraid she's not quite so well as usual," put in Miss Langdale, +speaking to him, but in a manner that indicated that first of all she +wished any blame for her patient's condition to attach to us and not to +herself. + +Doctor Aitken pursed up his lips, bowed excusingly to us, and turned +down the hall, followed by the nurse. As they passed on to Mrs. +Wardlaw's room, I am sure they whispered about us. I was puzzled by +Doctor Aitken. He seemed to be sincere, yet, under the circumstances, I +felt that I must be suspicious of everybody and everything. + +Alone again for a moment, Kennedy turned his attention to the furniture +of the room, and finally paused before a writing-desk in the corner. He +tried it. It was not locked and he opened it. Quickly he ran through a +pile of papers carefully laid under a paper-weight at the back. + +A suppressed exclamation from him called my attention to something that +he had discovered. There lay two documents, evidently recently drawn +up. As we looked over the first, we saw that it was Doctor Wardlaw's +will, in which he had left everything to his wife, although he was not +an especially wealthy man. The other was the will of Mrs. Wardlaw. + +We devoured it hastily. In substance it was identical with the first, +except that at the end she had added two clauses. In the first she had +done just as her mother had directed. Twenty-five thousand dollars had +been left to Doctor Aitken. I glanced at Kennedy, but he was reading +on, taking the second clause. I read also. Fifty thousand dollars was +given to endow the New York Japanese Mission. + +Immediately the thought of Kato and what Miss Langdale had just told us +flashed through my mind. + +A second time we heard the nurse's footsteps on the hardwood floor of +the hall. Craig closed the desk softly. + +"Doctor Aitken is ready to go," she announced. "Is there anything more +you wish to ask?" + +Kennedy spoke a moment with the doctor as he passed out, but, aside +from the information that Mrs. Wardlaw was, in his opinion, growing +worse, the conversation added nothing to our meager store of +information. + +"I suppose you attended Mrs. Marbury?" ventured Kennedy of Miss +Langdale, after the doctor had gone. + +"Not all the time," she admitted. "Before I came there was another +nurse, a Miss Hackstaff." + +"What was the matter? Wasn't she competent?" + +Miss Langdale avoided the question, as though it were a breach of +professional etiquette to cast reflections on another nurse, although +whether that was the real reason for her reticence did not appear. +Craig seemed to make a mental note of the fact. + +"Have you seen anything--er--suspicious about this Kato?" put in +Leslie, while Kennedy frowned at the interruption. + +Miss Langdale answered quickly, "Nothing." + +"Doctor Aitken has never expressed any suspicion?" pursued Leslie. + +"Oh no," she returned. "I think I would have known it if he had any. +No, I've never heard him even hint at anything." It was evident that +she wished us to know that she was in the confidence of the doctor. + +"I think we'd better be going," interrupted Kennedy, hastily, not +apparently pleased to have Leslie break in in the investigation just at +present. + +Miss Langdale accompanied us to the door, but before we reached it it +was opened from the outside by a man who had once been and yet was +handsome, although one could see that he had a certain appearance of +having neglected himself. + +Leslie nodded and introduced us. It was Doctor Wardlaw. + +As I studied his face I could see that, as Leslie had already told us, +it plainly bore the stigma of nervousness. + +"Has Doctor Aitken been here?" he inquired, quickly, of the nurse. +Then, scarcely waiting for her even to nod, he added: "What did he say? +Is Mrs. Wardlaw any better?" + +Miss Langdale seemed to be endeavoring to make as optimistic a report +as the truth permitted, but I fancied Wardlaw read between the lines. +As they talked it was evident that there was a sort of restraint +between them. I wondered whether Wardlaw might not have some lurking +suspicion against Aitken, or some one else. If he had, even in his +nervousness he did not betray it. + +"I can't tell you how worried I am," he murmured, almost to himself. +"What can this thing be?" + +He turned to us, and, although he had just been introduced, I am sure +that our presence seemed to surprise him, for he went on talking to +himself, "Oh yes--let me see--oh yes, friends of Doctor--er--Leslie." + +I had been studying him and trying to recall what I had just read of +beriberi and polyneuritis. There flashed over my mind the recollection +of what had been called Korsakoff's syndrome, in which one of the +mental disturbances was the memory of recent events. Did not this, I +asked myself, indicate plainly enough that Leslie might be right in his +suspicions of beriberi? It was all the more apparent a moment later +when, turning to Miss Langdale, Wardlaw seemed almost instantly to +forget our presence again. At any rate, his anxiety was easy to see. + +After a few minutes' chat during which Craig observed Wardlaw's +symptoms, too, we excused ourselves, and the Health Commissioner +undertook to conduct us to his office to show us what he had done so +far. As for me, I could not get Miss Langdale out of my mind, and +especially the mysterious letter to Kennedy. What of it and what of its +secret sender? + +None of us said much until, half an hour later, in the department +laboratory, Leslie began to recapitulate what he had already done in +the case. + +"You asked whether I had examined the food," he remarked, pausing in a +corner before several cages in which were a number of pigeons, +separated and carefully tagged. With a wave of his hand at one group of +cages he continued: "These fellows I have been feeding exclusively on +samples of the various foods which I took from the Wardlaw family when +I first went up there. Here, too, are charts showing what I have +observed up to date. Over there are the 'controls'--pigeons from the +same group which have been fed regularly on the usual diet so that I +can check my tests." + +Kennedy fell to examining the pigeons carefully as well as the charts +and records of feeding and results. None of the birds fed on what had +been taken from the apartment looked well, though some were worse than +others. + +"I want you to observe this fellow," pointed out Leslie at last, +singling out one cage. The pigeon in it was a pathetic figure. His eyes +seemed dull and glazed. He paid little or no attention to us; even his +food and water did not seem to interest him. Instead of strutting +about, he seemed to be positively wabbly on his feet. Kennedy examined +this one longer and more carefully than any of the rest. + +"There are certainly all the symptoms of beriberi, or rather, +polyneuritis, in pigeons, with that bird," admitted Craig, finally, +looking up at Leslie. + +The commissioner seemed to be gratified. "You know," he remarked, +"beriberi itself is a common disease in the Orient. There has been a +good deal of study of it and the cause is now known to be the lack of +something in the food, which in the Orient is mostly rice. Polishing +the rice, which removes part of the outer coat, also takes away +something that is necessary for life, which scientists now call +'vitamines.'" + +"I may take some of these samples to study myself?" interrupted +Kennedy, as though the story of vitamines was an old one to him. + +"By all means," agreed Leslie. + +Craig selected what he wanted, keeping each separate and marked, and +excused himself, saying that he had some investigations of his own that +he wished to make and would let Leslie know the result as soon as he +discovered anything. + +Kennedy did not go back directly to the laboratory, however. Instead, +he went up-town and, to my surprise, stopped at one of the large +breweries. What it was that he was after I could not imagine, but, +after a conference with the manager, he obtained several quarts of +brewer's yeast, which he had sent directly down to the laboratory. + +Impatient though I was at this seeming neglect of the principal figures +in the case, I knew, nevertheless, that Kennedy had already schemed out +his campaign and that whatever it was he had in mind was of first +importance. + +Back at last in his own laboratory, Craig set to work on the brewer's +yeast, deriving something from it by the plentiful use of a liquid +labeled "Lloyd's reagent," a solution of hydrous aluminum silicate. + +After working for some time, I saw that he had obtained a solid which +he pressed into the form of little whitish tablets. He had by no means +finished, but, noticing my impatience, he placed the three or four +tablets in a little box and handed them to me. + +"You might take these over to Leslie in the department laboratory, +Walter," he directed. "Tell him to feed them to that wabbly-looking +pigeon over there--and let me know the moment he observes any effect." + +Glad of the chance to occupy myself, I hastened on the errand, and even +presided over the first feeding of the bird. + +When I returned I found that Kennedy had finished his work with the +brewer's yeast and was now devoting himself to the study of the various +samples of food which he had obtained from Leslie. + +He was just finishing a test of the baking-powder when I entered, and +his face showed plainly that he was puzzled by something that he had +discovered. + +"What is it?" I asked. "Have you found out anything?" + +"This seems to be almost plain sodium carbonate," he replied, +mechanically. + +"And that indicates?" I prompted. + +"Perhaps nothing, in itself," he went on, less abstractedly. "But the +use of sodium carbonate and other things which I have discovered in +other samples disengages carbon dioxide at the temperature of baking +and cooking. If you'll look in that public-health report on my desk +you'll see how the latest investigations have shown that bicarbonate of +soda and a whole list of other things which liberate carbon dioxide +destroy the vitamines Leslie was talking about. In other words, taken +altogether I should almost say there was evidence that a concerted +effort was being made to affect the food--a result analogous to that of +using polished rice as a staple diet--and producing beriberi, or, +perhaps more accurately, polyneuritis. I can be sure of nothing yet, +but--it's worth following up." + +"Then you think Kato--" + +"Not too fast," cautioned Craig. "Remember, others had access to the +kitchen, too." + +In spite of his hesitancy, I could think only of the two paragraphs we +had read in Mrs. Wardlaw's will, and especially of the last. Might not +Kato have been forced or enticed into a scheme that promised a safe +return and practically no chance of discovery? What gruesome mystery +had been unveiled by the anonymous letter which had first excited our +curiosity? + +It was late in the afternoon that Commissioner Leslie called us up, +much excited, to inform us that the drooping pigeon was already pecking +at food and beginning to show some interest in life. Kennedy seemed +greatly gratified as he hung up the receiver. + +"Almost dinner-time," he commented, with a glance at his watch. "I +think we'll make another hurried visit to the Wardlaw apartment." + +We had no trouble getting in, although as outsiders we were more +tolerated than welcome. Our excuse was that Kennedy had some more +questions which we wished to ask Miss Langdale. + +While we waited for her we sat, not in the study, but in the parlor. +The folding-doors into the dining-room were closed, but across the hall +we could tell by the sound when Kato was in the kitchen and when he +crossed the hall. + +Once I heard him in the dining-room. Before I knew it Kennedy had +hastily tiptoed across the hall and into the kitchen. He was gone only +a couple of minutes, but it was long enough to place in the food that +was being prepared, and in some unprepared, either the tablets he had +made or a powder he had derived from them crushed up. When he returned +I saw from his manner that the real purpose of the visit had been +accomplished, although when Miss Langdale appeared he went through the +form of questioning her, mostly on Mrs. Marbury's sickness and death. +He did not learn anything that appeared to be important, but at least +he covered up the reason for his visit. Outside the apartment, Kennedy +paused a moment. "There's nothing to do now but await developments," he +meditated. "Meanwhile, there is no use for us to double up our time +together. I have decided to watch Kato to-night. Suppose you shadow +Doctor Aitken. Perhaps we may get a line on something that way." + +The plan seemed admirable to me. In fact, I had been longing for some +action of the sort all the afternoon, while Kennedy had been engaged in +the studies which he evidently deemed more important. + +Accordingly, after dinner, we separated, Kennedy going back to the +Forum Apartments to wait until Kato left for the night, while I walked +farther up the Drive to the address given in the directory as that of +Doctor Aitken. + +It happened to be the time when the doctor had his office hours for +patients, so that I was sure at least that he was at home when I took +my station just down the street, carefully scrutinizing every one who +entered and left his house. + +Nothing happened, however, until the end of the hour during which he +received office calls. As I glanced down the street I was glad that I +had taken an inconspicuous post, for I could see Miss Langdale +approaching. She was not in her nurse's uniform, but seemed to be off +duty for an hour or two, and I must confess she was a striking figure, +even in that neighborhood which was noted for its pretty and daintily +gowned girls. Almost before I knew it she had entered the +English-basement entrance of Doctor Aitken's. + +I thought rapidly. What could be the purpose of her visit? Above all, +how was I, on the outside, to find out? I walked down past the house. +But that did no good. In a quandary, I stopped. Hesitation would get me +nothing. Suddenly an idea flashed through my mind. I turned in and rang +the bell. + +"It's past the doctor's office hours," informed a servant who opened +the door. "He sees no one after hours." + +"But," I lied, "I have an appointment. Don't disturb him. I can wait." + +The waiting-room was empty, I had seen, and I was determined to get in +at any cost. Reluctantly the servant admitted me. + +For several moments I sat quietly alone, fearful that the doctor might +open the double doors of his office and discover me. But nothing +happened and I grew bolder. Carefully I tiptoed to the door. It was of +solid oak and practically impervious to sound. The doors fitted +closely, too. Still, by applying my ear, I could make out the sound of +voices on the other side. I strained my ears both to catch a word now +and then and to be sure that I might hear the approach of anybody +outside. + +Was Aitken suspiciously interested in the pretty nurse--or was she +suspiciously interested in him? + +Suddenly their voices became a trifle more distinct. "Then you think +Doctor Wardlaw has it, too?" I heard her ask. I did not catch the exact +reply, but it was in the affirmative. + +They were approaching the door. In a moment it would be opened. I +waited to hear no more, but seized my hat and dashed for the entrance +from the street just in time to escape observation. Miss Langdale came +out shortly, the doctor accompanying her to the door, and I followed +her back to the Forum. + +What I had heard only added to the puzzle. Why her anxiety to know +whether Wardlaw himself was affected? Why Aitken's solicitude in +asserting that he was? Were they working together, or were they really +opposed? Which might be using the other? + +My queries still unanswered, I returned to Aitken's and waited about +some time, but nothing happened, and finally I went on to our own +apartment. + +It was very late when Craig came in, but I was still awake and waiting +for him. Before I could ask him a question he was drawing from me what +I had observed, listening attentively. Evidently he considered it of +great importance, though no remark of his betrayed what interpretation +he put on the episode. + +"Have you found anything?" I managed to ask, finally. + +"Yes, indeed," he nodded, thoughtfully. "I shadowed Kato from the +Forum. It must have been before Miss Langdale came out that he left. He +lives down-town in a tenement-house. There's something queer about that +Jap." + +"I think there is," I agreed. "I don't like his looks." + +"But it wasn't he who interested me so much to-night," Craig went on, +ignoring my remark, "as a woman." + +"A woman?" I queried, in surprise. "A Jap, too?" + +"No, a white woman, rather good-looking, too, with dark hair and eyes. +She seemed to be waiting for him. Afterward I made inquiries. She has +been seen about there before." + +"Who was she?" I asked, fancying perhaps Miss Langdale had made another +visit while she was out, although from the time it did not seem +possible. + +"I followed her to her house. Her name is Hackstaff--" + +"The first trained nurse!" I exclaimed. + +"Miss Hackstaff is an enigma," confessed Kennedy. "At first I thought +that perhaps she might be one of those women whom the Oriental type +fascinated, that she and Kato might be plotting. Then I have considered +that perhaps her visits to Kato may be merely to get information--that +she may have an ax to grind. Both Kato and she will bear watching, and +I have made arrangements to have it done. I've called on that young +detective, Chase, whom I've often used for the routine work of +shadowing. There's nothing more that we can do now until to-morrow, so +we might as well turn in." + +Early the next day Kennedy was again at work, both in his own +laboratory and in that of the Health Department, making further studies +of the food and the effect it had on the pigeons, as well as observing +what changes were produced by the white tablets he had extracted from +the yeast. + +It was early in the forenoon when the buzzer on the laboratory door +sounded and I opened the door to admit Chase in a high state of +excitement. + +"What has happened?" asked Craig, eagerly. + +"Many things," reported the young detective, breathlessly. "To begin +with, I followed Miss Hackstaff from her apartment this morning. She +seemed to be worked up over something--perhaps had had a sleepless +night. As nearly as I could make out she was going about aimlessly. +Finally, however, I found that she was getting into the neighborhood of +Doctor Aitken and of the Forum. Well, when we got to the Forum she +stopped and waited in front of it--oh, I should say almost half an +hour. I couldn't make out what it was she wanted, but at last I found +out." + +He paused a moment, then raced on, without urging. "Miss Langdale came +out--and you should have seen the Hackstaff woman go for her." He drew +in his breath sharply at the reminiscence. "I thought there was going +to be a murder done--on Riverside Drive. Miss Langdale screamed and ran +back into the apartment. There was a good deal of confusion. The +hall-boys came to the rescue. In the excitement, I managed to slip into +the elevator with her. No one seemed to think it strange then that an +outsider should be interested. I went up with her--saw Wardlaw, as she +poured out the story. He's a queer one. Is he RIGHT?" + +"Why?" asked Craig, indulgently. + +"He seems so nervous; things upset him so easily. Yet, after we had +taken care of Miss Langdale and matters had quieted down, I thought I +might get some idea of the cause of the fracas and asked him if he knew +of any reason. Why, he looked at me kind of blankly, and I swear he +acted as though he had almost forgotten it already. I tell you, he's +not RIGHT." + +Remembering our own experience, I glanced significantly at Craig. +"Korsakoff's syndrome?" I queried, laconically. "Another example of a +mind confused even on recent events?" + +Kennedy, however, was more interested in Chase. "What did Miss +Hackstaff do?" he asked. + +"I don't know. I missed her. When I got out again she was gone." + +"Pick her up again," directed Craig. "Perhaps you'll get her at her +place. And see, this time, if you can get what I asked you." + +"I'll try," returned Chase, much pleased at the words of commendation +which Craig added as he left us again. + +On what errand Chase had gone I could not guess, except that it had +something to do with this strange woman who had so unexpectedly entered +the case. Nor was Craig any more communicative. There were evidently +many problems which only events could clear up even in his mind. Though +he did not say anything, I knew that he was as impatient as I was, and +as Leslie, too, who called up once or twice to learn whether he had +discovered anything. There was nothing to do but wait. + +It was early in the afternoon that the telephone rang and I answered +it. It was Chase calling Kennedy. I heard only half the conversation +and there was not much of that, but I knew that something was about to +happen. Craig hastily summoned a cab, then in rapid succession called +up Doctor Aitken and Leslie, for whom we stopped as our driver shot us +over to the Forum Apartments. + +There was no ceremony or unnecessary explanation about our presence, as +Kennedy entered and directed Miss Langdale to bring her patients into +the little office-study of Doctor Wardlaw. + +Miss Langdale obeyed reluctantly. When she returned I felt that it was +appreciable that a change had taken place. Mrs. Wardlaw, at least, was +improved. She was still ill, but she seemed to take a more lively +interest in what was going on about her. As for Doctor Wardlaw, +however, I could not see that there had been any improvement in him. +His nervousness had not abated. Kato, whom Kennedy summoned at the same +time, preserved his usual imperturbable exterior. Miss Langdale, in +spite of the incident of the morning, was quite as solicitous as ever +of her charges. + +We had not long to wait for Doctor Aitken. He arrived, inquiring +anxiously what had happened, although Kennedy gave none of us any +satisfaction immediately as to the cause of his quick action. Aitken +fidgeted uneasily, glancing from Kennedy to Leslie, then to Miss +Langdale, and back to Kennedy, without reading any explanation in the +faces. I knew that Craig was secretly taking his time both for its +effect on those present and to give Chase a chance. + +"Our poisons and our drugs," he began, leisurely, at length, "are in +many instances the close relatives of harmless compounds that represent +the intermediate steps in the daily process of metabolism. There is +much that I might say about protein poisons. However, that is not +exactly what I want to talk about--at least first." + +He stopped to make sure that he had the attention of us all. As a +matter of fact, his manner was such that he attracted even the vagrant +interest of the Wardlaws. + +"I do not know how much of his suspicions Commissioner Leslie has +communicated to you," he resumed, "but I believe that you have all +heard of the disease beriberi so common in the Far East and known to +the Japanese as kakke. It is a form of polyneuritis and, as you +doubtless know, is now known to be caused, at least in the Orient, by +the removal of the pericarp in the polishing of rice. Our milling of +flour is, in a minor degree, analogous. To be brief, the disease arises +from the lack in diet of certain substances or bodies which modern +scientists call vitamines. Small quantities of these vital principles +are absolutely essential to normal growth and health and even to life +itself. They are nitrogenous compounds and their absence gives rise to +a class of serious disorders in which the muscles surrender their store +of nitrogen first. The nerves seems to be the preferred creditors, so +to speak. They are affected only after the muscles begin to waste. It +is an abstruse subject and it is not necessary for me to go deeper into +it now." + +I controlled my own interest in order to watch those about me. Kato, +for one, was listening attentively, I saw. + +"In my studies of the diet of this household," continued Kennedy, "I +have found that substances have been used in preparing food which kill +vitamines. In short, the food has been denatured. Valuable elements, +necessary elements, have been taken away." + +"I, sir, not always in kitchen, sir," interrupted Kato, still +deferential. "I not always know--" + +With a peremptory wave of his hand Kennedy silenced the Jap. + +"It has long been a question," he hurried on, "whether these vitamines +are tangible bodies or just special arrangements of molecules. Recently +government investigators have discovered that they are bodies that can +be isolated by a special process from the filtrate of brewer's yeast by +Lloyd's reagent. Five grams of this"--he held up some of the tablets he +had made--"for a sixty-kilogram person each day are sufficient. Unknown +to you, I have introduced some of this substance into the food already +deficient in vitamines. I fancy that even now I can detect a change," +he nodded toward Mrs. Wardlaw. + +There was a murmur of surprise in the room, but before Craig could +continue further the door opened and Mrs. Wardlaw uttered a nervous +exclamation. There stood Chase with a woman. I recognized her +immediately from Kennedy's description as Miss Hackstaff. + +Chase walked deliberately over to Kennedy and handed him something, +while the nurse glanced calmly, almost with pity, at Mrs. Wardlaw, +ignoring Wardlaw, then fixing her gaze venomously on Miss Langdale. +Recalling the incident of the morning, I was ready to prevent, if +necessary, a repetition now. Neither moved. But it was a thrilling, if +silent, drama as the two women glared at each other. + +Kennedy was hastily comparing the anonymous note he had received with +something Chase had brought. + +"Some one," he shot out, suddenly, looking up and facing us, "has, as I +have intimated, been removing or destroying the vital principle in the +food--these vitamines. Clearly the purpose was to make this case look +like an epidemic of beriberi, polyneuritis. That part has been clear to +me for some time. It has been the source of this devilish plot which +has been obscure. Just a moment, Kato, I will do the talking. My +detective, Chase, has been doing some shadowing for me, as well as some +turning over of past history. He has found a woman, a nurse, more than +a nurse, a secret lover, cast off in favor of another. Miss +Hackstaff--you wrote that letter--it is your hand--for revenge--on Miss +Langdale and--" + +"You shan't have him!" almost hissed Helen Hackstaff. "If I cannot--no +one shall!" + +Natalie Langdale faced her, defiant. "You are a jealous, suspicious +person," she cried. "Doctor Aitken knows--" + +"One moment," interrupted Craig. "Mrs. Marbury is gone. Mrs. Wardlaw is +weakened. Yet all who are affected with nerve troubles are not +necessarily suffering from polyneuritis. Some one here has been +dilettanting with death. It is of no use," he thundered, turning +suddenly on a cowering figure. "You stood to win most, with the money +and your unholy love. But Miss Hackstaff, cast off, has proved your +Nemesis. Your nervousness is the nervousness not of polyneuritis, but +of guilt, Doctor Wardlaw!" + + + + +IX + +THE RUBBER DAGGER + + +"Hypnotism can't begin to accomplish what Karatoff claims. He's a fake, +Kennedy, a fake." + +Professor Leslie Gaines of the Department of Experimental Psychology at +the university paced excitedly up and down Craig's laboratory. + +"There have been complaints to the County Medical Society," he went on, +without stopping, "and they have taken the case up and arranged a +demonstration for this afternoon. I've been delegated to attend it and +report." + +I fancied from his tone and manner that there was just a bit more than +professional excitement involved. We did not know Gaines intimately, +though of course Kennedy knew of him and he of Kennedy. Some years +before, I recollected, he had married Miss Edith Ashmore, whose family +was quite prominent socially, and the marriage had attracted a great +deal of attention at the time, for she had been a student in one of his +courses when he was only an assistant professor. + +"Who is Karatoff, anyhow?" asked Kennedy. "What is known about him?" + +"Dr. Galen Karatoff--a Russian, I believe," returned Gaines. "He claims +to be able to treat disease by hypnotism-suggestion, he calls it, +though it is really something more than that. As nearly as I can make +out it must almost amount to thought transference, telepathy, or some +such thing. Oh, he has a large following; in fact, some very well-known +people in the smart set are going to him. Why," he added, facing us, +"Edith--my wife--has become interested in his hypnotic clinics, as he +calls them. I tell her it is more than half sham, but she won't believe +it." + +Gaines paused and it was evident that he hesitated over asking +something. + +"When is the demonstration?" inquired Kennedy, with unconcealed +interest. + +The professor looked at his watch. "I'm going over there now; in fact, +I'm just a bit late--only, I happened to think of you and it occurred +to me that perhaps if you could add something to my report it might +carry weight. Would you like to come with me? Really, I should think +that it might interest you." + +So far Kennedy had said little besides asking a question or two. I knew +the symptoms. Gaines need not have hesitated or urged him. It was just +the thing that appealed to him. + +"How did Mrs. Gaines become interested in the thing?" queried Craig, a +moment later, outside, as we climbed into the car with the professor. + +"Through an acquaintance who introduced her to Karatoff and the rest. +Carita Belleville, the dancer, you know?" + +Kennedy glanced at me and I nodded that I had heard of her. It was only +a few nights before that I had seen Carita at one of the midnight +revues, doing a dance which was described as the "hypnotic whirl," a +wild abandon of grace and motion. Carita Belleville had burst like a +meteor on the sky of the "Great White Way," blazing a gorgeous trail +among the fixed stars of that gay firmament. She had even been "taken +up" by society, or at least a certain coterie of it, had become much +sought after to do exhibition dancing at social affairs, and now was +well known in the amusement notes of the newspapers and at the +fashionable restaurants. She had hosts of admirers and I had no doubt +that Mrs. Gaines might well have fallen under the spell of her +popularity. + +"What is Miss Belleville's interest in Karatoff?" pursued Craig, keenly. + +Gaines shrugged his shoulders. "Notoriety, perhaps," he replied. "It is +a peculiar group that Karatoff has gathered about him, they tell me." + +There was something unsatisfactory about the answer and I imagined that +Gaines meant purposely to leave it so as not to prejudice the case. +Somehow, I felt that there must be something risque in the doings of +Karatoff and his "patients." At any rate, it was only natural with +anything that Carita Belleville was likely to be concerned with. + +There was little time for further questions, for our destination was +not far down the Drive from the university, and the car pulled up +before one of the new handsome and ornate "studio apartments" up-town. + +We followed Gaines into the building, and the hall-boy directed us to a +suite on the first floor. + +A moment later we were admitted by Karatoff himself to what had become +known as his "hypnotic clinic," really a most artistically furnished +studio. + +Karatoff himself was a tall, dark-haired fellow, bearded, somewhat +sallow. Every feature of his remarkable face, however, was subordinate +to a pair of wonderful, deep-set, piercing eyes. Even as he spoke, +greeting Gaines on the rather ticklish mission he had come, and +accepting us with a quick glance and nod, we could see instantly that +he was, indeed, a fascinating fellow, every inch a mystic. + +His clinic, or, as I have said, studio, carried out well the impression +of mysticism that one derived from the strange personality who presided +over it. There were only two or three rooms in the apartment, one being +the large room down the end of a very short hall to which he conducted +us. It was darkened, necessarily, since it was on the first floor of +the tall building, and the air seemed to be heavy with odors that +suggested the Orient. Altogether there was a cultivated dreaminess +about it that was no less exotic because studied. Doctor Karatoff +paused at the door to introduce us, and we could see that we were +undergoing a close scrutiny from the party who were assembled there. + +On a quaint stand tea was brewing and the whole assemblage had an +atmosphere of bohemian camaraderie which, with the professions of +Karatoff, promised well that Kennedy was not wasting time. + +I watched particularly the exchange of greetings between Professor +Gaines and Edith Gaines, who was already there. Neither of them seemed +to be perfectly at ease, though they betrayed as little as they could. +However, one could not help noticing that each was watching the other, +naturally. + +Edith Gaines was a pretty little woman, petite, light of hair, dainty, +the very type of woman who craved for and thrived on attention. Here at +least there seemed to be no lack of it. There was only one other woman +in the room who attracted the men equally, Carita Belleville herself. +Carita was indeed a stunning woman, tall, slender, dark, with a +wonderful pair of magnetic eyes. + +As I watched, I could see that both women were quite friendly with +Doctor Karatoff--perhaps even rivals for his attentions. I saw Gaines +watching Carita attentively, never in the mean time failing for long to +lose sight of Mrs. Gaines. Was he trying to estimate the relative +popularity of the two in this strange group? If so, I failed to see any +approval of either. + +Introductions were now coming so fast that neither Kennedy nor I had +much opportunity except for the most cursory observation of the people. +Among the men, however, I noticed two especially who proved worth +observation. One was Armand Marchant, well known as a broker, not so +much for his professional doings as for his other activities. Though +successful, he was better known as one of those who desert Wall Street +promptly at the hour of closing, to be found late in the afternoon at +the tea dances up-town. + +Another was Cyril Errol, a man of leisure, well known also in the club +world. He had inherited an estate, small, perhaps, but ample to allow +him to maintain appearances. Errol impressed you as being one to whom +the good things of the world appealed mightily, a hedonist, and, +withal, very much attracted to and by the ladies. + +It was fortunate that the serving of tea enabled us to look about and +get our bearings. In spite of the suppressed excitement and obvious +restraint of the occasion, we were able to learn much over the tea-cups. + +Errol seemed to vibrate between the group about Mrs. Gaines and that +about Miss Belleville, welcome wherever he went, for he was what men +commonly call a "good mixer." Marchant, on the other hand, was almost +always to be found not far from Edith Gaines. Perhaps it was the more +brilliant conversation that attracted him, for it ran on many subjects, +but it was difficult to explain it so to my satisfaction. All of which +I saw Gaines duly noting, not for the report he had to make to the +Medical Society, but for his own information. In fact, it was difficult +to tell the precise degree of disapproval with which he regarded +Karatoff, Errol, and Marchant, in turn, as he noted the intimacy of +Edith Gaines with them. I wished that we might observe them all when +they did not know it, for I could not determine whether she was taking +pleasure in piquing the professor or whether she was holding her +admirers in leash in his presence. At any rate, I felt I need lay no +claim to clairvoyance to predict the nature of the report that Gaines +would prepare. + +The conversation was at its height when Karatoff detached himself from +one of the groups and took a position in a corner of the room, alone. +Not a word was said by him, yet as if by magic the buzz of conversation +ceased. Karatoff looked about as though proud of the power of even his +silence. Whatever might be said of the man, at least his very presence +seemed to command respect from his followers. + +I had expected that he would make some reference to Gaines and +ourselves and the purpose of the meeting, but he avoided the subject +and, instead, chose to leap right into the middle of things. + +"So that there can be no question about what I am able to do," he +began, "I wish each of you to write on a piece of paper what you would +like to have me cause any one to do or say under hypnotism. You will +please fold the paper tightly, covering the writing. I will read the +paper to myself, still folded up, will hypnotize the subject, and will +make the subject do whatever is desired. That will be preliminary to +what I have to say later about my powers in hypnotic therapeutics." + +Pieces of paper and little lead-pencils were distributed by an +attendant and in the rustling silence that followed each cudgeled his +brain for something that would put to the test the powers of Karatoff. + +Thinking, I looked about the room. Near the speaker stood a table on +which lay a curious collection of games and books, musical instruments, +and other things that might suggest actions to be performed in the +test. My eye wandered to a phonograph standing next the table. Somehow, +I could not get Mrs. Gaines and Carita Belleville out of my head. + +Slowly I wrote, "Have Mrs. Gaines pick out a record, play it on the +phonograph, then let her do as she pleases." + +Some moments elapsed while the others wrote. Apparently they were +trying to devise methods of testing Doctor Karatoff's mettle. Then the +papers were collected and deposited on the table beside him. + +Apparently at random Karatoff picked out one of the folded papers, +then, seemingly without looking at it and certainly without unfolding +it, as far as I could determine, he held it up to his forehead. + +It was an old trick, I knew. Perhaps he had palmed a sponge wet with +alcohol or some other liquid, had brushed it over the paper, making the +writing visible through it, and drying out rapidly so as to leave the +paper opaque again long before any of us saw it a second time. Or was +he really exercising some occult power? At any rate, he read it, or +pretended to read it, at least. + +"I am asked to hypnotize Mrs. Gaines," he announced, dropping the paper +unconcernedly on the table beside the other pile, as though this were +mere child's play for his powers. It was something of a shock to +realize that it was my paper he had chanced to pick up first, and I +leaned forward eagerly, watching. + +Mrs. Gaines rose and every eye was riveted on her as Karatoff placed +her in an easy-chair before him. There was an expectant silence, as +Karatoff moved the chair so that she could concentrate her attention +only on a bright silver globe suspended from the ceiling. The +half-light, the heavy atmosphere, the quiet, assured manner of the +chief actor in the scene, all combined to make hypnotization as nearly +possible as circumstances could. Karatoff moved before her, passing his +hands with a peculiar motion before her eyes. It seemed an incredibly +short time in which Edith Gaines yielded to the strange force which +fascinated the group. + +"Quite susceptible," murmured Kennedy, beside me, engrossed in the +operation. + +"It is my test," I whispered back, and he nodded. + +Slowly Edith Gaines rose from the chair, faced us with unseeing eyes, +except as Karatoff directed. Karatoff himself was a study. It seemed as +if he had focused every ounce of his faculties on the accomplishment of +the task in hand. Slowly still the woman moved, as if in a dream walk, +over toward the phonograph, reached into the cabinet beneath it and +drew forth a book of records. Karatoff faced us, as if to assure us +that at that point he had resigned his control and was now letting her +act for her subconscious self. + +Her fingers passed over page after page until finally she stopped, drew +forth the record, placed it on the machine, wound it, then placed the +record on the revolving disk. + +My first surprise was quickly changed to gratification. She had picked +out the music to the "Hypnotic Whirl." I bent forward, more intent. +What would she do next? + +As she turned I could see, even in the dim light, a heightened color in +her cheeks, as though the excitement of the catchy music had infected +her. A moment later she was executing, and very creditably, too, an +imitation of Carita herself in the Revue. What did it mean? Was it that +consciously or unconsciously she was taking the slender dancer as her +model? The skill and knowledge that she put into the dance showed +plainly. + +Next to Kennedy, I saw Gaines leaning far forward, looking now at his +wife, now at the little group. I followed his eyes. To my surprise, I +saw Marchant, his gaze riveted on Edith Gaines as if she had been the +star performer in a play. Evidently my chance request to Karatoff had +been builded better than I knew. I ran my gaze over the others. Errol +was no less engrossed than Marchant. Quickly I glanced at Carita, +wondering whether she might be gratified by the performance of a pupil. +Whether it was natural grace or real hypnotism in the "Hypnotic Whirl," +I was surprised to see on Carita's face something that looked strangely +akin to jealousy. It was as though some other woman had usurped her +prerogative. She leaned over to speak to Errol with the easy +familiarity of an old admirer. I could not hear what was said and +perhaps it was inconsequential. In fact, it must have been the very +inconsequentiality of his reply that piqued her. He glanced at Marchant +a moment, as if she had said something about him, then back at Edith +Gaines. On his part, Professor Gaines was growing more and more furious. + +I had just about decided that the little drama in the audience was of +far more importance and interest than even the dance, when the music +ceased. Karatoff approached, took Mrs. Gaines by the hand, led her back +to the chair, and, at a word, she regained her normal consciousness. As +she rose, still in a daze it seemed, it was quite evident that she had +no waking realization of what had happened, for she walked back and sat +down beside her husband, quite as though nothing had happened. + +As for me, I could not help wondering what had actually happened. What +did it all mean? Had Mrs. Gaines expressed her own self--or was it +Karatoff--or Marchant--or Errol? What was the part played by Carita +Belleville? Gaines did not betray anything to her, but their mutual +attitude was eloquent. There was something of which he disapproved and +she knew it, some lack of harmony. What was the cause? + +As for Karatoff's exhibition, it was all truly remarkable, whether in +his therapeutics the man was a faker or not. + +Karatoff seemed to realize that he had made a hit. Without giving any +one a chance to question him, he reached down quickly and picked up +another of the papers, repeating the process through which he had gone +before. + +"Mr. Errol," he summoned, placing the second folded paper on the table +with the first. + +Errol rose and went forward and Karatoff placed him in the chair as he +had Mrs. Gaines. There seemed to be no hesitation, at least on the part +of Karatoff's followers, to being hypnotized. + +Whatever it was written on the paper, the writer had evidently not +trusted to chance, as I had, but had told specifically what to do. + +At the mute bidding of Karatoff Errol rose. We watched breathlessly. +Deliberately he walked across the room to the table, and, to the +astonishment of all save one, picked up a rubber dagger, one of those +with which children play, which was lying in the miscellaneous pile on +the table. I had not noticed it, but some one's keen eye had, and +evidently it had suggested a melodramatic request. + +Quickly Errol turned. If he had been a motion-picture actor, he could +not have portrayed better the similitude of hate that was written on +his face. A few strides and he had advanced toward our little audience, +now keyed up to the highest pitch of excitement by the extraordinary +exhibition. + +"Of course," remarked Karatoff, as at a word Errol paused, still +poising the dagger, "you know that under hypnotism in the psychological +laboratory a patient has often struck at his 'enemy' with a rubber +dagger, going through all the motions of real passion. Now!" + +No word was said by Karatoff to indicate to Errol what it was that he +was to do. But a gasp went up from some one as he took another step and +it was evident that it was Marchant whom he had singled out. For just a +moment Errol poised the rubber dagger over his "victim," as if +gloating. It was dramatic, realistic. As Errol paused, Marchant smiled +at the rest of us, a sickly smile, I thought, as though he would have +said that the play was being carried too far. + +Never for a moment did Errol take from him the menacing look. It was +only a moment in the play, yet it was so unexpected that it seemed +ages. Then, swiftly, down came the dagger on Marchant's left side just +over the breast, the rubber point bending pliantly as it descended. + +A sharp cry escaped Marchant. I looked quickly. He had fallen forward, +face down, on the floor. + +Edith Gaines screamed as we rushed to Marchant and turned him over. For +the moment, as Kennedy, Karatoff, and Gaines bent over him and +endeavored to loosen his collar and apply a restorative, consternation +reigned in the little circle. I bent over, too, and looked first at +Marchant's flushed face, then at Kennedy. Marchant was dead! + +There was not a mark on him, apparently. Only a moment before he had +been one of us. We could look at one another only in amazement, tinged +with fear. Killed by a rubber dagger? Was it possible? + +"Call an ambulance--quick!" directed Kennedy to me, though I knew that +he knew it was of no use except as a matter of form. + +We stood about the prostrate form, stunned. In a few moments the police +would be there. Instinctively we looked at Karatoff. Plainly he was +nervous and overwrought now. His voice shook as he brought Errol out of +the trance, and Errol, dazed, uncomprehending, struggled to take in the +horribly unreal tragedy which greeted his return to consciousness. + +"It--it was an accident," muttered Karatoff, eagerly trying to justify +himself, though trembling for once in his life. "Arteriosclerosis, +perhaps, hardening of the arteries, some weakness of the heart. I +never--" + +He cut the words short as Edith Gaines reeled and fell into her +husband's arms. She seemed completely prostrated by the shock. Or was +it weakness following the high mental tension of her own hypnotization? +Together we endeavored to revive her, waiting for the first flutter of +her eyelids, which seemed an interminable time. + +Errol in the mean time was pacing the floor like one in a dream. Events +had followed one another so fast in the confusion that I had only an +unrelated series of impressions. It was not until a moment later that I +realized the full import of the affair, when I saw Kennedy standing +near the table in the position Karatoff had assumed, a strange look of +perplexity on his face. Slowly I realized what was the cause. The +papers on which were written the requests for the exhibitions of +Karatoff's skill were gone! + +Whatever was done must be done quickly, and Kennedy looked about with a +glance that missed nothing. Before I could say a word about the papers +he had crossed the room to where Marchant had been standing in the +little group about Edith Gaines as we entered. On a side-table stood +the teacup from which he had been sipping. With his back to the rest, +Kennedy drew from his breast pocket a little emergency case he carried +containing a few thin miniature glass tubes. Quickly he poured the few +drops of the dregs of the tea into one of the tubes, then into others +tea from the other cups. + +Again he looked at the face of Marchant as though trying to read in the +horrified smile that had petrified on it some mysterious secret hidden +underneath. Slowly the question was shaping in my mind, was it, as +Karatoff would have us believe, an accident? + +The clang of a bell outside threw us all into worse confusion, and a +moment later, almost together, a white-coated surgeon and a blue-coated +policeman burst into the room. It seemed almost no time, in the swirl +of events, before the policeman was joined by a detective assigned by +the Central Office to that district. + +"Well, doctor," demanded the detective as he entered, "what's the +verdict?" + +"Arteriosclerosis, I think," replied the young surgeon. "They tell me +there was some kind of hypnotic seance going on. One of them named +Errol struck at him with a rubber dagger, and--" + +"Get out!" scoffed the Central Office man. "Killed by a rubber dagger! +Say, what do you think we are? What did you find when you entered, +sergeant?" + +The policeman handed the detective the rubber dagger which he had +picked up, forgotten, on the floor where Errol had dropped it when he +came out from the hypnotization. + +The detective took it gingerly and suspiciously, with a growl. "I'll +have the point of this analyzed. It may be--well--we won't say what may +be. But I can tell you what is. You, Doctor Karatoff, or whatever your +name is, and you, Mr. Errol, are under arrest. It's a good deal easier +to take you now than it will be later. Then if you can get a judge to +release you, we'll at least know where you are." + +"This is outrageous, preposterous!" stormed Karatoff. + +"Can't help it," returned the officer, coolly. + +"Why," exclaimed Carita Belleville, excitedly projecting herself before +the two prisoners, "it's ridiculous! Even the ambulance surgeon says it +was arteriosclerosis, an accident. I--" + +"Very well, madam," calmed the sergeant. "So much the better. They'll +get out of our hands that much quicker. Just at present it is my duty." + +Errol was standing silent, his eyes averted from the hideous form on +the floor, not by word or action betraying a feeling. The police moved +to the door. + +Weak and trembling still from the triple shock she had received, Edith +Gaines leaned heavily on the arm of her husband, but it was, as nearly +as I could make out, only for physical support. + +"I told you, Edith, it was a dangerous business," I heard him mutter. +"Only I never contemplated that they'd carry it this far. Now you see +what such foolishness can lead to." + +Weak though she was, she drew away and flashed a glance at him, +resenting his man's "I-told-you-so" manner. The last I saw of them in +the confusion was as they drove off in the car, still unreconciled. + +Kennedy seemed well contented, for the present at least, to allow the +police a free hand with Errol and Karatoff. As for me, Mrs. Gaines and +Carita Belleville presented a perplexing problem, but I said nothing, +for he was hurrying back now to his laboratory. + +At once he drew forth the little tube containing the few drops of tea +and emptied a drop or two into a beaker of freshly distilled water as +carefully as if the tea had been some elixir of life. As he was +examining the contents of the beaker his face clouded with thought. + +"Do you find anything?" I asked, eagerly. + +Kennedy shook his head. "There's something wrong," he hazarded. +"Perhaps it's only fancy, but I am sure that there is something with a +slight odor in the tea, something tea-like, but with a more bitter +taste, something that would be nauseous if not concealed in the tea. +There's more than tannin and sugar here." + +"Then you think that some one present placed something in the tea?" I +inquired, shuddering at the thought that we had run some unknown danger. + +"I can't just say, without further investigation of this and the other +samples I took." + +"Still, you have eliminated that ridiculous dagger theory," I ventured. + +"The police can never appreciate the part it played," Craig answered, +non-committally, laying out various chemicals preparatory to his +exhaustive analysis. "I began to suspect something the moment I noticed +that those notes which we all wrote were gone. When we find out about +this tea we may find who took them. Perhaps the mystery is not such a +mystery after all, then." + +There seemed to be nothing that I could do, in the mean time, except to +refrain from hindering Kennedy in his investigations, and I decided to +leave him at the laboratory while I devoted my time to watching what +the police might by chance turn up, even if they should prove to be +working on the wrong angle of the case. + +I soon found that they were showing energy, if nothing else. Although +it was so soon after the death of Marchant, they had determined that +there could not have been anything but rubber on the end of the toy +dagger which had excited the doubts of the detective. + +As for the autopsy that was performed on Marchant, it did, indeed, show +that he was suffering from hardening of the arteries, due to his manner +of living, as Karatoff had asserted. Indeed, the police succeeded in +showing that it was just for that trouble that Marchant was going to +Karatoff, which, to my mind, seemed quite sufficient to establish the +therapeutic hypnotist as all that Gaines had accused him of being. Even +to my lay mind the treatment of arteriosclerosis by mental healing +seemed, to say the least, incongruous. + +Yet the evidence against Karatoff and Errol was so flimsy that they had +little trouble in getting released on bail, though, of course, it was +fixed very high. + +My own inquiries among the other reporters on the Star who might know +something offered a more promising lead. I soon found that Errol had +none too savory a reputation. His manner of life had added nothing to +his slender means, and there was a general impression among his fellow +club-members that unfortunate investments had made serious inroads into +the principal of his fortune. Still, I hesitated to form even an +opinion on gossip. + +Quite unsatisfied with the result of my investigation, I could not +restrain my impatience to get back to the laboratory to find out +whether Kennedy had made any progress in his tests of the tea. + +"If you had been five minutes earlier," he greeted me, "you would have +been surprised to find a visitor." + +"A visitor?" I repeated. "Who?" + +"Carita Belleville," he replied, enjoying my incredulity. + +"What could she want?" I asked, at length. + +"That's what I've been wondering," he agreed "Her excuse was plausible. +She said that she had just heard why I had come with Gaines. I suppose +it was half an hour that she spent endeavoring to convince me that +Karatoff and Errol could not possibly have had any other connection +than accidental with the death of Marchant." + +"Could it have been a word for them and half an hour for herself?" I +queried, mystified. + +Kennedy shrugged. "I can't say. At any rate, I must see both Karatoff +and Errol, now that they are out. Perhaps they did send her, thinking I +might fall for her. She hinted pretty broadly at using my influence +with Gaines on his report. Then, again, she may simply have been +wondering how she herself stood." + +"Have you found anything?" I asked, noticing that his laboratory table +was piled high with its usual paraphernalia. + +"Yes," he replied, laconically, taking a bottle of concentrated +sulphuric acid and pouring a few drops in a beaker of slightly tinged +water. + +The water turned slowly to a beautiful green. No sooner was the +reaction complete than he took some bromine and added it. Slowly again +the water changed, this time from the green to a peculiar violet red. +Adding more water restored the green color. + +"That's the Grandeau test," he nodded, with satisfaction. "I've tried +the physiological test, too, with frogs from the biological department, +and it shows the effect on the heart that I--" + +"What shows the effect?" I interrupted, somewhat impatiently. + +"Oh, to be sure," he smiled. "I forgot I hadn't told you what I +suspected. Why, digitalis--foxglove, you know. I suppose it never +occurred to the police that the rubber dagger might have covered up a +peculiar poisoning? Well, if they'll take the contents of the stomach, +in alcohol, with a little water acidulated, strain off the filtrate and +try it on a dog, they will see that its effect is the effect of +digitalis. Digitalis is an accumulative poison and a powerful stimulant +of arterial walls, by experimental evidence an ideal drug for the +purpose of increasing blood pressure. Don't you see it?" he added, +excitedly. "The rubber dagger was only a means to an end. Some one who +knew the weakness of Marchant first placed digitalis in his tea. That +was possible because of the taste of the tea. Then, in the excitement +of the act pantomimed by Errol, Marchant's disease carried him off, +exactly as was to be expected under the circumstances. It was clever, +diabolically clever. Whoever did it destroyed the note in which the act +was suggested and counted that no one would ever stop to search for a +poison in the tangle of events." + +Slowly but clearly I began to realize how certainly Kennedy was +reconstructing the strange case. But who was it? What was the motive +back of this sinister murder that had been so carefully planned that no +one would ever suspect a crime? + +I had hardly framed the queries when our telephone rang. It was the +Central Office man. The detective had anticipated my own line of +inquiry, only had gone much further with it. He had found a clear +record of the business relations existing between Errol and Marchant. +One episode consisted of a stock deal between them in which Errol had +invested in a stock which Marchant was promoting and was known to be +what brokers call "cats and dogs." That, I reasoned, must have been the +basis of the gossip that Errol had suffered financial losses that +seriously impaired his little fortune. It was an important item and +Kennedy accepted it gladly, but said nothing of his own discovery. The +time had not arrived yet to come out into the open. + +For a few moments after the talk with the detective Kennedy seemed to +be revolving the case, as though in doubt whether the new information +cleared it up or added to the mystery. Then he rose suddenly. + +"We must find Karatoff," he announced. + +Whatever might have been the connection of the hypnotist with this +strange case, he was far too clever to betray himself by any such +misstep as seeming to avoid inquiry. We found him easily at his studio +apartment, nor did we have any difficulty in gaining admittance. He +knew that he was watched and that frankness was his best weapon of +defense. + +"Of course," opened Kennedy, "you know that investigation has shown +that you were right in your diagnosis of the trouble with Marchant. Was +it arteriosclerosis for which you were treating him?" + +"It would be unprofessional to discuss it," hastily parried Karatoff, +"but, since Mr. Marchant is now dead, I think I may say that it was. In +fact, few persons, outside of those whom I have associated about me, +realize to what a wonderful extent hypnotism may be carried in the +treatment of disease. Why, I have even had wonderful success with such +disorders as diabetes mellitus. We are only on the threshold of +understanding what a wonderful thing is the human mind in its effect on +the material body." + +"But another patient might have known what Marchant was being treated +for?" interrupted Kennedy, ignoring the defense of Karatoff, which was +proceeding along the stereotyped lines of such vagaries which seem +never to be without followers. + +Karatoff looked at him a moment in surprise. Evidently he was doing +some hasty mental calculation to determine what was Craig's ulterior +motive. And, in spite of his almost uncanny claims and performances, I +could see that he was able to read Kennedy's mind no whit better than +myself. + +"I suppose so," he admitted. "No doctor was ever able to control his +patients' tongues. Sometimes they boast of their diseases." + +"Especially if they are women?" hinted Kennedy, watching the effect of +the remark keenly. "I have just had the pleasure of a visit from Carita +Belleville in my laboratory." + +"Indeed?" returned Karatoff, with difficulty restraining his curiosity. +"Miss Belleville has been very kind in introducing me to some of her +friends and acquaintances, and I flatter myself that I have been able +to do them much good." + +"Then she was not a patient?" pursued Kennedy, studiously avoiding +enlightening Karatoff on the visit. + +"Rather a friend," he replied, quickly. "It was she who introduced Mr. +Errol." + +"They are quite intimate, I believe," put in Kennedy at a chance. + +"Really, I knew very little about it," Karatoff avoided. + +"Did she introduce Mr. Marchant?" + +"She introduced Mrs. Gaines, who introduced Mr. Marchant," the +hypnotist replied, with apparent frankness. + +"You were treating Mrs. Gaines?" asked Craig, again shifting the attack +unexpectedly. + +"Yes," admitted Karatoff, stopping. + +"I imagine her trouble was more mental than physical," remarked +Kennedy, in a casual tone, as though feeling his way. + +Karatoff looked up keenly, but was unable to read Kennedy's face. "I +think," he said, slowly, "that one trouble was that Mrs. Gaines liked +the social life better than the simple life." + +"Your clinic, Mr. Marchant, and the rest better than her husband and +the social life at the university," amplified Kennedy. "I think you are +right. She had drifted away from her husband, and when a woman does +that she has hosts of admirers--of a certain sort. I should say that +Mr. Errol was the kind who would care more for the social life than the +simple life, as you put it, too." + +I did not gather in what direction Kennedy was tending, but it was +evident that Karatoff felt more at ease. Was it because the quest +seemed to be leading away from himself? + +"I had noticed something of the sort," he ventured. "I saw that they +were alike in that respect, but, of course, Mr. Marchant was her +friend." + +Suddenly the implication flashed over me, but before I could say +anything Kennedy cut in, "Then Mr. Errol might have been enacting under +hypnotism what were really his own feelings and desires?" + +"I cannot say that," replied Karatoff, seeking to dodge the issue. "But +under the influence of suggestion I suppose it is true that an +evil-minded person might suggest to another the commission of a crime, +and the other, deprived of free will, might do it. The rubber dagger +has often been used for sham murders. The possibility of actual murder +cannot be denied. In this case, however, there can be no question that +it was an unfortunate accident." + +"No question?" demanded Kennedy, directly. + +If Karatoff was concealing anything, he made good concealment. Either +to protect himself or another he showed no evidence of weakening his +first theory of the case. + +"No question as far as I know," he reiterated. + +I wondered whether Kennedy planned to enlighten him on the results of +his laboratory tests, but was afraid to look at either for fear of +betraying some hint. I was glad I did not. Kennedy's next question +carried him far afield from the subject. + +"Did you know that the Medical Society were interested in you and your +clinic before the demonstration before Professor Gaines was arranged?" + +"I suspected some one was interested," answered Karatoff, quickly, "But +I had no idea who it might be. As I think it over now, perhaps it was +Professor Gaines who instigated the whole inquiry. He would most likely +be interested. My work is so far in advance of any that the +conservative psychologists do that he would naturally feel hostile, +would he not?" + +"Especially with the added personal motive of knowing that his wife was +one of your patients, along with Carita Belleville, Marchant, Errol, +and the rest," added Kennedy. + +Karatoff smiled. "I would not have said that myself. But since you have +said it, I cannot help admitting its truth. Don't you suppose I could +predict the nature of any report he would make?" + +Karatoff faced Kennedy squarely. There was an air almost of triumph in +his eyes. "I think I had better say no more, except under the advice of +my lawyer," he remarked, finally. "When the police want me, they can +find me here." + +Quite evident to me now, as we went out of the studio, was the fact +that Karatoff considered himself a martyr, that he was not only the +victim of an accident, but of persecution as well. + +"The fishing was good," remarked Kennedy, tersely, as we reached the +street. "Now before I see Errol I should like to see Gaines again." + +I tried to reason it out as we walked along in silence. Marchant had +known Edith Gaines intimately. Carita Belleville had known Errol as +well. I recalled Errol hovering about Mrs. Gaines at the tea and the +incident during the seance when Carita Belleville had betrayed her +annoyance over some remark by Errol. The dancing by Edith Gaines had +given a flash of the jealous nature of the woman. Had it been interest +in Errol that had led her to visit the laboratory? Kennedy was weaving +a web about some one, I knew. But about whom? + +As we passed a corner, he paused, entered a drugstore and called up +several numbers at a pay-station telephone booth. Then we turned into +the campus and proceeded rapidly toward the laboratory of the +psychological department. Gaines was there, sitting at his desk, +writing, as we entered. + +"I'm glad to see you," he greeted, laying down his work. "I am just +finishing the draft of my report on that Karatoff affair. I have been +trying to reach you by telephone to know whether you would add anything +to it. Is there anything new?" + +"Yes," returned Kennedy, "there is something new. I've just come from +Karatoff's and on the way I decided suddenly that it was time we did +something. So I have called up, and the police will bring Errol here, +as well as Miss Belleville. Karatoff will come--he won't dare stay +away; and I also took the liberty of calling Mrs. Gaines." + +"To come here?" repeated Gaines, in mild surprise. "All of them?" + +"Yes. I hope you will pardon me for intruding, but I want to borrow +some of your psychological laboratory apparatus, and I thought the +easiest way would be to use it here rather than take it all over to my +place and set it up again." + +"I'm sure everything is at your service," offered Gaines. "It's a +little unexpected, but if the others can stand the chaotic condition of +the room, I guess we can." + +Kennedy had been running his eye over the various instruments which +Gaines and his students used in their studies, and was now examining +something in a corner on a little table. It was a peculiar affair, +quite simple, but conveying to me no idea of its use. There seemed to +be a cuff, a glass chamber full of water into which it fitted, tubes +and wires that attached various dials and recording instruments to the +chamber, and what looked like a chronograph. + +"That is my new plethysmograph," remarked Gaines, noting with some +satisfaction how Kennedy had singled it out. + +"I've heard the students talk of it," returned Kennedy. "It's an +improved apparatus, Walter, that records one's blood flow." I nodded +politely and concealed my ignorance in a discreet silence, hoping that +Gaines would voluntarily enlighten us. + +"One of my students is preparing an exhaustive table," went on Gaines, +as I had hoped, "showing the effects on blood distribution of different +stimuli--for instance, cold, heat, chloroform, arenalin, desire, +disgust, fear; physical conditions, drugs, emotions--all sorts of +things can be studied by this plethysmograph which can be set to record +blood flow through the brain, the extremities, any part of the body. +When the thing is charted I think we shall have opened up a new field." + +"Certainly a very promising one for me," put in Kennedy. "How has this +machine been improved? I've seen the old ones, but this is the first +time I've seen this. How does it work?" + +"Well," explained Gaines, with just a touch of pride, "you see, for +studying blood flow in the extremities, I slip this cuff over my arm, +we'll say. Suppose it is the effect of pain I want to study. Just jab +that needle in my other arm. Don't mind. It's in the interest of +science. See, when I winced then, the plethysmograph recorded it. It +smarts a bit and I'm trying to imagine it smarts worse. You'll see how +pain affects blood flow." + +As he watched the indicator, Kennedy asked one question after another +about the working of the machine, and the manner in which the modern +psychologist was studying every emotion. + +"By the way, Walter," he interrupted, glancing at his watch, "call up +and see if they've started with Errol and the rest yet. Don't stop, +Gaines. I must understand this thing before they get here. It's just +the thing I want." + +"I should be glad to let you have it, then," replied Gaines. + +"I think I'll need something new with these people," went on Kennedy. +"Why, do you know what I've discovered?" + +"No, but I hope it's something I can add to my report?" + +"Perhaps. We'll see. In the first place, I found that digitalis had +been put in Marchant's tea." + +"They'll be here directly," I reported from the telephone, hanging it +up and joining them again. + +"It couldn't have been an accident, as Karatoff said," went on Kennedy, +rapidly. "The drug increased the blood pressure of Marchant, who was +already suffering from hardening of the arteries. In short, it is my +belief that the episode of the rubber dagger was deliberately planned, +an elaborate scheme to get Marchant out of the way. No one else seems +to have noticed it, but those slips of paper on which we all wrote have +disappeared. At the worst, it would look like an accident, Karatoff +would be blamed, and--" There was a noise outside as the car pulled up. + +"Here, let me take this off before any of them see it," whispered +Gaines, removing the cuff, just as the door opened and Errol and +Karatoff, Carita Belleville and Edith Gaines entered. + +Before even a word of greeting passed, Kennedy stepped forward. "It was +NOT an accident," he repeated. "It was a deliberately planned, +apparently safe means of revenge on Marchant, the lover of Mrs. Gaines. +Without your new plethysmograph, Gaines, you might have thrown it on an +innocent person!" + + + + +X + +THE SUBMARINE MINE + + +"Here's the bullet. What I want you to do, Professor Kennedy, is to +catch the crank who fired it." + +Capt. Lansing Marlowe, head of the new American Shipbuilding Trust, had +summoned us in haste to the Belleclaire and had met us in his suite +with his daughter Marjorie. Only a glance was needed to see that it was +she, far more than her father, who was worried. + +"You must catch him," she appealed. "Father's life is in danger. Oh, +you simply MUST." + +I knew Captain Marlowe to be a proverbial fire-eater, but in this case, +at least, he was no alarmist. For, on the table, as he spoke, he laid a +real bullet. + +Marjorie Marlowe shuddered at the mere sight of it and glanced +apprehensively at him as if to reassure herself. She was a tall, +slender girl, scarcely out of her teens, whose face was one of those +quite as striking for its character as its beauty. The death of her +mother a few years before had placed on her much of the responsibility +of the captain's household and with it a charm added to youth. + +More under the spell of her plea than even Marlowe's vigorous urging, +Kennedy, without a word, picked up the bullet and examined it. It was +one of the modern spitzer type, quite short, conical in shape, tapering +gradually, with the center of gravity back near the base. + +"I suppose you know," went on the captain, eagerly, "that our company +is getting ready to-morrow to launch the Usona, the largest liner that +has ever been built on this side of the water--the name is made up of +the initials of the United States of North America. + +"Just now," he added, enthusiastically, "is what I call the golden +opportunity for American shipping. While England and Germany are +crippled, it's our chance to put the American flag on the sea as it was +in the old days, and we're going to do it. Why, the shipyards of my +company are worked beyond their capacity now." + +Somehow the captain's enthusiasm was contagious. I could see that his +daughter felt it, that she was full of fire over the idea. But at the +same time something vastly more personal weighed on her mind. + +"But, father," she interrupted, anxiously, "tell them about the BULLET." + +The captain smiled indulgently as though he would say that he was a +tough old bird to wing. It was only a mask to hide the fighting spirit +underneath. + +"We've had nothing but trouble ever since we laid the keel of that +ship," he continued, pugnaciously, "strikes, a fire in the yard, +delays, about everything that could happen. Lately we've noticed a +motor-boat hanging about the river-front of the yards. So I've had a +boat of my own patrolling the river." + +"What sort of craft is this other?" inquired Kennedy, interested at +once. + +"A very fast one--like those express cruisers that we hear so much +about now." + +"Whose is it? Who was in it? Have you any idea?" + +Marlowe shook his head doubtfully. "No idea. I don't know who owns the +boat or who runs it. My men tell me they think they've seen a woman in +it sometimes, though. I've been trying to figure it out. Why should it +be hanging about? It can't be spying. There isn't any secrecy about the +Usona. Why is it? It's a mystery." + +"And the shot?" prompted Craig, tapping the bullet. + +"Oh yes, let me tell you. Last night, Marjorie and I arrived from Bar +Harbor on my yacht, for the launching. It's anchored off the yard now. +Well, early this morning, while it was still gray and misty, I was up. +I'll confess I'm worried over to-morrow. I hadn't been able to forget +that cruiser. I was out on the deck, peering into the mist, when I'm +sure I saw her. I was just giving a signal to the boat we have +patrolling, when a shot whistled past me and the bullet buried itself +in the woodwork of the main saloon back of me. I dug it out of the wood +with my knife--so you see I got it almost unflattened. That's all I +have got, too. The cruiser made a getaway, clean." + +"I'm sure it was aimed at him," Marjorie exclaimed. "I don't think it +was chance. Don't you see? They've tried everything else. Now if they +could get my father, the head of the company, that would be a blow that +would cripple the trust." + +Marlowe patted his daughter's hand reassuringly and smiled again, as +though not to magnify the incident. + +"Marjorie was so alarmed," he confessed, "that nothing would satisfy +her but that I should come ashore and stay here at the Belleclaire, +where we always put up when we are in town." + +The telephone rang and Marjorie answered it. "I hope you'll pardon me," +she excused, hanging up the receiver. "They want me very much +down-stairs." Then appealing, she added: "I'll have to leave you with +father. But, please, you must catch that crank who is threatening him." + +"I shall do my level best," promised Kennedy. "You may depend on that." + +"You see," explained the captain as she left us, "I've invited quite a +large party to attend the launching, for one reason or another. +Marjorie must play hostess. They're mostly here at the hotel. Perhaps +you saw some of them as you came in." + +Craig was still scanning the bullet. "It looks almost as if some one +had dum-dummed it," he remarked, finally. "It's curiously done, too. +Just look at those grooves." + +Both the captain and I looked. It had a hard jacket of cupro-nickel, +like the army bullet, covering a core of softer metal. Some one had +notched or scored the jacket as if with a sharp knife, though not +completely through it. Had it been done for the purpose of inflicting a +more frightful wound if it struck the captain? + +"There've been other shots, too," went on Marlowe. "One of my watchmen +was wounded the night before. It didn't took like a serious wound, in +the leg. Yet the poor fellow seems to be in a bad way, they tell me." + +"How is that?" asked Craig, glancing up quickly from studying the +bullet. + +"The wound seems to be all puffed up, and very painful. It won't heal, +and he seems to be weak and feverish. Why, I'm afraid the man will die." + +"I'd like to see that case," remarked Kennedy, thoughtfully. + +"Very well. I'll have you driven to the hospital where we have had to +take him." + +"I'd like to see the yards, too, and the Usona," he added. + +"All right. After you go to the hospital I'll meet you at the yards at +noon. Now if you'll come down-stairs with me, I'll get my car and have +you taken to the hospital first." + +We followed Marlowe into the elevator and rode down. In the large +parlor we saw that Marjorie Marlowe had joined a group of the guests, +and the captain turned aside to introduce us. + +Among them I noticed a striking-looking woman, somewhat older than +Marjorie. She turned as we approached and greeted the captain cordially. + +"I'm so glad there was nothing serious this morning," she remarked, +extending her hand to him. + +"Oh, nothing at all, nothing at all," he returned, holding the hand, I +thought, just a bit longer than was necessary. Then he turned to us, +"Miss Alma Hillman, let me present Professor Kennedy and Mr. Jameson." + +I was not so preoccupied in taking in the group that I did not notice +that the captain was more than ordinarily attentive to her. Nor can I +say that I blamed him, for, although he might almost have been her +father in age, there was a fascination about her that youth does not +often possess. + +Talking with her had been a young man, slender, good-looking, with +almost a military bearing. + +"Mr. Ogilvie Fitzhugh," introduced Marjorie, seeing that her father was +neglecting his duties. + +Fitzhugh bowed and shook hands, murmured something stereotyped, and +turned again to speak to Marjorie. + +I watched the young people closely. If Captain Marlowe was interested +in Alma, it was more than evident that Fitzhugh was absolutely +captivated by Marjorie, and I fancied that Marjorie was not averse to +him, for he had a personality and a manner which were very pleasing. + +As the conversation ran gaily on to the launching and the gathering +party of notables who were expected that night and the next day, I +noticed that a dark-eyed, dark-haired, olive-complexioned young man +approached and joined us. + +"Doctor Gavira," said Marlowe, turning to us, his tone indicating that +he was well acquainted about the hotel. "He is our house physician." + +Gavira also was welcomed in the party, chatting with animation. It was +apparent that the physician also was very popular with the ladies, and +it needed only half an eye to discern that Fitzhugh was jealous when he +talked to Marjorie, while Marlowe but ill concealed his restlessness +when Gavira spoke to Alma. As for Alma, she seemed to treat all men +impartially, except that just now it pleased her to bestow the favor of +her attention on the captain. + +Just then a young lady, all in white, passed. Plainly she did not +belong to the group, though she was much interested in it. As his eye +roved over the parlor, Gavira caught her glance and bowed. She returned +it, but her look did not linger. For a moment she glanced sharply at +Fitzhugh, still talking to Marjorie, then at Marlowe and Alma Hillman. +She was a very pretty girl with eyes that it was impossible to control. +Perhaps there was somewhat of the flirt in her. It was not that that +interested me. For there was something almost akin to jealousy in the +look she gave the other woman. Marlowe was too engrossed to see her and +she passed on slowly. What did it mean, if anything? + +The conversation, as usual at such times, consisted mostly of +witticisms, and just at present we had a rather serious bit of business +in hand. Kennedy did not betray any of the impatience that I felt, yet +I knew he was glad when Marlowe excused himself and we left the party +and passed down the corridor while the captain called his car. + +"I don't know how you are going to get at this thing," he remarked, +pausing after he had sent a boy for his driver. "But I'll have to rely +on you. I've told you all I know. I'll see you at noon, at the yards. +My man will take you there." + +As he turned and left us I saw that he was going in the direction of +the barber-shop. Next to it and in connection with it, though in a +separate room, was a manicure. As we passed we looked in. There, at the +manicure's table, sat the girl who had gone by us in the parlor and had +looked so sharply at Marlowe and Alma. + +The boy had told us that the car was waiting at a side entrance, but +Kennedy seemed now in no haste to go, the more so when Marlowe, instead +of going into the barber-shop, apparently changed his mind and entered +the manicure's. Craig stopped and watched. Prom where we were we could +see Marlowe, though his back was turned, and neither he nor the +manicure could see us. + +For a moment the captain paused and spoke, then sat down. Quite +evidently he had a keen eye for a pretty face and trim figure. Nor was +there any mistaking the pains which the manicure took to please her +rich and elderly customer. After watching them a moment Kennedy lounged +over to the desk in the lobby. + +"Who is the little manicure girl?" he asked. + +The clerk smiled. "Seems as if she was a good drawing-card for the +house, doesn't it?" he returned. "All the men notice her. Why, her name +is Rae Melzer." He turned to speak to another guest before Kennedy +could follow with another inquiry. + +As we stood before the desk, a postman, with the parcel post, arrived. +"Here's a package addressed to Dr. Fernando Gavira," he said, +brusquely. "It was broken in the mail. See?" + +Kennedy, waiting for the clerk to be free again, glanced casually at +the package at first, then with a sudden, though concealed, interest. I +followed his eye. In the crushed box could be seen some thin broken +pieces of glass and a wadding of cotton-wool. + +As the clerk signed for another package Craig saw a chance, reached +over and abstracted two or three of the broken pieces of glass, then +turned with his back to the postman and clerk and examined them. + +One I saw at once had a rim around it. It was quite apparently the top +of a test-tube. The other, to which some cotton-wool still adhered, was +part of the rounded bowl. Quickly Craig dropped the pieces into one of +the hotel envelopes that stood in a rack on the desk, then, changing +his mind about asking more now about the little manicure, strode out of +the side entrance where Marlowe's car was waiting for us. + +Hurriedly we drove across town to the City Hospital, where we had no +difficulty in being admitted and finding, in a ward, on a white cot, +the wounded guard. Though his wound was one that should not have +bothered him much, it had, as Marlowe said, puffed up angrily and in a +most peculiar manner. He was in great pain with it and was plainly in a +bad way. + +Though he questioned the man, Craig did not get anything out of him +except that the shot had come from a cruiser which had been hanging +about and was much faster than the patrol boat. The nurse and a young +intern seemed inclined to be reticent, as though we might imply that +the mail's condition reflected on the care he had received, which they +were at pains to convince us had been perfect. + +Puzzled himself, Craig did not say much, but as he pondered the case, +shook his head gravely to himself and finally walked out of the +hospital abstractedly. + +"We have almost an hour before we are to meet Marlowe at the yard," he +considered, as we came to the car. "I think I'll go up to the +laboratory first." + +In the quiet of his own workshop, Kennedy carefully examined again the +peculiar grooves on the bullet. He was about to scrape it, but paused. +Instead, he filled a tube with a soapy solution, placed the bullet in +it, and let it stand. Next he did the same with the pieces of glass +from the envelope. + +Then he opened a drawer and from a number of capillary pipettes +selected a plain capillary tube of glass. He held it in the flame of a +burner until it was red hot. Then carefully he drew out one end of the +tube until it was hair fine. Again he heated the other end, but this +time he let the end alone, except that he allowed it to bend by +gravity, then cool. It now had a siphon curve. Another tube he treated +in the same way. + +By this time he was ready to proceed with what he had in mind. He took +a glass slide and on it placed a drop from each of the tubes containing +the bullet and the glass. That done, he placed the bent, larger end of +the capillary tubes in turn on each of the drops on the slide. The +liquid ascended the tubes by capillary attraction and siphoned over the +curve, running as he turned the tubes up to the finely pointed ends. + +Next in a watch glass he placed some caustic soda and in another some +pyrogallic acid, from each of which he took just a drop, as he had done +before, inclining the tubes to let the fluid gravitate to the throttle +end. Finally in the flame he sealed both the tip and butt of the tubes. + +"There's a bubble of air in there," he remarked. "The acid and the soda +will absorb the oxygen from it. Then I can tell whether I'm right. By +the way, we'll have to hurry if we're to be on time to meet Marlowe in +the yard," he announced, glancing at his watch as he placed the tubes +in his little electric incubator. + +We were a little late as the chauffeur pulled in at the executive +offices at the gate of the shipyard, and Marlowe was waiting +impatiently for us. Evidently he wanted action, but Kennedy said +nothing yet of what he suspected and appeared now to be interested only +in the yard. + +It was indeed something to interest any one. Everywhere were tokens of +feverish activity, in office, shop, and slip. As we picked our way +across, little narrow and big wide gauge engines and trains whistled +and steamed about. We passed rolling-mills, forging-machines, and giant +shearing-machines, furnaces for heating the frames or ribs, stone +floors on which they could be pegged out and bent to shape, places for +rolling and trimming the plates, everything needed from the keel plates +to the deck. + +In the towering superstructure of the building slip we at last came to +the huge steel monster itself, the Usona. As we approached, above us +rose her bow, higher than a house, with poppets both there and at the +stern, as well as bracing to support her. All had been done up to the +launching, the stem and stern posts set in place, her sides framed and +plated up, decks laid, bulkheads and casings completed, even much of +her internal fitting done. + +Overhead and all about the huge monster was a fairy network of steel, +the vast permanent construction of columns and overhead girders. +Suspended beneath was a series of tracks carrying traveling and +revolving cranes capable of handling the heaviest pieces. We climbed to +the top and looked down at the vast stretch of hundreds of feet of +deck. It was so vast that it seemed rather the work of a superman than +of the puny little humans working on her. + +As I looked down the slip where the Usona stood inclined about half an +inch to the foot, I appreciated as never before what a task it was +merely to get her into the water. + +Below again, Marlowe explained to us how the launching ways were +composed of the ground ways, fastened to the ground as the name +implied, and the sliding ways that were to move over them. The sliding +ways, he said, were composed of a lower course and an upper course, on +which rested the "cradle," fitting closely the side of the ship. + +To launch her, she must be lifted slightly by the sliding ways and +cradle from the keel blocks and bilge blocks, and this was done by oak +wedges, hundreds of which we could see jammed between the upper and +lower courses of sliding ways. Next he pointed out the rib-bands which +were to keep the sliding ways on the ground ways, and at the bow the +points on either side where the sliding and ground ways were bolted +together by two huge timbers known as sole pieces. + +"You see," he concluded, "it is a gigantic task to lift thousands of +tons of steel and literally carry it a quarter of a mile to forty feet +of water in less than a minute. Everything has to be calculated to a +nicety. It's a matter of mathematics--the moment of weight, the moment +of buoyancy, and all that. This launching apparatus is strong, but +compared to the weight it has to carry it is really delicate. Why, even +a stray bolt in the ways would be a serious matter. That's why we have +to have this eternal vigilance." + +As he spoke with a significant look at Kennedy, I felt that it was no +wonder that Marlowe was alarmed for the safety of the ship. Millions +were at stake for just that minute of launching. + +It was all very interesting and we talked with men whom it was a +pleasure to see handling great problems so capably. But none could shed +any light on the problem which it was Kennedy's to solve. And yet I +felt sure, as I watched Craig, that unsatisfactory as it appeared to +Marlowe and to myself, he was slowly forming some kind of theory, or at +least plan of action, in his head. + +"You'll find me either here or at the hotel--I imagine," returned +Marlowe to Kennedy's inquiry as we parted from him. "I've instructed +all the men to keep their eyes open. I hope some of us have something +to report soon." + +Whether or not the remark was intended as a hint to Kennedy, it was +unnecessary. He was working as fast and as surely as he could, going +over in hours what others had failed to fathom in weeks. + +Late in the afternoon we got back to the laboratory and Craig began +immediately by taking from the little electric incubator the two +crooked tubes he had left there. Breaking off the ends with tweezers, +he began examining on slides the two drops that exuded, using his most +powerful microscope. I was forced to curb my impatience as he proceeded +carefully, but I knew that Craig was making sure of his ground at each +step. + +"I suppose you're bursting with curiosity," he remarked at last, +looking up from his examination of one of the slides. "Well, here is a +drop that shows what was in the grooves of that bullet. Just take a +look." + +I applied my eye to the microscope. All I could see was some dots and +rods, sometimes something that looked like chains of dots and rods, the +rods straight with square ends, sometimes isolated, but more usually +joined end to end in long strings. + +"What is it?" I asked, not much enlightened by what he had permitted me +to see. "Anaerobic bacilli and spores," he replied, excitedly. "The +things that produce the well-known 'gas gangrene' of the trenches, the +gas phlegmon bacilli--all sorts, the bacillus aerogenes capsulatus, +bacillus proteus, pyogenic cocci, and others, actively gas-forming +microbes that can't live in air. The method I took to develop and +discover them was that of Col. Sir Almroth Wright of the British army +medical corps." + +"And that is what was on the bullet?" I queried. + +"The spores or seeds," he replied. "In the tubes, by excluding the air, +I have developed the bacilli. Why, Walter," he went on, seriously, +"those are among the microbes most dreaded in the infection of wounds. +The spores live in the earth, it has been discovered, especially in +cultivated soil, and they are extraordinarily long-lived, lying dormant +for years, waiting for a chance to develop. These rods you saw are only +from five to fifteen thousandths of a millimeter long and not more than +one-thousandth of a millimeter broad. + +"You can't see them move here, because the air has paralyzed them. But +these vibrios move among the corpuscles of the blood just as a snake +moves through the grass, to quote Pasteur. If I colored them you would +see that each is covered with fine vibrating hairs three or four times +as long as itself. At certain times an oval mass forms in them. That is +the spore which lives so long and is so hard to kill. It was the spores +that were on the bullet. They resist any temperature except +comparatively high and prolonged, and even resist antiseptics for a +long time. On the surface of a wound they aren't so bad; but deep in +they distil minute gas bubbles, puff up the surrounding tissues, and +are almost impossible to combat." + +As he explained what he had found, I could only stare at him while the +diabolical nature of the attack impressed itself on my mind. Some one +had tried to murder Marlowe in this most hideous way. No need to be an +accurate marksman when a mere scratch from such a bullet meant ultimate +death anyhow. + +Why had it been done and where had the cultures come from? I asked +myself. I realized fully the difficulty of trying to trace them. Any +one could purchase germs, I knew. There was no law governing the sale. + +Craig was at work again over his microscope. Again he looked up at me. +"Here on this other film I find the same sort of wisp-like anaerobes," +he announced. "There was the same thing on those pieces of glass that I +got." + +In my horror at the discovery, I had forgotten the broken package that +had come to the hotel desk while we stood there. + +"Then it was Gavira who was receiving spores and cultures of the +anaerobes!" I exclaimed, excitedly. + +"But that doesn't prove that it was he who used them," cautioned Craig, +adding, "not yet, at least." + +Important as the discoveries were which he had made, I was not much +farther along in fixing the guilt of anybody in particular in the case. +Kennedy, however, did not seem to be perturbed, though I wondered what +theory he could have worked out. + +"I think the best thing for us to do will be to run over to the +Belleclaire," he decided as he doffed his laboratory coat and carefully +cleansed his hands in an antiseptic almost boiling hot. "I should like +to see Marlowe again, and, besides, there we can watch some of these +people around him." + +Whom he meant other than Gavira I had no idea, but I felt sure that +with the launching now only a matter of hours something was bound to +happen soon. + +Marlowe was out when we arrived; in fact, had not yet returned from the +yard. Nor had many of the guests remained at the hotel during the day. +Most of them had been out sightseeing, though now they were returning, +and as they began to gather in the hotel parlor Marjorie was again +called on to put them at their ease. + +Fitzhugh had returned and had wasted no time dressing and getting +down-stairs again to be near Marjorie. Gavira also appeared, having +been out on a case. + +"I wish you would call up the shipyard, Walter," asked Kennedy, as we +stood in the lobby, where we could see best what was going on. "Tell +him I would like to see him very urgently." + +I found the number and entered a booth, but, as often happens, the +telephone central was overwhelmed by the rush of early-evening calls, +and after waiting some time the only satisfaction I got was that the +line was busy. + +Meanwhile I decided to stick about the booth so that I could get the +yard as soon as possible. From where I stood I could see that Kennedy +was closely watching the little manicure, Rae Melzer. A moment later I +saw Alma Hillman come out of the manicure shop, and before any one else +could get in to monopolize the fascinating little manicure I saw Craig +saunter over and enter. + +I was so interested in what he was doing that for the moment I forgot +about my call and found myself unconsciously moving over in that +direction, too. As I looked in I saw that he was seated at the little +white table, in much the same position as Marlowe had been, deeply in +conversation with the girl, though of course I could not make out what +they were talking about. + +Once she turned to reach something on a shelf back of her. Quick as a +flash Kennedy abstracted a couple of the nearest implements, one being +a nail file and the other, I think, a brush. A moment later she resumed +her work, Kennedy still talking and joking with her, though furtively +observing. + +"Where is my nail file--and brush?" I could imagine her saying, as she +hunted for them in pretty confusion, aided by Kennedy who, when he +wanted to, could act the Fitzhugh and Gavira as well as they. The +implements were not to be found and from a drawer she took another set. + +Just then Gavira passed on his way to his office in the front of the +building, saw me, and smiled. "Kennedy's cut you out," he laughed, +catching a glimpse through the door. "Never mind. I used to think I had +some influence there myself--till the captain came along. I tell you +these oldsters can give us points." + +I laughed, too, and joined him down the hall, not because I cared what +he thought, but because his presence had reminded me of my original +mission to call up Marlowe. However, I decided to postpone calling +another moment and take advantage of the chance to talk to the house +physician. + +"Yes," I agreed, as long as he had opened the subject. "I fancy the +captain likes young people. He seems to enjoy being with them--Miss +Hillman, for instance." + +Gavira shot a sidelong glance at me. "The Belleclaire's a dangerous +place for a wealthy widower," he returned. "I had some hopes in that +direction myself--in spite of Fitzhugh--but the captain seems to leave +us all at the post. Still, I suppose I may still be a brother to +her--and physician. So, I should worry." + +The impression I got of Gavira was that he enjoyed his freedom too much +ever to fall in love, though an intimacy now and then with a clever +girl like Alma Hillman was a welcome diversion. + +"I'm sorry I sha'n't be able to be with you until late to-night," he +said, as he paused at his office door. "I'm in the medical corps of the +Guard and I promised to lecture to-night on gunshot wounds. Some of my +material got smashed up, but I have my lantern slides, anyhow. I'll try +to see you all later, though." + +Was that a clever attempt at confession and avoidance on his part? I +wondered. But, then, I reflected he could not possibly know that we +knew he had anaerobic microbes and spores in his possession. I had +cleared up nothing and I hastened to call up the shipyard, sure that +the line could not be busy still. + +Whatever it was that was the matter, central seemed unable to get me my +number. Instead, I found myself cut right into a conversation that did +not concern me, evidently the fault of the hotel switchboard operator. +I was about to protest when the words I heard stopped me in surprise. A +man and a woman were talking, though I could not recognize the voices +and no names were used. + +"I tell you I won't be a party to that launching scheme," I heard the +man's voice. "I wash my hands of it. I told you that all along." + +"Then you're going to desert us?" came back the woman's voice, rather +tartly. "It's for that girl. Well, you'll regret it. I'll turn the +whole organization on you--I will--you--you--" The voices trailed off, +and, try as I could to get the operator to find out who it was, I could +not. + +Who was it? What did it mean? + +Kennedy had finished with the manicure some time before and was waiting +for me impatiently. + +"I haven't been able to get Marlowe," I hastened, "but I've had an +earful." He listened keenly as I told him what I had heard, adding also +the account of my encounter with Gavira. + +"It's just as I thought--I'll wager," he muttered, excitedly, under his +breath, taking a hurried turn down the corridor, his face deeply +wrinkled. + +"Well! Anything new? I expected to hear from you, but haven't," boomed +the deep voice of Marlowe, who had just come in from an entrance in +another direction from that which we were pacing. "No clue yet to my +crank?" + +Without a word, Kennedy drew Marlowe aside into a little deserted +alcove. Marlowe followed, puzzled at the air of mystery. + +Alone, Craig leaned over toward him. "It's no crank," he whispered, in +a low tone. "Marlowe, I am convinced that there is a concerted effort +to destroy your plans for American commerce building. There isn't the +slightest doubt in my mind that it is more serious than you +think--perhaps a powerful group of European steamship men opposed to +you. It is economic war! You know they have threatened it at meetings +reported in the press all along. Well, it's here!" + +Half doubting, half convinced, Marlowe drew back. One after another he +shot a rapid fire of questions. Who, then, was their agent who had +fired the shot? Who was it who had deserted, as I had heard over the +wire? Above all, what was it they had planned for the launching? The +deeper he got the more the beads of perspiration came out on his +sunburnt forehead. The launching was only eighteen hours off, too, and +ten of them were darkness. What could be done? + +Kennedy's mind was working rapidly in the crisis as Marlowe appealed to +him, almost helplessly. + +"May I have your car to-night?" asked Craig, pausing. + +"Have it? I'll give it to you if it'll do any good." + +"I'll need it only a few hours. I think I have a scheme that will work +perfectly--if you are sure you can guard the inside of the yard +to-morrow." + +"I'm sure of that. We spent hours to-day selecting picked men for the +launching, going over everything." + +Late as it was to start out of town, Craig drove across the bridge and +out on Long Island, never stopping until we came to a small lake, +around the shores of which he skirted, at last pausing before a huge +barn-like structure. + +As the door swung open to his honking the horn, the light which +streamed forth shone on a sign above, "Sprague Aviation School." Inside +I could make out enough to be sure that it was an aeroplane hangar. + +"Hello, Sprague!" called Kennedy, as a man appeared in the light. + +The man came closer. "Why, hello, Kennedy! What brings you out here at +such an hour?" + +Craig had jumped from the car, and together the two went into the +hangar, while I followed. They talked in low tones, but as nearly as I +could make out Kennedy was hiring a hydro-aeroplane for to-morrow with +as much nonchalance as if it had been a taxicab. + +As Kennedy and his acquaintance, Sprague, came to terms, my eye fell on +a peculiar gun set up in a corner. It had a tremendous cylinder about +the barrel, as though it contained some device to cool it. It was not a +machine-gun of the type I had seen, however, yet cartridges seemed to +be fed to it from a disk on which they were arranged radially rather +than from a band. Kennedy had risen to go and looked about at me. + +"Oh, a Lewis gun!" he exclaimed, seeing what I was looking at. "That's +an idea. Sprague, can you mount that on the plane?" + +Sprague nodded. "That's what I have it here for," he returned. "I've +been testing it. Why, do you want it?" + +"Indeed I do! I'll be out here early in the morning, Sprague." + +"I'll be ready for you, sir," promised the aviator. + +Speeding back to the city, Kennedy laid out an extensive program for me +to follow on the morrow. Together we arranged an elaborate series of +signals, and that night, late as it was, Craig returned to the +laboratory, where he continued his studies with the microscope, though +what more he expected to discover I did not know. + +In spite of his late hours, it was Craig who wakened me in the morning, +already prepared to motor out to the aviation school to meet Sprague. +Hastily he rehearsed our signals, which consisted mostly of dots and +dashes in the Morse code which Craig was to convey with a flag and I to +receive with the aid of a powerful glass. + +I must admit that I felt somewhat lost when, later in the morning, I +took my place alone on the platform that had been built for the favored +few of the launching party at the bow of the huge Usona, without Craig. +Already, however, he had communicated at least a part of his plan to +Marlowe, and the captain and Marjorie were among the first to arrive. +Marjorie never looked prettier in her life than she did now, on the day +when she was to christen the great liner, nor, I imagine, had the +captain ever been more proud of her. + +They had scarcely greeted me when we heard a shout from the men down at +the end of the slip that commanded a freer view of the river. We craned +our necks and in a moment saw what it was. They had sighted the +air-boat coming down the river. + +I turned the glass on the mechanical bird as it soared closer. Already +Kennedy had made us on the platform and had begun to signal as a test. +At least a part of the suspense was over for me when I discovered that +I could read what he sent. + +So fixed had my attention been that I had not noticed that slowly the +members of the elect launching party had arrived, while other thousands +of the less favored crowded into the spaces set apart for them. On the +stand now with us were Fitzhugh and Miss Hillman, while, between +glances at Kennedy, I noticed little Rae Melzer over at the right, and +Doctor Gavira, quite in his element, circulating about from one group +to another. + +Every one seemed to feel that thrill that comes with a launching, the +appreciation that there is a maximum of risk in a minimum of time. + +Down the slip the men were driving home the last of the huge oak wedges +which lifted the great Usona from the blocks and transferred her weight +to the launching ways as a new support. All along the stationary, or +ground, ways and those which were to glide into the water with the +cradle and the ship, trusted men were making the final examination to +be as sure as human care can be that all was well. + +As the clock neared noon, which was high water, approximately, all the +preparatory work was done. Only the sole pieces before us held the ship +in place. It was as though all bridges had been burned. + +High overhead now floated the hydro-aeroplane, on which I kept my eye +fixed almost hypnotically. There was still no signal from Kennedy, +however. What was it he was after? Did he expect to see the fast +express cruiser, lurking like a corsair about the islands of the river? +If so, he gave no sign. + +Men were quitting now the work of giving the last touches to the +preparations. Some were placing immense jack-screws which were to give +an initial impulse if it were needed to start the ship down the ways. +Others were smearing the last heavy dabs of tallow, lard oil, and soft +soap on the ways, and graphite where the ways stretched two hundred +feet or so out into the water, for the ship was to travel some hundreds +of feet on the land and in the water, and perhaps an equal distance out +beyond the end of the ways. + +Late comers still crowded in. Men now reported that everything was +ready. Steadily the time of high water approached. + +"Saw the sole pieces!" finally rang out the order. + +That was a thing that must be done by two gangs, one on each side, and +evenly, too. If one gang got ahead of the other, they must stop and let +the second catch up. + +"Zip--zip--zip," came the shrill singing tone of the saws. + +Was everything all right? Kennedy and Sprague were still circling +overhead, at various altitudes. I redoubled my attention at the glass. + +Suddenly I saw Craig's flag waving frantically. A muffled exclamation +came from my lips involuntarily. Marlowe, who had been watching me, +leaned closer. + +"What is it--for God's sake?" he whispered, hoarsely. + +"Stop them!" I shouted as I caught Kennedy's signal. At a hurried order +from Marlowe the gangs quit. A hush fell over the crowd. + +Kennedy was circling down now until at last the air-boat rested on the +water and skimmed along toward the ways. + +Out on the ways, as far as they were not yet submerged, some men ran, +as if to meet him, but Kennedy began signaling frantically again. +Though I had not been expecting it, I made it out. + +"He wants them to keep back," I called, and the word was passed down +the length of the ship. + +Instead of coming to rest before the slip, the plane turned and went +away, making a complete circle, then coming to rest. To the surprise of +every one, the rapid staccato bark of the Lewis gun broke the silence. +Kennedy was evidently firing, but at what? There was nothing in sight. + +Suddenly there came a tremendous detonation, which made even the +launching-slip tremble, and a huge column of water, like a geyser, rose +in the air about eight hundred feet out in the river, directly in front +of us. + +The truth flashed over us in an instant. There, ten feet or so in the +dark water out in the river, Craig had seen a huge circular object, +visible only against a sandy bottom from the hydro-aeroplane above, as +the sun-rays were reflected through the water. It was a contact +submarine mine. + +Marlowe looked at me, his face almost pale. The moment the great hulk +of the Usona in its wild flight to the sea would have hit that mine, +tilting it, she would have sunk in a blast of flame. + +The air-boat now headed for the shore, and a few moments later, as +Craig climbed into our stand, Marlowe seized him in congratulation too +deep for words. + +"Is it all right?" sang out one of the men in the gangs, less +impressionable than the rest. + +"If there is still water enough," nodded Craig. + +Again the order to saw away the sole pieces was given, and the gangs +resumed. "Zip--zip," again went the two saws. + +There were perhaps two inches more left, when the hull quivered. There +was a crashing and rending as the timbers broke away. + +Marjorie Marlowe, alert, swung the bottle of champagne in its silken +net on a silken cord and it crashed on the bow as she cried, gleefully, +"I christen thee Usona!" + +Down the ship slid, with a slow, gliding motion at first, rapidly +gathering headway. As her stern sank and finally the bow dipped into +the water, cheers broke forth. Then a cloud of smoke hid her. There was +an ominous silence. Was she wrecked, at last, after all? A puff of wind +cleared the smoke. + +"Just the friction of the ways--set the grease on fire," shouted +Marlowe. "It always does that." + +Wedges, sliding ways, and other parts of the cradle floated to the +surface. The tide took her and tugs crept up and pulled her to the +place selected for temporary mooring. A splash of a huge anchor, and +there she rode--safe! + +In the revulsion of feeling, every eye on the platform turned +involuntarily to Kennedy. Marlowe, still holding his hand, was +speechless. Marjorie leaned forward, almost hysterical. + +"Just a moment," called Craig, as some turned to go down. "There is +just one thing more." + +There was a hush as the crowd pressed close. + +"There's a conspiracy here," rang out Craig's voice, boldly, "a foreign +trade war. From the start I suspected something and I tried to reason +it out. Having failed to stop the work, failed to kill Marlowe--what +was left? Why, the launching. How? I knew of that motor-boat. What else +could they do with it? I thought of recent tests that have been made +with express cruisers as mine-planters. Could that be the scheme? The +air-boat scheme occurred to me late last night. It at least was worth +trying. You see what has happened. Now for the reckoning. Who was their +agent? I have something here that will interest you." + +Kennedy was speaking rapidly. It was one of those occasions in which +Kennedy's soul delighted. Quickly he drew a deft contrast between the +infinitely large hulk of the Usona as compared to the infinitely small +bacteria which he had been studying the day before. Suddenly he drew +forth from his pocket the bullet that had been fired at Marlowe, then, +to the surprise of even myself, he quietly laid a delicate little nail +file and brush in the palm of his hand beside the bullet. + +A suppressed cry from Rae Melzer caused me to recollect the file and +brush she had missed. + +"Just a second," raced on Kennedy. "On this file and brush I found +spores of those deadly anaerobes--dead, killed by heat and an +antiseptic, perhaps a one-per-cent. solution of carbolic acid at blood +heat, ninety-eight degrees--dead, but nevertheless there. I suppose the +microscopic examination of finger-nail deposits is too minute a thing +to appeal to most people. But it has been practically applied in a +number of criminal cases in Europe. Ordinary washing and even cleaning +doesn't alter microscope findings. In this case this trifling clue is +all that leads to the real brain of this plot, literally to the hand +that directed it." He paused a moment. + +"Yesterday I found that anaerobe cultures were being received by some +one in the Belleclaire, and--" + +"They were stolen from me. Some one must have got into my office, where +I was studying them." Doctor Gavira had pressed forward earnestly, but +Craig did not pause again. + +"Who were these agents sent over to wage this secret war at any cost?" +he repeated. "One of them, I know now, fell in love with the daughter +of the man against whom he was to plot." Marjorie cast a furtive glance +at Fitzhugh. + +"Love has saved him. But the other? To whom do these deadly germs +point? Who dum-dummed and poisoned the bullet? Whose own fingers, in +spite of antiseptics and manicures, point inexorably to a guilty self?" + +Rae Melzer could restrain herself no longer. She was looking at the +file and brush, as if with a hideous fascination. "They are mine--you +took them," she cried, impulsively. "It was she--always having her +nails manicured--she who had been there just before--she--Alma Hillman!" + + + + +XI + +THE GUN-RUNNER + + +"With the treaty ratified, if the deal goes through we'll all be rich." + +Something about the remark which rose over the babel of voices arrested +Kennedy's attention. For one thing, it was a woman's voice, and it was +not the sort of remark to be expected from a woman, at least not in +such a place. + +Craig had been working pretty hard and began to show the strain. We had +taken an evening off and now had dropped in after the theater at the +Burridge, one of the most frequented midnight resorts on Broadway. + +At the table next to us--and the tables at the Burridge were so close +that one almost rubbed elbows with those at the next--sat a party of +four, two ladies in evening gowns and two men in immaculate black and +white. + +"I hope you are right, Leontine," returned one of the men, with an +English accent. "The natural place for the islands is under the +American flag, anyway." + +"Yes," put in the other; "the people have voted for it before. They +want it." + +It was at the time that the American and Danish governments were +negotiating about the transfer of the Danish West Indies, and quite +evidently they were discussing the islands. The last speaker seemed to +be a Dane, but the woman with him, evidently his wife, was not. It was +a curious group, worth more than a passing glance. For a moment Craig +watched them closely. + +"That woman in blue," he whispered, "is a typical promoter." + +I recognized the type which is becoming increasingly frequent in Wall +Street as the competition in financial affairs grows keener and women +enter business and professional life. + +There were plenty of other types in the brilliantly lighted +dining-room, and we did not dwell long on the study of our neighbors. A +few moments later Kennedy left me and was visiting another table. It +was a habit of his, for he had hundreds of friends and acquaintances, +and the Burridge was the place to which every one came. + +This time I saw that he had stopped before some one whom I recognized. +It was Captain Marlowe of the American Shipping Trust, to whom Kennedy +had been of great assistance at the time of the launching of his great +ship, the Usona. Marlowe's daughter Marjorie was not with him, having +not yet returned from her honeymoon trip, and he was accompanied by a +man whose face was unfamiliar to me. + +As I recognized who it was to whom Kennedy was speaking, I also rose +and made my way over to the table. As I approached, the captain turned +from Kennedy and greeted me cordially. + +"Mr. Whitson," he introduced the man with him. "Mr. Whitson is sailing +to-morrow for St. Thomas on the Arroyo. We're preparing to extend our +steamship lines to the islands as soon as the formalities of the +purchase are completed." + +Marlowe turned again to Kennedy and went on with the remark he had +evidently been making. + +"Of course," I heard him say, "you know we have Mexico practically +blockaded as far as arms and munitions go. Yet, Kennedy, through a +secret channel I know that thousands of stands of arms and millions of +rounds of ammunition are filtering in there. It's shameful. I can't +imagine anything more traitorous. Whoever is at the bottom of it ought +to swing. It isn't over the border that they are going. We know that. +The troops are there. How is it, then?" + +Marlowe looked at us as if he expected Kennedy to catch some one by +pure reason. Kennedy said nothing, but it was not because he was not +interested. + +"Think it over," pursued Marlowe, who was a patriot above everything +else. "Perhaps it will occur to you how you can be of the greatest +service to the country. The thing is damnable--damnable." + +Neither Kennedy nor I having anything definite to contribute to the +subject, the conversation drifted to the islands and Whitson's mission. +Whitson proved to be very enthusiastic about it. He knew the islands +well and had already made a trip there for Marlowe. + +A few moments later we shook hands and returned to our own table. It +was getting late and the only type that was left to study was the +common Broadway midnight-life genus. We paid our check and were about +to leave. For an instant we stopped at the coat-room to watch the late +arrivals and the departing throng. + +"Hello!" greeted a familiar voice beside us. "I've been looking all +over town for you. They told me you had gone to the theater and I +thought I might possibly find you here." + +We turned. It was our old friend Burke, of the Secret Service, +accompanied by a stranger. + +"I'd like you to meet Mr. Sydney, the new special consular agent whom +the government is sending to the Danish West Indies to investigate and +report on trade conditions," he introduced. "We're off for St. Thomas +on the Arroyo, which sails to-morrow noon." + +"Great Scott!" ejaculated Kennedy. "Is everybody daffy over those +little islands? What takes you down there, Burke?" Burke looked about +hastily, then drew us aside into a recess in the lobby. + +"I don't suppose you know," he explained, lowering his voice, "but +since these negotiations began, the consular service has been keenly +interested in the present state and the possibilities of the islands. +The government sent one special agent there, named Dwight. Well, he +died a few days ago. It was very suspicious, so much so that the +authorities in the island investigated. Yet the doctors in the island +have found no evidence of anything wrong, no poison. Still, it is very +mysterious--and, you know," he hinted, "there are those who don't want +us down there." + +The Secret Service man paused as though he had put the case as briefly +and pointedly as he could, then went on: "I've been assigned to +accompany the new consul down there and investigate. I've no particular +orders and the chief will honor any reasonable expense account--but--" +He hesitated and stopped, looking keenly at Kennedy's face. I saw what +he was driving at. + +"Well--to come to the point--what I wanted to see you about, Kennedy, +is to find out whether you would go with me. I think," he added, +persuasively, "it would be quite worth your while. Besides, you look +tired. You're working too hard. The change will do you good. And your +conscience needn't trouble you. You'll be working, all right." + +Burke had been quick to note the haggard expression on Kennedy's face +and turn it into an argument to carry his point. Kennedy smiled as he +read the other's enthusiasm. I would have added my own urging, only I +knew that nothing but a sense of duty would weigh with Craig. + +"I'd like to think the proposal over," he conceded, much to my +surprise. "I'll let you know in the morning." + +"Mind," wheedled Burke, "I won't take no for an answer. We need you." + +The Secret Service man was evidently delighted by the reception Kennedy +had given his scheme. + +Just then I caught sight of the party of four getting their hats and +wraps preparatory to leaving, and Kennedy eyed them sharply. + +Marlowe and Whitson passed. As they did so I could not help seeing +Whitson pause and shoot a quick glance at the four. It was a glance of +suspicion and it was not lost on Craig. Did they know more of this +Mexican gun-running business than Marlowe had hinted at? I watched +Kennedy's face. Evidently his mind was at work on the same idea as mine. + +Burke accompanied us almost all the way home, with Sydney adding his +urging. I could tell that the whole combination of circumstances at the +Burridge had had an effect on Kennedy. + +I went to bed, tired, but through the night I knew Craig was engaged on +some work about which he seemed to be somewhat secretive. When I saw +him again in the laboratory, in the morning, he had before him a large +packing-case of stout wood bound with steel bands. + +"What's that?" I asked, mystified. He opened the lid, a sort of door, +on which was a strong lock, and I looked inside. + +"My traveling laboratory," he remarked, with pride. + +I peered in more closely. It was a well-stocked armamentarium, as the +doctors would have called it. I shall not make any attempt to describe +its contents. They were too varied and too numerous, a little bit of +everything, it seemed. In fact, Craig seemed to have epitomized the +sciences and arts. It was not that he had anything so wonderful, or +even comparable to the collection of his laboratory. But as I ran my +eye over the box I would have wagered that from the contents he might +have made shift to duplicate in some makeshift form almost anything +that he might need. It was truly amazing, representing in miniature his +study of crime for years. + +"Then you are going with Burke to St. Thomas?" I queried, realizing the +significance of it. + +Kennedy nodded. "I've been thinking of what I would do if an important +case ever called me away. Burke's proposal hurried me, that's all. And +you are going, also," he added. "You have until noon to break the news +to the Star." + +I did not say anything more, fearful lest he might change his mind. I +knew he needed the rest, and that no matter what the case was in the +islands he could not work as hard as he was doing in New York. + +Accordingly my own arrangements with the Star were easily made. I had a +sort of roving commission, anyhow, since my close association with +Kennedy. Moreover, the possibility of turning up something good in the +islands, which were much in the news at the time, rather appealed to +the managing editor. If Kennedy could arrange his affairs, I felt that +the least I could do was to arrange my own. + +Thus it came about that Craig and I found ourselves in the forenoon in +a taxicab, on the front of which was loaded the precious box as well as +our other hastily packed luggage, and we were on our way over to +Brooklyn to the dock from which the Arroyo sailed. + +Already the clearance papers had been obtained, and there was the usual +last-moment confusion among the passengers as the hour for sailing +approached. It seemed as if we had scarcely boarded the ship when +Kennedy was as gay as a school-boy on an unexpected holiday. I realized +at once what was the cause. The change of scene, the mere fact of +cutting loose, were having their effect. + +As we steamed slowly down the bay, I ran my eye over the other +passengers at the rail, straining their eyes to catch the last glimpse +of the towers of New York. There were Burke and Sydney, but they were +not together, and, to all appearances, did not know each other. Sydney, +of course, could not conceal his identity, nor did he wish to, no +matter how beset with unseen perils might be his mission. But Burke was +down on the passenger-list as, and had assumed the role of, a traveling +salesman for a mythical novelty-house in Chicago. That evidently was +part of the plan they had agreed on between themselves. Kennedy took +the cue. + +As I studied the various groups, I paused suddenly, surprised. There +was the party which had sat at the table next to us at the Burridge the +night before. Kennedy had already seen them and had been watching them +furtively. + +Just then Craig jogged my elbow. He had caught sight of Whitson edging +his way in our direction. I saw what it was that Craig meant. He wanted +purposely to avoid him. I wondered why, but soon I saw what he was up +to. He wanted introductions to come about naturally, as they do on +shipboard if one only waits. + +On deck and in the lounging and smoking rooms it did not take long for +him to contrive ways of meeting and getting acquainted with those he +wished to know, without exciting suspicion. Thus, by the time we sat +down to dinner in the saloon we were all getting fairly chummy. + +We had met Burke quite as naturally as if we were total strangers. It +was easy to make it appear that Whitson and Sydney were shipboard +acquaintances. Nor was it difficult to secure an introduction to the +other party of four. The girl whom we had heard addressed as Leontine +seemed to be the leader of the group. Leontine Cowell was a striking +personality. Her clear blue eyes directed a gaze at one which tested +one's mettle to meet. I was never quite sure whether she remembered +seeing us at the Burridge, whether she penetrated the parts we were +playing. She was none the less feminine because she had aspirations in +a commercial way. As Kennedy had first observed, she was well worth +study. + +Her companion, Barrett Burleigh, was a polished, deferential +Englishman, one of those who seem to be citizens of the world rather +than subjects of any particular country. I wondered what were the real +relations of the two. + +Jorgen Erickson was, as I had surmised, a Dane. He proved to be one of +the largest planters in the island, already wealthy and destined to be +wealthier if real estate advanced. The other woman, Nanette, was his +wife. She was also a peculiarly interesting type, a Frenchwoman from +Guadeloupe. Younger and more vivacious than her husband, her snappy +black eyes betokened an attractive personality. + +Leontine Cowell, it seemed, had been in the islands not long before, +had secured options on some score of plantations at a low figure, and +made no secret of her business. When the American flag at last flew +over the islands she stood to win out of the increase of land values a +considerable fortune. + +Erickson also, in addition to his own holdings, had been an agent for +some other planters and thus had met Leontine, who had been the means +of interesting some American capital. + +As for Burleigh, it seemed that he had made the acquaintance of +Leontine in Wall Street. He had been in the Caribbean and the impending +changes in the Danish West Indies had attracted his notice. Whether he +had some money to invest in the speculation or hoped to profit by +commissions derived from sales did not appear. But at any rate some +common bond had thrown the quartet together. + +I need not dwell on the little incidents of life on ship. It must have +been the second day out that I observed Leontine and Sydney together on +the promenade-deck. They seemed to be quite interested in each other, +though I felt sure that Leontine was making a play for him. At any +rate, Burleigh was jealous. Whatever might be the scheme, it was +apparent that the young Englishman was head over heels in love with her. + +What did it mean? Was she playing with Sydney, seeking to secure his +influence to further her schemes? Or did it mask some deeper, more +sinister motive? From what I had seen of Sydney, I could not think that +he was the man to take such an affair seriously. I felt that he must be +merely amusing himself. + +Busy with my speculations, I was astonished soon after to realize that +the triangle had become a hexagon, so to speak. Whitson and Nanette +Erickson seemed to be much in each other's company. But, unlike +Burleigh, Erickson seemed to be either oblivious or complacent. + +Whatever it might all portend, I found that it did not worry Kennedy, +although he observed closely. Burke, however, was considerably excited +and even went so far as to speak to Sydney, over whom he felt a sort of +guardianship. Sydney turned the matter off lightly. As for me, I +determined to watch both of these women closely. + +Kennedy spent much time not only in watching the passengers, but in +going about the ship, talking to the captain and crew and every one who +knew anything about the islands. In fact, he collected enough +information in a few days to have satisfied any ordinary tourist for +weeks. + +Even the cargo did not escape his attention, and I found that he was +especially interested in the rather heavy shipments of agricultural +implements that were consigned to various planters in the islands. So +great was his interest that I began to suspect that it had some bearing +on the gun-running plot that had been hinted at by Marlowe. + +It was the evening after one of Kennedy's busy days scouting about that +he quietly summoned both Burke and Sydney to our cabin. + +"There's something queer going on," announced Craig, when he was sure +that we were all together without having been observed. "Frankly, I +must confess that I don't understand it--yet." + +"You needn't worry about me," interrupted Sydney, hastily. "I can take +care of myself." + +Kennedy smiled quietly. We knew what Sydney meant. He seemed to resent +Burke's solicitude over his acquaintance with Leontine and was +evidently warning us off. Kennedy, however, avoided the subject. + +"I may as well tell you," he resumed, "that I was quite as much +influenced by a rumor that arms were somehow getting into Mexican ports +as I was by your appeal, Burke, in coming down here. So far I've found +nothing that proves my case. But, as I said, there is something under +the surface which I don't understand. We have all got to stick +together, trust no one but ourselves, and, above all, keep our eyes +open." + +It was all that was said, but I was relieved to note that Sydney seemed +greatly impressed. Still, half an hour later, I saw him sitting in a +steamer-chair beside Leontine again, watching the beautiful play of the +moonlight on the now almost tropical ocean after we had emerged from +the Gulf Stream. I felt that it was rather dangerous, but at least he +had had his warning. + +Seeking Kennedy, I found him at last in the smoking-room, to my +surprise talking with Erickson. I joined them, wondering how I was to +convey to Craig what I had just seen without exciting suspicion. They +were discussing the commercial and agricultural future of the islands +under the American flag, especially the sugar industry, which had +fallen into a low estate. + +"I suppose," remarked Kennedy, casually, "that you are already +modernizing your plant and that others are doing the same, getting +ready for a revival." + +Erickson received the remark stolidly. "No," he replied, slowly. "Some +of us may be doing so, but as for me, I shall be quite content to sell +if I can get my price." + +"The planters are not putting in modern machinery, then?" queried +Kennedy, innocently, while there flashed over me what he had discovered +about shipments of agricultural implements. + +Erickson shook his head. "Some of them may be. But for one that is, I +know twenty whose only thought is to sell out and take a profit." + +The conversation trailed off on other subjects and I knew that Kennedy +had acquired the information which he sought. As neatly as I could I +drew him apart from Erickson. + +"Strange he should tell me that," ruminated Kennedy as we gained a +quiet corner of the deck. "I know that there is a lot of stuff +consigned to planters in the island, some even to himself." + +"He must be lying, then," I hastened. "Perhaps these promoters are +really plotters. By the way, what I wanted to tell you was that I saw +Sydney and Leontine together again." + +He was about to reply when the sound of some one approaching caused us +to draw back farther into the shadow. It proved to be Whitson and +Nanette. + +"Then you do not like St. Thomas?" we heard Whitson remark, as if he +were repeating something she had just said. + +"There is nothing there," she replied. "Why, there aren't a hundred +miles of good roads and not a dozen automobiles." + +Evidently the swiftness of life in New York of which she had tasted was +having its effect. + +"St. Croix, where we have the plantation, is just as bad. Part of the +time we live there, part of the time at Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas. +But there is little difference. I hope Jorgen is able to sell. At least +I should like to live a part of the year in the States." + +"Would he like that, too?" + +"Many of us would," she replied, quickly. "For many years things have +been getting worse with us. Just now it seems a bit better because of +the high price of sugar. But who knows how long that will last? Oh, I +wish something would happen soon so that we might make enough money to +live as I want to live. Think; here the best years of life are slipping +away. Unless we do something soon, it will be too late! We must make +our money soon." + +There was an air of impatience in her tone, of restless +dissatisfaction. I felt also that there was an element of danger, too, +in a woman just passing from youth making a confidant of another man. + +It was a mixed situation with the quartet whom we were watching. One +thing was sufficiently evident. They were all desperately engaged in +the pursuit of wealth. That was a common bond. Nor had I seen anything +to indicate that they were over-scrupulous in that pursuit. Within half +an hour I had seen Leontine with Sydney and Nanette with Whitson. Both +Sydney as consular agent and Whitson through his influence with the +shipping trust possessed great influence. Had the party thought it out +and were they now playing the game with the main chance in view? + +I looked inquiringly at Kennedy as the voices died away while the +couple walked slowly down the deck. He said nothing, but he was +evidently pondering deeply on some problem, perhaps that which the +trend of affairs had raised in my own mind. + +Our delay had not been long, but it had been sufficient to cause us to +miss finding Leontine and Sydney. We did, however, run across Burke, +bent evidently on watching, also. + +"I don't like this business," he confessed, as we paused to compare +experiences. "I've been thinking of that Mexican business you hinted +at, Kennedy. You know the islands would be an ideal out-of-the-way spot +from which to start gun-running expeditions to Mexico. I don't like +this Leontine and Burleigh. They want to make money too bad." + +Kennedy smiled. "Burleigh doesn't seem to approve of everything, +though," he remarked. + +"Perhaps not. That's one reason why I think it may be more dangerous +for Sydney than he realizes. I know she's a fascinating girl. All the +more reason to watch out for her. But I can't talk to Sydney," he +sighed. + +It was an enigma and I had not solved it, though I felt much as Burke +did. Kennedy seemed to have determined to allow events to take their +course, perhaps in the hope that developments would be quicker that way +than by interfering with something which we did not understand. + +In the smoking-room, after we left Burke, Kennedy and I came upon +Erickson and Burleigh. They had just finished a game of poker with some +of the other passengers, in which Burleigh's usual run of luck and +skill had been with him. + +"Lucky at cards, unlucky in love," remarked Burleigh as we approached. + +He said it with an air of banter, yet I could not help feeling that +there was a note of seriousness at the bottom of it. Had he known that +Leontine had been with Sydney on the deck? His very success at poker +had its effect on me. I found myself eying him as if he had been one of +the transatlantic card sharps, perhaps an international crook. Yet when +I considered I was forced to admit that I had nothing on which to base +such a judgment. + +Erickson presented a different problem, to my mind, There was indeed +something queer about him. Either he had not been perfectly frank with +us in regard to the improvement of his properties or he was concealing +something much more sinister. Again and again my mind reverted to the +hints that had been dropped by Marlowe, and I recalled the close +scrutiny Whitson had given the four that night. So far, I had felt that +in any such attempt we might count on Whitson playing a lone hand and +perhaps finding out something to our advantage. + +It was the morning of the last day of the voyage that most of the +passengers gathered on the deck for the first glimpse of the land to +which we had been journeying. + +Before us lay the beautiful and picturesque harbor and town of +Charlotte Amalie, one of the finest harbors in the West Indies, deep +enough to float the largest vessels, with shipyards, dry-docks, and +repair shops. From the deck it was a strikingly beautiful picture, +formed by three spurs of mountains covered with the greenest of +tropical foliage. From the edge of the dancing blue waves the town +itself rose on the hills, presenting an entrancing panorama. + +All was bustle and excitement as the anchor plunged into the water, for +not only was this the end of our journey, but the arrival of the boat +from New York was an event for the town. + +There was much to watch, but I let nothing interfere with my +observation of how the affair between Sydney and Leontine was +progressing. To my surprise, I saw that this morning she was bestowing +the favor of her smile rather on Burleigh. It was Sydney's turn now to +feel the pangs of jealousy, and I must admit that he bore them with +better grace than Burleigh, whatever that might indicate. + +As I watched the two and recalled their intimacy at the Burridge the +first night we had seen them, I almost began to wonder whether I might +not have been wrong about Leontine. Had it been that I had distrusted +the woman merely because I was suspicious of the type, both male and +female? Had I been finding food for suspicion because I was myself +suspicious? + +Erickson was standing beside Sydney, while we were not far away. +Evidently he had been saving up a speech for the occasion and now was +prepared to deliver it. + +"Mr. Sydney," he began, with a wave of his arm that seemed to include +us all, "it is a pleasure to welcome you here to our island. Last night +it occurred to me that we ought to do something to show that we +appreciate it. You must come to dinner to-night at my villa here in the +town. You are all invited, all of us who have become so enjoyably +acquainted on this voyage which I shall never forget. Believe me when I +say that it will be even more a tribute to you personally than because +of the official position you are to hold among us." + +It was a graceful invitation, more so than I had believed Erickson +capable of framing. Sydney could do nothing less than thank him +cordially and accept, as we all did. Indeed, I could see that Kennedy +was delighted at the suggestion. It would give him an opportunity to +observe them all under circumstances different enough to show something. + +While we were thanking Erickson, I saw that Whitson had taken the +occasion also to thank Mrs. Erickson, with whom he had been talking, +just a bit apart from the group. He made no secret of his attentions, +though I thought she was a bit embarrassed by them at such a time. +Indeed, she started rather abruptly toward the group which was now +intent on surveying the town, and as she did so, I noted that she had +forgotten her hand-bag, which lay on a deck-chair near where they had +been sitting. + +I picked it up to restore it. Some uncontrollable curiosity prompted me +and I hesitated. All were still looking at the town. I opened the bag. +Inside was a little bottle of grayish liquid. What should I do? Any +moment she or Whitson might turn around. Hastily I pulled off the cap +of my fountain-pen and poured into it some of the liquid, replacing the +cork in the bottle and dropping it back into the bag, while I disposed +of the cap as best I could without spilling its contents. + +Whether either she or any one else had observed me, I was not going to +run any chances of being seen. I called a passing steward. "Mrs. +Erickson forgot her bag," I said, pointing hastily to it. "You'll find +her over there with Mr. Whitson." Then I mingled in the crowd to watch +her. She did not seem to show any anxiety when she received it. + +I lost no time in getting back to Kennedy and telling him what I had +found, and a few moments later he made an excuse to go to our +state-room, as eager as I was to know what had been in the little +bottle. + +First he poured out a drop of the liquid from the cap of my +fountain-pen in some water. It did not dissolve. Successively he tried +alcohol, ether, then pepsin. None of them had any effect on it. +Finally, however, he managed to dissolve it in ammonia. + +"Relatively high amount of sulphur," he muttered, after a few moments +more of study. "Keratin, I believe." + +"A poison?" I asked. + +Kennedy shook his head. "No; harmless." + +"Then what is it for?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. He may have had some half-formed idea, but +if he did it was still indefinite and he refused to commit himself. +Instead, he placed the sample in his traveling laboratory, closed and +locked it, and, with our luggage, the box was ready to be taken ashore. + +Nearly every one had gone ashore by the time we returned to the deck. +Whitson was there yet, talking to the captain, for the shipping at the +port interested him. I wondered whether he, too, might be suspicious of +those cases consigned to Erickson and others. If so, he said nothing of +it. + +By this time several vessels that looked as if they might be lighters, +though fairly large, had pulled up. It seemed that they had been +engaged to carry shipments of goods to the other islands of St. John +and St. Croix. + +Kennedy seemed eager now to get ashore, and we went, accompanied by +Whitson, and after some difficulty established ourselves in a small +hotel. + +Most of the tourists were sightseeing, and, while we had no time for +that, still we could not help doing so, in going about the town. + +Charlotte Amalie, I may say, proved to be one of the most picturesque +towns in the Windward Islands. The walls of the houses were mostly of a +dazzling whiteness, though some were yellow, others gray, orange, blue. +But the roofs were all of a generous bright red which showed up very +effectively among the clumps of green trees. Indeed, the town seemed to +be one of gaily tinted villas and palaces. There were no factories, no +slums. Nature had provided against that and man had not violated the +provision. + +The people whom we met on the streets were mostly negroes, though there +was a fair sprinkling of whites. What pleased us most was that nearly +everywhere we went English was spoken. I had half expected Danish. But +there was even very little Spanish spoken. + +Burke was waiting for us, and in spite of his playing the role of +traveling salesman managed to direct us about so that we might as +quickly as possible pick up the thread of the mysterious death of +Dwight. It did not take long to gather such meager information as there +was about the autopsy that had followed the strange death of Sydney's +predecessor. + +We were able to find out little from either the authorities or the +doctor who had investigated the case. Under the stress of suspicion, +both the stomach and the contents of the stomach of the unfortunate man +had been examined. No trace of anything out of the way had been found, +and there the matter had rested, except for suspicion. + +One of our first visits was to the American consulate. There Sydney, by +virtue of his special commission, had, with characteristic energy, +established himself with the consul. Naturally, he, too, had been +making inquiries. But they had led nowhere. There seemed to be no clue +to the mysterious death of Dwight, not even a hint as to the cause. + +All that we were able to discover, after some hours of patient inquiry, +was that Dwight had suffered from great prostration, marked cyanosis, +convulsions, and coma. Whether it was the result of some strange +disease or of a poison no one, not even the doctor, was prepared to +say. All that was known was that the blow, if blow it had been, was +swift, sudden, sure. + +We ran across Whitson once or twice during the day, busily engaged +renewing acquaintance with merchants and planters whom he had known +before, but I do not recall having seen either Burleigh or Leontine, +which, at the time, I thought rather strange, for the town was small +and strangers were few. The more I thought of it the more firmly +convinced I was that Dwight had discovered some secret which it was +extremely inconvenient for somebody to have known. What was it? Was it +connected with the rumors we had heard of gun-running to Mexico? + +Erickson had invited us to come late in the afternoon to the dinner and +we did not delay in getting there. His house proved to be a veritable +palace on the side of one of the hills rising abruptly back of the +shore. Flights of massive stone steps, quaint walls covered with +creepers, balustrades overlooking charming gardens, arcades from which +one looked out on splendid vistas and shady terraces combined to make +it a veritable paradise such as can be found only in tropical and +subtropical lands. Most wonderful of all was the picture of the other +hills unfolded, especially of the two ruined pirates' castles belonging +to semi-mythical personages, Bluebeard and Blackbeard. + +The Ericksons were proud of their home, as well they might be, in spite +of the complaints we had heard Nanette utter and the efforts of +Erickson to sell his holdings. Mrs. Erickson proved to be a charming +hostess and the host extended a hospitality such as one rarely meets. +It quite made me uncomfortable to accept it at the same time that I +knew we must view it all with suspicion. Nor did it make matters any +better, but rather worse, to feel that there was some color of excuse +for the suspicion. + +Burleigh arrived proudly with Leontine, followed closely by Sydney. At +once the game was on again, Leontine pitting one against the other. +Whitson came, his attentions to Mrs. Erickson a trifle restrained, but +still obvious. Burke and ourselves completed the party. + +To the repeated urging of Erickson we made ourselves quite as much at +home as we politely could. Kennedy and Burke, acting under his +instructions, seemed to be ubiquitous. Yet, beyond a continuation of +the drama that had been unfolded on the ship it did not seem to me at +first that we were getting anywhere. + +Kennedy and I were passing alone along a colonnade that opened off from +the large dining-hall, when Craig paused and looked in through an open +door at the massive table set for the dinner. + +A servant had just completed setting out cocktails at the various +places, pouring them from a huge tankard, for the purpose, which had +been standing on a sideboard. Guests had been walking past through the +colonnade ever since we arrived, but at the moment there was no one +about, and even the servant had disappeared. + +Kennedy stepped lightly into the dining-hall and looked about sharply. +Instinctively I stepped to a window where I could hear any one +approaching. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him narrowly +scrutinizing the table. Finally he pulled from his pocket a clean linen +handkerchief. Into an empty glass he poured the contents of one of the +cocktail-glasses, straining the liquid through the handkerchief. Then +he poured the filtrate, if I may call it such, back into the original +glass. A second he treated in the same way, and a third. He had nearly +completed the round of the table when I heard a light step. + +My warning came only just in time. It was Burleigh. He saw us standing +now in the colonnade, made some hasty remark, then walked on, as if in +search for some one. Had it been interest in Leontine or in the +dining-room that had drawn him thither? + +Kennedy was now looking closely at the handkerchief, and I looked also. +In the glasses had been innumerable little seeds as if from the fruit +juice used in concocting the appetizer. The fine meshes of the linen +had extracted them. What were they? + +I took one in my fingers and crushed it between my nails. There was an +unmistakable odor of bitter almonds. What did it mean? + +We had no time now for speculation. Our prolonged absence might be +noticed and we hastened to join the other guests after finishing the +round of glasses in which he had been interrupted. + +How, in my suppressed excitement, I managed to get through that dinner +I do not know. It was a brilliant affair, yet I found that I had +completely lost my appetite, as well one might after having observed +Kennedy's sleuthing. + +However, the dinner progressed, though each course that brought it +nearer a conclusion afforded me an air of relief. I was quite ready +when, over the coffee, Kennedy contrived to make some excuse for us, +promising to call again and perhaps to visit the Erickson plantation. + +In the secrecy of our room in the little hotel, Craig was soon deeply +buried in making use of his traveling laboratory. As he worked I could +no longer restrain my impatience. "What about that little bottle of +keratin?" I asked, eagerly. + +"Oh yes," he replied, not looking up from the tests he was making. +"Well, keratin, you know, is also called epidermose. It is a +scleroprotein present largely in cuticular structures such as hair, +nails, horn. I believe it is usually prepared from pieces of horn +steeped in pepsin, hydrochloric acid, and water for a long time. Then +the residue is dissolved in ammonia and acetic acid." + +"But what's its use?" I demanded. "You said it was harmless." + +"Why, the pepsin of the stomach won't digest it," he returned. "For +that reason its chief use is for coating what are known as 'enteric +capsules.' Anything coated with keratin is carried on through the +stomach into the intestines. It is used much in hot countries in order +to introduce drugs into the intestines in the treatment of the tropical +diseases that affect the intestines." He paused and devoted his entire +attention to his work, but he had told me enough to assure me that at +least the bottle of keratin I had found had proved to be a clue. + +I waited as long as I could, then interrupted again. "What are the +seeds?" I queried. "Have you found out yet?" + +He paused as though he had not quite finished his hasty investigation, +yet had found out enough to convince him. "There seem to be two kinds. +I wish I had had time to keep each lot separate. Some of them are +certainly quite harmless. But there are others, I find, that have been +soaked in nitro-benzol, artificial oil of bitter almonds. Even a few +drops, such as might be soaked up in this way, might be fatal. The new +and interesting phase, to me, is that they were all carefully coated +with keratin. Really, they are keratin-coated enteric capsules of +nitro-benzol, a deadly poison." + +I looked at him, aghast at what some of us had been rescued from by his +prompt action. + +"You see," he went on, excitedly, "that is why the autopsies probably +showed nothing. These doctors down here sought for a poison in the +stomach. But if the poison had been in the stomach the odor alone would +have betrayed it. You smelt it when you crushed a seed. But the +poisoning had been devised to avoid just that chance of discovery. +There was no poison in the stomach. Death was delayed long enough, +also, to divert suspicion from the real poisoner. Some one has been +diabolically clever in covering up the crimes." + +I could only gasp my amazement. "Then," I blurted out, "you think the +Ericksons--" + +Our door burst open. It was Burke, in wild excitement. + +"Has anybody--died?" I managed to demand. + +He seemed not to hear, but dashed to the window and threw it open. +"Look!" he exclaimed. + +We did. In the late twilight, through the open sash we could see the +landlocked basin of the harbor. But it was not that at which Burke +pointed. On the horizon an ugly dark cloud rose menacingly. In the +strange, unearthly murkiness, I could see people of the town pouring +out into the narrow streets, wildly, fearfully, with frantic cries and +gesticulations. + +For a moment I gazed at the sight blankly. Then I realized that +sweeping on us was one of those sudden, deadly West-Indian hurricanes. +Our harbor was sheltered from the north and east winds. But this wind +was southern born, rare, oncoming in a fury against which we had no +protection. + +Hastily closing his armamentarium, Kennedy also hurried out on the +street. The gale had become terrific already in the few minutes that +had elapsed. From our terrace we could see the water, gray and olive, +with huge white breakers, like gnashing teeth, coming on to rend and +tear everything in their path. It was as though we stood in an +amphitheater provided by nature for a great spectacle, the bold +headlands standing out like the curves of a stadium. + +I looked about. The Ericksons had just driven up with Burleigh and +Leontine, as well as Whitson, all of whom were stopping at our hotel, +and were about to take Sydney on to the consulate when the approach of +the storm warned them to stay. + +Leontine had hurried into the hotel, evidently fearful of the loss of +something she treasured, and the rest were standing apart from the +trees and buildings, where the formation of the land offered some +protection. As we joined them I peered at the pale faces in the +ghastly, unnatural light. Was it, in a sense, retribution? + +Suddenly, without further warning, the storm broke. Trees were turned +up by roots, like weeds, the buildings rocked as if they had been +houses of cards. It was a wild, catastrophic spectacle. + +"Leontine," I heard a voice mutter by my side, as a form catapulted +itself past through the murkiness into the crazily swaying hotel. It +was Burleigh. I turned to speak to Kennedy. He was gone. Where to find +him I had no idea. The force of the wind was such that search was +impossible. All we could do was to huddle back of such protection as +the earth afforded against the million needles of rain that cut into +our faces. + +The wind almost blew me flat to the earth as, no longer able to stand +the suspense, I stumbled toward the hotel, thinking perhaps he had gone +to save his armamentarium, although if I had stopped to think I should +have realized that that strong box was about the safest piece of +property on the island. + +I was literally picked up and hurled against an object in the +darkness--a man. "In the room--more keratin--more seeds." + +It was Kennedy. He had taken advantage of the confusion to make a +search which otherwise might have been more difficult. Together we +struggled back to our shelter. + +Just then came a crash, as the hotel crumpled under the fierce stress +of the storm. Out of the doorway struggled a figure just in time to +clear the falling walls. It was Burleigh, a huge gash from a beam +streaming blood down his forehead which the rain washed away almost as +it oozed. In his arms, clinging about his neck, was Leontine, no longer +the sophisticated, but in the face of this primeval danger just a +woman. Burleigh staggered with his burden a little apart from us, and +in spite of everything I could fancy him blessing the storm that had +given him his opportunity. + +Far from abating, the storm seemed increasing in fury, as though all +the devils of the underworld were vexed at anything remaining +undestroyed. It seemed as if even the hills on which the old pirates +had once had their castles must be rocking. + +"My God!" exclaimed a thick voice, as an arm shot out, pointing toward +the harbor. + +There was the Arroyo tugging at every extra mooring that could be +impressed into service. The lighters had broken or been cut away and +were scudding, destruction-bent, squarely at the shore almost below us. +A moment and they had crashed on the beach, a mass of timbers and +spars, while the pounding waves tore open and flung about heavy cases +as though they were mere toys. + +Then, almost as suddenly as it had come, the storm began to abate, the +air cleared, and nothing remained but the fury of the waves. + +"Look!" exclaimed Kennedy, pointing down at the strange wreckage that +strewed the beach. "Does that look like agricultural machinery?" We +strained our eyes. Kennedy did not pause. "The moment I heard that arms +were getting into Mexico I suspected that somewhere here in the +Caribbean munitions were being transhipped. Perhaps they have been sent +to Atlantic ports ostensibly for the Allies. They have got down here +disguised. Even before the storm exposed them I had reasoned it out. +From this port, the key to the vast sweep of mainland, I reasoned that +they were being taken over to secret points on the coast where big +ships could not safely go. It was here that blockade-runners were +refitted in our Civil War. It is here that this new gun-running plot +has been laid." + +He turned quickly to Sydney. "The only obstacle between the transfer of +the arms and success was the activity of an American consulate. Those +lighters were not to carry goods to other islands. They were really +destined for Mexico. It was profitable. And the scheme for removing +opposition was evidently safe." + +Kennedy was holding up another bottle of keratin and some fruit seeds. +"I found these in a room in the hotel," he added. + +I did not comprehend. "But," I cut in, "the hand-bag--the dinner--what +of them?" + +"A plant--a despicable trespass on hospitality--all part of a scheme to +throw the guilt on some one else, worthy of a renegade and traitor." + +Craig wheeled suddenly, then added, with an incisive gesture, "I +suppose you know that there is reputed to have been on one of these +hills the headquarters of the old pirate, Teach--'the mildest manner'd +man that ever scuttled ship or cut a throat!'" + +Kennedy paused, then added, quickly, "In respect to covering up your +gun-running, Whitson, you are superior even to Teach!" + + + + +XII + +THE SUNKEN TREASURE + + + "Get story Everson and bride yacht Belle Aventure + seeking treasure sunk Gulf liner Antilles." + +Kennedy and I had proceeded after a few leisurely days in St. Thomas to +Porto Rico. We had no particular destination, and San Juan rather +appealed to us as an objective point because it was American. + +It was there that I found waiting for me the above message by wireless +from the Star in New York. + +San Juan was, as we had anticipated, a thoroughly Americanized town and +I lost no time in getting around at once to the office of the leading +newspaper, the Colonial News. The editor, Kenmore, proved to be a +former New York reporter who had come out in answer to an advertisement +by the proprietors of the paper. + +"What's the big story here now?" I asked by way of preface, expecting +to find that colonial newspapermen were provincial. + +"What's the big story?" repeated Kenmore, impatiently pushing aside a +long leader on native politics and regarding me thoughtfully. "Well, +I'm not superstitious, but a honeymoon spent trying to break into Davy +Jones's locker for sunken treasure--I guess that's a good story, isn't +it?" + +I showed him my message and he smiled. "You see, I was right," he +exclaimed. "They're searching now at the Cay d'Or, the Golden Key, one +of the southernmost of the Bahamas, I suppose you would call it. I wish +I was like you. I'd like to get away from this political stuff long +enough to get the story." + +He puffed absently on a fragrant native cigar. "I met them all when +they were here, before they started," he resumed, reminiscently. "It +was certainly a picturesque outfit--three college chums--one of them on +his honeymoon, and the couple chaperoning the bride's sister. There was +one of the college boys--a fellow named Gage--who fairly made news." + +"How was that?" inquired Kennedy, who had accompanied me, full of zest +at the prospect of mixing in a story so romantic. + +"Oh, I don't know that it was his fault--altogether," replied Kenmore. +"There's a young lady here in the city, the daughter of a pilot, +Dolores Guiteras. She had been a friend of some one in the expedition, +I believe. I suppose that's how Gage met her. I don't think either of +them really cared for each other. Perhaps she was a bit jealous of the +ladies of the party. I don't know anything much about it, only I +remember one night in the cafe of the Palace Hotel, I thought Gage and +another fellow would fight a duel--almost--until Everson dropped in and +patched the affair up and the next day his yacht left for Golden Key." + +"I wish I'd been here to go with them," I considered. "How do you +suppose I'll be able to get out there, now?" + +"You might be able to hire a tug," shrugged Kenmore. "The only one I +know is that of Captain Guiteras. He's the father of this Dolores I +told you about." + +The suggestion seemed good, and after a few moments more of +conversation, absorbing what little Kenmore knew, we threaded our way +across the city to the home of the redoubtable Guiteras and his pretty +daughter. + +Guiteras proved to be a man of about fifty, a sturdy, muscular fellow, +his face bronzed by the tropical sun. + +I had scarcely broached the purpose of my visit when his restless brown +eyes seemed literally to flash. "No, sir," he exclaimed, emphatically. +"You cannot get me to go on any such expedition. Mr. Everson came here +first and tried to hire my tug. I wouldn't do it. No, sir--he had to +get one from Havana. Why, the whole thing is unlucky--hoodooed, you +call it. I will not touch it." + +"But," I remonstrated, surprised at his unexpected vehemence, "I am not +asking you to join the expedition. We are only going to--" + +"No, no," he interrupted. "I will not consider it. I--" + +He cut short his remarks as a young woman, radiant in her +Latin-American beauty, opened the door, hesitated at sight of us, then +entered at a nod from him. We did not need to be told that this was the +Dolores whom Kenmore's rumor had credited with almost wrecking +Everson's expedition at the start. She was a striking type, her face, +full of animation and fire, betraying more of passion than of intellect. + +A keen glance of inquiry from her wonderful eyes at her father was +followed by a momentary faraway look, and she remained silent, while +Guiteras paused, as if considering something. + +"They say," he continued, slowly, his features drawn sharply, "that +there was loot of Mexican churches on that ship--the jewels of Our Lady +of the Rosary at Puebla.... That ship was cursed, I tell you!" he +added, scowling darkly. + +"No one was lost on it, though," I ventured at random. + +"I suppose you never heard the story of the Antilles?" he inquired, +turning swiftly toward me. Then, without stopping: "She had just sailed +from San Juan before she was wrecked--on her way to New York from Vera +Cruz with several hundred Mexican refugees. Treasure? Yes; perhaps +millions, money that belonged to wealthy families in Mexico--and some +that had the curse on it. + +"You asked a moment ago if everybody wasn't rescued. Well, everybody +was rescued from the wreck except Captain Driggs. I don't know what +happened. No one knows. The fire had got into the engine-room and the +ship was sinking fast. Passengers saw him, pale, like a ghost, some +said. Others say there was blood streaming from his head. When the last +boat-load left they couldn't find him. They had to put off without him. +It was a miracle that no one else was lost." + +"How did the fire start?" inquired Kennedy, much interested. + +"No one knows that, either," answered Guiteras, shaking his head +slowly. "I think it must have been smoldering in the hold for hours +before it was discovered. Then the pumps either didn't work properly or +it had gained too great headway for them. I've heard many people talk +of it and of the treasure. No, sir, you wouldn't get me to touch it. +Maybe you'll call it superstition. But I won't have anything to do with +it. I wouldn't go with Mr. Everson and I won't go with you. Perhaps you +don't understand, but I can't help it." + +Dolores had stood beside her father while he was speaking, but had said +nothing, though all the time she had been regarding us from beneath her +long black eyelashes. Arguments with the old pilot had no effect, but I +could not help feeling that somehow she was on our side, that whether +she shared his fears and prejudices, her heart was really somewhere +near the Key of Gold. + +There seemed to be nothing for us to do but wait until some other way +turned up to get out to the expedition, or perhaps Dolores succeeded in +changing the captain's mind. We bowed ourselves out, not a little +puzzled by the enigma of the obdurate old man and his pretty daughter. +Try as I might among the busy shipping of the port, I could find no one +else willing at any reasonable price to change his plans to accommodate +us. + +It was early the next morning that a young lady, very much perturbed, +called on us at our hotel, scarcely waiting even the introduction of +her plainly engraved card bearing the name, Miss Norma Sanford. + +"Perhaps you know of my sister, Asta Sanford, Mrs. Orrin Everson," she +began, speaking very rapidly as if under stress. "We're down here on +Asta's honeymoon in Orrin's yacht, the Belle Aventure." Craig and I +exchanged glances, but she did not give us a chance to interrupt. + +"It all seems so sudden, so terrible," she cried, in a burst of wild, +incoherent feeling. "Yesterday Bertram Traynor died, and we've put back +to San Juan with his body. I'm so worried for Orrin and my sister. I +heard you were here, Professor Kennedy, and I couldn't rest until I saw +you." + +She was looking anxiously at Craig. I wondered whether she had heard of +our visit to the Guiterases and what she knew about that other woman. + +"I don't quite understand," interposed Kennedy, with an effort to calm +her. "Why do you fear for your sister and Mr. Everson? Was there +something--suspicious--about the death of Mr. Traynor?" + +"Indeed I think there was," she replied, quickly. "None of us has any +idea how it happened. Let me tell you about our party. You see, there +are three college chums, Orrin and two friends, Bertram Traynor and +Donald Gage. They were all on a cruise down here last winter, the year +after they graduated. It was in San Juan that Orrin first met Mr. +Dominick, who was the purser on the Antilles--you know, that big +steamer of the Gulf Line that was burned last year and went down with +seven million dollars aboard?" + +Kennedy nodded to the implied query, and she went on: "Mr. Dominick was +among those saved, but Captain Driggs was lost with his ship. Mr. +Dominick had been trying to interest some one here in seeking the +treasure. They knew about where the Antilles went down, and the first +thing he wanted to do was to locate the wreck exactly. After that was +done of course Mr. Dominick knew about the location of the ship's +strong room and all that." + +"That, of course, was common knowledge to any one interested enough to +find out, though," suggested Kennedy. + +"Of course," she agreed. "Well, a few months later Orrin met Mr. +Dominick again, in New York. In the mean time he had been talking the +thing over with various people and had become acquainted with a man who +had once been a diver for the Interocean Marine Insurance Company--Owen +Kinsale. Anyhow, so the scheme grew. They incorporated a company, the +Deep Sea Engineering Company, to search for the treasure. That is how +Orrin started. They are using his yacht and Mr. Dominick is really in +command, though Mr. Kinsale has the actual technical knowledge." + +She paused, but again her feelings seemed to get the better of her. +"Oh," she cried, "I've been afraid all along, lately. It's dangerous +work. And then, the stories that have been told of the ship and the +treasure. It seems ill-fated. Professor Kennedy," she appealed, "I wish +you would come and see us. We're not on the yacht just now. We came +ashore as soon as we arrived back, and Asta and Orrin are at the Palace +Hotel now. Perhaps Orrin can tell you more. If you can do nothing more +than quiet my fears--" + +Her eyes finished the sentence. Norma Sanford was one of those girls +who impress you as quite capable of taking care of themselves. But in +the presence of the tragedy and a danger which she felt but could not +seem to define, she felt the need of outside assistance and did not +hesitate to ask it. Nor was Kennedy slow in responding. He seemed to +welcome a chance to help some one in distress. + +We found Everson and his young wife at the hotel, quite different now +from the care-free adventurers who had set out only a few days before +to wrest a fortune from chance. + +I had often seen portraits of the two Sanford sisters in the society +pages of the papers in the States and knew that the courtship of Orrin +Everson and Asta Sanford had been a true bit of modern romance. + +Asta Everson was a unique type of girl. She had begun by running fast +motor cars and boats. That had not satisfied her, and she had taken up +aviation. Once, even, she had tried deep-sea diving herself. It seemed +as if she had been born with the spirit of adventure. + +To win her, Everson had done about everything from Arctic exploration +one summer when he was in college to big-game hunting in Africa, and +mountain-climbing in the Andes. Odd though the romance might seem to +be, one could not help feeling that the young couple were splendidly +matched in their tastes. Each had that spirit of restlessness which, at +least, sent them out playing at pioneering. + +Everson had organized the expedition quite as much in the spirit of +revolt against a prosaic life of society at home as for gain. It had +appealed strongly to Asta. She had insisted that nothing so much as a +treasure hunt would be appropriate for their wedding-trip and they had +agreed on the unconventional. Accordingly, she and her sister had +joined Everson and his party, Norma, though a year younger, being quite +like her sister in her taste for excitement. + +"Of course, you understand," explained Everson, as he hurriedly tried +to give us some idea of what had happened, "we knew that the Antilles +had sunk somewhere off the Cay d'Or. It was first a question of +locating her. That was all that we had been doing when Bertram died. It +is terrible, terrible. I can't believe it. I can't understand it." + +In spite of his iron nerve, the tragedy seemed to have shaken Everson +profoundly. + +"You had done nothing that might have been dangerous?" asked Kennedy, +pointedly. + +"Nothing," emphasized Everson. "You see, we located the wreck in a way +somewhat similar to the manner in which they sweep the seas for mines +and submarines. It was really very simple, though it took us some time. +All we did was to drag a wire at a fixed depth between the yacht and +the tug, or rather, I suppose you'd almost call it a trawler, which I +chartered from Havana. What we were looking for was to have the wire +catch on some obstruction. It did, too, not once, but many times, due +to the unevenness of the ocean bed. Once we located a wreck, but it was +in shallow water, a small boat, not the one we were looking for." + +"But you succeeded finally?" + +"Yes, only day before yesterday we located her. We marked the spot with +a buoy and were getting ready for real work. It was just after that +that Bertram was taken ill and died so suddenly. We've left Dominick, +Kinsale, Gage, and the rest on the trawler there, while I came here +with Traynor's body. God! but it was awful to have to send the news +back to New York. I don't know what to think or what to do." + +"How did he die?" asked Kennedy, endeavoring to gain the confidence of +young Everson. "Do you recall any of his symptoms?" + +"It came on him so suddenly," he replied, "that we hadn't much time to +think. As nearly as we could make out, it began with a faintness and +difficulty in breathing. We asked him how he felt--but it seemed as if +he was deaf. I thought it might be the 'bends'--you know, caisson +disease--and we started to put him in the medical lock which we had for +the divers, but before we could get it ready he was unconscious. It was +all so sudden that it stunned us. I can't make it out at all." + +Neither Asta nor Norma seemed able to tell anything. In fact, the blow +had been so swift and unexpected, so incomprehensible, that it had left +them thoroughly alarmed. + +The body of Traynor had already been brought ashore and placed in a +local undertaking shop. With Everson, Kennedy and I hastened to visit +it. + +Traynor had been an athlete and powerfully built, which made his sudden +death seem all the more strange. Without a word, Craig set to work +immediately examining his body, while we stood aside, watching him in +anxious silence. Kennedy consumed the greater part of the morning in +his careful investigation, and after some time Everson began to get +restless, wondering how his wife and sister-in-law were getting on in +his absence. To keep him company I returned to the hotel with him, +leaving Kennedy to pursue his work alone. + +There was nothing much that either of us could say or do, but I thought +I observed, on closer acquaintance with Norma, that she had something +weighing on her mind. Was it a suspicion of which she had not told us? +Evidently she was not prepared to say anything yet, but I determined, +rather than try to quiz her, to tell Kennedy, in the hope that she +might confide in him what she would not breathe to any one else. + +It was perhaps an hour or more later that we returned to Craig. He was +still at work, though from his manner it was evident that his +investigations had begun to show something, however slight. + +"Have you found anything?" asked Everson, eagerly. + +"I think I have," returned Craig, measuring his words carefully. "Of +course you know the dangers of diving and the view now accepted +regarding the rapid effervescence of the gases which are absorbed in +the body fluids during exposure to pressure. I think you know that +experiment has proved that when the pressure is suddenly relieved the +gas is liberated in bubbles within the body. That is what seems to do +the harm. His symptoms, as you described them, seemed to indicate that. +It is like charged water in a bottle. Take out the cork and the gas +inside which has been under pressure bubbles up. In the human body, air +and particularly the nitrogen in the air, literally form death bubbles." + +Everson said nothing as he regarded Kennedy's face searchingly, and +Craig went on: "Set free in the spinal cord, for instance, such bubbles +may cause partial paralysis, or in the heart may lead to stoppage of +the circulation. In this case I am quite sure that what I have found +indicates air in the arteries, the heart, and the blood vessels of the +brain. It must have been a case of air embolism, insufflation." + +Though Everson seemed all along to have suspected something of the +sort, Kennedy's judgment left him quite as much at a loss for an +explanation. Kennedy seemed to understand, as he went on: + +"I have tried to consider all the ways such a thing could have +happened," he considered. "It is possible that air might have been +introduced into the veins by a hypodermic needle or other instrument. +But I find no puncture of the skin or other evidence that would support +that theory. I have looked for a lesion of the lungs, but find none. +Then how could it have occurred? Had he done any real deep diving?" + +Everson shook his head slowly. "No," he replied. "As I said, it +wouldn't have been so incomprehensible if he had. Besides, if we had +been diving, we should have been on the lookout. No, Bertram had only +tested the apparatus once, after we located the wreck. He didn't much +more than go under the surface--nothing like the practice dives we all +made up in Long Island Sound before we came down here. He was only +testing the pumps and other things to see whether they had stood the +voyage. Why, it was nothing at all! I don't see how it could have given +any one the 'bends'--much less a fellow like Traynor. Why, I think he +could have stood more than Kinsale with a little practice. Kennedy, I +can't get it out of my mind that there's something about this that +isn't RIGHT." + +Craig regarded Everson gravely. "Frankly," he confessed, "I must say +that I don't understand it myself--at this distance." + +"Would you come out to the Key with me?" hastened Everson, as though +grasping at a possible solution. + +"I should be delighted to help you in any manner that I can," returned +Craig, heartily. + +Everson could not find words to express his gratitude as we hurried +back to the hotel. In the excitement, I had completely forgotten the +despatch from the Star, but now I suddenly realized that here, ready to +hand, was the only way of getting out to the Key of Gold and securing +the story. + +Asta Everson and Norma, especially, were overjoyed at the news that +Kennedy had consented to accompany them back to the wreck. Evidently +they had great faith in him, from what they had heard at home. + +Accordingly, Everson lost no time in preparing to return to the yacht. +Nothing more now could be done for poor Traynor, and delay might mean +much in clearing up the mystery, if mystery it should prove. We were +well on our way toward the landing place before I realized that we were +going over much the same route that Kennedy and I had taken the day +before to reach the home of Guiteras. + +I was just about to say something about it to Kennedy, and of the +impression that Norma had made on me, when suddenly a figure darted +from around a corner and confronted us. We stopped in surprise. It was +no other than Dolores herself--not the quiet, subdued Dolores we had +seen the day before, but an almost wild, passionate creature. What it +was that had transformed her I could not imagine. It was not ourselves +that she seemed to seek, nor yet the Eversons. She did not pause until +she had come close to Norma herself. + +For a moment the two women, so different in type, faced each other, +Dolores fiery with the ardent beauty of her race, Norma pulsating with +life and vigor, yet always mistress of herself. + +"I warn you!" cried Dolores, unable to restrain herself. "You thought +the other was yours--and he was not. Do not seek revenge. He is +mine--MINE, I tell you. Win your own back again. I was only making +sport of him. But mine--beware!" + +For a moment Norma gazed at her, then, without a word, turned aside and +walked on. Another instant and Dolores was gone as suddenly as she had +appeared. Asta looked inquiringly, but Norma made no attempt at +explanation. What did it mean? Had it anything to do with the dispute +in the hotel which Kenmore had witnessed? + +At the landing we parted for a time with Everson, to return to our +hotel and get what little we needed, including Kennedy's traveling +laboratory, while Everson prepared quarters for our reception on the +yacht. + +"What do you make of that Dolores incident?" I hastened to ask the +moment we were alone. + +"I don't know," he replied, "except that I feel it has an important +bearing on the case. There is something that Norma hasn't told us, I +fear." + +While we waited for a wagon to transfer our goods to the dock, Kennedy +took a moment to call up Kenmore on the News. As he turned to me from +the telephone, I saw that what he had learned had not helped him much +in his idea of the case. + +"It was the Interocean Company which had insured the Antilles," was all +he said. + +Instantly I thought of Kinsale and his former connection. Was he +secretly working with them still? Was there a plot to frustrate +Everson's plans? At least the best thing to do was to get out to the +wreck and answer our many questions at first hand. + +The Belle Aventure was a trim yacht of perhaps seventy feet, low, slim, +and graceful, driven by a powerful gas-engine and capable of going +almost anywhere. An hour later we were aboard and settled in a +handsomely appointed room, where Craig lost no time in establishing his +temporary traveling crime clinic. + +It was quite late before we were able to start, for Everson had a +number of commissions to attend to on this his first visit to port +since he had set out so blithely. Finally, however, we had taken aboard +all that he needed and we slipped out quietly past the castle on the +point guarding the entrance to the harbor. All night we plowed ahead +over the brilliant, starry, tropical sea, making splendid time, for the +yacht was one of the fastest that had ever been turned out by the +builders. + +Now and then I could see that Kennedy was furtively watching Norma, in +the hope that she might betray whatever secret it was she was guarding +so jealously. Though she betrayed nothing, I felt sure that it had to +do with some member of the expedition and that it was a more than +ordinarily complicated affair of the heart. The ladies had retired, +leaving us with Everson in the easy wicker chairs on the after-deck. + +"I can't seem to get out of my mind, Everson, that meeting with the +Spanish girl on the street," suddenly remarked Kennedy, in the hope of +getting something by surprise. "You see, I had already heard of a +little unpleasantness in a hotel cafe, before the expedition started. +Somehow I feel that there must be some connection." + +For a moment Everson regarded Kennedy under the soft rays of the +electric light under the awning as it swayed in the gentle air, then +looked out over the easy swell of the summer sea. + +"I don't understand it myself," he remarked, at length, lowering his +voice. "When we came down here Dominick knew that girl, Dolores, and of +course Kinsale met her right away, too. I thought Gage was head over +ears in love with Norma--and I guess he is. Only that night in the cafe +I just didn't like the way he proposed a toast to Dolores. He must have +met her that day. Maybe he was a bit excited. What she said to-day +might mean that it was her fault. I don't know. But since we've been +out to the Key I fancy Norma has been pretty interested in Dominick. +And Kinsale doesn't hesitate to show that he likes her. It all sets +Donald crazy. It's so mixed up. I can't make anything of it. And +Norma--well, even Asta can't get anything out of her. I wish to Heaven +you could straighten the thing out." + +We talked for some time, without getting much more light than Everson +had been able at first to shed on the affair, and finally we retired, +having concluded that only time and events would enable us to get at +the truth. + +It was early in the morning that I was wakened by a change in the +motion of the boat. There was very little vibration from the engine, +but this motion was different. I looked out of the port-hole which had +been very cleverly made to resemble a window and found that we had +dropped anchor. + +The Key of Gold was a beautiful green island, set, like a sparkling +gem, in a sea of deepest turquoise. Slender pines with a tuft of green +at the top rose gracefully from the wealth of foliage below and +contrasted with the immaculate white of the sandy beach that glistened +in the morning sun. Romance seemed to breathe from the very atmosphere +of the place. + +We found that the others on the yacht were astir, too, and, dressing +hastily, we went out on deck. Across the dancing waves, which seemed to +throw a mocking challenge to the treasure-seekers to find what they +covered, we could see the trawler. Already a small power-boat had put +out from her and was plowing along toward us. + +It was as the boat came alongside us that we met Gage for the first +time. He was a tall, clean-cut fellow, but even at a glance I +recognized that his was an unusual type. I fancied that both proctors +and professors had worried over him when he was in college. + +Particularly I tried to discover how he acted when he met Norma. It was +easy to see that he was very eager to greet her, but I fancied that +there was some restraint on her part. Perhaps she felt that we were +watching and was on her guard. + +Dominick greeted Everson warmly. He was a man of about thirty-five and +impressed one as having seen a great deal of the world. His position as +purser had brought him into intimate contact with many people, and he +seemed to have absorbed much from them. I could imagine that, like many +people who had knocked about a great deal, he might prove a very +fascinating person to know. + +Kinsale, on the other hand, was a rather silent fellow and therefore +baffling. In his own profession of deep-sea diving he was an expert, +but beyond that I do not think he had much except an ambition to get +ahead, which might be praiseworthy or not, according as he pursued it. + +I fancied that next to Everson himself, Norma placed more confidence in +Dominick than in any of the others, which seemed to be quite natural, +though it noticeably piqued Gage. On the part of all three, Gage, +Dominick, and Kinsale, it was apparent that they were overjoyed at the +return of Norma, which also was quite natural, for even a treasure-hunt +has hours of tedium and there could be nothing tedious when she was +about. Asta was undoubtedly the more fascinating, but she was wrapped +up in Everson. It was not long before Kennedy and I also fell under the +spell of Norma's presence and personality. + +We hurried through breakfast and lost no time in accepting Everson's +invitation to join him, with the rest, in the little power-boat on a +visit to the trawler. + +It was Dominick who took upon himself the task of explaining to us the +mysteries of treasure-hunting as we saw them. "You see," he remarked, +pointing out to us what looked almost like a strangely developed suit +of armor, "we have the most recent deep-sea diving-outfit which will +enable us to go from two hundred to three hundred feet down--farther, +and establish a record if we had to do it. It won't be necessary, +though. The Antilles lies in about two hundred and fifty feet of water, +we have found. This armor has to be strong, for, with the air pressure +inside, it must resist a pressure of nearly half a pound per square +inch for each foot we go--to be exact, something like a hundred and +five pounds per square inch at the depth of the wreck. Perhaps if +Traynor had been diving we might have thought that that was the +trouble." + +It was the first reference since we arrived to the tragedy. "He had +only had the suit on once," went on Dominick, confirming Everson, "and +that was merely to test the pumps and valves and joints. Even Kinsale, +here, hasn't been down. Still, we haven't been idle. I have something +to report. With our instruments we have discovered that the ship has +heeled over and that it will be a bit harder job to get into my office +and get out the safe than we hoped--but feasible." + +Kennedy showed more interest in the diving apparatus than he had shown +in anything else so far. The trawler was outfitted most completely as a +tender, having been anchored over the exact spot at which the descents +were to be made, held by four strong cables, with everything in +readiness for action. + +I saw him cast a quick glance at the others. For the moment Dominick, +Gage, and Kinsale seemed to have forgotten us in their interest +explaining to Norma what had been accomplished in her absence. He +seized the occasion to make an even closer examination of the +complicated apparatus. So carefully had accident been guarded against +that even a device for the purification of the air had been installed +in the machine which forced the fresh air down to the diver, compressed. + +It was this apparatus which I saw Kennedy studying most, especially one +part where the air was passed through a small chamber containing a +chemical for the removal of carbon dioxide. As he looked up, I saw a +peculiar expression on his face. Quickly he removed the chemical, +leaving the tube through which the air passed empty. + +"I think the air will be pure enough without any such treatment," he +remarked, glancing about to be sure no one had observed. + +"How is that?" I inquired, eagerly. + +"Well, you know air is a mechanical mixture of gases, mainly oxygen and +nitrogen. Here's something that gives it an excess of nitrogen and a +smaller percentage of oxygen. Nitrogen is the more dangerous gas for +one under compressed air. It is the more inert nitrogen that refuses to +get out of the blood after one has been under pressure, that forms the +bubbles of gas which cause all the trouble, the 'bends,' compressed-air +sickness, you know." + +"Then that is how Traynor died?" I whispered, coming hastily to the +conclusion. "Some one placed the wrong salt in there--took out oxygen, +added nitrogen, instead of removing carbon dioxide?" + +Norma had turned toward us. It was too early for Kennedy to accuse +anybody, whatever might be his suspicions. He could not yet come from +under cover. "I think so," was all he replied. + +A moment later the group joined us. "No one has been down on the wreck +yet?" inquired Craig, at which Everson turned quickly to the three +companions he had left in charge, himself anxious to know. + +"No," replied Kinsale before any one else could answer. "Mr. Dominick +thought we'd better wait until you came back." + +"Then I should like to be the first," cut in Craig, to my utter +surprise. Remonstrance had no effect with him. Neither Norma nor Asta +could dissuade him. As for the rest of us, our objections seemed rather +to confirm him in his purpose. + +Accordingly, in spite of the danger, which now no one no more than he +knew, all the preparations were made for the first dive. With the aid +of Kinsale, whom I watched closely, though no more so than Craig, he +donned the heavy suit of rubberized reinforced canvas, had the leads +placed on his feet and finally was fitted with the metal head and the +"bib"--the whole weighing hardly short of three hundred pounds. It was +with serious misgiving that I saw him go over the side of the trawler +and shoot down into the water with its dark mystery and tragedy. + +The moments that he was down seemed interminable. Suspiciously I +watched every move that the men made, fearful that they might do +something. I longed for the technical knowledge that would have enabled +me to handle the apparatus. I tried to quiet my fears by reasoning that +Craig must have had perfect confidence in the value of his discovery if +he were willing to risk his life on it, yet I felt that at least a show +of vigilance on my part might bluff any one off from an attempt to +tamper again with the air-supply. I stuck about closely. + +Yet, when there came a hasty signal on the indicator from below, +although I felt that he had been down for ages, I knew that it had been +only a very short time. Could it be a signal of trouble? Had some one +again tampered with the apparatus? + +Would they never bring him up? It seemed as if they were working +fearfully slow. I remembered how quickly he had shot down. What had +seemed then only a matter of seconds and minutes now seemed hours. It +was only by sheer will power that I restrained myself as I realized +that going under the air pressure might be done safely quite fast, that +he must come out slowly, by stages, that over the telephone that +connected with his helmet he was directing the decompression in +accordance with the latest knowledge that medical science had derived +of how to avoid the dread caisson disease. + +I don't know when I have felt more relief than I did at seeing his +weird headgear appear at the surface. The danger from the "bends" might +not be entirely over yet, but at least it was Craig himself, safe, at +last. + +As he came over the side of the trawler I ran to him. It was like +trying to greet a giant in that outlandish suit which was so clumsy out +of the water. Craig's back was turned to the others, and when I +realized the reason I stood aghast. He had brought up a skull and had +handed the gruesome thing to me with a motion of secrecy. Meanwhile he +hastened to get out of the cumbersome suit, and, to my delight, showed +no evidence yet of any bad effects. + +That he should have made the descent and returned so successfully I +felt must be a surprise to some one. Who was it? I could not help +thinking of Kinsale again. Was he working for two masters? Was he still +employed by the insurance company? Was this a scheme to capture all the +rich salvage of the ship instead of that percentage to which Everson +had secured an agreement with the underwriters? + +Kennedy lost no time in getting back to the Belle Aventure with the +skull which I had concealed for him. It was a strange burden and I was +not loath to resign it to him. None of the others, apparently, knew +that he had brought up anything with him, and to all questions he +replied as though he had merely been testing out the apparatus and, +except in a most cursory way, had not made an examination of the ship, +although what he had observed confirmed the investigations they had +already made from the surface. + +In our cabin, Kennedy set to work immediately after opening his +traveling laboratory and taking from it a small kit of tools and some +materials that looked almost like those for an actor's make-up. + +I saw that he wished to be left alone and retired as gracefully as I +could, determined to employ the time in watching the others. I found +Norma seated in one of the wicker chairs on the after-deck, talking +earnestly with Dominick, and, hesitating whether I should interrupt +them, I paused between the library and the sumptuously fitted main +saloon. I was glad that I did, for just that moment of hesitation was +enough for me to surprise a man peering out at them through the +curtains of a window, with every evidence of intense dislike of the +situation. Looking closer, I saw that it was Gage. Had I expected +anything of the sort I should have gone even more cautiously. As it +was, though I surprised him, he heard me in time to conceal his real +intentions by some trivial action. + +It seemed as if our arrival had been succeeded by a growth of suspicion +among the members of the little party. Each, as far as I could make +out, was now on guard, and, remembering that Kennedy had often said +that that was a most fruitful time, since it was just under such +circumstances that even the cleverest could not help incriminating +himself, I hastened back to let Craig know how matters were. He was at +work now on a most grotesque labor, and, as he placed on it the +finishing touches, he talked abstractedly. + +"What I am using, Walter," he explained, "might be called a new art. +Lately science has perfected the difficult process of reconstructing +the faces of human beings of whom only the skull or a few bones, +perhaps, are obtainable. + +"To the unskilled observer a fleshless skull presents little human +likeness and certainly conveys no notion of the exact appearance in +life of the person to whom it belonged. But by an ingenious system of +building up muscles and skin upon the bones of the skull this +appearance can be reproduced with scientific accuracy. + +"The method, I might say, has been worked out independently by +Professor von Froriep, in Germany, and by Dr. Henri Martin, in France. +Its essential principle consists in ascertaining from the examination +of many corpses the normal thickness of flesh that overlies a certain +bone in a certain type of face. From these calculations the scientists +by elaborate processes build up a face on the skull." + +I watched him, with an uncontrollable fascination. "For instance," he +went on, "a certain type of bone always has nearly the same thickness +of muscle over it. A very fine needle with graduations of hundredths of +an inch is used in these measurements. As I have done here, a great +number of tiny plaster pyramids varying in height according to the +measurements obtained by these researches are built up over the skull, +representing the thickness of the muscles. The next step will be to +connect them together by a layer of clay the surface of which is flush +with the tips of the pyramids. Then wax and grease paint and a little +hair will complete it. You see, it is really scientific restoration of +the face. I must finish it. Meanwhile, I wish you would watch Norma. +I'll join you in a short time." + +Norma was not on deck when I returned, nor did I see any one else for +some time. I walked forward, and paused at the door to the little +wireless-room on the yacht, intending to ask the operator if he had +seen her. + +"Where's Mr. Kennedy?" he inquired, before I had a chance to put my own +question. "Some one has been in this wireless-room this morning and +must have been sending messages. Things aren't as I left them. I think +he ought to know." + +Just then Everson himself came up from below, his face almost as white +as the paint on the sides of his yacht. Without a word, he drew me +aside, looking about fearfully as though he were afraid of being +overheard. "I've just discovered half a dozen sticks of dynamite in the +hold," he whispered, hoarsely, staring wide-eyed at me. "There was a +timing device, set for to-night. I've severed it. Where's Kennedy?" + +"Your wireless has been tampered with, too," I blurted out, telling +what I had just learned. + +We looked at each other blankly. Clearly some one had plotted to blow +up the yacht and all of us on board. Without another word, I took his +arm and we walked toward our state-room, where Kennedy was at work. As +we entered the narrow passage to it I heard low voices. Some one was +there before us. Kennedy had shut the door and was talking in the hall. +As we turned the corner I saw that it was Norma, whom I had forgotten +in the surprise of the two discoveries that had been so suddenly made. + +As we approached she glanced significantly at Kennedy as if appealing +to him to tell something. Before he could speak, Everson himself +interrupted, telling of his discovery of the dynamite and of what the +wireless operator had found. + +There was a low exclamation from Norma. "It's a plot to kidnap me!" she +cried, in a smothered voice. "Professor Kennedy--I told you I thought +so!" + +Everson and I could only look our inquiries at the startling new turn +of events. + +"Miss Sanford has just been to her state-room," hastily explained +Craig. "There she found that some one had carefully packed up a number +of her things and hidden them, as if waiting a chance to get them off +safely. I think her intuition is correct. There would be no motive for +robbery--here." + +Vainly I tried to reason it out. As I thought, I recalled that Gage had +seemed insanely jealous of both Dominick and Kinsale, whenever he saw +either with Norma. Did Gage know more about these mysterious happenings +than appeared? Why had he so persistently sought her? Had Norma +instinctively fled from his attentions? + +"Where are the others?" asked Craig, quickly. I turned to Everson. I +had not yet had time to find out. + +"Gone back to the trawler," he replied. + +"Signal them to come aboard here directly," ordered Craig. + +It seemed an interminable time as the message was broken out in flags +to the trawler, which was not equipped with the wireless. Even the +hasty explanation which Kennedy had to give to Asta Everson, as she +came out of her cabin, wondering where Orrin had gone, served only to +increase the suspense. It was as though we were living over a +powder-magazine that threatened to explode at any moment. What did the +treachery of one member of the expedition mean? Above all, who was it? + +We had been so intent watching from the deck the all too slow approach +of the little power-boat from the trawler that we had paid no attention +to what was on our other quarter. + +"A tug approaching, sir," reported the man on watch to Everson. "Seems +to be heading for us, sir." + +We turned to look. Who was she, friend or foe? We knew not what to +expect. Everson, pale but with a firm grip on his nerves, did not move +from the deck as the power-boat came alongside, and Dominick, Gage, and +Kinsale swung themselves up the ladder to us. + +"It's the tug of that pilot, Guiteras, sir," interposed the man who had +spoken before. Not a word was spoken, though I fancied that a quiet +smile flitted over Kennedy's face as we waited. + +The tug ranged up alongside us. To my utter astonishment, I saw +Dolores, her black eyes eagerly scanning our faces. Was she looking for +Gage, I wondered? It was only a moment when the party that had put out +from the tug also came tumbling aboard. + +"I got your message, Kennedy, and brought Guiteras. He wouldn't join +the expedition, but he thought more of his daughter than of anything +else." + +It was Kenmore, who had at last achieved his wish to get on the +treasure-hunt story. Everson looked inquiringly at Craig. + +"Message?" repeated Kennedy. "I sent no message." + +It was Kenmore's turn to stare. Had some one hoaxed him into a +wild-goose chase, after all? + +"Nothing? About Dolores being deserted, and--" + +"He shall marry my daughter!" boomed a gruff voice as Guiteras +shouldered his way through the little group, his hand shooting back to +a pocket where bulged a huge Colt. + +Like a flash Kennedy, who had been watching, caught his wrist. "Just a +second, Captain," he shouted, then turned to us, speaking rapidly and +excitedly. "This thing has all been carefully, diabolically laid out. +All who stood in the way of the whole of the treasure were to be +eliminated. One person has sought to get it all--at any cost." + +In Craig's own hand now gleamed a deadly automatic while with the other +he held Guiteras's wrist. + +"But," he added, tensely, "an insane passion has wrecked the desperate +scheme. A woman has been playing a part--leading the man on to his own +destruction in order to save the man she really loves." + +I looked over at Norma. She was pale and agitated, then burning and +nervous by turns. It was only by a most heroic effort that she seemed +able to restrain herself, her eyes riveted on Kennedy's face, weighing +every word to see whether it balanced with a feeling in her own heart. + +"The Antilles," shot out Kennedy, suddenly, "was burned and sunk, not +by accident, but with a purpose. That purpose has run through all the +events I have seen--the use of Mr. Everson, his yacht, his money, his +influence. Come!" He strode down the passage to our state-room, and we +followed in awed silence. + +"It is a vast, dastardly crime--to get the Mexican millions," he went +on, pausing, his hand on the knob of the door while we crowded the +narrow passage. "I have brought up from the wreck a skull which I found +near a safe, unlocked so that entrance would be easy. The skull shows +plainly that the man had been hit on the head by some blunt instrument, +crushing him. Had he discovered something that it was inconvenient to +know? You have heard the stories of the ill-fated ship--" + +Craig flung open the door suddenly. We saw a weird face--the head +apparently streaming blood from a ghastly wound. There was a shrill cry +beside me. + +"It's his ghost--Captain Driggs! God save me--it's his ghost come to +haunt me and claim the treasure!" + +I turned quickly. Dominick had broken down. + +"You were--just leading him on--tell me--Norma." I turned again +quickly. It was Gage, who had taken Norma's hand, quivering with +excitement. + +"You never cared for her?" she asked, with the anxiety that showed how +in her heart she loved him. + +"Never. It was part of the plot. I sent the message to get her here to +show you. I didn't know you were playing a game--" + +Suddenly the sharp crack of a pistol almost deafened us in the close +passageway. As the smoke cleared, I saw Dolores, her eyes blazing with +hatred, jealousy, revenge. In her hand was the pistol she had wrenched +from her father. + +On the floor across the door-sill sprawled a figure. Dominick had paid +the price of his faithlessness to her also. + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure-Train, by Arthur B. Reeve + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE-TRAIN *** + +***** This file should be named 5087.txt or 5087.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/8/5087/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Reeve + +Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5087] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 24, 2002] +[Date last updated: February 14, 2006] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE-TRAIN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +THE TREASURE-TRAIN + +BY + +ARTHUR B. REEVE + +FRONTISPIECE BY WILL FOSTER + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE TREASURE-TRAIN + + II. THE TRUTH-DETECTOR + + III. THE SOUL-ANALYSIS + + IV. THE MYSTIC POISONER + + V. THE PHANTOM DESTROYER + + VI. THE BEAUTY MASK + + VII. THE LOVE METER + +VIII. THE VITAL PRINCIPLE + + IX. THE RUBBER DAGGER + + X. THE SUBMARINE MINE + + XI. THE GUN-RUNNER + + XII. THE SUNKEN TREASURE + + + + +I + +THE TREASURE-TRAIN + + +"I am not by nature a spy, Professor Kennedy, but--well, sometimes +one is forced into something like that." Maude Euston, who had +sought out Craig in his laboratory, was a striking girl, not +merely because she was pretty or because her gown was modish. +Perhaps it was her sincerity and artlessness that made her +attractive. + +She was the daughter of Barry Euston, president of the Continental +Express Company, and one could readily see why, aside from the +position her father held, she should be among the most-sought- +after young women in the city. + +Miss Euston looked straight into Kennedy's eyes as she added, +without waiting for him to ask a question: + +"Yesterday I heard something that has made me think a great deal. +You know, we live at the St. Germaine when we are in town. I've +noticed for several months past that the lobbies are full of +strange, foreign-looking people. + +"Well, yesterday afternoon I was sitting alone in the tea-room of +the hotel, waiting for some friends. On the other side of a huge +palm I heard a couple whispering. I have seen the woman about the +hotel often, though I know that she doesn't live there. The man I +don't remember ever having seen before. They mentioned the name of +Granville Barnes, treasurer of father's company--" + +"Is that so?" cut in Kennedy, quickly. "I read the story about him +in the papers this morning." + +As for myself, I was instantly alive with interest, too. + +Granville Barnes had been suddenly stricken while riding in his +car in the country, and the report had it that he was hovering +between life and death in the General Hospital. The chauffeur had +been stricken, too, by the same incomprehensible malady, though +apparently not so badly. + +How the chauffeur managed to save the car was a miracle, but he +brought it to a stop beside the road, where the two were found +gasping, a quarter of an hour later, by a passing motorist, who +rushed them to a doctor, who had them transferred to the hospital +in the city. Neither of them seemed able or willing to throw any +light on what had happened. + +"Just what was it you overheard?" encouraged Kennedy. + +"I heard the man tell the woman," Miss Euston replied, slowly, +"that now was the chance--when any of the great warring powers +would welcome and wink at any blow that might cripple the other to +the slightest degree. I heard him say something about the +Continental Express Company, and that was enough to make me +listen, for, you know, father's company is handling the big +shipments of gold and securities that are coming here from abroad +by way of Halifax. Then I heard her mention the names of Mr. +Barnes and of Mr. Lane, too, the general manager." She paused, as +though not relishing the idea of having the names bandied about. +"Last night the--the attack on him--for that is all that I can +think it was--occurred." + +As she stopped again, I could not help thinking what a tale of +strange plotting the casual conversation suggested. New York, I +knew, was full of high-class international crooks and flimflammers +who had flocked there because the great field of their operations +in Europe was closed. The war had literally dumped them on us. Was +some one using a band of these crooks for ulterior purposes? The +idea opened up wide possibilities. + +"Of course," Miss Euston continued, "that is all I know; but I +think I am justified in thinking that the two things--the shipment +of gold here and the attack--have some connection. Oh, can't you +take up the case and look into it?" + +She made her appeal so winsomely that it would have been difficult +to resist even if it had not promised to prove important. + +"I should be glad to take up the matter," replied Craig, quickly, +adding, "if Mr. Barnes will let me." + +"Oh, he must!" she cried. "I haven't spoken to father, but I know +that he would approve of it. I know he thinks I haven't any head +for business, just because I wasn't born a boy. I want to prove to +him that I can protect the companies interests. And Mr. Barnes-- +why, of course he will approve." + +She said it with an assurance that made me wonder. It was only +then that I recollected that it had been one of the excuses for +printing her picture in the society columns of the Star so often +that the pretty daughter of the president of the Continental was +being ardently wooed by two of the company's younger officials. +Granville Barnes himself was one. The other was Rodman Lane, the +young general manager. I wished now that I had paid more attention +to the society news. Perhaps I should have been in a better +position to judge which of them it was whom she really had chosen. +As it was, two questions presented themselves to me. Was it +Barnes? And had Barnes really been the victim of an attack--or of +an accident? + +Kennedy may have been thinking the problems over, but he gave no +evidence of it. He threw on his hat and coat, and was ready in a +moment to be driven in Miss Euston's car to the hospital. + +There, after the usual cutting of red tape which only Miss Euston +could have accomplished, we were led by a white-uniformed nurse +through the silent halls to the private room occupied by Barnes. + +"It's a most peculiar case," whispered the young doctor in charge, +as we paused at the door. "I want you to notice his face and his +cough. His pulse seems very weak, almost imperceptible at times. +The stethoscope reveals subcrepitant sounds all over his lungs. +It's like bronchitis or pneumonia--but it isn't either." + +We entered. Barnes was lying there almost in a state of +unconsciousness. As we stood watching him he opened his eyes. But +he did not see us. His vision seemed to be riveted on Miss Euston. +He murmured something that we could not catch, and, as his eyes +closed again, his face seemed to relax into a peaceful expression, +as though he were dreaming of something happy. + +Suddenly, however, the old tense lines reappeared. Another idea +seemed to have been suggested. + +"Is--Lane--hiring the men--himself?" he murmured. + +The sight of Maude Euston had prompted the thought of his rival, +now with a clear field. What did it mean? Was he jealous of Lane, +or did his words have a deeper meaning? What difference could it +have made if Lane had a free hand in managing the shipment of +treasure for the company? + +Kennedy looked long and carefully at the face of the sick man. It +was blue and cyanosed still, and his lips had a violet tinge. +Barnes had been coughing a great deal. Now and then his mouth was +flecked with foamy blood, which the nurse wiped gently away. +Kennedy picked up a piece of the blood-soaked gauze. + +A moment later we withdrew from the room as quietly as we had +entered and tiptoed down the hall, Miss Euston and the young +doctor following us more slowly. As we reached the door, I turned +to see where she was. A distinguished-looking elderly gentleman, +sitting in the waiting-room, had happened to glance up as she +passed and had moved quickly to the hall. + +"What--you here, Maude?" we heard him say. + +"Yes, father. I thought I might be able to do something for +Granville." + +She accompanied the remark with a sidelong glance and nod at us, +which Kennedy interpreted to mean that we might as well keep in +the background. Euston himself, far from chiding her, seemed +rather to be pleased than otherwise. We could not hear all they +said, but one sentence was wafted over. + +"It's most unfortunate, Maude, at just this time. It leaves the +whole matter in the hands of Lane." + +At the mention of Lane, which her father accompanied by a keen +glance, she flushed a little and bit her lip. I wondered whether +it meant more than that, of the two suitors, her father obviously +preferred Barnes. + +Euston had called to see Barnes, and, as the doctor led him up the +hall again, Miss Euston rejoined us. + +"You need not drive us back," thanked Kennedy. "Just drop us at +the Subway. I'll let you know the moment I have arrived at any +conclusion." + +On the train we happened to run across a former classmate, +Morehead, who had gone into the brokerage business. + +"Queer about that Barnes case, isn't it?" suggested Kennedy, after +the usual greetings were over. Then, without suggesting that we +were more than casually interested, "What does the Street think of +it?" + +"It is queer," rejoined Morehead. "All the boys down-town are +talking about it--wondering how it will affect the transit of the +gold shipments. I don't know what would happen if there should be +a hitch. But they ought to be able to run the thing through all +right." + +"It's a pretty ticklish piece of business, then?" I suggested. + +"Well, you know the state of the market just now--a little push +one way or the other means a lot. And I suppose you know that the +insiders on the Street have boosted Continental Express up until +it is practically one of the 'war stocks,' too. Well, good-by-- +here's my station." + +We had scarcely returned to the laboratory, however, when a car +drove up furiously and a young man bustled in to see us. + +"You do not know me," he introduced, "but I am Rodman Lane, +general manager of the Continental Express. You know our company +has had charge of the big shipments of gold and securities to New +York. I suppose you've read about what happened to Barnes, our +treasurer. I don't know anything about it--haven't even time to +find out. All I know is that it puts more work on me, and I'm +nearly crazy already." + +I watched him narrowly. + +"We've had little trouble of any kind so far," he hurried on, +"until just now I learned that all the roads over which we are +likely to send the shipments have been finding many more broken +rails than usual." + +Kennedy had been following him keenly. + +"I should like to see some samples of them," he observed. + +"You would?" said Lane, eagerly. "I've a couple of sections sawed +from rails down at my office, where I asked the officials to send +them." + +We made a hurried trip down to the express company's office. +Kennedy examined the sections of rails minutely with a strong +pocket-lens. + +"No ordinary break," he commented. "You can see that it was an +explosive that was used--an explosive well and properly tamped +down with wet clay. Without tamping, the rails would have been +bent, not broken." + +"Done by wreckers, then?" Lane asked. + +"Certainly not defective rails," replied Kennedy. "Still, I don't +think you need worry so much about them for the next train. You +know what to guard against. Having been discovered, whoever they +are, they'll probably not try it again. It's some new wrinkle that +must be guarded against." + +It was small comfort, but Craig was accustomed to being brutally +frank. + +"Have you taken any other precautions now that you didn't take +before?" + +"Yes," replied Lane, slowly; "the railroad has been experimenting +with wireless on its trains. We have placed wireless on ours, too. +They can't cut us off by cutting wires. Then, of course, as +before, we shall use a pilot-train to run ahead and a strong guard +on the train itself. But now I feel that there may be something +else that we can do. So I have come to you." + +"When does the next shipment start?" asked Kennedy. + +"To-morrow, from Halifax." + +Kennedy appeared to be considering something. + +"The trouble," he said, at length, "is likely to be at this end. +Perhaps before the train starts something may happen that will +tell us just what additional measures to take as it approaches New +York." + +While Kennedy was at work with the blood-soaked gauze that he had +taken from Barnes, I could do nothing but try to place the +relative positions of the various actors in the little drama that +was unfolding. Lane himself puzzled me. Sometimes I felt almost +sure that he knew that Miss Euston had come to Kennedy, and that +he was trying, in this way, to keep in touch with what was being +done for Barnes. + +Some things I knew already. Barnes was comparatively wealthy, and +had evidently the stamp of approval of Maude Euston's father. As +for Lane, he was far from wealthy, although ambitious. + +The company was in a delicate situation where an act of omission +would count for as much as an act of commission. Whoever could +foresee what was going to happen might capitalize that information +for much money. If there was a plot and Barnes had been a victim, +what was its nature? I recalled Miss Euston's overheard +conversation in the tea-room. Both names had been mentioned. In +short, I soon found myself wondering whether some one might not +have tempted Lane either to do or not to do something. + +"I wish you'd go over to the St. Germaine, Walter," remarked +Kennedy, at length, looking up from his work. "Don't tell Miss +Euston of Lane's visit. But ask her if she will keep an eye out +for that woman she heard talking--and the man, too. They may drop +in again. And tell her that if she hears anything else, no matter +how trivial, about Barnes, she must let me know." + +I was glad of the commission. Not only had I been unable to arrive +anywhere in my conjectures, but it was something even to have a +chance to talk with a girl like Maude Euston. + +Fortunately I found her at home and, though she was rather +disappointed that I had nothing to report, she received me +graciously, and we spent the rest of the evening watching the +varied life of the fashionable hostelry in the hope of chancing on +the holders of the strange conversation in the tea-room. + +Once in a while an idea would occur to her of some one who was in +a position to keep her informed if anything further happened to +Barnes, and she would despatch a messenger with a little note. +Finally, as it grew late and the adventuress of the tea-room +episode seemed unlikely to favor the St. Germaine with her +presence again that night, I made my excuses, having had the +satisfaction only of having delivered Kennedy's message, without +accomplishing anything more. In fact, I was still unable to +determine whether there was any sentiment stronger than sympathy +that prompted her to come to Kennedy about Barnes. As for Lane, +his name was scarcely mentioned except when it was necessary. + +It was early the next morning that I rejoined Craig at the +laboratory. I found him studying the solution which he had +extracted from the blood-soaked gauze after first removing the +blood in a little distilled water. + +Before him was his new spectroscope, and I could see that now he +was satisfied with what the uncannily delicate light-detective had +told him. He pricked his finger and let a drop of blood fall into +a little fresh distilled water, some of which he placed in the +spectroscope. + +"Look through it," he said. "Blood diluted with water shows the +well-known dark bands between D and E, known as the oxyhemoglobin +absorption." I looked as he indicated and saw the dark bands. +"Now," he went on, "I add some of this other liquid." + +He picked up a bottle of something with a faint greenish tinge. + +"See the bands gradually fade?" + +I watched, and indeed they did diminish in intensity and finally +disappear, leaving an uninterrupted and brilliant spectrum. + +"My spectroscope," he said, simply, "shows that the blood-crystals +of Barnes are colorless. Barnes was poisoned--by some gas, I +think. I wish I had time to hunt along the road where the accident +took place." As he said it, he walked over and drew from a cabinet +several peculiar arrangements made of gauze. + +He was about to say something more when there came a knock at the +door. Kennedy shoved the gauze arrangements into his pocket and +opened it. It was Maude Euston, breathless and agitated. + +"Oh, Mr. Kennedy, have you heard?" she cried. "You asked me to +keep a watch whether anything more happened to Mr. Barnes. So I +asked some friends of his to let me know of anything. He has a +yacht, the Sea Gull, which has been lying off City Island. Well, +last night the captain received a message to go to the hospital, +that Mr. Barnes wanted to see him. Of course it was a fake. Mr. +Barnes was too sick to see anybody on business. But when the +captain got back, he found that, on one pretext or another, the +crew had been got ashore--and the Sea Gull is gone--stolen! Some +men in a small boat must have overpowered the engineer. Anyhow, +she has disappeared. I know that no one could expect to steal a +yacht--at least for very long. She'd be recognized soon. But they +must know that, too." + +Kennedy looked at his watch. + +"It is only a few hours since the train started from Halifax," he +considered. "It will be due in New York early to-morrow morning-- +twenty million dollars in gold and thirty millions in securities-- +a seven-car steel train, with forty armed guards!" + +"I know it," she said, anxiously, "and I am so afraid something is +going to happen--ever since I had to play the spy. But what could +any one want with a yacht?" + +Kennedy shrugged his shoulders non-committally. + +"It is one of the things that Mr. Lane must guard against," he +remarked, simply. She looked up quickly. + +"Mr. Lane?" she repeated. + +"Yes," replied Kennedy; "the protection of the train has fallen on +him. I shall meet the train myself when it gets to Worcester and +come in on it. I don't think there can be any danger before it +reaches that point." + +"Will Mr. Lane go with you?" + +"He must," decided Kennedy. "That train must be delivered safely +here in this city." + +Maude Euston gave Craig one of her penetrating, direct looks. + +"You think there is danger, then?" + +"I cannot say," he replied. + +"Then I am going with you!" she exclaimed. + +Kennedy paused and met her eyes. I do not know whether he read +what was back of her sudden decision. At least I could not, unless +there was something about Rodman Lane which she wished to have +cleared up. Kennedy seemed to read her character and know that a +girl like Maude Euston would be a help in any emergency. + +"Very well," he agreed; "meet us at Mr. Lane's office in half an +hour. Walter, see whether you can find Whiting." + +Whiting was one of Kennedy's students with whom he had been lately +conducting some experiments. I hurried out and managed to locate +him. + +"What is it you suspect?" I asked, when we returned. "A wreck-- +some spectacular stroke at the nations that are shipping the +gold?" + +"Perhaps," he replied, absently, as he and Whiting hurriedly +assembled some parts of instruments that were on a table in an +adjoining room. + +"Perhaps?" I repeated. "What else might there be?" + +"Robbery." + +"Robbery!" I exclaimed. "Of twenty million dollars? Why, man, just +consider the mere weight of the metal!" + +"That's all very well," he replied, warming up a bit as he saw +that Whiting was getting things together quickly. "But it needs +only a bit of twenty millions to make a snug fortune--" He paused +and straightened up as the gathering of the peculiar electrical +apparatus, whatever it was, was completed. "And," he went on +quickly, "consider the effect on the stock-market of the news. +That's the big thing." + +I could only gasp. + +"A modern train-robbery, planned in the heart of dense traffic!" + +"Why not?" he queried. "Nothing is impossible if you can only take +the other fellow unawares. Our job is not to be taken unawares. +Are you ready, Whiting?" + +"Yes, sir," replied the student, shouldering the apparatus, for +which I was very thankful, for my arms had frequently ached +carrying about some of Kennedy's weird but often weighty +apparatus. + +We piled into a taxicab and made a quick journey to the office of +the Continental Express. Maude Euston had already preceded us, and +we found her standing by Lane's desk as he paced the floor. + +"Please, Miss Euston, don't go," he was saying as we entered. + +"But I want to go," she persisted, more than ever determined, +apparently. + +"I have engaged Professor Kennedy just for the purpose of +foreseeing what new attack can be made on us," he said. + +"You have engaged Professor Kennedy?" she asked. "I think I have a +prior claim there, haven't I?" she appealed. + +Kennedy stood for a moment looking from one to the other. What was +there in the motives that actuated them? Was it fear, hate, love, +jealousy? + +"I can serve my two clients only if they yield to me," Craig +remarked, quietly. "Don't set that down, Whiting. Which is it--yes +or no?" + +Neither Lane nor Miss Euston looked at each other for a moment. + +"Is it in my hands?" repeated Craig. + +"Yes," bit off Lane, sourly. + +"And you, Miss Euston?" + +"Of course," she answered. + +"Then we all go," decided Craig. "Lane, may I install this thing +in your telegraph-room outside?" + +"Anything you say," Lane returned, unmollified. + +Whiting set to work immediately, while Kennedy gave him the final +instructions. + +Neither Lane nor Miss Euston spoke a word, even when I left the +room for a moment, fearing that three was a crowd. I could not +help wondering whether she might not have heard something more +from the woman in the tea-room conversation than she had told us. +If she had, she had been more frank with Lane than with us. She +must have told him. Certainly she had not told us. It was the only +way I could account for the armed truce that seemed to exist as, +hour after hour, our train carried us nearer the point where we +were to meet the treasure-train. + +At Worcester we had still a long wait for the argosy that was +causing so much anxiety and danger. It was long after the time +scheduled that we left finally, on our return journey, late at +night. + +Ahead of us went a dummy pilot-train to be sacrificed if any +bridges or trestles were blown up or if any new attempts were made +at producing artificially broken rails. We four established +ourselves as best we could in a car in the center of the treasure- +train, with one of the armed guards as company. Mile after mile we +reeled off, ever southward and westward. + +We must have crossed the State of Connecticut and have been +approaching Long Island Sound, when suddenly the train stopped +with a jerk. Ordinarily there is nothing to grow alarmed about at +the mere stopping of a train. But this was an unusual train under +unusual circumstances. + +No one said a word as we peered out. Down the track the signals +seemed to show a clear road. What was the matter? + +"Look!" exclaimed Kennedy, suddenly. + +Off a distance ahead I could see what looked like a long row of +white fuses sticking up in the faint starlight. From them the +fresh west wind seemed to blow a thick curtain of greenish-yellow +smoke which swept across the track, enveloping the engine and the +forward cars and now advancing toward us like the "yellow wind" of +northern China. It seemed to spread thickly on the ground, rising +scarcely more than sixteen or eighteen feet. + +A moment and the cloud began to fill the air about us. There was a +paralyzing odor. I looked about at the others, gasping and +coughing. As the cloud rolled on, inexorably increasing in +density, it seemed literally to grip the lungs. + +It flashed over me that already the engineer and fireman had been +overcome, though not before the engineer had been able to stop the +train. + +As the cloud advanced, the armed guards ran from it, shouting, one +now and then falling, overcome. For the moment none of us knew +what to do. Should we run and desert the train for which we had +dared so much? To stay was death. + +Quickly Kennedy pulled from his pocket the gauze arrangements he +had had in his hand that morning just as Miss Euston's knock had +interrupted his conversation with me. Hurriedly he shoved one into +Miss Euston's hands, then to Lane, then to me, and to the guard +who was with us. + +"Wet them!" he cried, as he fitted his own over his nose and +staggered to a water-cooler. + +"What is it?" I gasped, hoarsely, as we all imitated his every +action. + +"Chlorin gas," he rasped back, "the same gas that overcame +Granville Barnes. These masks are impregnated with a glycerin +solution of sodium phosphate. It was chlorin that destroyed the +red coloring matter in Barnes's blood. No wonder, when this action +of just a whiff of it on us is so rapid. Even a short time longer +and death would follow. It destroys without the possibility of +reconstitution, and it leaves a dangerous deposit of albumin. How +do you feel?" + +"All right," I lied. + +We looked out again. The things that looked like fuses were not +bombs, as I had expected, but big reinforced bottles of gas +compressed at high pressure, with the taps open. The supply was +not inexhaustible. In fact, it was decidedly limited. But it +seemed to have been calculated to a nicety to do the work. Only +the panting of the locomotive now broke the stillness as Kennedy +and I moved forward along the track. + +Crack! rang out a shot. + +"Get on the other side of the train--quick!" ordered Craig. + +In the shadow, aside from the direction in which the wind was +wafting the gas, we could now just barely discern a heavy but +powerful motor-truck and figures moving about it. As I peered out +from the shelter of the train, I realized what it all meant. The +truck, which had probably conveyed the gas-tanks from the +rendezvous where they had been collected, was there now to convey +to some dark wharf what of the treasure could be seized. There the +stolen yacht was waiting to carry it off. + +"Don't move--don't fire," cautioned Kennedy. "Perhaps they will +think it was only a shadow they saw. Let them act first. They +must. They haven't any too much time. Let them get impatient." + +For some minutes we waited. + +Sure enough, separated widely, but converging toward the treasure- +train at last, we could see several dark figures making their way +from the road across a strip of field and over the rails. I made a +move with my gun. + +"Don't," whispered Kennedy. "Let them get together." + +His ruse was clever. Evidently they thought that it had been +indeed a wraith at which they had fired. Swiftly now they hurried +to the nearest of the gold-laden cars. We could hear them, +breaking in where the guards had either been rendered unconscious +or had fled. + +I looked around at Maude Euston. She was the calmest of us all as +she whispered: + +"They are in the car. Can't we DO something?" + +"Lane," whispered Kennedy, "crawl through under the trucks with +me. Walter, and you, Dugan," he added, to the guard, "go down the +other side. We must rush them--in the car." + +As Kennedy crawled under the train again I saw Maude Euston follow +Lane closely. + +How it happened I cannot describe, for the simple reason that I +don't remember. I know that it was a short, sharp dash, that the +fight was a fight of fists in which guns were discharged wildly in +the air against the will of the gunner. But from the moment when +Kennedy's voice rang out in the door, "Hands up!" to the time that +I saw that we had the robbers lined up with their backs against +the heavy cases of the precious metal for which they had planned +and risked so much, it is a blank of grim death-struggle. + +I remember my surprise at seeing one of them a woman, and I +thought I must be mistaken. I looked about. No; there was Maude +Euston standing just beside Lane. + +I think it must have been that which recalled me and made me +realize that it was a reality and not a dream. The two women stood +glaring at each other. + +"The woman in the tea-room!" exclaimed Miss Euston. "It was about +this--robbery--then, that I heard you talking the other +afternoon." + +I looked at the face before me. It was, had been, a handsome face. +But now it was cold and hard, with that heartless expression of +the adventuress. The men seemed to take their plight hard. But, as +she looked into the clear, gray eyes of the other woman, the +adventuress seemed to gain rather than lose in defiance. + +"Robbery?" she repeated, bitterly. "This is only a beginning." + +"A beginning. What do you mean?" + +It was Lane who spoke. Slowly she turned toward him. + +"You know well enough what I mean." + +The implication that she intended was clear. She had addressed the +remark to him, but it was a stab at Maude Euston. + +"I know only what you wanted me to do--and I refused. Is there +more still?" + +I wondered whether Lane could really have been involved. + +"Quick--what DO you mean?" demanded Kennedy, authoritatively. + +The woman turned to him: + +"Suppose this news of the robbery is out? What will happen? Do you +want me to tell you, young lady?" she added, turning again to +Maude Euston. "I'll tell you. The stock of the Continental Express +Company will fall like a house of cards. And then? Those who have +sold it at the top price will buy it back again at the bottom. The +company is sound. The depression will not last--perhaps will be +over in a day, a week, a month. Then the operators can send it up +again. Don't you see? It is the old method of manipulation in a +new form. It is a war-stock gamble. Other stocks will be affected +the same way. This is our reward--what we can get out of it by +playing this game for which the materials are furnished free. We +have played it--and lost. The manipulators will get their reward +on the stock-market this morning. But they must still reckon with +us--even if we have lost." She said it with a sort of grim humor. + +"And you have put Granville Barnes out of the way, first?" I +asked, remembering the chlorin. She laughed shrilly. + +"That was an accident--his own carelessness. He was carrying a +tank of it for us. Only his chauffeur's presence of mind in +throwing it into the shrubbery by the road saved his life and +reputation. No, young man; he was one of the manipulators, too. +But the chief of them was--" She paused as if to enjoy one brief +moment of triumph at least. "The president of the company," she +added. + +"No, no, no!" cried Maude Euston. + +"Yes, yes, yes! He does not dare deny it. They were all in it." + +"Mrs. Labret--you lie!" towered Lane, in a surging passion, as he +stepped forward and shook his finger at her. "You lie and you know +it. There is an old saying about the fury of a woman scorned." She +paid no attention to him whatever. + +"Maude Euston," she hissed, as though Lane had been as +inarticulate as the boxes of gold about, "you have saved your +lover's reputation--perhaps. At least the shipment is safe. But +you have ruined your father. The deal will go through. Already +that has been arranged. You may as well tell Kennedy to let us go +and let the thing go through. It involves more than us." + +Kennedy had been standing back a bit, carefully keeping them all +covered. He glanced a moment out of the corner of his eye at Maude +Euston, but said nothing. + +It was a terrible situation. Had Lane really been in it? That +question was overshadowed by the mention of her father. +Impulsively she turned to Craig. + +"Oh, save him!" she cried. "Can't anything be done to save my +father in spite of himself?" + +"It is too late," mocked Mrs. Labret. "People will read the +account of the robbery in the papers, even if it didn't take +place. They will see it before they see a denial. Orders will +flood in to sell the stock. No; it can't be stopped." + +Kennedy glanced momentarily at me. + +"Is there still time to catch the last morning edition of the +Star, Walter?" he asked, quietly. I glanced at my watch. + +"We may try. It's possible." + +"Write a despatch--an accident to the engine--train delayed--now +proceeding--anything. Here, Dugan, you keep them covered. Shoot to +kill if there's a move." + +Kennedy had begun feverishly setting up the part of the apparatus +which he had brought after Whiting had set up his. + +"What can you do?" hissed Mrs. Labret. "You can't get word +through. Orders have been issued that the telegraph operators are +under no circumstances to give out news about this train. The +wireless is out of commission, too--the operator overcome. The +robbery story has been prepared and given out by this time. +Already reporters are being assigned to follow it up." + +I looked over at Kennedy. If orders had been given for such +secrecy by Barry Euston, how could my despatch do any good? It +would be held back by the operators. + +Craig quickly slung a wire over those by the side of the track and +seized what I had written, sending furiously. + +"What are you doing?" I asked. "You heard what she said." + +"One thing you can be certain of," he answered, "that despatch can +never be stolen or tapped by spies." + +"Why--what is this?" I asked, pointing to the instrument. + +"The invention of Major Squier, of the army," he replied, "by +which any number of messages may be sent at the same time over the +same wire without the slightest conflict. Really it consists in +making wireless electric waves travel along, instead of inside, +the wire. In other words, he had discovered the means of +concentrating the energy of a wireless wave on a given point +instead of letting it riot all over the face of the earth. + +"It is the principle of wireless. But in ordinary wireless less +than one-millionth part of the original sending force reaches the +point for which it is intended. The rest is scattered through +space in all directions. If the vibrations of a current are of a +certain number per second, the current will follow a wire to which +it is, as it were, attached, instead of passing off into space. + +"All the energy in wireless formerly wasted in radiation in every +direction now devotes itself solely to driving the current through +the ether about the wire. Thus it goes until it reaches the point +where Whiting is--where the vibrations correspond to its own and +are in tune. There it reproduces the sending impulse. It is wired +wireless." + +Craig had long since finished sending his wired wireless message. +We waited impatiently. The seconds seemed to drag like hours. + +Far off, now, we could hear a whistle as a train finally +approached slowly into our block, creeping up to see what was +wrong. But that made no difference now. It was not any help they +could give us that we wanted. A greater problem, the saving of one +man's name and the re-establishment of another, confronted us. + +Unexpectedly the little wired wireless instrument before us began +to buzz. Quickly Kennedy seized a pencil and wrote as the message +that no hand of man could interfere with was flashed back to us. + +"It is for you, Walter, from the Star," he said, simply handing me +what he had written on the back of an old envelope. + +I read, almost afraid to read: + +Robbery story killed. Black type across page-head last edition, +"Treasure-train safe!" + McGRATH. + +"Show it to Miss Euston," Craig added, simply, gathering up his +wired wireless set, just as the crew from the train behind us ran +up. "She may like to know that she has saved her father from +himself through misunderstanding her lover." + +I thought Maude Euston would faint as she clutched the message. +Lane caught her as she reeled backward. + +"Rodman--can you--forgive me?" she murmured, simply, yielding to +him and looking up into his face. + + + + +II + +THE TRUTH DETECTOR + + +"You haven't heard--no one outside has heard--of the strange +illness and the robbery of my employer, Mr. Mansfield--'Diamond +Jack' Mansfield, you know." + +Our visitor was a slight, very pretty, but extremely nervous girl, +who had given us a card bearing the name Miss Helen Grey. + +"Illness--robbery?" repeated Kennedy, at once interested and +turning a quick glance at me. + +I shrugged my shoulders in the negative. Neither the Star nor any +of the other papers had had a word about it. + +"Why, what's the trouble?" he continued to Miss Grey. + +"You see," she explained, hurrying on, "I'm Mr. Mansfield's +private secretary, and--oh, Professor Kennedy, I don't know, but +I'm afraid it is a case for a detective rather than a doctor." She +paused a moment and leaned forward nearer to us. "I think he has +been poisoned!" + +The words themselves were startling enough without the evident +perturbation of the girl. Whatever one might think, there was no +doubt that she firmly believed what she professed to fear. More +than that, I fancied I detected a deeper feeling in her tone than +merely loyalty to her employer. + +"Diamond Jack" Mansfield was known in Wall Street as a successful +promoter, on the White Way as an assiduous first-nighter, in the +sporting fraternity as a keen plunger. But of all his hobbies, +none had gained him more notoriety than his veritable passion for +collecting diamonds. + +He came by his sobriquet honestly. I remembered once having seen +him, and he was, in fact, a walking De Beers mine. For his +personal adornment, more than a million dollars' worth of gems did +relay duty. He had scores of sets, every one of them fit for a +king of diamonds. It was a curious hobby for a great, strong man, +yet he was not alone in his love of and sheer affection for things +beautiful. Not love of display or desire to attract notice to +himself had prompted him to collect diamonds, but the mere +pleasure of owning them, of associating with them. It was a hobby. + +It was not strange, therefore, to suspect that Mansfield might, +after all, have been the victim of some kind of attack. He went +about with perfect freedom, in spite of the knowledge that crooks +must have possessed about his hoard. + +"What makes you think he has been poisoned?" asked Kennedy, +betraying no show of doubt that Miss Grey might be right. + +"Oh, it's so strange, so sudden!" she murmured. + +"But how do you think it could have happened?" he persisted. + +"It must have been at the little supper-party he gave at his +apartment last night," she answered, thoughtfully, then added, +more slowly, "and yet, it was not until this morning, eight or ten +hours after the party, that he became ill." She shuddered. +"Paroxysms of nausea, followed by stupor and such terrible +prostration. His valet discovered him and sent for Doctor Murray-- +and then for me." + +"How about the robbery?" prompted Kennedy, as it became evident +that it was Mansfield's physical condition more than anything else +that was on Miss Grey's mind. + +"Oh yes"--she recalled herself--"I suppose you know something of +his gems? Most people do." Kennedy nodded. "He usually keeps them +in a safe-deposit vault downtown, from which he will get whatever +set he feels like wearing. Last night it was the one he calls his +sporting-set that he wore, by far the finest. It cost over a +hundred thousand dollars, and is one of the most curious of all +the studies in personal adornment that he owns. All the stones are +of the purest blue-white and the set is entirely based on +platinum. + +"But what makes it most remarkable is that it contains the famous +M-1273, as he calls it. The M stands for Mansfield, and the +figures represent the number of stones he had purchased up to the +time that he acquired this huge one." + +"How could they have been taken, do you think?" ventured Kennedy. +Miss Grey shook her head doubtfully. + +"I think the wall safe must have been opened somehow," she +returned. + +Kennedy mechanically wrote the number, M-1273, on a piece of +paper. + +"It has a weird history," she went on, observing what he had +written, "and this mammoth blue-white diamond in the ring is as +blue as the famous Hope diamond that has brought misfortune +through half the world. This stone, they say, was pried from the +mouth of a dying negro in South Africa. He had tried to smuggle it +from the mine, and when he was caught cursed the gem and every one +who ever should own it. One owner in Amsterdam failed; another in +Antwerp committed suicide; a Russian nobleman was banished to +Siberia, and another went bankrupt and lost his home and family. +Now here it is in Mr. Mansfield's life. I--I hate it!" I could not +tell whether it was the superstition or the recent events +themselves which weighed most in her mind, but, at any rate, she +resumed, somewhat bitterly, a moment later: "M-1273! M is the +thirteenth letter of the alphabet, and 1, 2, 7, 3 add up to +thirteen. The first and last numbers make thirteen, and John +Mansfield has thirteen letters in his name. I wish he had never +worn the thing--never bought it!" + +The more I listened to her the more impressed I was with the fact +that there was something more here than the feeling of a private +secretary. + +"Who were in the supper-party?" asked Kennedy. + +"He gave it for Madeline Hargrave--the pretty little actress, you +know, who took New York by storm last season in 'The Sport' and is +booked, next week, to appear in the new show, 'The Astor Cup.'" + +Miss Grey said it, I thought, with a sort of wistful envy. +Mansfield's gay little bohemian gatherings were well known. Though +he was not young, he was still somewhat of a Lothario. + +"Who else was there?" asked Kennedy. + +"Then there was Mina Leitch, a member of Miss Hargrave's new +company," she went on. "Another was Fleming Lewis, the Wall Street +broker. Doctor Murray and myself completed the party." + +"Doctor Murray is his personal physician?" ventured Craig. + +"Yes. You know when Mr. Mansfield's stomach went back on him last +year it was Doctor Murray who really cured him." + +Kennedy nodded. + +"Might this present trouble be a recurrence of the old trouble?" + +She shook her head. "No; this is entirely different. Oh, I wish +that you could go with me and see him!" she pleaded. + +"I will," agreed Kennedy. + +A moment later we were speeding in a taxicab over to the +apartment. + +"Really," she remarked, nervously, "I feel lost with Mr. Mansfield +so ill. He has so many interests downtown that require constant +attention that just the loss of time means a great deal. Of +course, I understand many of them--but, you know, a private +secretary can't conduct a man's business. And just now, when I +came up from the office, I couldn't believe that he was too ill to +care about things until I actually saw him." + +We entered the apartment. A mere glance about showed that; even +though Mansfield's hobby was diamonds, he was no mean collector of +other articles of beauty. In the big living-room, which was almost +like a studio, we met a tall, spare, polished-mannered man, whom I +quickly recognized as Doctor Murray. + +"Is he any better?" blurted out Miss Grey, even before our +introductions were over. Doctor Murray shook his head gravely. + +"About the same," he answered, though one could find little +reassurance in his tone. + +"I should like to see him," hinted Kennedy, "unless there is some +real reason why I should not." + +"No," replied the doctor, absently; "on the contrary, it might +perhaps rouse him." + +He led the way down the hall, and Kennedy and I followed, while +Miss Grey attempted to busy herself over some affairs at a huge +mahogany table in the library just off the living-room. + +Mansfield had shown the same love of luxury and the bizarre even +in the furnishing of his bedroom, which was a black-and-white room +with furniture of Chinese lacquer and teakwood. + +Kennedy looked at the veteran plunger long and thoughtfully as he +lay stretched out, listless, on the handsome bed. Mansfield seemed +completely indifferent to our presence. There was something +uncanny about him. Already his face was shrunken, his skin dark, +and his eyes were hollow. + +"What do you suppose it is?" asked Kennedy, bending over him, and +then rising and averting his head so that Mansfield could not +hear, even if his vagrant faculties should be attracted. "His +pulse is terribly weak and his heart scarcely makes a sound." + +Doctor Murray's face knit in deep lines. + +"I'm afraid," he said, in a low tone, "that I will have to admit +not having been able to diagnose the trouble, I was just +considering whom I might call in." + +"What have you done?" asked Kennedy, as the two moved a little +farther out of ear-shot of the patient. + +"Well," replied the doctor, slowly, "when his valet called me in, +I must admit that my first impression was that I had to deal with +a case of diphtheria. I was so impressed that I even took a blood +smear and examined it. It showed the presence of a tox albumin. +But it isn't diphtheria. The antitoxin has had no effect. No; it +isn't diphtheria. But the poison is there. I might have thought it +was cholera, only that seems so impossible here in New York." +Doctor Murray looked at Kennedy with no effort to conceal his +perplexity. "Over and over I have asked myself what it could be," +he went on. "It seems to me that I have thought over about +everything that is possible. Always I get back to the fact that +there is that tox albumin present. In some respects, it seems like +the bite of a poisonous animal. There are no marks, of course, and +it seems altogether impossible, yet it acts precisely as I have +seen snake bites affect people. I am that desperate that I would +try the Noguchi antivenene, but it would have no more effect than +the antitoxin. No; I can only conclude that there is some narcotic +irritant which especially affects the lungs and heart." + +"Will you let me have one of the blood smears?" asked Kennedy. + +"Certainly," replied the doctor, reaching over and taking a glass +slide from several lying on a table. + +For some time after we left the sick-room Craig appeared to be +considering what Doctor Murray had said. + +Seeking to find Miss Grey in the library, we found ourselves in +the handsome, all-wood-paneled dining-room. It still showed +evidences of the late banquet of the night before. + +Craig paused a moment in doubt which way to go, then picked up +from the table a beautifully decorated menu-card. As he ran his +eye down it mechanically, he paused. + +"Champignons," he remarked, thoughtfully. "H-m!--mushrooms." + +Instead of going on toward the library, he turned and passed +through a swinging door into the kitchen. There was no one there, +but it was in a much more upset condition than the dining-room. + +"Pardon, monsieur," sounded a voice behind us. + +It was the French chef who had entered from the direction of the +servants' quarters, and was now all apologies for the untidy +appearance of the realm over which he presided. The strain of the +dinner had been too much for his assistants, he hastened to +explain. + +"I see that you had mushrooms--creamed," remarked Kennedy. + +"Oui, monsieur," he replied; "some that Miss Hargrave herself sent +in from her mushroom-cellar out in the country." + +As he said it his eye traveled involuntarily toward a pile of +ramekins on a table. Kennedy noticed it and deliberately walked +over to the table. Before I knew what he was about he had scooped +from them each a bit of the contents and placed it in some waxed +paper that was lying near by. The chef watched him curiously. + +"You would not find my kitchen like this ordinarily," he remarked. +"I would not like to have Doctor Murray see it, for since last +year, when monsieur had the bad stomach, I have been very +careful." + +The chef seemed to be nervous. + +"You prepared the mushrooms yourself?" asked Kennedy, suddenly. + +"I directed my assistant," came back the wary reply. + +"But you know good mushrooms when you see them?" + +"Certainly," he replied, quickly. + +"There was no one else in the kitchen while you prepared them?" + +"Yes," he answered, hurriedly; "Mr. Mansfield came in, and Miss +Hargrave. Oh, they are very particular! And Doctor Murray, he has +given me special orders ever since last year, when monsieur had +the bad stomach," he repeated. + +"Was any one else here?" + +"Yes--I think so. You see, I am so excited--a big dinner--such +epicures--everything must be just so--I cannot say." + +There seemed to be little satisfaction in quizzing the chef, and +Kennedy turned again into the dining-room, making his way back to +the library, where Miss Grey was waiting anxiously for us. + +"What do you think?" she asked, eagerly. + +"I don't know what to think," replied Kennedy. "No one else has +felt any ill effects from the supper, I suppose?" + +"No," she replied; "at least, I'm sure I would have heard by this +time if they had." + +"Do you recall anything peculiar about the mushrooms?" shot out +Kennedy. + +"We talked about them some time, I remember," she said, slowly. +"Growing mushrooms is one of Miss Hargrave's hobbies out at her +place on Long Island." + +"Yes," persisted Kennedy; "but I mean anything peculiar about the +preparation of them." + +"Why, yes," she said, suddenly; "I believe that Miss Hargrave was +to have superintended them herself. We all went out into the +kitchen. But it was too late. They had been prepared already." + +"You were all in the kitchen?" + +"Yes; I remember. It was before the supper and just after we came +in from the theater-party which Mr. Mansfield gave. You know Mr. +Mansfield is always doing unconventional things like that. If he +took a notion, he would go into the kitchen of the Ritz." + +"That is what I was trying to get out of the chef--Francois," +remarked Kennedy. "He didn't seem to have a very clear idea of +what happened. I think I'll see him again--right away." + +We found the chef busily at work, now, cleaning up. As Kennedy +asked him a few inconsequential questions, his eye caught a row of +books on a shelf. It was a most complete library of the culinary +arts. Craig selected one and turned the pages over rapidly. Then +he came back to the frontispiece, which showed a model dinner- +table set for a number of guests. He placed the picture before +Francois, then withdrew it in, I should say, about ten seconds. It +was a strange and incomprehensible action, but I was more +surprised when Kennedy added: + +"Now tell me what you saw." + +Francois was quite overwhelming in his desire to please. Just what +was going on in his mind I could not guess, nor did he betray it, +but quickly he enumerated the objects on the table, gradually +slowing up as the number which he recollected became exhausted. + +"Were there candles?" prompted Craig, as the flow of Francois's +description ceased. + +"Oh yes, candles," he agreed, eagerly. + +"Favors at each place?" + +"Yes, sir." + +I could see no sense in the proceeding, yet knew Kennedy too well +to suppose, for an instant, that he had not some purpose. + +The questioning over, Kennedy withdrew, leaving poor Francois more +mystified than ever. + +"Well," I exclaimed, as we passed through the dining-room, "what +was all that?" + +"That," he explained, "is what is known to criminologists as the +'Aussage test.' Just try it some time when you get a chance. If +there are, say, fifty objects in a picture, normally a person may +recall perhaps twenty of them." + +"I see," I interrupted; "a test of memory." + +"More than that," he replied. "You remember that, at the end, I +suggested several things likely to be on the table. They were not +there, as you might have seen if you had had the picture before +you. That was a test of the susceptibility to suggestion of the +chef. Francois may not mean to lie, but I'm afraid we'll have to +get along without him in getting to the bottom of the case. You +see, before we go any further we know that he is unreliable--to +say the least. It may be that nothing at all happened in the +kitchen to the mushrooms. We'll never discover it from him. We +must get it elsewhere." + +Miss Grey had been trying to straighten out some of the snarls +which Mansfield's business affairs had got into as a result of his +illness; but it was evident that she had difficulty in keeping her +mind on her work. + +"The next thing I'd like to see," asked Kennedy, when we rejoined +her, "is that wall safe." She led the way down the hall and into +an ante-room to Mansfield's part of the suite. The safe itself was +a comparatively simple affair inside a closet. Indeed, I doubt +whether it had been seriously designed to be burglar-proof. Rather +it was merely a protection against fire. + +"Have you any suspicion about when the robbery took place?" asked +Kennedy, as we peered into the empty compartment. "I wish I had +been called in the first thing when it was discovered. There might +have been some chance to discover fingerprints. But now, I +suppose, every clue of that sort has been obliterated." + +"No," she replied; "I don't know whether it happened before or +after Mr. Mansfield was discovered so ill by his valet." + +"But at least you can give me some idea of when the jewels were +placed in the safe." + +"It must have been before the supper, right after our return from +the theater." + +"So?" considered Kennedy. "Then that would mean that they might +have been taken by any one, don't you see? Why did he place them +in the safe so soon, instead of wearing them the rest of the +evening?" + +"I hadn't thought of that way of looking at it," she admitted. +"Why, when we came home from the theater I remember it had been so +warm that Mr. Mansfield's collar was wilted and his dress shirt +rumpled. He excused himself, and when he returned he was not +wearing the diamonds. We noticed it, and Miss Hargrave expressed a +wish that she might wear the big diamond at the opening night of +'The Astor Cup.' Mr. Mansfield promised that she might and nothing +more was said about it." + +"Did you notice anything else at the dinner--no matter how +trivial?" asked Kennedy. + +Helen Grey seemed to hesitate, then said, in a low voice, as +though the words were wrung from her: + +"Of course, the party and the supper were given ostensibly to Miss +Hargrave. But--lately--I have thought he was paying quite as much +attention to Mina Leitch." + +It was quite in keeping with what we knew of "Diamond Jack." +Perhaps it was this seeming fickleness which had saved him from +many entangling alliances. Miss Grey said it in such a way that it +seemed like an apology for a fault in his character which she +would rather have hidden. I could not but fancy that it mitigated +somewhat the wistful envy I had noticed before when she spoke of +Madeline Hargrave. + +While he had been questioning her Kennedy had been examining the +wall safe, particularly with reference to its accessibility from +the rest of the apartment. There appeared to be no reason why one +could not have got at it from the hallway as well as from +Mansfield's room. + +The safe itself seemed to yield no clue, and Kennedy was about to +turn away when he happened to glance down at the dark interior of +the closet floor. He stooped down. When he rose he had something +in his hand. It was just a little thin piece of something that +glittered iridescently. + +"A spangle from a sequin dress," he muttered to himself; then, +turning to Miss Grey, "Did any one wear such a dress last night?" + +Helen Grey looked positively frightened. "Miss Hargrave!" she +murmured, simply. "Oh, it cannot be--there must be some mistake!" + +Just then we heard voices in the hall. + +"But, Murray, I don't see why I can't see him," said one. + +"What good will it do, Lewis?" returned the other, which I +recognized as that of Doctor Murray. + +"Fleming Lewis," whispered Miss Grey, taking a step out into the +hallway. + +A moment later Doctor Murray and Lewis had joined us. + +I could see that there was some feeling between the two men, +though what it was about I could not say. As Miss Grey introduced +us, I glanced hastily out of the corner of my eye at Kennedy. +Involuntarily his hand which held the telltale sequin had sought +his waistcoat pocket, as though to hide it. Then I saw him check +the action and deliberately examine the piece of tinsel between +his thumb and forefinger. + +Doctor Murray saw it, too, and his eyes were riveted on it, as +though instantly he saw its significance. + +"What do you think--Jack as sick as a dog, and robbed, too, and +yet Murray says I oughtn't to see him!" complained Lewis, for the +moment oblivious to the fact that all our eyes were riveted on the +spangle between Kennedy's fingers. And then, slowly it seemed to +dawn on him what it was. "Madeline's!" he exclaimed, quickly. "So +Mina did tear it, after all, when she stepped on the train." + +Kennedy watched the faces before us keenly. No one said anything. +It was evident that some such incident had happened. But had +Lewis, with a quick flash of genius, sought to cover up something, +protect somebody? + +Miss Grey was evidently anxious to transfer the scene at least to +the living-room, away from the sick-room, and Kennedy, seeing it, +fell in with the idea. + +"Looks to me as though this robbery was an inside affair," +remarked Lewis, as we all stood for a moment in the living-room. +"Do you suppose one of the servants could have been 'planted' for +the purpose of pulling it off?" + +The idea was plausible enough. Yet, plausible as the suggestion +might seem, it took no account of the other circumstances of the +case. I could not believe that the illness of Mansfield was merely +an unfortunate coincidence. + +Fleming Lewis's unguarded and blunt tendency to blurt out whatever +seemed uppermost in his mind soon became a study to me as we +talked together in the living-room. I could not quite make out +whether it was studied and astute or whether it was merely the +natural exuberance of youth. There was certainly some sort of +enmity between him and the doctor, which the remark about the +spangle seemed to fan into a flame. + +Miss Grey manoeuvered tactfully, however, to prevent a scene. And, +after an interchange of remarks that threw more heat than light on +the matter, Kennedy and I followed Lewis out to the elevator, with +a parting promise to keep in touch with Miss Grey. + +"What do you think of the spangle?" I queried of Craig as Lewis +bade us a hasty good-by and climbed into his car at the street- +entrance. "Is it a clue or a stall?" + +"That remains to be seen," he replied, noncommittally. "Just now +the thing that interests me most is what I can accomplish at the +laboratory in the way of finding out what is the matter with +Mansfield." + +While Kennedy was busy with the various solutions which he made of +the contents of the ramekins that had held the mushrooms, I +wandered over to the university library and waded through several +volumes on fungi without learning anything of value. Finally, +knowing that Kennedy would probably be busy for some time, and +that all I should get for my pains by questioning him would be +monosyllabic grunts until he was quite convinced that he was on +the trail of something, I determined to run into the up-town +office of the Star and talk over the affair as well as I could +without violating what I felt had been given us in confidence. + +I could not, it turned out, have done anything better, for it +seemed to be the gossip of the Broadway cafes and cabarets that +Mansfield had been plunging rather deeply lately and had talked +many of his acquaintances into joining him in a pool, either +outright or on margins. It seemed to be a safe bet that not only +Lewis and Doctor Murray had joined him, but that Madeline Hargrave +and Mina Leitch, who had had a successful season and some spare +thousands to invest, might have gone in, too. So far the fortunes +of the stock-market had not smiled on Mansfield's schemes, and, I +reflected, it was not impossible that what might be merely an +incident to a man like Mansfield could be very serious to the rest +of them. + +It was the middle of the afternoon when I returned to the +laboratory with my slender budget of news. Craig was quite +interested in what I had to say, even pausing for a few moments in +his work to listen. + +In several cages I saw that he had a number of little guinea-pigs. +One of them was plainly in distress, and Kennedy had been watching +him intently. + +"It's strange," he remarked. "I had samples of material from six +ramekins. Five of them seem to have had no effect whatever. But if +the bit that I gave this fellow causes such distress, what would a +larger quantity do?" + +"Then one of the ramekins was poisoned?" I questioned. + +"I have discovered in it, as well as in the blood smear, the tox +albumin that Doctor Murray mentioned," he said, simply, pulling +out his watch. "It isn't late. I think I shall have to take a trip +out to Miss Hargrave's. We ought to do it in an hour and a half in +a car." + +Kennedy said very little as we sped out over the Long Island roads +that led to the little colony of actors and actresses at Cedar +Grove. He seemed rather to be enjoying the chance to get away from +the city and turn over in his mind the various problems which the +case presented. + +As for myself, I had by this time convinced myself that, somehow, +the mushrooms were involved. What Kennedy expected to find I could +not guess. But from what I had read I surmised that it must be +that one of the poisonous varieties had somehow got mixed with the +others, one of the Amanitas, just as deadly as the venom of the +rattler or the copperhead. I knew that, in some cases, Amanitas +had been used to commit crimes. Was this such a case? + +We had no trouble in finding the estate of Miss Hargrave, and she +was at home. + +Kennedy lost no time introducing himself and coming to the point +of his visit. Madeline Hargrave was a slender, willowy type of +girl, pronouncedly blond, striking, precisely the type I should +have imagined that Mansfield would have been proud to be seen +with. + +"I've just heard of Mr. Mansfield's illness," she said, anxiously. +"Mr. Lewis called me up and told me. I don't see why Miss Grey or +Doctor Murray didn't let me know sooner." + +She said it with an air of vexation, as though she felt slighted. +In spite of her evident anxiety to know about the tragedy, +however, I did not detect the depth of feeling that Helen Grey had +shown. In fact, the thoughtfulness of Fleming Lewis almost led me +to believe that it was he, rather than Mansfield, for whom she +really cared. + +We chatted a few minutes, as Kennedy told what little we had +discovered. He said nothing about the spangle. + +"By the way," remarked Craig, at length, "I would very much like +to have a look at that famous mushroom-cellar of yours." + +For the first time she seemed momentarily to lose her poise. + +"I've always had a great interest in mushrooms," she explained, +hastily. "You--you do not think it could be the mushrooms--that +have caused Mr. Mansfield's illness, do you?" + +Kennedy passed off the remark as best he could under the +circumstances. Though she was not satisfied with his answer, she +could not very well refuse his request, and a few minutes later we +were down in the dark dampness of the cellar back of the house, +where Kennedy set to work on a most exhaustive search. + +I could see by the expression on his face, as his search +progressed, that he was not finding what he had expected. Clearly, +the fungi before us were the common edible mushrooms. The upper +side of each, as he examined it, was white, with brownish fibrils, +or scales. Underneath, some were a beautiful salmon-pink, changing +gradually to almost black in the older specimens. The stem was +colored like the top. But search as he might for what I knew he +was after, in none did he find anything but a small or more often +no swelling at the base, and no "cup," as it is called. + +As he rose after his thorough search, I saw that he was completely +baffled. + +"I hardly thought you'd find anything," Miss Hargrave remarked, +noticing the look on his face. "I've always been very careful of +my mushrooms." + +"You have certainly succeeded admirably," he complimented. + +"I hope you will let me know how Mr. Mansfield is," she said, as +we started back toward our car on the road. "I can't tell you how +I feel. To think that, after a party which he gave for me, he +should be taken ill, and not only that but be robbed at the same +time! Really, you must let me know--or I shall have to come up to +the city." + +It seemed gratuitous for Kennedy to promise, for I knew that he +was by no means through with her yet; but she thanked him, and we +turned back toward town. + +"Well," I remarked, as we reeled off the miles quickly, "I must +say that that puts me all at sea again. I had convinced myself +that it was a case of mushroom poisoning. What can you do now?" + +"Do?" he echoed. "Why, go on. This puts us a step nearer the +truth, that's all." + +Far from being discouraged at what had seemed to me to be a fatal +blow to the theory, he now seemed to be actually encouraged. Back +in the city, he lost no time in getting to the laboratory again. + +A package from the botanical department of the university was +waiting there for Kennedy, but before he could open it the +telephone buzzed furiously. + +I could gather from Kennedy's words that it was Helen Grey. + +"I shall be over immediately," he promised, as he hung up the +receiver and turned to me. "Mansfield is much worse. While I get +together some material I must take over there, Walter, I want you +to call up Miss Hargrave and tell her to start for the city right +away--meet us at Mansfield's. Then get Mina Leitch and Lewis. +You'll find their numbers in the book--or else you'll have to get +them from Miss Grey." + +While I was delivering the messages as diplomatically as possible +Kennedy had taken a vial from a medicine-chest, and then from a +cabinet a machine which seemed to consist of a number of collars +and belts fastened to black cylinders from which ran tubes. An +upright roll of ruled paper supported by a clockwork arrangement +for revolving it, and a standard bearing a recording pen, +completed the outfit. + +"I should much have preferred not being hurried," he confessed, as +we dashed over in the car to Mansfield's again, bearing the +several packages. "I wanted to have a chance to interview Mina +Leitch alone. However, it has now become a matter of life or +death." + +Miss Grey was pale and worn as she met us in the living-room. + +"He's had a sinking-spell," she said, tremulously. "Doctor Murray +managed to bring him around, but he seems so much weaker after it. +Another might--" She broke off, unable to finish. + +A glance at Mansfield was enough to convince any one that unless +something was done soon the end was not far. + +"Another convulsion and sinking-spell is about all he can stand," +remarked Doctor Murray. + +"May I try something?" asked Kennedy, hardly waiting for the +doctor to agree before he had pulled out the little vial which I +had seen him place in his pocket. + +Deftly Kennedy injected some of the contents into Mansfield's +side, then stood anxiously watching the effect. The minutes +lengthened. At least he seemed to be growing no worse. + +In the next room, on a table, Kennedy was now busy setting out the +scroll of ruled paper and its clockwork arrangement, and +connecting the various tubes from the black cylinders in such a +way that the recording pen just barely touched on the scroll. + +He had come back to note the still unchanged condition of the +patient when the door opened and a handsome woman in the early +thirties entered, followed by Helen Grey. It was Mina Leitch. + +"Oh, isn't it terrible! I can hardly believe it!" she cried, +paying no attention to us as she moved over to Doctor Murray. + +I recalled what Miss Grey had said about Mansfield's attentions. +It was evident that, as far as Mina was concerned, her own +attentions were monopolized by the polished physician. His manner +in greeting her told me that Doctor Murray appreciated it. Just +then Fleming Lewis bustled in. + +"I thought Miss Hargrave was here," he said, abruptly, looking +about. "They told me over the wire she would be." + +"She should be here any moment," returned Kennedy, looking at his +watch and finding that considerably over an hour had elapsed since +I had telephoned. + +What it was I could not say, but there was a coldness toward Lewis +that amounted to more than latent hostility. He tried to appear at +ease, but it was a decided effort. There was no mistaking his +relief when the tension was broken by the arrival of Madeline +Hargrave. + +The circumstances were so strange that none of them seemed to +object while Kennedy began to explain, briefly, that, as nearly as +he could determine, the illness of Mansfield might be due to +something eaten at the supper. As he attached the bands about the +necks and waists of one after another of the guests, bringing the +little black cylinders thus close to the middle of their chests, +he contrived to convey the impression that he would like to +determine whether any one else had been affected in a lesser +degree. + +I watched most intently the two women who had just come in. One +would certainly not have detected from their greeting and outward +manner anything more than that they were well acquainted. But they +were an interesting study, two quite opposite types. Madeline, +with her baby-blue eyes, was of the type that craved admiration. +Mina's black eyes flashed now and then imperiously, as though she +sought to compel what the other sought to win. + +As for Fleming Lewis, I could not fail to notice that he was most +attentive to Madeline, though he watched, furtively, but none the +less keenly, every movement and word of Mina. + +His preparations completed, Kennedy opened the package which had +been left at the laboratory just before the hasty call from Miss +Grey. As he did so he disclosed several specimens of a mushroom of +pale-lemon color, with a center of deep orange, the top flecked +with white bits. Underneath, the gills were white and the stem had +a sort of veil about it. But what interested me most, and what I +was looking for, was the remains of a sort of dirty, chocolate- +colored cup at the base of the stem. + +"I suppose there is scarcely any need of saying," began Kennedy, +"that the food which I suspect in this case is the mushrooms. Here +I have some which I have fortunately been able to obtain merely to +illustrate what I am going to say. This is the deadly Amanita +muscaria, the fly-agaric." + +Madeline Hargrave seemed to be following him with a peculiar +fascination. + +"This Amanita," resumed Kennedy, "has a long history, and I may +say that few species are quite so interesting. Macerated in milk, +it has been employed for centuries as a fly-poison, hence its +name. Its deadly properties were known to the ancients, and it is +justly celebrated because of its long and distinguished list of +victims. Agrippina used it to poison the Emperor Claudius. Among +others, the Czar Alexis of Russia died of eating it. + +"I have heard that some people find it only a narcotic, and it is +said that in Siberia there are actually Amanita debauchees who go +on prolonged tears by eating the thing. It may be that it does not +affect some people as it does others, but in most cases that +beautiful gossamer veil which you see about the stem is really a +shroud. + +"The worst of it is," he continued, "that this Amanita somewhat +resembles the royal agaric, the Amanita caesarea. It is, as you +see, strikingly beautiful, and therefore all the more dangerous." + +He ceased a moment, while we looked in a sort of awe at the +fatally beautiful thing. + +"It is not with the fungus that I am so much interested just now, +however," Kennedy began again, "but with the poison. Many years +ago scientists analyzed its poisonous alkaloids and found what +they called bulbosine. Later it was named muscarin, and now is +sometimes known as amanitin, since it is confined to the mushrooms +of the Amanita genus. + +"Amanitin is a wonderful and dangerous alkaloid, which is absorbed +in the intestinal canal. It is extremely violent. Three to five +one-thousandths of a gram, or six one-hundredths of a grain, are +very dangerous. More than that, the poisoning differs from most +poisons in the long time that elapses between the taking of it and +the first evidences of its effects. + +"Muscarin," Kennedy concluded, "has been chemically investigated +more often than any other mushroom poison and a perfect antidote +has been discovered. Atropin, or belladonna, is such a drug." + +For a moment I looked about at the others in the room. Had it been +an accident, after all? Perhaps, if any of the others had been +attacked, one might have suspected that it was. But they had not +been affected at all, at least apparently. Yet there could be no +doubt that it was the poisonous muscarin that had affected +Mansfield. + +"Did you ever see anything like that?" asked Kennedy, suddenly, +holding up the gilt spangle which he had found on the closet floor +near the wall safe. + +Though no one said a word, it was evident that they all recognized +it. Lewis was watching Madeline closely. But she betrayed nothing +except mild surprise at seeing the spangle from her dress. Had it +been deliberately placed there, it flashed over me, in order to +compromise Madeline Hargrave and divert suspicion from some one +else? + +I turned to Mina. Behind the defiance of her dark eyes I felt that +there was something working. Kennedy must have sensed it even +before I did, for he suddenly bent down over the recording needle +and the ruled paper on the table. + +"This," he shot out, "is a pneumograph which shows the actual +intensity of the emotions by recording their effects on the heart +and lungs together. The truth can literally be tapped, even where +no confession can be extracted. A moment's glance at this line, +traced here by each of you, can tell the expert more than words." + +"Then it was a mushroom that poisoned Jack!" interrupted Lewis, +suddenly. "Some poisonous Amanita got mixed with the edible +mushrooms?" + +Kennedy answered, quickly, without taking his eyes off the line +the needle was tracing: + +"No; this was a case of the deliberate use of the active principle +itself, muscarin--with the expectation that the death, if the +cause was ever discovered, could easily be blamed on such a +mushroom. Somehow--there were many chances--the poison was slipped +into the ramekin Francois was carefully preparing for Mansfield. +The method does not interest me so much as the fact--" + +There was a slight noise from the other room where Mansfield lay. +Instantly we were all on our feet. Before any of us could reach +the door Helen Grey had slipped through it. + +"Just a second," commanded Kennedy, extending the sequin toward us +to emphasize what he was about to say. "The poisoning and the +robbery were the work of one hand. That sequin is the key that has +unlocked the secret which my pneumograph has recorded. Some one +saw that robbery committed--knew nothing of the contemplated +poisoning to cover it. To save the reputation of the robber--at +any cost--on the spur of the moment the ruse of placing the sequin +in the closet occurred." + +Madeline Hargrave turned to Mina, while I recalled Lewis's remark +about Mina's stepping on the train and tearing it. The defiance in +her black eyes flashed from Madeline to Kennedy. + +"Yes," she cried; "I did it! I--" + +As quickly the defiance had faded. Mina Leitch had fainted. + +"Some water--quick!" cried Kennedy. + +I sprang through the door into Mansfield's room. As I passed I +caught sight of Helen Grey supporting the head of Mansfield--both +oblivious to actresses, diamonds, everything that had so nearly +caused a tragedy. + +"No," I heard Kennedy say to Lewis as I returned; "it was not +Mina. The person she shielded was wildly in love with her, +insanely jealous of Mansfield for even looking at her, and in debt +so hopelessly in Mansfield's ventures that only the big diamond +could save him--Doctor Murray himself!" + + + + +III + +THE SOUL-ANALYSIS + + +"Here's the most remarkable appeal," observed Kennedy, one +morning, as he tossed over to me a letter. "What do you make of +that?" It read: + +MONTROSE, CONN. + +MY DEAR PROFESSOR KENNEDY: + +You do not know me, but I have heard a great deal about you. +Please, I beg of you, do not disregard this letter. At least try +to verify the appeal I am making. + +I am here at the Belleclaire Sanatorium, run by Dr. Bolton Burr, +in Montrose. But it is not a real sanatorium. It is really a +private asylum. + +Let me tell my story briefly. After my baby was born I devoted +myself to it. But, in spite of everything, it died. Meanwhile my +husband neglected me terribly. After the baby's death I was a +nervous wreck, and I came up here to rest. + +Now I find I am being held here as an insane patient. I cannot get +out. I do not even know whether this letter will reach you. But +the chambermaid here has told me she will post it for me. + +I am ill and nervous--a wreck, but not insane, although they will +tell you that the twilight-sleep treatment affected my mind. But +what is happening here will eventually drive me insane if some one +does not come to my rescue. + +Cannot you get in to see me as a doctor or friend? I will leave +all to you after that. + +Yours anxiously, + +JANET (MRS. ROGER) CRANSTON. + +"What do you make of it yourself?" I returned, handing back the +letter. "Are you going to take it up?" He slowly looked over the +letter again. + +"Judging by the handwriting," he remarked, thoughtfully, "I should +say that the writer is laboring under keen excitement--though +there is no evidence of insanity on the face of it. Yes; I think +I'll take up the case." + +"But how are you going to get in?" I asked. "They'll never admit +you willingly." + +Kennedy pondered a minute. "I'll get in, all right," he said, at +length; "come on--I'm going to call on Roger Cranston first." + +"Roger Cranston?" I repeated, dumfounded. "Why, he'll never help +you! Ten to one he's in on it." + +"We'll have to take a chance," returned Kennedy, hurrying me out +of the laboratory. + +Roger Cranston was a well-known lawyer and man about town. We +found him in his office on lower Broadway. He was young and +distinguished-looking, which probably accounted for the fact that +his office had become a sort of fashionable court of domestic +relations. + +"I'm a friend of Dr. Bolton Burr, of Montrose," introduced +Kennedy. Cranston looked at him keenly, but Kennedy was a good +actor. "I have been studying some of the patients at the +sanatorium, and I have seen Mrs. Cranston there." + +"Indeed!" responded Cranston. "I'm all broken up by it myself." + +I could not resist thinking that he took it very calmly, however. + +"I should like very much to make what we call a psychanalysis of +Mrs. Cranston's mental condition," Kennedy explained. + +"A psychanalysis?" repeated Cranston. + +"Yes; you know it is a new system. In the field of abnormal +psychology, the soul-analysis is of first importance. To-day, this +study is of the greatest help in neurology and psychiatry. Only, I +can't make it without the consent of the natural guardian of the +patient. Doctor Burr tells me that you will have no objection." + +Cranston thoughtfully studied the wall opposite. + +"Well," he returned, slowly, "they tell me that without treatment +she will soon be hopelessly insane--perhaps dangerously so. That +is all I know. I am not a specialist. If Doctor Burr--" He paused. + +"If you can give me just a card," urged Kennedy, "that is all +Doctor Burr wishes." + +Cranston wrote hastily on the back of one of his cards what +Kennedy dictated. + + Please allow Doctor Kennedy to make a psychanalysis of my + wife's mental condition. + +"You will let me know--if there is--any hope?" he asked. + +"As soon as I can," replied Kennedy, "I'll let you have a copy of +my report." + +Cranston thanked us and bowed us to the door suavely. + +"Well," I remarked, as we rode down in the elevator, "that was +clever. He fell for it, too. You're an artist. Do you think he was +posing?" + +Kennedy shrugged his shoulders. + +We lost no time in getting the first train for Montrose, before +Cranston had time to reconsider and call up Doctor Burr. + +The Belleclaire Sanatorium was on the outskirts of the town. It +was an old stone house, rather dingy, and surrounded by a high +stone wall surmounted by sharp pickets. + +Dr. Bolton Burr, who was at the head of the institution, met us in +the plainly furnished reception-room which also served as his +office. Through a window we could see some of the patients walking +or sitting about on a small stretch of scraggly grass between the +house and the wall. + +Doctor Burr was a tall and commanding-looking man with a Vandyke +beard, and one would instinctively have picked him out anywhere as +a physician. + +"I believe you have a patient here--Mrs. Roger Cranston," began +Kennedy, after the usual formalities. Doctor Burr eyed us askance. +"I've been asked by Mr. Cranston to make an examination of his +wife," pursued Craig, presenting the card which he had obtained +from Roger Cranston. + +"H'm!" mused Doctor Burr, looking quickly from the card to Kennedy +with a searching glance. + +"I wish you would tell me something of the case before I see her," +went on Kennedy, with absolute assurance. + +"Well," temporized Doctor Burr, twirling the card, "Mrs. Cranston +came to me after the death of her child. She was in a terrible +state. But we are slowly building up her shattered nerves by +plain, simple living and a tonic." + +"Was she committed by her husband?" queried Kennedy, unexpectedly. + +Whether or not Doctor Burr felt suspicious of us I could not tell. +But he seemed eager to justify himself. + +"I have the papers committing her to my care," he said, rising and +opening a safe in the corner. + +He laid before us a document in which appeared the names of Roger +Cranston and Julia Giles. + +"Who is this Julia Giles?" asked Kennedy, after he had read the +document. + +"One of our nurses," returned the doctor. "She has had Mrs. +Cranston under observation ever since she arrived." + +"I should like to see both Miss Giles and Mrs. Cranston," insisted +Kennedy. "It is not that Mr. Cranston is in any way dissatisfied +with your treatment, but he thought that perhaps I might be of +some assistance to you." + +Kennedy's manner was ingratiating but firm, and he hurried on, +lest it should occur to Doctor Burr to call up Cranston. The +doctor, still twirling the card, finally led us through the wide +central hall and up an old-fashioned winding staircase to a large +room on the second floor. + +He tapped at the door, which was opened, disclosing an interior +tastefully furnished. + +Doctor Burr introduced us to Miss Giles, conveying the impression, +which Kennedy had already given, that he was a specialist, and I +his assistant. + +Janet Cranston was a young and also remarkably beautiful girl. One +could see traces of sorrow in her face, which was exceedingly, +though not unpleasingly, pale. The restless brilliancy of her eyes +spoke of some physical, if not psychical, disorder. She was +dressed in deep mourning, which heightened her pallor and excited +a feeling of mingled respect and interest. Thick brown coils of +chestnut hair were arranged in such a manner as to give an +extremely youthful appearance to her delicate face. Her emotions +were expressed by the constant motion of her slender fingers. + +Miss Giles was a striking woman of an entirely different type. She +seemed to be exuberant with health, as though nursing had taught +her not merely how to take care of others, but had given her the +secret of caring, first of all, for herself. + +I could see, as Doctor Burr introduced us to his patient, that +Mrs. Cranston instantly recognized Kennedy's interest in her case. +She received us with a graceful courtesy, but she betrayed no +undue interest that might excite suspicion, nor was there any hint +given of the note of appeal. I wondered whether that might not be +an instance of the cunning for which I had heard that the insane +are noted. She showed no sign of insanity, however. + +I looked about curiously to see if there were evidences of the +treatment which she was receiving. On a table stood a bottle and a +glass, as well as a teaspoon, and I recalled the doctor's remark +about the tonic. + +"You look tired, Mrs. Cranston," remarked Kennedy, thoughtfully. +"Why not rest while we are here, and then I will be sure my visit +has had no ill effects." + +"Thank you," she murmured, and I was much impressed by the +sweetness of her voice. + +As he spoke, Kennedy arranged the pillows on a chaise lounge and +placed her on it with her head slightly elevated. Having discussed +the subject of psychanalysis with Kennedy before, I knew that this +was so that nothing might distract her from the free association +of ideas. + +He placed himself near her head, and motioned to us to stand +farther back of him, where she could not see us. + +"Avoid all muscular exertion and distraction," he continued. "I +want you to concentrate your attention thoroughly. Tell me +anything that comes into your mind. Tell all you know of your +symptoms. Concentrate, and repeat all you think of. Frankly +express all the thoughts that you have, even though they may be +painful and embarrassing." + +He said this soothingly, and she seemed to understand that much +depended upon her answers and the fact of not forcing her ideas. + +"I am thinking of my husband," Mrs. Cranston began, finally, in a +dreamy tone. + +"What of him?" suggested Kennedy. + +"Of how the baby--separated us--and--" She paused, almost in +tears. + +From what I knew of the method of psychanalysis, I recalled it was +the gaps and hesitations which were most important in arriving at +the truth regarding the cause of her trouble. + +"Perhaps it was my fault; perhaps I was a better mother than wife. +I thought I was doing what he would want me to do. Too late I see +my mistake." + +It was easy to read into her story that there had been other women +in his life. It had wounded her deeply. Yet it was equally plain +that she still loved him. + +"Go on," urged Kennedy, gently. + +"Oh yes," she resumed, dreamily; "I am thinking about once, when I +left him, I wandered through the country. I remember little except +that it was the country through which we had passed on an +automobile trip on our honeymoon. Once I thought I saw him, and I +tried to get to him. I longed for him, but each time, when I +almost reached him, he would disappear. I seemed to be so deserted +and alone. I tried to call him, but my tongue refused to say his +name. It must have been hours that I wandered about, for I recall +nothing after that until I was found, disheveled and exhausted." + +She paused and closed her eyes, while I could see that Kennedy +considered this gap very important. + +"Don't stop," persisted Kennedy. "Once we quarreled over one of +his clients who was suing for a divorce. I thought he was devoting +too much time and attention to her. While there might not have +been anything wrong, still I was afraid. In my anger and anxiety I +accused him. He retorted by slamming the door, and I did not see +him for two or three days. I realized my nervous condition, and +one day a mutual friend of ours introduced me to Doctor Burr and +advised me to take a rest-cure at his sanatorium. By this time +Roger and I were on speaking-terms again. But the death of the +baby and the quarrel left me still as nervous as before. He seemed +anxious to have me do something, and so I came here." + +"Do you remember anything that happened after that?" asked Craig, +for the first time asking a mildly leading question. + +"Yes; I recall everything that happened when I came here," she +went on. "Roger came up with me to complete the necessary +arrangements. We were met at the station by Doctor Burr and this +woman who has since been my nurse and companion. On the way up +from the station to the sanatorium Doctor Burr was very +considerate of me, and I noticed that my husband seemed interested +in Miss Giles and the care she was to take of me." + +Kennedy flashed a glance at me from a note-book in which he was +apparently busily engaged in jotting down her answers. I did not +know just what interpretation to put on it, but surmised that it +meant that he had struck what the new psychologists call a +"complex," in the entrance of Miss Giles into the case. + +Before we realized it there came a sudden outburst of feeling. + +"And now--they are keeping me here by force!" she cried. + +Doctor Burr looked at us significantly, as much as to say, "Just +what might be expected, you see." Kennedy nodded, but made no +effort to stop Mrs. Cranston. + +"They have told Roger that I am insane, and I know he must believe +it or he would not leave me here. But their real motive, I can +guess, is mercenary. I can't complain about my treatment here--it +costs enough." + +By this time she was sitting bolt upright, staring straight ahead +as though amazed at her own boldness in speaking so frankly before +them. + +"I feel all right at times--then--it is as though I had a +paralysis of the body, but not of the mind--not of the mind," she +repeated, tensely. There was a frightened look on her face, and +her voice was now wildly appealing. + +What would have followed I cannot guess, for at that instant there +came a noise outside from another of the rooms as though +pandemonium had broken loose. By the shouting and confusion, one +might easily have wondered whether keepers and lunatics might not +have exchanged places. + +"It is just one of the patients who has escaped from his room," +explained Doctor Burr; "nothing to be alarmed about. We'll soon +have him quieted." + +Doctor Burr hurried out into the corridor while Miss Giles was +looking out of the door. + +Quickly Kennedy reached over and abstracted several drops from a +bottle of tonic on the table, pouring it into his handkerchief, +which he rolled up tightly and stuffed into his pocket. Mrs. +Cranston watched him pleadingly, and clasped her hands in mute +appeal, with a hasty glance at Miss Giles. + +Kennedy said nothing, either, but rapidly folded up a page of the +note-book on which he had been writing and shoved it into Mrs. +Cranston's hand, together with something he had taken from his +pocket. She understood, and quickly placed it in her corsage. + +"Read it--when you are absolutely alone," he whispered, just as +Miss Giles shut the door and turned to us. + +The excitement subsided almost as quickly as it had arisen, but it +had been sufficient to put a stop to any further study of the case +along those lines. Miss Giles's keen eyes missed no action or +movement of her patient. + +Doctor Burr returned shortly. It was evident from his manner that +he wished to have the visit terminated, and Kennedy seemed quite +willing to take the hint. He thanked Mrs. Cranston, and we +withdrew quietly, after bidding her good-by in a manner as +reassuring as we could make it under the circumstances. + +"You see," remarked Doctor Burr, as we walked down the hall, "she +is quite unstrung still. Mr. Cranston comes up here once in a +while, and we notice that after these visits she is, if anything, +worse." + +Down the hall a door had been left open, and we could catch a +glimpse of a patient rolled in a blanket, while two nurses forced +something down his throat. Doctor Burr hastily closed the door as +we passed. + +"That is the condition Mrs. Cranston might have got into if she +had not come to us when she did," he said. "As it is, she is never +violent and is one of the most tractable patients we have." + +We left shortly, without finding out whether Doctor Burr suspected +us of anything or not. As we made our way back to the city, I +could not help the feeling of depression such as Poe mentioned at +seeing the private madhouse in France. + +"That glimpse we had into the other room almost makes one recall +the soothing system of Doctor Maillard. Is Doctor Burr's system +better?" I asked. + +"A good deal of what we used to think and practise is out of date +now," returned Kennedy. "I think you are already familiar with the +theory of dreams that has been developed by Dr. Sigmund Freud, of +Vienna. But perhaps you are not aware of the fact that Freud's +contribution to the study of insanity is of even greater +scientific value than his dream theories taken by themselves. + +"Hers, I feel sure now, is what is known as one of the so-called +'border-line cases,'" he continued. "It is clearly a case of +hysteria--not the hysteria one hears spoken of commonly, but the +condition which scientists know as such. We trace the impulses +from which hysterical conditions arise, penetrate the disguises +which these repressed impulses or wishes must assume in order to +appear in the consciousness. Such transformed impulses are found +in normal people, too, sometimes. The hysteric suffers mostly from +reminiscences which, paradoxically, may be completely forgotten. + +"Obsessions and phobias have their origin, according to Freud, in +sexual life. The obsession represents a compensation or substitute +for an unbearable sexual idea and takes its place in +consciousness. In normal sexual life, no neurosis is possible, say +the Freudists. Sex is the strongest impulse, yet subject to the +greatest repression, and hence the weakest point of our cultural +development. Hysteria arises through the conflict between libido +and sex-repression. Often sex-wishes may be consciously rejected +but unconsciously accepted. So when they are understood every +insane utterance has a reason. There is really method in madness. + +"When hysteria in a wife gains her the attention of an otherwise +inattentive husband it fills, from the standpoint of her deeper +longing, an important place, and, in a sense, may be said to be +desirable. The great point about the psychanalytic method, as +discovered by Breuer and Freud, is that certain symptoms of +hysteria disappear when the hidden causes are brought to light and +the repressed desires are gratified." + +"How does that apply to Mrs. Cranston?" I queried. + +"Mrs. Cranston," he replied, "is suffering from what the +psychanalysts call a psychic trauma--a soul-wound, as it were. It +is the neglect, in this case, of her husband, whom she deeply +loves. That, in itself, is sufficient to explain her experience +wandering through the country. It was the region which she +associated with her first love-affair, as she told us. The wave of +recollection that swept over her engulfed her mind. In other +words, reason could no longer dominate the cravings for a love so +long suppressed. Then, when she saw, or imagined she saw, one who +looked like her lover the strain was too great." + +It was the middle of the afternoon when we reached the laboratory. +Kennedy at once set to work studying the drops of tonic which had +been absorbed in the handkerchief. As Kennedy worked, I began +thinking over again of what we had seen at the Belleclaire +Sanatorium. Somehow or other, I could not get out of my mind the +recollection of the man rolled in the blanket and trussed up as +helpless as a mummy. I wondered whether that alone was sufficient +to account for the quickness with which he had been pacified. Then +I recalled Mrs. Cranston's remark about her mental alertness and +physical weakness. Had it anything to do with the "tonic"? + +"Suppose, while I am waiting," I finally suggested to Craig, "I +try to find out what Cranston does with his time since his wife +has been shut off from the world." + +"That's a very good idea," acquiesced Kennedy. "Don't take too +long, however, for I may strike something important here any +minute." + +After several inquiries over the telephone, I found that since his +wife had been in Montrose Cranston had closed his apartment and +was living at one of his clubs. Having two or three friends who +were members, I did not hesitate to drop around. + +Unfortunately, none of my friends happened to be there, and I was +forced, finally, to ask for Cranston himself, although all that I +really wanted to know was whether he was there or not. One of the +clerks told me that he had been in, but had left in a taxicab only +a short time before. + +As there was a cab-stand outside the club, I determined to make an +inquiry and perhaps discover the driver who had had him. The +starter knew him, and when I said that it was very important +business on which I wanted to see him he motioned to a driver who +had just pulled up. + +A chance for another fare and a generous tip were all that was +necessary to induce him to drive me to the Trocadero, a +fashionable restaurant and cabaret, where he had taken Cranston a +short time before. It was crowded when I entered, and, avoiding +the headwaiter, I stood by the door a few minutes and looked over +the brilliant and gay throng. Finally, I managed to catch a +glimpse of Cranston's head at a table in a far corner. As I made +my way down the line of tables, I was genuinely amazed to see that +he was with a woman. It was Julia Giles! + +She must have come down on the next train after we did, but, at +any rate, it looked as though she had lost no time in seeking out +Cranston after our visit. I took a seat at a table next them. + +They were talking about Kennedy, and, during a lull in the music, +I overheard him asking her just what Craig had done. + +"It was certainly very clever in him to play both you and Doctor +Burr the way he did. He told Doctor Burr that you had sent him, +and told you that Doctor Burr had sent him. By whom do you suppose +he really was sent?" + +"Could it have been my wife?" + +"It must have been, but how she did it is more than I can +imagine." + +"How is she, anyway?" he asked. + +"Sometimes she seems to be getting along finely, and then, other +days, I feel quite discouraged about her. Her case is very +obstinate." + +"Perhaps I had better go out and see Burr," he considered. "It is +early in the evening. I'll drive you out in my car. I'll stay at +the sanatorium tonight, and then, perhaps, I'll know a little +better what we can do." + +It was his tone rather than his words which gave me the impression +that he was more interested in being with Miss Giles than with +Mrs. Cranston. I wondered whether it was a plot of Cranston's and +Miss Giles's. Had he been posing before Kennedy, and were they +really trying to put Mrs. Cranston out of the way? + +As the music started up again, I heard her say, "Can't we have +just one more dance?" A moment later they were lost in the gay +whirl on the dancing-floor. They made a handsome couple, and it +was evident that it was not the first time that they had dined and +danced together. The music ceased, and they returned to their +places reluctantly, while Cranston telephoned for his car to be +brought around to the cabaret. + +I hastened back to the laboratory to inform Craig what I had seen. +As I told my story he looked up at me with a sudden flash of +comprehension. + +"I am glad to know where they will all be tonight," he said. "Some +one has been giving her henbane--hyoscyamin. I have just +discovered it in the tonic." + +"What's henbane?" I asked. + +"It is a drug derived from the hyoscyamus plant, much like +belladonna, though more distinctly sedative. It is a hypnotic used +often in mania and mental excitement. The feeling which Mrs. +Cranston described is one of its effects. You recall the +brightness of her eyes? That is one of the effects of the +mydriatic alkaloids, of which this is one. The ancients were +familiar with several of its peculiar properties, as they knew of +the closely allied poison hemlock. + +"Many of the text-books at the present time fail to say anything +about the remarkable effect produced by large doses of this +terrible alkaloid. This effect can be described technically so as +to be intelligible, but no description can convey, even +approximately, the terrible sensation produced in many insane +patients by large doses. In a general way, it is the condition of +paralysis of the body without the corresponding paralysis of the +mind." + +"And it's this stuff that somebody has been putting into her +tonic?" I asked, startled. "Do you suppose that is part of Burr's +system, or did Miss Giles lighten her work by putting it into the +tonic?" + +Kennedy did not betray his suspicion, but went on describing the +drug which was having such a serious effect on Mrs. Cranston. + +"The victim lies in an absolutely helpless condition sometimes +with his muscles so completely paralyzed that he cannot so much as +move a finger, cannot close his lips or move his tongue to moisten +them. This feeling of helplessness is usually followed by +unconsciousness and then by a period of depression. The combined +feeling of helplessness and depression is absolutely unlike any +other feeling imaginable, if I may judge from the accounts of +those who have experienced it. Other sensations, such as pain, may +be judged, in a measure, by comparison with other painful +sensations, but the sensation produced by hyoscyamin in large +doses seems to have no basis for comparison. There is no kindred +feeling. Practically every institution for the insane used it a +few years ago for controlling patients, but now better methods +have been devised." + +"The more I think of what I saw at the Trocadero," I remarked, +"the more I wonder if Miss Giles has been seeking to win Cranston +herself." + +"In large-enough doses and repeated often enough," continued +Kennedy, "I suppose the toxic effect of the drug might be to +produce insanity. At any rate, if we are going to do anything, it +might better be done at once. They are all out there now. If we +act to-night, surely we shall have the best chance of making the +guilty person betray himself." + +Kennedy telephoned for a fast touring-car, and in half an hour, +while he gathered some apparatus together, the car was before the +door. In it he placed a couple of light silk-rope ladders, some +common wooden wedges, and an instrument which resembled a +surveyor's transit with two conical horns sticking out at the +ends. + +We made the trip out of New York and up the Boston post-road, +following the route which Cranston and Miss Giles must have taken +some hours before us. In the town of Montrose, Kennedy stopped +only long enough to get a bite to eat and to study up in the roads +in the vicinity. + +It was long after midnight when we struck up into the country. The +night was very dark, thick, and foggy. With the engine running as +muffled as possible and the lights dimmed, Kennedy quietly jammed +on the brakes as we pulled up along the side of the road. + +A few rods farther ahead I could make out the Belleclaire +Sanatorium surrounded by its picketed stone wall. Not a light was +visible in any of the windows. + +"Now that we're here," I whispered, "what can we do?" + +"You remember the paper I gave Mrs. Cranston when the excitement +in the hall broke loose?" + +"Yes," I nodded, as we moved over under the shadow of the wall. + +"I wrote on a sheet from my note-book," said Kennedy, "and told +her to be ready when she heard a pebble strike the window; and I +gave her a piece of string to let down to the ground." + +Kennedy threw the silk ladder up until it caught on one of the +pickets; then, with the other ladder and the wedges, he reached +the top of the wall, followed by me. We pulled the first ladder up +as we clung to the pickets, and let it down again inside. +Noiselessly we crossed the lawn. + +Above was Mrs. Cranston's window. Craig picked up some bits of +broken stone from a walk about the house and threw them gently +against the pane. Then we drew back into the shadow of the house, +lest any prying eyes might discover us. In a few minutes the +window on the second floor was stealthily opened. The muffled +figure of Mrs. Cranston appeared in the dim light; then a piece of +string was lowered. + +To it Kennedy attached a light silk ladder and motioned in +pantomime for her to draw it up. It took her some time to fasten +the ladder to one of the heavy pieces of furniture in the room. +Swaying from side to side, but clinging with frantic desperation +to the ladder while we did our best to steady it, she managed to +reach the ground. She turned from the building with a shudder, and +whispered: + +"This terrible place! How can I ever thank you for getting me out +of it?" + +Kennedy did not pause long enough to say a word, but hurried her +across to the final barrier, the wall. + +Suddenly there was a shout of alarm from the front of the house +under the columns. It was the night watchman, who had discovered +us. + +Instantly Kennedy seized a chair from a little summer-house. + +"Quick, Walter," he cried, "over the wall with Mrs. Cranston, +while I hold him! Then throw the ladder back on this side. I'll +join you in a moment, as soon as you get her safely over." + +A chair is only an indifferent club, if that is all one can think +of using it for. Kennedy ran squarely at the watchman, holding it +out straight before him. Only once did I cast a hasty glance back. +There was the man pinned to the wall by the chair, with Kennedy at +the other end of it and safely out of reach. + +Mrs. Cranston and I managed to scramble over the wall, although +she tore her dress on the pickets before we reached the other +side. I hustled her into the car and made everything ready to +start. It was only a couple of minutes after I threw the ladder +back before Craig rejoined us. + +"How did you get away from the watchman?" I demanded, +breathlessly, as we shot away. + +"I forced him back with the chair into the hall and slammed the +door. Then I jammed a wedge under it," he chuckled. "That will +hold it better than any lock. Every push will jam it tighter." + +Above the hubbub, inside now, we could hear a loud gong sounding +insistently. All about were lights flashing up at the windows and +moving through the passageways. Shouts came from the back of the +house as a door was finally opened there. But we were off now, +with a good start. + +I could imagine the frantic telephoning that was going on in the +sanatorium. And I knew that the local police of Montrose and every +other town about us were being informed of the escape. They were +required by the law to render all possible assistance, and, as the +country boasted several institutions quite on a par with +Belleclaire, an attempt at an escape was not an unusual +occurrence. + +The post-road by which we had come was therefore impossible, and +Kennedy swung up into the country, in the hope of throwing off +pursuit long enough to give us a better chance. + +"Take the wheel, Walter," he muttered. "I'll tell you what turns +to make. We must get to the State line of New York without being +stopped. We can beat almost any car. But that is not enough. A +telephone message ahead may stop us, unless we can keep from being +seen." + +I took the wheel, and did not stop the car as Kennedy climbed over +the seat. In the back of the car, where Mrs. Cranston was sitting, +he hastily adjusted the peculiar apparatus. + +"Sounds at night are very hard to locate," he explained. "Up this +side road, Walter; there is some one coming ahead of us." + +I turned and shot up the detour, stopping in the shadow of some +trees, where we switched off every light and shut down the engine. +Kennedy continued to watch the instrument before him. + +"What is it?" I whispered. + +"A phonometer," he replied. "It was invented to measure the +intensity of sound. But it is much more valuable as an instrument +that tells with precision from what direction a sound comes. It +needs only a small dry battery and can be carried around easily. +The sound enters the two horns of the phonometer, is focused at +the neck, and strikes on a delicate diaphragm, behind which is a +needle. The diaphragm vibrates and the needle moves. The louder +the sound the greater the movement of this needle. + +"At this end, where it looks as though I were sighting like a +surveyor, I am gazing into a lens, with a tiny electric bulb close +to my eye. The light of this bulb is reflected in a mirror which +is moved by the moving needle. When the sound is loudest the two +horns are at right angles to the direction whence it comes. So it +is only necessary to twist the phonometer about on its pivot until +the sound is received most loudly in the horns and the band of +light is greatest. I know then that the horns are at right angles +to the direction from which the sound proceeds, and that, as I +lift my head, I am looking straight toward the source of the +sound. I can tell its direction to a few degrees." + +I looked through it myself to see how sound was visualized by +light. + +"Hush!" cautioned Kennedy. + +Down on the main road we could see a car pass along slowly in the +direction of Montrose, from which we had come. Without the +phonometer to warn us, it must inevitably have met us and blocked +our escape over the road ahead. + +That danger passed, on we sped. Five minutes, I calculated, and we +should cross the State line to New York and safety. + +We had been going along nicely when, "Bang!" came a loud report +back of us. + +"Confound it!" muttered Kennedy; "a blowout always when you least +expect it." + +We climbed out of the car and had the shoe off in short order. + +"Look!" cried Janet Cranston, in a frightened voice, from the back +of the car. + +The light of the phonometer had flashed up. A car was following +us. + +"There's just one chance!" cried Kennedy, springing to the wheel. +"We might make it on the rim." + +Banging and pounding, we forged ahead, straining our eyes to watch +the road, the distance, the time, and the phonometer all at once. + +It was no use. A big gray roadster was overtaking us. The driver +crowded us over to the very edge of the road, then shot ahead, +and, where the road narrowed down, deliberately pulled up across +the road in such a way that we had to run into him or stop. + +Quickly Craig's automatic gleamed in the dim beams from the side +lights. + +"Just a minute," cautioned a voice. "It was a plot against me, +quite as much as it was against her--the nurse to lead me on, +while the doctor got a rich patient. I suspected all was not +right. That's why I gave you the card. I knew you didn't come from +Burr. Then, when I heard nothing from you, I let the Giles woman +think I was coming to Montrose to be with her. But, really, I +wanted to beat that fake asylum--" + +Two piercing headlights shone down the road back of us. We waited +a moment until they, too, came to a stop. + +"Here they are!" shouted the voice of a man, as he jumped out, +followed by a woman. + +Kennedy stepped forward, waving his automatic menacingly. + +"You are under arrest for conspiracy--both of you!" he cried, as +we recognized Doctor Burr and Miss Giles. + +A little cry behind me startled me, and I turned. Janet Cranston +had flung herself into the arms of the only person who could heal +her wounded soul. + + + + +IV + +THE MYSTIC POISONER + + +"It's almost as though he had been struck down by a spirit hand, +Kennedy." + +Grady, the house detective of the Prince Edward Charles Hotel, had +routed us out of bed in the middle of the night with a hurried +call for help, and now met us in the lobby of the fashionable +hostelry. All that he had said over the wire was that there had +been a murder--"an Englishman, a Captain Shirley." + +"Why," exclaimed Grady, lowering his voice as he led us through +the lobby, "it's the most mysterious thing, I think, that I've +ever seen!" + +"In what way?" prompted Kennedy. + +"Well," continued Grady, "it must have been just a bit after +midnight that one of the elevator-boys heard what sounded like a +muffled report in a room on the tenth floor. There were other +employees and some guests about at the time, and it was only a +matter of seconds before they were on the spot. Finally, the sound +was located as having come probably from Captain Shirley's room. +But the door was locked--on the inside. There was no response, +although some one had seen him ride up in the elevator scarcely +five minutes before. By that time they had sent for me. We broke +in. There was Shirley, alone, fully dressed, lying on the floor +before a writing-table. His face was horribly set, as though he +had perhaps seen something that frightened and haunted him--though +I suppose it might have been the pain that did it. I think he must +have heard something, jumped from the chair, perhaps in fear, then +have fallen down on the floor almost immediately. + +"We hurried over to him. He was still alive, but could not speak. +I turned him over, tried to rouse him and make him comfortable. It +was only then that I saw that he was really conscious. But it +seemed as if his tongue and most of his muscles were paralyzed. +Somehow he managed to convey to us the idea that it was his heart +that troubled him most. + +"Really, at first I thought it was a case of suicide. But there +was no sign of a weapon about and not a trace of poison--no glass, +no packet. There was no wound on him, either--except a few slight +cuts and scratches on his face and hands. But none of them looked +to be serious. And yet, before we could get the house physician up +to him he was dead." + +"And with not a word?" queried Kennedy. + +"That's the strangest part of it. No; not a word spoken. But as he +lay there, even in spite of his paralyzed muscles, he was just +able to motion with his hands. I thought he wanted to write, and +gave him a pencil and a piece of paper. He clutched at them, but +here is all he was able to do." + +Grady drew from his pocket a piece of paper and handed it to us. +On it were printed in trembling, irregular characters, "G A D," +the "D" scarcely finished and trailing off into nothing. + +What did it all mean? How had Shirley met his death, and why? + +"Tell me something about him," said Kennedy, studying the paper +with a frown. Grady shrugged his shoulders. + +"An Englishman--that's about all I know. Looked like one of the +younger sons who so frequently go out to seek their fortunes in +the colonies. By his appearance, I should say he had been in the +Far East--India, no doubt. And I imagine he had made good. He +seemed to have plenty of money. That's all I know about him." + +"Is anything missing from his room?" I asked. "Could it have been +a robbery?" + +"I searched the room hastily," replied Grady. "Apparently not a +thing had been touched. I don't think it was robbery." + +By this time we had made our way through the lobby and were in the +elevator. + +"I've kept the room just as it was," went on Grady to Kennedy, +lowering his voice. "I've even delayed a bit in notifying the +police, so that you could get here first." + +A moment later we entered the rooms, a fairly expensive suite, +consisting of a sitting-room, bedroom, and bath. Everything was in +a condition to indicate that Shirley had just come in when the +shot, if shot it had been, was fired. + +There, on the floor, lay his body, still in the same attitude in +which he had died and almost as Grady had found him gasping. +Grady's description of the horrible look on his face was, if +anything, an understatement. + +As I stood with my eyes riveted on the horror-stricken face on the +floor, Kennedy had been quietly going over the furniture and +carpet about the body. + +"Look!" he exclaimed at last, scarcely turning to us. On the +chair, the writing-table, and even on the walls were little pitted +marks and scratches. He bent down over the carpet. There, +reflecting the electric light, scattered all about, were little +fine pieces of something that glittered. + +"You have a vacuum cleaner, I suppose?" inquired Craig, rising +quickly. + +"Certainly--a plant in the cellar." + +"No; I mean one that is portable." + +"Yes; we have that, too," answered Grady, hurrying to the room +telephone to have the cleaner sent up. + +Kennedy now began to look through Shirley's baggage. There was, +however, nothing to indicate that it had been rifled. + +I noted, among other things, a photograph of a woman in Oriental +dress, dusky, languorous, of more than ordinary beauty and +intelligence. On it something was written in native characters. + +Just then a boy wheeled the cleaner down the hall, and Kennedy +quickly shoved the photograph into his pocket. + +First, Kennedy removed the dust that was already in the machine. +Then he ran the cleaner carefully over the carpet, the upholstery, +everything about that corner of the room where the body lay. When +he had finished he emptied out the dust into a paper and placed it +in his pocket. He was just finishing when there came a knock at +the door, and it was opened. + +"Mr. Grady?" said a young man, entering hurriedly. + +"Oh, hello, Glenn! One of the night clerks in the office, +Kennedy," introduced the house detective. + +"I've just heard of the--murder," Glenn began. "I was in the +dining-room, being relieved for my little midnight luncheon as +usual, when I heard of it, and I thought that perhaps you might +want to know something that happened just before I went off duty." + +"Yes; anything," broke in Kennedy. + +"It was early in the evening," returned the clerk, slowly, "when a +messenger left a little package for Captain Shirley--said that +Captain Shirley had had it sent himself and asked that it be +placed in his room. It was a little affair in a plain, paper- +wrapped parcel. I sent one of the boys up with it and a key, and +told him to put the package on the writing-desk tip here." + +Kennedy looked at me. That, then, was the way something, whatever +it might be, was introduced into the room. + +"When the captain came in," resumed the night clerk, "I saw there +was a letter for him in the mailbox and handed it to him. He stood +before the office desk while he opened it. I thought he looked +queer. The contents seemed to alarm him." + +"What was in it?" asked Kennedy. "Could you see?" + +"I got one glimpse. It seemed to be nothing but a little scarlet +bead with a black spot on it. In his surprise, he dropped a piece +of paper from the envelope in which the bead had been wrapped up. +I thought it was strange, and, as he hurried over to the elevator, +I picked it up. Here it is." + +The clerk handed over a crumpled piece of notepaper. On it was +scrawled the word "Gadhr," and underneath, "Beware!" I spelled out +the first strange word. It had an ominous sound--"Gadhr." Suddenly +there flashed through my mind the letters Shirley had tried to +print but had not finished, "G A D." + +Kennedy looked at the paper a moment. + +"Gadhr!" he exclaimed, in a low, tense tone. "Revolt--the native +word for unrest in India, the revolution!" + +We stared at each other blankly. All of us had been reading lately +in the despatches about the troubles there, hidden under the ban +of the censorship. I knew that the Hindu propaganda in America was +as yet in its infancy, although several plots and conspiracies had +been hatched here. + +"Is there any one in the hotel whom you might suspect?" asked +Kennedy. + +Grady cleared his throat and looked at the night clerk +significantly. + +"Well," he answered, thoughtfully, "across the hall there is a new +guest who came to-day--or, rather, yesterday--a Mrs. Anthony. We +don't know anything about her, except that she looks like a +foreigner. She did not come directly from abroad, but must have +been living in New York for some time. They tell me she asked for +a room on this floor, at this end of the hall." + +"H'm!" considered Kennedy. "I'd like to see her--without being +seen." + +"I think I can arrange that," acquiesced Grady. "You and Jameson +stay in the bedroom. I'll ask her to come over here, and then you +can get a good look at her." + +The plan satisfied Kennedy, and together we entered the bedroom, +putting out the light and leaving the door just a trifle ajar. + +A moment later Mrs. Anthony entered. I heard a suppressed gasp +from Kennedy. + +"The woman in the photograph!" he whispered to me. + +I studied her face minutely from our coign of vantage. There was, +indeed, a resemblance, too striking to be mere coincidence. + +In the presence of Grady, she seemed to be nervous and on guard, +as though she knew, intuitively, that she was suspected. + +"Did you know Captain Shirley?" shot out Grady. + +Kennedy looked over at me and frowned. I knew that something more +subtle than New York police methods would be necessary in order to +get anything from a woman like this. + +"No," she replied, quietly. "You see, I just came here to-day." +Her voice had an English accent. + +"Did you hear a shot?" + +"No," she replied. "The voices in the hall wakened me, though I +did not know what was the matter until just now." + +"Then you made no effort to find out?" inquired Grady, +suspiciously. + +"I am alone here in the city," she answered, simply. "I was afraid +to intrude." + +Throughout she gave the impression that she was strangely reticent +about herself. Evidently Kennedy had not much faith that Grady +would elicit anything of importance. He tiptoed to the door that +led from the bedroom to the hall and found that it could be opened +from the inside. + +While Grady continued his questioning, Craig and I slipped out +into the hall to the room which Mrs. Anthony occupied. + +It was a suite much plainer than that occupied by Shirley. Craig +switched on the light and looked about hastily and keenly. + +For a moment he stood before a dressing-table on which were +several toilet articles. A jewel-case seemed to attract his +attention, and he opened it. Inside were some comparatively +trifling trinkets. The thing that caused him to exclaim, however, +was a necklace, broken and unstrung. I looked, too. It was +composed of little crimson beads, each with a black spot on it! + +Quickly he drew from his pocket the photograph he had taken from +Shirley's baggage. As I looked at it again there could be no doubt +now in my mind of the identity of the original. It was the same +face. And about the neck, in the picture, was a necklace, plainly +the same as that before us. + +"What are the beads?" I asked, fingering them. "I've never seen +anything like them." + +"Not beads at all," he replied. "They are Hindu prayer-beans, +sometimes called ruttee, jequirity beans, seeds of the plant known +to science as Abrus precatorius. They produce a deadly poison-- +abrin." He slipped four or five of them into his pocket. Then he +resumed his cursory search of the room. There, on a writing-pad, +was a note which Mrs. Anthony had evidently been engaged in +writing. Craig pored over it for some time, while I fidgeted. It +was nothing but a queer jumble of letters: + +SOWC FSSJWA EKNLFFBY WOVHLX IHWAJYKH 101MLEL EPJNVPSL WCLURL +GHIHDA ELBA. + +"Come," I cautioned; "she may return any moment." + +Quickly he copied off the letters. + +"It's a cipher," he said, simply, "a new and rather difficult one, +too, I imagine. But I may be able to decipher it." + +Kennedy withdrew from the room and, instead of going back to +Shirley's, rode down in the elevator to find the night clerk. + +"Had Captain Shirley any friends in the city?" asked Craig. + +Glenn shrugged his shoulders. + +"He was out most of the time," he replied. "He seemed to be very +occupied about something. No, I don't think I ever saw him speak +to a soul here, except a word to the waiters and the boys. Once, +though," he recollected, "he was called up by a Mrs. Beekman +Rogers." + +"Mrs. Beekman Rogers," repeated Kennedy, jotting the name down and +looking it up in the telephone-book. She lived on Riverside Drive, +and, slender though the information was, Kennedy seemed glad to +get it. + +Grady joined us a moment later, having been wondering where we had +disappeared. + +"You saw her?" he asked. "What did you think of her?" + +"Worth watching," was all Kennedy would say. "Did you get anything +out of her?" + +Grady shook his head. + +"But I am convinced she knows something," he insisted. + +Kennedy was about to reply when he was interrupted by the arrival +of a couple of detectives from the city police, tardily summoned +by Grady. + +"I shall let you know the moment I have discovered anything," he +said, as he bade Grady good-by. "And thank you for letting me have +a chance at the case before all the clues had been spoiled." + +Late though it was, in the laboratory Kennedy set to work +examining the dust which he had swept up by the vacuum cleaner, as +well as the jequirity beans he had taken from Mrs. Anthony's +jewel-case. + +I do not know how much sleep he had, but I managed to snatch a few +hours' rest, and early in the morning I found him at work again, +examining the cipher message which he had copied. + +"By the way," he said, scarcely looking up as he saw me again, +"there is something quite important which you can do for me." +Rather pleased to be of some use, I waited eagerly. "I wish you'd +go out and see what you can find out about that Mrs. Beekman +Rogers," he continued. "I've some work here that will keep me for +several hours; so come back to me here." + +It was such a commission as he had often given me before, and, +through my connection with the Star, I found no difficulty in +executing it. + +I found that Mrs. Rogers was well known in a certain circle of +society in the city. She was wealthy and had the reputation of +having given quite liberally to many causes that had interested +her. Just now, her particular fad was Oriental religions, and some +of her bizarre beliefs had attracted a great deal of attention. A +couple of years before she had made a trip around the world, and +had lived in India for several months, apparently fascinated by +the life and attracted to the mysteries of Oriental faiths. + +With my budget of information I hastened back again to join +Kennedy at the laboratory. I could see that the cipher was still +unread. From that, I conjectured that it was, as he had guessed, +constructed on some new and difficult plan. + +"What do you think of Mrs. Rogers?" I asked, as I finished +reciting what I had learned. "Is it possible that she can be in +this revolutionary propaganda?" He shook his head doubtfully. + +"Much of the disaffection that exists in India to-day," he +replied, "is due to the encouragement and financial assistance +which it has received from people here in this country, although +only a fraction of the natives of India have ever heard of us. +Much of the money devoted to the cause of revolution and anarchy +in India is contributed by worthy people who innocently believe +that their subscriptions are destined to promote the cause of +native enlightenment. I prefer to believe that there is some such +explanation in her case. At any rate, I think that we had better +make a call on Mrs. Rogers." + +Early that afternoon, accordingly, we found ourselves at the door +of the large stone house on Riverside Drive in which Mrs. Rogers +lived. Kennedy inquired for her, and we were admitted to a large +reception-room, the very decorations of which showed evidence of +her leaning toward the Orient. Mrs. Rogers proved to be a widow of +baffling age, good-looking, with a certain indefinable +attractiveness. + +Kennedy's cue was obvious. It was to be an eager neophyte in the +mysteries of the East, and he played the part perfectly without +overdoing it. + +"Perhaps you would like to come to some of the meetings of our +Cult of the Occult," she suggested. + +"Delighted, I am sure," returned Kennedy. She handed him a card. + +"We have a meeting this afternoon at four," she explained. "I +should be glad to welcome you among us." + +Kennedy thanked her and rose to go, preferring to say nothing more +just then about the problems which vexed us in the Shirley case, +lest it should make further investigation more difficult. + +Nothing more had happened at the hotel, as we heard from Grady a +few minutes later, and, as there was some time before the cult +met, we returned to the laboratory. + +Things had evidently progressed well, even in the few hours that +he had been studying his meager evidence. Not only was he making a +series of delicate chemical tests, but, in cases, he had several +guinea-pigs which he was using also. + +He now studied through a microscope some of the particles of dust +from the vacuum cleaner. + +"Little bits of glass," he said, briefly, taking his eye from the +eyepiece. "Captain Shirley was not shot." + +"Not shot?" I repeated. "Then how was he killed?" + +Kennedy eyed me gravely. + +"Shirley was murdered by a poisoned bomb!" + +I said nothing, for the revelation was even more startling than I +had imagined. + +"In that package which was placed in his room," he went on, "must +have been a little infernal machine of glass, constructed so as to +explode the moment the wrapper was broken. The flying pieces of +glass injected the poison as by a myriad of hypodermic needles-- +the highly poisonous toxin of abrin, product of the jequirity, +which is ordinarily destroyed in the stomach but acts powerfully +if injected into the blood. Shirley died of jequirity poisoning, +or rather of the alkaloid in the bean. It has been used in India +for criminal poisoning for ages. Only, there it is crushed, worked +into a paste, and rolled into needle-pointed forms which prick the +skin. Abrin is composed of two albuminous bodies, one of which +resembles snake-venom in all its effects, attacking the heart, +making the temperature fall rapidly, and leaving the blood fluid +after death. It is a vegetable toxin, quite comparable with ricin +from the castor-oil bean." + +In spite of my horror at the diabolical plot that had been aimed +at Shirley, my mind ran along, keenly endeavoring to piece +together the scattered fragments of the case. Some one, of course, +had sent the package while he was out and had it placed in his +room. Had it been the same person who had sent the single +jequirity bean? My mind instantly reverted to the strange woman +across the hall, the photograph in his luggage, and the broken +necklace in the jewel-case. + +Kennedy continued looking at the remainder of the jequirity beans +and a liquid he had developed from some of them. Finally, with a +glance at his watch, he placed a tube of the liquid in a leather +case in his pocket. + +"This may not be the only murder," he remarked, sententiously. "It +is best to be prepared. Come; we must get up to that meeting." + +We journeyed up-town and arrived at the little private hall which +the Cult of the Occult had hired somewhat ahead of the time set +for the meeting, as Kennedy had aimed to do. Mrs. Rogers was +already there and met us at the door. + +"So glad to see you," she welcomed, leading us in. + +As we entered we could breathe the characteristic pervading odor +of sandalwood. Rich Oriental hangings were on the walls, +interspersed with cabalistic signs, while at one end was a raised +dais. + +Mrs. Rogers introduced us to a rather stout, middle-aged, sallow- +faced individual in a turban and flowing robes of rustling purple +silk. His eyes were piercing, small, and black. The plump, +unhealthy, milk-white fingers of his hands were heavy with ornate +rings. He looked like what I should have imagined a swami to be, +and such, I found, was indeed his title. + +"The Swami Rajmanandra," introduced Mrs. Rogers. + +He extended his flabby hand in welcome, while Kennedy eyed him +keenly. We were not permitted many words with the swami, however, +for Mrs. Rogers next presented us to a younger but no less +interesting-looking Oriental who was in Occidental dress. + +"This is Mr. Singh Bandematarain," said Mrs. Rogers. "You know, he +has been sent here by the nizam of his province to be educated at +the university." + +Mrs. Rogers then hastened to conduct us to seats as, one by one, +the worshipers entered. They were mostly women of the aristocratic +type who evidently found in this cult a new fad to occupy their +jaded craving for the sensational. In the dim light, there was +something almost sepulchral about the gathering, and their +complexions seemed as white as wax. + +Again the door opened and another woman entered. I felt the +pressure of Kennedy's hand on my arm and turned my eyes +unobtrusively. It was Mrs. Anthony. + +Quietly she seemed to glide over the floor toward the swami and, +for a moment, stood talking to him. I saw Singh eye her with a +curious look. Was it fear or suspicion? + +I had come expecting to see something weird and wild, perhaps the +exhibition of an Indian fakir--I know not what. In that, at least, +I was disappointed. The Swami Rajmanandra, picturesque though he +was, talked most fascinatingly about his religion, but either the +theatricals were reserved for an inner circle or else we were +subtly suspected, for I soon found myself longing for the meeting +to close so that we could observe those whom we had come to watch. + +I had almost come to the conclusion that our mission had been a +failure when the swami concluded and the visitors swarmed forward +to talk with the holy man from the East. Kennedy managed to make +his way about the circle to Mrs. Rogers and soon was in an +animated conversation. + +"Were you acquainted with a Captain Shirley?" he asked, finally, +as she opened the way for the question by a remark about her life +in Calcutta. + +"Y-yes," she replied, hesitating; "I read in the papers this +morning that he was found dead, most mysteriously. Terrible, +wasn't it? Yes, I met him in Calcutta while I was there. Why, he +was on his way to London, and came to New York and called on me." + +My eye followed the direction of Mrs. Rogers's. She was talking to +us, but really her attention was centered on Mrs. Anthony and the +swami together. As I glanced back at her I caught sight of Singh, +evidently engaged in watching the same two that I was. Did he have +some suspicion of Mrs. Anthony? Why was he watching Mrs. Rogers? I +determined to study the two women more closely. I saw that Kennedy +had already noticed what I had seen. + +"One very peculiar thing," he said, deliberately modulating his +voice so that it could be heard by those about us, "was that, just +before he was killed, some one sent a prayer-bean from a necklace +to him." + +At the mention of the necklace I saw that Mrs. Rogers was all +attention. Involuntarily she shot a glance at Mrs. Anthony, as if +she noted that she was not wearing the necklace now. + +"Is that Englishwoman a member of the cult?" queried Kennedy, a +moment later, as, quite naturally, he looked over at Mrs. Anthony. +"Who is she?" + +"Oh," replied Mrs. Rogers, quickly, "she isn't an Englishwoman at +all. She is a Hindu--I believe, a former nautch-girl, daughter of +a nautch-girl. She passes by the name of Mrs. Anthony, but really +her name is Kalia Dass. Every one in Calcutta knew her." + +Kennedy quietly drew his card-case from his pocket and handed a +card to Mrs. Rogers. + +"I should like to talk to you about her some time," he said, in a +careful whisper. "If anything happens--don't hesitate to call on +me." + +Before Mrs. Rogers could recover from her surprise Kennedy had +said good-by and we were on our way to the laboratory. + +"That's a curious situation," I observed. "Can you make it out? +How does Shirley fit into this thing?" + +Craig hesitated a moment, as though debating whether to say +anything, even to me, about his suspicions. + +"Suppose," he said, slowly, "that Shirley was a secret agent of +the British government, charged with the mission of finding out +whether Mrs. Rogers was contributing--unknowingly, perhaps--to +hatching another Indian mutiny? Would that suggest anything to +you?" + +"And the nautch-girl whom he had known in Calcutta followed him, +hoping to worm from him the secrets which he--" + +"Not too fast," he cautioned. "Let us merely suppose that Shirley +was a spy. If I am not mistaken, we shall see something happen +soon, as a result of what I said to Mrs. Rogers." + +Excited now by the possibilities opened up by his conjecture +regarding Shirley, which I knew must have amounted to a certainty +in his mind, I watched him impatiently, as he calmly set to work +cleaning up the remainder of the laboratory investigation in the +affair. + +It was scarcely half an hour later that a car drove up furiously +to our door and Mrs. Rogers burst in, terribly agitated. + +"You remember," she cried, breathlessly, "you said that a +jequirity bean was sent to Captain Shirley?" + +"Yes," encouraged Kennedy. + +"Well, after you left, I was thinking about it. That Kalia Dass +used to wear a necklace of them, but she didn't have it on to-day. +I began thinking about it. While she was talking to the swami I +went over. I've noticed how careful she always is of her hand-bag. +So I managed to catch my hand in the loop about her wrist. It +dropped on the floor. We both made a dive for it, but I got it. I +managed, also, to open the catch and, when I picked it up to hand +to her, with an apology, what should roll out but a score of +prayer-beans! Some papers dropped out, too. She almost tore them +from my hands; in fact, one of them did tear. After it was over I +had this scrap, a corner torn off one of them." + +Kennedy took the scrap which she handed to him and studied it +carefully, while we looked over his shoulder. On it was a queer +alphabetical table. Across the first line were the letters singly, +each followed by a dash. Then, in squares underneath, were pairs +of letters--AA, BA, CA, DA, and so on, while, vertically, the +column on the left read: AA, AB, AC, AD, and so on. + +"Thank you, Mrs. Rogers," Craig said, rising. "This is very +important." + +She seemed reluctant to go, but, as there was no excuse for +staying longer, she finally left. Kennedy immediately set to work +studying the scrap of paper and the cipher message he had copied, +while I stifled my impatience as best I could. + +I could do nothing but reflect on the possibility of what a +jealous woman might do. Mrs. Rogers had given us one example. Did +the same explanation shed any light on the mystery of the nautch- +girl and the jequirity bean sent to Shirley? There was no doubt +now that Shirley had known her in Calcutta--intimately, also. +Perhaps the necklace had some significance. At least, he must have +remembered it, as his agitation over the single bean and the word +"Gadhr" seemed to indicate. If she had sent it to him, was it as a +threat? To all appearance, he had not known that she was in New +York, much less that she was at the same hotel and on the same +floor. Why had she followed him? Had she misinterpreted his +attentions to Mrs. Rogers? + +Longing to ask Kennedy the myriad questions that flashed through +my mind, I turned to him as he scowled at the scrap of paper and +the cipher before him. + +Presently he glanced up at me, still scowling. + +"It's no use, Walter," he said; "I can't make it out without the +key--at least, it will take so long to discover the key that it +may be useless." + +Just then the telephone-bell rang and he sprang to it eagerly. As +I listened I gathered that it was another hurried call from Grady. + +"Something has happened to Mrs. Anthony!" cried Craig, as he +hooked up the receiver and seized his hat. + +A second time we posted to the Prince Edward Charles, spurred by +the mystery that surrounded the case. No one met us in the lobby +this time, and we rode up directly in the elevator to Mrs. +Anthony's room. + +As we came down the hall and Grady met us at the door, he did not +need to tell us that something was wrong. One experience like that +with Shirley had put the hotel people on guard, and the house +physician was already there, administering stimulants to Mrs. +Anthony, who was lying on the bed. + +"It's just like the other case," whispered Grady. "There are the +same scratches on her face and hands." + +The doctor glanced about at us. By the look on his face, I read +that it was a losing fight. Kennedy bent down. The floor about the +door was covered with little glittering slivers of glass. On Mrs. +Anthony's face was the same drawn look as on Shirley's. + +Was it a suicide? Had we been getting too close on her trail, or +had Mrs. Anthony been attacked? Had some one been using her, and +now was afraid of her and sought to get her out of the way for +safety? + +What was the secret locked in her silent lips? The woman was +plainly dying. Would she carry the secret with her, after all? + +Kennedy quickly drew from his pocket the vial which I had seen him +place there in the laboratory early in the day. From the doctor's +case he selected a hypodermic and coolly injected a generous dose +of the stuff into her arm. + +"What is it?" asked the doctor, as we all watched her face +anxiously. + +"The antitoxin to abrin," he replied. "I developed some of it at +the same time that I was studying the poison. If an animal that is +immune to a toxin is bled and the serum collected, the antitoxin +in it may be injected into a healthy animal and render it immune. +Ricin and abrin are vegetable protein toxins of enormous potency +and exert a narcotic action. Guinea-pigs fed on them in proper +doses attain such a degree of immunity that, in a short time, they +can tolerate four hundred times the fatal dose. The serum also can +be used to neutralize the toxin in another animal, to a certain +extent." + +We crowded about Kennedy and the doctor, our eyes riveted on the +drawn face before us. Would the antitoxin work? + +Meanwhile, Kennedy moved over to the writing-table which he had +examined on our first visit to the room. Covered up in the +writing-pad was still the paper which he had copied. Only, Mrs. +Anthony had added much more to it. He looked at it desperately. +What good would it do if, after hours, his cleverness might solve +the cipher--too late? + +Mrs. Anthony seemed to be struggling bravely. Once I thought she +was almost conscious. Glazed though her eyes looked, she saw +Kennedy vaguely, with the paper in his hand. Her lips moved. +Kennedy bent down, though whether he heard or read her lip +movements I do not know. + +"Her pocket-book!" he exclaimed. + +We found it crushed under her coat which she had taken off when +she entered. Craig opened it and drew forth a crumpled sheet of +paper from which a corner had been torn. It exactly fitted the +scrap that Mrs. Rogers had given us. There, contained within +twenty-seven horizontal and twenty-seven vertical lines, making in +all six hundred and seventy-six squares, was every possible +combination of two letters of the alphabet. + +Kennedy looked up, still in desperation. It did him no good. He +could have completed the table himself. + +"In--the--lining." Her lips managed to frame the words. + +Kennedy literally tore the bag apart. There was nothing but a +plain white blank card. With a superhuman effort she moved her +lips again. + +"Smelling-salts," she seemed to say. + +I looked about. On the dressing-table stood a little dark-green +bottle. I pulled the ground-glass stopper from it and a most +pungent odor of carbonate of ammonia filled the room. Quickly I +held it under her nose, but she shook her head weakly. + +Kennedy seemed to understand. He snatched the bottle from me and +held the card directly over its mouth. As the fumes of the ammonia +poured out, I saw faintly on the card the letters HR. + +We turned to Mrs. Anthony. The effort had used up her strength. +She had lapsed again into unconsciousness as Craig bent over her. + +"Will she live?" lasted. + +"I think so," he replied, adding a hasty word to the doctor. + +"What's that? Look!" I exclaimed, pointing to the card from which +the letters HR had already faded as mysteriously as they had +appeared, leaving the card blank again. + +"It is the key!" he cried, excitedly. "Written in sympathetic ink. +At last we have it all." + +On the queer alphabetical table which the two pieces of paper +made, he now wrote quickly the alphabet again, horizontally across +the top, starting with H, and vertically down the side, starting +with R, thus: + + + H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G +R a- b- c- d- e- f- g- h- i- j- k- l- m- n- o- p- q- r- s- t- u- v- w- x- y- z- +S aa ba ca da ea fa ga ha ia ja ka la ma na oa pa qa ra sa ta ua va wa xa ya za +T ab bb cb db eb fb gb hb ib jb kb lb mb nb ob pb qb rb sb tb ub vb wb xb yb zb +U ac bc cc dc ec fc gc hc ic jc kc lc mc nc oc pc qc rc sc tc uc vc wc xc yc zc +V ad bd cd dd ed fd gd hd id jd kd ld md nd od pd qd rd sd td ud vd wd xd yd zd +W ae be ce de ee fe ge he ie je ke le me ne oe pe qe re se te ue ve we xe ye ze +X af bf cf df ef ff gf hf if jf kf lf mf nf of pf qf rf sf tf uf vf wf xf yf zf +Y ag bg cg dg eg fg gg hg ig jg kg lg mg ng og pg qg rg sg tg ug vg wg xg yg zg +Z ah bh ch dh eh fh gh hh ih jh kh lh mh nh oh ph qh rh sh th uh vy wh xh yh zh +& ai bi ci di ei fi gi hi ii ji ki li mi ni oi pi qi ri si ti ui vi wi xi yi zi +A aj bj cj dj ej fj gj hj ij jj kj lj mj nj oj pj qj rj sj tj uj vj wj xj yj zj +B ak bk ck dk ek fk gk hk ik jk kk lk mk nk ok pk qk rk sk tk uk vk wk xk yk zk +C al bl cl dl el fl gl hl il jl kl ll ml nl ol pl ql rl sl tl ul vl wl xl yl zl +D am bm cm dm em fm gm hm im jm km lm mm nm om pm qm rm sm tm um vm wm xm ym zm +E an bn cn dn en fn gn hn in jn kn ln mn nn on pn qn rn sn tn un vn wn xn yn zn +F ao bo co do eo fo go ho io jo ko lo mo no oo po qo ro so to uo vo wo xo yo zo +G ap bp cp dp ep fp gp hp ip jp kp lp mp np op pp qp rp sp tp up vp wp xp yp zp +H aq bq cq dq eq fq gq hq iq jq kq lq mq nq oq pq qq rq sq tq uq vq wq xq yq zq +I ar br cr dr er fr gr hr ir jr kr lr mr nr or pr qr rr sr tr ur vr wr xr yr zr +J as bs cs ds es fs gs hs is js ks ls ms ns os ps qs rs ss ts us vs ws xs ys zs +K at bt ct dt et ft gt ht it jt kt lt mt nt ot pt qt rt st tt ut vt wt xt yt zt +L au bu cu du eu fu gu hu iu ju ku lu mu nu ou pu qu ru su tu uu vu wu xu yu zu +M av bv cv dv ev fv gv hv iv jv kv lv mv nv ov pv qv rv sv tv uv vv wv xv yv zv +N aw bw cw dw ew fw gw hw iw jw kw lw mw nw ow pw qw rw sw tw uw vw ww xw yw zw +O ax bx cx dx ex fx gx hx ix jx kx lx mx nx ox px qx rx sx tx ux vx wx xx yx zx +P ay by cy dy ey fy gy hy iy jy ky ly my ny oy py qy ry sy ty uy vy wy xy yy zy +Q az bz cz dz ez fz gz hz iz jz kz lz mz nz oz pz qz rz sz tz uz vz wz xz yz zz + + +"See!" exclaimed Kennedy, triumphantly, working rapidly. "Take the +word 'war' for instance. The square which contains WA is in line +S, column D. So I put down SD. The odd letter R, with a dash, is +in line R, column Y. So I put down RY. WAR thus becomes SDRY. +Working it backward from SDRY, I take the two letters SD. In line +S, column D, I find WA in the square, and in line R, column Y, I +find just R--making the translation of the cipher read 'War.' +Now," he went on, excitedly, "take the message we have: + +"SOWC FSSJWA EKNLFFBY WOVHLX IHWAJYKH 101MLEL EPJNVPSL WCLURL +GHIHDA ELBA. + +"I translate each pair of letters as I come to them." He was +writing rapidly. There was the message: + +Have located New York headquarters at 101 Eveningside Avenue, +Apartment K. Kennedy did not pause, but dashed from the room, +followed by Grady and myself. + +As our taxi pulled up on the avenue, we saw that the address was a +new but small apartment-house. We entered and located Apartment K. + +Casting about for a way to get in, Craig discovered that the fire- +escape could be reached from a balcony by the hall window. He +swung himself over the gap, and we followed. It was the work of +only a minute to force the window-latch. We entered. No one was +there. + +As we pressed after him, he stopped short and flashed his electric +bull's-eye about with an exclamation of startled surprise. There +was a fully equipped chemical and electrical laboratory. There +were explosives enough to have blown not only us but a whole block +to kingdom come. More than that, it was a veritable den of +poisons. On a table stood beakers and test-tubes in which was +crushed a paste that still showed parts of the red ruttee beans. + +"Some one planned here to kill Shirley, get him out of the way," +reconstructed Kennedy, gazing about; "some one working under the +cloak of Oriental religion." + +"Mrs. Anthony?" queried Grady. Kennedy shook his head. + +"On the contrary, like Shirley, she was an agent of the Indian +Secret Service. The rest of the cipher shows it. She was sent to +watch some one else, as he was sent to watch Mrs. Rogers. Neither +could have known that the other was on the case. She found out, +first, that the package with the prayer-bean and the word 'Gadhr' +was an attempt to warn and save Shirley, whom she had known in +Calcutta and still loved, but feared to compromise. She must have +tried to see him, but failed. She hesitated to write, but finally +did. Then some one must have seen that she was dangerous. Another +poisoned bomb was sent to her. No; the nautch-girl is innocent." + +"'Sh!" cautioned Grady. + +Outside we could hear the footsteps of some one coming along the +hall. Kennedy snapped off his light. The door opened. + +"Stand still! One motion and I will throw it!" + +As Kennedy's voice rang out from the direction of the table on +which stood the half-finished glass bombs, Grady and I flung +ourselves forward at the intruder, not knowing what we would +encounter. + +A moment later Kennedy had found the electric switch and flashed +up the lights. + +It was Singh, who had used both Mrs. Rogers's money and +Raimanandra's religion to cover his conspiracy of revolt. + + + + +V + +THE PHANTOM DESTROYER + + +"Guy Fawkes himself would shudder in that mill. Think of it--five +explosions on five successive days, and not a clue!" + +Our visitor had presented a card bearing the name of Donald +MacLeod, chief of the Nitropolis Powder Company's Secret Service. +It was plain that he was greatly worried over the case about which +he had at last been forced to consult Kennedy. + +As he spoke, I remembered having read in the despatches about the +explosions, but the accounts had been so meager that I had not +realized that there was anything especially unusual about them, +for it was at the time when accidents in and attacks on the +munitions-plants were of common occurrence. + +"Why," went on MacLeod, "the whole business is as mysterious as if +there were some phantom destroyer at work! The men are so +frightened that they threaten to quit. Several have been killed. +There's something strange about that, too. There are ugly rumors +of poisonous gases being responsible, quite as much as the +explosions, though, so far, I've been able to find nothing in that +notion." + +"What sort of place is it?" asked Kennedy, interested at once. + +"Well, you see," explained MacLeod, "since the company's business +has increased so fast lately, it has been forced to erect a new +plant. Perhaps you have heard of the Old Grove Amusement Park, +which failed? It's not far from that." + +MacLeod looked at us inquiringly, and Kennedy nodded to go on, +though I am sure neither of us was familiar with the place. + +"They've called the new plant Nitropolis--rather a neat name for a +powder-works, don't you think?" resumed MacLeod. "Everything went +along all right until a few days ago. Then one of the buildings, a +storehouse, was blown up. We couldn't be sure that it was an +accident, so we redoubled our precautions. It was of no use. That +started it. The very next day another building was blown up, then +another, until now there have been five of them. What may happen +to-day Heaven only knows! I want to get back as soon as I can." + +"Rather too frequent, I must admit, to be coincidences," remarked +Kennedy. + +"No; they can't all be accidents," asserted MacLeod, confidently. +"There's too great regularity for that. I think I've considered +almost everything. I don't see how they can be from bombs placed +by workmen. At least, it's not a bit likely. Besides, the +explosions all occur in broad daylight, not at night. We're very +careful about the men we employ, and they're watched all the time. +The company has a guard of its own, twenty-five picked men, under +me--all honorably discharged United States army men." + +"You have formed no theory of your own?" queried Kennedy. + +MacLeod paused, then drew from his pocket the clipping of a +despatch from the front in which one of the war correspondents +reported the destruction of wire entanglements with heat supposed +to have been applied by the use of reflecting mirrors. + +"I'm reduced to pure speculation," he remarked. "To-day they seem +to be reviving all the ancient practices. Maybe some one is going +at it like Archimedes." + +"Not impossible," returned Craig, handing back the clipping. +"Buffon tested the probability of the achievement of Archimedes in +setting fire to the ships of Marcellus with mirrors and the sun's +rays. He constructed a composite mirror of a hundred and twenty- +eight plane mirrors, and with it he was able to ignite wood at two +hundred and ten feet. However, I shrewdly suspect that, even if +this story is true, they are using hydrogen or acetylene flares +over there. But none of these things would be feasible in your +case. You'd know it." + +"Could it be some one who is projecting a deadly wireless force +which causes the explosions?" I put in, mindful of a previous case +of Kennedy's. "We all know that inventors have been working for +years on the idea of making explosives obsolete and guns junk. If +some one has hit on a way of guiding an electric wave through the +air and concentrating power at a point, munitions-plants could be +wiped out." + +MacLeod looked anxiously from me to Kennedy, but Craig betrayed +nothing by his face except his interest. + +"Sometimes I have imagined I heard a peculiar, faint, whirring +noise in the air," he remarked, thoughtfully. "I thought of having +the men on the watch for air-ships, but they've never seen a trace +of one. It might be some power either like this," he added, +shaking the clipping, "or like that which Mr. Jameson suggests." + +"It's something like that you meant, I presume, when you called it +a 'phantom destroyer' a moment ago?" asked Kennedy. + +MacLeod nodded. + +"If you're interested," he pursued, hastily, "and feel like going +down there to look things over, I think the best place for you to +go would be to the Sneddens'. They're some people who have seen a +chance to make a little money out of the boom. Many visitors are +now coming and going on business connected with the new works. +They have started a boarding-house--or, rather, Mrs. Snedden has. +There's a daughter, too, who seems to be very popular." Kennedy +glanced whimsically at me. + +"Well, Walter," he remarked, tentatively, "entirely aside from the +young lady, this ought to make a good story for the Star." + +"Indeed it ought!" I replied, enthusiastically. + +"Then you'll go down to Nitropolis?" queried MacLeod, eagerly. +"You can catch a train that will get you there about noon. And the +company will pay you well." + +"MacLeod, with the mystery, Miss Snedden, and the remuneration, +you are irresistible," smiled Kennedy. + +"Thank you," returned the detective. "You won't regret it. I can't +tell you how much relieved I feel to have some one else, and, +above all, yourself, on the case. You can get a train in half an +hour. I think it would be best for you to go as though you had no +connection with me--at least for the present." + +Kennedy agreed, and MacLeod excused himself, promising to be on +the train, although not to ride with us, in case we should be the +target of too inquisitive eyes. + +For a few moments, while our taxicab was coming, Kennedy +considered thoughtfully what the company detective had said. By +the time the vehicle arrived he had hurriedly packed up some +apparatus in two large grips, one of which it fell to my lot to +carry. + +The trip down to Nitropolis was uninteresting, and we arrived at +the little station shortly after noon. MacLeod was on the train, +but did not speak to us, and it was perhaps just as well, for the +cabmen and others hanging about the station were keenly watching +new arrivals, and any one with MacLeod must have attracted +attention. We selected or were, rather, selected by one of the +cabmen and driven immediately to the Snedden house. Our cover was, +as Craig and I had decided, to pose as two newspaper men from New +York, that being the easiest way to account for any undue interest +we might show in things. + +The powder-company's plant was situated on a large tract of land +which was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, six feet high and +constructed in a manner very similar to the fences used in +protecting prison-camps in war-times. At various places along the +several miles of fence gates were placed, with armed guards. Many +other features were suggestive of war-times. One that impressed us +most was that each workman had to carry a pass similar, almost, to +a passport. This entire fence, we learned, was patrolled day and +night by armed guards. + +A mile or so from the plant, or just outside the main gate, quite +a settlement had grown up, like a mushroom, almost overnight--the +product of a flood of new money. Originally, there had been only +one house for some distance about--that of the Sneddens. But now +there were scores of houses, mostly those of officials and +managers, some of them really pretentious affairs. MacLeod himself +lived in one of them, and we could see him ahead of us, being +driven home. + +The workmen lived farther along the line, in a sort of company +town, which at present greatly resembled a Western mining-camp, +though ultimately it was to be a bungalow town. + +Just at present, however, it was the Snedden house that interested +us most, for we felt the need of getting ourselves established in +this strange community. It was an old-fashioned farm-house and had +been purchased very cheaply by Snedden several years before. He +had altered it and brought it up to date, and the combination of +old and new proved to be typical of the owner as well as of the +house. + +Kennedy carried off well the critical situation of our +introduction, and we found ourselves welcomed rather than +scrutinized as intruders. + +Garfield Snedden was much older than his second wife, Ida. In +fact, she did not seem to be much older than Snedden's daughter +Gertrude, whom MacLeod had already mentioned--a dashing young +lady, never intended by nature to vegetate in the rural seclusion +that her father had sought before the advent of the powder-works. +Mrs. Snedden was one of those capable women who can manage a man +without his knowing it. Indeed, one felt that Snedden, who was +somewhat of both student and dreamer, needed a manager. + +"I'm glad your train was on time," bustled Mrs. Snedden. "Luncheon +will be ready in a few moments now." + +We had barely time to look about before Gertrude led us into the +dining-room and introduced us to the other boarders. + +Knowing human nature, Kennedy was careful to be struck with +admiration and amazement at everything we had seen in our brief +whirl through Nitropolis. It was not a difficult or entirely +assumed feeling, either, when one realized that, only a few short +months before, the region had been nothing better than an almost +hopeless wilderness of scrub-pines. + +We did not have to wait long before the subject uppermost in our +minds was brought up--the explosions. + +Among the boarders there were at least two who, from the start, +promised to be interesting as well as important. One was a tall, +slender chap named Garretson, whose connection with the company, I +gathered from the conversation, took him often on important +matters to New York. The other was an older man, Jackson, who +seemed to be connected with the management of the works, a +reticent fellow, more given to listening to others than to talking +himself. + +"Nothing has happened so far to-day, anyhow," remarked Garretson, +tapping the back of his chair with his knuckle, as a token of +respect for that evil spirit who seems to be exorcised by knocking +wood. + +"Oh," exclaimed Gertrude, with a little half-suppressed shudder, +"I do hope those terrible explosions are at last over!" + +"If I had my way," asserted Garretson, savagely, "I'd put this +town under martial law until they WERE over." + +"It may come to that," put in Jackson, quietly. + +"Quite in keeping with the present tendency of the age," agreed +Snedden, in a tone of philosophical disagreement. + +"I don't think it makes much difference how you accomplish the +result, Garfield," chimed in his wife, "as long as you accomplish +it, and it is one that should be accomplished." + +Snedden retreated into the refuge of silence. Though this was only +a bit of the conversation, we soon found out that he was an avowed +pacifist. Garretson, on the other hand, was an ardent militarist, +a good deal of a fire-eater. I wondered whether there might not be +a good deal of the poseur about him, too. + +It needed no second sight to discover that both he and Gertrude +were deeply interested in each other. Garretson was what Broadway +would call "a live one," and, though there is nothing essentially +wrong in that, I fancied that I detected, now and then, an almost +maternal solicitude on the part of her stepmother, who seemed to +be watching both the young man and her husband alternately. Once +Jackson and Mrs. Snedden exchanged glances. There seemed to be +some understanding between them. + +The time to return to the works was approaching, and we all rose. +Somehow, Gertrude and Garretson seemed naturally to gravitate +toward the door together. + +Some distance from the house there was a large barn. Part of it +had been turned into a garage, where Garretson kept a fast car. +Jackson, also, had a roadster. In fact, in this new community, +with its superabundant new wealth, everybody had a car. + +Kennedy and I sauntered out after the rest. As we turned an angle +of the house we came suddenly upon Garretson in his racer, talking +to Gertrude. The crunch of the gravel under our feet warned them +before we saw them, but not before we could catch a glimpse of a +warning finger on the rosy lips of Gertrude. As she saw us she +blushed ever so slightly. + +"You'll be late!" she cried, hastily. "Mr. Jackson has been gone +five minutes." + +"On foot," returned Garretson, nonchalantly. "I'll overtake him in +thirty seconds." Nevertheless, he did not wait longer, but swung +up the road at a pace which was the admiration of all speed-loving +Nitropolitans. + +Craig had ordered our taxicab driver to stop for us after lunch, +and, without exciting suspicion, managed to stow away the larger +part of the contents of our grips in his car. + +Still without openly showing our connection with MacLeod, Kennedy +sought out the manager of the works, and, though scores of +correspondents and reporters from various newspapers had vainly +applied for permission to inspect the plant, somehow we seemed to +receive the freedom of the place and without exciting suspicion. +Craig's first move was to look the plant over. As we approached it +our attention was instantly attracted to the numerous one-story +galvanized-iron buildings that appeared to stretch endlessly in +every direction. They seemed to be of a temporary nature, though +the power-plants, offices, and other necessary buildings were very +substantially built. The framework of the factory-buildings was +nothing but wood, covered by iron sheathing, and even the sides +seemed to be removable. The floors, however, were of concrete. + +"They serve their purpose well," observed Kennedy, as we picked +our way about. "Explosions at powder-mills are frequent, anyhow. +After an explosion there is very little debris to clear away, as +you may imagine. These buildings are easily repaired or replaced, +and they keep a large force of men for these purposes, as well as +materials for any emergency." + +One felt instinctively the hazard of the employment. Everywhere +were signs telling what not and what to do. One that stuck in my +mind was, "It is better to be careful than sorry." Throughout the +plant at frequent intervals were first-aid stations with kits for +all sorts of accidents, including respirators, for workmen were +often overcome by ether or alcohol fumes. Everything was done to +minimize the hazard, yet one could not escape the conviction that +human life and limb were as much a cost of production in this +industry as fuel and raw material. + +Once, in our wanderings about the plant, I recall we ran across +both Garretson and Jackson in one of the offices. They did not see +us, but seemed to be talking very earnestly about something. What +it was we could not guess, but this time it seemed to be Jackson +who was doing most of the talking. Kennedy watched them as they +parted. + +"There's something peculiar under the surface with those people at +the boarding-house," was all he observed. "Come; over there, about +an eighth of a mile, I think I see evidences of the latest of the +explosions. Let's look at it." + +MacLeod had evidently reasoned that, sooner of later, Kennedy +would appear in this part of the grounds, and as we passed one of +the shops he joined us. + +"You mentioned something about rumors of poisonous gases," hinted +Craig, as we walked along. + +"Yes," assented MacLeod; "I don't know what there is in it. I +suppose you know that there is a very poisonous gas, carbon +monoxide, or carbonic oxide, formed in considerable quantity by +the explosion of several of the powders commonly used in shells. +The gas has the curious power of combining with the blood and +refusing to let go, thus keeping out the oxygen necessary for +life. It may be that that is what accounts for what we've seen-- +that it is actual poisoning to death of men not killed by the +immediate explosion." + +We had reached the scene of the previous day's disaster. No effort +had yet been made to clear it up. Kennedy went over it carefully. +What it was he found I do not know, but he had not spent much time +before he turned to me. + +"Walter," he directed, "I wish you would go back to the office +near the gate, where I left that paraphernalia we brought down. +Carry it over--let me see--there's an open space there on that +knoll. I'll join you there." + +Whatever was in the packages was both bulky and heavy, and I was +glad to reach the hillside he had indicated. + +Craig was waiting for me there with MacLeod, and at once opened +the packages. From them he took a thin steel rod, which he set up +in the center of the open space. To it he attached a frame and to +the frame what looked like four reversed megaphones. Attached to +the frame, which was tubular, was an oak box with a little +arrangement of hard rubber and metal which fitted into the ears. +For some time Kennedy's face wore a set, far-away expression, as +if he were studying something. + +"The explosions seem always to occur in the middle of the +afternoon," observed MacLeod, fidgeting apprehensively. + +Kennedy motioned petulantly for silence. Then suddenly he pulled +the tubes out of his ears and gazed about sharply. + +"There's something in the air!" he cried. "I can hear it!" + +MacLeod and I strained our eyes. There was nothing visible. + +"This is an anti-aircraft listening-post, such as the French use," +explained Craig, hurriedly. "Between the horns and the microphone +in the box you can catch the hum of an engine, even when it is +muffled. If there's an aeroplane or a Zeppelin about, this thing +would locate it." + +Still, there was nothing that we could see, though now the sound +was just perceptible to the ear if one strained his attention a +bit. I listened. It was plain in the detector; yet nothing was +visible. What strange power could it be that we could not see or +feel in broad daylight? + +Just then came a low rumbling, and then a terrific roar from the +direction of the plant. We swung about in time to see a huge cloud +of debris lifted literally into the air above the tree-tops and +dropped to earth again. The silence that succeeded the explosion +was eloquent. The phantom destroyer had delivered his blow again. + +"The distillery--where we make the denatured alcohol!" cried +MacLeod, gazing with tense face as from other buildings, we could +see men pouring forth, panic-stricken, and the silence was +punctured by shouts. Kennedy bent over his detector. + +"That same mysterious buzzing," he muttered, "only fainter." + +Together we hastened now toward the distillery, another of those +corrugated-iron buildings. It had been completely demolished. Here +and there lay a dark, still mass. I shuddered. They were men! + +As we ran toward the ruin we crossed a baseball-field which the +company had given the men. I looked back for Kennedy. He had +paused at the wire backstop behind the catcher. Something caught +in the wires interested him. By the time I reached him he had +secured it--a long, slender metal tube, cleverly weighted so as to +fall straight. + +"Not a hundred per cent. of hits, evidently," he muttered. "Still, +one was enough." + +"What is it?" asked MacLeod. + +"An incendiary pastille. On contact, the nose burns away anything +it hits, goes right through corrugated iron. It carries a charge +of thermit ignited by this piece of magnesium ribbon. You know +what thermit will penetrate with its thousands of degrees of heat. +Only the nose of this went through the netting and never touched a +thing. This didn't explode anything, but another one did. +Thousands of gallons of alcohol did the rest." + +Kennedy had picked up his other package as we ran, and was now +busily unwrapping it. I looked about at the crowd that had +collected, and saw that there was nothing we could do to help. +Once I caught sight of Gertrude's face. She was pale, and seemed +eagerly searching for some one. Then, in the crowd, I lost her. I +turned to MacLeod. He was plainly overwhelmed. Kennedy was grimly +silent and at work on something he had jammed into the ground. + +"Stand back!" he cautioned, as he touched a match to the thing. +With a muffled explosion, something whizzed and shrieked up into +the air like a sky-rocket. + +Far above, I could now see a thing open out like a parachute, +while below it trailed something that might have been the stick of +the rocket. Eagerly Kennedy followed the parachute as the wind +wafted it along and it sank slowly to the earth. When, at last, he +recovered it I saw that between the parachute and the stick was +fastened a small, peculiar camera. + +"A Scheimpflug multiple camera," he explained as he seized it +almost ravenously. "Is there a place in town where I can get the +films in this developed quickly?" + +MacLeod, himself excited now, hurried us from the scene of the +explosion to a local drug-store, which combined most of the +functions of a general store, even being able to improvise a dark- +room in which Kennedy could work. + +It was some time after the excitement over the explosion had +quieted down that MacLeod and I, standing impatiently before the +drug-store, saw Snedden wildly tearing down the street in his car. +He saw us and pulled up at the curb with a jerk. + +"Where's Gertrude?" he shouted, wildly. "Has any one seen my +daughter?" + +Breathlessly he explained that he had been out, had returned to +find his house deserted, Gertrude gone, his wife gone, even +Jackson's car gone from the barn. He had been to the works. +Neither Garretson nor Jackson had been seen since the excitement +of the explosion, they told him. Garretson's racer was gone, too. +There seemed to have been a sort of family explosion, also. + +Kennedy had heard the loud talking and had left his work to the +druggist to carry on and joined us. There was no concealment now +of our connection with MacLeod, for it was to him that every one +in town came when in trouble. + +In almost no time, so accurately did he keep his fingers on the +fevered pulse of Nitropolis, MacLeod had found out that Gertrude +had been seen driving away from the company's grounds with some +one in Garretson's car, probably Garretson himself. Jackson had +been seen hurrying down the street. Some one else had seen Ida +Snedden in Jackson's car, alone. + +Meanwhile, over the wire, MacLeod had sent out descriptions of the +four people and the two cars, in the hope of intercepting them +before they could be plunged into the obscurity of any near-by +city. Not content with that, MacLeod and Kennedy started out in +the former's car, while I climbed in with Snedden, and we began a +systematic search of the roads out of Nitropolis. + +As we sped along, I could not help feeling, though I said nothing, +that, somehow, the strange disappearances must have something to +do with the mysterious phantom destroyer. I did not tell even +Snedden about the little that Kennedy had discovered, for I had +learned that it was best to let Craig himself tell, at his own +time and in his own way. But the man seemed frantic in his search, +and I could not help the impression that there was something, +perhaps only a suspicion, that he knew which might shed some +light. + +We were coming down the river, or, rather, the bay, after a +fruitless search of unfrequented roads and were approaching the +deserted Old Grove Amusement Park, to which excursions used, years +ago, to come in boats. No one could make it pay, and it was closed +and going to ruin. There had been some hint that Garretson's racer +might have disappeared down this unfrequented river road. + +As we came to a turn in the road, we could see Kennedy and MacLeod +in their car, coming up. Instead of keeping on, however, they +turned into the grove, Kennedy leaning far over the running-board +as MacLeod drove slowly, following his directions, as though Craig +were tracing something. + +With a hurried exclamation of surprise, Snedden gave our car the +gas and shot ahead, swinging around after them. They were headed, +following some kind of tire-tracks, toward an old merry-go-round +that was dismantled and all boarded up. They heard us coming and +stopped. + +"Has any one told you that Garretson's car went down the river +road, too?" called Snedden, anxiously. + +"No; but some one thought he saw Jackson's car come down here," +called back MacLeod. + +"Jackson's?" exclaimed Snedden. + +"Maybe both are right," I ventured, as we came closer. "What made +you turn in here?'" + +"Kennedy thought he saw fresh tire-tracks running into the grove." + +We were all out of our cars by this time, and examining the soft +roadway with Craig. It was evident to any one that a car had been +run in, and not so very long ago, in the direction of the merry- +go-round. + +We followed the tracks on foot, bending about the huge circle of a +building until we came to the side away from the road. The tracks +seemed to run right in under the boards. + +Kennedy approached and touched the boards. They were loose. Some +one had evidently been there, had taken them down, and put them +up. In fact, by the marks on them, it seemed as though he had made +a practice of doing so. + +MacLeod and Kennedy unhooked the boarding, while Snedden looked on +in a sort of daze. They had taken down only two or three sections, +which indicated that that whole side might similarly be removed, +when I heard a low, startled exclamation from Snedden. + +We peered in. There, in the half-light of the gloomy interior, we +could see a car. Before we knew it Snedden had darted past us. An +instant later I distinguished what his more sensitive eye had +seen--a woman, all alone in the car, motionless. + +"Ida!" he cried. + +There was no answer. + +"She--she's dead!" he shouted. + +It was only too true. There was Ida Snedden, seated in Jackson's +car in the old deserted building, all shut up--dead. + +Yet her face was as pink as if she were alive and the blood had +been whipped into her cheeks by a walk in the cold wind. + +We looked at one another, at a loss. How did she get there--and +why? She must have come there voluntarily. No one had seen any one +else with her in the car. + +Snedden was now almost beside himself. + +"Misfortunes never come singly," he wailed. "My daughter Gertrude +gone--now my wife dead. Confound that young fellow Garretson--and +Jackson, too! Where are they? Why have they fled? The scoundrels-- +they have stolen my whole family. Oh, what shall I do? what shall +I do?" + +Trying to quiet Snedden, at the same time we began to look about +the building. On one side was a small stove, in which were still +the dying coals of a fire. Near by were a work-bench, some tools, +pieces of wire, and other material. Scattered about were pieces of +material that looked like celluloid. Some one evidently used the +place as a secret workshop. Kennedy picked up a piece of the +celluloid-like stuff and carefully touched a match to it. It did +not burn rapidly as celluloid does, and Craig seemed more than +ever interested. MacLeod himself was no mean detective. Accustomed +to action, he had an idea of what to do. + +"Wait here!" he called back, dashing out. "I'm going to the +nearest house up the road for help. I'll be back in a moment." + +We heard him back and turn his car and shoot away. Meanwhile, +Kennedy was looking over carefully Jackson's roadster. He tapped +the gas-tank in the rear, then opened it. There was not a drop of +gas in it. He lifted up the hood and looked inside at the motor. +Whatever he saw there, he said nothing. Finally, by siphoning some +gas from Snedden's tank and making some adjustments, he seemed to +have the car in a condition again for it to run. He was just about +to start it when MacLeod returned, carrying a canary-bird in a +cage. + +"I've telephoned to town," he announced. "Some one will be here +soon now. Meanwhile, an idea occurred to me, and I borrowed this +bird. Let me see whether the idea is any good." + +Kennedy, by this time, had started the engine. MacLeod placed the +bright little songster near the stove on the work-bench and began +to watch it narrowly. + +More than ever up in the air over the mystery, I could only watch +Kennedy and MacLeod, each following his own lines. + +It might, perhaps, have been ten minutes after MacLeod returned, +and during that time he had never taken his eyes off the bird, +when I began to feel a little drowsy. A word from MacLeod roused +me. + +"There's carbon monoxide in the air, Kennedy!" he exclaimed. "You +know how this gas affects birds." + +Kennedy looked over intently. The canary had begun to show evident +signs of distress over something. + +"It must be that this stove is defective," pursued MacLeod, +picking up the poor little bird and carrying it quickly into the +fresh air, where it could regain its former liveliness. Then, when +he returned, he added, "There must be some defect in the stove or +the draught that makes it send out the poisonous gas." + +"There's some gas," agreed Kennedy. "It must have cleared away +mostly, though, or we couldn't stand it ourselves." + +Craig continued to look about the car and the building, in the +vain hope of discovering some other clue. Had Mrs. Snedden been +killed by the carbonic oxide? Was it a case of gas poisoning? +Then, too, why had she been here at all? Who had shut her up? Had +she been overcome first and, in a stupor, been unable to move to +save herself? Above all, what had this to do with the mysterious +phantom slayer that had wrecked so much of the works in less than +a week? + +It was quite late in the afternoon when, at last, people came from +the town and took away both the body of Mrs. Snedden and Jackson's +car. Snedden could only stare and work his fingers, and after we +had seen him safely in the care of some one we could trust +Kennedy, MacLeod, and I climbed into MacLeod's car silently. + +"It's too deep for me," acknowledged MacLeod. "What shall we do +next?" + +"Surely that fellow must have my pictures developed by this time," +considered Kennedy. "Shoot back there." + +"They came out beautifully--all except one," reported the +druggist, who was somewhat of a camera fiend himself. "That's a +wonderful system, sir." + +Kennedy thanked him for his trouble and took the prints. With care +he pieced them together, until he had several successive panoramas +of the country taken from various elevations of the parachute. +Then, with a magnifying-glass, he went over each section minutely. + +"Look at that!" he pointed out at last with the sharp tip of a +pencil on one picture. + +In what looked like an open space among some trees was a tiny +figure of a man. It seemed as if he were hacking at something with +an ax. What the something was did not appear in the picture. + +"I should say that it was half a mile, perhaps a mile, farther +away than that grove," commented Kennedy, making a rough +calculation. + +"On the old Davis farm," considered MacLeod. "Look and see if you +can't make out the ruins of a house somewhere near-by. It was +burned many years ago." + +"Yes, yes," returned Kennedy, excitedly; "there's the place! Do +you think we can get there in a car before it's dark?" + +"Easily," replied MacLeod. + +It was only a matter of minutes before we three were poking about +in a tangle of wood and field, seeking to locate the spot where +Kennedy's apparatus had photographed the lone axman. + +At last, in a large, cleared field, we came upon a most peculiar +heap of debris. As nearly as I could make out, it was a pile of +junk, but most interesting junk. Practically all of it consisted +in broken bits of the celluloid-like stuff we had seen in the +abandoned building. Twisted inextricably about were steel wires +and bits of all sorts of material. In the midst of the wreckage +was something that looked for all the world like the remains of a +gas-motor. It was not rusted, either, which indicated that it had +been put there recently. + +As he looked at it, Craig's face displayed a smile of +satisfaction. + +"Looks as though it might have been an aeroplane of the tractor +type," he vouchsafed, finally. + +"Surely there couldn't have been an accident," objected MacLeod. +"No aviator could have lived through it, and there's no body." + +"No; it was purposely destroyed," continued Craig. "It was landed +here from somewhere else for that purpose. That was what the man +in the picture was doing with the ax. After the last explosion +something happened. He brought the machine here to destroy the +evidence." + +"But," persisted MacLeod, "if there had been an aeroplane hovering +about we should have seen it in the air, passing over the works at +the time of the explosion." + +Kennedy picked the pieces, significantly. + +"Some one about here has kept abreast of the times, if not ahead. +See; the planes were of this non-inflammable celluloid that made +it virtually transparent and visible only at a few hundred feet in +the air. The aviator could fly low and so drop those pastilles +accurately--and unseen. The engine had one of those new muffler- +boxes. He would have been unheard, too, except for that delicate +air-ship detector." + +MacLeod and I could but stare at each other, aghast. Without a +doubt it was in the old merry-go-round building that the phantom +aviator had established his hangar. What the connection was +between the tragedy in the Snedden family and the tragedy in the +powder-works we did not know, but, at least, now we knew that +there was some connection. + +It was growing dark rapidly, and, with some difficulty, we +retraced our steps to the point where we had left the car. We +whirled back to the town, and, of course, to the Snedden house. + +Snedden was sitting in the parlor when we arrived, by the body of +his wife, staring, speechless, straight before him, while several +neighbors were gathered about, trying to console him. We had +scarcely entered when a messenger-boy came up the path from the +gate. Both Kennedy and MacLeod turned toward him, expecting some +reply to the numerous messages of alarm sent out earlier in the +afternoon. + +"Telegram for Mrs. Snedden," announced the boy. + +"MRS. Snedden?" queried Kennedy, surprised, then quickly: "Oh yes, +that's all right. I'll take care of it." + +He signed for the message, tore it open, and read it. For a moment +his face, which had been clouded, smoothed out, and he took a +couple of turns up and down the hall, as though undecided. Finally +he crumpled the telegram abstractedly and shoved it into his +pocket. We followed him as he went into the parlor and stood for +several moments, looking fixedly on the strangely flushed face of +Mrs. Snedden. "MacLeod," he said, finally, turning gravely toward +us, and, for the present, seeming to ignore the presence of the +others, "this amazing series of crimes has brought home to me +forcibly the alarming possibilities of applying modern scientific +devices to criminal uses. New modes and processes seem to bring +new menaces." + +"Like carbon-monoxide poisoning?" suggested MacLeod. "Of course it +has long been known as a harmful gas, but--" + +"Let us see," interrupted Kennedy. "Walter, you were there when I +examined Jackson's car. There was not a drop of gasolene in the +tank, you will recall. Even the water in the radiator was low. I +lifted the hood. Some one must have tampered with the carburetor. +It was adjusted so that the amount of air in the mixture was +reduced. More than that, I don't know whether you noticed it or +not, but the spark and gas were set so that, when I did put +gasolene in the tank, I had but to turn the engine over and it +went. In other words, that car had been standing there, the engine +running, until it simply stopped for want of fuel." He paused +while we listened intently, then resumed. "The gas-engine and gas- +motor have brought with them another of those unanticipated +menaces of which I spoke. Whenever the explosion of the +combustible mixture is incomplete or of moderated intensity a gas +of which little is known may be formed in considerable quantities. + +"In this case, as in several others that have come to my +attention, vapors arising from the combustion must have emitted +certain noxious products. The fumes that caused Ida Snedden's +death were not of carbon monoxide from the stove, MacLeod. They +were splitting-products of gasolene, which are so new to science +that they have not yet been named. + +"Mrs. Snedden's death, I may say for the benefit of the coroner, +was due to the absorption of some of these unidentified gaseous +poisons. They are as deadly as a knife-thrust through the heart, +under certain conditions. Due to the non-oxidation of some of the +elements of gasolene, they escape from the exhaust of every +running gas-engine. In the open air, where only a whiff or two +would be inhale now and then, they are not dangerous. But in a +closed room they may kill in an incredibly short time. In fact, +the condition has given rise to an entirely new phenomenon which +some one has named 'petromortis.'" + +"Petromortis?" repeated Snedden, who, for the first time, began to +show interest in what was going on about him. "Then it was an +accident?" + +"I did not say it was an accident," corrected Craig. "There is an +old adage that murder will out. And this expression of human +experience is only repeated in what we modern scientific +detectives are doing. No man bent on the commission of a crime can +so arrange the circumstances of that crime that it will afterward +appear, point by point, as an accident." + +Kennedy had us all following him breathlessly now. + +"I do not consider it an accident," he went on, rapidly piecing +together the facts as we had found them. "Ida Snedden was killed +because she was getting too close to some one's secret. Even at +luncheon, I could see that she had discovered Gertrude's +attachment for Garretson. How she heard that, following the +excitement of the explosion this afternoon, Gertrude and Garretson +had disappeared, I do not pretend to know. But it is evident that +she did hear, that she went out and took Jackson's car, probably +to pursue them. If we have heard that they went by the river road, +she might have heard it, too. + +"In all probability she came along just in time to surprise some +one working on the other side of the old merry-go-round structure. +There can be no reason to conceal the fact longer. From that +deserted building some one was daily launching a newly designed +invisible aeroplane. As Mrs. Snedden came along, she must have +been just in time to see that person at his secret hangar. What +happened I do not know, except that she must have run the car off +the river road and into the building. The person whom she found +must have suddenly conceived a method of getting her out of the +way and making it look like an accident of some kind, perhaps +persuaded her to stay in the car with the engine running, while he +went off and destroyed the aeroplane which was damning evidence +now." + +Startling as was the revelation of an actual phantom destroyer, +our minds were more aroused as to who might be the criminal who +had employed such an engine of death. + +Kennedy drew from his pocket the telegram which had just arrived, +and spread it out flat before us on a table. It was dated +Philadelphia, and read: + +MRS. IDA SNEDDEN, Nitropolis: + +Garretson and Gertrude were married to-day. Have traced them to +the Wolcott. Try to reconcile Mr. Snedden. + +HUNTER JACKSON. + +I saw at once that part of the story. It was just a plain love- +affair that had ended in an elopement at a convenient time. The +fire-eating Garretson had been afraid of the Sneddens and Jackson, +who was their friend. Before I could even think further, Kennedy +had drawn out the films taken by the rocket-camera. + +"With the aid of a magnifying-glass," he was saying, "I can get +just enough of the lone figure in this picture to identify it. +These are the crimes of a crazed pacifist, one whose mind had so +long dwelt on the horrors of--" + +"Look out!" shouted MacLeod, leaping in front of Kennedy. + +The strain of the revelation had been too much. Snedden--a raving +maniac--had reeled forward, wildly and impotently, at the man who +had exposed him. + + + + +VI + +THE BEAUTY MASK + + +"Oh, Mr. Jameson, if they could only wake her up--find out what is +the matter--do something! This suspense is killing both mother and +myself." + +Scenting a good feature story, my city editor had sent me out on +an assignment, my sole equipment being a clipping of two +paragraphs from the morning Star. + +GIRL IN COMA SIX DAYS--SHOWS NO SIGN OF REVIVAL + +Virginia Blakeley, the nineteen-year-old daughter of Mrs. Stuart +Blakeley, of Riverside Drive, who has been in a state of coma for +six days, still shows no sign of returning consciousness. + +Ever since Monday some member of her family has been constantly +beside her. Her mother and sister have both vainly tried to coax +her back to consciousness, but their efforts have not met with the +slightest response. Dr. Calvert Haynes, the family physician, and +several specialists who have been called in consultation, are +completely baffled by the strange malady. + +Often I had read of cases of morbid sleep lasting for days and +even for weeks. But this was the first case I had ever actually +encountered and I was glad to take the assignment. + +The Blakeleys, as every one knew, had inherited from Stuart +Blakeley a very considerable fortune in real estate in one of the +most rapidly developing sections of upper New York, and on the +death of their mother the two girls, Virginia and Cynthia, would +be numbered among the wealthiest heiresses of the city. + +They lived in a big sandstone mansion fronting the Hudson and it +was with some misgiving that I sent up my card. Both Mrs. Blakeley +and her other daughter, however, met me in the reception-room, +thinking, perhaps, from what I had written on the card, that I +might have some assistance to offer. + +Mrs. Blakeley was a well-preserved lady, past middle-age, and very +nervous. + +"Mercy, Cynthia!" she exclaimed, as I explained my mission, "it's +another one of those reporters. No, I cannot say anything--not a +word. I don't know anything. See Doctor Haynes. I--" + +"But, mother," interposed Cynthia, more calmly, "the thing is in +the papers. It may be that some one who reads of it may know of +something that can be done. Who can tell?" + +"Well, I won't say anything," persisted the elder woman. "I don't +like all this publicity. Did the newspapers ever do anything but +harm to your poor dear father? No, I won't talk. It won't do us a +bit of good. And you, Cynthia, had better be careful." + +Mrs. Blakeley backed out of the door, but Cynthia, who was a few +years older than her sister, had evidently acquired independence. +At least she felt capable of coping with an ordinary reporter who +looked no more formidable than myself. + +"It is quite possible that some one who knows about such cases may +learn of this," I urged. + +She hesitated as her mother disappeared, and looked at me a +moment, then, her feelings getting the better of her, burst forth +with the strange appeal I have already quoted. + +It was as though I had come at just an opportune moment when she +must talk to some outsider to relieve her pent-up feelings. + +By an adroit question here and there, as we stood in the +reception-hall, I succeeded in getting the story, which seemed to +be more of human interest than of news. I even managed to secure a +photograph of Virginia as she was before the strange sleep fell on +her. + +Briefly, as her sister told it, Virginia was engaged to Hampton +Haynes, a young medical student at the college where his father +was a professor of diseases of the heart. The Hayneses were of a +fine Southern family which had never recovered from the war and +had finally come to New York. The father, Dr. Calvert Haynes, in +addition to being a well-known physician, was the family physician +of the Blakeleys, as I already knew. "Twice the date of the +marriage has been set, only to be postponed," added Cynthia +Blakeley. "We don't know what to do. And Hampton is frantic." + +"Then this is really the second attack of the morbid sleep?" I +queried. + +"Yes--in a few weeks. Only the other wasn't so long--not more than +a day." + +She said it in a hesitating manner which I could not account for. +Either she thought there might be something more back of it or she +recalled her mother's aversion to reporters and did not know +whether she was saying too much or not. + +"Do you really fear that there is something wrong?" I asked, +significantly, hastily choosing the former explanation. + +Cynthia Blakeley looked quickly at the door through which her +mother had retreated. + +"I--I don't know," she replied, tremulously. "I don't know why I +am talking to you. I'm so afraid, too, that the newspapers may say +something that isn't true." + +"You would like to get at the truth, if I promise to hold the +story back?" I persisted, catching her eye. + +"Yes," she answered, in a low tone, "but--" then stopped. + +"I will ask my friend, Professor Kennedy, at the university, to +come here," I urged. + +"You know him?" she asked, eagerly. "He will come?" + +"Without a doubt," I reassured, waiting for her to say no more, +but picking up the telephone receiver on a stand in the hall. + +Fortunately I found Craig at his laboratory and a few hasty words +were all that was necessary to catch his interest. + +"I must tell mother," Cynthia cried, excitedly, as I hung up the +receiver. "Surely she cannot object to that. Will you wait here?" + +As I waited for Craig, I tried to puzzle the case out for myself. +Though I knew nothing about it as yet, I felt sure that I had not +made a mistake and that there was some mystery here. + +Suddenly I became aware that the two women were talking in the +next room, though too low for me to catch what they were saying. +It was evident, however, that Cynthia was having some difficulty +in persuading her mother that everything was all right. + +"Well, Cynthia," I heard her mother say, finally, as she left the +room for one farther back, "I hope it will be all right--that is +all I can say." + +What was it that Mrs. Blakeley so feared? Was it merely the +unpleasant notoriety? One could not help the feeling that there +was something more that she suspected, perhaps knew, but would not +tell. Yet, apparently, it was aside from her desire to have her +daughter restored to normal. She was at sea, herself, I felt. + +"Poor dear mother!" murmured Cynthia, rejoining me in a few +moments. "She hardly knows just what it is she does want-except +that we want Virginia well again." + +We had not long to wait for Craig. What I had told him over the +telephone had been quite enough to arouse his curiosity. + +Both Mrs. Blakeley and Cynthia met him, at first a little +fearfully, but quickly reassured by his manner, as well as my +promise to see that nothing appeared in the Star which would be +distasteful. + +"Oh, if some one could only bring back our little girl!" cried +Mrs. Blakeley, with suppressed emotion, leading the way with her +daughter up-stairs. + +It was only for a moment that I could see Craig alone to explain +the impressions I had received, but it was enough. + +"I'm glad you called me," he whispered. "There is something +queer." + +We followed them up to the dainty bedroom in flowered enamel where +Virginia Blakeley lay, and it was then for the first time that we +saw her. Kennedy drew a chair up beside the little white bed and +went to work almost as though he had been a physician himself. + +Partly from what I observed myself and partly from what he told me +afterward, I shall try to describe the peculiar condition in which +she was. + +She lay there lethargic, scarcely breathing. Once she had been a +tall, slender, fair girl, with a sort of wild grace. Now she +seemed to be completely altered. I could not help thinking of the +contrast between her looks now and the photograph in my pocket. + +Not only was her respiration slow, but her pulse was almost +imperceptible, less than forty a minute. Her temperature was far +below normal, and her blood pressure low. Once she had seemed +fully a woman, with all the strength and promise of precocious +maturity. But now there was something strange about her looks. It +is difficult to describe. It was not that she was no longer a +young woman, but there seemed to be something almost sexless about +her. It was as though her secondary sex characteristics were no +longer feminine, but--for want of a better word--neuter. + +Yet, strange to say, in spite of the lethargy which necessitated +at least some artificial feeding, she was not falling away. She +seemed, if anything, plump. To all appearances there was really a +retardation of metabolism connected with the trance-like sleep. +She was actually gaining in weight! + +As he noted one of these things after another, Kennedy looked at +her long and carefully. I followed the direction of his eyes. Over +her nose, just a trifle above the line of her eyebrows, was a +peculiar red mark, a sore, which was very disfiguring, as though +it were hard to heal. + +"What is that?" he asked Mrs. Blakeley, finally. + +"I don't know," she replied, slowly. "We've all noticed it. It +came just after the sleep began." + +"You have no idea what could have caused it?" + +"Both Virginia and Cynthia have been going to a face specialist," +she admitted, "to have their skins treated for freckles. After the +treatment they wore masks which were supposed to have some effect +on the skin. I don't know. Could it be that?" + +Kennedy looked sharply at Cynthia's face. There was no red mark +over her nose. But there were certainly no freckles on either of +the girls' faces now, either. + +"Oh, mother," remonstrated Cynthia, "it couldn't be anything +Doctor Chapelle did." + +"Doctor Chapelle?" repeated Kennedy. + +"Yes, Dr. Carl Chapelle," replied Mrs. Blakeley. "Perhaps you have +heard of him. He is quite well known, has a beauty-parlor on Fifth +Avenue. He--" + +"It's ridiculous," cut in Cynthia, sharply. "Why, my face was +worse than Virgie's. Car--He said it would take longer." + +I had been watching Cynthia, but it needed only to have heard her +to see that Doctor Chapelle was something more than a beauty +specialist to her. + +Kennedy glanced thoughtfully from the clear skin of Cynthia to the +red mark on Virginia. Though he said nothing, I could see that his +mind was on it. I had heard of the beauty doctors who promise to +give one a skin as soft and clear as a baby's--and often, by their +inexpert use of lotions and chemicals, succeed in ruining the skin +and disfiguring the patient for life. Could this be a case of that +sort? Yet how explain the apparent success with Cynthia? + +The elder sister, however, was plainly vexed at the mention of the +beauty doctor's name at all, and she showed it. Kennedy made a +mental note of the matter, but refrained from saying any more +about it. + +"I suppose there is no objection to my seeing Doctor Haynes?" +asked Kennedy, rising and changing the subject. + +"None whatever," returned Mrs. Blakeley. "If there's anything you +or he can do to bring Virginia out of this--anything safe--I want +it done," she emphasized. + +Cynthia was silent as we left. Evidently she had not expected +Doctor Chapelle's name to be brought into the case. + +We were lucky in finding Doctor Haynes at home, although it was +not the regular time for his office hours. Kennedy introduced +himself as a friend of the Blakeleys who had been asked to see +that I made no blunders in writing the story for the Star. Doctor +Haynes did not question the explanation. + +He was a man well on toward the sixties, with that magnetic +quality that inspires the confidence so necessary for a doctor. +Far from wealthy, he had attained a high place in the profession. + +As Kennedy finished his version of our mission, Doctor Haynes +shook his head with a deep sigh. + +"You can understand how I feel toward the Blakeleys," he remarked, +at length. "I should consider it unethical to give an interview +under any circumstances--much more so under the present." + +"Still," I put in, taking Kennedy's cue, "just a word to set me +straight can't do any harm. I won't quote you directly." + +He seemed to realize that it might be better to talk carefully +than to leave all to my imagination. + +"Well," he began, slowly, "I have considered all the usual causes +assigned for such morbid sleep. It is not auto-suggestion or +trance, I am positive. Nor is there any trace of epilepsy. I +cannot see how it could be due to poisoning, can you?" + +I admitted readily that I could not. + +"No," he resumed, "it is just a case of what we call narcolepsy-- +pathological somnolence--a sudden, uncontrollable inclination to +sleep, occurring sometimes repeatedly or at varying intervals. I +don't think it hysterical, epileptic, or toxemic. The plain fact +of the matter, gentlemen, is that neither myself nor any of my +colleagues whom I have consulted have the faintest idea what it +is--yet." + +The door of the office opened, for it was not the hour for +consulting patients, and a tall, athletic young fellow, with a +keen and restless face, though very boyish, entered. + +"My son," the doctor introduced, "soon to be the sixth Doctor +Haynes in direct line in the family." + +We shook hands. It was evident that Cynthia had not by any means +exaggerated when she said that he was frantic over what had +happened to his fiancee. + +Accordingly, there was no difficulty in reverting to the subject +of our visit. Gradually I let Kennedy take the lead in the +conversation so that our position might not seem to be false. + +It was not long before Craig managed to inject a remark about the +red spot over Virginia's nose. It seemed to excite young Hampton. + +"Naturally I look on it more as a doctor than a lover," remarked +his father, smiling indulgently at the young man, whom it was +evident he regarded above everything else in the world. "I have +not been able to account for it, either. Really the case is one of +the most remarkable I have ever heard of." + +"You have heard of a Dr. Carl Chapelle?" inquired Craig, +tentatively. + +"A beauty doctor," interrupted the young man, turning toward his +father. "You've met him. He's the fellow I think is really engaged +to Cynthia." + +Hampton seemed much excited. There was unconcealed animosity in +the manner of his remark, and I wondered why it was. Could there +be some latent jealousy? + +"I see," calmed Doctor Haynes. "You mean to infer that this--er-- +this Doctor Chapelle--" He paused, waiting for Kennedy to take the +initiative. + +"I suppose you've noticed over Miss Blakeley's nose a red sore?" +hazarded Kennedy. + +"Yes," replied Doctor Haynes, "rather refractory, too. I--" + +"Say," interrupted Hampton, who by this time had reached a high +pitch of excitement, "say, do you think it could be any of his +confounded nostrums back of this thing?" + +"Careful, Hampton," cautioned the elder man. + +"I'd like to see him," pursued Craig to the younger. "You know +him?" + +"Know him? I should say I do. Good-looking, good practice, and all +that, but--why, he must have hypnotized that girl! Cynthia thinks +he's wonderful." + +"I'd like to see him," suggested Craig. + +"Very well," agreed Hampton, taking him at his word. "Much as I +dislike the fellow, I have no objection to going down to his +beauty-parlor with you." + +"Thank you," returned Craig, as we excused ourselves and left the +elder Doctor Haynes. + +Several times on our journey down Hampton could not resist some +reference to Chapelle for commercializing the profession, remarks +which sounded strangely old on his lips. + +Chapelle's office, we found, was in a large building on Fifth +Avenue in the new shopping district, where hundreds of thousands +of women passed almost daily. He called the place a Dermatological +Institute, but, as Hampton put it, he practised "decorative +surgery." + +As we entered one door, we saw that patients left by another. +Evidently, as Craig whispered, when sixty sought to look like +sixteen the seekers did not like to come in contact with one +another. + +We waited some time in a little private room. At last Doctor +Chapelle himself appeared, a rather handsome man with the manner +that one instinctively feels appeals to the ladies. + +He shook hands with young Haynes, and I could detect no hostility +on Chapelle's part, but rather a friendly interest in a younger +member of the medical profession. + +Again I was thrown forward as a buffer. I was their excuse for +being there. However, a newspaper experience gives you one thing, +if no other--assurance. + +"I believe you have a patient, a Miss Virginia Blakeley?" I +ventured. + +"Miss Blakeley? Oh yes, and her sister, also." + +The mention of the names was enough. I was no longer needed as a +buffer. + +"Chapelle," blurted out Hampton, "you must have done something to +her when you treated her face. There's a little red spot over her +nose that hasn't healed yet." + +Kennedy frowned at the impetuous interruption. Yet it was perhaps +the best thing that could have happened. + +"So," returned Chapelle, drawing back and placing his head on one +side as he nodded it with each word, "you think I've spoiled her +looks? Aren't the freckles gone?" + +"Yes," retorted Hampton, bitterly, "but on her face is this new +disfigurement." + +"That?" shrugged Chapelle. "I know nothing of that--nor of the +trance. I have only my specialty." + +Calm though he appeared outwardly, one could see that Chapelle was +plainly worried. Under the circumstances, might not his +professional reputation be at stake? What if a hint like this got +abroad among his rich clientele? + +I looked about his shop and wondered just how much of a faker he +was. Once or twice I had heard of surgeons who had gone +legitimately into this sort of thing. But the common story was +that of the swindler--or worse. I had heard of scores of cases of +good looks permanently ruined, seldom of any benefit. Had Chapelle +ignorantly done something that would leave its scar forever? Or +was he one of the few who were honest and careful? + +Whatever the case, Kennedy had accomplished his purpose. He had +seen Chapelle. If he were really guilty of anything the chances +were all in favor of his betraying it by trying to cover it up. +Deftly suppressing Hampton, we managed to beat a retreat without +showing our hands any further. + +"Humph!" snorted Hampton, as we rode down in the elevator and +hopped on a 'bus to go up-town. "Gave up legitimate medicine and +took up this beauty doctoring--it's unprofessional, I tell you. +Why, he even advertises!" + +We left Hampton and returned to the laboratory, though Craig had +no present intention of staying there. His visit was merely for +the purpose of gathering some apparatus, which included a Crookes +tube, carefully packed, a rheostat, and some other paraphernalia +which we divided. A few moments later we were on our way again to +the Blakeley mansion. + +No change had taken place in the condition of the patient, and +Mrs. Blakeley met us anxiously. Nor was the anxiety wholly over +her daughter's condition, for there seemed to be an air of relief +when Kennedy told her that we had little to report. + +Up-stairs in the sick-room, Craig set silently to work, attaching +his apparatus to an electric-light socket from which he had +unscrewed the bulb. As he proceeded I saw that it was, as I had +surmised, his new X-ray photographing machine which he had +brought. Carefully, from several angles, he took photographs of +Virginia's head, then, without saying a word, packed up his kit +and started away. + +We were passing down the hall, after leaving Mrs. Blakeley, when a +figure stepped out from behind a portiere. It was Cynthia, who had +been waiting to see us alone. + +"You--don't think Doctor Chapelle had anything to do with it?" she +asked, in a hoarse whisper. + +"Then Hampton Haynes has been here?" avoided Kennedy. + +"Yes," she admitted, as though the question had been quite +logical. "He told me of your visit to Carl." + +There was no concealment, now, of her anxiety. Indeed, I saw no +reason why there should be. It was quite natural that the girl +should worry over her lover, if she thought there was even a haze +of suspicion in Kennedy's mind. + +"Really I have found out nothing yet," was the only answer Craig +gave, from which I readily deduced that he was well satisfied to +play the game by pitting each against all, in the hope of +gathering here and there a bit of the truth. "As soon as I find +out anything I shall let you and your mother know. And you must +tell me everything, too." + +He paused to emphasize the last words, then slowly turned again +toward the door. From the corner of my eye I saw Cynthia take a +step after him, pause, then take another. + +"Oh, Professor Kennedy," she called. + +Craig turned. + +"There's something I forgot," she continued. "There's something +wrong with mother!" She paused, then resumed: "Even before +Virginia was taken down with this--illness I saw a change. She is +worried. Oh, Professor Kennedy, what is it? We have all been so +happy. And now--Virgie, mother--all I have in the world. What +shall I do?" + +"Just what do you mean?" asked Kennedy, gently. + +"I don't know. Mother has been so different lately. And now, every +night, she goes out." + +"Where?" encouraged Kennedy, realizing that his plan was working. + +"I don't know. If she would only come back looking happier." She +was sobbing, convulsively, over she knew not what. + +"Miss Blakeley," said Kennedy, taking her hand between both of +his, "only trust me. If it is in my power I shall bring you all +out of this uncertainty that haunts you." + +She could only murmur her thanks as we left. + +"It is strange," ruminated Kennedy, as we sped across the city +again to the laboratory. "We must watch Mrs. Blakeley." + +That was all that was said. Although I had no inkling of what was +back of it all, I felt quite satisfied at having recognized the +mystery even on stumbling on it as I had. + +In the laboratory, as soon as he could develop the skiagraphs he +had taken, Kennedy began a minute study of them. It was not long +before he looked over at me with the expression I had come to +recognize when he found something important. I went over and +looked at the radiograph which he was studying. To me it was +nothing but successive gradations of shadows. But to one who had +studied roentgenography as Kennedy had each minute gradation of +light and shade had its meaning. + +"You see," pointed out Kennedy, tracing along one of the shadows +with a fine-pointed pencil, and then along a corresponding +position on another standard skiagraph which he already had, +"there is a marked diminution in size of the sella turcica, as it +is called. Yet there is no evidence of a tumor." For several +moments he pondered deeply over the photographs. "And it is +impossible to conceive of any mechanical pressure sufficient to +cause such a change," he added. + +Unable to help him on the problem, whatever it might be, I watched +him pacing up and down the laboratory. + +"I shall have to take that picture over again--under different +circumstances," he remarked, finally, pausing and looking at his +watch. "To-night we must follow this clue which Cynthia has given +us. Call a cab, Walter." + +We took a stand down the block from the Blakeley mansion, near a +large apartment, where the presence of a cab would not attract +attention. If there is any job I despise it is shadowing. One must +keep his eyes riveted on a house, for, once let the attention +relax and it is incredible how quickly any one may get out and +disappear. + +Our vigil was finally rewarded when we saw Mrs. Blakeley emerge +and hurry down the street. To follow her was easy, for she did not +suspect that she was being watched, and went afoot. On she walked, +turning off the Drive and proceeding rapidly toward the region of +cheap tenements. She paused before one, and as our cab cruised +leisurely past we saw her press a button, the last on the right- +hand side, enter the door, and start up the stairs. + +Instantly Kennedy signaled our driver to stop and together we +hopped out and walked back, cautiously entering the vestibule. The +name in the letter-box was "Mrs. Reba Rinehart." What could it +mean? + +Just then another cab stopped up the street, and as we turned to +leave the vestibule Kennedy drew back. It was too late, however, +not to be seen. A man had just alighted and, in turn, had started +back, also realizing that it was too late. It was Chapelle! There +was nothing to do but to make the best of it. + +"Shadowing the shadowers?" queried Kennedy, keenly watching the +play of his features under the arc-light of the street. + +"Miss Cynthia asked me to follow her mother the other night," he +answered, quite frankly. "And I have been doing so ever since." + +It was a glib answer, at any rate, I thought. + +"Then, perhaps you know something of Reba Rinehart, too," bluffed +Kennedy. + +Chapelle eyed us a moment, in doubt how much we knew. Kennedy +played a pair of deuces as if they had been four aces instead. + +"Not much," replied Chapelle, dubiously. "I know that Mrs. +Blakeley has been paying money to the old woman, who seems to be +ill. Once I managed to get in to see her. It's a bad case of +pernicious anemia, I should say. A neighbor told me she had been +to the college hospital, had been one of Doctor Haynes's cases, +but that he had turned her over to his son. I've seen Hampton +Haynes here, too." + +There was an air of sincerity about Chapelle's words. But, then, I +reflected that there had also been a similar ring to what we had +heard Hampton say. Were they playing a game against each other? +Perhaps--but what was the game? What did it all mean and why +should Mrs. Blakeley pay money to an old woman, a charity patient? + +There was no solution. Both Kennedy and Chapelle, by a sort of +tacit consent, dismissed their cabs, and we strolled on over +toward Broadway, watching one another, furtively. We parted +finally, and Craig and I went up to our apartment, where he sat +for hours in a brown study. There was plenty to think about even +so far in the affair. He may have sat up all night. At any rate, +he roused me early in the morning. + +"Come over to the laboratory," he said. "I want to take that X-ray +machine up there again to Blakeley's. Confound it! I hope it's not +too late." + +I lost no time in joining him and we were at the house long before +any reasonable hour for visitors. + +Kennedy asked for Mrs. Blakeley and hurriedly set up the X-ray +apparatus. "I wish you would place that face mask which she was +wearing exactly as it was before she became ill," he asked. + +Her mother did as Kennedy directed, replacing the rubber mask as +Virginia had worn it. + +"I want you to preserve that mask," directed Kennedy, as he +finished taking his pictures. "Say nothing about it to any one. In +fact, I should advise putting it in your family safe for the +present." + +Hastily we drove back to the laboratory and Kennedy set to work +again developing the second set of skiagraphs. I had not long to +wait, this time, for him to study them. His first glance brought +me over to him as he exclaimed loudly. + +At the point just opposite the sore which he had observed on +Virginia's forehead, and overlying the sella turcica, there was a +peculiar spot on the radiograph. + +"Something in that mask has affected the photographic plate," he +explained, his face now animated. + +Before I could ask him what it was he had opened a cabinet where +he kept many new things which he studied in his leisure moments. +From it I saw him take several glass ampules which he glanced at +hastily and shoved into his pocket as we heard a footstep out in +the hall. It was Chapelle, very much worried. Could it be that he +knew his society clientele was at stake, I wondered. Or was it +more than that? + +"She's dead!" he cried. "The old lady died last night!" + +Without a word Kennedy hustled us out of the laboratory, stuffing +the X-ray pictures into his pocket, also, as we went. + +As we hurried down-town Chapelle told us how he had tried to keep +a watch by bribing one of the neighbors, who had just informed him +of the tragedy. + +"It was her heart," said one of the neighbors, as we entered the +poor apartment. "The doctor said so." + +"Anemia," insisted Chapelle, looking carefully at the body. + +Kennedy bent over, also, and examined the poor, worn frame. As he +did so he caught sight of a heavy linen envelope tucked under her +pillow. He pulled it out gently and opened it. Inside were several +time-worn documents and letters. He glanced over them hastily, +unfolding first a letter. + +"Walter," he whispered, furtively, looking at the neighbors in the +room and making sure that none of them had seen the envelope +already. "Read these. That's her story." + +One glance was sufficient. The first was a letter from old Stuart +Blakeley. Reba Rinehart had been secretly married to him--and +never divorced. One paper after another unfolded her story. + +I thought quickly. Then she had had a right in the Blakeley +millions. More than that, the Blakeleys themselves had none, at +least only what came to them by Blakeley's will. + +I read on, to see what, if any, contest she had intended to make. +And as I read I could picture old Stuart Blakeley to myself-- +strong, direct, unscrupulous, a man who knew what he wanted and +got it, dominant, close-mouthed, mysterious. He had understood and +estimated the future of New York. On that he had founded his +fortune. + +According to the old lady's story, the marriage was a complete +secret. She had demanded marriage when he had demanded her. He had +pointed out the difficulties. The original property had come to +him and would remain in his hands only on condition that he +married one of his own faith. She was not of the faith and +declined to become so. There had been other family reasons, also. +They had been married, with the idea of keeping it secret until he +could arrange his affairs so that he could safely acknowledge her. + +It was, according to her story, a ruse. When she demanded +recognition he replied that the marriage was invalid, that the +minister had been unfrocked before the ceremony. She was not in +law his wife and had no claim, he asserted. But he agreed to +compromise, in spite of it all. If she would go West and not +return or intrude, he would make a cash settlement. Disillusioned, +she took the offer and went to California. Somehow, he understood +that she was dead. Years later he married again. + +Meanwhile she had invested her settlement, had prospered, had even +married herself, thinking the first marriage void. Then her second +husband died and evil times came. Blakeley was dead, but she came +East. Since then she had been fighting to establish the validity +of the first marriage and hence her claim to dower rights. It was +a moving story. + +As we finished reading, Kennedy gathered the papers together and +took charge of them. Taking Chapelle, who by this time was in a +high state of excitement over both the death and the discovery, +Kennedy hurried to the Blakeley mansion, stopping only long enough +to telephone to Doctor Haynes and his son. + +Evidently the news had spread. Cynthia Blakeley met us in the +hall, half frightened, yet much relieved. + +"Oh, Professor Kennedy," she cried, "I don't know what it is, but +mother seems so different. What is it all about?" + +As Kennedy said nothing, she turned to Chapelle, whom I was +watching narrowly. "What is it, Carl?" she whispered. + +"I--I can't tell," he whispered back, guardedly. Then, with an +anxious glance at the rest of us, "Is your sister any better?" + +Cynthia's face clouded. Relieved though she was about her mother, +there was still that horror for Virginia. + +"Come," I interrupted, not wishing to let Chapelle get out of my +sight, yet wishing to follow Kennedy, who had dashed up-stairs. + +I found Craig already at the bedside of Virginia. He had broken +one of the ampules and was injecting some of the extract in it +into the sleeping girl's arm. Mrs. Blakeley bent over eagerly as +he did so. Even in her manner she was changed. There was anxiety +for Virginia yet, but one could feel that a great weight seemed to +be lifted from her. + +So engrossed was I in watching Kennedy that I did not hear Doctor +Haynes and Hampton enter. Chapelle heard, however, and turned. + +For a moment he gazed at Hampton. Then with a slight curl of the +lip he said, in a low tone, "Is it strictly ethical to treat a +patient for disease of the heart when she is suffering from +anemia--if you have an interest in the life and death of the +patient?" + +I watched Hampton's face closely. There was indignation in every +line of it. But before he could reply Doctor Haynes stepped +forward. + +"My son was right in the diagnosis," he almost shouted, shaking a +menacing finger at Chapelle. "To come to the point, sir, explain +that mark on Miss Virginia's forehead!" + +"Yes," demanded Hampton, also taking a step toward the beauty +doctor, "explain it--if you dare." + +Cynthia suppressed a little cry of fear. For a moment I thought +that the two young men would forget everything in the heat of +their feelings. + +"Just a second," interposed Kennedy, quickly stepping between +them. "Let me do the talking." There was something commanding +about his tone as he looked from one to the other of us. + +"The trouble with Miss Virginia," he added, deliberately, "seems +to lie in one of what the scientists have lately designated the +'endocrine glands'--in this case the pituitary. My X-ray pictures +show that conclusively. + +"Let me explain for the benefit of the rest. The pituitary is an +oval glandular body composed of two lobes and a connecting area, +which rest in the sella turcica, enveloped by a layer of tissue, +about under this point." He indicated the red spot on her forehead +as he spoke. "It is, as the early French surgeons called it, +l'organe enigmatique. The ancients thought it discharged the +pituita, or mucus, into the nose. Most scientists of the past +century asserted that it was a vestigial relic of prehistoric +usefulness. To-day we know better. + +"One by one the functions of the internal secretions are being +discovered. Our variously acquired bits of information concerning +the ductless glands lie before us like the fragments of a modern +picture puzzle. And so, I may tell you, in connection with recent +experimental studies of the role of the pituitary, Doctor Cushing +and other collaborators at Johns Hopkins have noticed a marked +tendency to pass into a profoundly lethargic state when the +secretion of the pituitary is totally or nearly so removed." + +Kennedy now had every eye riveted on him as he deftly led the +subject straight to the case of the poor girl before us. + +"This," he added, with a wave of his hand toward her, "is much +like what is called the Frohlich syndrome--the lethargy, the +subnormal temperature, slow pulse, and respiration, lowered blood +pressure, and insensitivity, the growth of fat and the loss of sex +characteristics. It has a name--dystrophia adiposogenitalis." + +He nodded to Doctor Haynes, but did not pause. "This case bears a +striking resemblance to the pronounced natural somnolence of +hibernation. And induced hypopituitarism--under activity of the +gland--produces a result just like natural hibernation. +Hibernation has nothing to do with winter, or with food, +primarily; it is connected in some way with this little gland +under the forehead. + +"As the pituitary secretion is lessened, the blocking action of +the fatigue products in the body be-comes greater and morbid +somnolence sets in. There is a high tolerance of carbohydrates +which are promptly stored as fat. I am surprised, Doctor Haynes, +that you did not recognize the symptoms." + +A murmur from Mrs. Blakeley cut short Doctor Haynes's reply. I +thought I noticed a movement of the still face on the white bed. + +"Virgie! Virgie!" called Mrs. Blakeley, dropping on her knee +beside her daughter. + +"I'm here--mother!" + +Virginia's eyes opened ever so slightly. Her face turned just an +inch or two. She seemed to be making a great effort, but it lasted +only a moment. Then she slipped back into the strange condition +that had baffled skilled physicians and surgeons for nearly a +week. + +"The sleep is being dispelled," said Kennedy, quietly placing his +hand on Mrs. Blakeley's shoulder. "It is a sort of semi- +consciousness now and the improvement should soon be great." + +"And that?" I asked, touching the empty ampule from which he had +injected the contents into her. + +"Pituitrin--the extract of the anterior lobe of the pituitary +body. Some one who had an object in removing her temporarily +probably counted on restoring her to her former blooming womanhood +by pituitrin--and by removing the cause of the trouble." + +Kennedy reached into his pocket and drew forth the second X-ray +photograph he had taken. "Mrs. Blakeley, may I trouble you to get +that beauty mask which your daughter wore?" + +Mechanically Mrs. Blakeley obeyed. I expected Chapelle to object, +but not a word broke the death-like stillness. + +"The narcolepsy," continued Kennedy, taking the mask, "was due, I +find, to something that affected the pituitary gland. I have here +a photograph of her taken when she was wearing the mask." He ran +his finger lightly over the part just above the eyes. "Feel that +little lump, Walter," he directed. + +I did so. It was almost imperceptible, but there was something. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"Located in one of the best protected and most inaccessible parts +of the body," Kennedy considered, slowly, "how could the pituitary +be reached? If you will study my skiagraph, you will see how I got +my first clue. There was something over that spot which caused the +refractory sore. What was it? Radium--carefully placed in the mask +with guards of lead foil in such a way as to protect the eyes, but +direct the emission full at the gland which was to be affected, +and the secretions stopped." + +Chapelle gave a gasp. He was pale and agitated. + +"Some of you have already heard of Reba Rinehart," shot out +Kennedy, suddenly changing the subject. + +Mrs. Blakeley could not have been more astounded if a bomb had +dropped before her. Still kneeling before Virginia's bed, she +turned her startled face at Kennedy, clasping her hands in appeal. + +"It was for my girls that I tried to buy her off--for their good +name--their fortune--their future," she cried, imploringly. + +Kennedy bent down, "I know that is all," he reassured, then, +facing us, went on: "Behind that old woman was a secret of +romantic interest. She was contemplating filing suit in the courts +to recover a widow's interest in the land on which now stand the +homes of millionaires, hotel palaces, luxurious apartments, and +popular theaters--millions of dollars' worth of property." + +Cynthia moved over and drew her arms about the convulsed figure of +her mother. + +"Some one else knew of this old marriage of Stuart Blakeley," +proceeded Kennedy, "knew of Reba Rinehart, knew that she might die +at any moment. But until she died none of the Blakeleys could be +entirely sure of their fortune." + +It flashed over me that Chapelle might have conceived the whole +scheme, seeking to gain the entire fortune for Cynthia. + +"Who was interested enough to plot this postponement of the +wedding until the danger to the fortune was finally removed?" I +caught sight of Hampton Haynes, his eyes riveted on the face on +the bed before us. + +Virginia stirred again. This time her eyes opened wider. As if in +a dream she caught sight of the face of her lover and smiled +wanly. + +Could it have been Hampton? It seemed incredible. + +"The old lady is dead," pursued Kennedy, tensely. "Her dower right +died with her. Nothing can be gained by bringing her case back +again--except to trouble the Blakeleys in what is rightfully +theirs." + +Gathering up the beauty mask, the X-ray photographs, and the +papers of Mrs. Rinehart, Kennedy emphasized with them the words as +he whipped them out suddenly. + +"Postponing the marriage, at the possible expense of Chapelle, +until Reba Rinehart was dead, and trusting to a wrong diagnosis +and Hampton's inexperience as the surest way of bringing that +result about quickly, it was your inordinate ambition for your +son, Doctor Haynes, that led you on. I shall hold these proofs +until Virginia Blakeley is restored completely to health and +beauty." + + + + +VII + +THE LOVE METER + + +"Since we brought him home, my brother just tosses and gasps for +air. Oh, I think Eulalie and I shall both go mad!" + +The soft, pleading voice of Anitra Barrios and her big, appealing +brown eyes filled with tears were doubly affecting as, in spite of +her own feelings, she placed her hand on that of a somewhat +younger girl who had accompanied her to the laboratory. + +"We were to have been married next month," sobbed Eulalie +Sandoval. "Can't you come and see Jose, Professor Kennedy? There +must be something you can do. We fear he is dying--yes, dying." + +"Poor little girl!" murmured Anitra, still patting her hand +affectionately, then to us, "You know, Eulalie is the sister of +Manuel Sandoval, who manages the New York business of my brother." +She paused. "Oh, I can't believe it, myself. It's all so strange, +so sudden." + +For the moment her own grief overwhelmed Anitra, and both sister +and sweetheart of Jose Barrios clung to each other. + +"What is the trouble?" soothed Craig. "What has happened? How can +I help you?" + +"Everything was so happy with us," cried Anitra, "until Jose and I +came to New York--and--now--" She broke down again. + +"Please be calm," encouraged Kennedy. "Tell me everything-- +anything." + +With an effort Anitra began again. "It was last night--quite late-- +at his office at the foot of Wall Street--he was there alone," +she strove to connect her broken thoughts. "Some one--I think it +must have been the janitor--called me up at home and said that my +brother was very ill. Eulalie was there with me. We hurried down +to him. When we got there Jose was on the floor by his desk, +unconscious, struggling for breath, just as he is now." "Did you +observe anything peculiar?" queried Kennedy. "Was there anything +that might give you a hint of what had happened?" + +Anitra Barrios considered. "Nothing," she replied, slowly, "except +that the windows were all closed. There was a peculiar odor in the +room. I was so excited over Jose, though, that I couldn't tell you +just what it was like." + +"What did you do?" inquired Craig. + +"What could we do, just two girls, all alone? It was late. The +streets were deserted. You know how they are down-town at night. +We took him home, to the hotel, in a cab, and called the hotel +physician, Doctor Scott." + +Both girls were again weeping silently in each other's arms. If +there was anything that moved Kennedy to action it was distress of +this sort. Without a word he rose from his desk, and I followed +him. Anitra and Eulalie seemed to understand. Though they said +nothing, they looked their gratitude as we four left the +laboratory. + +On the way down to the hotel Anitra continued to pour out her +story in a fragmentary way. Her brother and she, it seemed, had +inherited from their father a large sugar-plantation in Santa +Clara, the middle province of Cuba. + +Jose had not been like many of the planters. He had actually taken +hold of the plantation, after the revolution had wrecked it, and +had re-established it on modern, scientific lines. Now it was one +of the largest independent plantations on the island. + +To increase its efficiency, he had later established a New York +office to look after the sale of the raw sugar and had placed it +in charge of a friend, Manuel Sandoval. A month or so before he +had come to New York with his sister to sell the plantation, to +get the high price that the boom in sugar had made it worth. It +was while he had been negotiating for the sale that he had fallen +in love with Eulalie and they had become engaged. + +Doctor Scott met us in the sitting-room of the suite which Anitra +and her brother occupied, and, as she introduced us, with an +anxious glance in the direction of the door of the sick-room, he +shook his head gravely, though he did his best to seem +encouraging. + +"It's a case of poisoning of some kind, I fear," he whispered +aside to us, at the first opportunity. "But I can't quite make out +just what it is." + +We followed the doctor into the room. Eulalie had preceded us and +had dropped down on her knees by the bed, passing her little white +hand caressingly over the pale and distorted face of Jose. + +He was still unconscious, gasping and fighting for breath, his +features pinched and skin cold and clammy. Kennedy examined the +stricken man carefully, first feeling his pulse. It was barely +perceptible, rapid, thready, and irregular. Now and then there +were muscular tremblings and convulsive movements of the limbs. +Craig moved over to the side of the room away from the two girls, +where Doctor Scott was standing. + +"Sometimes," I heard the doctor venture, "I think it is aconite, +but the symptoms are not quite the same. Besides, I don't see how +it could have been administered. There's no mark on him that might +have come from a hypodermic, no wound, not even a scratch. He +couldn't have swallowed it. Suicide is out of the question. But +his nose and throat are terribly swollen and inflamed. It's beyond +me." + +I tried to recall other cases I had seen. There was one case of +Kennedy's in which several deaths had occurred due to aconite. Was +this another of that sort? I felt unqualified to judge, where +Doctor Scott himself confessed his inability. Kennedy himself said +nothing, and from his face I gathered that even he had no clue as +yet. + +As we left the sick-room, we found that another visitor had +arrived and was standing in the sitting-room. It was Manuel +Sandoval. + +Sandoval was a handsome fellow, tall, straight as an arrow, with +bushy dark hair and a mustache which gave him a distinguished +appearance. Born in Cuba, he had been educated in the United +States, had taken special work in the technology of sugar, knew +the game from cane to centrifugal and the ship to the sugar trust. +He was quite as much a scientist as a business man. + +He and Eulalie talked for a moment in low tones in Cuban Spanish, +but it needed only to watch his eyes to guess where his heart was. +He seemed to fairly devour every move that Anitra made about the +apartment. + +A few minutes later the door opened again and a striking-looking +man entered. He was a bit older than Sandoval, but still young. As +he entered he bowed to Sandoval and Eulalie but greeted Anitra +warmly. + +"Mr. Burton Page," introduced Anitra, turning to us quickly, with +just the trace of a flush on her face. "Mr. Page has been putting +my brother in touch with people in New York who are interested in +Cuban sugar-plantations." A call from Doctor Scott for some help +took both girls into the sick-room for a moment. + +"Is Barrios any better?" asked Page, turning to Sandoval. + +Sandoval shook his head in the negative, but said nothing. One +could not help observing that there seemed to be a sort of +antipathy between the two, and I saw that Craig was observing them +both closely. + +Page was a typical, breezy Westerner, who had first drifted to New +York as a mining promoter. Prom that he had gone into selling +ranches, and, by natural stages, into the promotion of almost +anything in the universe. + +Sugar being at the time uppermost in the mind of the "Street," +Page was naturally to be found crammed with facts about that +staple. One could not help being interested in studying a man of +his type, as long as one kept his grip on his pocket-book. For he +was a veritable pied piper when it came to enticing dollars to +follow him, and in his promotions he had the reputation of having +amassed an impressive pile of dollars himself. + +No important change in the condition of Barrios had taken place, +except that he was a trifle more exhausted, and Doctor Scott +administered a stimulant. Kennedy, who was eager to take up the +investigation of the case on the outside in the hope of +discovering something that might be dignified into being a clue, +excused himself, with a nod to Anitra to follow into the hall. + +"I may look over the office?" Craig ventured when we were alone +with her. + +"Surely," she replied, frankly, opening her handbag which was +lying on a table near the door. "I have an equal right in the +business with my brother. Here are the keys. The office has been +closed to-day." + +Kennedy took the keys, promising to let her know the moment he +discovered anything important, and we hurried directly down-town. + +The office of the Barrios Company was at the foot of Wall Street, +where the business of importing touched on the financial district. +From the window one could see freighters unloading their cargoes +at the docks. In the other direction, capital to the billions was +represented. But in all that interesting neighborhood nothing just +at present could surpass the mystery of what had taken place in +the lonely little office late the night before. + +Kennedy passed the rail that shut the outer office off from a sort +of reception space. He glanced about at the safe, the books, +papers, and letter-files. It would take an accountant and an +investigator days, perhaps weeks, to trace out anything in them, +if indeed it were worth while at all. + +Two glass doors opened at one end to two smaller private offices, +one belonging evidently to Sandoval, the other to Barrios. What +theory Craig formed I could not guess, but as he tiptoed from the +hall door, past the rail, to the door of Jose's office, I could +see that first of all he was trying to discover whether it was +possible to enter the outer office and reach Jose's door unseen +and unheard by any one sitting at the desk inside. Apparently it +was easily possible, and he paused a moment to consider what good +that knowledge might do. + +As he did so his eye rested on the floor. A few feet away stood +one of the modern "sanitary" desks. In this case the legs of the +desk raised the desk high enough from the floor so that one could +at least see where the cleaning-woman had left a small pile of +unsanitary dust near the wall. + +Suddenly Kennedy bent down and poked something out of the pile of +dust. There on the floor was an empty shell of a cartridge. +Kennedy picked it up and looked at it curiously. + +What did it mean? I recalled that Doctor Scott had particularly +said that Barrios had not been wounded. + +Still regarding the cartridge shell, Kennedy sat down at the desk +of Barrios. + +Looking for a piece of paper in which to wrap the shell, he pulled +out the middle drawer of the desk. In a back corner was a package +of letters, neatly tied. We glanced at them. The envelopes bore +the name of Jose Barrios and were in the handwriting of a woman. +Some were postmarked Cuba; others, later, New York. Kennedy opened +one of them. + +I could not restrain an exclamation of astonishment. I had +expected that they were from Eulalie Sandoval. But they were +signed by a name that we had not heard--Teresa de Leon! + +Hastily Kennedy read through the open letter. Its tone seemed to +be that of a threat. One sentence I recall was, "I would follow +you anywhere--I'll make you want me." + +One after another Kennedy ran through them. All were vague and +veiled, as though the writer wished by some circumlocution to +convey an idea that would not be apparent to some third, +inquisitive party. + +What was back of it all? Had Jose been making love to another +woman at the same time that he was engaged to Eulalie Sandoval? As +far as the contents of the letters went there was nothing to show +that he had done anything wrong. The mystery of the "other woman" +only served to deepen the mystery of what little we already knew. + +Craig dropped the letters into his pocket along with the shell, +and walked around into the office of Sandoval. I followed him. +Quickly he made a search, but it did not seem to net him anything. + +Meanwhile I had been regarding a queer-looking instrument that +stood on a flat table against one wall. It seemed to consist of a +standard on each end of which was fastened a disk, besides several +other arrangements the purpose of which I had not the slightest +idea. Between the two ends rested a glass tube of some liquid. At +one end was a lamp; the other was fitted with an eyepiece like a +telescope. Beside the instrument on the table lay some more glass- +capped tubes and strewn about were samples of raw sugar. + +"It is a saccharimeter," explained Kennedy, also looking at it, +"an instrument used to detect the amount of sugar held in +solution, a form of the polariscope. We won't go into the science +of it now. It's rather abstruse." + +He was about to turn back into the outer office when an idea +seemed to occur to him. He took the cartridge from his pocket and +carefully scraped off what he could of the powder that still +adhered to the outer rim. It was just a bit, but he dissolved it +in some liquid from a bottle on the table, filled one of the clean +glass tubes, capped the open end, and placed this tube in the +saccharimeter where the first one I noticed had been. + +Carefully he lighted the lamp, then squinted through the eyepiece +at the tube of liquid containing what he had derived from the +cartridge. He made some adjustments, and as he did so his face +indicated that at last he began to see something dimly. The +saccharimeter had opened the first rift in the haze that +surrounded the case. + +"I think I know what we have here," he said, briefly, rising and +placing the tube and its contents in his pocket with the other +things he had discovered. "Of course it is only a hint. This +instrument won't tell me finally. But it is worth following up." + +With a final glance about to make sure that we had overlooked +nothing, Kennedy closed and locked the outside door. + +"I'm going directly up to the laboratory, Walter," decided +Kennedy. "Meanwhile you can help me very much if you will look up +this Teresa de Leon. I noticed that the New York letters were +written on the stationery of the Pan-America Hotel. Get what you +can. I leave it to you. And if you can find out anything about the +others, so much the better. I'll see you as soon as you finish." + +It was rather a large contract. If the story had reached the +newspaper stage, I should have known how to go about it. For there +is no detective agency in the world like the Star, and even on the +slender basis that we had, with a flock of reporters deployed at +every point in the city, with telephones, wires, and cables busily +engaged, I might have gathered priceless information in a few +hours. But, as it was, whatever was to be got must be got by me +alone. + +I found Teresa de Leon registered at the Pan-America, as Craig had +surmised. Such inquiries as I was able to make about the hotel did +not show a trace of reason for believing that Jose Barrios had +been numbered among her visitors. While that proved nothing as to +the relations of the two, it was at least reassuring as far as +Anitra and Eulalie were concerned, and, after all, as in such +cases, this was their story. + +Not having been able to learn much about the lady, I decided +finally to send up my card, and to my satisfaction she sent back +word that she would receive me in the parlor of the hotel. + +Teresa de Leon proved to be a really striking type of Latin- +American beauty. She was no longer young, but there was an +elusiveness about her personality that made a more fascinating +study than youth. I felt that with such a woman directness might +be more of a surprise than subtlety. + +"I suppose you know that Senor Barrios is very seriously ill?" I +ventured, in answer to her inquiring gaze that played from my card +to my face. + +For a fleeting instant she looked startled. Yet she betrayed +nothing as to whether it was fear or surprise. + +"I have called his office several times," she replied, "but no one +answered. Even Senor Sandoval was not there." + +I felt that she was countering as cleverly as I might lead. "Then +you know Mr. Sandoval also?" I asked, adding, "and Mr. Page?" + +"I have known Senor Barrios a long time in Cuba," she answered, +"and the others, too--here." + +There was something evasive about her answers. She was trying to +say neither too much nor too little. She left one in doubt whether +she was trying to shield herself or to involve another. Though we +chatted several minutes, I could gain nothing that would lead me +to judge how intimately she knew Barrios. Except that she knew +Sandoval and Page, her conversation might have been a replica of +the letters we had discovered. Even when she hinted politely, but +finally, that the talk was over she left me in doubt even whether +she was an adventuress. The woman was an enigma. Had revenge or +jealousy brought her to New York, or was she merely a tool in the +hands of another? + +I was not ready to return to Kennedy merely with another +unanswered question, and I determined to stop again at the hotel +where Barrios and his sister lived, in the hope of picking up +something there. + +The clerk at the desk told me that no one had called since we had +been there, adding: "Except the tall gentleman, who came back. I +think Senorita Barrios came down and met him in the tea-room." + +Wondering whether it was Page or Sandoval the clerk meant, I +sauntered down the corridor past the door of the tea-room. It was +Page with whom Anitra was talking. There was no way in which I +could hear what was said, although Page was very earnest and +Anitra showed plainly that she was anxious to return to the sick- +room up-stairs. + +As I watched, I took good care that I should not be seen. It was +well that I did, for once when I looked about I saw that some one +else in another doorway was watching them, too, so intently that +he did not see me. It was Sandoval. Jealousy of Page was written +in every line of his face. + +Studying the three, while I could not escape the rivalry of the +two men, I was unable to see now or recollect anything that had +happened which would convey even an inkling of her feelings toward +them. Yet I was convinced that that way lay a problem quite as +important as relations between the other triangle of Eulalie, +Teresa, and Barrios. I was not psychologist enough to deal with +either triangle. There was something that distinctly called for +the higher mathematics of Kennedy. + +Determined not to return to him entirely empty-mouthed, I thought +it would be a good opportunity to see Eulalie alone, and hurried +to the elevator, which whisked me up to the Barrios apartment. + +Doctor Scott had not left his patient, though he seemed to realize +that Eulalie was a most efficient nurse. + +"No change," whispered the doctor, "except that he is reaching a +crisis." + +Interested as I was in the patient, it had been for the purpose of +seeing Eulalie that I had come, and I was glad when Doctor Scott +left us a moment. + +"Has Mr. Kennedy found out anything yet?" she asked, in a +tremulous whisper. + +"I think he is on the right track now," I encouraged. "Has +anything happened here? Remember--it is quite as important that +you should tell him all as it is for him to tell you." + +She looked at me a moment, then drew from a fold of her waist a +yellow paper. It was a telegram. I took it and read: + + Beware of Teresa de Leon, Hotel Pan-America. + + A FRIEND. + +"You know her?" I asked, folding the telegram, but not returning +it. + +Eulalie looked at me frankly and shook her head. "I have no idea +who she is." + +"Or of who sent the telegram?" + +"None at all." + +"When did you receive it?" + +"Only a few minutes ago." + +Here was another mystery. Who had sent the anonymous telegram to +Eulalie so soon after it had been evident that Kennedy had entered +the case? What was its purpose? + +"I may keep this?" I asked, indicating the telegram. + +"I was about to send it to Professor Kennedy," she replied. "Oh, I +hope he will find something Won't you go to him and tell him to +hurry?" + +I needed no urging, not only for her sake, but also because I did +not wish to be seen or to have the receipt of the telegram by +Kennedy known so soon. + +In the hotel I stopped only long enough to see that Anitra was now +hurrying toward the elevator, eager to get back to her brother and +oblivious to every one around. What had become of Page and the +sinister watcher whom he had not seen I did not know, nor did I +have time to find out. + +A few moments later I rejoined Kennedy at the laboratory. He was +still immersed in work, and, scarcely stopping, nodded to me to +tell what I had discovered. He listened with interest until I came +to the receipt of the anonymous telegram. + +"Did you get it?" he asked, eagerly. + +He almost seized it from my hands as I pulled it out of my pocket +and studied it intently. + +"Strange," he muttered. "Any of them might have sent it." + +"Have you discovered anything?" I asked, for I had been watching +him, consumed by curiosity, as I told my story. "Do you know yet +how the thing was done?" + +"I think I do," he replied, abstractedly. + +"How was it?" I prompted, for his mind was now on the telegram. + +"A poison-gas pistol," he resumed, coming back to the work he had +just been doing. "Instead of bullets, this pistol used cartridges +charged with some deadly powder. It might have been something like +the anesthetic pistol devised by the police authorities in Paris +some years ago when the motor bandits were operating." + +"But who could have used it?" I asked. + +Kennedy did not answer directly. Either he was not quite sure yet +or did not feel that the time was ripe to hazard a theory. "In +this case," he continued, after a moment's thought, "I shouldn't +be surprised if even the wielder of the pistol probably wore a +mask, doubly effective, for disguise and to protect the wielder +from the fumes that were to overcome the victim." + +"You have no idea who it was?" I reiterated. + +Before Kennedy could answer there came a violent ring at the +laboratory bell, and I hurried to the door. It was one of the +bell-boys from the hotel where the Barrioses had their apartment, +with a message for Kennedy. + +Craig tore it open and read it hurriedly. "From Doctor Scott," he +said, briefly, in answer to my anxious query. "Barrios is dead." + +Even though I had been prepared for the news by my last visit, +death came as a shock, as it always does. I had felt all along +that Kennedy had been called in too late to do anything to save +Barrios, but I had been hoping against hope. But I knew that it +was not too late to catch the criminal who had done the dastardly, +heartless deed. A few hours and perhaps all clues might have been +covered up. But there is always something that goes wrong with +crime, always some point where murder cannot be covered up. I +think if people could only be got to realize it, as my experience +both on the Star and with Kennedy have impressed it on me, murder +would become a lost art. + +Without another word Kennedy seized his hat and together we +hurried to the hotel. + +We found Anitra crying softly to herself, while near her sat +Eulalie, tearless, stunned by the blow, broken-hearted. In the +realization of the tragedy everything had been forgotten, even the +mysterious anonymous telegram signed, Judas-like, "A Friend." + +Sandoval, we learned, had been there when the end came, and had +now gone out to make what arrangements were necessary. I had +nothing against the man, but I could not help feeling that, now +that the business was all Anitra's, might he not be the one to +profit most by the death? The fact was that Kennedy had expressed +so little opinion on the case so far that I might be pardoned for +suspecting any one--even Teresa de Leon, who must have seen Jose +slipping away from her in spite of her pursuit, whatever actuated +it. + +It was while I was in the midst of these fruitless speculations +that Doctor Scott beckoned us outside, and we withdrew quietly. + +"I don't know that there is anything more that I can do," he +remarked, "but I promised Senor Sandoval that I would stay here +until he came back. He begged me to, seems scarcely to know how to +do enough to comfort his sister and Senorita Barrios." + +I listened to the doctor keenly. Was it possible that Sandoval had +one of those Jekyll-Hyde natures which seem to be so common in +some of us? Had his better nature yielded to his worse? To my mind +that has often been an explanation of crime, never an adequate +defense. + +Kennedy was about to say something when the elevator door down the +hall opened. I expected that it was Sandoval returning, but it was +Burton Page. + +"They told me you were here," he said, greeting us. "I have been +looking all over for you, down at your laboratory and at your +apartment. Would you mind stepping down around the bend in the +hall?" + +We excused ourselves from Doctor Scott, wondering what Page had to +reveal. + +"I knew Sandoval had not returned," he began as soon as we were +out of ear-shot of the doctor, "and I don't want to see him-- +again--not after what happened this afternoon. The man is crazy." +We had reached an alcove and sank down into a soft settee. + +"Why, what was that?" I asked, recalling the look of hate on the +man's face as he had watched Page talking to Anitra in the tea- +room. + +"I'm giving you this for what it may be worth," began Page, +turning from me to Kennedy. "Down in the lobby this afternoon, +after you had been gone some time, I happened to run into +Sandoval. He almost seized hold of me. 'You have been at the +office,' he said. 'You've been rummaging around there.' Well, I +denied it flatly. 'Who took those letters?' he shot back at me. +All I could do was to look at him. 'I don't know about any +letters. What letters?' I asked. Oh, he's a queer fellow all +right. I thought he was going to kill me by the black look he gave +me. He cooled down a bit, but I didn't wait for any apology. The +best thing to do with these hot-headed people is to cut out and +let them alone." + +"How do you account for his strange actions?" asked Kennedy. "Have +you ever heard anything more that he did?" + +Page shrugged his shoulders as if in doubt whether to say +anything, then decided quickly. "The other day I heard Barrios and +Sandoval in the office. They were quite excited. Barrios was +talking loudly. I didn't know at first what it was all about. But +I soon found out. Sandoval had gone to him, as the head of the +family, following their custom, I believe, to ask whether he might +seek to win Anitra." + +"Have you ever heard of Teresa de Leon?" interrupted Kennedy +suddenly. + +Page looked at him and hesitated. "There's some scandal, there, +I'm afraid," he nodded, combining his answers. "I heard Sandoval +say something about her to Barrios that day--warn him against +something. That was when the argument was heated. It seemed to +make Barrios angry. Sandoval said something about Barrios refusing +to let him court Anitra while at the same time Barrios was engaged +to Eulalie. Barrios retorted that the cases were different. He +said he had decided that Anitra was going to marry an American +millionaire." + +There could be no doubt about how Page himself interpreted the +remark. It was evident that he took it to mean himself. + +"Sandoval had warned against this De Leon?" asked Kennedy, +evidently having in mind the anonymous telegram. + +"Something--I don't know what it was all about," returned Page, +then added, in a burst of confidence: "I never heard of the lady +until she came to New York and introduced herself to me. For a +time she was interesting. But I'm too old for that sort of thing. +Besides, she always impressed me as though she had some ulterior +motive, as though she was trying to get at something through me. I +cut it all out." + +Kennedy nodded, but for a moment said nothing. + +"I think I'll be getting out," remarked Page, with a half smile. +"I don't want a knife in the back. I thought you ought to know all +this, though. And if I hear anything else I'll let you know." + +Kennedy thanked him and together we rode down in the next +elevator, parting with Page at the hotel entrance. + +It was still early in the evening, and Kennedy had no intention +now of wasting a moment. He beckoned for a cab and directed the +man to drive immediately to the Pan-America. + +This time Teresa de Leon was plainly prepared for a visit, though +I am not sure that she was prepared to receive two visitors. + +"I believe you were acquainted with Senior Barrios, who died to- +night?" opened Kennedy, after I had introduced him. + +"He was acquainted with me," she corrected, with a purr in her +voice that suggested claws. + +"You were not married to him," shot out Kennedy; then before she +could reply, "nor even engaged." + +"He had known me a long time. We were intimate--" + +"Friends," interrupted Kennedy, leaving no doubt as to the meaning +of his emphasis. + +She colored. It was evident that, at least to her, it was more +than friendship. + +"Senor Sandoval says," romanced Kennedy, in true detective style, +"that you wrote--" + +It was her turn to interrupt. "If Senor Sandoval says anything +against me, he tells what is not--the truth." + +In spite of Kennedy's grilling she was still mistress of herself. + +"You introduced yourself to Burton Page, and--" + +"You had better remember your own proverb," she retorted. "Don't +believe anything you hear and only half you see." + +Kennedy snapped down the yellow telegram before her. It was a +dramatic moment. The woman did not flinch at the anonymous +implication. Straight into Kennedy's eyes she shot a penetrating +glance. + +"Watch both of THEM," she replied, shortly, then turned and +deliberately swept out of the hotel parlor as though daring us to +go as far as we cared. + +"I think we have started forces working for us," remarked Kennedy, +coolly consulting his watch. "For the present at least let us +retire to the laboratory. Some one will make a move. My game is to +play one against the other--until the real one breaks." + +We had scarcely switched on the lights and Kennedy was checking +over the results he had obtained during his afternoon's +investigations, when the door was flung open and a man dashed in +on us unexpectedly. It was Sandoval, and as he advanced furiously +at Kennedy I more than feared that Page's idea was correct. + +"It was you, Kennedy," he hissed, "who took those letters from +Jose's desk. It is you--or Page back of you--who are trying to +connect me with that woman, De Leon. But let me tell you--" + +A sharp click back of Sandoval caused him to cut short the remark +and look about apprehensively. Kennedy's finger, sliding along the +edge of the laboratory table, had merely found an electric button +by which he could snap the lock on the door. + +"We are two to one," returned Kennedy, nonchalantly. "That was +nothing but the lock on the door closing. Mr. Jameson has a +revolver in the top drawer of his desk over there. You will pardon +me if I do a little telephoning--through the central office of the +detective bureau? Some of our friends may not be overanxious to +come here, and it may be necessary to compel their attendance." + +Sandoval subsided into a sullen silence as Kennedy made +arrangements to have Burton Page, Anitra, Eulalie, and Teresa de +Leon hurried to us at once. + +There was nothing for me to do but watch Sandoval as Kennedy +prepared a little instrument with a scale and dial upon which +rested an indicator resembling a watch hand, something like the +new horizontal clocks which have only one hand to register +seconds, minutes, and hours. In them, like a thermometer held +sidewise, the hand moves along from zero to twenty-four. In this +instrument a little needle did the same thing. Pairs of little +wire-like strings ran to the instrument. + +Kennedy had finished adjusting another instrument which was much +like the saccharimeter, only more complicated, when the racing of +an engine outside announced the arrival of the party in one of the +police department cars. + +Between us, Craig and I lost no time in disposing the visitors so +that each was in possession of a pair of the wire-like strings, +and then disdaining to explain why he had gathered them together +so unceremoniously, Kennedy turned and finished adjusting the +other apparatus. + +"Most people regard light, so abundant, so necessary, so free as a +matter of course," he remarked, contemplatively. "Not one person +in ten thousand ever thinks of its mysterious nature or ever +attempts to investigate it. In fact, most of us are in utter +darkness as to light." + +He paused, tapped the machine and went on, "This is a polarimeter +--a simple polariscope--a step beyond the saccharimeter," he +explained, with a nod at Sandoval. "It detects differences of +structure in substances not visible in ordinary light. + +"Light is polarized in several ways--by reflection, by +transmission, but most commonly through what I have here, a prism +of calcite, or Iceland spar, commonly called a Nicol prism. Light +fully polarized consists of vibrations transverse to the direction +of the ray, all in one plane. Ordinary light has transverse +vibrations in all planes. Certain substances, due to their +molecular structure, are transparent to vibrations in one plane, +but opaque to those at right angles. + +"Here we have," he explained, tapping the parts in order, "a +source of light, passing in through this aperture, here a Nicol +polarizer, next a liquid to be examined in a glass-capped tube; +here on this other side an arrangement of quartz plates with +rotary power which I will explain in a moment, next an analyzer, +and finally the aperture for the eye of an observer." + +Kennedy adjusted the glass tube containing the liquid which bore +the substance scraped from the cartridge--he had picked up in the +office of Jose. "Look through the eyepiece, Walter," he directed. + +The field appeared halved. He made an adjustment and at once the +field of vision appeared wholly the same tint. When he removed the +tube it was dark. + +"If a liquid has not what we call rotary power both halves of the +double disk appear of the same tint," he explained. "If it has +rotary power, the halves appear of different tints and the degree +of rotation is measured by the alteration of thickness of this +double quartz plate necessary to counteract it. It is, as I told +Mr. Jameson early to-day, a rather abstruse subject, this of +polarized light. I shall not bore you with it, but I think you +will see in a moment why it is necessary, perhaps why some one who +knew thought it would never be used. + +"What I am getting at now is that some substances with the same +chemical formula rotate polarized light to the right, are dextro- +rotary, as, for instance, what is known as dextrose. Others rotate +it to the left, are levo-rotary, as the substance called levose. +Both of them are glucose. So there are substances which give the +same chemical reactions which can only be distinguished by their +being left or right rotary." + +Craig took a bit of crystalline powder and dissolved it in ether. +Then he added some strong sulphuric acid. The liquid turned +yellow, then slowly a bright scarlet. Beside the first he repeated +the operation with another similar-looking powder, with the +identical result. + +"Both of those," he remarked, holding up the vials, "were samples +of pure veratrine, but obtained from different sources. You see +the brilliant reaction--unmistakable. But it makes all the +difference in the world in this case what was the source of the +veratrine. It may mean the guilt or innocence of one of you." + +He paused, to let the significance of his remark sink in. +"Veratrine," he resumed, "is a form of hellebore, known to +gardeners for its fatal effect on insects. There are white and +green hellebore, Veratrum alba and Veratrum viride. It is the pure +alkaloid, or rather one of them, that we have to deal with here-- +veratrine. + +"There are various sources of veratrine. For instance, there is +the veratrine that may be derived from the sabadilla seeds which +grow in the West Indies and Mexico. It is used, I am informed, by +the Germans in their lachrymatory and asphyxiating bombs." + +The mention of the West Indies brought, like a flash, to my mind +Sandoval and Senorita de Leon. + +"Then, too," continued Kennedy, "there is a plant out in our own +Western country, of which you may have heard, known as the death +camas, very fatal to cattle when they eat it. The active principle +in this is also veratrine." + +I began to see what Kennedy was driving at. If it were veratrine +derived from death camas it would point toward Page. + +"Abderhalden, the great German physiological chemist, has +discovered that substances that once get into the blood produce +specific ferments. Not long ago, in a case, I showed it by the use +of dialyzing membranes. But Abderhalden has found that the +polariscope can show it also. And in this case only the +polariscope can show what chemistry cannot show when we reach the +point of testing Senor Barrios's blood--if that becomes +necessary." + +It was plain that Kennedy was confident. "There are other sources +of drugs of the nature used in this case to asphyxiate and kill, +but the active principle of all is veratrine. The point is, +veratrine from what source? The sabadilla is dextro-rotary; the +death camas is levo-rotary. Which is it here?" + +As I tried to figure out the ramifications of the case, I could +see that it was a cruel situation for one or the other of the +girls. Was one of her lovers the murderer of Anitra's brother? Or +was her own brother the murderer of Eulalie's lover? I looked at +the faces before me, now tensely watching Kennedy, forgetful of +the wire-like strings which they held in their hands. I studied +Teresa de Leon intently for a while. She was still the enigma +which she had been the first time I saw her. + +Kennedy paused long enough to look through the eyepiece again as +if to reassure himself finally that he was right. There was a +tantalizing suspense as we waited for the verdict of science on +this intensely human tragedy. Then he turned to the queer +instrument over which the needle-hand was moving. + +"Though some scientists would call this merely a sensitive form of +galvanometer," he remarked, "it is, to me, more than that. It +registers feelings, emotions. It has been registering your own +every moment that I have been talking. + +"But most of all it registers the grand passion. I might even call +it a love meter. Love might seem to be a subject which could not +be investigated. But even love can be attributed to electrical +forces, or, perhaps better, is expressed by the generation of an +electric current, as though the attraction between men and women +were the giving off of electrons or radiations of one to the +other. I have seen this galvanometer stationary during the +ordinary meeting of men and women, yet exhibit all sorts of +strange vibrations when true lovers meet." + +Not used to Kennedy's peculiar methods, they were now on guard, +ignorant of the fact that that alone was sufficient to corroborate +unescapably any evidence they had already given of their feelings +toward each other. + +Kennedy passed lightly over the torn and bleeding heart of +Eulalie. But, much as he disliked to do so, he could not so +quickly pass Anitra. In spite of her grief, I could see that she +was striving to control herself. A quick blush suffused her face +and her breath came and went faster. + +"This record," went on Kennedy, lowering his voice, "tells me that +two men are in love with Anitra Barrios. I will not say which +exhibits the deeper, truer passion. You shall see for yourself in +a moment. But, more than that, it tells me which of the two she +cares for most--a secret her heart would never permit her lips to +disclose. Nor will I disclose it. + +"One of them, with supreme egotism, was so sure that he would win +her heart that he plotted this murder of her brother so that she +would have the whole estate to bring to him--a terrible price for +a dowry. My love meter tells me, however, that Anitra has +something to say about it yet. She does not love this man. + +"As for Teresa de Leon, it was jealousy that impelled her to +follow Jose Barrios from Cuba to New York. The murderer, in his +scheming, knew it, saw a chance to use her, to encourage her, +perhaps throw suspicion on her, if necessary. When I came +uncomfortably close to him he even sent an anonymous telegram that +might point toward her. It was sent by the same person who stole +in Barrios's office and shot him with an asphyxiating pistol which +discharged a fatal quantity of pure veratrine full at him. + +"My love meter, in registering hidden emotions, supplements what +the polarimeter tells me. It was the levo-rotary veratrine of the +fatal death camas which you used, Page," concluded Craig, as again +the electric attachment clicked shut the lock on the laboratory +door. + + + + +VIII + +THE VITAL PRINCIPLE + + +"That's the handwriting of a woman--a jealous woman," remarked +Kennedy, handing to me a dainty note on plain paper which had come +in the morning mail. + + I did not stop to study the writing, for the contents of the + letter were more fascinating than even Kennedy's new science + of graphology. + + You don't know me [the note read], but I know of your work + of scientific investigation. + + Let me inform you of something that ought to interest you. + + In the Forum Apartments you will find that there is some + strange disease affecting the Wardlaw family. It is a queer + disease of the nerves. One is dead. Others are dying. + + Look into it. + + A FRIEND. + +As I read it I asked myself vainly what it could mean. There was +no direct accusation against any one, yet the implication was +plain. A woman had been moved by one of the primal passions to +betray--some one. + +I looked up from the note on the table at Craig. He was still +studying the handwriting. + +"It's that peculiar vertical, angular hand affected by many +women," he commented, half to himself. "Even at a glance you can +see that it's written hastily, as if under the stress of +excitement and sudden resolution. You'll notice how those +capitals--" The laboratory door opened, interrupting him. + +"Hello, Kennedy," greeted Doctor Leslie, our friend, the coroner's +physician, who had recently been appointed Health Commissioner of +the city. + +It was the first time we had seen him since the appointment and we +hastened to congratulate him. He thanked us absently, and it was +evident that there was something on his mind, some problem which, +in his new office, he felt that he must solve if for no other +purpose than to justify his reputation. Craig said nothing, +preferring to let the commissioner come to the point in his own +way. + +"Do you know, Kennedy," he said, at length, turning in his chair +and facing us, "I believe we have found one of the strangest cases +in the history of the department." + +The commissioner paused, then went on, quickly, "It looks as if it +were nothing less than an epidemic of beriberi--not on a ship +coming into port as so often happens, but actually in the heart of +the city." + +"Beriberi--in New York?" queried Craig, incredulously. + +"It looks like it," reiterated Leslie, "in the family of a Doctor +Wardlaw, up-town here, in the Forum--" + +Kennedy had already shoved over the letter he had just received. +Leslie did not finish the sentence, but read the note in +amazement. + +"What are the symptoms?" inquired Craig. + +"What makes you think it is beriberi, of all things?" + +"Because they show the symptoms of beriberi," persisted Leslie, +doggedly. "You know what they are like. If you care to go into the +matter I think I can convince you." + +The commissioner was still holding the letter and gazing, puzzled, +from it to us. It seemed as if he regarded it merely as confirming +his own suspicions that something was wrong, even though it shed +no real light on the matter. + +"How did you first hear of it?" prompted Kennedy. + +Leslie answered frankly. "It came to the attention of the +department as the result of a reform I have inaugurated. When I +went in office I found that many of the death certificates were +faulty, and in the course of our investigations we ran across one +that seemed to be most vaguely worded. I don't know yet whether it +was ignorance--or something worse. But it started an inquiry. I +can't say that I'm thoroughly satisfied with the amended +certificate of the physician who attended Mrs. Marbury, the mother +of Doctor Wardlaw's wife, who died about a week ago--Doctor +Aitken." + +"Then Wardlaw didn't attend her himself?" asked Kennedy. + +"Oh no. He couldn't, under the circumstances, as I'll show you +presently, aside from the medical ethics of the case. Aitken was +the family physician of the Marburys." + +Kennedy glanced at the note. "One is dead. Others are dying," he +read. "Who are the others? Who else is stricken?" + +"Why," continued Leslie, eager to unburden his story, "Wardlaw +himself has the marks of a nervous affection as plainly as the eye +can see it. You know what it is in this disease, as though the +nerves were wasting away. But he doesn't seem half as badly +affected as his wife. They tell me Maude Marbury was quite a +beauty once, and photographs I have seen prove it. She's a wreck +now. And, of course, the old lady must have been the most +seriously affected of them all." + +"Who else is there in the household?" inquired Kennedy, growing +more and more interested. + +"Well," answered Leslie, slowly, "they've had a nurse for some +time, Natalie Langdale. Apparently she has escaped." + +"Any servants?" + +"Some by the day; only one regularly--a Japanese, Kato. He goes +home at night, too. There's no evidence of the disease having +affected him." + +I caught Leslie's eye as he gave the last information. Though I +did not know much about beriberi, I had read of it, and knew that +it was especially prevalent in the Orient. I did not know what +importance to attach to Kato and his going home at night. + +"Have you done any investigating yourself?" asked Kennedy. + +Leslie hesitated a moment, as though deprecating his own efforts +in that line, though when he spoke I could see no reason why he +should, except that it had so often happened that Kennedy had seen +the obvious which was hidden from most of those who consulted him. + +"Yes," he replied, "I thought perhaps there might be some motive +back of it all which I might discover. Possibly it was old Mrs. +Marbury's fortune--not a large one, but substantial. So it +occurred to me that the will might show it. I have been to the +surrogate." + +"And?" prompted Kennedy, approvingly. + +"Mrs. Marbury's will has already been offered for probate. It +directs, among other things, that twenty-five thousand dollars be +given by her daughter, to whom she leaves the bulk of her fortune, +to Doctor Aitken, who had been Mr. Marbury's physician and her +own." + +Leslie looked at us significantly, but Kennedy made no comment. + +"Would you like to go up there and see them?" urged the +commissioner, anxious to get Craig's final word on whether he +would co-operate in the affair. + +"I certainly should," returned Kennedy, heartily, folding up the +letter which had first attracted his interest. "It looks as if +there were more to this thing than a mere disease, however +unusual." + +Doctor Leslie could not conceal his satisfaction, and without +delaying a moment more than was necessary hurried us out into one +of the department cars, which he had left waiting outside, and +directed the driver to take us to the Forum Apartments, one of the +newest and most fashionable on the Drive. + +Miss Langdale met us at the door and admitted us into the +apartment. She was a striking type of trained nurse, one of those +who seem bubbling over with health and vivacity. She seemed +solicitous of her patients and reluctant to have them disturbed, +yet apparently not daring to refuse to admit Doctor Leslie. There +was nothing in her solicitude, however, that one could take +exception to. + +Miss Langdale conducted us softly down a hallway through the +middle of the apartment, and I noted quickly how it was laid out. +On one side we passed a handsomely furnished parlor and dining- +room, opposite which were the kitchen and butler's pantry, and, +farther along, a bedroom and the bath. On down the hall, on the +right, was Doctor Wardlaw's study, or rather den, for it was more +of a library than an office. + +The nurse led the way, and we entered. Through the windows one +caught a beautiful vista of the Drive, the river, and the Jersey +shore. I gazed about curiously. Around the room there were +bookcases and cabinets, a desk, some easy-chairs, and in the +corner a table on which were some of Wardlaw's paraphernalia, for, +although he was not a practising physician, he still specialized +in his favorite branches of eye and ear surgery. + +Miss Langdale left us a moment, with a hasty excuse that she must +prepare Mrs. Wardlaw for the unexpected visit. The preparation, +however, did not take long, for a moment later Maude Wardlaw +entered, supported by her nurse. + +Her lips moved mechanically as she saw us, but we could not hear +what she said. As she walked, I could see that she had a peculiar +gait, as though she were always lifting her feet over small +obstacles. Her eyes, too, as she looked at us, had a strange +squint, and now and then the muscles of her face twitched. She +glanced from Leslie to Kennedy inquiringly, as Leslie introduced +us, implying that we were from his office, then dropped into the +easy-chair. Her breathing seemed to be labored and her heart +action feeble, as the nurse propped her up comfortably. + +As Mrs. Wardlaw's hand rested on the arm of the chair I saw that +there was a peculiar flexion of her wrist which reminded me of the +so-called "wrist-drop" of which I had heard. It was almost as if +the muscles of her hands and arms, feet and legs, were weak and +wasting. Once she had been beautiful, and even now, although she +seemed to be a wreck of her former self, she had a sort of +ethereal beauty that was very touching. + +"Doctor is out--just now," she hesitated, in a tone that hinted at +the loss of her voice. She turned appealingly to Miss Langdale. +"Oh," she murmured, "I feel so badly this morning--as if pins and +needles were sticking in me--vague pains in all my limbs--" + +Her voice sank to a whisper and only her lips moved feebly. One +had only to see her to feel sympathy. It seemed almost cruel to +intrude under the circumstances, yet it was absolutely necessary +if Craig were to accomplish anything. Maude Wardlaw, however, did +not seem to comprehend the significance of our presence, and I +wondered how Kennedy would proceed. + +"I should like to see your Japanese servant, Kato," he began, +directly, somewhat to my surprise, addressing himself rather to +Miss Langdale than to Mrs. Wardlaw. + +The nurse nodded and left the room without a word, as though +appreciating the anomalous position in which she was placed as +temporary mistress of the household. + +A few moments later Kato entered. He was a typical specimen of the +suave Oriental, and I eyed him keenly, for to me East was East and +West was West, and I was frankly suspicious, especially as I saw +no reason to be otherwise in Kennedy's manner. I waited eagerly to +see what Craig would do. + +"Sit here," directed Kennedy, indicating a straight-backed chair, +on which the Japanese obediently sat. "Now cross your knees." + +As Kato complied, Kennedy quickly brought his hand, held flat and +palm upward, sharply against the Jap's knee just below the +kneecap. There was a quick reflex jerk of the leg below the knee +in response. + +"Quite natural," Kennedy whispered, turning to Leslie, who nodded. + +He dismissed Kato without further questioning, having had an +opportunity to observe whether he showed any of the symptoms that +had appeared in the rest of the family. Craig and the Health +Commissioner exchanged a few words under their breath, then Craig +crossed the room to Mrs. Wardlaw. The entrance of Kato had roused +her momentarily and she had been watching what was going on. + +"It is a simple test," explained Kennedy, indicating to Miss +Langdale that he wished to repeat it on her patient. + +Mrs. Wardlaw's knee showed no reflex! As he turned to us, we could +see that Kennedy's face was lined deeply with thought, and he +paced up and down the room once or twice, considering what he had +observed. + +I could see that even this simple interview had greatly fatigued +Mrs. Wardlaw. Miss Langdale said nothing, but it was plainly +evident that she objected strongly to the strain on her patient's +strength. + +"That will be sufficient," nodded Craig, noticing the nurse. +"Thank you very much. I think you had better let Mrs. Wardlaw rest +in her own room." + +On the nurse's arm Mrs. Wardlaw withdrew and I looked inquiringly +from Kennedy to Doctor Leslie. What was it that had made this +beautiful woman such a wreck? It seemed almost as though the hand +of fate had stretched out against one who had all to make her +happy--wealth, youth, a beautiful home--for the sullen purpose of +taking away what had been bestowed so bounteously. + +"It is polyneuritis, all right, Leslie," Craig agreed, the moment +we were alone. + +"I think so," coincided Leslie, with a nod. "It's the CAUSE I +can't get at. Is it polyneuritis of beriberi--or something else?" +Kennedy did not reply immediately. + +"Then there are other causes?" I inquired of Leslie. + +"Alcohol," he returned, briefly. "I don't think that figures in +this instance. At least I've seen no evidence." + +"Perhaps some drug?" I hazarded at a venture. + +Leslie shrugged. + +"How about the food?" inquired Craig. "Have you made any attempt +to examine it?" + +"I have," replied the commissioner. "When I came up here first I +thought of that. I took samples of all the food that I could find +in the ice-box, the kitchen, and the butler's pantry. I have the +whole thing, labeled, and I have already started to test them out. +I'll show you what I have done when we go down to the department +laboratory." + +Kennedy had been examining the books in the bookcase and now +pulled out a medical dictionary. It opened readily to the heading, +"Polyneuritis--multiple neuritis." + +I bent over and read with him. In the disease, it seemed, the +nerve fibers themselves in the small nerves broke down and the +affection was motor, sensory, vasomotor, or endemic. All the +symptoms described seemed to fit what I had observed in Mrs. +Wardlaw. + +"Invariably," the article went on, "it is the result of some toxic +substance circulating in the blood. There is a polyneuritis +psychosis, known as Korsakoff's syndrome, characterized by +disturbances of the memory of recent events and false +reminiscences, the patient being restless and disorientated." + +I ran my finger down the page until I came to the causes. There +were alcohol, lead, arsenic, bisulphide of carbon, diseases such +as diabetes, diphtheria, typhoid, and finally, much to my +excitement, was enumerated beriberi, with the added information, +"or, as the Japanese call it, kakke." + +I placed my finger on the passage and was about to say something +about my suspicions of Kato when we heard the sound of footsteps +in the hall, and Craig snapped the book shut, returning it hastily +to the bookcase. It was Miss Langdale who had made her patient +comfortable in bed and now returned to us. + +"Who is this Kato?" inquired Craig, voicing what was in my own +mind. "What do you know about him?" + +"Just a young Japanese from the Mission downtown," replied the +nurse, directly. "I don't suppose you know, but Mrs. Wardlaw used +to be greatly interested in religious and social work among the +Japanese and Chinese; would be yet, but," she added, +significantly, "she is not strong enough. They employed him before +I came here, about a year ago, I think." + +Kennedy nodded, and was about to ask another question, when there +was a slight noise out in the hall. Thinking it might be Kato +himself, I sprang to the door. + +Instead, I encountered a middle-aged man, who drew back in +surprise at seeing me, a stranger. + +"Oh, good morning, Doctor Aitken!" greeted Miss Langdale, in quite +the casual manner of a nurse accustomed to the daily visit at +about this hour. + +As for Doctor Aitken, he glanced from Leslie, whom he knew, to +Kennedy, whom he did not know, with a very surprised look on his +face. In fact, I got the impression that after he had been +admitted he had paused a moment in the hall to listen to the +strange voices in the Wardlaw study. + +Leslie nodded to him and introduced us, without quite knowing what +to say or do, any more than Doctor Aitken. + +"A most incomprehensible case," ventured Aitken to us. "I can't, +for the life of me, make it out." The doctor showed his perplexity +plainly, whether it was feigned or not. + +"I'm afraid she's not quite so well as usual," put in Miss +Langdale, speaking to him, but in a manner that indicated that +first of all she wished any blame for her patient's condition to +attach to us and not to herself. + +Doctor Aitken pursed up his lips, bowed excusingly to us, and +turned down the hall, followed by the nurse. As they passed on to +Mrs. Wardlaw's room, I am sure they whispered about us. I was +puzzled by Doctor Aitken. He seemed to be sincere, yet, under the +circumstances, I felt that I must be suspicious of everybody and +everything. + +Alone again for a moment, Kennedy turned his attention to the +furniture of the room, and finally paused before a writing-desk in +the corner. He tried it. It was not locked and he opened it. +Quickly he ran through a pile of papers carefully laid under a +paper-weight at the back. + +A suppressed exclamation from him called my attention to something +that he had discovered. There lay two documents, evidently +recently drawn up. As we looked over the first, we saw that it was +Doctor Wardlaw's will, in which he had left everything to his +wife, although he was not an especially wealthy man. The other was +the will of Mrs. Wardlaw. + +We devoured it hastily. In substance it was identical with the +first, except that at the end she had added two clauses. In the +first she had done just as her mother had directed. Twenty-five +thousand dollars had been left to Doctor Aitken. I glanced at +Kennedy, but he was reading on, taking the second clause. I read +also. Fifty thousand dollars was given to endow the New York +Japanese Mission. + +Immediately the thought of Kato and what Miss Langdale had just +told us flashed through my mind. + +A second time we heard the nurse's footsteps on the hardwood floor +of the hall. Craig closed the desk softly. + +"Doctor Aitken is ready to go," she announced. "Is there anything +more you wish to ask?" + +Kennedy spoke a moment with the doctor as he passed out, but, +aside from the information that Mrs. Wardlaw was, in his opinion, +growing worse, the conversation added nothing to our meager store +of information. + +"I suppose you attended Mrs. Marbury?" ventured Kennedy of Miss +Langdale, after the doctor had gone. + +"Not all the time," she admitted. "Before I came there was another +nurse, a Miss Hackstaff." + +"What was the matter? Wasn't she competent?" + +Miss Langdale avoided the question, as though it were a breach of +professional etiquette to cast reflections on another nurse, +although whether that was the real reason for her reticence did +not appear. Craig seemed to make a mental note of the fact. + +"Have you seen anything--er--suspicious about this Kato?" put in +Leslie, while Kennedy frowned at the interruption. + +Miss Langdale answered quickly, "Nothing." + +"Doctor Aitken has never expressed any suspicion?" pursued Leslie. + +"Oh no," she returned. "I think I would have known it if he had +any. No, I've never heard him even hint at anything." It was +evident that she wished us to know that she was in the confidence +of the doctor. + +"I think we'd better be going," interrupted Kennedy, hastily, not +apparently pleased to have Leslie break in in the investigation +just at present. + +Miss Langdale accompanied us to the door, but before we reached it +it was opened from the outside by a man who had once been and yet +was handsome, although one could see that he had a certain +appearance of having neglected himself. + +Leslie nodded and introduced us. It was Doctor Wardlaw. + +As I studied his face I could see that, as Leslie had already told +us, it plainly bore the stigma of nervousness. + +"Has Doctor Aitken been here?" he inquired, quickly, of the nurse. +Then, scarcely waiting for her even to nod, he added: "What did he +say? Is Mrs. Wardlaw any better?" + +Miss Langdale seemed to be endeavoring to make as optimistic a +report as the truth permitted, but I fancied Wardlaw read between +the lines. As they talked it was evident that there was a sort of +restraint between them. I wondered whether Wardlaw might not have +some lurking suspicion against Aitken, or some one else. If he +had, even in his nervousness he did not betray it. + +"I can't tell you how worried I am," he murmured, almost to +himself. "What can this thing be?" + +He turned to us, and, although he had just been introduced, I am +sure that our presence seemed to surprise him, for he went on +talking to himself, "Oh yes--let me see--oh yes, friends of +Doctor--er--Leslie." + +I had been studying him and trying to recall what I had just read +of beriberi and polyneuritis. There flashed over my mind the +recollection of what had been called Korsakoff's syndrome, in +which one of the mental disturbances was the memory of recent +events. Did not this, I asked myself, indicate plainly enough that +Leslie might be right in his suspicions of beriberi? It was all +the more apparent a moment later when, turning to Miss Langdale, +Wardlaw seemed almost instantly to forget our presence again. At +any rate, his anxiety was easy to see. + +After a few minutes' chat during which Craig observed Wardlaw's +symptoms, too, we excused ourselves, and the Health Commissioner +undertook to conduct us to his office to show us what he had done +so far. As for me, I could not get Miss Langdale out of my mind, +and especially the mysterious letter to Kennedy. What of it and +what of its secret sender? + +None of us said much until, half an hour later, in the department +laboratory, Leslie began to recapitulate what he had already done +in the case. + +"You asked whether I had examined the food," he remarked, pausing +in a corner before several cages in which were a number of +pigeons, separated and carefully tagged. With a wave of his hand +at one group of cages he continued: "These fellows I have been +feeding exclusively on samples of the various foods which I took +from the Wardlaw family when I first went up there. Here, too, are +charts showing what I have observed up to date. Over there are the +'controls'--pigeons from the same group which have been fed +regularly on the usual diet so that I can check my tests." + +Kennedy fell to examining the pigeons carefully as well as the +charts and records of feeding and results. None of the birds fed +on what had been taken from the apartment looked well, though some +were worse than others. + +"I want you to observe this fellow," pointed out Leslie at last, +singling out one cage. The pigeon in it was a pathetic figure. His +eyes seemed dull and glazed. He paid little or no attention to us; +even his food and water did not seem to interest him. Instead of +strutting about, he seemed to be positively wabbly on his feet. +Kennedy examined this one longer and more carefully than any of +the rest. + +"There are certainly all the symptoms of beriberi, or rather, +polyneuritis, in pigeons, with that bird," admitted Craig, +finally, looking up at Leslie. + +The commissioner seemed to be gratified. "You know," he remarked, +"beriberi itself is a common disease in the Orient. There has been +a good deal of study of it and the cause is now known to be the +lack of something in the food, which in the Orient is mostly rice. +Polishing the rice, which removes part of the outer coat, also +takes away something that is necessary for life, which scientists +now call 'vitamines.'" + +"I may take some of these samples to study myself?" interrupted +Kennedy, as though the story of vitamines was an old one to him. + +"By all means," agreed Leslie. + +Craig selected what he wanted, keeping each separate and marked, +and excused himself, saying that he had some investigations of his +own that he wished to make and would let Leslie know the result as +soon as he discovered anything. + +Kennedy did not go back directly to the laboratory, however. +Instead, he went up-town and, to my surprise, stopped at one of +the large breweries. What it was that he was after I could not +imagine, but, after a conference with the manager, he obtained +several quarts of brewer's yeast, which he had sent directly down +to the laboratory. + +Impatient though I was at this seeming neglect of the principal +figures in the case, I knew, nevertheless, that Kennedy had +already schemed out his campaign and that whatever it was he had +in mind was of first importance. + +Back at last in his own laboratory, Craig set to work on the +brewer's yeast, deriving something from it by the plentiful use of +a liquid labeled "Lloyd's reagent," a solution of hydrous aluminum +silicate. + +After working for some time, I saw that he had obtained a solid +which he pressed into the form of little whitish tablets. He had +by no means finished, but, noticing my impatience, he placed the +three or four tablets in a little box and handed them to me. + +"You might take these over to Leslie in the department laboratory, +Walter," he directed. "Tell him to feed them to that wabbly- +looking pigeon over there--and let me know the moment he observes +any effect." + +Glad of the chance to occupy myself, I hastened on the errand, and +even presided over the first feeding of the bird. + +When I returned I found that Kennedy had finished his work with +the brewer's yeast and was now devoting himself to the study of +the various samples of food which he had obtained from Leslie. + +He was just finishing a test of the baking-powder when I entered, +and his face showed plainly that he was puzzled by something that +he had discovered. + +"What is it?" I asked. "Have you found out anything?" + +"This seems to be almost plain sodium carbonate," he replied, +mechanically. + +"And that indicates?" I prompted. + +"Perhaps nothing, in itself," he went on, less abstractedly. "But +the use of sodium carbonate and other things which I have +discovered in other samples disengages carbon dioxide at the +temperature of baking and cooking. If you'll look in that public- +health report on my desk you'll see how the latest investigations +have shown that bicarbonate of soda and a whole list of other +things which liberate carbon dioxide destroy the vitamines Leslie +was talking about. In other words, taken altogether I should +almost say there was evidence that a concerted effort was being +made to affect the food--a result analogous to that of using +polished rice as a staple diet--and producing beriberi, or, +perhaps more accurately, polyneuritis. I can be sure of nothing +yet, but--it's worth following up." + +"Then you think Kato--" + +"Not too fast," cautioned Craig. "Remember, others had access to +the kitchen, too." + +In spite of his hesitancy, I could think only of the two +paragraphs we had read in Mrs. Wardlaw's will, and especially of +the last. Might not Kato have been forced or enticed into a scheme +that promised a safe return and practically no chance of +discovery? What gruesome mystery had been unveiled by the +anonymous letter which had first excited our curiosity? + +It was late in the afternoon that Commissioner Leslie called us +up, much excited, to inform us that the drooping pigeon was +already pecking at food and beginning to show some interest in +life. Kennedy seemed greatly gratified as he hung up the receiver. + +"Almost dinner-time," he commented, with a glance at his watch. "I +think we'll make another hurried visit to the Wardlaw apartment." + +We had no trouble getting in, although as outsiders we were more +tolerated than welcome. Our excuse was that Kennedy had some more +questions which we wished to ask Miss Langdale. + +While we waited for her we sat, not in the study, but in the +parlor. The folding-doors into the dining-room were closed, but +across the hall we could tell by the sound when Kato was in the +kitchen and when he crossed the hall. + +Once I heard him in the dining-room. Before I knew it Kennedy had +hastily tiptoed across the hall and into the kitchen. He was gone +only a couple of minutes, but it was long enough to place in the +food that was being prepared, and in some unprepared, either the +tablets he had made or a powder he had derived from them crushed +up. When he returned I saw from his manner that the real purpose +of the visit had been accomplished, although when Miss Langdale +appeared he went through the form of questioning her, mostly on +Mrs. Marbury's sickness and death. He did not learn anything that +appeared to be important, but at least he covered up the reason +for his visit. Outside the apartment, Kennedy paused a moment. +"There's nothing to do now but await developments," he meditated. +"Meanwhile, there is no use for us to double up our time together. +I have decided to watch Kato to-night. Suppose you shadow Doctor +Aitken. Perhaps we may get a line on something that way." + +The plan seemed admirable to me. In fact, I had been longing for +some action of the sort all the afternoon, while Kennedy had been +engaged in the studies which he evidently deemed more important. + +Accordingly, after dinner, we separated, Kennedy going back to the +Forum Apartments to wait until Kato left for the night, while I +walked farther up the Drive to the address given in the directory +as that of Doctor Aitken. + +It happened to be the time when the doctor had his office hours +for patients, so that I was sure at least that he was at home when +I took my station just down the street, carefully scrutinizing +every one who entered and left his house. + +Nothing happened, however, until the end of the hour during which +he received office calls. As I glanced down the street I was glad +that I had taken an inconspicuous post, for I could see Miss +Langdale approaching. She was not in her nurse's uniform, but +seemed to be off duty for an hour or two, and I must confess she +was a striking figure, even in that neighborhood which was noted +for its pretty and daintily gowned girls. Almost before I knew it +she had entered the English-basement entrance of Doctor Aitken's. + +I thought rapidly. What could be the purpose of her visit? Above +all, how was I, on the outside, to find out? I walked down past +the house. But that did no good. In a quandary, I stopped. +Hesitation would get me nothing. Suddenly an idea flashed through +my mind. I turned in and rang the bell. + +"It's past the doctor's office hours," informed a servant who +opened the door. "He sees no one after hours." + +"But," I lied, "I have an appointment. Don't disturb him. I can +wait." + +The waiting-room was empty, I had seen, and I was determined to +get in at any cost. Reluctantly the servant admitted me. + +For several moments I sat quietly alone, fearful that the doctor +might open the double doors of his office and discover me. But +nothing happened and I grew bolder. Carefully I tiptoed to the +door. It was of solid oak and practically impervious to sound. The +doors fitted closely, too. Still, by applying my ear, I could make +out the sound of voices on the other side. I strained my ears both +to catch a word now and then and to be sure that I might hear the +approach of anybody outside. + +Was Aitken suspiciously interested in the pretty nurse--or was she +suspiciously interested in him? + +Suddenly their voices became a trifle more distinct. "Then you +think Doctor Wardlaw has it, too?" I heard her ask. I did not +catch the exact reply, but it was in the affirmative. + +They were approaching the door. In a moment it would be opened. I +waited to hear no more, but seized my hat and dashed for the +entrance from the street just in time to escape observation. Miss +Langdale came out shortly, the doctor accompanying her to the +door, and I followed her back to the Forum. + +What I had heard only added to the puzzle. Why her anxiety to know +whether Wardlaw himself was affected? Why Aitken's solicitude in +asserting that he was? Were they working together, or were they +really opposed? Which might be using the other? + +My queries still unanswered, I returned to Aitken's and waited +about some time, but nothing happened, and finally I went on to +our own apartment. + +It was very late when Craig came in, but I was still awake and +waiting for him. Before I could ask him a question he was drawing +from me what I had observed, listening attentively. Evidently he +considered it of great importance, though no remark of his +betrayed what interpretation he put on the episode. + +"Have you found anything?" I managed to ask, finally. + +"Yes, indeed," he nodded, thoughtfully. "I shadowed Kato from the +Forum. It must have been before Miss Langdale came out that he +left. He lives down-town in a tenement-house. There's something +queer about that Jap." + +"I think there is," I agreed. "I don't like his looks." + +"But it wasn't he who interested me so much to-night," Craig went +on, ignoring my remark, "as a woman." + +"A woman?" I queried, in surprise. "A Jap, too?" + +"No, a white woman, rather good-looking, too, with dark hair and +eyes. She seemed to be waiting for him. Afterward I made +inquiries. She has been seen about there before." + +"Who was she?" I asked, fancying perhaps Miss Langdale had made +another visit while she was out, although from the time it did not +seem possible. + +"I followed her to her house. Her name is Hackstaff--" + +"The first trained nurse!" I exclaimed. + +"Miss Hackstaff is an enigma," confessed Kennedy. "At first I +thought that perhaps she might be one of those women whom the +Oriental type fascinated, that she and Kato might be plotting. +Then I have considered that perhaps her visits to Kato may be +merely to get information--that she may have an ax to grind. Both +Kato and she will bear watching, and I have made arrangements to +have it done. I've called on that young detective, Chase, whom +I've often used for the routine work of shadowing. There's nothing +more that we can do now until to-morrow, so we might as well turn +in." + +Early the next day Kennedy was again at work, both in his own +laboratory and in that of the Health Department, making further +studies of the food and the effect it had on the pigeons, as well +as observing what changes were produced by the white tablets he +had extracted from the yeast. + +It was early in the forenoon when the buzzer on the laboratory +door sounded and I opened the door to admit Chase in a high state +of excitement. + +"What has happened?" asked Craig, eagerly. + +"Many things," reported the young detective, breathlessly. "To +begin with, I followed Miss Hackstaff from her apartment this +morning. She seemed to be worked up over something--perhaps had +had a sleepless night. As nearly as I could make out she was going +about aimlessly. Finally, however, I found that she was getting +into the neighborhood of Doctor Aitken and of the Forum. Well, +when we got to the Forum she stopped and waited in front of it-- +oh, I should say almost half an hour. I couldn't make out what it +was she wanted, but at last I found out." + +He paused a moment, then raced on, without urging. "Miss Langdale +came out--and you should have seen the Hackstaff woman go for +her." He drew in his breath sharply at the reminiscence. "I +thought there was going to be a murder done--on Riverside Drive. +Miss Langdale screamed and ran back into the apartment. There was +a good deal of confusion. The hall-boys came to the rescue. In the +excitement, I managed to slip into the elevator with her. No one +seemed to think it strange then that an outsider should be +interested. I went up with her--saw Wardlaw, as she poured out the +story. He's a queer one. Is he RIGHT?" "Why?" asked Craig, +indulgently. + +"He seems so nervous; things upset him so easily. Yet, after we +had taken care of Miss Langdale and matters had quieted down, I +thought I might get some idea of the cause of the fracas and asked +him if he knew of any reason. Why, he looked at me kind of +blankly, and I swear he acted as though he had almost forgotten it +already. I tell you, he's not RIGHT." + +Remembering our own experience, I glanced significantly at Craig. +"Korsakoff's syndrome?" I queried, laconically. "Another example +of a mind confused even on recent events?" + +Kennedy, however, was more interested in Chase. "What did Miss +Hackstaff do?" he asked. + +"I don't know. I missed her. When I got out again she was gone." + +"Pick her up again," directed Craig. "Perhaps you'll get her at +her place. And see, this time, if you can get what I asked you." + +"I'll try," returned Chase, much pleased at the words of +commendation which Craig added as he left us again. + +On what errand Chase had gone I could not guess, except that it +had something to do with this strange woman who had so +unexpectedly entered the case. Nor was Craig any more +communicative. There were evidently many problems which only +events could clear up even in his mind. Though he did not say +anything, I knew that he was as impatient as I was, and as Leslie, +too, who called up once or twice to learn whether he had +discovered anything. There was nothing to do but wait. + +It was early in the afternoon that the telephone rang and I +answered it. It was Chase calling Kennedy. I heard only half the +conversation and there was not much of that, but I knew that +something was about to happen. Craig hastily summoned a cab, then +in rapid succession called up Doctor Aitken and Leslie, for whom +we stopped as our driver shot us over to the Forum Apartments. + +There was no ceremony or unnecessary explanation about our +presence, as Kennedy entered and directed Miss Langdale to bring +her patients into the little office-study of Doctor Wardlaw. + +Miss Langdale obeyed reluctantly. When she returned I felt that it +was appreciable that a change had taken place. Mrs. Wardlaw, at +least, was improved. She was still ill, but she seemed to take a +more lively interest in what was going on about her. As for Doctor +Wardlaw, however, I could not see that there had been any +improvement in him. His nervousness had not abated. Kato, whom +Kennedy summoned at the same time, preserved his usual +imperturbable exterior. Miss Langdale, in spite of the incident of +the morning, was quite as solicitous as ever of her charges. + +We had not long to wait for Doctor Aitken. He arrived, inquiring +anxiously what had happened, although Kennedy gave none of us any +satisfaction immediately as to the cause of his quick action. +Aitken fidgeted uneasily, glancing from Kennedy to Leslie, then to +Miss Langdale, and back to Kennedy, without reading any +explanation in the faces. I knew that Craig was secretly taking +his time both for its effect on those present and to give Chase a +chance. + +"Our poisons and our drugs," he began, leisurely, at length, "are +in many instances the close relatives of harmless compounds that +represent the intermediate steps in the daily process of +metabolism. There is much that I might say about protein poisons. +However, that is not exactly what I want to talk about--at least +first." + +He stopped to make sure that he had the attention of us all. As a +matter of fact, his manner was such that he attracted even the +vagrant interest of the Wardlaws. + +"I do not know how much of his suspicions Commissioner Leslie has +communicated to you," he resumed, "but I believe that you have all +heard of the disease beriberi so common in the Far East and known +to the Japanese as kakke. It is a form of polyneuritis and, as you +doubtless know, is now known to be caused, at least in the Orient, +by the removal of the pericarp in the polishing of rice. Our +milling of flour is, in a minor degree, analogous. To be brief, +the disease arises from the lack in diet of certain substances or +bodies which modern scientists call vitamines. Small quantities of +these vital principles are absolutely essential to normal growth +and health and even to life itself. They are nitrogenous compounds +and their absence gives rise to a class of serious disorders in +which the muscles surrender their store of nitrogen first. The +nerves seems to be the preferred creditors, so to speak. They are +affected only after the muscles begin to waste. It is an abstruse +subject and it is not necessary for me to go deeper into it now." + +I controlled my own interest in order to watch those about me. +Kato, for one, was listening attentively, I saw. + +"In my studies of the diet of this household," continued Kennedy, +"I have found that substances have been used in preparing food +which kill vitamines. In short, the food has been denatured. +Valuable elements, necessary elements, have been taken away." + +"I, sir, not always in kitchen, sir," interrupted Kato, still +deferential. "I not always know--" + +With a peremptory wave of his hand Kennedy silenced the Jap. + +"It has long been a question," he hurried on, "whether these +vitamines are tangible bodies or just special arrangements of +molecules. Recently government investigators have discovered that +they are bodies that can be isolated by a special process from the +filtrate of brewer's yeast by Lloyd's reagent. Five grams of +this"--he held up some of the tablets he had made--"for a sixty- +kilogram person each day are sufficient. Unknown to you, I have +introduced some of this substance into the food already deficient +in vitamines. I fancy that even now I can detect a change," he +nodded toward Mrs. Wardlaw. + +There was a murmur of surprise in the room, but before Craig could +continue further the door opened and Mrs. Wardlaw uttered a +nervous exclamation. There stood Chase with a woman. I recognized +her immediately from Kennedy's description as Miss Hackstaff. + +Chase walked deliberately over to Kennedy and handed him +something, while the nurse glanced calmly, almost with pity, at +Mrs. Wardlaw, ignoring Wardlaw, then fixing her gaze venomously on +Miss Langdale. Recalling the incident of the morning, I was ready +to prevent, if necessary, a repetition now. Neither moved. But it +was a thrilling, if silent, drama as the two women glared at each +other. + +Kennedy was hastily comparing the anonymous note he had received +with something Chase had brought. + +"Some one," he shot out, suddenly, looking up and facing us, "has, +as I have intimated, been removing or destroying the vital +principle in the food--these vitamines. Clearly the purpose was to +make this case look like an epidemic of beriberi, polyneuritis. +That part has been clear to me for some time. It has been the +source of this devilish plot which has been obscure. Just a +moment, Kato, I will do the talking. My detective, Chase, has been +doing some shadowing for me, as well as some turning over of past +history. He has found a woman, a nurse, more than a nurse, a +secret lover, cast off in favor of another. Miss Hackstaff--you +wrote that letter--it is your hand--for revenge--on Miss Langdale +and--" + +"You shan't have him!" almost hissed Helen Hackstaff. "If I +cannot--no one shall!" + +Natalie Langdale faced her, defiant. "You are a jealous, +suspicious person," she cried. "Doctor Aitken knows--" + +"One moment," interrupted Craig. "Mrs. Marbury is gone. Mrs. +Wardlaw is weakened. Yet all who are affected with nerve troubles +are not necessarily suffering from polyneuritis. Some one here has +been dilettanting with death. It is of no use," he thundered, +turning suddenly on a cowering figure. "You stood to win most, +with the money and your unholy love. But Miss Hackstaff, cast off, +has proved your Nemesis. Your nervousness is the nervousness not +of polyneuritis, but of guilt, Doctor Wardlaw!" + + + + +IX + +THE RUBBER DAGGER + + +"Hypnotism can't begin to accomplish what Karatoff claims. He's a +fake, Kennedy, a fake." + +Professor Leslie Gaines of the Department of Experimental +Psychology at the university paced excitedly up and down Craig's +laboratory. + +"There have been complaints to the County Medical Society," he +went on, without stopping, "and they have taken the case up and +arranged a demonstration for this afternoon. I've been delegated +to attend it and report." + +I fancied from his tone and manner that there was just a bit more +than professional excitement involved. We did not know Gaines +intimately, though of course Kennedy knew of him and he of +Kennedy. Some years before, I recollected, he had married Miss +Edith Ashmore, whose family was quite prominent socially, and the +marriage had attracted a great deal of attention at the time, for +she had been a student in one of his courses when he was only an +assistant professor. + +"Who is Karatoff, anyhow?" asked Kennedy. "What is known about +him?" + +"Dr. Galen Karatoff--a Russian, I believe," returned Gaines. "He +claims to be able to treat disease by hypnotism-suggestion, he +calls it, though it is really something more than that. As nearly +as I can make out it must almost amount to thought transference, +telepathy, or some such thing. Oh, he has a large following; in +fact, some very well-known people in the smart set are going to +him. Why," he added, facing us, "Edith--my wife--has become +interested in his hypnotic clinics, as he calls them. I tell her +it is more than half sham, but she won't believe it." + +Gaines paused and it was evident that he hesitated over asking +something. + +"When is the demonstration?" inquired Kennedy, with unconcealed +interest. + +The professor looked at his watch. "I'm going over there now; in +fact, I'm just a bit late--only, I happened to think of you and it +occurred to me that perhaps if you could add something to my +report it might carry weight. Would you like to come with me? +Really, I should think that it might interest you." + +So far Kennedy had said little besides asking a question or two. I +knew the symptoms. Gaines need not have hesitated or urged him. It +was just the thing that appealed to him. + +"How did Mrs. Gaines become interested in the thing?" queried +Craig, a moment later, outside, as we climbed into the car with +the professor. + +"Through an acquaintance who introduced her to Karatoff and the +rest. Carita Belleville, the dancer, you know?" + +Kennedy glanced at me and I nodded that I had heard of her. It was +only a few nights before that I had seen Carita at one of the +midnight revues, doing a dance which was described as the +"hypnotic whirl," a wild abandon of grace and motion. Carita +Belleville had burst like a meteor on the sky of the "Great White +Way," blazing a gorgeous trail among the fixed stars of that gay +firmament. She had even been "taken up" by society, or at least a +certain coterie of it, had become much sought after to do +exhibition dancing at social affairs, and now was well known in +the amusement notes of the newspapers and at the fashionable +restaurants. She had hosts of admirers and I had no doubt that +Mrs. Gaines might well have fallen under the spell of her +popularity. + +"What is Miss Belleville's interest in Karatoff?" pursued Craig, +keenly. + +Gaines shrugged his shoulders. "Notoriety, perhaps," he replied. +"It is a peculiar group that Karatoff has gathered about him, they +tell me." + +There was something unsatisfactory about the answer and I imagined +that Gaines meant purposely to leave it so as not to prejudice the +case. Somehow, I felt that there must be something risque in the +doings of Karatoff and his "patients." At any rate, it was only +natural with anything that Carita Belleville was likely to be +concerned with. + +There was little time for further questions, for our destination +was not far down the Drive from the university, and the car pulled +up before one of the new handsome and ornate "studio apartments" +up-town. + +We followed Gaines into the building, and the hall-boy directed us +to a suite on the first floor. + +A moment later we were admitted by Karatoff himself to what had +become known as his "hypnotic clinic," really a most artistically +furnished studio. + +Karatoff himself was a tall, dark-haired fellow, bearded, somewhat +sallow. Every feature of his remarkable face, however, was +subordinate to a pair of wonderful, deep-set, piercing eyes. Even +as he spoke, greeting Gaines on the rather ticklish mission he had +come, and accepting us with a quick glance and nod, we could see +instantly that he was, indeed, a fascinating fellow, every inch a +mystic. + +His clinic, or, as I have said, studio, carried out well the +impression of mysticism that one derived from the strange +personality who presided over it. There were only two or three +rooms in the apartment, one being the large room down the end of a +very short hall to which he conducted us. It was darkened, +necessarily, since it was on the first floor of the tall building, +and the air seemed to be heavy with odors that suggested the +Orient. Altogether there was a cultivated dreaminess about it that +was no less exotic because studied. Doctor Karatoff paused at the +door to introduce us, and we could see that we were undergoing a +close scrutiny from the party who were assembled there. + +On a quaint stand tea was brewing and the whole assemblage had an +atmosphere of bohemian camaraderie which, with the professions of +Karatoff, promised well that Kennedy was not wasting time. + +I watched particularly the exchange of greetings between Professor +Gaines and Edith Gaines, who was already there. Neither of them +seemed to be perfectly at ease, though they betrayed as little as +they could. However, one could not help noticing that each was +watching the other, naturally. + +Edith Gaines was a pretty little woman, petite, light of hair, +dainty, the very type of woman who craved for and thrived on +attention. Here at least there seemed to be no lack of it. There +was only one other woman in the room who attracted the men +equally, Carita Belleville herself. Carita was indeed a stunning +woman, tall, slender, dark, with a wonderful pair of magnetic +eyes. + +As I watched, I could see that both women were quite friendly with +Doctor Karatoff--perhaps even rivals for his attentions. I saw +Gaines watching Carita attentively, never in the mean time failing +for long to lose sight of Mrs. Gaines. Was he trying to estimate +the relative popularity of the two in this strange group? If so, I +failed to see any approval of either. + +Introductions were now coming so fast that neither Kennedy nor I +had much opportunity except for the most cursory observation of +the people. Among the men, however, I noticed two especially who +proved worth observation. One was Armand Marchant, well known as a +broker, not so much for his professional doings as for his other +activities. Though successful, he was better known as one of those +who desert Wall Street promptly at the hour of closing, to be +found late in the afternoon at the tea dances up-town. + +Another was Cyril Errol, a man of leisure, well known also in the +club world. He had inherited an estate, small, perhaps, but ample +to allow him to maintain appearances. Errol impressed you as being +one to whom the good things of the world appealed mightily, a +hedonist, and, withal, very much attracted to and by the ladies. + +It was fortunate that the serving of tea enabled us to look about +and get our bearings. In spite of the suppressed excitement and +obvious restraint of the occasion, we were able to learn much over +the tea-cups. + +Errol seemed to vibrate between the group about Mrs. Gaines and +that about Miss Belleville, welcome wherever he went, for he was +what men commonly call a "good mixer." Marchant, on the other +hand, was almost always to be found not far from Edith Gaines. +Perhaps it was the more brilliant conversation that attracted him, +for it ran on many subjects, but it was difficult to explain it so +to my satisfaction. All of which I saw Gaines duly noting, not for +the report he had to make to the Medical Society, but for his own +information. In fact, it was difficult to tell the precise degree +of disapproval with which he regarded Karatoff, Errol, and +Marchant, in turn, as he noted the intimacy of Edith Gaines with +them. I wished that we might observe them all when they did not +know it, for I could not determine whether she was taking pleasure +in piquing the professor or whether she was holding her admirers +in leash in his presence. At any rate, I felt I need lay no claim +to clairvoyance to predict the nature of the report that Gaines +would prepare. + +The conversation was at its height when Karatoff detached himself +from one of the groups and took a position in a corner of the +room, alone. Not a word was said by him, yet as if by magic the +buzz of conversation ceased. Karatoff looked about as though proud +of the power of even his silence. Whatever might be said of the +man, at least his very presence seemed to command respect from his +followers. + +I had expected that he would make some reference to Gaines and +ourselves and the purpose of the meeting, but he avoided the +subject and, instead, chose to leap right into the middle of +things. + +"So that there can be no question about what I am able to do," he +began, "I wish each of you to write on a piece of paper what you +would like to have me cause any one to do or say under hypnotism. +You will please fold the paper tightly, covering the writing. I +will read the paper to myself, still folded up, will hypnotize the +subject, and will make the subject do whatever is desired. That +will be preliminary to what I have to say later about my powers in +hypnotic therapeutics." + +Pieces of paper and little lead-pencils were distributed by an +attendant and in the rustling silence that followed each cudgeled +his brain for something that would put to the test the powers of +Karatoff. + +Thinking, I looked about the room. Near the speaker stood a table +on which lay a curious collection of games and books, musical +instruments, and other things that might suggest actions to be +performed in the test. My eye wandered to a phonograph standing +next the table. Somehow, I could not get Mrs. Gaines and Carita +Belleville out of my head. + +Slowly I wrote, "Have Mrs. Gaines pick out a record, play it on +the phonograph, then let her do as she pleases." + +Some moments elapsed while the others wrote. Apparently they were +trying to devise methods of testing Doctor Karatoff's mettle. Then +the papers were collected and deposited on the table beside him. + +Apparently at random Karatoff picked out one of the folded papers, +then, seemingly without looking at it and certainly without +unfolding it, as far as I could determine, he held it up to his +forehead. + +It was an old trick, I knew. Perhaps he had palmed a sponge wet +with alcohol or some other liquid, had brushed it over the paper, +making the writing visible through it, and drying out rapidly so +as to leave the paper opaque again long before any of us saw it a +second time. Or was he really exercising some occult power? At any +rate, he read it, or pretended to read it, at least. + +"I am asked to hypnotize Mrs. Gaines," he announced, dropping the +paper unconcernedly on the table beside the other pile, as though +this were mere child's play for his powers. It was something of a +shock to realize that it was my paper he had chanced to pick up +first, and I leaned forward eagerly, watching. + +Mrs. Gaines rose and every eye was riveted on her as Karatoff +placed her in an easy-chair before him. There was an expectant +silence, as Karatoff moved the chair so that she could concentrate +her attention only on a bright silver globe suspended from the +ceiling. The half-light, the heavy atmosphere, the quiet, assured +manner of the chief actor in the scene, all combined to make +hypnotization as nearly possible as circumstances could. Karatoff +moved before her, passing his hands with a peculiar motion before +her eyes. It seemed an incredibly short time in which Edith Gaines +yielded to the strange force which fascinated the group. + +"Quite susceptible," murmured Kennedy, beside me, engrossed in the +operation. + +"It is my test," I whispered back, and he nodded. + +Slowly Edith Gaines rose from the chair, faced us with unseeing +eyes, except as Karatoff directed. Karatoff himself was a study. +It seemed as if he had focused every ounce of his faculties on the +accomplishment of the task in hand. Slowly still the woman moved, +as if in a dream walk, over toward the phonograph, reached into +the cabinet beneath it and drew forth a book of records. Karatoff +faced us, as if to assure us that at that point he had resigned +his control and was now letting her act for her subconscious self. + +Her fingers passed over page after page until finally she stopped, +drew forth the record, placed it on the machine, wound it, then +placed the record on the revolving disk. + +My first surprise was quickly changed to gratification. She had +picked out the music to the "Hypnotic Whirl." I bent forward, more +intent. What would she do next? + +As she turned I could see, even in the dim light, a heightened +color in her cheeks, as though the excitement of the catchy music +had infected her. A moment later she was executing, and very +creditably, too, an imitation of Carita herself in the Revue. What +did it mean? Was it that consciously or unconsciously she was +taking the slender dancer as her model? The skill and knowledge +that she put into the dance showed plainly. + +Next to Kennedy, I saw Gaines leaning far forward, looking now at +his wife, now at the little group. I followed his eyes. To my +surprise, I saw Marchant, his gaze riveted on Edith Gaines as if +she had been the star performer in a play. Evidently my chance +request to Karatoff had been builded better than I knew. I ran my +gaze over the others. Errol was no less engrossed than Marchant. +Quickly I glanced at Carita, wondering whether she might be +gratified by the performance of a pupil. Whether it was natural +grace or real hypnotism in the "Hypnotic Whirl," I was surprised +to see on Carita's face something that looked strangely akin to +jealousy. It was as though some other woman had usurped her +prerogative. She leaned over to speak to Errol with the easy +familiarity of an old admirer. I could not hear what was said and +perhaps it was inconsequential. In fact, it must have been the +very inconsequentiality of his reply that piqued her. He glanced +at Marchant a moment, as if she had said something about him, then +back at Edith Gaines. On his part, Professor Gaines was growing +more and more furious. + +I had just about decided that the little drama in the audience was +of far more importance and interest than even the dance, when the +music ceased. Karatoff approached, took Mrs. Gaines by the hand, +led her back to the chair, and, at a word, she regained her normal +consciousness. As she rose, still in a daze it seemed, it was +quite evident that she had no waking realization of what had +happened, for she walked back and sat down beside her husband, +quite as though nothing had happened. + +As for me, I could not help wondering what had actually happened. +What did it all mean? Had Mrs. Gaines expressed her own self--or +was it Karatoff--or Marchant--or Errol? What was the part played +by Carita Belleville? Gaines did not betray anything to her, but +their mutual attitude was eloquent. There was something of which +he disapproved and she knew it, some lack of harmony. What was the +cause? + +As for Karatoff's exhibition, it was all truly remarkable, whether +in his therapeutics the man was a faker or not. + +Karatoff seemed to realize that he had made a hit. Without giving +any one a chance to question him, he reached down quickly and +picked up another of the papers, repeating the process through +which he had gone before. + +"Mr. Errol," he summoned, placing the second folded paper on the +table with the first. + +Errol rose and went forward and Karatoff placed him in the chair +as he had Mrs. Gaines. There seemed to be no hesitation, at least +on the part of Karatoff's followers, to being hypnotized. + +Whatever it was written on the paper, the writer had evidently not +trusted to chance, as I had, but had told specifically what to do. + +At the mute bidding of Karatoff Errol rose. We watched +breathlessly. Deliberately he walked across the room to the table, +and, to the astonishment of all save one, picked up a rubber +dagger, one of those with which children play, which was lying in +the miscellaneous pile on the table. I had not noticed it, but +some one's keen eye had, and evidently it had suggested a +melodramatic request. + +Quickly Errol turned. If he had been a motion-picture actor, he +could not have portrayed better the similitude of hate that was +written on his face. A few strides and he had advanced toward our +little audience, now keyed up to the highest pitch of excitement +by the extraordinary exhibition. + +"Of course," remarked Karatoff, as at a word Errol paused, still +poising the dagger, "you know that under hypnotism in the +psychological laboratory a patient has often struck at his 'enemy' +with a rubber dagger, going through all the motions of real +passion. Now!" + +No word was said by Karatoff to indicate to Errol what it was that +he was to do. But a gasp went up from some one as he took another +step and it was evident that it was Marchant whom he had singled +out. For just a moment Errol poised the rubber dagger over his +"victim," as if gloating. It was dramatic, realistic. As Errol +paused, Marchant smiled at the rest of us, a sickly smile, I +thought, as though he would have said that the play was being +carried too far. + +Never for a moment did Errol take from him the menacing look. It +was only a moment in the play, yet it was so unexpected that it +seemed ages. Then, swiftly, down came the dagger on Marchant's +left side just over the breast, the rubber point bending pliantly +as it descended. + +A sharp cry escaped Marchant. I looked quickly. He had fallen +forward, face down, on the floor. + +Edith Gaines screamed as we rushed to Marchant and turned him +over. For the moment, as Kennedy, Karatoff, and Gaines bent over +him and endeavored to loosen his collar and apply a restorative, +consternation reigned in the little circle. I bent over, too, and +looked first at Marchant's flushed face, then at Kennedy. Marchant +was dead! + +There was not a mark on him, apparently. Only a moment before he +had been one of us. We could look at one another only in +amazement, tinged with fear. Killed by a rubber dagger? Was it +possible? + +"Call an ambulance--quick!" directed Kennedy to me, though I knew +that he knew it was of no use except as a matter of form. + +We stood about the prostrate form, stunned. In a few moments the +police would be there. Instinctively we looked at Karatoff. +Plainly he was nervous and overwrought now. His voice shook as he +brought Errol out of the trance, and Errol, dazed, +uncomprehending, struggled to take in the horribly unreal tragedy +which greeted his return to consciousness. + +"It--it was an accident," muttered Karatoff, eagerly trying to +justify himself, though trembling for once in his life. +"Arteriosclerosis, perhaps, hardening of the arteries, some +weakness of the heart. I never--" + +He cut the words short as Edith Gaines reeled and fell into her +husband's arms. She seemed completely prostrated by the shock. Or +was it weakness following the high mental tension of her own +hypnotization? Together we endeavored to revive her, waiting for +the first flutter of her eyelids, which seemed an interminable +time. + +Errol in the mean time was pacing the floor like one in a dream. +Events had followed one another so fast in the confusion that I +had only an unrelated series of impressions. It was not until a +moment later that I realized the full import of the affair, when I +saw Kennedy standing near the table in the position Karatoff had +assumed, a strange look of perplexity on his face. Slowly I +realized what was the cause. The papers on which were written the +requests for the exhibitions of Karatoff's skill were gone! + +Whatever was done must be done quickly, and Kennedy looked about +with a glance that missed nothing. Before I could say a word about +the papers he had crossed the room to where Marchant had been +standing in the little group about Edith Gaines as we entered. On +a side-table stood the teacup from which he had been sipping. With +his back to the rest, Kennedy drew from his breast pocket a little +emergency case he carried containing a few thin miniature glass +tubes. Quickly he poured the few drops of the dregs of the tea +into one of the tubes, then into others tea from the other cups. + +Again he looked at the face of Marchant as though trying to read +in the horrified smile that had petrified on it some mysterious +secret hidden underneath. Slowly the question was shaping in my +mind, was it, as Karatoff would have us believe, an accident? + +The clang of a bell outside threw us all into worse confusion, and +a moment later, almost together, a white-coated surgeon and a +blue-coated policeman burst into the room. It seemed almost no +time, in the swirl of events, before the policeman was joined by a +detective assigned by the Central Office to that district. + +"Well, doctor," demanded the detective as he entered, "what's the +verdict?" + +"Arteriosclerosis, I think," replied the young surgeon. "They tell +me there was some kind of hypnotic seance going on. One of them +named Errol struck at him with a rubber dagger, and--" + +"Get out!" scoffed the Central Office man. "Killed by a rubber +dagger! Say, what do you think we are? What did you find when you +entered, sergeant?" + +The policeman handed the detective the rubber dagger which he had +picked up, forgotten, on the floor where Errol had dropped it when +he came out from the hypnotization. + +The detective took it gingerly and suspiciously, with a growl. +"I'll have the point of this analyzed. It may be--well--we won't +say what may be. But I can tell you what is. You, Doctor Karatoff, +or whatever your name is, and you, Mr. Errol, are under arrest. +It's a good deal easier to take you now than it will be later. +Then if you can get a judge to release you, we'll at least know +where you are." + +"This is outrageous, preposterous!" stormed Karatoff. + +"Can't help it," returned the officer, coolly. + +"Why," exclaimed Carita Belleville, excitedly projecting herself +before the two prisoners, "it's ridiculous! Even the ambulance +surgeon says it was arteriosclerosis, an accident. I--" + +"Very well, madam," calmed the sergeant. "So much the better. +They'll get out of our hands that much quicker. Just at present it +is my duty." + +Errol was standing silent, his eyes averted from the hideous form +on the floor, not by word or action betraying a feeling. The +police moved to the door. + +Weak and trembling still from the triple shock she had received, +Edith Gaines leaned heavily on the arm of her husband, but it was, +as nearly as I could make out, only for physical support. + +"I told you, Edith, it was a dangerous business," I heard him +mutter. "Only I never contemplated that they'd carry it this far. +Now you see what such foolishness can lead to." + +Weak though she was, she drew away and flashed a glance at him, +resenting his man's "I-told-you-so" manner. The last I saw of them +in the confusion was as they drove off in the car, still +unreconciled. + +Kennedy seemed well contented, for the present at least, to allow +the police a free hand with Errol and Karatoff. As for me, Mrs. +Gaines and Carita Belleville presented a perplexing problem, but I +said nothing, for he was hurrying back now to his laboratory. + +At once he drew forth the little tube containing the few drops of +tea and emptied a drop or two into a beaker of freshly distilled +water as carefully as if the tea had been some elixir of life. As +he was examining the contents of the beaker his face clouded with +thought. + +"Do you find anything?" I asked, eagerly. + +Kennedy shook his head. "There's something wrong," he hazarded. +"Perhaps it's only fancy, but I am sure that there is something +with a slight odor in the tea, something tea-like, but with a more +bitter taste, something that would be nauseous if not concealed in +the tea. There's more than tannin and sugar here." + +"Then you think that some one present placed something in the +tea?" I inquired, shuddering at the thought that we had run some +unknown danger. + +"I can't just say, without further investigation of this and the +other samples I took." + +"Still, you have eliminated that ridiculous dagger theory," I +ventured. + +"The police can never appreciate the part it played," Craig +answered, non-committally, laying out various chemicals +preparatory to his exhaustive analysis. "I began to suspect +something the moment I noticed that those notes which we all wrote +were gone. When we find out about this tea we may find who took +them. Perhaps the mystery is not such a mystery after all, then." + +There seemed to be nothing that I could do, in the mean time, +except to refrain from hindering Kennedy in his investigations, +and I decided to leave him at the laboratory while I devoted my +time to watching what the police might by chance turn up, even if +they should prove to be working on the wrong angle of the case. + +I soon found that they were showing energy, if nothing else. +Although it was so soon after the death of Marchant, they had +determined that there could not have been anything but rubber on +the end of the toy dagger which had excited the doubts of the +detective. + +As for the autopsy that was performed on Marchant, it did, indeed, +show that he was suffering from hardening of the arteries, due to +his manner of living, as Karatoff had asserted. Indeed, the police +succeeded in showing that it was just for that trouble that +Marchant was going to Karatoff, which, to my mind, seemed quite +sufficient to establish the therapeutic hypnotist as all that +Gaines had accused him of being. Even to my lay mind the treatment +of arteriosclerosis by mental healing seemed, to say the least, +incongruous. + +Yet the evidence against Karatoff and Errol was so flimsy that +they had little trouble in getting released on bail, though, of +course, it was fixed very high. + +My own inquiries among the other reporters on the Star who might +know something offered a more promising lead. I soon found that +Errol had none too savory a reputation. His manner of life had +added nothing to his slender means, and there was a general +impression among his fellow club-members that unfortunate +investments had made serious inroads into the principal of his +fortune. Still, I hesitated to form even an opinion on gossip. + +Quite unsatisfied with the result of my investigation, I could not +restrain my impatience to get back to the laboratory to find out +whether Kennedy had made any progress in his tests of the tea. + +"If you had been five minutes earlier," he greeted me, "you would +have been surprised to find a visitor." + +"A visitor?" I repeated. "Who?" + +"Carita Belleville," he replied, enjoying my incredulity. + +"What could she want?" I asked, at length. + +"That's what I've been wondering," he agreed "Her excuse was +plausible. She said that she had just heard why I had come with +Gaines. I suppose it was half an hour that she spent endeavoring +to convince me that Karatoff and Errol could not possibly have had +any other connection than accidental with the death of Marchant." + +"Could it have been a word for them and half an hour for herself?" +I queried, mystified. + +Kennedy shrugged. "I can't say. At any rate, I must see both +Karatoff and Errol, now that they are out. Perhaps they did send +her, thinking I might fall for her. She hinted pretty broadly at +using my influence with Gaines on his report. Then, again, she may +simply have been wondering how she herself stood." + +"Have you found anything?" I asked, noticing that his laboratory +table was piled high with its usual paraphernalia. + +"Yes," he replied, laconically, taking a bottle of concentrated +sulphuric acid and pouring a few drops in a beaker of slightly +tinged water. + +The water turned slowly to a beautiful green. No sooner was the +reaction complete than he took some bromine and added it. Slowly +again the water changed, this time from the green to a peculiar +violet red. Adding more water restored the green color. + +"That's the Grandeau test," he nodded, with satisfaction. "I've +tried the physiological test, too, with frogs from the biological +department, and it shows the effect on the heart that I--" + +"What shows the effect?" I interrupted, somewhat impatiently. + +"Oh, to be sure," he smiled. "I forgot I hadn't told you what I +suspected. Why, digitalis--foxglove, you know. I suppose it never +occurred to the police that the rubber dagger might have covered +up a peculiar poisoning? Well, if they'll take the contents of the +stomach, in alcohol, with a little water acidulated, strain off +the filtrate and try it on a dog, they will see that its effect is +the effect of digitalis. Digitalis is an accumulative poison and a +powerful stimulant of arterial walls, by experimental evidence an +ideal drug for the purpose of increasing blood pressure. Don't you +see it?" he added, excitedly. "The rubber dagger was only a means +to an end. Some one who knew the weakness of Marchant first placed +digitalis in his tea. That was possible because of the taste of +the tea. Then, in the excitement of the act pantomimed by Errol, +Marchant's disease carried him off, exactly as was to be expected +under the circumstances. It was clever, diabolically clever. +Whoever did it destroyed the note in which the act was suggested +and counted that no one would ever stop to search for a poison in +the tangle of events." + +Slowly but clearly I began to realize how certainly Kennedy was +reconstructing the strange case. But who was it? What was the +motive back of this sinister murder that had been so carefully +planned that no one would ever suspect a crime? + +I had hardly framed the queries when our telephone rang. It was +the Central Office man. The detective had anticipated my own line +of inquiry, only had gone much further with it. He had found a +clear record of the business relations existing between Errol and +Marchant. One episode consisted of a stock deal between them in +which Errol had invested in a stock which Marchant was promoting +and was known to be what brokers call "cats and dogs." That, I +reasoned, must have been the basis of the gossip that Errol had +suffered financial losses that seriously impaired his little +fortune. It was an important item and Kennedy accepted it gladly, +but said nothing of his own discovery. The time had not arrived +yet to come out into the open. + +For a few moments after the talk with the detective Kennedy seemed +to be revolving the case, as though in doubt whether the new +information cleared it up or added to the mystery. Then he rose +suddenly. + +"We must find Karatoff," he announced. + +Whatever might have been the connection of the hypnotist with this +strange case, he was far too clever to betray himself by any such +misstep as seeming to avoid inquiry. We found him easily at his +studio apartment, nor did we have any difficulty in gaining +admittance. He knew that he was watched and that frankness was his +best weapon of defense. + +"Of course," opened Kennedy, "you know that investigation has +shown that you were right in your diagnosis of the trouble with +Marchant. Was it arteriosclerosis for which you were treating +him?" + +"It would be unprofessional to discuss it," hastily parried +Karatoff, "but, since Mr. Marchant is now dead, I think I may say +that it was. In fact, few persons, outside of those whom I have +associated about me, realize to what a wonderful extent hypnotism +may be carried in the treatment of disease. Why, I have even had +wonderful success with such disorders as diabetes mellitus. We are +only on the threshold of understanding what a wonderful thing is +the human mind in its effect on the material body." + +"But another patient might have known what Marchant was being +treated for?" interrupted Kennedy, ignoring the defense of +Karatoff, which was proceeding along the stereotyped lines of such +vagaries which seem never to be without followers. + +Karatoff looked at him a moment in surprise. Evidently he was +doing some hasty mental calculation to determine what was Craig's +ulterior motive. And, in spite of his almost uncanny claims and +performances, I could see that he was able to read Kennedy's mind +no whit better than myself. + +"I suppose so," he admitted. "No doctor was ever able to control +his patients' tongues. Sometimes they boast of their diseases." + +"Especially if they are women?" hinted Kennedy, watching the +effect of the remark keenly. "I have just had the pleasure of a +visit from Carita Belleville in my laboratory." + +"Indeed?" returned Karatoff, with difficulty restraining his +curiosity. "Miss Belleville has been very kind in introducing me +to some of her friends and acquaintances, and I flatter myself +that I have been able to do them much good." + +"Then she was not a patient?" pursued Kennedy, studiously avoiding +enlightening Karatoff on the visit. + +"Rather a friend," he replied, quickly. "It was she who introduced +Mr. Errol." + +"They are quite intimate, I believe," put in Kennedy at a chance. + +"Really, I knew very little about it," Karatoff avoided. + +"Did she introduce Mr. Marchant?" + +"She introduced Mrs. Gaines, who introduced Mr. Marchant," the +hypnotist replied, with apparent frankness. + +"You were treating Mrs. Gaines?" asked Craig, again shifting the +attack unexpectedly. + +"Yes," admitted Karatoff, stopping. + +"I imagine her trouble was more mental than physical," remarked +Kennedy, in a casual tone, as though feeling his way. + +Karatoff looked up keenly, but was unable to read Kennedy's face. +"I think," he said, slowly, "that one trouble was that Mrs. Gaines +liked the social life better than the simple life." + +"Your clinic, Mr. Marchant, and the rest better than her husband +and the social life at the university," amplified Kennedy. "I +think you are right. She had drifted away from her husband, and +when a woman does that she has hosts of admirers--of a certain +sort. I should say that Mr. Errol was the kind who would care more +for the social life than the simple life, as you put it, too." + +I did not gather in what direction Kennedy was tending, but it was +evident that Karatoff felt more at ease. Was it because the quest +seemed to be leading away from himself? + +"I had noticed something of the sort," he ventured. "I saw that +they were alike in that respect, but, of course, Mr. Marchant was +her friend." + +Suddenly the implication flashed over me, but before I could say +anything Kennedy cut in, "Then Mr. Errol might have been enacting +under hypnotism what were really his own feelings and desires?" + +"I cannot say that," replied Karatoff, seeking to dodge the issue. +"But under the influence of suggestion I suppose it is true that +an evil-minded person might suggest to another the commission of a +crime, and the other, deprived of free will, might do it. The +rubber dagger has often been used for sham murders. The +possibility of actual murder cannot be denied. In this case, +however, there can be no question that it was an unfortunate +accident." + +"No question?" demanded Kennedy, directly. + +If Karatoff was concealing anything, he made good concealment. +Either to protect himself or another he showed no evidence of +weakening his first theory of the case. + +"No question as far as I know," he reiterated. + +I wondered whether Kennedy planned to enlighten him on the results +of his laboratory tests, but was afraid to look at either for fear +of betraying some hint. I was glad I did not. Kennedy's next +question carried him far afield from the subject. + +"Did you know that the Medical Society were interested in you and +your clinic before the demonstration before Professor Gaines was +arranged?" + +"I suspected some one was interested," answered Karatoff, quickly, +"But I had no idea who it might be. As I think it over now, +perhaps it was Professor Gaines who instigated the whole inquiry. +He would most likely be interested. My work is so far in advance +of any that the conservative psychologists do that he would +naturally feel hostile, would he not?" + +"Especially with the added personal motive of knowing that his +wife was one of your patients, along with Carita Belleville, +Marchant, Errol, and the rest," added Kennedy. + +Karatoff smiled. "I would not have said that myself. But since you +have said it, I cannot help admitting its truth. Don't you suppose +I could predict the nature of any report he would make?" + +Karatoff faced Kennedy squarely. There was an air almost of +triumph in his eyes. "I think I had better say no more, except +under the advice of my lawyer," he remarked, finally. "When the +police want me, they can find me here." + +Quite evident to me now, as we went out of the studio, was the +fact that Karatoff considered himself a martyr, that he was not +only the victim of an accident, but of persecution as well. + +"The fishing was good," remarked Kennedy, tersely, as we reached +the street. "Now before I see Errol I should like to see Gaines +again." + +I tried to reason it out as we walked along in silence. Marchant +had known Edith Gaines intimately. Carita Belleville had known +Errol as well. I recalled Errol hovering about Mrs. Gaines at the +tea and the incident during the seance when Carita Belleville had +betrayed her annoyance over some remark by Errol. The dancing by +Edith Gaines had given a flash of the jealous nature of the woman. +Had it been interest in Errol that had led her to visit the +laboratory? Kennedy was weaving a web about some one, I knew. But +about whom? + +As we passed a corner, he paused, entered a drugstore and called +up several numbers at a pay-station telephone booth. Then we +turned into the campus and proceeded rapidly toward the laboratory +of the psychological department. Gaines was there, sitting at his +desk, writing, as we entered. + +"I'm glad to see you," he greeted, laying down his work. "I am +just finishing the draft of my report on that Karatoff affair. I +have been trying to reach you by telephone to know whether you +would add anything to it. Is there anything new?" + +"Yes," returned Kennedy, "there is something new. I've just come +from Karatoff's and on the way I decided suddenly that it was time +we did something. So I have called up, and the police will bring +Errol here, as well as Miss Belleville. Karatoff will come--he +won't dare stay away; and I also took the liberty of calling Mrs. +Gaines." + +"To come here?" repeated Gaines, in mild surprise. "All of them?" + +"Yes. I hope you will pardon me for intruding, but I want to +borrow some of your psychological laboratory apparatus, and I +thought the easiest way would be to use it here rather than take +it all over to my place and set it up again." + +"I'm sure everything is at your service," offered Gaines. "It's a +little unexpected, but if the others can stand the chaotic +condition of the room, I guess we can." + +Kennedy had been running his eye over the various instruments +which Gaines and his students used in their studies, and was now +examining something in a corner on a little table. It was a +peculiar affair, quite simple, but conveying to me no idea of its +use. There seemed to be a cuff, a glass chamber full of water into +which it fitted, tubes and wires that attached various dials and +recording instruments to the chamber, and what looked like a +chronograph. + +"That is my new plethysmograph," remarked Gaines, noting with some +satisfaction how Kennedy had singled it out. + +"I've heard the students talk of it," returned Kennedy. "It's an +improved apparatus, Walter, that records one's blood flow." I +nodded politely and concealed my ignorance in a discreet silence, +hoping that Gaines would voluntarily enlighten us. + +"One of my students is preparing an exhaustive table," went on +Gaines, as I had hoped, "showing the effects on blood distribution +of different stimuli--for instance, cold, heat, chloroform, +arenalin, desire, disgust, fear; physical conditions, drugs, +emotions--all sorts of things can be studied by this +plethysmograph which can be set to record blood flow through the +brain, the extremities, any part of the body. When the thing is +charted I think we shall have opened up a new field." + +"Certainly a very promising one for me," put in Kennedy. "How has +this machine been improved? I've seen the old ones, but this is +the first time I've seen this. How does it work?" + +"Well," explained Gaines, with just a touch of pride, "you see, +for studying blood flow in the extremities, I slip this cuff over +my arm, we'll say. Suppose it is the effect of pain I want to +study. Just jab that needle in my other arm. Don't mind. It's in +the interest of science. See, when I winced then, the +plethysmograph recorded it. It smarts a bit and I'm trying to +imagine it smarts worse. You'll see how pain affects blood flow." + +As he watched the indicator, Kennedy asked one question after +another about the working of the machine, and the manner in which +the modern psychologist was studying every emotion. + +"By the way, Walter," he interrupted, glancing at his watch, "call +up and see if they've started with Errol and the rest yet. Don't +stop, Gaines. I must understand this thing before they get here. +It's just the thing I want." + +"I should be glad to let you have it, then," replied Gaines. + +"I think I'll need something new with these people," went on +Kennedy. "Why, do you know what I've discovered?" + +"No, but I hope it's something I can add to my report?" + +"Perhaps. We'll see. In the first place, I found that digitalis +had been put in Marchant's tea." + +"They'll be here directly," I reported from the telephone, hanging +it up and joining them again. + +"It couldn't have been an accident, as Karatoff said," went on +Kennedy, rapidly. "The drug increased the blood pressure of +Marchant, who was already suffering from hardening of the +arteries. In short, it is my belief that the episode of the rubber +dagger was deliberately planned, an elaborate scheme to get +Marchant out of the way. No one else seems to have noticed it, but +those slips of paper on which we all wrote have disappeared. At +the worst, it would look like an accident, Karatoff would be +blamed, and--" There was a noise outside as the car pulled up. + +"Here, let me take this off before any of them see it," whispered +Gaines, removing the cuff, just as the door opened and Errol and +Karatoff, Carita Belleville and Edith Gaines entered. + +Before even a word of greeting passed, Kennedy stepped forward. +"It was NOT an accident," he repeated. "It was a deliberately +planned, apparently safe means of revenge on Marchant, the lover +of Mrs. Gaines. Without your new plethysmograph, Gaines, you might +have thrown it on an innocent person!" + + + + +X + +THE SUBMARINE MINE + + +"Here's the bullet. What I want you to do, Professor Kennedy, is +to catch the crank who fired it." + +Capt. Lansing Marlowe, head of the new American Shipbuilding +Trust, had summoned us in haste to the Belleclaire and had met us +in his suite with his daughter Marjorie. Only a glance was needed +to see that it was she, far more than her father, who was worried. + +"You must catch him," she appealed. "Father's life is in danger. +Oh, you simply MUST." + +I knew Captain Marlowe to be a proverbial fire-eater, but in this +case, at least, he was no alarmist. For, on the table, as he +spoke, he laid a real bullet. + +Marjorie Marlowe shuddered at the mere sight of it and glanced +apprehensively at him as if to reassure herself. She was a tall, +slender girl, scarcely out of her teens, whose face was one of +those quite as striking for its character as its beauty. The death +of her mother a few years before had placed on her much of the +responsibility of the captain's household and with it a charm +added to youth. + +More under the spell of her plea than even Marlowe's vigorous +urging, Kennedy, without a word, picked up the bullet and examined +it. It was one of the modern spitzer type, quite short, conical in +shape, tapering gradually, with the center of gravity back near +the base. + +"I suppose you know," went on the captain, eagerly, "that our +company is getting ready to-morrow to launch the Usona, the +largest liner that has ever been built on this side of the water-- +the name is made up of the initials of the United States of North +America. + +"Just now," he added, enthusiastically, "is what I call the golden +opportunity for American shipping. While England and Germany are +crippled, it's our chance to put the American flag on the sea as +it was in the old days, and we're going to do it. Why, the +shipyards of my company are worked beyond their capacity now." + +Somehow the captain's enthusiasm was contagious. I could see that +his daughter felt it, that she was full of fire over the idea. But +at the same time something vastly more personal weighed on her +mind. + +"But, father," she interrupted, anxiously, "tell them about the +BULLET." + +The captain smiled indulgently as though he would say that he was +a tough old bird to wing. It was only a mask to hide the fighting +spirit underneath. + +"We've had nothing but trouble ever since we laid the keel of that +ship," he continued, pugnaciously, "strikes, a fire in the yard, +delays, about everything that could happen. Lately we've noticed a +motor-boat hanging about the river-front of the yards. So I've had +a boat of my own patrolling the river." + +"What sort of craft is this other?" inquired Kennedy, interested +at once. + +"A very fast one--like those express cruisers that we hear so much +about now." + +"Whose is it? Who was in it? Have you any idea?" + +Marlowe shook his head doubtfully. "No idea. I don't know who owns +the boat or who runs it. My men tell me they think they've seen a +woman in it sometimes, though. I've been trying to figure it out. +Why should it be hanging about? It can't be spying. There isn't +any secrecy about the Usona. Why is it? It's a mystery." + +"And the shot?" prompted Craig, tapping the bullet. + +"Oh yes, let me tell you. Last night, Marjorie and I arrived from +Bar Harbor on my yacht, for the launching. It's anchored off the +yard now. Well, early this morning, while it was still gray and +misty, I was up. I'll confess I'm worried over to-morrow. I hadn't +been able to forget that cruiser. I was out on the deck, peering +into the mist, when I'm sure I saw her. I was just giving a signal +to the boat we have patrolling, when a shot whistled past me and +the bullet buried itself in the woodwork of the main saloon back +of me. I dug it out of the wood with my knife--so you see I got it +almost unflattened. That's all I have got, too. The cruiser made a +getaway, clean." + +"I'm sure it was aimed at him," Marjorie exclaimed. "I don't think +it was chance. Don't you see? They've tried everything else. Now +if they could get my father, the head of the company, that would +be a blow that would cripple the trust." + +Marlowe patted his daughter's hand reassuringly and smiled again, +as though not to magnify the incident. + +"Marjorie was so alarmed," he confessed, "that nothing would +satisfy her but that I should come ashore and stay here at the +Belleclaire, where we always put up when we are in town." + +The telephone rang and Marjorie answered it. "I hope you'll pardon +me," she excused, hanging up the receiver. "They want me very much +down-stairs." Then appealing, she added: "I'll have to leave you +with father. But, please, you must catch that crank who is +threatening him." + +"I shall do my level best," promised Kennedy. "You may depend on +that." + +"You see," explained the captain as she left us, "I've invited +quite a large party to attend the launching, for one reason or +another. Marjorie must play hostess. They're mostly here at the +hotel. Perhaps you saw some of them as you came in." + +Craig was still scanning the bullet. "It looks almost as if some +one had dum-dummed it," he remarked, finally. "It's curiously +done, too. Just look at those grooves." + +Both the captain and I looked. It had a hard jacket of cupro- +nickel, like the army bullet, covering a core of softer metal. +Some one had notched or scored the jacket as if with a sharp +knife, though not completely through it. Had it been done for the +purpose of inflicting a more frightful wound if it struck the +captain? + +"There've been other shots, too," went on Marlowe. "One of my +watchmen was wounded the night before. It didn't took like a +serious wound, in the leg. Yet the poor fellow seems to be in a +bad way, they tell me." + +"How is that?" asked Craig, glancing up quickly from studying the +bullet. + +"The wound seems to be all puffed up, and very painful. It won't +heal, and he seems to be weak and feverish. Why, I'm afraid the +man will die." + +"I'd like to see that case," remarked Kennedy, thoughtfully. + +"Very well. I'll have you driven to the hospital where we have had +to take him." + +"I'd like to see the yards, too, and the Usona," he added. + +"All right. After you go to the hospital I'll meet you at the +yards at noon. Now if you'll come down-stairs with me, I'll get my +car and have you taken to the hospital first." + +We followed Marlowe into the elevator and rode down. In the large +parlor we saw that Marjorie Marlowe had joined a group of the +guests, and the captain turned aside to introduce us. + +Among them I noticed a striking-looking woman, somewhat older than +Marjorie. She turned as we approached and greeted the captain +cordially. + +"I'm so glad there was nothing serious this morning," she +remarked, extending her hand to him. + +"Oh, nothing at all, nothing at all," he returned, holding the +hand, I thought, just a bit longer than was necessary. Then he +turned to us, "Miss Alma Hillman, let me present Professor Kennedy +and Mr. Jameson." + +I was not so preoccupied in taking in the group that I did not +notice that the captain was more than ordinarily attentive to her. +Nor can I say that I blamed him, for, although he might almost +have been her father in age, there was a fascination about her +that youth does not often possess. + +Talking with her had been a young man, slender, good-looking, with +almost a military bearing. + +"Mr. Ogilvie Fitzhugh," introduced Marjorie, seeing that her +father was neglecting his duties. + +Fitzhugh bowed and shook hands, murmured something stereotyped, +and turned again to speak to Marjorie. + +I watched the young people closely. If Captain Marlowe was +interested in Alma, it was more than evident that Fitzhugh was +absolutely captivated by Marjorie, and I fancied that Marjorie was +not averse to him, for he had a personality and a manner which +were very pleasing. + +As the conversation ran gaily on to the launching and the +gathering party of notables who were expected that night and the +next day, I noticed that a dark-eyed, dark-haired, olive- +complexioned young man approached and joined us. + +"Doctor Gavira," said Marlowe, turning to us, his tone indicating +that he was well acquainted about the hotel. "He is our house +physician." + +Gavira also was welcomed in the party, chatting with animation. It +was apparent that the physician also was very popular with the +ladies, and it needed only half an eye to discern that Fitzhugh +was jealous when he talked to Marjorie, while Marlowe but ill +concealed his restlessness when Gavira spoke to Alma. As for Alma, +she seemed to treat all men impartially, except that just now it +pleased her to bestow the favor of her attention on the captain. + +Just then a young lady, all in white, passed. Plainly she did not +belong to the group, though she was much interested in it. As his +eye roved over the parlor, Gavira caught her glance and bowed. She +returned it, but her look did not linger. For a moment she glanced +sharply at Fitzhugh, still talking to Marjorie, then at Marlowe +and Alma Hillman. She was a very pretty girl with eyes that it was +impossible to control. Perhaps there was somewhat of the flirt in +her. It was not that that interested me. For there was something +almost akin to jealousy in the look she gave the other woman. +Marlowe was too engrossed to see her and she passed on slowly. +What did it mean, if anything? + +The conversation, as usual at such times, consisted mostly of +witticisms, and just at present we had a rather serious bit of +business in hand. Kennedy did not betray any of the impatience +that I felt, yet I knew he was glad when Marlowe excused himself +and we left the party and passed down the corridor while the +captain called his car. + +"I don't know how you are going to get at this thing," he +remarked, pausing after he had sent a boy for his driver. "But +I'll have to rely on you. I've told you all I know. I'll see you +at noon, at the yards. My man will take you there." + +As he turned and left us I saw that he was going in the direction +of the barber-shop. Next to it and in connection with it, though +in a separate room, was a manicure. As we passed we looked in. +There, at the manicure's table, sat the girl who had gone by us in +the parlor and had looked so sharply at Marlowe and Alma. + +The boy had told us that the car was waiting at a side entrance, +but Kennedy seemed now in no haste to go, the more so when +Marlowe, instead of going into the barber-shop, apparently changed +his mind and entered the manicure's. Craig stopped and watched. +Prom where we were we could see Marlowe, though his back was +turned, and neither he nor the manicure could see us. + +For a moment the captain paused and spoke, then sat down. Quite +evidently he had a keen eye for a pretty face and trim figure. Nor +was there any mistaking the pains which the manicure took to +please her rich and elderly customer. After watching them a moment +Kennedy lounged over to the desk in the lobby. + +"Who is the little manicure girl?" he asked. + +The clerk smiled. "Seems as if she was a good drawing-card for the +house, doesn't it?" he returned. "All the men notice her. Why, her +name is Rae Melzer." He turned to speak to another guest before +Kennedy could follow with another inquiry. + +As we stood before the desk, a postman, with the parcel post, +arrived. "Here's a package addressed to Dr. Fernando Gavira," he +said, brusquely. "It was broken in the mail. See?" + +Kennedy, waiting for the clerk to be free again, glanced casually +at the package at first, then with a sudden, though concealed, +interest. I followed his eye. In the crushed box could be seen +some thin broken pieces of glass and a wadding of cotton-wool. + +As the clerk signed for another package Craig saw a chance, +reached over and abstracted two or three of the broken pieces of +glass, then turned with his back to the postman and clerk and +examined them. + +One I saw at once had a rim around it. It was quite apparently the +top of a test-tube. The other, to which some cotton-wool still +adhered, was part of the rounded bowl. Quickly Craig dropped the +pieces into one of the hotel envelopes that stood in a rack on the +desk, then, changing his mind about asking more now about the +little manicure, strode out of the side entrance where Marlowe's +car was waiting for us. + +Hurriedly we drove across town to the City Hospital, where we had +no difficulty in being admitted and finding, in a ward, on a white +cot, the wounded guard. Though his wound was one that should not +have bothered him much, it had, as Marlowe said, puffed up angrily +and in a most peculiar manner. He was in great pain with it and +was plainly in a bad way. + +Though he questioned the man, Craig did not get anything out of +him except that the shot had come from a cruiser which had been +hanging about and was much faster than the patrol boat. The nurse +and a young intern seemed inclined to be reticent, as though we +might imply that the mail's condition reflected on the care he had +received, which they were at pains to convince us had been +perfect. + +Puzzled himself, Craig did not say much, but as he pondered the +case, shook his head gravely to himself and finally walked out of +the hospital abstractedly. + +"We have almost an hour before we are to meet Marlowe at the +yard," he considered, as we came to the car. "I think I'll go up +to the laboratory first." + +In the quiet of his own workshop, Kennedy carefully examined again +the peculiar grooves on the bullet. He was about to scrape it, but +paused. Instead, he filled a tube with a soapy solution, placed +the bullet in it, and let it stand. Next he did the same with the +pieces of glass from the envelope. + +Then he opened a drawer and from a number of capillary pipettes +selected a plain capillary tube of glass. He held it in the flame +of a burner until it was red hot. Then carefully he drew out one +end of the tube until it was hair fine. Again he heated the other +end, but this time he let the end alone, except that he allowed it +to bend by gravity, then cool. It now had a siphon curve. Another +tube he treated in the same way. + +By this time he was ready to proceed with what he had in mind. He +took a glass slide and on it placed a drop from each of the tubes +containing the bullet and the glass. That done, he placed the +bent, larger end of the capillary tubes in turn on each of the +drops on the slide. The liquid ascended the tubes by capillary +attraction and siphoned over the curve, running as he turned the +tubes up to the finely pointed ends. + +Next in a watch glass he placed some caustic soda and in another +some pyrogallic acid, from each of which he took just a drop, as +he had done before, inclining the tubes to let the fluid gravitate +to the throttle end. Finally in the flame he sealed both the tip +and butt of the tubes. + +"There's a bubble of air in there," he remarked. "The acid and the +soda will absorb the oxygen from it. Then I can tell whether I'm +right. By the way, we'll have to hurry if we're to be on time to +meet Marlowe in the yard," he announced, glancing at his watch as +he placed the tubes in his little electric incubator. + +We were a little late as the chauffeur pulled in at the executive +offices at the gate of the shipyard, and Marlowe was waiting +impatiently for us. Evidently he wanted action, but Kennedy said +nothing yet of what he suspected and appeared now to be interested +only in the yard. + +It was indeed something to interest any one. Everywhere were +tokens of feverish activity, in office, shop, and slip. As we +picked our way across, little narrow and big wide gauge engines +and trains whistled and steamed about. We passed rolling-mills, +forging-machines, and giant shearing-machines, furnaces for +heating the frames or ribs, stone floors on which they could be +pegged out and bent to shape, places for rolling and trimming the +plates, everything needed from the keel plates to the deck. + +In the towering superstructure of the building slip we at last +came to the huge steel monster itself, the Usona. As we +approached, above us rose her bow, higher than a house, with +poppets both there and at the stern, as well as bracing to support +her. All had been done up to the launching, the stem and stern +posts set in place, her sides framed and plated up, decks laid, +bulkheads and casings completed, even much of her internal fitting +done. + +Overhead and all about the huge monster was a fairy network of +steel, the vast permanent construction of columns and overhead +girders. Suspended beneath was a series of tracks carrying +traveling and revolving cranes capable of handling the heaviest +pieces. We climbed to the top and looked down at the vast stretch +of hundreds of feet of deck. It was so vast that it seemed rather +the work of a superman than of the puny little humans working on +her. + +As I looked down the slip where the Usona stood inclined about +half an inch to the foot, I appreciated as never before what a +task it was merely to get her into the water. + +Below again, Marlowe explained to us how the launching ways were +composed of the ground ways, fastened to the ground as the name +implied, and the sliding ways that were to move over them. The +sliding ways, he said, were composed of a lower course and an +upper course, on which rested the "cradle," fitting closely the +side of the ship. + +To launch her, she must be lifted slightly by the sliding ways and +cradle from the keel blocks and bilge blocks, and this was done by +oak wedges, hundreds of which we could see jammed between the +upper and lower courses of sliding ways. Next he pointed out the +rib-bands which were to keep the sliding ways on the ground ways, +and at the bow the points on either side where the sliding and +ground ways were bolted together by two huge timbers known as sole +pieces. + +"You see," he concluded, "it is a gigantic task to lift thousands +of tons of steel and literally carry it a quarter of a mile to +forty feet of water in less than a minute. Everything has to be +calculated to a nicety. It's a matter of mathematics--the moment +of weight, the moment of buoyancy, and all that. This launching +apparatus is strong, but compared to the weight it has to carry it +is really delicate. Why, even a stray bolt in the ways would be a +serious matter. That's why we have to have this eternal +vigilance." + +As he spoke with a significant look at Kennedy, I felt that it was +no wonder that Marlowe was alarmed for the safety of the ship. +Millions were at stake for just that minute of launching. + +It was all very interesting and we talked with men whom it was a +pleasure to see handling great problems so capably. But none could +shed any light on the problem which it was Kennedy's to solve. And +yet I felt sure, as I watched Craig, that unsatisfactory as it +appeared to Marlowe and to myself, he was slowly forming some kind +of theory, or at least plan of action, in his head. + +"You'll find me either here or at the hotel--I imagine," returned +Marlowe to Kennedy's inquiry as we parted from him. "I've +instructed all the men to keep their eyes open. I hope some of us +have something to report soon." + +Whether or not the remark was intended as a hint to Kennedy, it +was unnecessary. He was working as fast and as surely as he could, +going over in hours what others had failed to fathom in weeks. + +Late in the afternoon we got back to the laboratory and Craig +began immediately by taking from the little electric incubator the +two crooked tubes he had left there. Breaking off the ends with +tweezers, he began examining on slides the two drops that exuded, +using his most powerful microscope. I was forced to curb my +impatience as he proceeded carefully, but I knew that Craig was +making sure of his ground at each step. + +"I suppose you're bursting with curiosity," he remarked at last, +looking up from his examination of one of the slides. "Well, here +is a drop that shows what was in the grooves of that bullet. Just +take a look." + +I applied my eye to the microscope. All I could see was some dots +and rods, sometimes something that looked like chains of dots and +rods, the rods straight with square ends, sometimes isolated, but +more usually joined end to end in long strings. + +"What is it?" I asked, not much enlightened by what he had +permitted me to see. "Anaerobic bacilli and spores," he replied, +excitedly. "The things that produce the well-known 'gas gangrene' +of the trenches, the gas phlegmon bacilli--all sorts, the bacillus +aerogenes capsulatus, bacillus proteus, pyogenic cocci, and +others, actively gas-forming microbes that can't live in air. The +method I took to develop and discover them was that of Col. Sir +Almroth Wright of the British army medical corps." + +"And that is what was on the bullet?" I queried. + +"The spores or seeds," he replied. "In the tubes, by excluding the +air, I have developed the bacilli. Why, Walter," he went on, +seriously, "those are among the microbes most dreaded in the +infection of wounds. The spores live in the earth, it has been +discovered, especially in cultivated soil, and they are +extraordinarily long-lived, lying dormant for years, waiting for a +chance to develop. These rods you saw are only from five to +fifteen thousandths of a millimeter long and not more than one- +thousandth of a millimeter broad. + +"You can't see them move here, because the air has paralyzed them. +But these vibrios move among the corpuscles of the blood just as a +snake moves through the grass, to quote Pasteur. If I colored them +you would see that each is covered with fine vibrating hairs three +or four times as long as itself. At certain times an oval mass +forms in them. That is the spore which lives so long and is so +hard to kill. It was the spores that were on the bullet. They +resist any temperature except comparatively high and prolonged, +and even resist antiseptics for a long time. On the surface of a +wound they aren't so bad; but deep in they distil minute gas +bubbles, puff up the surrounding tissues, and are almost +impossible to combat." + +As he explained what he had found, I could only stare at him while +the diabolical nature of the attack impressed itself on my mind. +Some one had tried to murder Marlowe in this most hideous way. No +need to be an accurate marksman when a mere scratch from such a +bullet meant ultimate death anyhow. + +Why had it been done and where had the cultures come from? I asked +myself. I realized fully the difficulty of trying to trace them. +Any one could purchase germs, I knew. There was no law governing +the sale. + +Craig was at work again over his microscope. Again he looked up at +me. "Here on this other film I find the same sort of wisp-like +anaerobes," he announced. "There was the same thing on those +pieces of glass that I got." + +In my horror at the discovery, I had forgotten the broken package +that had come to the hotel desk while we stood there. + +"Then it was Gavira who was receiving spores and cultures of the +anaerobes!" I exclaimed, excitedly. + +"But that doesn't prove that it was he who used them," cautioned +Craig, adding, "not yet, at least." + +Important as the discoveries were which he had made, I was not +much farther along in fixing the guilt of anybody in particular in +the case. Kennedy, however, did not seem to be perturbed, though I +wondered what theory he could have worked out. + +"I think the best thing for us to do will be to run over to the +Belleclaire," he decided as he doffed his laboratory coat and +carefully cleansed his hands in an antiseptic almost boiling hot. +"I should like to see Marlowe again, and, besides, there we can +watch some of these people around him." + +Whom he meant other than Gavira I had no idea, but I felt sure +that with the launching now only a matter of hours something was +bound to happen soon. + +Marlowe was out when we arrived; in fact, had not yet returned +from the yard. Nor had many of the guests remained at the hotel +during the day. Most of them had been out sightseeing, though now +they were returning, and as they began to gather in the hotel +parlor Marjorie was again called on to put them at their ease. + +Fitzhugh had returned and had wasted no time dressing and getting +down-stairs again to be near Marjorie. Gavira also appeared, +having been out on a case. + +"I wish you would call up the shipyard, Walter," asked Kennedy, as +we stood in the lobby, where we could see best what was going on. +"Tell him I would like to see him very urgently." + +I found the number and entered a booth, but, as often happens, the +telephone central was overwhelmed by the rush of early-evening +calls, and after waiting some time the only satisfaction I got was +that the line was busy. + +Meanwhile I decided to stick about the booth so that I could get +the yard as soon as possible. From where I stood I could see that +Kennedy was closely watching the little manicure, Rae Melzer. A +moment later I saw Alma Hillman come out of the manicure shop, and +before any one else could get in to monopolize the fascinating +little manicure I saw Craig saunter over and enter. + +I was so interested in what he was doing that for the moment I +forgot about my call and found myself unconsciously moving over in +that direction, too. As I looked in I saw that he was seated at +the little white table, in much the same position as Marlowe had +been, deeply in conversation with the girl, though of course I +could not make out what they were talking about. + +Once she turned to reach something on a shelf back of her. Quick +as a flash Kennedy abstracted a couple of the nearest implements, +one being a nail file and the other, I think, a brush. A moment +later she resumed her work, Kennedy still talking and joking with +her, though furtively observing. + +"Where is my nail file--and brush?" I could imagine her saying, as +she hunted for them in pretty confusion, aided by Kennedy who, +when he wanted to, could act the Fitzhugh and Gavira as well as +they. The implements were not to be found and from a drawer she +took another set. + +Just then Gavira passed on his way to his office in the front of +the building, saw me, and smiled. "Kennedy's cut you out," he +laughed, catching a glimpse through the door. "Never mind. I used +to think I had some influence there myself--till the captain came +along. I tell you these oldsters can give us points." + +I laughed, too, and joined him down the hall, not because I cared +what he thought, but because his presence had reminded me of my +original mission to call up Marlowe. However, I decided to +postpone calling another moment and take advantage of the chance +to talk to the house physician. + +"Yes," I agreed, as long as he had opened the subject. "I fancy +the captain likes young people. He seems to enjoy being with them +--Miss Hillman, for instance." + +Gavira shot a sidelong glance at me. "The Belleclaire's a +dangerous place for a wealthy widower," he returned. "I had some +hopes in that direction myself--in spite of Fitzhugh--but the +captain seems to leave us all at the post. Still, I suppose I may +still be a brother to her--and physician. So, I should worry." + +The impression I got of Gavira was that he enjoyed his freedom too +much ever to fall in love, though an intimacy now and then with a +clever girl like Alma Hillman was a welcome diversion. + +"I'm sorry I sha'n't be able to be with you until late to-night," +he said, as he paused at his office door. "I'm in the medical +corps of the Guard and I promised to lecture to-night on gunshot +wounds. Some of my material got smashed up, but I have my lantern +slides, anyhow. I'll try to see you all later, though." + +Was that a clever attempt at confession and avoidance on his part? +I wondered. But, then, I reflected he could not possibly know that +we knew he had anaerobic microbes and spores in his possession. I +had cleared up nothing and I hastened to call up the shipyard, +sure that the line could not be busy still. + +Whatever it was that was the matter, central seemed unable to get +me my number. Instead, I found myself cut right into a +conversation that did not concern me, evidently the fault of the +hotel switchboard operator. I was about to protest when the words +I heard stopped me in surprise. A man and a woman were talking, +though I could not recognize the voices and no names were used. + +"I tell you I won't be a party to that launching scheme," I heard +the man's voice. "I wash my hands of it. I told you that all +along." + +"Then you're going to desert us?" came back the woman's voice, +rather tartly. "It's for that girl. Well, you'll regret it. I'll +turn the whole organization on you--I will--you--you--" The voices +trailed off, and, try as I could to get the operator to find out +who it was, I could not. + +Who was it? What did it mean? + +Kennedy had finished with the manicure some time before and was +waiting for me impatiently. + +"I haven't been able to get Marlowe," I hastened, "but I've had an +earful." He listened keenly as I told him what I had heard, adding +also the account of my encounter with Gavira. + +"It's just as I thought--I'll wager," he muttered, excitedly, +under his breath, taking a hurried turn down the corridor, his +face deeply wrinkled. + +"Well! Anything new? I expected to hear from you, but haven't," +boomed the deep voice of Marlowe, who had just come in from an +entrance in another direction from that which we were pacing. "No +clue yet to my crank?" + +Without a word, Kennedy drew Marlowe aside into a little deserted +alcove. Marlowe followed, puzzled at the air of mystery. + +Alone, Craig leaned over toward him. "It's no crank," he +whispered, in a low tone. "Marlowe, I am convinced that there is a +concerted effort to destroy your plans for American commerce +building. There isn't the slightest doubt in my mind that it is +more serious than you think--perhaps a powerful group of European +steamship men opposed to you. It is economic war! You know they +have threatened it at meetings reported in the press all along. +Well, it's here!" + +Half doubting, half convinced, Marlowe drew back. One after +another he shot a rapid fire of questions. Who, then, was their +agent who had fired the shot? Who was it who had deserted, as I +had heard over the wire? Above all, what was it they had planned +for the launching? The deeper he got the more the beads of +perspiration came out on his sunburnt forehead. The launching was +only eighteen hours off, too, and ten of them were darkness. What +could be done? + +Kennedy's mind was working rapidly in the crisis as Marlowe +appealed to him, almost helplessly. + +"May I have your car to-night?" asked Craig, pausing. + +"Have it? I'll give it to you if it'll do any good." + +"I'll need it only a few hours. I think I have a scheme that will +work perfectly--if you are sure you can guard the inside of the +yard to-morrow." + +"I'm sure of that. We spent hours to-day selecting picked men for +the launching, going over everything." + +Late as it was to start out of town, Craig drove across the bridge +and out on Long Island, never stopping until we came to a small +lake, around the shores of which he skirted, at last pausing +before a huge barn-like structure. + +As the door swung open to his honking the horn, the light which +streamed forth shone on a sign above, "Sprague Aviation School." +Inside I could make out enough to be sure that it was an aeroplane +hangar. + +"Hello, Sprague!" called Kennedy, as a man appeared in the light. + +The man came closer. "Why, hello, Kennedy! What brings you out +here at such an hour?" + +Craig had jumped from the car, and together the two went into the +hangar, while I followed. They talked in low tones, but as nearly +as I could make out Kennedy was hiring a hydro-aeroplane for to- +morrow with as much nonchalance as if it had been a taxicab. + +As Kennedy and his acquaintance, Sprague, came to terms, my eye +fell on a peculiar gun set up in a corner. It had a tremendous +cylinder about the barrel, as though it contained some device to +cool it. It was not a machine-gun of the type I had seen, however, +yet cartridges seemed to be fed to it from a disk on which they +were arranged radially rather than from a band. Kennedy had risen +to go and looked about at me. + +"Oh, a Lewis gun!" he exclaimed, seeing what I was looking at. +"That's an idea. Sprague, can you mount that on the plane?" + +Sprague nodded. "That's what I have it here for," he returned. +"I've been testing it. Why, do you want it?" + +"Indeed I do! I'll be out here early in the morning, Sprague." + +"I'll be ready for you, sir," promised the aviator. + +Speeding back to the city, Kennedy laid out an extensive program +for me to follow on the morrow. Together we arranged an elaborate +series of signals, and that night, late as it was, Craig returned +to the laboratory, where he continued his studies with the +microscope, though what more he expected to discover I did not +know. + +In spite of his late hours, it was Craig who wakened me in the +morning, already prepared to motor out to the aviation school to +meet Sprague. Hastily he rehearsed our signals, which consisted +mostly of dots and dashes in the Morse code which Craig was to +convey with a flag and I to receive with the aid of a powerful +glass. + +I must admit that I felt somewhat lost when, later in the morning, +I took my place alone on the platform that had been built for the +favored few of the launching party at the bow of the huge Usona, +without Craig. Already, however, he had communicated at least a +part of his plan to Marlowe, and the captain and Marjorie were +among the first to arrive. Marjorie never looked prettier in her +life than she did now, on the day when she was to christen the +great liner, nor, I imagine, had the captain ever been more proud +of her. + +They had scarcely greeted me when we heard a shout from the men +down at the end of the slip that commanded a freer view of the +river. We craned our necks and in a moment saw what it was. They +had sighted the air-boat coming down the river. + +I turned the glass on the mechanical bird as it soared closer. +Already Kennedy had made us on the platform and had begun to +signal as a test. At least a part of the suspense was over for me +when I discovered that I could read what he sent. + +So fixed had my attention been that I had not noticed that slowly +the members of the elect launching party had arrived, while other +thousands of the less favored crowded into the spaces set apart +for them. On the stand now with us were Fitzhugh and Miss Hillman, +while, between glances at Kennedy, I noticed little Rae Melzer +over at the right, and Doctor Gavira, quite in his element, +circulating about from one group to another. + +Every one seemed to feel that thrill that comes with a launching, +the appreciation that there is a maximum of risk in a minimum of +time. + +Down the slip the men were driving home the last of the huge oak +wedges which lifted the great Usona from the blocks and +transferred her weight to the launching ways as a new support. All +along the stationary, or ground, ways and those which were to +glide into the water with the cradle and the ship, trusted men +were making the final examination to be as sure as human care can +be that all was well. + +As the clock neared noon, which was high water, approximately, all +the preparatory work was done. Only the sole pieces before us held +the ship in place. It was as though all bridges had been burned. + +High overhead now floated the hydro-aeroplane, on which I kept my +eye fixed almost hypnotically. There was still no signal from +Kennedy, however. What was it he was after? Did he expect to see +the fast express cruiser, lurking like a corsair about the islands +of the river? If so, he gave no sign. + +Men were quitting now the work of giving the last touches to the +preparations. Some were placing immense jack-screws which were to +give an initial impulse if it were needed to start the ship down +the ways. Others were smearing the last heavy dabs of tallow, lard +oil, and soft soap on the ways, and graphite where the ways +stretched two hundred feet or so out into the water, for the ship +was to travel some hundreds of feet on the land and in the water, +and perhaps an equal distance out beyond the end of the ways. + +Late comers still crowded in. Men now reported that everything was +ready. Steadily the time of high water approached. + +"Saw the sole pieces!" finally rang out the order. + +That was a thing that must be done by two gangs, one on each side, +and evenly, too. If one gang got ahead of the other, they must +stop and let the second catch up. + +"Zip--zip--zip," came the shrill singing tone of the saws. + +Was everything all right? Kennedy and Sprague were still circling +overhead, at various altitudes. I redoubled my attention at the +glass. + +Suddenly I saw Craig's flag waving frantically. A muffled +exclamation came from my lips involuntarily. Marlowe, who had been +watching me, leaned closer. + +"What is it--for God's sake?" he whispered, hoarsely. + +"Stop them!" I shouted as I caught Kennedy's signal. At a hurried +order from Marlowe the gangs quit. A hush fell over the crowd. + +Kennedy was circling down now until at last the air-boat rested on +the water and skimmed along toward the ways. + +Out on the ways, as far as they were not yet submerged, some men +ran, as if to meet him, but Kennedy began signaling frantically +again. Though I had not been expecting it, I made it out. + +"He wants them to keep back," I called, and the word was passed +down the length of the ship. + +Instead of coming to rest before the slip, the plane turned and +went away, making a complete circle, then coming to rest. To the +surprise of every one, the rapid staccato bark of the Lewis gun +broke the silence. Kennedy was evidently firing, but at what? +There was nothing in sight. + +Suddenly there came a tremendous detonation, which made even the +launching-slip tremble, and a huge column of water, like a geyser, +rose in the air about eight hundred feet out in the river, +directly in front of us. + +The truth flashed over us in an instant. There, ten feet or so in +the dark water out in the river, Craig had seen a huge circular +object, visible only against a sandy bottom from the hydro- +aeroplane above, as the sun-rays were reflected through the water. +It was a contact submarine mine. + +Marlowe looked at me, his face almost pale. The moment the great +hulk of the Usona in its wild flight to the sea would have hit +that mine, tilting it, she would have sunk in a blast of flame. + +The air-boat now headed for the shore, and a few moments later, as +Craig climbed into our stand, Marlowe seized him in congratulation +too deep for words. + +"Is it all right?" sang out one of the men in the gangs, less +impressionable than the rest. + +"If there is still water enough," nodded Craig. + +Again the order to saw away the sole pieces was given, and the +gangs resumed. "Zip--zip," again went the two saws. + +There were perhaps two inches more left, when the hull quivered. +There was a crashing and rending as the timbers broke away. + +Marjorie Marlowe, alert, swung the bottle of champagne in its +silken net on a silken cord and it crashed on the bow as she +cried, gleefully, "I christen thee Usona!" + +Down the ship slid, with a slow, gliding motion at first, rapidly +gathering headway. As her stern sank and finally the bow dipped +into the water, cheers broke forth. Then a cloud of smoke hid her. +There was an ominous silence. Was she wrecked, at last, after all? +A puff of wind cleared the smoke. + +"Just the friction of the ways--set the grease on fire," shouted +Marlowe. "It always does that." + +Wedges, sliding ways, and other parts of the cradle floated to the +surface. The tide took her and tugs crept up and pulled her to the +place selected for temporary mooring. A splash of a huge anchor, +and there she rode--safe! + +In the revulsion of feeling, every eye on the platform turned +involuntarily to Kennedy. Marlowe, still holding his hand, was +speechless. Marjorie leaned forward, almost hysterical. + +"Just a moment," called Craig, as some turned to go down. "There +is just one thing more." + +There was a hush as the crowd pressed close. + +"There's a conspiracy here," rang out Craig's voice, boldly, "a +foreign trade war. From the start I suspected something and I +tried to reason it out. Having failed to stop the work, failed to +kill Marlowe--what was left? Why, the launching. How? I knew of +that motor-boat. What else could they do with it? I thought of +recent tests that have been made with express cruisers as mine- +planters. Could that be the scheme? The air-boat scheme occurred +to me late last night. It at least was worth trying. You see what +has happened. Now for the reckoning. Who was their agent? I have +something here that will interest you." + +Kennedy was speaking rapidly. It was one of those occasions in +which Kennedy's soul delighted. Quickly he drew a deft contrast +between the infinitely large hulk of the Usona as compared to the +infinitely small bacteria which he had been studying the day +before. Suddenly he drew forth from his pocket the bullet that had +been fired at Marlowe, then, to the surprise of even myself, he +quietly laid a delicate little nail file and brush in the palm of +his hand beside the bullet. + +A suppressed cry from Rae Melzer caused me to recollect the file +and brush she had missed. + +"Just a second," raced on Kennedy. "On this file and brush I found +spores of those deadly anaerobes--dead, killed by heat and an +antiseptic, perhaps a one-per-cent. solution of carbolic acid at +blood heat, ninety-eight degrees--dead, but nevertheless there. I +suppose the microscopic examination of finger-nail deposits is too +minute a thing to appeal to most people. But it has been +practically applied in a number of criminal cases in Europe. +Ordinary washing and even cleaning doesn't alter microscope +findings. In this case this trifling clue is all that leads to the +real brain of this plot, literally to the hand that directed it." +He paused a moment. + +"Yesterday I found that anaerobe cultures were being received by +some one in the Belleclaire, and--" + +"They were stolen from me. Some one must have got into my office, +where I was studying them." Doctor Gavira had pressed forward +earnestly, but Craig did not pause again. + +"Who were these agents sent over to wage this secret war at any +cost?" he repeated. "One of them, I know now, fell in love with +the daughter of the man against whom he was to plot." Marjorie +cast a furtive glance at Fitzhugh. + +"Love has saved him. But the other? To whom do these deadly germs +point? Who dum-dummed and poisoned the bullet? Whose own fingers, +in spite of antiseptics and manicures, point inexorably to a +guilty self?" + +Rae Melzer could restrain herself no longer. She was looking at +the file and brush, as if with a hideous fascination. "They are +mine--you took them," she cried, impulsively. "It was she--always +having her nails manicured--she who had been there just before-- +she--Alma Hillman!" + + + + +XI + +THE GUN-RUNNER + + +"With the treaty ratified, if the deal goes through we'll all be +rich." + +Something about the remark which rose over the babel of voices +arrested Kennedy's attention. For one thing, it was a woman's +voice, and it was not the sort of remark to be expected from a +woman, at least not in such a place. + +Craig had been working pretty hard and began to show the strain. +We had taken an evening off and now had dropped in after the +theater at the Burridge, one of the most frequented midnight +resorts on Broadway. + +At the table next to us--and the tables at the Burridge were so +close that one almost rubbed elbows with those at the next--sat a +party of four, two ladies in evening gowns and two men in +immaculate black and white. + +"I hope you are right, Leontine," returned one of the men, with an +English accent. "The natural place for the islands is under the +American flag, anyway." + +"Yes," put in the other; "the people have voted for it before. +They want it." + +It was at the time that the American and Danish governments were +negotiating about the transfer of the Danish West Indies, and +quite evidently they were discussing the islands. The last speaker +seemed to be a Dane, but the woman with him, evidently his wife, +was not. It was a curious group, worth more than a passing glance. +For a moment Craig watched them closely. + +"That woman in blue," he whispered, "is a typical promoter." + +I recognized the type which is becoming increasingly frequent in +Wall Street as the competition in financial affairs grows keener +and women enter business and professional life. + +There were plenty of other types in the brilliantly lighted +dining-room, and we did not dwell long on the study of our +neighbors. A few moments later Kennedy left me and was visiting +another table. It was a habit of his, for he had hundreds of +friends and acquaintances, and the Burridge was the place to which +every one came. + +This time I saw that he had stopped before some one whom I +recognized. It was Captain Marlowe of the American Shipping Trust, +to whom Kennedy had been of great assistance at the time of the +launching of his great ship, the Usona. Marlowe's daughter +Marjorie was not with him, having not yet returned from her +honeymoon trip, and he was accompanied by a man whose face was +unfamiliar to me. + +As I recognized who it was to whom Kennedy was speaking, I also +rose and made my way over to the table. As I approached, the +captain turned from Kennedy and greeted me cordially. + +"Mr. Whitson," he introduced the man with him. "Mr. Whitson is +sailing to-morrow for St. Thomas on the Arroyo. We're preparing to +extend our steamship lines to the islands as soon as the +formalities of the purchase are completed." + +Marlowe turned again to Kennedy and went on with the remark he had +evidently been making. + +"Of course," I heard him say, "you know we have Mexico practically +blockaded as far as arms and munitions go. Yet, Kennedy, through a +secret channel I know that thousands of stands of arms and +millions of rounds of ammunition are filtering in there. It's +shameful. I can't imagine anything more traitorous. Whoever is at +the bottom of it ought to swing. It isn't over the border that +they are going. We know that. The troops are there. How is it, +then?" + +Marlowe looked at us as if he expected Kennedy to catch some one +by pure reason. Kennedy said nothing, but it was not because he +was not interested. + +"Think it over," pursued Marlowe, who was a patriot above +everything else. "Perhaps it will occur to you how you can be of +the greatest service to the country. The thing is damnable-- +damnable." + +Neither Kennedy nor I having anything definite to contribute to +the subject, the conversation drifted to the islands and Whitson's +mission. Whitson proved to be very enthusiastic about it. He knew +the islands well and had already made a trip there for Marlowe. + +A few moments later we shook hands and returned to our own table. +It was getting late and the only type that was left to study was +the common Broadway midnight-life genus. We paid our check and +were about to leave. For an instant we stopped at the coat-room to +watch the late arrivals and the departing throng. + +"Hello!" greeted a familiar voice beside us. "I've been looking +all over town for you. They told me you had gone to the theater +and I thought I might possibly find you here." + +We turned. It was our old friend Burke, of the Secret Service, +accompanied by a stranger. + +"I'd like you to meet Mr. Sydney, the new special consular agent +whom the government is sending to the Danish West Indies to +investigate and report on trade conditions," he introduced. "We're +off for St. Thomas on the Arroyo, which sails to-morrow noon." + +"Great Scott!" ejaculated Kennedy. "Is everybody daffy over those +little islands? What takes you down there, Burke?" Burke looked +about hastily, then drew us aside into a recess in the lobby. + +"I don't suppose you know," he explained, lowering his voice, "but +since these negotiations began, the consular service has been +keenly interested in the present state and the possibilities of +the islands. The government sent one special agent there, named +Dwight. Well, he died a few days ago. It was very suspicious, so +much so that the authorities in the island investigated. Yet the +doctors in the island have found no evidence of anything wrong, no +poison. Still, it is very mysterious--and, you know," he hinted, +"there are those who don't want us down there." + +The Secret Service man paused as though he had put the case as +briefly and pointedly as he could, then went on: "I've been +assigned to accompany the new consul down there and investigate. +I've no particular orders and the chief will honor any reasonable +expense account--but--" He hesitated and stopped, looking keenly +at Kennedy's face. I saw what he was driving at. + +"Well--to come to the point--what I wanted to see you about, +Kennedy, is to find out whether you would go with me. I think," he +added, persuasively, "it would be quite worth your while. Besides, +you look tired. You're working too hard. The change will do you +good. And your conscience needn't trouble you. You'll be working, +all right." + +Burke had been quick to note the haggard expression on Kennedy's +face and turn it into an argument to carry his point. Kennedy +smiled as he read the other's enthusiasm. I would have added my +own urging, only I knew that nothing but a sense of duty would +weigh with Craig. + +"I'd like to think the proposal over," he conceded, much to my +surprise. "I'll let you know in the morning." + +"Mind," wheedled Burke, "I won't take no for an answer. We need +you." + +The Secret Service man was evidently delighted by the reception +Kennedy had given his scheme. + +Just then I caught sight of the party of four getting their hats +and wraps preparatory to leaving, and Kennedy eyed them sharply. + +Marlowe and Whitson passed. As they did so I could not help seeing +Whitson pause and shoot a quick glance at the four. It was a +glance of suspicion and it was not lost on Craig. Did they know +more of this Mexican gun-running business than Marlowe had hinted +at? I watched Kennedy's face. Evidently his mind was at work on +the same idea as mine. + +Burke accompanied us almost all the way home, with Sydney adding +his urging. I could tell that the whole combination of +circumstances at the Burridge had had an effect on Kennedy. + +I went to bed, tired, but through the night I knew Craig was +engaged on some work about which he seemed to be somewhat +secretive. When I saw him again in the laboratory, in the morning, +he had before him a large packing-case of stout wood bound with +steel bands. + +"What's that?" I asked, mystified. He opened the lid, a sort of +door, on which was a strong lock, and I looked inside. + +"My traveling laboratory," he remarked, with pride. + +I peered in more closely. It was a well-stocked armamentarium, as +the doctors would have called it. I shall not make any attempt to +describe its contents. They were too varied and too numerous, a +little bit of everything, it seemed. In fact, Craig seemed to have +epitomized the sciences and arts. It was not that he had anything +so wonderful, or even comparable to the collection of his +laboratory. But as I ran my eye over the box I would have wagered +that from the contents he might have made shift to duplicate in +some makeshift form almost anything that he might need. It was +truly amazing, representing in miniature his study of crime for +years. + +"Then you are going with Burke to St. Thomas?" I queried, +realizing the significance of it. + +Kennedy nodded. "I've been thinking of what I would do if an +important case ever called me away. Burke's proposal hurried me, +that's all. And you are going, also," he added. "You have until +noon to break the news to the Star." + +I did not say anything more, fearful lest he might change his +mind. I knew he needed the rest, and that no matter what the case +was in the islands he could not work as hard as he was doing in +New York. + +Accordingly my own arrangements with the Star were easily made. I +had a sort of roving commission, anyhow, since my close +association with Kennedy. Moreover, the possibility of turning up +something good in the islands, which were much in the news at the +time, rather appealed to the managing editor. If Kennedy could +arrange his affairs, I felt that the least I could do was to +arrange my own. + +Thus it came about that Craig and I found ourselves in the +forenoon in a taxicab, on the front of which was loaded the +precious box as well as our other hastily packed luggage, and we +were on our way over to Brooklyn to the dock from which the Arroyo +sailed. + +Already the clearance papers had been obtained, and there was the +usual last-moment confusion among the passengers as the hour for +sailing approached. It seemed as if we had scarcely boarded the +ship when Kennedy was as gay as a school-boy on an unexpected +holiday. I realized at once what was the cause. The change of +scene, the mere fact of cutting loose, were having their effect. + +As we steamed slowly down the bay, I ran my eye over the other +passengers at the rail, straining their eyes to catch the last +glimpse of the towers of New York. There were Burke and Sydney, +but they were not together, and, to all appearances, did not know +each other. Sydney, of course, could not conceal his identity, nor +did he wish to, no matter how beset with unseen perils might be +his mission. But Burke was down on the passenger-list as, and had +assumed the role of, a traveling salesman for a mythical novelty- +house in Chicago. That evidently was part of the plan they had +agreed on between themselves. Kennedy took the cue. + +As I studied the various groups, I paused suddenly, surprised. +There was the party which had sat at the table next to us at the +Burridge the night before. Kennedy had already seen them and had +been watching them furtively. + +Just then Craig jogged my elbow. He had caught sight of Whitson +edging his way in our direction. I saw what it was that Craig +meant. He wanted purposely to avoid him. I wondered why, but soon +I saw what he was up to. He wanted introductions to come about +naturally, as they do on shipboard if one only waits. + +On deck and in the lounging and smoking rooms it did not take long +for him to contrive ways of meeting and getting acquainted with +those he wished to know, without exciting suspicion. Thus, by the +time we sat down to dinner in the saloon we were all getting +fairly chummy. + +We had met Burke quite as naturally as if we were total strangers. +It was easy to make it appear that Whitson and Sydney were +shipboard acquaintances. Nor was it difficult to secure an +introduction to the other party of four. The girl whom we had +heard addressed as Leontine seemed to be the leader of the group. +Leontine Cowell was a striking personality. Her clear blue eyes +directed a gaze at one which tested one's mettle to meet. I was +never quite sure whether she remembered seeing us at the Burridge, +whether she penetrated the parts we were playing. She was none the +less feminine because she had aspirations in a commercial way. As +Kennedy had first observed, she was well worth study. + +Her companion, Barrett Burleigh, was a polished, deferential +Englishman, one of those who seem to be citizens of the world +rather than subjects of any particular country. I wondered what +were the real relations of the two. + +Jorgen Erickson was, as I had surmised, a Dane. He proved to be +one of the largest planters in the island, already wealthy and +destined to be wealthier if real estate advanced. The other woman, +Nanette, was his wife. She was also a peculiarly interesting type, +a Frenchwoman from Guadeloupe. Younger and more vivacious than her +husband, her snappy black eyes betokened an attractive +personality. + +Leontine Cowell, it seemed, had been in the islands not long +before, had secured options on some score of plantations at a low +figure, and made no secret of her business. When the American flag +at last flew over the islands she stood to win out of the increase +of land values a considerable fortune. + +Erickson also, in addition to his own holdings, had been an agent +for some other planters and thus had met Leontine, who had been +the means of interesting some American capital. + +As for Burleigh, it seemed that he had made the acquaintance of +Leontine in Wall Street. He had been in the Caribbean and the +impending changes in the Danish West Indies had attracted his +notice. Whether he had some money to invest in the speculation or +hoped to profit by commissions derived from sales did not appear. +But at any rate some common bond had thrown the quartet together. + +I need not dwell on the little incidents of life on ship. It must +have been the second day out that I observed Leontine and Sydney +together on the promenade-deck. They seemed to be quite interested +in each other, though I felt sure that Leontine was making a play +for him. At any rate, Burleigh was jealous. Whatever might be the +scheme, it was apparent that the young Englishman was head over +heels in love with her. + +What did it mean? Was she playing with Sydney, seeking to secure +his influence to further her schemes? Or did it mask some deeper, +more sinister motive? From what I had seen of Sydney, I could not +think that he was the man to take such an affair seriously. I felt +that he must be merely amusing himself. + +Busy with my speculations, I was astonished soon after to realize +that the triangle had become a hexagon, so to speak. Whitson and +Nanette Erickson seemed to be much in each other's company. But, +unlike Burleigh, Erickson seemed to be either oblivious or +complacent. + +Whatever it might all portend, I found that it did not worry +Kennedy, although he observed closely. Burke, however, was +considerably excited and even went so far as to speak to Sydney, +over whom he felt a sort of guardianship. Sydney turned the matter +off lightly. As for me, I determined to watch both of these women +closely. + +Kennedy spent much time not only in watching the passengers, but +in going about the ship, talking to the captain and crew and every +one who knew anything about the islands. In fact, he collected +enough information in a few days to have satisfied any ordinary +tourist for weeks. + +Even the cargo did not escape his attention, and I found that he +was especially interested in the rather heavy shipments of +agricultural implements that were consigned to various planters in +the islands. So great was his interest that I began to suspect +that it had some bearing on the gun-running plot that had been +hinted at by Marlowe. + +It was the evening after one of Kennedy's busy days scouting about +that he quietly summoned both Burke and Sydney to our cabin. + +"There's something queer going on," announced Craig, when he was +sure that we were all together without having been observed. +"Frankly, I must confess that I don't understand it--yet." + +"You needn't worry about me," interrupted Sydney, hastily. "I can +take care of myself." + +Kennedy smiled quietly. We knew what Sydney meant. He seemed to +resent Burke's solicitude over his acquaintance with Leontine and +was evidently warning us off. Kennedy, however, avoided the +subject. + +"I may as well tell you," he resumed, "that I was quite as much +influenced by a rumor that arms were somehow getting into Mexican +ports as I was by your appeal, Burke, in coming down here. So far +I've found nothing that proves my case. But, as I said, there is +something under the surface which I don't understand. We have all +got to stick together, trust no one but ourselves, and, above all, +keep our eyes open." + +It was all that was said, but I was relieved to note that Sydney +seemed greatly impressed. Still, half an hour later, I saw him +sitting in a steamer-chair beside Leontine again, watching the +beautiful play of the moonlight on the now almost tropical ocean +after we had emerged from the Gulf Stream. I felt that it was +rather dangerous, but at least he had had his warning. + +Seeking Kennedy, I found him at last in the smoking-room, to my +surprise talking with Erickson. I joined them, wondering how I was +to convey to Craig what I had just seen without exciting +suspicion. They were discussing the commercial and agricultural +future of the islands under the American flag, especially the +sugar industry, which had fallen into a low estate. + +"I suppose," remarked Kennedy, casually, "that you are already +modernizing your plant and that others are doing the same, getting +ready for a revival." + +Erickson received the remark stolidly. "No," he replied, slowly. +"Some of us may be doing so, but as for me, I shall be quite +content to sell if I can get my price." + +"The planters are not putting in modern machinery, then?" queried +Kennedy, innocently, while there flashed over me what he had +discovered about shipments of agricultural implements. + +Erickson shook his head. "Some of them may be. But for one that +is, I know twenty whose only thought is to sell out and take a +profit." + +The conversation trailed off on other subjects and I knew that +Kennedy had acquired the information which he sought. As neatly as +I could I drew him apart from Erickson. + +"Strange he should tell me that," ruminated Kennedy as we gained a +quiet corner of the deck. "I know that there is a lot of stuff +consigned to planters in the island, some even to himself." + +"He must be lying, then," I hastened. "Perhaps these promoters are +really plotters. By the way, what I wanted to tell you was that I +saw Sydney and Leontine together again." + +He was about to reply when the sound of some one approaching +caused us to draw back farther into the shadow. It proved to be +Whitson and Nanette. + +"Then you do not like St. Thomas?" we heard Whitson remark, as if +he were repeating something she had just said. + +"There is nothing there," she replied. "Why, there aren't a +hundred miles of good roads and not a dozen automobiles." + +Evidently the swiftness of life in New York of which she had +tasted was having its effect. + +"St. Croix, where we have the plantation, is just as bad. Part of +the time we live there, part of the time at Charlotte Amalie in +St. Thomas. But there is little difference. I hope Jorgen is able +to sell. At least I should like to live a part of the year in the +States." + +"Would he like that, too?" + +"Many of us would," she replied, quickly. "For many years things +have been getting worse with us. Just now it seems a bit better +because of the high price of sugar. But who knows how long that +will last? Oh, I wish something would happen soon so that we might +make enough money to live as I want to live. Think; here the best +years of life are slipping away. Unless we do something soon, it +will be too late! We must make our money soon." + +There was an air of impatience in her tone, of restless +dissatisfaction. I felt also that there was an element of danger, +too, in a woman just passing from youth making a confidant of +another man. + +It was a mixed situation with the quartet whom we were watching. +One thing was sufficiently evident. They were all desperately +engaged in the pursuit of wealth. That was a common bond. Nor had +I seen anything to indicate that they were over-scrupulous in that +pursuit. Within half an hour I had seen Leontine with Sydney and +Nanette with Whitson. Both Sydney as consular agent and Whitson +through his influence with the shipping trust possessed great +influence. Had the party thought it out and were they now playing +the game with the main chance in view? + +I looked inquiringly at Kennedy as the voices died away while the +couple walked slowly down the deck. He said nothing, but he was +evidently pondering deeply on some problem, perhaps that which the +trend of affairs had raised in my own mind. + +Our delay had not been long, but it had been sufficient to cause +us to miss finding Leontine and Sydney. We did, however, run +across Burke, bent evidently on watching, also. + +"I don't like this business," he confessed, as we paused to +compare experiences. "I've been thinking of that Mexican business +you hinted at, Kennedy. You know the islands would be an ideal +out-of-the-way spot from which to start gun-running expeditions to +Mexico. I don't like this Leontine and Burleigh. They want to make +money too bad." + +Kennedy smiled. "Burleigh doesn't seem to approve of everything, +though," he remarked. + +"Perhaps not. That's one reason why I think it may be more +dangerous for Sydney than he realizes. I know she's a fascinating +girl. All the more reason to watch out for her. But I can't talk +to Sydney," he sighed. + +It was an enigma and I had not solved it, though I felt much as +Burke did. Kennedy seemed to have determined to allow events to +take their course, perhaps in the hope that developments would be +quicker that way than by interfering with something which we did +not understand. + +In the smoking-room, after we left Burke, Kennedy and I came upon +Erickson and Burleigh. They had just finished a game of poker with +some of the other passengers, in which Burleigh's usual run of +luck and skill had been with him. + +"Lucky at cards, unlucky in love," remarked Burleigh as we +approached. + +He said it with an air of banter, yet I could not help feeling +that there was a note of seriousness at the bottom of it. Had he +known that Leontine had been with Sydney on the deck? His very +success at poker had its effect on me. I found myself eying him as +if he had been one of the transatlantic card sharps, perhaps an +international crook. Yet when I considered I was forced to admit +that I had nothing on which to base such a judgment. + +Erickson presented a different problem, to my mind, There was +indeed something queer about him. Either he had not been perfectly +frank with us in regard to the improvement of his properties or he +was concealing something much more sinister. Again and again my +mind reverted to the hints that had been dropped by Marlowe, and I +recalled the close scrutiny Whitson had given the four that night. +So far, I had felt that in any such attempt we might count on +Whitson playing a lone hand and perhaps finding out something to +our advantage. + +It was the morning of the last day of the voyage that most of the +passengers gathered on the deck for the first glimpse of the land +to which we had been journeying. + +Before us lay the beautiful and picturesque harbor and town of +Charlotte Amalie, one of the finest harbors in the West Indies, +deep enough to float the largest vessels, with shipyards, dry- +docks, and repair shops. From the deck it was a strikingly +beautiful picture, formed by three spurs of mountains covered with +the greenest of tropical foliage. From the edge of the dancing +blue waves the town itself rose on the hills, presenting an +entrancing panorama. + +All was bustle and excitement as the anchor plunged into the +water, for not only was this the end of our journey, but the +arrival of the boat from New York was an event for the town. + +There was much to watch, but I let nothing interfere with my +observation of how the affair between Sydney and Leontine was +progressing. To my surprise, I saw that this morning she was +bestowing the favor of her smile rather on Burleigh. It was +Sydney's turn now to feel the pangs of jealousy, and I must admit +that he bore them with better grace than Burleigh, whatever that +might indicate. + +As I watched the two and recalled their intimacy at the Burridge +the first night we had seen them, I almost began to wonder whether +I might not have been wrong about Leontine. Had it been that I had +distrusted the woman merely because I was suspicious of the type, +both male and female? Had I been finding food for suspicion +because I was myself suspicious? + +Erickson was standing beside Sydney, while we were not far away. +Evidently he had been saving up a speech for the occasion and now +was prepared to deliver it. + +"Mr. Sydney," he began, with a wave of his arm that seemed to +include us all, "it is a pleasure to welcome you here to our +island. Last night it occurred to me that we ought to do something +to show that we appreciate it. You must come to dinner to-night at +my villa here in the town. You are all invited, all of us who have +become so enjoyably acquainted on this voyage which I shall never +forget. Believe me when I say that it will be even more a tribute +to you personally than because of the official position you are to +hold among us." + +It was a graceful invitation, more so than I had believed Erickson +capable of framing. Sydney could do nothing less than thank him +cordially and accept, as we all did. Indeed, I could see that +Kennedy was delighted at the suggestion. It would give him an +opportunity to observe them all under circumstances different +enough to show something. + +While we were thanking Erickson, I saw that Whitson had taken the +occasion also to thank Mrs. Erickson, with whom he had been +talking, just a bit apart from the group. He made no secret of his +attentions, though I thought she was a bit embarrassed by them at +such a time. Indeed, she started rather abruptly toward the group +which was now intent on surveying the town, and as she did so, I +noted that she had forgotten her hand-bag, which lay on a deck- +chair near where they had been sitting. + +I picked it up to restore it. Some uncontrollable curiosity +prompted me and I hesitated. All were still looking at the town. I +opened the bag. Inside was a little bottle of grayish liquid. What +should I do? Any moment she or Whitson might turn around. Hastily +I pulled off the cap of my fountain-pen and poured into it some of +the liquid, replacing the cork in the bottle and dropping it back +into the bag, while I disposed of the cap as best I could without +spilling its contents. + +Whether either she or any one else had observed me, I was not +going to run any chances of being seen. I called a passing +steward. "Mrs. Erickson forgot her bag," I said, pointing hastily +to it. "You'll find her over there with Mr. Whitson." Then I +mingled in the crowd to watch her. She did not seem to show any +anxiety when she received it. + +I lost no time in getting back to Kennedy and telling him what I +had found, and a few moments later he made an excuse to go to our +state-room, as eager as I was to know what had been in the little +bottle. + +First he poured out a drop of the liquid from the cap of my +fountain-pen in some water. It did not dissolve. Successively he +tried alcohol, ether, then pepsin. None of them had any effect on +it. Finally, however, he managed to dissolve it in ammonia. + +"Relatively high amount of sulphur," he muttered, after a few +moments more of study. "Keratin, I believe." + +"A poison?" I asked. + +Kennedy shook his head. "No; harmless." + +"Then what is it for?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. He may have had some half-formed idea, +but if he did it was still indefinite and he refused to commit +himself. Instead, he placed the sample in his traveling +laboratory, closed and locked it, and, with our luggage, the box +was ready to be taken ashore. + +Nearly every one had gone ashore by the time we returned to the +deck. Whitson was there yet, talking to the captain, for the +shipping at the port interested him. I wondered whether he, too, +might be suspicious of those cases consigned to Erickson and +others. If so, he said nothing of it. + +By this time several vessels that looked as if they might be +lighters, though fairly large, had pulled up. It seemed that they +had been engaged to carry shipments of goods to the other islands +of St. John and St. Croix. + +Kennedy seemed eager now to get ashore, and we went, accompanied +by Whitson, and after some difficulty established ourselves in a +small hotel. + +Most of the tourists were sightseeing, and, while we had no time +for that, still we could not help doing so, in going about the +town. + +Charlotte Amalie, I may say, proved to be one of the most +picturesque towns in the Windward Islands. The walls of the houses +were mostly of a dazzling whiteness, though some were yellow, +others gray, orange, blue. But the roofs were all of a generous +bright red which showed up very effectively among the clumps of +green trees. Indeed, the town seemed to be one of gaily tinted +villas and palaces. There were no factories, no slums. Nature had +provided against that and man had not violated the provision. + +The people whom we met on the streets were mostly negroes, though +there was a fair sprinkling of whites. What pleased us most was +that nearly everywhere we went English was spoken. I had half +expected Danish. But there was even very little Spanish spoken. + +Burke was waiting for us, and in spite of his playing the role of +traveling salesman managed to direct us about so that we might as +quickly as possible pick up the thread of the mysterious death of +Dwight. It did not take long to gather such meager information as +there was about the autopsy that had followed the strange death of +Sydney's predecessor. + +We were able to find out little from either the authorities or the +doctor who had investigated the case. Under the stress of +suspicion, both the stomach and the contents of the stomach of the +unfortunate man had been examined. No trace of anything out of the +way had been found, and there the matter had rested, except for +suspicion. + +One of our first visits was to the American consulate. There +Sydney, by virtue of his special commission, had, with +characteristic energy, established himself with the consul. +Naturally, he, too, had been making inquiries. But they had led +nowhere. There seemed to be no clue to the mysterious death of +Dwight, not even a hint as to the cause. + +All that we were able to discover, after some hours of patient +inquiry, was that Dwight had suffered from great prostration, +marked cyanosis, convulsions, and coma. Whether it was the result +of some strange disease or of a poison no one, not even the +doctor, was prepared to say. All that was known was that the blow, +if blow it had been, was swift, sudden, sure. + +We ran across Whitson once or twice during the day, busily engaged +renewing acquaintance with merchants and planters whom he had +known before, but I do not recall having seen either Burleigh or +Leontine, which, at the time, I thought rather strange, for the +town was small and strangers were few. The more I thought of it +the more firmly convinced I was that Dwight had discovered some +secret which it was extremely inconvenient for somebody to have +known. What was it? Was it connected with the rumors we had heard +of gun-running to Mexico? + +Erickson had invited us to come late in the afternoon to the +dinner and we did not delay in getting there. His house proved to +be a veritable palace on the side of one of the hills rising +abruptly back of the shore. Flights of massive stone steps, quaint +walls covered with creepers, balustrades overlooking charming +gardens, arcades from which one looked out on splendid vistas and +shady terraces combined to make it a veritable paradise such as +can be found only in tropical and subtropical lands. Most +wonderful of all was the picture of the other hills unfolded, +especially of the two ruined pirates' castles belonging to semi- +mythical personages, Bluebeard and Blackbeard. + +The Ericksons were proud of their home, as well they might be, in +spite of the complaints we had heard Nanette utter and the efforts +of Erickson to sell his holdings. Mrs. Erickson proved to be a +charming hostess and the host extended a hospitality such as one +rarely meets. It quite made me uncomfortable to accept it at the +same time that I knew we must view it all with suspicion. Nor did +it make matters any better, but rather worse, to feel that there +was some color of excuse for the suspicion. + +Burleigh arrived proudly with Leontine, followed closely by +Sydney. At once the game was on again, Leontine pitting one +against the other. Whitson came, his attentions to Mrs. Erickson a +trifle restrained, but still obvious. Burke and ourselves +completed the party. + +To the repeated urging of Erickson we made ourselves quite as much +at home as we politely could. Kennedy and Burke, acting under his +instructions, seemed to be ubiquitous. Yet, beyond a continuation +of the drama that had been unfolded on the ship it did not seem to +me at first that we were getting anywhere. + +Kennedy and I were passing alone along a colonnade that opened off +from the large dining-hall, when Craig paused and looked in +through an open door at the massive table set for the dinner. + +A servant had just completed setting out cocktails at the various +places, pouring them from a huge tankard, for the purpose, which +had been standing on a sideboard. Guests had been walking past +through the colonnade ever since we arrived, but at the moment +there was no one about, and even the servant had disappeared. + +Kennedy stepped lightly into the dining-hall and looked about +sharply. Instinctively I stepped to a window where I could hear +any one approaching. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him +narrowly scrutinizing the table. Finally he pulled from his pocket +a clean linen handkerchief. Into an empty glass he poured the +contents of one of the cocktail-glasses, straining the liquid +through the handkerchief. Then he poured the filtrate, if I may +call it such, back into the original glass. A second he treated in +the same way, and a third. He had nearly completed the round of +the table when I heard a light step. + +My warning came only just in time. It was Burleigh. He saw us +standing now in the colonnade, made some hasty remark, then walked +on, as if in search for some one. Had it been interest in Leontine +or in the dining-room that had drawn him thither? + +Kennedy was now looking closely at the handkerchief, and I looked +also. In the glasses had been innumerable little seeds as if from +the fruit juice used in concocting the appetizer. The fine meshes +of the linen had extracted them. What were they? + +I took one in my fingers and crushed it between my nails. There +was an unmistakable odor of bitter almonds. What did it mean? + +We had no time now for speculation. Our prolonged absence might be +noticed and we hastened to join the other guests after finishing +the round of glasses in which he had been interrupted. + +How, in my suppressed excitement, I managed to get through that +dinner I do not know. It was a brilliant affair, yet I found that +I had completely lost my appetite, as well one might after having +observed Kennedy's sleuthing. + +However, the dinner progressed, though each course that brought it +nearer a conclusion afforded me an air of relief. I was quite +ready when, over the coffee, Kennedy contrived to make some excuse +for us, promising to call again and perhaps to visit the Erickson +plantation. + +In the secrecy of our room in the little hotel, Craig was soon +deeply buried in making use of his traveling laboratory. As he +worked I could no longer restrain my impatience. "What about that +little bottle of keratin?" I asked, eagerly. + +"Oh yes," he replied, not looking up from the tests he was making. +"Well, keratin, you know, is also called epidermose. It is a +scleroprotein present largely in cuticular structures such as +hair, nails, horn. I believe it is usually prepared from pieces of +horn steeped in pepsin, hydrochloric acid, and water for a long +time. Then the residue is dissolved in ammonia and acetic acid." + +"But what's its use?" I demanded. "You said it was harmless." + +"Why, the pepsin of the stomach won't digest it," he returned. +"For that reason its chief use is for coating what are known as +'enteric capsules.' Anything coated with keratin is carried on +through the stomach into the intestines. It is used much in hot +countries in order to introduce drugs into the intestines in the +treatment of the tropical diseases that affect the intestines." He +paused and devoted his entire attention to his work, but he had +told me enough to assure me that at least the bottle of keratin I +had found had proved to be a clue. + +I waited as long as I could, then interrupted again. "What are the +seeds?" I queried. "Have you found out yet?" + +He paused as though he had not quite finished his hasty +investigation, yet had found out enough to convince him. "There +seem to be two kinds. I wish I had had time to keep each lot +separate. Some of them are certainly quite harmless. But there are +others, I find, that have been soaked in nitro-benzol, artificial +oil of bitter almonds. Even a few drops, such as might be soaked +up in this way, might be fatal. The new and interesting phase, to +me, is that they were all carefully coated with keratin. Really, +they are keratin-coated enteric capsules of nitro-benzol, a deadly +poison." + +I looked at him, aghast at what some of us had been rescued from +by his prompt action. + +"You see," he went on, excitedly, "that is why the autopsies +probably showed nothing. These doctors down here sought for a +poison in the stomach. But if the poison had been in the stomach +the odor alone would have betrayed it. You smelt it when you +crushed a seed. But the poisoning had been devised to avoid just +that chance of discovery. There was no poison in the stomach. +Death was delayed long enough, also, to divert suspicion from the +real poisoner. Some one has been diabolically clever in covering +up the crimes." + +I could only gasp my amazement. "Then," I blurted out, "you think +the Ericksons--" + +Our door burst open. It was Burke, in wild excitement. + +"Has anybody--died?" I managed to demand. + +He seemed not to hear, but dashed to the window and threw it open. +"Look!" he exclaimed. + +We did. In the late twilight, through the open sash we could see +the landlocked basin of the harbor. But it was not that at which +Burke pointed. On the horizon an ugly dark cloud rose menacingly. +In the strange, unearthly murkiness, I could see people of the +town pouring out into the narrow streets, wildly, fearfully, with +frantic cries and gesticulations. + +For a moment I gazed at the sight blankly. Then I realized that +sweeping on us was one of those sudden, deadly West-Indian +hurricanes. Our harbor was sheltered from the north and east +winds. But this wind was southern born, rare, oncoming in a fury +against which we had no protection. + +Hastily closing his armamentarium, Kennedy also hurried out on the +street. The gale had become terrific already in the few minutes +that had elapsed. From our terrace we could see the water, gray +and olive, with huge white breakers, like gnashing teeth, coming +on to rend and tear everything in their path. It was as though we +stood in an amphitheater provided by nature for a great spectacle, +the bold headlands standing out like the curves of a stadium. + +I looked about. The Ericksons had just driven up with Burleigh and +Leontine, as well as Whitson, all of whom were stopping at our +hotel, and were about to take Sydney on to the consulate when the +approach of the storm warned them to stay. + +Leontine had hurried into the hotel, evidently fearful of the loss +of something she treasured, and the rest were standing apart from +the trees and buildings, where the formation of the land offered +some protection. As we joined them I peered at the pale faces in +the ghastly, unnatural light. Was it, in a sense, retribution? + +Suddenly, without further warning, the storm broke. Trees were +turned up by roots, like weeds, the buildings rocked as if they +had been houses of cards. It was a wild, catastrophic spectacle. + +"Leontine," I heard a voice mutter by my side, as a form +catapulted itself past through the murkiness into the crazily +swaying hotel. It was Burleigh. I turned to speak to Kennedy. He +was gone. Where to find him I had no idea. The force of the wind +was such that search was impossible. All we could do was to huddle +back of such protection as the earth afforded against the million +needles of rain that cut into our faces. + +The wind almost blew me flat to the earth as, no longer able to +stand the suspense, I stumbled toward the hotel, thinking perhaps +he had gone to save his armamentarium, although if I had stopped +to think I should have realized that that strong box was about the +safest piece of property on the island. + +I was literally picked up and hurled against an object in the +darkness--a man. "In the room--more keratin--more seeds." + +It was Kennedy. He had taken advantage of the confusion to make a +search which otherwise might have been more difficult. Together we +struggled back to our shelter. + +Just then came a crash, as the hotel crumpled under the fierce +stress of the storm. Out of the doorway struggled a figure just in +time to clear the falling walls. It was Burleigh, a huge gash from +a beam streaming blood down his forehead which the rain washed +away almost as it oozed. In his arms, clinging about his neck, was +Leontine, no longer the sophisticated, but in the face of this +primeval danger just a woman. Burleigh staggered with his burden a +little apart from us, and in spite of everything I could fancy him +blessing the storm that had given him his opportunity. + +Far from abating, the storm seemed increasing in fury, as though +all the devils of the underworld were vexed at anything remaining +undestroyed. It seemed as if even the hills on which the old +pirates had once had their castles must be rocking. + +"My God!" exclaimed a thick voice, as an arm shot out, pointing +toward the harbor. + +There was the Arroyo tugging at every extra mooring that could be +impressed into service. The lighters had broken or been cut away +and were scudding, destruction-bent, squarely at the shore almost +below us. A moment and they had crashed on the beach, a mass of +timbers and spars, while the pounding waves tore open and flung +about heavy cases as though they were mere toys. + +Then, almost as suddenly as it had come, the storm began to abate, +the air cleared, and nothing remained but the fury of the waves. + +"Look!" exclaimed Kennedy, pointing down at the strange wreckage +that strewed the beach. "Does that look like agricultural +machinery?" We strained our eyes. Kennedy did not pause. "The +moment I heard that arms were getting into Mexico I suspected that +somewhere here in the Caribbean munitions were being transhipped. +Perhaps they have been sent to Atlantic ports ostensibly for the +Allies. They have got down here disguised. Even before the storm +exposed them I had reasoned it out. From this port, the key to the +vast sweep of mainland, I reasoned that they were being taken over +to secret points on the coast where big ships could not safely go. +It was here that blockade-runners were refitted in our Civil War. +It is here that this new gun-running plot has been laid." + +He turned quickly to Sydney. "The only obstacle between the +transfer of the arms and success was the activity of an American +consulate. Those lighters were not to carry goods to other +islands. They were really destined for Mexico. It was profitable. +And the scheme for removing opposition was evidently safe." + +Kennedy was holding up another bottle of keratin and some fruit +seeds. "I found these in a room in the hotel," he added. + +I did not comprehend. "But," I cut in, "the hand-bag--the dinner-- +what of them?" + +"A plant--a despicable trespass on hospitality--all part of a +scheme to throw the guilt on some one else, worthy of a renegade +and traitor." + +Craig wheeled suddenly, then added, with an incisive gesture, "I +suppose you know that there is reputed to have been on one of +these hills the headquarters of the old pirate, Teach--'the +mildest manner'd man that ever scuttled ship or cut a throat!'" + +Kennedy paused, then added, quickly, "In respect to covering up +your gun-running, Whitson, you are superior even to Teach!" + + + + +XII + +THE SUNKEN TREASURE + + + "Get story Everson and bride yacht Belle Aventure + seeking treasure sunk Gulf liner Antilles." + +Kennedy and I had proceeded after a few leisurely days in St. +Thomas to Porto Rico. We had no particular destination, and San +Juan rather appealed to us as an objective point because it was +American. + +It was there that I found waiting for me the above message by +wireless from the Star in New York. + +San Juan was, as we had anticipated, a thoroughly Americanized +town and I lost no time in getting around at once to the office of +the leading newspaper, the Colonial News. The editor, Kenmore, +proved to be a former New York reporter who had come out in answer +to an advertisement by the proprietors of the paper. + +"What's the big story here now?" I asked by way of preface, +expecting to find that colonial newspapermen were provincial. + +"What's the big story?" repeated Kenmore, impatiently pushing +aside a long leader on native politics and regarding me +thoughtfully. "Well, I'm not superstitious, but a honeymoon spent +trying to break into Davy Jones's locker for sunken treasure--I +guess that's a good story, isn't it?" + +I showed him my message and he smiled. "You see, I was right," he +exclaimed. "They're searching now at the Cay d'Or, the Golden Key, +one of the southernmost of the Bahamas, I suppose you would call +it. I wish I was like you. I'd like to get away from this +political stuff long enough to get the story." + +He puffed absently on a fragrant native cigar. "I met them all +when they were here, before they started," he resumed, +reminiscently. "It was certainly a picturesque outfit--three +college chums--one of them on his honeymoon, and the couple +chaperoning the bride's sister. There was one of the college boys +--a fellow named Gage--who fairly made news." + +"How was that?" inquired Kennedy, who had accompanied me, full of +zest at the prospect of mixing in a story so romantic. + +"Oh, I don't know that it was his fault--altogether," replied +Kenmore. "There's a young lady here in the city, the daughter of a +pilot, Dolores Guiteras. She had been a friend of some one in the +expedition, I believe. I suppose that's how Gage met her. I don't +think either of them really cared for each other. Perhaps she was +a bit jealous of the ladies of the party. I don't know anything +much about it, only I remember one night in the cafe of the Palace +Hotel, I thought Gage and another fellow would fight a duel-- +almost--until Everson dropped in and patched the affair up and the +next day his yacht left for Golden Key." + +"I wish I'd been here to go with them," I considered. "How do you +suppose I'll be able to get out there, now?" + +"You might be able to hire a tug," shrugged Kenmore. "The only one +I know is that of Captain Guiteras. He's the father of this +Dolores I told you about." + +The suggestion seemed good, and after a few moments more of +conversation, absorbing what little Kenmore knew, we threaded our +way across the city to the home of the redoubtable Guiteras and +his pretty daughter. + +Guiteras proved to be a man of about fifty, a sturdy, muscular +fellow, his face bronzed by the tropical sun. + +I had scarcely broached the purpose of my visit when his restless +brown eyes seemed literally to flash. "No, sir," he exclaimed, +emphatically. "You cannot get me to go on any such expedition. Mr. +Everson came here first and tried to hire my tug. I wouldn't do +it. No, sir--he had to get one from Havana. Why, the whole thing +is unlucky--hoodooed, you call it. I will not touch it." + +"But," I remonstrated, surprised at his unexpected vehemence, "I +am not asking you to join the expedition. We are only going to--" + +"No, no," he interrupted. "I will not consider it. I--" + +He cut short his remarks as a young woman, radiant in her Latin- +American beauty, opened the door, hesitated at sight of us, then +entered at a nod from him. We did not need to be told that this +was the Dolores whom Kenmore's rumor had credited with almost +wrecking Everson's expedition at the start. She was a striking +type, her face, full of animation and fire, betraying more of +passion than of intellect. + +A keen glance of inquiry from her wonderful eyes at her father was +followed by a momentary faraway look, and she remained silent, +while Guiteras paused, as if considering something. + +"They say," he continued, slowly, his features drawn sharply, +"that there was loot of Mexican churches on that ship--the jewels +of Our Lady of the Rosary at Puebla.... That ship was cursed, I +tell you!" he added, scowling darkly. + +"No one was lost on it, though," I ventured at random. + +"I suppose you never heard the story of the Antilles?" he +inquired, turning swiftly toward me. Then, without stopping: "She +had just sailed from San Juan before she was wrecked--on her way +to New York from Vera Cruz with several hundred Mexican refugees. +Treasure? Yes; perhaps millions, money that belonged to wealthy +families in Mexico--and some that had the curse on it. + +"You asked a moment ago if everybody wasn't rescued. Well, +everybody was rescued from the wreck except Captain Driggs. I +don't know what happened. No one knows. The fire had got into the +engine-room and the ship was sinking fast. Passengers saw him, +pale, like a ghost, some said. Others say there was blood +streaming from his head. When the last boat-load left they +couldn't find him. They had to put off without him. It was a +miracle that no one else was lost." + +"How did the fire start?" inquired Kennedy, much interested. + +"No one knows that, either," answered Guiteras, shaking his head +slowly. "I think it must have been smoldering in the hold for +hours before it was discovered. Then the pumps either didn't work +properly or it had gained too great headway for them. I've heard +many people talk of it and of the treasure. No, sir, you wouldn't +get me to touch it. Maybe you'll call it superstition. But I won't +have anything to do with it. I wouldn't go with Mr. Everson and I +won't go with you. Perhaps you don't understand, but I can't help +it." + +Dolores had stood beside her father while he was speaking, but had +said nothing, though all the time she had been regarding us from +beneath her long black eyelashes. Arguments with the old pilot had +no effect, but I could not help feeling that somehow she was on +our side, that whether she shared his fears and prejudices, her +heart was really somewhere near the Key of Gold. + +There seemed to be nothing for us to do but wait until some other +way turned up to get out to the expedition, or perhaps Dolores +succeeded in changing the captain's mind. We bowed ourselves out, +not a little puzzled by the enigma of the obdurate old man and his +pretty daughter. Try as I might among the busy shipping of the +port, I could find no one else willing at any reasonable price to +change his plans to accommodate us. + +It was early the next morning that a young lady, very much +perturbed, called on us at our hotel, scarcely waiting even the +introduction of her plainly engraved card bearing the name, Miss +Norma Sanford. + +"Perhaps you know of my sister, Asta Sanford, Mrs. Orrin Everson," +she began, speaking very rapidly as if under stress. "We're down +here on Asta's honeymoon in Orrin's yacht, the Belle Aventure." +Craig and I exchanged glances, but she did not give us a chance to +interrupt. + +"It all seems so sudden, so terrible," she cried, in a burst of +wild, incoherent feeling. "Yesterday Bertram Traynor died, and +we've put back to San Juan with his body. I'm so worried for Orrin +and my sister. I heard you were here, Professor Kennedy, and I +couldn't rest until I saw you." + +She was looking anxiously at Craig. I wondered whether she had +heard of our visit to the Guiterases and what she knew about that +other woman. + +"I don't quite understand," interposed Kennedy, with an effort to +calm her. "Why do you fear for your sister and Mr. Everson? Was +there something--suspicious--about the death of Mr. Traynor?" + +"Indeed I think there was," she replied, quickly. "None of us has +any idea how it happened. Let me tell you about our party. You +see, there are three college chums, Orrin and two friends, Bertram +Traynor and Donald Gage. They were all on a cruise down here last +winter, the year after they graduated. It was in San Juan that +Orrin first met Mr. Dominick, who was the purser on the Antilles-- +you know, that big steamer of the Gulf Line that was burned last +year and went down with seven million dollars aboard?" + +Kennedy nodded to the implied query, and she went on: "Mr. +Dominick was among those saved, but Captain Driggs was lost with +his ship. Mr. Dominick had been trying to interest some one here +in seeking the treasure. They knew about where the Antilles went +down, and the first thing he wanted to do was to locate the wreck +exactly. After that was done of course Mr. Dominick knew about the +location of the ship's strong room and all that." + +"That, of course, was common knowledge to any one interested +enough to find out, though," suggested Kennedy. + +"Of course," she agreed. "Well, a few months later Orrin met Mr. +Dominick again, in New York. In the mean time he had been talking +the thing over with various people and had become acquainted with +a man who had once been a diver for the Interocean Marine +Insurance Company--Owen Kinsale. Anyhow, so the scheme grew. They +incorporated a company, the Deep Sea Engineering Company, to +search for the treasure. That is how Orrin started. They are using +his yacht and Mr. Dominick is really in command, though Mr. +Kinsale has the actual technical knowledge." + +She paused, but again her feelings seemed to get the better of +her. "Oh," she cried, "I've been afraid all along, lately. It's +dangerous work. And then, the stories that have been told of the +ship and the treasure. It seems ill-fated. Professor Kennedy," she +appealed, "I wish you would come and see us. We're not on the +yacht just now. We came ashore as soon as we arrived back, and +Asta and Orrin are at the Palace Hotel now. Perhaps Orrin can tell +you more. If you can do nothing more than quiet my fears--" + +Her eyes finished the sentence. Norma Sanford was one of those +girls who impress you as quite capable of taking care of +themselves. But in the presence of the tragedy and a danger which +she felt but could not seem to define, she felt the need of +outside assistance and did not hesitate to ask it. Nor was Kennedy +slow in responding. He seemed to welcome a chance to help some one +in distress. + +We found Everson and his young wife at the hotel, quite different +now from the care-free adventurers who had set out only a few days +before to wrest a fortune from chance. + +I had often seen portraits of the two Sanford sisters in the +society pages of the papers in the States and knew that the +courtship of Orrin Everson and Asta Sanford had been a true bit of +modern romance. + +Asta Everson was a unique type of girl. She had begun by running +fast motor cars and boats. That had not satisfied her, and she had +taken up aviation. Once, even, she had tried deep-sea diving +herself. It seemed as if she had been born with the spirit of +adventure. + +To win her, Everson had done about everything from Arctic +exploration one summer when he was in college to big-game hunting +in Africa, and mountain-climbing in the Andes. Odd though the +romance might seem to be, one could not help feeling that the +young couple were splendidly matched in their tastes. Each had +that spirit of restlessness which, at least, sent them out playing +at pioneering. + +Everson had organized the expedition quite as much in the spirit +of revolt against a prosaic life of society at home as for gain. +It had appealed strongly to Asta. She had insisted that nothing so +much as a treasure hunt would be appropriate for their wedding- +trip and they had agreed on the unconventional. Accordingly, she +and her sister had joined Everson and his party, Norma, though a +year younger, being quite like her sister in her taste for +excitement. + +"Of course, you understand," explained Everson, as he hurriedly +tried to give us some idea of what had happened, "we knew that the +Antilles had sunk somewhere off the Cay d'Or. It was first a +question of locating her. That was all that we had been doing when +Bertram died. It is terrible, terrible. I can't believe it. I +can't understand it." + +In spite of his iron nerve, the tragedy seemed to have shaken +Everson profoundly. + +"You had done nothing that might have been dangerous?" asked +Kennedy, pointedly. + +"Nothing," emphasized Everson. "You see, we located the wreck in a +way somewhat similar to the manner in which they sweep the seas +for mines and submarines. It was really very simple, though it +took us some time. All we did was to drag a wire at a fixed depth +between the yacht and the tug, or rather, I suppose you'd almost +call it a trawler, which I chartered from Havana. What we were +looking for was to have the wire catch on some obstruction. It +did, too, not once, but many times, due to the unevenness of the +ocean bed. Once we located a wreck, but it was in shallow water, a +small boat, not the one we were looking for." + +"But you succeeded finally?" + +"Yes, only day before yesterday we located her. We marked the spot +with a buoy and were getting ready for real work. It was just +after that that Bertram was taken ill and died so suddenly. We've +left Dominick, Kinsale, Gage, and the rest on the trawler there, +while I came here with Traynor's body. God! but it was awful to +have to send the news back to New York. I don't know what to think +or what to do." + +"How did he die?" asked Kennedy, endeavoring to gain the +confidence of young Everson. "Do you recall any of his symptoms?" + +"It came on him so suddenly," he replied, "that we hadn't much +time to think. As nearly as we could make out, it began with a +faintness and difficulty in breathing. We asked him how he felt-- +but it seemed as if he was deaf. I thought it might be the +'bends'--you know, caisson disease--and we started to put him in +the medical lock which we had for the divers, but before we could +get it ready he was unconscious. It was all so sudden that it +stunned us. I can't make it out at all." + +Neither Asta nor Norma seemed able to tell anything. In fact, the +blow had been so swift and unexpected, so incomprehensible, that +it had left them thoroughly alarmed. + +The body of Traynor had already been brought ashore and placed in +a local undertaking shop. With Everson, Kennedy and I hastened to +visit it. + +Traynor had been an athlete and powerfully built, which made his +sudden death seem all the more strange. Without a word, Craig set +to work immediately examining his body, while we stood aside, +watching him in anxious silence. Kennedy consumed the greater part +of the morning in his careful investigation, and after some time +Everson began to get restless, wondering how his wife and sister- +in-law were getting on in his absence. To keep him company I +returned to the hotel with him, leaving Kennedy to pursue his work +alone. + +There was nothing much that either of us could say or do, but I +thought I observed, on closer acquaintance with Norma, that she +had something weighing on her mind. Was it a suspicion of which +she had not told us? Evidently she was not prepared to say +anything yet, but I determined, rather than try to quiz her, to +tell Kennedy, in the hope that she might confide in him what she +would not breathe to any one else. + +It was perhaps an hour or more later that we returned to Craig. He +was still at work, though from his manner it was evident that his +investigations had begun to show something, however slight. + +"Have you found anything?" asked Everson, eagerly. + +"I think I have," returned Craig, measuring his words carefully. +"Of course you know the dangers of diving and the view now +accepted regarding the rapid effervescence of the gases which are +absorbed in the body fluids during exposure to pressure. I think +you know that experiment has proved that when the pressure is +suddenly relieved the gas is liberated in bubbles within the body. +That is what seems to do the harm. His symptoms, as you described +them, seemed to indicate that. It is like charged water in a +bottle. Take out the cork and the gas inside which has been under +pressure bubbles up. In the human body, air and particularly the +nitrogen in the air, literally form death bubbles." + +Everson said nothing as he regarded Kennedy's face searchingly, +and Craig went on: "Set free in the spinal cord, for instance, +such bubbles may cause partial paralysis, or in the heart may lead +to stoppage of the circulation. In this case I am quite sure that +what I have found indicates air in the arteries, the heart, and +the blood vessels of the brain. It must have been a case of air +embolism, insufflation." + +Though Everson seemed all along to have suspected something of the +sort, Kennedy's judgment left him quite as much at a loss for an +explanation. Kennedy seemed to understand, as he went on: + +"I have tried to consider all the ways such a thing could have +happened," he considered. "It is possible that air might have been +introduced into the veins by a hypodermic needle or other +instrument. But I find no puncture of the skin or other evidence +that would support that theory. I have looked for a lesion of the +lungs, but find none. Then how could it have occurred? Had he done +any real deep diving?" + +Everson shook his head slowly. "No," he replied. "As I said, it +wouldn't have been so incomprehensible if he had. Besides, if we +had been diving, we should have been on the lookout. No, Bertram +had only tested the apparatus once, after we located the wreck. He +didn't much more than go under the surface--nothing like the +practice dives we all made up in Long Island Sound before we came +down here. He was only testing the pumps and other things to see +whether they had stood the voyage. Why, it was nothing at all! I +don't see how it could have given any one the 'bends'--much less a +fellow like Traynor. Why, I think he could have stood more than +Kinsale with a little practice. Kennedy, I can't get it out of my +mind that there's something about this that isn't RIGHT." + +Craig regarded Everson gravely. "Frankly," he confessed, "I must +say that I don't understand it myself--at this distance." + +"Would you come out to the Key with me?" hastened Everson, as +though grasping at a possible solution. + +"I should be delighted to help you in any manner that I can," +returned Craig, heartily. + +Everson could not find words to express his gratitude as we +hurried back to the hotel. In the excitement, I had completely +forgotten the despatch from the Star, but now I suddenly realized +that here, ready to hand, was the only way of getting out to the +Key of Gold and securing the story. + +Asta Everson and Norma, especially, were overjoyed at the news +that Kennedy had consented to accompany them back to the wreck. +Evidently they had great faith in him, from what they had heard at +home. + +Accordingly, Everson lost no time in preparing to return to the +yacht. Nothing more now could be done for poor Traynor, and delay +might mean much in clearing up the mystery, if mystery it should +prove. We were well on our way toward the landing place before I +realized that we were going over much the same route that Kennedy +and I had taken the day before to reach the home of Guiteras. + +I was just about to say something about it to Kennedy, and of the +impression that Norma had made on me, when suddenly a figure +darted from around a corner and confronted us. We stopped in +surprise. It was no other than Dolores herself--not the quiet, +subdued Dolores we had seen the day before, but an almost wild, +passionate creature. What it was that had transformed her I could +not imagine. It was not ourselves that she seemed to seek, nor yet +the Eversons. She did not pause until she had come close to Norma +herself. + +For a moment the two women, so different in type, faced each +other, Dolores fiery with the ardent beauty of her race, Norma +pulsating with life and vigor, yet always mistress of herself. + +"I warn you!" cried Dolores, unable to restrain herself. "You +thought the other was yours--and he was not. Do not seek revenge. +He is mine--MINE, I tell you. Win your own back again. I was only +making sport of him. But mine--beware!" + +For a moment Norma gazed at her, then, without a word, turned +aside and walked on. Another instant and Dolores was gone as +suddenly as she had appeared. Asta looked inquiringly, but Norma +made no attempt at explanation. What did it mean? Had it anything +to do with the dispute in the hotel which Kenmore had witnessed? + +At the landing we parted for a time with Everson, to return to our +hotel and get what little we needed, including Kennedy's traveling +laboratory, while Everson prepared quarters for our reception on +the yacht. + +"What do you make of that Dolores incident?" I hastened to ask the +moment we were alone. + +"I don't know," he replied, "except that I feel it has an +important bearing on the case. There is something that Norma +hasn't told us, I fear." + +While we waited for a wagon to transfer our goods to the dock, +Kennedy took a moment to call up Kenmore on the News. As he turned +to me from the telephone, I saw that what he had learned had not +helped him much in his idea of the case. + +"It was the Interocean Company which had insured the Antilles," +was all he said. + +Instantly I thought of Kinsale and his former connection. Was he +secretly working with them still? Was there a plot to frustrate +Everson's plans? At least the best thing to do was to get out to +the wreck and answer our many questions at first hand. + +The Belle Aventure was a trim yacht of perhaps seventy feet, low, +slim, and graceful, driven by a powerful gas-engine and capable of +going almost anywhere. An hour later we were aboard and settled in +a handsomely appointed room, where Craig lost no time in +establishing his temporary traveling crime clinic. + +It was quite late before we were able to start, for Everson had a +number of commissions to attend to on this his first visit to port +since he had set out so blithely. Finally, however, we had taken +aboard all that he needed and we slipped out quietly past the +castle on the point guarding the entrance to the harbor. All night +we plowed ahead over the brilliant, starry, tropical sea, making +splendid time, for the yacht was one of the fastest that had ever +been turned out by the builders. + +Now and then I could see that Kennedy was furtively watching +Norma, in the hope that she might betray whatever secret it was +she was guarding so jealously. Though she betrayed nothing, I felt +sure that it had to do with some member of the expedition and that +it was a more than ordinarily complicated affair of the heart. The +ladies had retired, leaving us with Everson in the easy wicker +chairs on the after-deck. + +"I can't seem to get out of my mind, Everson, that meeting with +the Spanish girl on the street," suddenly remarked Kennedy, in the +hope of getting something by surprise. "You see, I had already +heard of a little unpleasantness in a hotel cafe, before the +expedition started. Somehow I feel that there must be some +connection." + +For a moment Everson regarded Kennedy under the soft rays of the +electric light under the awning as it swayed in the gentle air, +then looked out over the easy swell of the summer sea. + +"I don't understand it myself," he remarked, at length, lowering +his voice. "When we came down here Dominick knew that girl, +Dolores, and of course Kinsale met her right away, too. I thought +Gage was head over ears in love with Norma--and I guess he is. +Only that night in the cafe I just didn't like the way he proposed +a toast to Dolores. He must have met her that day. Maybe he was a +bit excited. What she said to-day might mean that it was her +fault. I don't know. But since we've been out to the Key I fancy +Norma has been pretty interested in Dominick. And Kinsale doesn't +hesitate to show that he likes her. It all sets Donald crazy. It's +so mixed up. I can't make anything of it. And Norma--well, even +Asta can't get anything out of her. I wish to Heaven you could +straighten the thing out." + +We talked for some time, without getting much more light than +Everson had been able at first to shed on the affair, and finally +we retired, having concluded that only time and events would +enable us to get at the truth. + +It was early in the morning that I was wakened by a change in the +motion of the boat. There was very little vibration from the +engine, but this motion was different. I looked out of the port- +hole which had been very cleverly made to resemble a window and +found that we had dropped anchor. + +The Key of Gold was a beautiful green island, set, like a +sparkling gem, in a sea of deepest turquoise. Slender pines with a +tuft of green at the top rose gracefully from the wealth of +foliage below and contrasted with the immaculate white of the +sandy beach that glistened in the morning sun. Romance seemed to +breathe from the very atmosphere of the place. + +We found that the others on the yacht were astir, too, and, +dressing hastily, we went out on deck. Across the dancing waves, +which seemed to throw a mocking challenge to the treasure-seekers +to find what they covered, we could see the trawler. Already a +small power-boat had put out from her and was plowing along toward +us. + +It was as the boat came alongside us that we met Gage for the +first time. He was a tall, clean-cut fellow, but even at a glance +I recognized that his was an unusual type. I fancied that both +proctors and professors had worried over him when he was in +college. + +Particularly I tried to discover how he acted when he met Norma. +It was easy to see that he was very eager to greet her, but I +fancied that there was some restraint on her part. Perhaps she +felt that we were watching and was on her guard. + +Dominick greeted Everson warmly. He was a man of about thirty-five +and impressed one as having seen a great deal of the world. His +position as purser had brought him into intimate contact with many +people, and he seemed to have absorbed much from them. I could +imagine that, like many people who had knocked about a great deal, +he might prove a very fascinating person to know. + +Kinsale, on the other hand, was a rather silent fellow and +therefore baffling. In his own profession of deep-sea diving he +was an expert, but beyond that I do not think he had much except +an ambition to get ahead, which might be praiseworthy or not, +according as he pursued it. + +I fancied that next to Everson himself, Norma placed more +confidence in Dominick than in any of the others, which seemed to +be quite natural, though it noticeably piqued Gage. On the part of +all three, Gage, Dominick, and Kinsale, it was apparent that they +were overjoyed at the return of Norma, which also was quite +natural, for even a treasure-hunt has hours of tedium and there +could be nothing tedious when she was about. Asta was undoubtedly +the more fascinating, but she was wrapped up in Everson. It was +not long before Kennedy and I also fell under the spell of Norma's +presence and personality. + +We hurried through breakfast and lost no time in accepting +Everson's invitation to join him, with the rest, in the little +power-boat on a visit to the trawler. + +It was Dominick who took upon himself the task of explaining to us +the mysteries of treasure-hunting as we saw them. "You see," he +remarked, pointing out to us what looked almost like a strangely +developed suit of armor, "we have the most recent deep-sea diving- +outfit which will enable us to go from two hundred to three +hundred feet down--farther, and establish a record if we had to do +it. It won't be necessary, though. The Antilles lies in about two +hundred and fifty feet of water, we have found. This armor has to +be strong, for, with the air pressure inside, it must resist a +pressure of nearly half a pound per square inch for each foot we +go--to be exact, something like a hundred and five pounds per +square inch at the depth of the wreck. Perhaps if Traynor had been +diving we might have thought that that was the trouble." + +It was the first reference since we arrived to the tragedy. "He +had only had the suit on once," went on Dominick, confirming +Everson, "and that was merely to test the pumps and valves and +joints. Even Kinsale, here, hasn't been down. Still, we haven't +been idle. I have something to report. With our instruments we +have discovered that the ship has heeled over and that it will be +a bit harder job to get into my office and get out the safe than +we hoped--but feasible." + +Kennedy showed more interest in the diving apparatus than he had +shown in anything else so far. The trawler was outfitted most +completely as a tender, having been anchored over the exact spot +at which the descents were to be made, held by four strong cables, +with everything in readiness for action. + +I saw him cast a quick glance at the others. For the moment +Dominick, Gage, and Kinsale seemed to have forgotten us in their +interest explaining to Norma what had been accomplished in her +absence. He seized the occasion to make an even closer examination +of the complicated apparatus. So carefully had accident been +guarded against that even a device for the purification of the air +had been installed in the machine which forced the fresh air down +to the diver, compressed. + +It was this apparatus which I saw Kennedy studying most, +especially one part where the air was passed through a small +chamber containing a chemical for the removal of carbon dioxide. +As he looked up, I saw a peculiar expression on his face. Quickly +he removed the chemical, leaving the tube through which the air +passed empty. + +"I think the air will be pure enough without any such treatment," +he remarked, glancing about to be sure no one had observed. + +"How is that?" I inquired, eagerly. + +"Well, you know air is a mechanical mixture of gases, mainly +oxygen and nitrogen. Here's something that gives it an excess of +nitrogen and a smaller percentage of oxygen. Nitrogen is the more +dangerous gas for one under compressed air. It is the more inert +nitrogen that refuses to get out of the blood after one has been +under pressure, that forms the bubbles of gas which cause all the +trouble, the 'bends,' compressed-air sickness, you know." + +"Then that is how Traynor died?" I whispered, coming hastily to +the conclusion. "Some one placed the wrong salt in there--took out +oxygen, added nitrogen, instead of removing carbon dioxide?" + +Norma had turned toward us. It was too early for Kennedy to accuse +anybody, whatever might be his suspicions. He could not yet come +from under cover. "I think so," was all he replied. + +A moment later the group joined us. "No one has been down on the +wreck yet?" inquired Craig, at which Everson turned quickly to the +three companions he had left in charge, himself anxious to know. + +"No," replied Kinsale before any one else could answer. "Mr. +Dominick thought we'd better wait until you came back." + +"Then I should like to be the first," cut in Craig, to my utter +surprise. Remonstrance had no effect with him. Neither Norma nor +Asta could dissuade him. As for the rest of us, our objections +seemed rather to confirm him in his purpose. + +Accordingly, in spite of the danger, which now no one no more than +he knew, all the preparations were made for the first dive. With +the aid of Kinsale, whom I watched closely, though no more so than +Craig, he donned the heavy suit of rubberized reinforced canvas, +had the leads placed on his feet and finally was fitted with the +metal head and the "bib"--the whole weighing hardly short of three +hundred pounds. It was with serious misgiving that I saw him go +over the side of the trawler and shoot down into the water with +its dark mystery and tragedy. + +The moments that he was down seemed interminable. Suspiciously I +watched every move that the men made, fearful that they might do +something. I longed for the technical knowledge that would have +enabled me to handle the apparatus. I tried to quiet my fears by +reasoning that Craig must have had perfect confidence in the value +of his discovery if he were willing to risk his life on it, yet I +felt that at least a show of vigilance on my part might bluff any +one off from an attempt to tamper again with the air-supply. I +stuck about closely. + +Yet, when there came a hasty signal on the indicator from below, +although I felt that he had been down for ages, I knew that it had +been only a very short time. Could it be a signal of trouble? Had +some one again tampered with the apparatus? + +Would they never bring him up? It seemed as if they were working +fearfully slow. I remembered how quickly he had shot down. What +had seemed then only a matter of seconds and minutes now seemed +hours. It was only by sheer will power that I restrained myself as +I realized that going under the air pressure might be done safely +quite fast, that he must come out slowly, by stages, that over the +telephone that connected with his helmet he was directing the +decompression in accordance with the latest knowledge that medical +science had derived of how to avoid the dread caisson disease. + +I don't know when I have felt more relief than I did at seeing his +weird headgear appear at the surface. The danger from the "bends" +might not be entirely over yet, but at least it was Craig himself, +safe, at last. + +As he came over the side of the trawler I ran to him. It was like +trying to greet a giant in that outlandish suit which was so +clumsy out of the water. Craig's back was turned to the others, +and when I realized the reason I stood aghast. He had brought up a +skull and had handed the gruesome thing to me with a motion of +secrecy. Meanwhile he hastened to get out of the cumbersome suit, +and, to my delight, showed no evidence yet of any bad effects. + +That he should have made the descent and returned so successfully +I felt must be a surprise to some one. Who was it? I could not +help thinking of Kinsale again. Was he working for two masters? +Was he still employed by the insurance company? Was this a scheme +to capture all the rich salvage of the ship instead of that +percentage to which Everson had secured an agreement with the +underwriters? + +Kennedy lost no time in getting back to the Belle Aventure with +the skull which I had concealed for him. It was a strange burden +and I was not loath to resign it to him. None of the others, +apparently, knew that he had brought up anything with him, and to +all questions he replied as though he had merely been testing out +the apparatus and, except in a most cursory way, had not made an +examination of the ship, although what he had observed confirmed +the investigations they had already made from the surface. + +In our cabin, Kennedy set to work immediately after opening his +traveling laboratory and taking from it a small kit of tools and +some materials that looked almost like those for an actor's make- +up. + +I saw that he wished to be left alone and retired as gracefully as +I could, determined to employ the time in watching the others. I +found Norma seated in one of the wicker chairs on the after-deck, +talking earnestly with Dominick, and, hesitating whether I should +interrupt them, I paused between the library and the sumptuously +fitted main saloon. I was glad that I did, for just that moment of +hesitation was enough for me to surprise a man peering out at them +through the curtains of a window, with every evidence of intense +dislike of the situation. Looking closer, I saw that it was Gage. +Had I expected anything of the sort I should have gone even more +cautiously. As it was, though I surprised him, he heard me in time +to conceal his real intentions by some trivial action. + +It seemed as if our arrival had been succeeded by a growth of +suspicion among the members of the little party. Each, as far as I +could make out, was now on guard, and, remembering that Kennedy +had often said that that was a most fruitful time, since it was +just under such circumstances that even the cleverest could not +help incriminating himself, I hastened back to let Craig know how +matters were. He was at work now on a most grotesque labor, and, +as he placed on it the finishing touches, he talked abstractedly. + +"What I am using, Walter," he explained, "might be called a new +art. Lately science has perfected the difficult process of +reconstructing the faces of human beings of whom only the skull or +a few bones, perhaps, are obtainable. + +"To the unskilled observer a fleshless skull presents little human +likeness and certainly conveys no notion of the exact appearance +in life of the person to whom it belonged. But by an ingenious +system of building up muscles and skin upon the bones of the skull +this appearance can be reproduced with scientific accuracy. + +"The method, I might say, has been worked out independently by +Professor von Froriep, in Germany, and by Dr. Henri Martin, in +France. Its essential principle consists in ascertaining from the +examination of many corpses the normal thickness of flesh that +overlies a certain bone in a certain type of face. From these +calculations the scientists by elaborate processes build up a face +on the skull." + +I watched him, with an uncontrollable fascination. "For instance," +he went on, "a certain type of bone always has nearly the same +thickness of muscle over it. A very fine needle with graduations +of hundredths of an inch is used in these measurements. As I have +done here, a great number of tiny plaster pyramids varying in +height according to the measurements obtained by these researches +are built up over the skull, representing the thickness of the +muscles. The next step will be to connect them together by a layer +of clay the surface of which is flush with the tips of the +pyramids. Then wax and grease paint and a little hair will +complete it. You see, it is really scientific restoration of the +face. I must finish it. Meanwhile, I wish you would watch Norma. +I'll join you in a short time." + +Norma was not on deck when I returned, nor did I see any one else +for some time. I walked forward, and paused at the door to the +little wireless-room on the yacht, intending to ask the operator +if he had seen her. + +"Where's Mr. Kennedy?" he inquired, before I had a chance to put +my own question. "Some one has been in this wireless-room this +morning and must have been sending messages. Things aren't as I +left them. I think he ought to know." + +Just then Everson himself came up from below, his face almost as +white as the paint on the sides of his yacht. Without a word, he +drew me aside, looking about fearfully as though he were afraid of +being overheard. "I've just discovered half a dozen sticks of +dynamite in the hold," he whispered, hoarsely, staring wide-eyed +at me. "There was a timing device, set for to-night. I've severed +it. Where's Kennedy?" + +"Your wireless has been tampered with, too," I blurted out, +telling what I had just learned. + +We looked at each other blankly. Clearly some one had plotted to +blow up the yacht and all of us on board. Without another word, I +took his arm and we walked toward our state-room, where Kennedy +was at work. As we entered the narrow passage to it I heard low +voices. Some one was there before us. Kennedy had shut the door +and was talking in the hall. As we turned the corner I saw that it +was Norma, whom I had forgotten in the surprise of the two +discoveries that had been so suddenly made. + +As we approached she glanced significantly at Kennedy as if +appealing to him to tell something. Before he could speak, Everson +himself interrupted, telling of his discovery of the dynamite and +of what the wireless operator had found. + +There was a low exclamation from Norma. "It's a plot to kidnap +me!" she cried, in a smothered voice. "Professor Kennedy--I told +you I thought so!" + +Everson and I could only look our inquiries at the startling new +turn of events. + +"Miss Sanford has just been to her state-room," hastily explained +Craig. "There she found that some one had carefully packed up a +number of her things and hidden them, as if waiting a chance to +get them off safely. I think her intuition is correct. There would +be no motive for robbery--here." + +Vainly I tried to reason it out. As I thought, I recalled that +Gage had seemed insanely jealous of both Dominick and Kinsale, +whenever he saw either with Norma. Did Gage know more about these +mysterious happenings than appeared? Why had he so persistently +sought her? Had Norma instinctively fled from his attentions? + +"Where are the others?" asked Craig, quickly. I turned to Everson. +I had not yet had time to find out. + +"Gone back to the trawler," he replied. + +"Signal them to come aboard here directly," ordered Craig. + +It seemed an interminable time as the message was broken out in +flags to the trawler, which was not equipped with the wireless. +Even the hasty explanation which Kennedy had to give to Asta +Everson, as she came out of her cabin, wondering where Orrin had +gone, served only to increase the suspense. It was as though we +were living over a powder-magazine that threatened to explode at +any moment. What did the treachery of one member of the expedition +mean? Above all, who was it? + +We had been so intent watching from the deck the all too slow +approach of the little power-boat from the trawler that we had +paid no attention to what was on our other quarter. + +"A tug approaching, sir," reported the man on watch to Everson. +"Seems to be heading for us, sir." + +We turned to look. Who was she, friend or foe? We knew not what to +expect. Everson, pale but with a firm grip on his nerves, did not +move from the deck as the power-boat came alongside, and Dominick, +Gage, and Kinsale swung themselves up the ladder to us. + +"It's the tug of that pilot, Guiteras, sir," interposed the man +who had spoken before. Not a word was spoken, though I fancied +that a quiet smile flitted over Kennedy's face as we waited. + +The tug ranged up alongside us. To my utter astonishment, I saw +Dolores, her black eyes eagerly scanning our faces. Was she +looking for Gage, I wondered? It was only a moment when the party +that had put out from the tug also came tumbling aboard. + +"I got your message, Kennedy, and brought Guiteras. He wouldn't +join the expedition, but he thought more of his daughter than of +anything else." + +It was Kenmore, who had at last achieved his wish to get on the +treasure-hunt story. Everson looked inquiringly at Craig. + +"Message?" repeated Kennedy. "I sent no message." + +It was Kenmore's turn to stare. Had some one hoaxed him into a +wild-goose chase, after all? + +"Nothing? About Dolores being deserted, and--" + +"He shall marry my daughter!" boomed a gruff voice as Guiteras +shouldered his way through the little group, his hand shooting +back to a pocket where bulged a huge Colt. + +Like a flash Kennedy, who had been watching, caught his wrist. +"Just a second, Captain," he shouted, then turned to us, speaking +rapidly and excitedly. "This thing has all been carefully, +diabolically laid out. All who stood in the way of the whole of +the treasure were to be eliminated. One person has sought to get +it all--at any cost." + +In Craig's own hand now gleamed a deadly automatic while with the +other he held Guiteras's wrist. + +"But," he added, tensely, "an insane passion has wrecked the +desperate scheme. A woman has been playing a part--leading the man +on to his own destruction in order to save the man she really +loves." + +I looked over at Norma. She was pale and agitated, then burning +and nervous by turns. It was only by a most heroic effort that she +seemed able to restrain herself, her eyes riveted on Kennedy's +face, weighing every word to see whether it balanced with a +feeling in her own heart. + +"The Antilles," shot out Kennedy, suddenly, "was burned and sunk, +not by accident, but with a purpose. That purpose has run through +all the events I have seen--the use of Mr. Everson, his yacht, his +money, his influence. Come!" He strode down the passage to our +state-room, and we followed in awed silence. + +"It is a vast, dastardly crime--to get the Mexican millions," he +went on, pausing, his hand on the knob of the door while we +crowded the narrow passage. "I have brought up from the wreck a +skull which I found near a safe, unlocked so that entrance would +be easy. The skull shows plainly that the man had been hit on the +head by some blunt instrument, crushing him. Had he discovered +something that it was inconvenient to know? You have heard the +stories of the ill-fated ship--" + +Craig flung open the door suddenly. We saw a weird face--the head +apparently streaming blood from a ghastly wound. There was a +shrill cry beside me. + +"It's his ghost--Captain Driggs! God save me--it's his ghost come +to haunt me and claim the treasure!" + +I turned quickly. Dominick had broken down. + +"You were--just leading him on--tell me--Norma." I turned again +quickly. It was Gage, who had taken Norma's hand, quivering with +excitement. + +"You never cared for her?" she asked, with the anxiety that showed +how in her heart she loved him. + +"Never. It was part of the plot. I sent the message to get her +here to show you. I didn't know you were playing a game--" + +Suddenly the sharp crack of a pistol almost deafened us in the +close passageway. As the smoke cleared, I saw Dolores, her eyes +blazing with hatred, jealousy, revenge. In her hand was the pistol +she had wrenched from her father. + +On the floor across the door-sill sprawled a figure. Dominick had +paid the price of his faithlessness to her also. + +THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure-Train, by Arthur B. Reeve + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE-TRAIN *** + +This file should be named trstr10.txt or trstr10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, trstr11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, trstr10a.txt + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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