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+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
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