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diff --git a/33466.txt b/33466.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..130cfdb --- /dev/null +++ b/33466.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11170 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Social Gangster, 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 Social Gangster + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Illustrator: Will Foster + +Release Date: August 19, 2010 [EBook #33466] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOCIAL GANGSTER *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE SOCIAL GANGSTER + + THE CRAIG KENNEDY SERIES + + BY ARTHUR B. REEVE + + +FRONTISPIECE BY WILL FOSTER + +HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS +NEW YORK AND LONDON + +Copyright, 1916, by HARPER & BROTHERS +Printed in the United States of America + + +[Illustration: JUST BEFORE WE WERE OFF A TELEGRAM CAME TO HER, WHICH SHE +READ AND HASTILY STUFFED INTO A POCKET OF HER RIDING HABIT] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. THE SOCIAL GANGSTER + +II. THE CABARET ROUGE + +III. THE FOX HUNT + +IV. THE TANGO THIEF + +V. THE "THE DANSANT" + +VI. THE SERUM DIAGNOSIS + +VII. THE DIAMOND QUEEN + +VIII. THE ANESTHETIC VAPORIZER + +IX. THE TWILIGHT SLEEP + +X. THE SIXTH SENSE + +XI. THE INFERNAL MACHINES + +XII. THE SUBMARINE BELL + +XIII. THE SUPER-TOXIN + +XIV. THE SECRET AGENTS + +XV. THE GERM OF ANTHRAX + +XVI. THE SLEEPMAKER + +XVII. THE INTER-URBAN HANDICAP + +XVIII. THE TOXIN OF FATIGUE + +XIX. THE X-RAY DETECTIVE + +XX. THE MECHANICAL CONNOISSEUR + +XXI. THE RADIOGRAPH WITNESS + +XXII. THE ABSOLUTE ZERO + +XXIII. THE VACUUM BOTTLE + +XXIV. THE SOLAR PLEXUS + +XXV. THE DEMON ENGINE + +XXVI. THE ELECTROLYSIS CLEW + +XXVII. THE PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE + +XXVIII. THE CANCER HOUSE + +XXIX. THE QUACK DOCTORS + +XXX. THE FILTERABLE VIRUS + +XXXI. THE VOODOO MYSTERY + +XXXII. THE FLUORISCINE TEST + +XXXIII. THE RESPIRATION CALORIMETER + +XXXIV. THE EVIL EYE + +XXXV. THE BURIED TREASURE + +XXXVI. THE WEED OF MADNESS + + + + +THE SOCIAL GANGSTER + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SOCIAL GANGSTER + + +"I'm so worried over Gloria, Professor Kennedy, that I hardly know what +I'm doing." + +Mrs. Bradford Brackett was one of those stunning women of baffling age +of whom there seem to be so many nowadays. One would scarcely have +believed that she could be old enough to have a daughter who would worry +her very much. + +Her voice trembled and almost broke as she proceeded with her story, +and, looking closer, I saw that, at least now, her face showed marks of +anxiety that told on her more than would have been the case some years +before. + +At the mention of the name of Gloria Brackett, I saw that Craig was +extremely interested, though he did not betray it to Mrs. Brackett. +Already, with my nose for news I had scented a much bigger story than +any that had been printed. For the Bracketts had lately been more or +less in the news of the day. + +Choking back a little suppressed sob in her throat, Mrs. Brackett took +from a delicate gold mesh bag and laid on the desk before Kennedy a +small clipping from the "Lost and Found" advertisements in the _Star_. +It read: + + "REWARD of $10,000 and absolutely no questions asked for the + return of a diamond necklace of seventy-one stones which + disappeared from a house at Willys Hills, Long Island, last + Saturday or Sunday. + + "LA RUE & CO., Jewelers, + "---- Fifth Avenue." + +I recognized the advertisement as one that had occasioned a great deal +of comment on the _Star_, due to its peculiar nature. It had been a +great mystery, perhaps much more so than if the advertisement had been +worded and signed in the usual way. + +I knew also that the advertisement had created a great furore of +excitement and gossip at the fashionable North Shore Hunt Club of which +Bradford Brackett was Master of Fox Hounds. + +"At first," explained Mrs. Brackett nervously, "La Rue & Co. were able +to keep the secret. They even refused to let the police take up the +case. But as public interest in the advertisement increased at last the +secret leaked out--at least that part of it which connected our name +with the loss. That, however, seemed only to whet curiosity. It left +everybody wondering what was back of it all. That's what we've been +trying to avoid--that sort of publicity." + +She paused a moment, but Kennedy said nothing, evidently thinking that +the best safety valve for her overwrought feelings would be to let her +tell her story in her own way. + +"Why, you know," she resumed rapidly, to hide her agitation, "the most +ridiculous things have been said. Some people have even said that we +lost nothing at all, that it was all a clever attempt at notoriety, to +get our names in the papers. Some have said it was a plan to collect the +burglary insurance. But we are wealthy. They didn't stop to think how +inconceivable that was. We have nothing to lose, even if the necklace is +never heard of again." + +For the moment her indignation had got the better of her worry. Most +opinions, I recalled, had been finally that the disappearance was mixed +up with some family affairs. At any rate, here was to be the real story +at last. I dissembled my interest. Mrs. Brackett's indignation was +quickly succeeded by the more poignant feelings that had brought her to +Kennedy. + +"You see," she continued, now almost sobbing, "it is really all, I fear, +my own fault. I didn't realize that Gloria was growing so fast and so +far out of my life. I've let her be brought up by governesses and +servants. I've sent her to the best schools I could find. I thought it +was all right. But now, too late, I realize that it is all wrong. I +haven't kept close enough to her." + +She was rattling on in this disjointed manner, getting more and more +excited, but still Kennedy made no effort to lead the conversation. + +"I didn't think Gloria was more than a child. But--why, Mr. Kennedy, +she's been going, I find, to these afternoon dances in the city and out +at a place not far from Willys Hills." + +"What sort of places?" prompted Kennedy. + +"The Cabaret Rouge," answered Mrs. Brackett, flashing at us a look of +defiance that really masked fear of public opinion. + +I knew of the place. It had an extremely unsavory reputation. In fact +there were two places of the same name, one in the city and the other +out on Long Island. + +Mrs. Brackett must have seen Kennedy and me exchange a look askance at +the name. + +"Oh, it's not a question of morals, alone," she hastened. "After all, +sometimes common sense and foolishness are fair equivalents for right +and wrong." + +Kennedy looked up quickly, genuinely surprised at this bit of worldly +wisdom. + +"When women do stupid, dangerous things, trouble follows," she +persisted, adding, "if not at once, a bit later. This is a case of it." + +One could not help feeling sorry for the woman and what she had to face. + +"I had hoped, oh, so dearly," she went on a moment later, "that Gloria +would marry a young man who, I know, is devoted to her, an Italian of +fine family, Signor Franconi--you must have heard of him--the inventor +of a new system of wireless transmission of pictures. But with such a +scandal--how can we expect it? Do you know him?" + +"Not personally, though I have heard of him," returned Kennedy briefly. + +Both Craig and myself had been interested in reports of his invention, +which he called the "Franconi Telephote," by which he claimed to be able +to telegraph either over wires or by wireless light and dark points so +rapidly and in such a manner as to deceive the eye and produce at the +receiving end what amounted to a continuous reproduction of a picture +at the transmitting end. At least, in spite of his society leanings, +Franconi was no mere dilettante inventor. + +"But--the necklace," suggested Craig, after a moment, for the first time +interrupting the rather rambling trend of Mrs. Brackett's story, "what +has this all to do with the necklace?" + +She looked at him almost despairingly. "I don't really care for a +thousand such necklaces," she cried. "It is my daughter--her good +name--her--her safety!" + +Suddenly she had become almost hysterical as she thought of the real +purpose of her visit, which she had not yet been able to bring herself +to disclose even to Kennedy. Finally, with an effort, she managed to +control herself and go on. + +"You see," she said in a low tone, almost as if she were confessing some +fault of her own, "Gloria has been frequenting these--_recherche_ +places, without my knowledge, and there she has become intimate with +some of the fastest of the fast set. + +"You ask about the necklace. I don't know, I must admit. Has some one of +her friends taken advantage of her to learn our habits and get into the +house and get it? Or, have they put her up to getting it?" + +The last query was wrung from her as if by main force. She could not +even breathe it without a shudder. "When the necklace was stolen," she +added tremulously, "it must have been an inside job, as you detectives +call it. Mr. Brackett and I were away at the time at a week-end party. +We supposed Gloria was visiting some friends in the city. But since +then we have learned that she motored out with some of her dance-crazed +acquaintances to the Cabaret Rouge, not far from Willys Hills. It must +have been taken then--by some of them." + +The recital to comparative strangers, even though they were to be +trusted to right the wrong, was more than she could bear. Mrs. Brackett +was now genuinely in tears, her shoulders trembling under the emotion, +as she bowed her head. Her despair and self-accusation would really have +moved anyone, much less were needed to enlist Kennedy. He said nothing, +but his look of encouragement seemed to nerve her up again to go on. She +forced back her feelings heroically. + +"We put the advertisement that way because--well, now you understand +why," she resumed; then anticipating our question, added, "But there has +been no response." + +I knew from her tone that even to herself she would not admit that +Gloria might have been guilty. Yet subconsciously it must have been in +her mind and she knew it was in ours. Her voice broke again. + +"Mr. Brackett has repeatedly ordered Gloria to give up her fast +acquaintances. But she defies him. Even to my pleadings she has turned a +deaf ear." + +It was most pathetic to watch the workings of the mother's face as she +was forced to say this of her daughter. All thought of the necklace was +lost, now. + +"I--I want my daughter back," she almost wailed. + +"Who are these rapid youngsters?" asked Craig gently. + +"I don't know all of them," she replied. "There is young Rittenhouse +Smith; he is one. The Rittenhouse Smiths, you know, are a very fine +family. But young 'Ritter,' as the younger set call him, is wild. +They've had to cut his allowance two or three times, I believe. Another +of them is Rhinelander Brown. I don't think the Browns have much money, +but it is a good family. Oh," she added with a faint attempt at a smile, +"I'm not the only mother who has heart-aches. But the worst of it is +that there are some professionals with whom they go--a dancer, Rex Du +Mond, and a woman named Bernice Bentley. I don't know any more of them, +but I presume there is a regular organization of these social +gangsters." + +"Did Signor Franconi--ever go with them?" asked Craig. + +"Oh, mercy, no," she hastened. + +"And they can't seem to break the gang up," ruminated Craig, evidently +liking her characterization of the group. + +She sighed deeply and wiped away another tear. "I've done what I could +with Gloria. I've cut her allowance--but it has done no good. I'm losing +my hold on her altogether. You--you will help me--I mean, help Gloria?" +she asked eagerly, leaning forward in an appeal which must have cost her +a great deal, so common is the repression of such feelings in women of +her type. + +"Gladly," returned Kennedy heartily. "I will do anything in my power." + +Proud though she was, Mrs. Brackett could scarcely murmur her thanks. + +"Where can I see Gloria?" asked Kennedy finally. + +She shook her head. "I can't say. If you want to, you may see her +tomorrow, though, at the drag hunt of the club. My husband says he is +not going to take Gloria's actions without a protest. So he has +peremptorily ordered her to attend the meet of the Hunt Club. We thought +it would get her away, at least for a time, from her associates, though +I must say I can't be sure that she will obey." + +I thought I understood, partly at least. Bradford Brackett's election as +M. F. H. had been a crowning distinction in his social career and he did +not propose to have Gloria's escapades spoil the meet for him. Perhaps +he thought this as good an occasion as any to use his power to force her +back into the circle to which she rightfully belonged. + +Mrs. Brackett had risen. "How can I ever thank you?" she exclaimed, +extending her hand impulsively. "I know nothing has been changed--yet. +But already I feel better." + +"I shall do what I can; depend on me," reiterated Kennedy modestly. "If +I can do nothing before, I shall be out at the Hunt Club +tomorrow--perhaps I shall be there anyhow." + +"This is a most peculiar situation," I remarked a few minutes later, as +Mrs. Brackett was whisked away from the laboratory door in her motor. + +"Indeed it is," returned Kennedy, pacing up and down, his face wrinkled +with thought. "I don't know whether I feel more like a detective or a +spiritual adviser." He pulled out his watch. "Half-past four," he +considered. "I'd like to have a look at that Cabaret Rouge here in +town." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CABARET ROUGE + + +It was a perfect autumn afternoon, one of those days when one who is +normal feels the call to get out of doors and enjoy what is left of the +fine weather before the onset of winter. We strode along in the bracing +air until at last we turned into Broadway at the upper end of what might +be called "Automobile Row." Motor cars and taxicabs were buzzing along +in an endless stream, most of them filled with women, gowned and +bonneted in the latest mode. + +Before the garish entrance of the Cabaret Rouge they seemed to pile up +and discharge their feminine cargoes. We entered and were quickly +engulfed in the tide of eager pleasure seekers. A handsome and judicious +tip to the head waiter secured us a table at the far end of a sort of +mezzanine gallery, from which we could look down over a railing at the +various groups at the little white tables below. There we sat, careful +to spend the necessary money to entitle us to stay, for to the average +New Yorker the test seems to be not so much what one is getting for it +as how much money is spent when out for a "good time." + +Smooth and glittering on the surface, like its little polished dancing +floor in the middle of the squares of tables downstairs, the Cabaret +Rouge, one could see, had treacherous undercurrents unsuspected until an +insight such as we had just had revealed them. + +The very atmosphere seemed vibrant with laughter and music. A string +band played sharp, staccato, highly accentuated music, a band of negroes +as in many of the showy and high-priced places where a keen sense of +rhythm was wanted. All around us women were smoking cigarettes. +Everywhere they were sipping expensive drinks. Instinctively one felt +the undertow in the very atmosphere. + +I wondered who they were and where they all came from, these expensively +dressed, apparently refined though perhaps only veneered girls, whirling +about with the pleasantest looking young men who expertly guided them +through the mazes of the fox-trot and the canter waltz and a dozen other +steps I knew not of. This was one of New York's latest and most approved +devices to beguile the languid afternoons of ladies of leisure. + +"There she is," pointed out Kennedy finally. "I recognize her from the +pictures I've seen." + +I followed the direction of his eyes. The music had started and out on +the floor twisting in and out among the crowded couples was one pair +that seemed to attract more attention than the rest. They had come from +a gay party seated in a little leather cozy corner like several about +the room, evidently reserved for them, for the cozy corners seemed to be +much in demand. + +Gloria was well named. She was a striking girl, not much over nineteen +surely, tall, lissome, precisely the figure that the modern dances must +have been especially designed to set off. I watched her attentively. In +fact I could scarcely believe the impression I was gaining of her. + +Already one could actually see on her marks of dissipation. One does not +readily think of a girl as sowing her wild oats. Yet they often do. This +is one of the strange anomalies of the new freedom of woman. A few years +ago such a place would have been neither so decent nor attractive. Now +it was superficially both. To it went those who never would have dared +overstep the strictly conventional in the evil days when the reformer +was not abroad in the land. + +I watched Gloria narrowly. Clearly here was an example of a girl +attracted by the glamor of the life and flattery of its satellites. What +the end of it all might be I preferred not to guess. + +Craig was looking about at the variegated crowd. Suddenly he jogged my +elbow. There, just around the turn of the railing of the gallery, sat a +young man, dark of hair and eyes, of a rather distinguished foreign +appearance, his face set in a scowl as he looked down on the heads of +the dancers. One could have followed the tortuous course of Gloria and +her partner by his eyes, which the man never took off her, even +following her back to the table in the corner when the encore of the +dance was finished. + +The young man's face at least was familiar to me, though I had not met +him. It was Signor Franconi, quietly watching Gloria and her gay party. + +After a few moments, Craig rose, paid his check, and moved over to the +table where Franconi was sitting alone. He introduced himself and +Franconi, with easy politeness, invited us to join him. + +I studied the man's face attentively. Signor Franconi was still young, +in spite of the honors that had been showered on him for his many +inventions. I had wondered before why such a man would be interested in +a girl of Gloria's evident type. But as I studied him I fancied I +understood. To his serious mind it was just the butterfly type that +offered the greatest relief. An intellectual woman would have been +merely carrying into another sphere the problems with which he was more +than capable of wrestling. But there was no line of approval in his fine +face of the butterfly and candle-singeing process that was going on +here. I must say I heartily liked him. + +"What are you working on now?" asked Kennedy as a preliminary step to +drawing him out against the time when we might become better acquainted +and put the conversation on a firmer basis. + +"A system of wireless transmission of pictures," he returned +mechanically. "I think I have vastly improved the system of Dr. Korn. +You are familiar with it, I presume?" + +Kennedy nodded. "I have seen it work," he said simply. + +That telephotograph apparatus, I remembered, depended on the ability of +the element selenium to vary the strength of an electric current passing +through it in proportion to the brightness with which the selenium is +illuminated. + +"That system," he resumed, speaking as though his mind was not on the +subject particularly just now, "produces positive pictures at one end of +the apparatus by the successive transmission of many small parts +separately. I have harnessed the alternating current in a brand-new way, +I think. Instead of prolonging the operation, I do it all at once, +projecting the image on a sheet of tiny selenium cells. My work is +done. Now the thing to do is to convince the world of that." + +"Then you have the telephote in actual operation?" asked Kennedy. + +"Yes," he replied. "I have a little station down on the shore of the +south side of the island." He handed us a card on which he wrote the +address at South Side Beach. "That will admit you there at any time, if +I should not be about. I am testing it out there--have several +instruments on transatlantic liners. We think it may be of use in +war--sending plans, photographs of spies--and such things." + +He stopped suddenly. The music had started again and Gloria was again +out on the dancing floor. It was evident that at this very important +time in his career Franconi's mind was on other things. + +"Everyone seems to become easily acquainted with everyone else here," +remarked Craig, bending over the rail. + +"I suppose one cannot dance without partners," returned Franconi +absently. + +We continued to watch the dancers. I knew enough of these young fellows, +merely by their looks, to see that most of them were essential replicas +of one type. Certainly most of them could have qualified as social +gangsters, without scruples, without visible means of support, without +character or credit, but not without a certain vicious kind of ambition. + +They seemed to have an unlimited capacity for dancing, freak foods, joy +rides, and clothes. Clothes were to them what a jimmy is to a burglar. +Their English coats were so tight that one wondered how they bent and +swayed without bursting. Smart clothes and smart manners such as they +affected were very fascinating to some women. + +"Who are they all, do you suppose?" I queried. + +"All sorts and conditions," returned Kennedy. "Wall Street fellows whose +pocketbooks have been thinned by dull times on the Exchange; actors out +of engagements, law clerks, some of them even college students. They +seem to be a new class. I don't think of any other way they could pick +up a living more easily than by this polite parasitism. None of them +have any money. They don't get anything from the owner of the cabaret, +of course, except perhaps the right to sign checks for a limited amount +in the hope that they may attract new business. It's grafting, pure and +simple. The women are their dupes; they pay the bills--and even now and +then something for 'private lessons' in dancing in a 'studio.'" + +Franconi was dividing his attention between what Kennedy was saying and +watching Gloria and her partner, who seemed to be a leader of the type I +have just described, tall and spare as must be the successful dancing +men of today. + +"There's a fellow named Du Mond," he put in. + +"Who is he?" asked Craig, as though we had never heard of him. + +"To borrow one of your Americanisms," returned Franconi, "I think he's +the man who puts the 'tang' in tango. From what I hear, though, I think +he borrows the 'fox' from fox-trot and plucks the feathers from the +'lame duck.'" + +Kennedy smiled, but immediately became interested in a tall blonde girl +who had been talking to Du Mond just before the dancing began. I noticed +that she was not dancing, but stood in the background most of the time +giving a subtle look of appraisal to the men who sat at tables and the +girls who also sat alone. Now and then she would move from one table to +another with that easy, graceful glide which showed she had been a +dancer from girlhood. Always after such an excursion we saw other +couples who had been watching in lonely wistfulness, now made happy by a +chance to join the throng. + +"Who is that woman?" I asked. + +"I believe her name is Bernice Bentley," replied Franconi. "She's +the--well, they call her the official hostess--a sort of introducer. +That's the reason why, as you observed, there is no lack of friendliness +and partners. She just arranges introductions, very tactfully, of +course, for she's experienced." + +I regarded her with astonishment. I had never dreamed that such a thing +was possible, even in cosmopolitan New York. What could these women be +thinking of? Some of them looked more than capable of taking care of +themselves, but there must be many, like Gloria, who were not. What did +they know of the men, except their clothes and steps? + +"Soft shoe workers, tango touts," muttered Kennedy under his breath. + +As we watched we saw a slender, rather refined-looking girl come in and +sit quietly at a table in the rear. I wondered what the official +introducer would do about her and waited. Sure enough, it was not long +before Miss Bentley appeared with one of the dancing men in tow. To my +surprise the "hostess" was coldly turned down. What it was that happened +I did not know, but it was evident that a change had taken place. +Unobtrusively Bernice Bentley seemed to catch the roving eye of Du Mond +while he was dancing and direct it toward the little table. I saw his +face flush suddenly and a moment later he managed to work Gloria about +to the opposite side of the dancing floor and, though the music had not +stopped, on some pretext or other to join the party in the corner again. + +Gloria did not want to stop dancing, but it seemed as if Du Mond +exercised some sort of influence over her, for she did just as he +wished. Was she really afraid of him? Who was the little woman who had +been like a skeleton at a feast? + +Almost before we knew it, it seemed that the little party had tired of +the Cabaret Rouge. Of course we could hear nothing, but it seemed as if +Du Mond were proposing something and had carried his point. At any rate +the waiter was sent on a mysterious excursion and the party made as +though they were preparing to leave. + +Little had been said by either Franconi or ourselves, but it was by a +sort of instinct that we, too, paid our check and moved down to the coat +room ahead of them. In an angle we waited, until Gloria and her party +appeared. Du Mond was not with them. We looked out of the door. Before +the cabaret stood a smart hired limousine which was evidently Gloria's. +She would not have dared use her own motor on such an excursion. + +They drove off without seeing us and a moment later Du Mond and Bernice +Bentley appeared. + +"Thank you for the tip," I heard him whisper. "I thought the best thing +was to get them away without me. I'll catch them in a taxi later. +You're off at seven? Ritter will call for you? Then we'll wait and all +go out together. It's safer out there." + +Just what it all meant I could not say, but it interested me to know +that young Ritter Smith and Bernice Bentley seemed on such good terms. +Evidently the gay party were transferring the scene of their gayety to +the country place of the Cabaret Rouge. But why? + +We parted at the door with Franconi, who repeated his invitation to +visit his shop down at the beach. + +I started to follow Franconi out, but Kennedy drew me back. "Why did you +suppose I let them go?" he explained under his breath, as we retreated +to the angle again. "I wanted to watch that little woman who came in +alone." + +We had not long to wait. Scarcely had Du Mond disappeared when she came +out and stood in the entrance while a boy summoned a taxicab for her. + +Kennedy improved the opportunity by calling another for us and by the +time she was ready to drive off we were able to follow her. She drove to +the Prince Henry Hotel, where she dismissed the machine and entered. We +did the same. + +"By the way," asked Kennedy casually, sauntering up to the desk after +she had stopped to get her keys and a letter, "can you tell me who that +woman was?" + +The clerk ran his finger down the names on the register. At last he +paused and turned the book around to us. His finger indicated: "Mrs. +Katherine Du Mond, Chicago." + +Kennedy and I looked at each other in amazement. Du Mond was married and +his wife was in town. She had not made a scene. She had merely watched. +What could have been more evident than that she was seeking evidence and +such evidence could only have been for a court of law in a divorce suit? +The possibilities which the situation opened up for Gloria seemed +frightful. + +We left the hotel and Kennedy hurried down Broadway, turning off at the +office of a young detective, Chase, whom he used often on matters of +pure routine for which he had no time. + +"Chase," he instructed, when we were seated in the office, "you recall +that advertisement of the lost necklace in the _Star_ by La Rue & Co.?" + +The young man nodded. Everyone knew it. "Well," resumed Kennedy, "I want +you to search the pawnshops, particularly those of the Tenderloin, for +any trace you can find of it. Let me know, if it is only a rumor." + +There was nothing more that we could do that night, though Kennedy found +out over the telephone, by a ruse, that, as he suspected, the country +place of the Cabaret Rouge was the objective of the gay party which we +had seen. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE FOX HUNT + + +The next day was that of the hunt and we motored out to the North Shore +Hunt Club. It was a splendid day and the ride was just enough to put an +edge on the meet that was to follow. + +We pulled up at last before the rambling colonial building which the +Hunt Club boasted as its home. Mrs. Brackett was waiting for us already +with horses from the Brackett stables. + +"I'm so glad you came," she greeted us aside. "Gloria is here--under +protest. That young man over there, talking to her, is Ritter Smith. +'Rhine' Brown, as they call him, was about a moment ago--oh, yes, there +he is, coming over on that chestnut mare to talk to them. I wanted you +to see them here. After the hunt, if you care to, I think you might go +over to the Cabaret Rouge out here. You might find out something." + +She was evidently quite proud of her handsome daughter and that anything +should come up to smirch her name cut her deeply. + +The Hunt Club was a swagger organization, even in these degenerate days +when farmers will not tolerate broken fences and trampled crops, and +when democratic ideas interfere sadly with the follies of the rich. In a +cap with a big peak, a scarlet hunting coat and white breeches with top +boots, Brackett himself made a striking figure of M. F. H. + +There were thirty or forty in the field, the men in silk hats. For the +most part one could not see that the men treated Gloria much +differently. But it was evident that the women did. In fact the coldness +even extended to her mother, who would literally have been frozen out if +it had not been for her quasi-official position. I could see now that it +was also a fight for Mrs. Brackett's social life. + +As we watched Gloria, we could see that Franconi was hovering around, +unsuccessfully trying to get an opportunity to say a word to her alone. +Just before we were off a telegram came to her, which she read and +hastily stuffed into a pocket of her riding habit. + +But that was all that happened and I fell to studying the various types +of human nature, from the beginner who rode very hard and very badly and +made himself generally odious to the M. F. H., to the old seasoned +hunter who talked of the old days of real foxes and how he used to know +all the short cuts to the coverts. + +It was a keen, crisp day. Already a man had been over the field pulling +along the ground a little bag of aniseed, and now the hunt was about to +start. + +Noses down, sterns feathering zigzag over the ground, sniffing earth and +leaves and grass, the hounds were brought up. One seemed to get a good +whiff of the trail and lifted his head with a half yelp, half whine, +high pitched, frenzied, never-to-be-forgotten. Others joined in the +music. "Gone away!" sounded a huntsman as if there were a real fox. We +were off after them. Drag hounds, however, for the most part run mute +and very fast, so that that picturesque feature was missing. But the +light soil and rail fences of Long Island were ideal for drag hunting. +Nor was it so easy as it seemed to follow. Also there was the spice of +danger, risk to the hunters, the horses and the dogs. + +We went for four or five miles. Then there was a check for the +stragglers to come up. Some had fresh mounts, and all of us were glad of +the breathing space while the M. F. H. "held" the hounds. + +While we waited we saw that Mrs. Brackett was riding about quickly, as +if something were on her mind. A moment she stopped to speak to her +husband, then galloped over to us. + +Her face was almost white. "Gloria hasn't come up with the rest!" she +exclaimed breathlessly. + +Already Brackett had told those about him and all was confusion. It was +only a moment when the members of the hunt were scouring the country +over which we had passed, with something really definite to find. + +Kennedy did not pause. "Come on, Walter," he shouted, striking out down +the road, with me hard after him. + +We pulled up before a road-house of remarkable quaintness and luxury of +appointment, one of the hundreds about New York which the automobile has +recreated. Before it swung the weathered sign: Cabaret Rouge. + +To our hurried inquiries the manager admitted that Du Mond had been +there, but alone, and had left, also alone. Gloria had not come there. + +A moment later sounds of hoofs on the hard road interrupted us and +Ritter Smith dashed up. + +"Just overtook a farmer down the road," he panted. "Says he saw an +automobile waiting at the stone bridge and later it passed him with a +girl and a man in it. He couldn't recognize them. The top was up and +they went so fast." + +Together we retraced the way to the stone bridge. Sure enough, there on +the side of the road were marks where a car had pulled up. The grass +about was trampled and as we searched Kennedy reached down and picked up +something white. At least it had been white. But now it was spotted with +fresh blood, as though someone had tried to stop a nose-bleed. + +He looked at it more closely. In the corner was embroidered a little +"G." + +Evidently there had been a struggle and a car had whizzed off. Gloria +was gone. But with whom? Had the message which we had seen her read at +the start been from Du Mond? Was the plan to elope and so avoid his +wife? Then why the struggle? + +Absolutely nothing more developed from the search. An alarm was at once +sent out and the police all over the country notified. There was nothing +to do now but wait. Mrs. Brackett was frantic. But it was not now the +scandal that worried her. It was Gloria's safety. + +That night, in the laboratory, Kennedy took the handkerchief and with +the blood on it made a most peculiar test before a strange-looking +little instrument. + +It seemed to consist of a little cylinder of glass immersed in water +kept at the temperature of the body. Between two minute wire pincers or +serres, in the cylinder, was a very small piece of some tissue. To the +lower serre was attached a thread. The upper one was attached to a sort +of lever ending in a pen that moved over a ruled card. + +"Every emotion," remarked Kennedy as he watched the movement of the pen +in fine zigzag lines over the card, "produces its physiological effect. +Fear, rage, pain, hunger are primitive experiences, the most powerful +that determine the actions of man. I suppose you have heard of the +recent studies of Dr. Walter Cannon of Harvard of the group of +remarkable alterations in bodily economy under emotion?" + +I nodded and Kennedy resumed. "On the surface one may see the effect of +blood vessels contracting, in pallor; one may see cold sweat, or the +saliva stop when the tongue cleaves to the roof of the mouth, or one may +see the pupils dilate, hairs raise, respiration become quick, or the +beating of the heart, or trembling of the muscles, notably the lips. But +one cannot see such evidences of emotion if he is not present at the +time. How can we reconstruct them?" + +He paused a moment, then resumed. "There are organs hidden deep in the +body which do not reveal so easily the emotions. But the effect often +outlasts the actual emotion. There are special methods by which one can +study the feelings. That is what I have been doing here." + +"But how can you?" I queried. + +"There is what is called the sympathetic nervous system," he explained. +"Above the kidney there are also glands called the suprarenal which +excrete a substance known as adrenin. In extraordinarily small amounts +adrenin affects this sympathetic system. In emotions of various kinds a +reflex action is sent to the suprarenal glands which causes a pouring +into the blood of adrenin. + +"On the handkerchief of Gloria Brackett I obtained plenty of +comparatively fresh blood. Here in this machine I have between these two +pincers a minute segment of rabbit intestine." + +He withdrew the solution from the cylinder with a pipette, then +introduced some more of the dissolved blood from the handkerchief. The +first effect was a strong contraction of the rabbit intestine, then in a +minute or so the contractions became fairly even with the base line on +the card. + +"Such tissue," he remarked, "is noticeably affected by even one part in +over a million of adrenin. See. Here, by the writing lever, the +rhythmical contractions are recorded. Such a strip of tissue will live +for hours, will contract and relax beautifully with a regular rhythm +which, as you see, can be graphically recorded. This is my adrenin +test." + +Carefully he withdrew the ruled paper with its tracings. + +"It's a very simple test after all," he said, laying beside this tracing +another which he had made previously. "There you see the difference +between what I may call 'quiet blood' and 'excited blood.'" + +I looked at the two sets of tracings. Though they were markedly +different, I did not, of course, understand what they meant. "What do +they show to an expert?" I asked, perplexed. + +"Fear," he answered laconically. "Gloria Brackett did not go +voluntarily. She did not elope. She was forced to go!" + +"Attacked and carried off?" I queried. + +"I did not say that," he replied. "Perhaps our original theory that her +nose was bleeding may be correct. It might have started in the +excitement, the anger and fear at what happened, whatever it was. +Certainly the amount of adrenin in her blood shows that she was laboring +under strong enough emotion." + +Our telephone rang insistently and Kennedy answered it. As he talked, +although I could hear only one side of the conversation, I knew that the +message was from Chase and that he had found something important about +the missing necklace. + +"What was it?" I asked eagerly as he hung up the receiver. + +"Chase has traced the necklace," he reported; "that is, he has +discovered the separate stones, unset, pawned in several shops. The +tickets were issued to a girl whose description exactly fits Gloria +Brackett." + +I could only stare at him. What we had all feared had actually taken +place. Gloria must have taken the necklace herself. Though we had feared +it and tried to discount it, nevertheless the certainty came as a shock. + +"Why should she have taken it?" I considered. + +"For many possible reasons," returned Kennedy. "You saw the life she was +leading. Her own income probably went to keeping those harpies going. +Besides, her mother had cut her allowance. She may have needed money +very badly." + +"Perhaps they had run her into debt," I agreed, though the thought was +disagreeable. + +"How about that other little woman we saw?" suggested Kennedy. "You +remember how Gloria seemed to stand in fear of Du Mond? Who knows but +that he made her get it to save her reputation? A girl in Gloria's +position might do many foolish things. But to be named as co-respondent, +that would be fatal." + +There was not much comfort to be had by either alternative, and we sat +for a moment regarding each other in silence. + +Suddenly the door opened. Mrs. Brackett entered. Never have I seen a +greater contrast in so short a time than that between the striking +society matron who first called on us and the broken woman now before +us. She was a pathetic figure as Kennedy placed an easy chair for her. + +"Why, what's the matter?" asked Kennedy. "Have you heard anything new?" + +She did not answer directly, but silently handed him a yellow slip of +paper. On a telegraph blank were written simply the words, "Don't try to +follow me. I've gone to be a war nurse. When I make good I will let you +know. Gloria." + +We looked at each other in blank amazement. That was hardly an easy way +to trace her. How could one ever find out now where she was, in the +present state of affairs abroad, even supposing it were not a ruse to +cover up something? + +Somehow I felt that the message did not tell the story. Where was Du +Mond? Had he fled, too,--perhaps forced her to go with him when Mrs. Du +Mond appeared? The message did not explain the struggle and the fear. + +"Oh, Mr. Kennedy," pleaded Mrs. Brackett, all thought of her former +pride gone, as she actually held out her hands imploringly and almost +fell on her knees, "can't you find her--can't you _do_ something?" + +"Have you a photograph of Gloria?" he asked hurriedly. + +"Yes," she cried eagerly, reaching into her mesh bag and drawing one +out. "I carry it with me always. Why?" + +"Come," exclaimed Kennedy, seizing it. "It occurs to me that it is now +or never that this device of Franconi's must prove that it is some good. +If she really went, she wasted no time. There's just a bare chance that +the telephote has been placed on some of these vessels that are carrying +munitions abroad. Franconi says that he has developed it for its war +value." + +As fast as Mrs. Brackett's chauffeur could drive us, we motored down to +South Side Beach and sought out the little workshop directly on the +ocean where Franconi had told us that we should always be welcome. + +He was not there, but an assistant was. Kennedy showed him the card that +Franconi had given us. + +"Show me how the machine works," he asked, while Mrs. Brackett and I +waited aside, scarcely able to curb our impatience. + +"Well," began the assistant, "this is a screen of very minute and +sensitive selenium cells. I don't know how to describe the process +better than to say that the tones of sound, the human voice, have +hundreds of gradations which are transmitted, as you know, by wireless, +now. Gradations of light, which are all that are necessary to produce +the illusion of a picture, are far simpler than those of sound. Here, in +this projector--" + +"That is the transmitting part of the apparatus?" interrupted Kennedy +brusquely. "That holder?" + +"Yes. You see there are hundreds of alternating conductors and +insulators, all synchronized with hundreds of similar receivers at +the--" + +"Let me see you try this photograph," interrupted Kennedy again, handing +over the picture of Gloria which Mrs. Brackett had given him. "Signor +Franconi told me he had the telephote on several outgoing liners. Let me +see if you can transmit it. Is there any way of sending a wireless +message from this place?" + +The assistant had shoved the photograph into the holder from which each +section was projected on the selenium cell screen. + +"I have a fairly powerful plant here," he replied. + +Quickly Kennedy wrote out a message, briefly describing the reason why +the picture was transmitted and asking that any station on shipboard +that received it would have a careful search made of the passengers for +any young woman, no matter what name was assumed, who might resemble the +photograph. + +Though nothing could be expected immediately at best, it was at least +some satisfaction to know that through the invisible air waves, +wirelessly, the only means now of identifying Gloria was being flashed +far and wide to all the big ships within a day's distance or less on +which Franconi had established his system as a test. + +The telephote had finished its work. Now there was nothing to do but +wait. It was a slender thread on which hung the hope of success. + +While we waited, Mrs. Brackett was eating her heart out with anxiety. +Kennedy took the occasion to call up the New York police on long +distance. They had no clew to Gloria. Nor had they been able to find a +trace of Du Mond. Mrs. Du Mond also had disappeared. At the Cabaret +Rouge, Bernice Bentley had been held and put through a third degree, +without disclosing a thing, if indeed she knew anything. I wondered +whether, at such a crisis, Du Mond, too, might not have taken the +opportunity to flee the country. + +We had almost given up hope, when suddenly a little buzzer on the +telephote warned the operator that something was coming over it. + +"The _Monfalcone_," he remarked, interpreting the source of the +impulses. + +"We gathered breathlessly about the complicated instrument as, on a +receiving screen composed of innumerable pencils of light polarized and +acting on a set of mirrors, each corresponding to the cells of the +selenium screen and tuned to them, as it were, a thin film or veil +seemed gradually to clear up, as the telephote slowly got itself into +equilibrium at both ends of the air line. Gradually the face of a girl +appeared. + +"Gloria!" gasped Mrs. Brackett in a tone that sounded as if ten years +had been added to her life. + +"Wait," cautioned the operator. "There is a written message to follow." + +On the same screen now came in letters that Mrs. Brackett in her joy +recognized the message: "I couldn't help it. I was blackmailed into +taking the necklace. Even at the hunt I received another demand. I did +not mean to go, but I was carried off by force before I could pay the +second demand. Now I'm glad of it. Forgive us. Gloria." + +"Us?" repeated Mrs. Brackett, not comprehending. + +"Look--another picture," pointed Kennedy. + +We bent over as the face of a man seemed to dissolve more clearly in +place of the writing. + +"Thank God!" exclaimed Mrs. Brackett fervently, reading the face by a +sort of intuition before it cleared enough for us to recognize. "He has +saved her from herself!" + +It was Franconi! + +Slowly it faded and in its place appeared another written message. + +"Recalled to Italy for war service. I took her with me by force. It was +the only way. Civil ceremony in New York yesterday. Religious will +follow at Rome." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE TANGO THIEF + + +"My husband has such a jealous disposition. He will never believe the +truth--never!" + +Agatha Seabury moved nervously in the deep easy chair beside Kennedy's +desk, leaning forward, uncomfortably, the tense lines marring the beauty +of her fine features. + +Kennedy tilted his desk chair back in order to study her face. + +"You say you have never written a line to the fellow nor he to you?" he +asked. + +"Not a line, not a scrap,--until I received that typewritten letter +about which I just told you," she repeated vehemently, meeting his +penetrating gaze without flinching. "Why, Professor Kennedy, as heaven +is my witness, I have never done a wrong thing--except to meet him now +and then at afternoon dances." + +I felt that the nerve-racked society woman before us must be either +telling the truth or else that she was one of the cleverest actresses I +had ever seen. + +"Have you the letter here?" asked Craig quickly. + +Mrs. Seabury reached into her neat leather party case and pulled out a +carefully folded sheet of note paper. + +It was all typewritten, down to the very signature itself. Evidently the +blackmailer had taken every precaution to protect himself, for even if +the typewriting could be studied and identified, it would be next to +impossible to get at the writer through it and locate the machine on +which it was written among the thousands in the city. + +Kennedy studied the letter carefully, then, with a low exclamation, +handed it over to me, nodding to Mrs. Seabury that it was all right for +me to see it. + +"No ordinary fellow, I'm afraid," he commented musingly, adding, "this +thief of reputations." + +I read, beginning with the insolent familiarity of "Dear Agatha." + + "I hope you will pardon me for writing to you," the letter + continued, "but I find that I am in a rather difficult position + financially. As you know, in the present disorganized state of + the stock market, investments which in normal times are good + are now almost valueless. Still, I must protect those I already + have without sacrificing them. + + "It is therefore necessary that I raise fifty thousand dollars + before the end of the week, and I know of no one to appeal to + but you--who have shared so many pleasant stolen hours with me. + + "Of course, I understand all that you have told me about Mr. + Seabury and his violent nature. Still, I feel sure that one of + your wealth and standing in the community can find a way to + avoid all trouble from that quarter. Naturally, I should prefer + to take every precaution to prevent the fact of our intimacy + from coming to Mr. Seabury's knowledge. But I am really + desperate and feel that you alone can help me. + + "Hoping to hear from you soon, I am, + "Your old tango friend, + "H. MORGAN SHERBURNE." + +I fairly gasped at the thinly veiled threat of exposure at the end of +the note from this artistic blackmailer. + +She was watching our faces anxiously as we read. + +"Oh," she cried wildly, glancing from one to the other of us, strangers +to whom in her despair she had been forced to bare the secrets of her +proud heart, "he's so clever about it, too. I--I didn't know what to do. +I had only my jewels. I thought of all the schemes I had ever read, of +pawning them, of having paste replicas made, of trying to collect the +burglary insurance, of--" + +"But you didn't do anything like that, did you?" interrupted Craig +hastily. + +"No, no," she cried. "I thought if I did, then it wouldn't be long +before this Sherburne would be back again for more. Oh," she almost +wailed, dabbing at the genuine tears with her dainty lace handkerchief +while her shoulders trembled with a repressed convulsive sob, "I--I am +utterly wretched--crushed." + +"The scoundrel!" I muttered. + +Kennedy shook his head at me slowly. "Calling names won't help matters +now," he remarked tersely. Then in an encouraging tone he added, "You +have done just the right thing, Mrs. Seabury, in not starting to pay the +blackmail. The secret of the success of these fellows is that their +victims prefer losing jewelry and money to going to the police and +having a lot of unpleasant notoriety." + +"Yes, I know that," she agreed hastily, "but--my husband! If he hears, +he will believe the worst, and--I--I really love and respect +Judson--though," she added, "he might have seen that I liked dancing +and--innocent amusements of the sort still. I am not an old woman." + +I could not help wondering if the whole truth were told in her rather +plaintive remark, or whether she was overplaying what was really a minor +complaint. Judson Seabury, I knew from hearsay, was a man of middle age +to whom, as to so many, business and the making of money had loomed as +large as life itself. Competitors had even accused him of being ruthless +when he was convinced that he was right, and I could well imagine that +Mrs. Seabury was right in her judgment of the nature of the man if he +became convinced for any reason that someone had crossed his path in his +relations with his wife. + +"Where did you usually--er--meet Sherburne?" asked Craig, casually +guiding the conversation. + +"Why--at the Vanderveer--always," she replied. + +"Would you mind meeting him there again this afternoon so that I could +see him?" asked Kennedy. "Perhaps it would be best, anyhow, to let him +think that you are going to do as he demands, so that we can gain a +little time." + +She looked up, startled. "Yes--I can do that--but don't you think it is +risky? Do you think there is any way I can get free from him? Suppose he +makes a new demand. What shall I do? Oh, Professor Kennedy, you do not, +you cannot know what I am going through--how I hate and fear him." + +"Mrs. Seabury," reassured Craig earnestly, "I'll take up your case. +Clever as the man is, there must be some way to get at him." + +Sherburne must have exercised a sort of fascination over her, for the +look of relief that crossed her face as Kennedy promised to aid her was +almost painful. As often before, I could scarcely envy Kennedy in his +ready assumption of another's problems that seemed so baffling. It +meant little, perhaps, to us whether we succeeded. But to her it meant +happiness, perhaps honor itself. + +It was as though she were catching at a life line in the swirling +current of events that had engulfed her. She hesitated no longer. + +"I'll be there--I'll meet him--at four," she murmured, as she rose and +made a hurried departure. + +For some time after she had gone, Kennedy sat considering what she had +told us. As for myself, I cannot say that I was thoroughly satisfied +that she had told all. It was not to be expected. + +"How do you figure that woman out?" I queried at length. + +Kennedy looked at me keenly from under knitted brows. "You mean, do I +believe her story--of her relations with this fellow, Sherbourne?" he +returned, thoughtfully. + +"Exactly," I assented, "and what she said about her regard for her +husband, too." + +Kennedy did not reply for a few minutes. Evidently the same question had +been in his own mind and he had not reasoned out the answer. Before he +could reply the door buzzer sounded and the colored boy from the lower +hall handed a card to Craig, with an apology about the house telephone +switchboard being out of order. + +As Kennedy laid the card on the table before us, with a curt "Show the +gentleman in," to the boy, I looked at it in blank amazement. + +It read, "Judson Seabury." + +Before I could utter a word of comment on the strange coincidence, the +husband was sitting in the same chair in which his wife had sat less +than half an hour before. + +Judson Seabury was a rather distinguished looking man of the solid, +business type. Merely to meet his steel gray eye was enough to tell one +that this man would brook no rivalry in anything he undertook. I foresaw +trouble, even though I could not define its nature. + +Craig twirled the card in his fingers, as if to refresh his mind on a +name otherwise unfamiliar. I was wondering whether Seabury might not +have trailed his wife to our office and have come to demand an +explanation. It was with some relief that I found he had not. + +"Professor Kennedy," he began nervously, hitching his chair closer, +without further introduction, in the manner of a man who was accustomed +to having his own way in any matter he undertook, "I am in a most +peculiar situation." + +Seabury paused a moment, Kennedy nodded acquiescence, and the man +suddenly blurted out, "I--I don't know whether I'm being slowly poisoned +or not!" + +The revelation was startling enough in itself, but doubly so after the +interview that had just preceded. + +I covered my own surprise by a quick glance at Craig. His face was +impassive as he narrowly searched Seabury's. I knew, though, that back +of his assumed calm, Craig was doing some rapid thinking about the +ethics of listening to both parties in the case. However, he said +nothing. Indeed, Seabury, once started, hurried on, scarcely giving him +a chance to interrupt. + +"I may as well tell you," he proceeded, with the air of a man who for +the first time is relieving his mind of something that has been weighing +heavily on him, "that for some time I have not been exactly--er--easy in +my mind about the actions of my wife." + +Evidently he had arrived at the conclusion to tell what worried him, and +must say it, for he continued immediately: "It's not that I actually +know anything about any indiscretions on Agatha's part, but,--well, +there have been little things--hints that she was going frequently to +_thes dansants_, and that sort of thing, you know. Lately, too, I have +seen a change in her manner toward me, I fancy. Sometimes I think she +seems to avoid me, especially during the last few days. Then again, as +this morning, she seems to be--er--too solicitous." + +He passed his hand over his forehead, as if to clear it. For once he did +not seem to be the self-confident man who had at first entered our +apartment. I noticed that he had a peculiar look, a feeble state of the +body which he was at times at pains to conceal, a look which the doctors +call, I believe, cachectic. + +"I mean," he added hastily, as if it might as well be said first as +last, "that she seems to be much concerned about my health, my food--" + +"Just what is it that you actually know, not what you fear?" interrupted +Kennedy, perhaps a little brusquely, at last having seen a chance to +insert a word edgewise into the flow of Seabury's troubles, real or +imaginary. + +Seabury paused a moment, then resumed with a description of his health, +which, to tell the truth, was by no means reassuring. + +"Well," he answered slowly, "I suffer a good deal from such terrible +dyspepsia, Professor Kennedy. My stomach and digestion are all +upset--bad health and growing weakness--pain, discomfort--vomiting after +meals, even bleeding. I've tried all sorts of cures, but still I can +feel that I am still losing health and strength, and, so far, at least, +the doctors don't seem to be doing me much good. I have begun to wonder +whether it is a case for the doctors, after all. Why, the whole thing is +getting on my nerves so that I'm almost afraid to eat," he concluded. + +"You have eaten nothing today, then, I am to understand?" asked Craig +when Seabury had finished with his minute and puzzling account of his +troubles. + +"Not even breakfast this morning," he replied. "Mrs. Seabury urged me to +eat, but--I--I couldn't." + +"Good!" exclaimed Kennedy, much to our surprise. "That will make it just +so much easier to use a test I have in mind to determine whether there +is anything in your suspicions." + +He had risen and gone over to a cabinet. + +"Would you mind baring your arm a moment?" he asked Seabury. + +With a sharp little instrument, carefully sterilized, Craig pricked a +vein in the man's arm. Slowly a few drops of darkened venous blood +welled out. A moment later Kennedy caught them in a sterile test tube +and sealed the tube. + +Before our second visitor could start again in retailing his suspicions +which now seemed definitely, in his own mind at least, directed in some +way against Mrs. Seabury, Kennedy skillfully closed the interview. + +"I feel sure that the test I shall make will tell me positively, soon, +whether your fears are well grounded or not, Mr. Seabury," he concluded +briefly, as he accompanied the man out into the hall to shake hands +farewell with him at the elevator door. "I'll let you know as soon as +anything develops, but until we have something tangible there is no use +wasting our energies." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE "THE DANSANT" + + +I felt, however, that Seabury accepted this conclusion reluctantly, in +fact with a sort of mental reservation not to cease activity himself. + +The remainder of the forenoon, and for some time during the early +afternoon, Craig plunged into one of his periods of intense work and +abstraction at the laboratory. + +It was, indeed, a most unusual and delicate test which he was making. +For one thing, I noticed that he had, in a sterilizer, some peculiar +granular tissue that had been sent to him from a hospital. This tissue +he was very careful to cleanse of blood and then by repeated boilings +prepare for whatever use he had in mind. + +As for myself, I could only stand aside and watch his preparations in +silence. Among the many peculiar pieces of apparatus which he had, I +recall one that consisted of a glass cylinder with a siphon tube running +into it halfway up the outside. Inside was another, smaller cylinder. +All about him as he proceeded were glass containers, capillary pipettes, +test tubes, Bunsen burners, and dialyzers of porous parchment paper +whose wrappers described them as "permeable for peptones, but not for +albumins." + +Carefully set aside was the blood which he had drawn from Seabury's +veins, allowed to stand till the serum separated out from the clot. +Next he pipetted it into a centrifuge tube and centrifuged it at high +speed, some sixteen thousand revolutions, until the serum was perfectly +clear, with no trace of a reddish tint, nor even cloudy. After that he +drew off the serum into a little tube, covered it with a layer of a +substance called toluol from another sterile pipette, and finally placed +it in an incubator at a temperature of about ninety-eight. + +It was well along toward four o'clock when he paused as if some mental +alarm clock had awakened him to another part of the plan of action he +had laid out. + +"Walter," he remarked, hastily doffing his stained old laboratory coat, +"I think we'd better drop around to the Vanderveer." + +Curious as I had been at the preparations he was making in the +laboratory, I was still glad at even the suggestion of something that my +less learned mind could understand and it was not many seconds before we +were on our way. + +Through the lobby of the famous new hostelry we slowly lounged along, +then down a passage into the tea room, where, in the center of a circle +of quaint little wicker chairs and tables, was a glossy dancing floor. + +Kennedy selected a table not in the circle, but around an "L," +inconspicuously located so that we could watch the dancing without +ourselves being watched. + +At one end of the room an excellent orchestra was playing. I gazed +about, fascinated. At the dancing tea was represented, apparently, much +wealth--women whose throats and fingers glittered with gold and gems, +men whose very air exuded prosperity--or at least its veneer. + +About it all was the glamor of the _risque_. One felt a sort of +compromising familiarity in this breaking down of old social restraints +through the insidious influence of the tea room, with its accompaniments +of music and dancing. + +"I suppose," remarked Craig after we had for some time settled ourselves +and watched the brilliant scene, "that, like many others, Walter, you +have often wondered whether these modern dances are actually as +stimulating as they seem." + +I shrugged my shoulders non-committally. + +"Well, there is what psychologists might call a real dance neurosis," he +went on, contemplatively, toying with a glass. "In fact few persons can +withstand the physical effect of the peculiar rhythm, the close contact, +and the sinuous movements--at least where, so to speak, the surroundings +are suggestive and the dance becomes less restrained and more sensuous, +as it does often in circumstances like these, often among strangers." + +The music had started again and one after another couples seemed to +float past in unhesitating hesitation--dowager and debutante, dandy and +doddering octogenarian. + +"Why," he exclaimed, looking out at the whirling kaleidoscope, "here in +the most advanced epoch, people of culture and intelligence frankly say +they are 'wild' for something primitive." + +"Still," I objected, "dancing even in the wild, stimulating emotional +manner you see here need not be merely an incitement to love, need it? +May it not be a normal gratification of the love instinct--eroticism +translated into rhythm? Perhaps it may represent sex, but not +necessarily badly." + +Kennedy nodded. "Undoubtedly the effect of the dances is in direct ratio +to the sexual temperament of the dancer," he admitted. + +He paused and again watched the whirl. + +"Does Mrs. Seabury herself understand it?" he mused, only half speaking +to me. "I'm sure that this Sherburne is clever enough to do so, at any +rate." + +A hearty round of applause came from the dancers as the music ceased. +None left the floor, however, but remained waiting for the encore +eagerly, scarcely changing the positions in which they had stopped. + +"To my mind," Kennedy resumed, with the music, "several things seem +significant. Many people have noticed that after marriage women +generally lose much of their ardor for dancing. I feel that it is an +unsafe matter on which to generalize, but--well--Mrs. Seabury seems not +to have lost it." + +"Then," I inquired quickly, "you imply that--she is not really as much +in love with her husband as she would have us think--or, perhaps, +herself believes?" + +"Not quite that," he replied doubtfully. "But I am wondering whether +there is such a factor that must be considered." + +Before I could answer Kennedy touched my arm. Instinctively I followed +the direction of his eye and saw Mrs. Seabury step out on the floor +across from us. Without a word from Craig, I realized that the man with +her must be Sherburne, our "tango thief." + +Fashionably dressed, affable, seemingly superficially, at least, well +educated, tall, graceful, with easy manners, I could not help seeing at +a glance that he was one of the most erotic dancers on the little floor. + +As they passed near us, Mrs. Seabury caught Kennedy's eye in momentary +recognition. Her face, flushed with the dance, colored perhaps a shade +deeper, but not noticeably to her partner, who was devoting himself +wholly and skillfully to leading her in a manner that one could see +called forth frequent comment from others, less favored. + +As they sat down after this dance and the encore, Craig motioned to the +waiter at our table and whispered to him. + +A few moments later, a man whom I had seen around the hotel on my +infrequent visits, but did not know, slipped quietly into a seat beside +Kennedy, even deeper in the shadow of the recess in which we were +sitting. + +"Walter, I'd like to have you meet Mr. Dunn, the house detective," +whispered Kennedy under his breath. + +The usual interchange of remarks followed, during which Dunn was +evidently waiting for Kennedy to reveal the real purpose of our visit. + +"By the way, Dunn," remarked Craig at length, "who is that fellow--over +there with the woman in blue--the fellow with the heavy braided coat?" + +Dunn craned his neck cautiously, then shrugged his shoulders. "I've seen +him here with her before," he remarked. "I don't know him, though. Why?" + +Briefly Kennedy sketched such facts of a supposedly hypothetical case as +would be likely to secure an opinion from the house man. Dunn narrowed +his eyes thoughtfully. + +"That's rather a ticklish situation, Kennedy," Dunn remarked when Craig +had stated the case, omitting all reference to Seabury's name as well as +his suspicions. "Of course," he went on, "I know we've got to protect +the name of the hotel. And I know we can't have men meeting our women +patrons, doing a gavotte or two--and then fox-trotting them into +blackmail." + +Dunn stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You see, we can do a great deal to +suppress card sharps, agents for fake mining stocks, passers of +worthless checks, and confidence men of that sort. But it is not so +simple to thwart the vultures who prey on the gullibility and passions +of the so-called idle rich." + +"There must be something you can do to get it on this fellow, though," +persisted Craig. + +"Well," considered the house man, "we have what might be called our +hotel secret service--several men and women operating entirely apart +from the hotel force of detectives who, like myself, are too well known +to clever crooks. Nobody knows them, except myself. There's one--that +girl over there dancing with that middle-aged man who has mail sent here +but doesn't live here. Could they be of use?" + +"Just the thing," exclaimed Craig enthusiastically. "Can't you have her +get acquainted--just as a precaution--with that man? His name, by the +way, I understand is Sherburne." + +"I'll do it," agreed Dunn, rising unostentatiously. + +Just then I happened to glance across the floor and over the heads of +those seated at the tables at a door opposite us. It was my turn hastily +to seize Kennedy's elbow. + +"Good God!" I exclaimed involuntarily. + +There, in the further doorway of the tea room, stood Judson Seabury +himself! + +Without a word, Craig rose and quickly crossed the dancing floor, +stopping before Mrs. Seabury's table. Instead of waiting to be +introduced, he sat down deliberately, as though he had been there all +the time and had just gone out of the room and come back. He did it all +so quickly that he was able in a perfectly natural way to turn and see +that Seabury himself had been watching and now was advancing slowly, +picking his way among the crowded tables. + +From around my corner I saw Craig whisper a word or two to Mrs. Seabury, +then rise and meet Seabury less than halfway from the door by which he +had been standing. + +The tension of the situation was too much for Mrs. Seabury. Confounded +and bewildered, she fled precipitately, passing within a few feet of my +table. Her face was positively ghastly. + +As for Sherburne, he merely sat a moment and surveyed the irate husband +with calm and studied insolence at a safe distance. Then he, too, rose +and turned deliberately on his heel. + +Curious to know how Craig would meet the dilemma, I watched eagerly and +was surprised to see Seabury, after a moment's whispered talk, turn and +leave the tea room by the same door through which he had entered. + +"What did you do?" I asked, as Craig rejoined me a few moments later. +"What did you say? My hat's off to you," I added in admiration. + +"Told him I had trailed her here with one of my operatives, but was +convinced there was nothing wrong, after all," he returned. + +"You mean," I asked as the result of Craig's quick thinking dawned on +me, "that you told him Sherburne was _your_ operative?" + +Kennedy nodded. "I want to see him, now, if I can," he said simply. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SERUM DIAGNOSIS + + +We paid our check and Kennedy and I sauntered in the direction Sherburne +had taken, finding him ultimately in the cafe, alone. Without further +introduction Kennedy approached him. + +"So--you are a detective?" sneered Sherburne superciliously, elevating +his eyebrows just the fraction of an inch. + +"Not exactly," parried Kennedy, seating himself beside Sherburne. Then +in a tone as if he were willing to get down, without further +preliminary, to business, seemingly negotiating, he asked: "Mr. +Sherburne, may I ask just what it is on which you base your claim on +Mrs. Seabury? Is it merely meeting her here? If that is so you must know +that it amounts to nothing--now." + +The two men faced each other, each taking the other's measure. + +"Nothing?" coolly retorted Sherburne. "Perhaps not--in itself. +But--suppose--I--had--" + +He said the words slowly, as he fumbled in his fob pocket, then cut them +short as he found what he was looking for. Safely, in the palm of his +hand, he displayed a latch-key, momentarily, then with a taunting smile +dropped it back again into the fob pocket. + +"Perhaps she gave it to me--perhaps I was a welcome visitor in her +apartment," he insinuated. "How would she relish having that told to +Mr. Seabury--backed up by the possession of the key?" + +I could not help feeling that for the moment Kennedy was checkmated. +Sherburne was playing a desperate game and apparently held the key, +however he got it, as a trump card. + +"Thank you," was all that Kennedy said, as he rose. "I wanted to know +how far you could go. Perhaps we can meet you halfway." + +Sherburne smiled cynically. "All the way," he said quietly, as we left +the cafe. + +In silence Kennedy left the hotel and jumped into a cab, directing the +driver to the laboratory, where he had asked Mrs. Seabury to wait for +him. We found her there, still much agitated. + +Hastily Craig explained to her how he had saved the situation, but her +mind was too occupied over something else to pay much attention. + +"I--I can't blame you, Professor Kennedy," she cried, choking down a sob +in her voice, "but I have just discovered--he has told me that it is +even worse than I had anticipated." + +We were both following her closely, the incident of the latch-key still +fresh in mind. + +"Some time ago," she hurried on, "I missed my latch-key. I thought +nothing of it at the time--thought perhaps I had mislaid it. But today +he told me--just after the dance, even while I was making him think I +would pay him the money, because--because I liked him--he told me he had +it. The brute! He must have picked my handbag!" + +Her eyes were blazing now with indignation. Yet as she looked at us +both, evidently the recollection of what had just happened came +flooding over her mind, and she dropped her head in her hands in +helpless dismay at the new development. + +Craig pulled out his watch hastily. "It is about six, Mrs. Seabury," he +reassured. "Can you be here at, say, eight?" + +"I will be here," she murmured pliantly, realizing her own helplessness. + +She had scarcely closed the door when Craig seized the telephone, and +hurriedly tried to locate Seabury himself. + +"Apparently no trace of him yet," he fumed, as he hung up the receiver. +"The first problem is how to get that key." + +Instantly I thought of Dunn's secret service girl. Kennedy shook his +head doubtfully. "I'm afraid there is no time for that," he answered. +"But will you attend to that end of the affair for me, Walter? I have +just a little more work here at the laboratory before I am ready. I +don't care how you do it, but I want you to convey to Sherburne the +welcome news that Mrs. Seabury is prepared to give in, in any way he may +see fit, if he will call her up here at eight o'clock." + +Kennedy had already plunged back among his beakers and test tubes, and +with these slender instructions I sallied forth in my quest of +Sherburne. I had little difficulty in locating him and delivering my +message, which he received with a satisfaction that invited assault and +battery and mayhem. However, I managed to restrain myself and rejoin +Craig in the laboratory, shortly after seven o'clock. + +I had scarcely had time to assure Kennedy of the success of my mission, +when we were surprised to see the door open and Seabury himself appear. + +His face was actually haggard. Whether or not he had believed the +hastily concocted story of Kennedy at the Vanderveer, his mind had not +ceased to work on the other fears that had prompted his coming to us in +the first place. + +"I've been trying to locate you all over," greeted Craig. + +Seabury heaved a sigh and passed his hand, with its familiar motion, +over his forehead. "I thought perhaps you might be able to find out +something from this stuff," he answered, unwrapping a package which he +was carrying. "Some samples of the food I've been getting. If you don't +find anything in this, I've others I want tested." + +As I looked at the man's drawn face, I wondered whether in fact there +might be something in his fears. On the surface, the thing did indeed +seem to place Agatha Seabury in a bad light. At the sight of the key in +Sherburne's possession I had grasped at the straw that he might have +conceived some diabolical plan to get rid of Seabury for purposes of his +own. But then, I reasoned, would he have been so free in showing the key +if he had realized that it might cast suspicion on himself? I was forced +to ask myself again whether she might, in her hysterical fear of +exposure by the adroit blackmailer, have really attempted to poison her +husband. + +It was a desperate situation. But Kennedy was apparently ready to meet +it, though he seemed to take no great interest in the food samples +Seabury had just brought. + +Instead he seemed to rely wholly on the tests he had already begun with +the peculiar tissue I had seen him boiling and the blood serum derived +from Seabury himself. + +Without a word he took three tubes from the incubator, in which I had +seen him place them some time before, and, as they stood in a rack, +indicated them lightly with his finger. + +"I think I can clear part of this mystery up immediately," he began, +speaking more to himself than to Seabury and myself. "Here I have a +tested dialyzer in which has been placed a half cubic centimeter of pure +clear serum. Here is another dialyzer with the same amount of serum, but +no tissue, such as Mr. Jameson has seen me place in this first one. Here +is still another with the tissue in distilled water, but no blood serum. +I have placed all the dialyzers in tubes of distilled water and all are +covered with a substance known as toluol and corked to keep them from +contamination." + +Kennedy held up before us the three tubes and Seabury gazed on them with +a sort of fascination, scarcely believing that in them in some way might +be contained the verdict on the momentous problem that troubled his mind +and might perhaps mean life or death to him. + +Carefully Kennedy took from each tube a few cubic centimeters of the +dialyzate and into each he poured a little liquid from a tiny vial which +I noticed was labelled "Ninhydrin." + +"This," he explained as he set down the vial, "is a substance which +gives a colorless solution with water, but when mixed with albumins, +peptones, or amino-acids becomes violet on boiling. Tube number three +must remain colorless. Number two may be violet. Number one may +approximate number two or be more deeply colored. If one and two are +about the same I call my test negative. But if one is more deeply +colored than two, then it is positive. The other tube is the control." + +Impatiently we waited as the three tubes simmered over the heat. What +would they show? Seabury's eyes were glued on them, his hand trembling +in the presence of some unknown danger. + +Slowly the liquid in the second tube turned to violet. But more rapidly +and more deeply appeared the violet in number one. The test was +positive. + +"What is it?" gasped Seabury hoarsely, leaning over close. + +"This," exclaimed Kennedy, "is the famous Abderhalden +test--serum-diagnosis--discovered by Professor Emile Abderhalden of +Halle. It rests on the fact that when a foreign substance comes into the +blood, the blood reacts, with the formation of a protective ferment +produced as a result of physiologic and pathologic conditions. + +"For instance," he went on, "a certain albumin always produces a certain +ferment. Presence in the blood stream of blood-foreign substances calls +forth a ferment that will digest them and split them into molecules. The +forces of nature form and mobilize directly in the blood serum. + +"Let me get this clearly. Albumin cannot pass through the pores of an +animal membrane, since the individual molecules are too large. If, +however, the albumin is broken up by a ferment-action, then the +molecules become small enough to pass through." + +Seabury was listening like a man on whom a stunning blow was about to +descend. + +"Thus we can tell," proceeded Kennedy, "whether there is such a ferment +in blood serum as would be produced by a certain condition, for when the +ferment is there blood from the individual possessing it will digest a +similar proteid in a dialyzing thimble kept at body temperature. + +"Why," cried Kennedy, swept along by the wonder of the thing, "this test +opens up a vista of alluring and extensive possibilities. The human +organism actually diagnoses its own illnesses automatically. It is +infinitely more exact, more rapid, and more certain than all that human +art can attain. Each organ contains special ferments in its cells in the +most subtle way attuned to the molecular condition of the particular +cell substance and with complete indifference to other cells. + +"Don't you see? It diagnoses at the very first stage. You take a small +quantity of blood, derive the serum, then introduce a piece of tissue +such as you wish to find out whether it is diseased or not. The thing is +of overwhelming importance. One can discover a condition even before the +organ itself shows it outwardly. It means a new epoch in medicine. As +for me, I call it the new 'police service' of the organism--working with +perfect, scientific accuracy." + +"Wh-what do you find?" reiterated Seabury. + +"I have made tests for about everything I can suspect," returned +Kennedy, taking the tubes and pouring the liquid from number two into +number one until they were equalized in color, thus testing them, while +we watched every action closely. + +"You see," he digressed, "to get the two the same shade I have to dilute +the first by the second. Now, the dialyzers are not permeable to +albumin. Therefore the violet color indicates that the blood serum in +this case contains ferments which the body is making to split up some +foreign substance in the blood, such as I suspected and obtained from +the hospital. The test is positive. Mr. Seabury, how long have you felt +as you say that you do?" + +"Several weeks," the man returned weakly. + +"That is fortunate," cried Kennedy, "fortunate that it has not been +several months." + +He paused, then added the startling statement, "Mr. Seabury, I can find +no evidence here of poison. As a matter of fact, the wonderful +Abderhalden test shows me that you have one of the most common forms of +internal disease that occur for the most part in persons at or after +middle life, about the age of fifty, more common in men than in women--a +disease which taken in time, as it has been revealed by this wonderful +test, may be cured and you may be saved--an incipient cancer of the +stomach." + +Kennedy paused a moment and listened. I fancied I heard someone in the +hall. But he went on, "The person whom you suspect of poisoning you--" + +There came a suppressed scream from the door, as it was flung open and +Agatha Seabury stood there, staring with fixed, set eyes at Kennedy, +then at her husband. Mechanically I looked at my watch. It was precisely +eight. Kennedy had evidently prolonged the test for a purpose. + +"The person whom you suspected," he repeated firmly, "is innocent!" + +A moment Agatha stood there, then as the thing dawned on her, she +uttered one cry, "Judson!" + +She reeled as Kennedy with a quick step or two caught her. + +Seabury himself seemed dazed. + +"And I have--" he ejaculated, then stopped. + +Kennedy raised his hand. "Just a moment, please," he interrupted, as he +placed Mrs. Seabury in a chair, then glanced hastily at his watch. + +She saw the motion and seemed suddenly to realize that it was nearing +the time for Sherburne to call up. With a mighty effort she seemed to +grip herself. She had just been shocked to know that she was charged +unjustly. But had she been cleared from one peril only to fall a victim +to another--the one she already feared? Was Sherburne to escape, after +all, and ruin her? + +The telephone tinkled insistently. Kennedy seized the receiver. + +"Who is it?" we heard him ask. "Mr. Sherburne--oh yes." + +Mrs. Seabury paled at the name. I saw her shoot a covert glance at her +husband, and was relieved to see that his face betrayed as yet no +recognition of the name. She turned and listened to Kennedy, straining +her ears to catch every syllable and interpret every scrap of the +one-sided conversation. + +Quickly Craig had jammed the receiver down on a little metal base which +we had not noticed near the instrument. Three prongs reaching upward +from the base engaged the receiver tightly, fitting closely about it. +Then he took up a watch-case receiver to listen through, in place of the +regular receiver. + +"Sherburne, you say?" he repeated. "H. Morgan Sherburne?" + +Apparently the voice at the other end of the wire replied rather +peevishly, for Kennedy endeavored to smooth over the delay. We waited +impatiently as he reiterated the name. Why was he so careful about it? +The moments were speeding fast and Mrs. Seabury found the suspense +terrific. + +"Must pay--we'll never get anything on you?" Craig repeated after a few +moments further parley. "Very well. I am commissioned to meet you there +in ten minutes and settle the thing up on those terms," he concluded as +he clapped the regular receiver back on its hook with a hasty good-by +and faced us triumphantly. + +"The deuce I won't get anything. I've got it!" he exclaimed. + +Judson Seabury was too stunned by the revelation that he had a cancer to +follow clearly the maze of events. + +"That," cried Kennedy, rising quickly, "is what is known as the +telescribe--a new invention of Edison that records on a specially +prepared phonograph cylinder all that is said--both ways--over a +telephone wire. Come!" + +Ten minutes later, in a cab that had been waiting at the door, we pulled +up at the Vanderveer. + +Without a word, leaving Judson Seabury and his wife in the waiting cab, +Craig sprang out, followed by me, as he signaled. + +There was Sherburne, brazen and insolent, in the cafe as we entered, +from a rear door, and came upon him before he knew it, our friend, +Dunn, whom we had met in the lobby, hovering concealed outside, ready to +come to our assistance. + +In a moment Kennedy was at Sherburne's elbow, pinching it in the manner +familiar to international crooks. + +"Will you tell me what your precise business is in this hotel?" shot out +Craig before Sherburne could recover from his surprise. + +Sherburne flushed and flared--then became pale with rage. + +"None of your damned insolence!" he ground out, then paused, cutting the +next remark short as he gritted, "What do you mean? Shall I send a wax +impression of that key--" + +Kennedy had quickly flashed the cylinder of the telescribe before his +eyes and instinctively Sherburne seemed to realize that with all his +care in using typewriters and telephones, some kind of record of his +extortion had been obtained. + +For a moment he crumpled up. Then Kennedy seized him by the elbow, +dragging him toward a side door opposite that at which our cab was +standing. + +"I mean," he muttered, "that I have the goods on you at last and you'll +get the limit for blackmail through this little wax cylinder if you so +much as show your face in New York again. I don't care where you go, but +it must be by the first train. Understand?" + +A moment later we returned to the cab, where it had pulled up in the +shadow, away from the carriage entrance. + +"You--you'll forgive me--for my--unjust suspicions--Agatha?" we heard a +voice from the depths of the cab say. + +Kennedy pulled me back in time not to interrupt a muffled "Yes." + +Craig coughed. + +As he reached a hand in through the cab door to bid good-night to the +reunited couple, I saw Mrs. Seabury start, then turn and drop into her +handbag the key which Kennedy had extracted from Sherburne's pocket in +the _melee_ and now conveyed back to her in the handshake. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE DIAMOND QUEEN + + +"Meet _Sylvania_ Quarantine midnight. Strange death Rawaruska. Retain +you in interest steamship company. Thompson, Purser." + +Kennedy had torn open the envelope of a wireless message that had come +from somewhere out in the Atlantic and had just been delivered to him at +dinner one evening. He read it quickly and tossed it over to me. + +"Rawaruska," I repeated. "Do you suppose that means the clever little +Russian dancer who was in the 'Revue' last year?" + +"There could hardly be two of that unusual name who would be referred to +so familiarly," returned Craig. "Curious that we've had nothing in the +wireless news about it." + +"Perhaps it has been delayed," I suggested. "Let me ring up the _Star_. +They may have something now." + +A few minutes later I rejoined Craig at the table. A report had just +been received that Rawaruska had been discovered, late the night before, +unconscious in her room on the _Sylvania_. The ship's surgeon had been +summoned, but before he was able to do anything for her she died. That +was all the report said. It was meager, but it served to excite our +interest. + +Renee Rawaruska, I knew, was a popular little Russian dancer abroad who +had come to America the season previous and had made a big hit on +Broadway. Beautiful, strange, fiery, she incarnated the mysterious Slav. +I knew her to be one of those Russian dancers before whose performances +Parisian audiences had gone wild with admiration, one who had carried +her art beyond anything known in other countries, fascinating, subtle. + +Hastily over the telephone Kennedy made arrangements to go down to +Quarantine on a revenue tug that was leaving to meet the _Sylvania_. + +It was a weird trip through the choppy winter seas of the upper bay and +the Narrows, in the dark, with the wind cold and bleak. + +The tug had scarcely cast off from the Battery, where we met it, when a +man, who had been watching us from a crevice of his turned-up ulster +collar, quietly edged over. + +"You are Professor Kennedy, the detective?" he began, more as if +asserting it than asking the question. + +Craig eyed him a moment, but said nothing. + +"I understand," he went on, not waiting for a reply, "that you are +interested in the case of that little Russian actress, Rawaruska?" + +Still Kennedy said nothing. + +"My name is Wade--of the Customs Service," pursued the man, nothing +abashed. Sticking his head forward between the corners of his high +collar he added, in a lowered voice, "You have heard, I suppose, of the +great amber diamond, 'The Invincible'?" + +Kennedy nodded and I thought hurriedly of all the big stones I had ever +heard--the Pitt, the Orloff, the Koh-i-noor, the Star of the South, the +Cullinan, and others. + +"The Invincible, you know," he added, "is the largest amber diamond in +the world, almost the size of the famous Cullinan, over three hundred +carats. It was found in the dry diggings of the Vaal River, a few miles +from Kimberley. The dry diggings are independent of the De Beers +combine, of course. Well, its owner has always been in the position of +Mark Twain's man with the million-dollar bank-note who found it too +large to cash. No one knows just what an amber diamond of that size is +really worth. This one is almost perfect, resembles the huge top of a +decanter stopper. It's a beautiful orange color and has been estimated +at--well, as high as close to a quarter of a million, though, as I said, +that is all guesswork." + +"Yes?" remarked Kennedy, more for politeness than anything else. + +Wade leaned over closer. + +"The Invincible," he whispered, shielding his lips from the keen, biting +gale, "was last known to belong to the De Guerres, of Antwerp. One of my +special agents abroad has cabled me to look out for it. He thinks there +is reason to believe it will be smuggled into America for safe keeping +during the troubles in Belgium." + +It seemed to make no difference to the customs man that Kennedy did not +exactly welcome him with open arms. "The De Guerres are well-known +dealers in diamonds, one of the leading houses in the 'city of +diamonds,' as Antwerp has been called. One of the De Guerres is on the +_Sylvania_, the junior partner--" he paused, then added,--"the husband, +I believe, of Rawaruska. I thought perhaps you might be willing to try +to help me." + +"I should be glad to," replied Kennedy tersely, pondering what the +officer had told us. + +Nothing more was said on the trip and at last we came to the _Sylvania_, +lying grim and dark of hull off the little cluster of Quarantine +buildings, with myriads of twinkling lights on her, far above but +scarcely relieving the blackness of the leviathan form. + +Thompson, the purser, a quiet, unexcitable Englishman, met us as we came +over the side, and for the moment we lost sight of our new-found friend, +Wade. + +"Perhaps you didn't know it," informed Thompson as we made our way +through the ship, "but Rawaruska was married--had been for some time." + +"Who was her husband?" queried Kennedy, seeking confirmation of what we +had already heard. + +"Armand De Guerre, a Belgian, of Antwerp," was the reply, "one of the +partners in a famous old diamond-cutting firm of that city." + +Kennedy looked at the purser keenly for a moment, then asked, "Were they +traveling together?" + +"Oh, yes,--that is, he had engaged a room, but you know how crowded the +boats are with refugees fleeing to America from the war. He gave up his +room, or rather his share of it, to a woman, a professional saleswoman, +well known, I believe, in Antwerp as well as the Rue de la Paix in Paris +and Maiden Lane and Fifth Avenue of your city, a Miss Hoffman--Elsa +Hoffman. She shared the room with Rawaruska, while De Guerre took his +chances in the steerage." + +As we walked down one of the main corridors we noticed ahead of us a +seemingly very nervous and excited gentleman engaged apparently in a +heated conversation with another. + +"Monsieur De Guerre," whispered Thompson as we approached. + +The two seemed to be just on the point of parting, as we neared them, +and, I think, our approach hastened them. I could not hear what one of +them said, but I heard De Guerre almost hiss, as he turned on his heel, +"Well, sir, you were the last one seen with her alive." + +A moment later the purser introduced us to De Guerre. There was +something about him which I can hardly express on paper, a sort of +hypnotic fascination. I felt instinctively that such a man would wield a +powerful influence over some women. Was it in his eyes, or was it merely +his ardent foreign grace? + +"You _must_ find out the truth," he cried eagerly. "Already they are +saying that it was suicide. But I cannot believe it. It cannot be. +No,--she was murdered!" + +Kennedy ventured no opinion, but now, more than ever, hastened to +signify to the purser that he wanted to look over the ground as quickly +as possible before the ship docked. + +Rawaruska, we found, had occupied Room 186, on the port side of one of +the lower decks. Kennedy seemed to be keenly interested, as we +approached the room in which the body still lay, awaiting arrival at the +pier a few hours later. + +The stateroom, apparently, ran to the very skin of the vessel and the +ports opened directly on the water, not upon an outside deck, as with +the rooms above it. It was an outside room at the end of a sort of +cross alleyway, and it was impossible that anyone could have reached it +except through the corridors. + +Attached to it was a little bath and directly across from the bath, on +the other side, was another small room which was occupied by her maid, +Cecilie, a French girl. + +In the main bedroom was a double bed, a couch, a wardrobe, and a small, +thin-legged writing or dressing table. + +On the white bed lay the now cold and marble figure of the once +vivacious little dancer who had enchanted thousands in life--petite, +brunette, voluptuous. Rawaruska was beautiful, even in death. + +Her finely chiseled features, lacking that heaviness which often +characterizes European women, were, however, terribly drawn and her +perfect complexion on which she had prided herself was now all mottled +and bluish. + +As Kennedy examined the body, I could not help observing that there +seemed to be every evidence that the girl had been asphyxiated in some +strange manner. + +Had it been by a deft touch on a nerve of her beautiful, soft neck that +had constricted the throat and cut off her breath? I had heard of such +things. Or had it been asphyxiation due to a poison that had paralyzed +the chest muscles? + +The purser, as soon as we came aboard, had summoned the ship's surgeon, +and we had scarcely arrived at Rawaruska's room when he joined us. He +was one of those solid, reliable doctors, not brilliant, but one in whom +you might place great confidence, a Dr. Sanderson, educated in +Edinburgh, and long a follower of the sea. + +"Was there any evidence of a struggle?" asked Kennedy. + +"No, none whatever," replied the doctor. + +"No peculiar odor, no receptacle of any kind near her that might have +held poison?" + +"No, nothing that could have been used to hold poison or a drug." + +Kennedy was regarding the face of the little dancer attentively. "Most +extraordinary," he remarked slowly, "that congested look she has." + +"Yes," agreed Dr. Sanderson, "her face was flushed and blue when I got +to her--cyanotic, I should say. There seemed to be a great dryness of +her throat and the muscles of her throat were paretic. Her pupils were +dilated, too, and her pulse was rapid, as if from a greatly increased +blood pressure." + +"Was she conscious?" asked Kennedy, almost reverently turning over her +rigid body and looking at the back of her neck and the upper spine. "Did +she recognize anything, say anything?" + +"She seemed to be in a state of amnesia," replied Sanderson slowly. +"Evidently if she had seen anything she had forgotten or wouldn't tell," +he added cautiously. + +"Who found her?" asked Craig. "How was she discovered?" + +"Why, Miss Hoffman found her," replied the purser quickly. "She called +one of the stewards. She had been sitting in the library reading until +quite late and Rawaruska had retired early, for she was not a good +sailor, they tell me. It must have been nearly midnight when De Guerre +and a friend, pausing at the library door on their way from the smoking +room, saw Miss Hoffman, and all three stopped in the Ritz restaurant for +a bite to eat. + +"De Guerre walked down the corridor with Miss Hoffman afterwards," he +continued, "and left her as she went into the room with his wife. +Perhaps a minute later--long enough anyway so that he had reached the +other end of the corridor--she screamed. She had turned on the light and +had found Rawaruska lying half across the bed, unconscious. Miss Hoffman +called to the steward to summon Dr. Preston, but he came to me first, +instead." + +"Dr. Preston?" repeated Kennedy. + +"Yes, a young American physician, the friend who had been with De Guerre +in the smoking room part of the evening, and later made up the party in +the restaurant," vouchsafed Sanderson. + +"The man De Guerre was talking to as we came down the hall," put in +Thompson. + +"H'm," mused Kennedy, evidently thinking of the remark we had overheard. + +"I've talked with him now and then myself," admitted Sanderson; "a +bright fellow who has been studying abroad and after many adventures +succeeded in getting across the border into Holland and thence to +England. He managed to squeeze into the steerage of the _Sylvania_, +though, of course, like De Guerre, he was classed as a first-cabin +passenger. He had become very friendly with Rawaruska and her party +while they were waiting for bookings in London." + +Thompson leaned over. "The steward in the corridor tells me," he said in +a low tone, "that early in the evening Dr. Preston and Rawaruska were +on the promenade deck together." + +I tried vaguely to piece together the scraps of information which we had +gleaned. Kennedy, however, said nothing, but was now leaning over the +body of the little dancer, looking at the upper region of her spine +attentively. Quietly, from a group of three or four little red marks on +her back he squeezed out several drops of liquid, absorbing them on a +piece of sterile gauze. + +A moment later, De Guerre, who had quietly slipped away during the +examination, as if unable to bear the sight of the tragedy, returned, +and with him was a young woman. + +"Miss Elsa Hoffman," he introduced. + +Elsa Hoffman was of a fascinating type, tall, finely gowned, of superb +poise, physically perfect. One could not help admiring her deep blue +eyes and blonde radiance. Indeed, I felt that one must rely much on her +attractions in pursuit of her business of selling gems to wealthy men +and women. Still, in spite of her evident poise, the tragedy seemed to +have oppressed and unnerved her. + +She did not seem to be able to add much to the scanty stock of facts we +had, even after repeating the story of her discovery of Rawaruska, which +was substantially as the purser had already told it. + +"I--I think perhaps Mr. Kennedy ought to question Cecilie," she +suggested finally, turning toward De Guerre, who nodded his assent. + +A sudden movement in the passageway followed, and the door opened +quietly. A man entered, a youngish fellow of fine physique and +attractive face. I recognized him immediately as Dr. Preston. His +apparently usually debonair manner was visibly subdued by the presence +of death. + +Evidently he had just heard that someone was investigating the tragedy +and had hastened to be present. Both De Guerre and Elsa nodded to him, a +trifle coldly. Only a moment did he pause to look at the drawn face on +the pillow, then stood apart, ill at ease until Kennedy had finished his +minute examination. + +As Kennedy moved away from the bed, Dr. Preston contrived to place +himself near him and apart from the rest. + +"Mr. Kennedy," he began in a husky undertone, "they tell me you have +been engaged to investigate this--this awful affair." + +Kennedy assented. + +"If there is anything I can do to help you," Preston added anxiously, "I +hope you will command me. In fact," he added as Kennedy nodded while +Preston glanced covertly at De Guerre and Miss Hoffman, "I hope you'll +get at the truth." + +"Thank you," responded Kennedy, meeting his eye squarely this time; "I +shall be glad to call on you if occasion arises." + +I watched Preston closely, not quite making out just what he was driving +at, nor the reason for the strained relations that now seemed to exist +among the former friends. Still following Kennedy's every motion, +Preston retired to the position of a more than interested spectator. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ANESTHETIC VAPORIZER + + +Craig had completed a hasty search of the room, with its little dressing +table, two trunks, and a cabinet. Everything seemed to have been kept in +a most neat and orderly manner by the attentive Cecilie, who was +apparently a model servant. + +The little white bathroom was equally immaculate, and Kennedy passed +next to an examination of the little room of the French maid. + +Cecilie was a pretty, dark little being, with snapping black eyes, the +type of winsome French maid that one would naturally have expected +Rawaruska, with her artist's love of the beautiful, to have picked out +to serve her dainty self. + +As I ran my eye over the group that was now intently watching Kennedy at +work, I fancied I caught Elsa Hoffman eyeing Cecilie sharply, and I am +sure that once at least those black eyes snapped back a wireless message +of defiance at the penetrating eyes of blue. I could feel instinctively +the atmosphere of hostility between the two women. + +"The door was not locked, you say?" repeated Craig, following up one of +the first of his own questions to Cecilie, which had resulted in +unearthing this new fact. + +"Non, monsieur," replied Cecilie in accented English which was charming. +"Mam'selle--we all called her that, her stage name,--used to leave it +open in case of fire or accident. She had a terrible fear of drowning. +You know there have been some awful wrecks lately, and she was, oh, so +nervous." + +"But her valuables?" prompted Craig quickly, watching the effect of his +question. + +"All in the ship's safe, in care of the purser," replied Cecilie. "So +were Miss Hoffman's." + +"Yes," corroborated Thompson, "and, besides, the corridors and +passageways are well patrolled by stewards at all times." + +The search of Cecilie's room, which was smaller and more scantily +furnished, took only a few minutes. + +A suppressed exclamation from Craig served to divert my attention from +the study of those around me to the study of Kennedy himself, and what +he had discovered. + +Hidden away in the back of a drawer in a small chiffonier, he had come +across several articles that aroused interest if they did not whet the +blade of suspicion. + +"_Mon Dieu!_" exclaimed the maid as Kennedy suppressed a smile of +gratification at the outcome of the search. "But that is not mine!" + +Kennedy drew out from the back of the drawer, where it had been tucked, +a little silken bag. He opened it. On the surface it seemed that the bag +was empty. But as he brought it cautiously closer to his face to peer +in, I could see that just a whiff of its contents was enough. + +"What have you there?" I asked Kennedy, careful that no one else could +overhear us. + +"Cayenne pepper, snuff, and some other chemical," sneezed Craig. "Very +effective to throw into the face of anyone," he commented, closing +quickly the bag by its loose drawing strings, "that is, if you merely +want to blind him and put him out temporarily." + +I did not pay much attention to the protests of the maid, nor the look +of triumph that crossed the face of Elsa Hoffman and surprise exhibited +by Dr. Preston. For Kennedy had picked up from the same drawer a little +toilet vaporizer, too, and was examining it minutely. + +As he held it up, I could see, or rather I fancied that it was empty. He +pressed the bulb lightly, then seemed to start back quickly. + +"What's that?" I queried, mystified at his actions. + +"Something the French secret service spies call the 'bad perfume,'" he +returned frankly, "an anesthetic so incredibly rapid and violent that +the spies, usually women, who use it wear a filter veil over their own +mouths and noses to protect themselves." + +The whole thing was so queer that I could only wonder what might be the +explanation. Cecilie was protesting volubly, now in fair English, now in +liquid French, that she knew absolutely nothing of the articles. + +I wondered whether Rawaruska herself might not have placed them there. +Might she not have been a spy, one of those clever little dancers who +had wormed themselves by their graceful agility into the good graces of +some of the world's leading men and made Russia a recognized diplomatic +power? + +Something like the same idea must have been suggested to Dr. Sanderson, +who was standing next me, for he bent over and remarked to me in an +undertone, with a significant glance at what Kennedy had discovered, "I +suppose you realize that the position of the Russian government has +undergone a marked change since the Russian dancers have won +international popularity?" + +I had not thought much about it before, but now that he mentioned it, I +could not help a nod of assent. + +"Why, I have heard," he continued with the air of a man who is imparting +a big piece of information, "that the beautiful young women of the +imperial ballet mingle in the society of the capitals of the world, make +friends with politicians, social leaders, high officials, and exert a +great influence in favor of their own country wherever they go. No +doubt," he added, "they sometimes convey valuable information to the +Foreign Office which could not be obtained in any other way." + +I was not paying much attention to him, but still the doctor rattled on +in an undertone, "Some of these dancers are past masters in the art of +intrigue. Do you suppose Rawaruska and the rest have had the task set +for them to win back the public opinion of your country, which departed +from its traditional policy of friendliness during the Japanese war?" + +I made no answer. I was engrossed in considering the primary question. +Could it have been a suicide, after all? Surely she had removed the +evidences of it much better than in any other case I had ever seen. + +Or, had there been a "triangle," perhaps a quadrangle here? I could not +persuade myself that De Guerre cared greatly for his wife, except +perhaps to be jealous of anyone else having her. He was too attentive to +Elsa Hoffman, and she, in turn, was not of the type to care much for +anyone. As for Dr. Preston, although he seemed to have had a friendship +for Rawaruska, I could not exactly fit him into the scheme of things. + +We proceeded up the bay on the _Sylvania_, but were able to discover +nothing further that night. As we left the ship at the dock in the +morning we ran across Wade, who was quietly directing a dozen or so of +his men. + +"Any trace yet of the Invincible?" asked Craig, stopping in an +unostentatious corner. + +The customs man shook his head gravely. "Not yet," he replied. "But I'm +not discouraged. If we miss it here in the customs inspection it will be +sure to turn up later. There's a shady jeweler on Fifth Avenue, Margot, +who knows these Antwerp people pretty well. I have a man working there, +a diamond cutter, and other agents in the trade. Oh, I'll hear about it +soon enough, if it is here. Only I'd like to have done something +spectacular, something that would count for me at Washington. Have you +found out anything?" + +Briefly Kennedy told him some of the scattered facts we had discovered, +just enough to satisfy him without taking him into our confidence. + +"I'm going to be busy in the laboratory, Walter," remarked Kennedy as +our taxicab extricated itself from the ruck of the river-front streets. +"I don't know that there is anything that you can do--except--well, yes. +I wish you'd try to keep an eye on some of these people--that maid, +Cecilie, especially." + +We had learned that De Guerre was to stop at the Vanderveer and, later +in the morning, I dropped into the hotel and glanced over the register. +De Guerre was registered there and Cecilie had a little room, also, +pending the disposal he would make of her. Miss Hoffman had rooms of her +own, which she had evidently re-engaged, with a family in a residential +street not far from the hotel. + +The clerk told me that De Guerre was out, but that the maid had returned +after having been out alone, for a short time, also. The lobby of the +Vanderveer was fairly crowded with people by this time, and I found no +difficulty in keeping in the background and still seeing pretty much +everything that went on. + +It was rather tame, however, and I was still debating whether I should +not do something active, when I happened to glance up and catch sight of +a familiar face. It was Dr. Preston making inquiries for someone of the +room clerk. I dodged back of a pillar and waited, covering myself with +an early morning war extra that repeated the news of the night before. + +A few moments later, Preston, who had received an answer from whomever +he was calling, edged his way toward one of the deserted little +reception rooms near a side carriage entrance. Carefully, I trailed him. + +It was some minutes before I could make up my mind to risk passing the +door of the little parlor and being discovered, but I was growing +impatient. As I glanced in I was astonished to see him talking earnestly +to Cecilie. I did not dare stop, for fear one or the other might look +up, but I could see that Preston was eagerly questioning her. Her face +was averted from me and I could not read even her expression. The +passageway was deserted, and if I paused I would inevitably attract +attention. So I kept on, turning instinctively in the labyrinth and +coming back to the lobby, where I found a position near the telephone +booths which gave me a concealed view at least of the door of the parlor +around an angle. I waited. + +Perhaps five minutes passed. Then Cecilie and Dr. Preston suddenly +emerged from the reception room. Evidently the maid was anxious to get +away, perhaps afraid to be seen with him. With a word, she almost ran +down the corridor in the direction of the rear elevators, and Preston, +with a queer look on his face, came slowly toward me. + +Instinctively I drew back into a telephone booth; then it occurred to me +that if I emerged just as he passed he would not be likely to suspect +anything, and I might have a chance to study him. + +I did so, and was quite amused at the look of surprise on his face as I +greeted him. Still, I do not think he thought I was shadowing him. We +paused for a moment on the street, after a conventional exchange of +remarks about the tragedy to poor little Rawaruska. + +"That Miss Hoffman seems to be a very capable woman," I remarked, by way +of dragging the conversation into channels into which it seemed unlikely +to drift naturally. + +"Y-yes," he agreed, as I caught a sidelong glance from the corner of his +eye. "I believe she has had a rather checkered career. I understand that +she was a nurse, a trained nurse, once." + +There was something about the remark that impressed me. It was made +deliberately, I fancied. What his purpose was, I could not fathom, but I +felt that in the instant while he had hesitated he had debated and made +up his mind to say it. + +My face betraying nothing to his searching glance, he pulled hastily at +his watch. "I'm going downtown on the subway--to clear up some of the +muss that this European business has got me in with my bankers," he said +quickly. "I'd be glad to have you call on me at any time at the +Charlton, just up the avenue a bit. Good-day, sir. I'm glad to have met +you. Drop in on me." + +He was gone, scarcely waiting for me to reply, leaving me to wonder what +was the cause of his strange actions. + +Mechanically I looked at my own watch and decided that I had left Craig +undisturbed long enough. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE TWILIGHT SLEEP + + +As I entered the laboratory I saw before him a peculiar, telescope-like +instrument, at one end of which, in a jar of oxygen, something was +burning with a brilliant, penetrating flame. + +He paused in his work and I hastened to tell him of the peculiar +experience I had had in the forenoon. But he said nothing, even at the +significant actions of Dr. Preston. + +"How about those things you found in the maid's room?" I asked at +length. "Do they explain Rawaruska's death?" + +"The trouble with them," he replied, thoughtfully shaking his head, "is +that the effects of such things last only for a short time. They might +have been used at first--but there was something used afterward." + +"Something afterward?" I repeated, keenly interested, and fingering the +telescope-like arrangement curiously. "What's this?" + +"One of the new quartz lens spectroscopes used by Dr. Dobbie of the +English Government laboratories," he answered briefly. "I think +chemists, police officials, coroners and physicians are going to find it +most valuable. You see, by throwing the ultra-violet part of the +spectrum from a source of light as I obtain from the sparking of iron in +oxygen through the lenses of a quartz spectroscope, the lines of many +dangerous drugs, especially of the alkaloids, can be distinctly and +quickly located in the spectrum. Each drug produces a characteristic +kind of line. We use a quartz lens because glass cuts off the +ultra-violet rays. Why, even the most minute particle of poison can be +detected in this revolutionary fashion." + +He had resumed squinting through the spectroscope. + +"Well," I asked, "do you find anything there?" + +He had evidently been using the piece of gauze on which he had preserved +the liquid from the peculiar little marks on Rawaruska's spine. + +"Narcophin," he muttered, still squinting. + +"Narcophin?" I repeated. "What is that?" + +"A derivative of opium--morphine. There's another poison here, too," he +added. + +"What is it?" + +"Scopolamine," he answered tersely, "scopolamine hydrobromide." + +"Why," I exclaimed, "that is the drug they use in this new 'twilight +sleep,' as they call it." + +"Exactly," he replied, "the _daemmerschlaf_. I suspected something of the +kind when I saw those little punctures on her back. Some people show a +marked susceptibility to it; others just the reverse. Evidently she was +one of those who go under it quietly and quickly." + +I looked at Kennedy in amazement. + +"You can see," he went on, catching the expression on my face, "if it +could be used for medical science, it could also be used for crime. +That's the way I reasoned, the way someone else must have reasoned." + +He paused, then went on. "Someone thought out this plan of using +narcophin and scopolamine to cause the twilight sleep, to keep Rawaruska +just on the borderland of unconsciousness, destroying her memory and +producing forgetfulness. That is the _daemmerschlaf_; perception is +retained but memory lost. You are acquainted with the test? They show an +object to a patient and ask her if she sees it. Say, half an hour later, +it is shown again. If she remembers it, it is a sign that a new +injection is necessary. + +"Only in this case the criminal went too far, disregarded the danger of +the thing. Scopolamine in too great a quantity causes death by paralysis +of respiration--a paralysis, by the way, against which artificial +respiration and all means of stimulating are ineffective because of the +rigidity of the muscles. And so, you see, in this case Rawaruska died." + +I could not help thinking of Preston, the young doctor who had been +studying in Germany. More than likely he had heard of and had +investigated the Frieberg "twilight sleep" treatment. We had made some +progress, even though we did not know why or by whom the drugs had been +administered. + +Wade, of the Customs Service, had, as I have said, told us that he had +several secret agents about in the trade, constantly picking up bits of +information that might interest the Treasury Department. It did not +surprise Kennedy, therefore, late in the forenoon, to have Wade call up +and tell him that among the early callers at Margot's, the jeweler, was +the maid Cecilie. + +"That was where she must have been before I reached the Vanderveer," I +exclaimed. + +Kennedy nodded. "But why did she go there?" he asked. "And why was she +talking with Preston?" + +Inasmuch as I couldn't answer the questions I didn't try, but waited +while Craig reasoned out some method of attack on them. + +"Since it's known that we're working on the case of Rawaruska," he +ruminated half an hour later over an untasted lunch, "we might just as +well take the risk of seeing Margot himself. Let's go down and look his +shop over." + +So in the middle of the afternoon, when Fifth Avenue was crowded with +shoppers, we paused before Margot's window, looking over the entrancing +display of precious stones gleaming out from the rich black velvet +background, and then sauntered in, like any other customers. + +Kennedy engaged the salesman in talk about necklaces and lavallieres, +always leading the conversation around to the largest stones that he +saw, and dwelling particularly on those that were colored. As I +listened, trying to throw in a word now and then that would not sound +absolutely foolish, I was impressed by a feeling that Margot's, even +though it was such a fashionable place, was what might be called only a +high-class shyster's. In fact, I recalled having heard that Margot had +engineered several rather questionable transactions in gems. + +"I'm much interested in orange stones," remarked Kennedy, casually +turning up a flawless white diamond and discarding it as if it did not +interest him. "Once when I was abroad I saw the famous Invincible, and a +handsomer gem than it is I never hope to see." + +The clerk, ever obliging, replaced the tray before us in the safe and +retired toward the back of the shop. + +"He suspects nothing, at least," whispered Kennedy. + +A moment later he returned. "I'm sorry," he reported, "but we haven't +any such stones in the house. But I believe we expect some in a few +days. If you could--" + +"I shall remember it; thank you," interrupted Kennedy brusquely, as I +caught a momentary gleam of satisfaction in his eye. "That's most +fortunate. I'll be in again. Thank you." + +We turned toward the door. In an instant it flashed over me that perhaps +they were recutting the big Invincible. + +"Just a moment, please, gentlemen," interrupted a voice behind us. + +A short, stocky man had come up behind us. + +"I thought you did not look like purchasers, nor yet like crooks," he +said defiantly. "Did I hear you refer to the Invincible?" + +It was Margot himself, who had been hovering about behind us. Kennedy +said nothing. + +"Yes," he went on, "I am cutting a large diamond, but it is not like the +Invincible. It is much handsomer--one that was discovered right here in +this country in the new diamond fields of Arkansas. The diamond itself +is already sold. And you would nevair guess the buyer, oh, nevair!" + +"No?" queried Kennedy. + +"Nevair!" reiterated Margot. + +"It could not be delivered to a woman who was once the maid of +Rawaruska, the Russian dancer?" Craig asked abruptly. + +Margot shot a quick and suspicious glance at us. + +"Then you are, as I suspected, a detectif?" he cried. + +Kennedy eyed him sharply without admitting the heinous charge. Margot +returned his look and I felt that of all sayings that about a dishonest +man not being able to look you in the eye was itself the least credible. +He laughed daringly. "Well, perhaps you are right," he said. "But +whoever it is, he is lucky to have bought a stone like it so cheaply!" + +The man was baffling. I could not figure it out. Had Margot been simply +a high-class "fence" for the disposal and convenient reappearance of +stolen goods? + +We returned uptown to our apartment to find that in the meantime Wade +had called up again. Kennedy got him on the wire. It seemed that shortly +after we left Margot's Cecilie had called again and had gone off with a +small, carefully wrapped package. + +"A strange case," pondered Kennedy, as he hung up the receiver. "First +there is a murder that looks like a suicide, then the sale of a diamond +that looks like a fake." He paused a moment. "They have worked quickly +to cover it up; we must work with equal quickness if we are to uncover +them." + +With almost lightning rapidity he had seized the telephone again and had +our old friend First Deputy O'Connor on the wire. Briefly he explained +the case, and arranged for the necessary arrests that would bring the +principal actors in the little drama to the laboratory that night. Then +he fell to work on a little delicate electrical instrument consisting, +outwardly at least, of a dial with a pointer and several little carbon +handles attached to wires, as well as a switchboard. + +I know that Kennedy did not relish having his hand forced in this +manner, but nevertheless he was equal to the emergency and when, after +dinner, those whom O'Connor had rounded up began to appear at the +laboratory, no one would ever have imagined that he had not the entire +case on the very tip of his tongue, almost bursting forth an accusation. + +De Guerre had complied with the police order by sending Cecilie alone in +a cab, and later he drove up with Miss Hoffman. Dr. Preston came in +shortly afterward, shooting a keen glance at Cecilie, and avoiding more +than a nod to De Guerre. Margot himself was the last to arrive, +protesting volubly. Wade, of course, was already there. + +"I really must beg your pardon," began Kennedy, as he ignored the +querulousness of Margot, the late arrival, adding significantly, "that +is, of all of you except one, for monopolizing the evening." + +Whatever might have been in their minds to say, no one ventured a word. +Kennedy's tone when he said, "Of all of you except one," was too tense +and serious. It demanded attention, and he got it. + +"I am going to put to you first a hypothetical case," he continued +quietly. "Let us say that the De Guerres of Antwerp decided to smuggle a +great jewel into America for safe keeping, perhaps for sale, during the +troublous times in their own country. + +"Now, any man would know," he went on, "that he had a pretty slim chance +when it came to smuggling in a diamond. Besides, everyone knew that the +De Guerres owned this particular stone, of which I shall speak later. +But a woman? Smuggling is second nature to some women." + +Quickly he ran over the strange facts that had been unearthed regarding +the death of the dainty Russian dancer. + +"You were right, Monsieur De Guerre," he concluded, turning +to the diamond merchant; "it was no suicide. Your wife was +killed--unintentionally, it is true,--but killed in an attempt to steal +a great diamond from her while she was smuggling it." + +De Guerre made no answer, save a hasty glance at Wade that did not carry +with it an admission of smuggling. + +"You mean to say, then, Mr. Kennedy," Margot demanded, "that while +Rawaruska was smuggling in the big diamond of which you speak someone +heard of it and deliberately _murdered_ her?" + +"Not too fast," cautioned Craig. "Think again before you use those +words, 'deliberately murdered.' If it had been murder that was intended, +how much more surely it might have been accomplished by more brutal +methods--or by more scientific. No, murder was never deliberately +intended." + +He stopped, as if to emphasize the point, then slowly began to +distribute to each of us one of the carbon handles I had seen him +adjusting to the peculiar little electrical instrument. + +"Let me reconstruct the case," he hurried on, giving a final twist or +two to the instrument itself, now placed before him on a table, with its +dial face away from us. "Rawaruska had retired for the night. Where had +she placed the diamond? It would probably take a long search to find it. +Well, the twilight sleep was chosen because it was supposed to be a +safe and sure means to the end. Even if she retained some degree of +consciousness, she would forget what happened. That is partly the reason +for the treatment, anyhow,--the loss of memory. + +"Someone believed this was a safe and sure anesthetic. First perhaps a +whiff of the secret service 'bad perfume' to insure that she would not +cry out--then an injection of narcophin and scopolamine--another--and +the twilight sleep. A few minutes, and Rawaruska was unconscious. + +"Then came the search. Perhaps she was restless. Another injection +settled that. At last the great diamond was found. But the twilight +sleep meant not forgetfulness but death to Rawaruska!" + +Craig paused. It was almost as if one could see the word picture of the +scene as he painted it. + +"What was to be done? The diamond must be recut--anything to hide its +identity, at once, and at any cost. And Margot? The story of the +Arkansas diamond and the sale is a blind. The case is perfect!" + +Kennedy raised his eyes for the first time from the study of the little +electrical machine before him, and caught the eye of Cecilie, holding +it, unwilling. + +"Did you ever hear of the great diamond, the Invincible?" Kennedy +smashed out. + +I felt that it might not have been exactly chivalrous, but it was +necessary. + +Cecilie's breast, which had showed a wildly beating heart as Kennedy +told of how her mistress had died, was calmer now. Her air of surprise +at the mention of the diamond was perfect. Elsa Hoffman was gazing at +her, too, in tense interest. De Guerre was outwardly cool, Margot +openly cynical, Preston leaning forward in ill-suppressed excitement. + +For a moment Kennedy paused again, as if allowing all to collect +themselves before he took them by assault. + +"I have lately been studying," he remarked casually, "the experiments of +Dr. Von Pfungen of Vienna showing the protective resistance of the human +skin against an electric current. Normally, this resistance averages +from seventy to eighty thousand ohms. In the morning, owing to the +accumulation of waste products, the resistance may mount to almost +double. In persons suffering from nervous anxiety, it decreases to five +thousand and even down to a thousand ohms in cases of hysteria. Von +Pfungen has also measured a human being's emotional feelings by the +electric current. I have a copy of his instrument here. There is one +person who sits gripping the carbon electric handle connected with this +galvanometer who, to begin with, had a resistance of over sixty +thousand. But when I began to tell of how Rawaruska met her death, of +the hypothetical case I have built up by my observations and experiments +here in this very laboratory, the needle of the galvanometer started to +oscillate downward. It went down until it reached thirty-eight thousand +at the mention of murder. When I said the case was perfect, it had got +as low as under twenty thousand, swinging lower and lower as the person +saw hope depart!" + +Kennedy was no longer paying any attention to the little instrument. As +I followed him, I became more and more impatient. What was it he had +discovered? Who was it? + +"Preston," cried Kennedy, suddenly wheeling on the young doctor, +"through your regard--honorable, I am sure--for Rawaruska you have let +yourself be drawn into doing a little amateur detective work. Let me +warn you. Instead of clearing up the case, you merely laid yourself open +to suspicion. Fortunately the galvanometer absolves you. You should have +known that Cecilie was only a tool. De Guerre, your black wallet, that +all diamond dealers carry--thank you, Wade--that's it." + +Kennedy had turned from Preston to Cecilie, then to De Guerre so +suddenly that no one was prepared for the signal he gave to the customs +officer. + +Wade had covered the surprised dealer and was now emptying out the +contents of the wallet. + +There, on the table, gleaming in the light of the laboratory, lay a +wonderful brilliant, some three hundred carats--perfect in its blazing +crystalline orange beauty. There it lay, a jewel which might charm and +arouse the cupidity of two hemispheres. It shone like a thing of life. +Yet back of its orange fire lay a black tragedy. + +Margot was on his feet instantly. + +"That is not the--" + +"Just a moment, Mr. Margot," interrupted Kennedy. "I think Mr. Wade will +be able to show that it is the Invincible when he matches up the parts +that have been hurriedly cut from--from the wonderful Arkansas diamond," +Craig added sarcastically. "Miss Hoffman, Dr. Preston tells us that +before you were a diamond saleswoman you had been a trained nurse!" + +The look Elsa Hoffman flashed, as her calm exterior refused to conceal +her emotions longer, was venomous. + +Kennedy was the calmest one of us all as he tapped the little +galvanometer significantly with his index finger. + +"De Guerre," he exclaimed, leaning forward slightly, "you and your +lover, Elsa Hoffman, planned cunningly to rob your own brothers. But, +instead of robbers merely," he ground out, "you are murderers!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SIXTH SENSE + + +"I suppose you have read in the papers of the mysterious burning of our +country house at Oceanhurst, on the south shore of Long Island?" + +It had been about the middle of the afternoon that a huge automobile of +the latest design drew up at Kennedy's laboratory and a stylishly +dressed woman, accompanied by a very attentive young man, alighted. + +They had entered and the man, with a deep bow, presented two cards +bearing the names of the Count and Countess Alessandro Rovigno. + +Julia Rovigno, I knew, was the daughter of Roger Gaskell, the retired +banker. She had recently married Count Rovigno, a young foreigner whose +family had large shipping interests in America and at Trieste in the +Adriatic. + +"Yes, indeed, I have read about it," nodded Craig. + +"You see," she hurried on a little nervously, "it was a wedding present +to us from my father." + +"Giulia," put in the young man quickly, giving her name an accent that +was not, however, quite Italian, "thinks the fire was started by an +incendiary." + +Rovigno was a tall, rather boyish-looking man of thirty-two or +thirty-three, with light brown hair, light brown beard and mustache. His +eyes and forehead spoke of intelligence, but I had never heard that he +cared much about practical business affairs. In fact, to American +society Rovigno was known chiefly as one of the most daring of +motor-boat enthusiasts. + +"It may have been the work of an incendiary," he continued thoughtfully, +"or it may not. I don't know. But there has been an epidemic of fires +among the large houses out on Long Island lately." + +I nodded to Kennedy, for I had myself compiled a list for the _Star_, +which showed that considerably over a million dollars' worth of show +places had been destroyed. + +"At any rate," added the Countess, "we are burned out, and are staying +in town now--at my father's house. I wish you would come around there. +Perhaps father can help you. He knows all about the country out that +way, for his own place isn't a quarter of a mile away." + +"I shall be glad to drop around, if I can be of any assistance," agreed +Kennedy as the young couple left us. + +The Rovignos had scarcely gone when a woman appeared at the laboratory +door. She was well dressed, pretty, but looked pale and haggard. + +"My name is Mrs. Bettina Petzka," she began, singling out Kennedy. "You +do not know me, but my husband, Nikola, was one of the first students +you taught, Professor." + +"Yes, yes, I recall him very well," replied Craig. "He was a brilliant +student, too--very promising. What can I do for you?" + +"Why, Professor Kennedy," she cried, no longer able to control her +feelings, "he has suddenly disappeared." + +"What line of work had he taken up?" asked Craig, interested. + +"He was a wireless operator--had been employed on a liner that runs to +the Adriatic from New York. But he was out of work. Someone has told me +that he thought he saw Nikola in Hoboken around the docks where a number +of the liners that go to blockaded ports are laid up waiting the end of +the war." + +She paused. + +"I see," remarked Kennedy, pursing up his lips thoughtfully. "Your +husband was not a reservist of any of the countries at war, was he?" + +"No--he was first of all a scientist. I don't think he had any interest +in the war--at least he never talked much about it." + +"I know," persisted Craig, "but had he taken out his naturalization +papers here?" + +"He had applied for them." + +"When did he disappear?" + +"I haven't seen him for two nights," she sobbed. + +It flashed over me that it was now two nights since the fire that had +burned Rovigno's house, although there was no reason for connecting the +events, at least yet. + +The young woman was plainly wild with anxiety. "Oh, can't you help me +find Nikola?" she pleaded. + +"I'll try my best," reassured Kennedy, taking down on a card her address +and bowing her out. + +It was late in the afternoon before we had an opportunity to call at the +Gaskell town house where the Rovignos were staying. The Count was not at +home, but the Countess welcomed us and led us directly into a large +library. + +"I'd like to have you meet my father," she introduced. "Father, this is +Professor Kennedy, whom Alex and I have engaged to look into the burning +of our house." + +Old Roger Gaskell received us, I thought, with a curious mixture of +restraint and eagerness. + +"I hope you'll excuse me?" asked the Countess a moment later. "I really +must dress for dinner. But I think I've told you all I can. I wanted you +to talk to my father." + +"I've heard of the epidemic of fires from my friend Mr. Jameson here, on +the _Star_," remarked Kennedy when we were alone. "Some, I understand, +have attributed the fires to incendiaries, others have said they were +the work of disgruntled servants, others of an architect or contractor +who hasn't shared in the work and thinks he may later. I've even heard +it said that an insurance man may be responsible--hoping to get new +business, you know." + +Gaskell looked at us keenly. Then he rose and approached us, raising his +finger as though cautioning silence. + +"Do you know," he whispered so faintly that it was almost lost, +"sometimes I think there is a plot against me?" + +"Against _you_?" whispered back Kennedy. "Why, what do you mean?" + +"I can't tell you--here," he replied. "But, I believe there are +detectaphones hidden about this house!" + +"Have you searched?" asked Kennedy keenly. + +"Yes, but I've found nothing. I've gone over all the furniture and such +things. Still, they might be inside the walls, mightn't they?" + +Kennedy nodded. + +"Could you discover them if they were?" asked Gaskell. + +"I think I could," replied Craig confidently. + +"Then there's another peculiar thing," resumed Gaskell, a little more +freely, yet still whispering. "I suppose you know that I have a country +estate not far from my daughter?" + +He paused. "Of course I know," he went on, watching Kennedy's face, +"that sparks are sometimes struck by horses' shoes when they hit stones. +But the shoes of my horses, for instance, out there lately have been +giving forth sparks even in the stable. My groom called my attention to +it, and I saw it myself." + +He continued looking searchingly at Kennedy. "You are a scientist," he +said at length. "Can you tell me why?" + +Kennedy was thinking deeply. "I can't, offhand," he replied frankly. +"But I should like to have a chance to investigate." + +"There may be some connection with the fire," hinted Gaskell anxiously +as he accompanied us to the door. + +At our own apartment, when we returned, we found our friend, Burke, of +the Secret Service, waiting for us. + +"Just had a hurry call to come to New York," he explained, "and thought +I'd like to drop in on you first." + +"What's the trouble?" asked Kennedy. + +"Why, there's been a mysterious yacht lurking about the mouth of the +harbor for several days and they want to look into it." + +"Whose yacht do they think it is?" + +"They don't know, but it is said to resemble one that belongs to a man +named Gaskell." + +"Gaskell?" repeated Craig, turning suddenly. + +"Yes,--the _Furious_--a fast, floating palace--one of these new power +yachts, run by a gas engine--built for speed. Why, do you know anything +about it?" + +Kennedy said nothing. + +"The revenue cutter _Uncas_ has been assigned to me," went on Burke. "If +you have nothing better to do, I'd like to have you give me a hand in +the case. You might find it a little different from the ordinary run." + +"I shall be glad to go with you," replied Craig cordially. "Only, just +now I've got a particular case of my own. I'll see you tomorrow at the +Customs House, though, if I can." + +"Good!" exclaimed Burke. "I don't think either of you, particularly +Jameson, will regret it. It promises to be a good story." + +Burke had scarcely left us when Kennedy decided on his next move. We +went directly over to the Long Island Railroad station and caught the +next train out to Oceanhurst, not a long run from the city. + +Thus, early in the evening, Kennedy was able to begin, under cover, his +investigation of the neighborhood of the Rovigno and Gaskell houses. + +We entered the Gaskell estate and looked it over as we made our way +toward the stable to find the groom. Out on the bay we could see the +_Furious_ at anchor. Nearer in shore were a couple of Count Rovigno's +speedy racing motor-boats. Along the shore, we saw a basin for yachts, +capable even of holding the _Furious_. + +The groom proved to be a rather dull-witted fellow, and left us pretty +much to our own devices. + +"Ya-as--sparks--I saw 'em," he drawled in answer to Kennedy's question. +"So did Mr. Gaskell. Naw--I don't know nawthin' about 'em." + +He had lumbered out into another part of the stable when I heard a low +exclamation from Craig, of "Look, Walter!" + +I did look in amazement. There were indeed little sparks, in fact a +small burst of them in all directions, where there were metal surfaces +in close proximity to one another. + +Kennedy had brought along with him a strange instrument and he was now +looking attentively at it. + +"What is that?" I asked. + +"The bolometer," he replied, "invented by Professor Langley." + +"And what does it do?" + +"Detects waves," he replied, "rays that are invisible to the eye. For +instance, just now it tells me that shooting through the darkness are +invisible waves, perhaps infra-red rays." + +He paused, and I looked at him inquiringly. + +"You know," he explained, "the infra-red rays are closer to the heat +rays than those of the upper end of the spectrum and beyond, the +ultra-violet rays, with which we have already had some experience." + +Kennedy continued to look at his bolometer. "Yes," he remarked +thoughtfully, half to himself, "somewhere around here there is a +generator of infra-red rays and a projector of those rays. It reminds me +of those so-called F-rays of Ulivi--or at least of a very powerful +wireless." + +I was startled at the speculations that his words conjured up in my +mind. Was the "evil eye" of superstition a scientific fact? Was there a +baneful beam that could be directed at will--one that could not be seen +or felt until it worked its havoc? Was there a power that steel walls +could not hold, which, in fact, was the more surely transmitted by them? + +Somehow, the fact of the strange disappearance of Petzka, the wireless +operator, kept bobbing up in my mind. I could not help wondering +whether, perhaps, he had found this strange power and was using it for +some nefarious purpose. Could it have been Petzka who was responsible +for the fires? But, why? I could not figure it out. + +Early the next morning we called at the Gaskell town house again. +Kennedy had brought with him a small piece of apparatus which seemed to +consist of two sets of coils placed on ends of a magnet bar. To them was +attached a long flexible wire which he screwed into an electric light +bulb socket. Then he placed a peculiar telephone-like apparatus, +attached to the other end, to his ears. He adjusted the magnets and +carried the thing carefully about the room. + +At one point he stopped and moved the thing vertically up along the +wall, from floor to ceiling. + +"That's a gas pipe," he said simply. + +"What's the instrument?" I asked. + +"A new apparatus for finding pipes electrically, which I think can be +just as well applied to finding other things concealed in walls under +plaster and paper." + +He paused to adjust the thing. "The electrical method," he went on, "is +a special application of well-known induction balance principles. You +see one set of coils receives an alternating or vibrating current. The +other is connected with this telephone. First I established a balance so +that there was no sound in the telephone." + +He moved the thing about. "Now, when the device comes near metal-piping, +for example, or a wire, the balance is disturbed and I hear a sound. +That was the gas pipe. It is easy to find its exact location. Hulloa--" + +He paused again in a corner, back of Gaskell's desk and appeared to be +listening intently. + +A moment later he was ruthlessly breaking through the plaster of the +beautifully decorated wall. + +Sure enough, in there was a detectaphone, concealed only a fraction of +an inch beneath the paper, with wires leading down inside the partition +in the direction of the cellar. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE INFERNAL MACHINES + + +He ripped the little mechanical eavesdropper out, wires and all, but he +did not disconnect the wires, yet. + +We traced it out, and down into the cellar the wires led, directly, and +then across, through a small opening in the foundations into the next +cellar of an apartment house, ending in a bin or storeroom. + +In itself the thing, so far, gave no clew as to who was using it or the +purpose for which it had been installed. But it was strange. + +"Someone _was_ evidently trying to get something from you, Mr. Gaskell," +remarked Craig pointedly, after we returned to the Gaskell library. "Why +do you suppose he went to all that trouble?" + +Gaskell shrugged his shoulders and averted his eyes. + +"I've heard of a yacht outside New York harbor," added Craig casually. + +"A yacht?" + +"Yes," he said nonchalantly, "the _Furious_." + +Gaskell met Kennedy's eye and looked at him as though Craig had some +occult power of divination. Then he moved over closer to us. + +"Is that detectaphone thing out of business now?" he asked, hoarsely. + +"Yes." + +"Absolutely?" + +"Absolutely." + +Gaskell leaned over. + +"Then I don't mind telling you, Professor Kennedy," he said in a low +tone, "that I am letting a friend of mine from London use that yacht to +supply some allied warships on the Atlantic with news, supplies and +ammunition, such as can be carried." + +Kennedy looked at him keenly, but for some moments did not answer. I +knew he was debating on how he might properly dove-tail this with +Burke's case, ethically. + +"Someone is trying to find out from eavesdropping just what your plans +are, then," remarked Craig thoughtfully, with a significant tap on the +detectaphone. + +A moment later he turned his back to us and knelt down. He seemed to be +wrapping the detectaphone up in a small package which he put in his +pocket and closing the hole in the wall as best he could where he had +ripped the paper. + +"All I ask of you," concluded Gaskell, as we left a few minutes later, +"is to keep your hands off that phase of things. Find the +incendiary--yes; but this other matter that you have forced out of +me--well--hands off!" + +On our way downtown to keep the appointment Kennedy had made with Burke +the night before, he stopped at the laboratory to get a heavy parcel +which he carried along. + +We found Burke waiting for us, impatiently, at the Customs House. + +"We've just discovered that the liners over at Hoboken have had steam up +for a couple of days," he said excitedly. "Evidently they are waiting to +make a break for the ocean--perhaps in concert with a sortie of the +fleets over in Europe." + +"H-m," mused Kennedy, looking fixedly at Burke, "that complicates +matters, doesn't it? We must preserve American neutrality." + +He thought a moment. "I should like to go aboard the revenue cutter. May +I?" + +"Surely," agreed Burke. + +A few moments later we were on the _Uncas_, Kennedy and Burke in earnest +conversation in low tones which I did not overhear. Evidently Craig was +telling him just enough of what he had himself discovered so as to +enlist Burke's services. + +The captain in charge of the _Uncas_ joined the conversation a few +moments later, and then Kennedy took the heavy package down below. For +some time he was at work in one of the forward tanks that was full of +water, attaching the thing, whatever it was, in such a way that it +seemed to form part of the skin of the ship. + +Another brief talk with Burke and the captain followed, and then the +three returned to the deck. + +"Oh, by the way," remarked Burke, as he and Kennedy came back to me, "I +forgot to tell you that I have had some of my men working on the case +and one of them has just learned that a fellow named Petzka, one of the +best wireless operators,--a Hungarian or something--has been engaged to +go on that yacht." + +"Petzka?" I repeated involuntarily. + +"Yes," said Burke, in surprise, "do you know anything about him?" + +I turned to Kennedy. + +"Not much," replied Craig. "But you can find out about him, I think, +through his wife. He used to be one of my students. Here's her address. +She's very anxious to hear from him. I'm sure that if you have any news +she will be only too glad to receive it." + +Burke took the address and a little while later we went ashore. + +I was not surprised when Kennedy proposed, as the next move, to revisit +the cellar in the apartment next to Gaskell's house. But I was surprised +at what he said, after we had reached the place. + +All along I had supposed that he was planning to wait there in hope of +catching the person who had installed the detectaphone. That, of course, +was a possibility, still. But in reality he had another purpose, also. + +We had scarcely secreted ourselves in the cellar storeroom, which was in +a dark corner where one might remain unobserved even if the janitor +entered the cellar, provided he did not search that part, when Kennedy +took the receiving headpiece of the detectaphone and placed it over his +head, quite as if nothing had happened. + +"What's the use of that?" I queried. "You ripped the transmitter out up +above." + +He smiled quietly. "While my back was turned toward you, so that you +couldn't see," he said, "I slipped the thing back again, only down +further where Gaskell wouldn't be likely to find it, even if he looked. +I don't know whether he was frank with us, so I thought I'd try the +eavesdropping game myself, in place of the man who put this thing in in +the first place, whoever he was." + +We took turns listening, but could hear not a sound. Nor did anyone come +into the cellar. + +So a good part of the afternoon passed, apparently fruitless. + +My patience was thoroughly exhausted when, suddenly, a motion from Craig +revived my flagging interest. I waited impatiently for him to tell me +what it was that he heard. + +"What was it?" I asked finally as he pulled the receivers off his head +and stood for a moment, considering. + +"At first I heard the sound of voices," he answered quickly. "One was +the voice of a woman, which I recognized. It was the Countess. The other +was the Count. + +"'Giulia,' I heard him say, as they entered the room, 'I don't see why +you should want to go. It's dangerous. And besides, it's none of our +business if your father lets his yacht be used for such a purpose.' + +"'But I want to go, Alex,' she said. 'I will go. I'm a good sailor. It's +father's yacht. He won't care.' + +"'But what's the use?' he expostulated. 'Besides--think of the danger. +If it was our business, it might be different.' + +"'I should think you'd want to go.' + +"'Not I. I can get all the excitement I want in a motor-boat race +without risking my precious neck pulling the chestnuts out of the fire +for someone else.' + +"'Well, I want the adventure,' she persisted, petulantly. + +"'But, Giulia, if you go tonight, think of the risk--' + +"That was the last I heard as they left the room, still arguing. +Evidently, someone is going to pull off something tonight." + +It did not take Kennedy long to make up his mind what to do next. He +left the cellar hurriedly and in the laboratory hastily fixed up a +second heavy and bulky package similar to that which he had taken down +to the revenue cutter earlier in the day, making it into two parcels so +as to distribute the burden between us. + +That night we journeyed out to Oceanhurst again. Avoiding the regular +road, we made our way from the station to the Gaskell place by a +roundabout path and it was quite dark by the time we got there. + +As we approached the basin we saw that there were several men about. +They appeared to be on guard, but since Oceanhurst at that season of the +year was pretty deserted and the Gaskell estate was out of the town, +they were not especially vigilant. + +Dark and grim, with only one light showing weakly, lay the yacht, having +been run into the basin, now. A hawser had been stretched across the +mouth of the basin. Outside was a little tender, while a searchlight was +playing over the water all the time. Evidently whatever interference was +feared was expected from the water rather than from the land. + +We slunk into the shadow of a row of bath-houses, in order to get our +bearings. On the opposite side from the road that led down from the +house, it was not so likely that anyone would suspect that interlopers +were hiding there. + +Still, they were not neglecting that side of the basin, at least in a +perfunctory sort of way. + +Kennedy drew me back into the shadow, deeper, at the sound of footsteps +on the boardwalk leading in front of the bath-houses. + +From our hiding place we could now hear two voices, apparently of +sailors. + +"Do you know the new wireless operator who goes with us tonight?" asked +one. + +"No. They've been very careful of him. I guess they were afraid that +someone might get wise. But there couldn't very well be any leak, there. +One of those Englishmen has been with him every minute since he was +engaged." + +"They say he's pretty good. Who is he?" + +"A Servian, he says, and his name sounds as if it might be so." + +The voices trailed off. It was only a scrap of conversation, but Kennedy +had not missed a word of it. + +"That means Petzka," he nodded to me. + +"What is he--a Hungarian or a Servian?" I asked quickly. + +Kennedy had craned his neck out beyond the corner of the bath-houses and +was looking at the _Furious_ in the basin. + +"Come on, Walter," he whispered, not taking time to answer my question. +"Those fellows have gone. There's no one at all on this side of the +basin and I just saw the men on deck go up the gangplank to the +boat-house. They can't do any more than put us off, anyhow." + +He had watched his chance well. As quickly as we could, burdened down by +our two heavy packages, we managed to slip across the boardwalk to the +piling that formed that side of the basin. The _Furious_ had swung over +with the tide nearer our side than the other. It was a daring leap, but +he made it as lightly as a cat, landing on the deck. I passed over the +packages to him and followed. + +Kennedy scarcely paused to glance about. He had chosen a moment when no +one was looking, and, bending down under the weight of the packages we +dodged back of a cabin. A dim light shining into the hold told us that +no one was there and we dived down. It was the work of a moment to +secrete ourselves in the blank darkness behind a pile of boxes, aft. + +A noise startled us. Someone was coming down the steep, ladder-like +stairs. A moment later we heard another noise. There were two of them, +moving about among the boxes. From our hiding place we could overhear +them talking in hoarse whispers, but could not see them. + +"Where did you put them?" asked a voice. + +"In every package of explosives and in as many of the boxes of canned +goods as I had time. There wasn't much opportunity except while the +stuff was in the boat-house." + +I looked at Kennedy, wild-eyed. Was there treachery in the crew? He was +leaning forward as much as our cramped quarters would permit, so as not +to miss a word. + +"All right," said the other voice. "No one suspects?" + +"No. But the Secret Service has been pretty busy. They suspect +something--but not this." + +"Good. You are sure that you can detonate them when the time comes?" + +"Positive. Everything is working fine. I've done my part of it. +Changing wireless operators gave me just the chance I wanted." + +"All right. I guess I'll go now." + +"Remember the signal. As soon as the things are detonated I will get +off, some way, by wireless the S O S--as if it came from the fleet, you +understand?" + +"Yes--that will be the signal for the dash. Good luck--I'm going ashore +now." + +As they passed up the ladder, I could no longer restrain myself. + +"Craig," I cried, "this is devilish!" + +I thought I saw it all now. In the cases of goods on the _Furious_ were +some terrible infernal machines which had been hidden, to be detonated +by these deadly rays of wireless. + +Kennedy was busy, working quickly putting together the parts he had +taken from the two packages we had carried. + +As I watched him, I realized that the burning of the Rovigno house was +not the action of an incendiary, after all. It had been done by these +deadly rays, probably by mere accident. + +As nearly as I could make it out, there was a counterplot against the +_Furious_. Somewhere was an infernal workshop, possibly hedged about by +doors of steel which ordinary force would find hard to penetrate, but +from which, any moment, this super-criminal might send out his deadly +power. + +The more I considered it, while Kennedy worked, the more uncanny it +seemed. This man had rendered the mere possession of explosives more +dangerous to the possessor than to the enemy. + +Archimedes had been outdone! + +The problem before us now was not only the preservation of American +neutrality, but the actual safety of life. + +Through the open hatch I could now hear voices on the deck. One was that +of a woman, which I recognized quickly. It was Julia Rovigno. + +"I'll be just as quiet as a mouse," she was saying. "I'll stay in the +cabin--I won't be in the way." + +I could not hear the man's voice in reply, but it did not sound like +Rovigno's. It was rather like Gaskell's. + +Still, we had heard enough to know that Julia Rovigno was on the yacht, +had insisted on going on the expedition for the excitement of the thing, +just as we had heard over the detectaphone. + +"Hadn't we better warn her?" I asked Craig, who had paused in his work +at the sound of voices. + +Before he could answer we were plunged in sudden darkness. Someone had +switched out the light that had been shining down through the hatchway. +Before we knew it the opening to the hatchway had been closed. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SUBMARINE BELL + + +Kennedy groped about for a light, stumbling over boxes and bags. + +"For heaven's sake, Craig," I entreated. "Be careful. Those packages are +full of the devilish things!" + +He said nothing. + +At least we had a little more freedom to move and I managed to find my +way over to a little round porthole and open it. + +As I looked out, I almost fainted at the realization. The _Furious_ was +under way! We were locked in the hold--virtual prisoners--our only +company those dastardly infernal machines, whose very nature we did not +know! + +Helplessly I gazed around me. There seemed to be only this one porthole, +open, looking out over the dark and turbulent water, which slipped +ominously past as we gained speed. + +Why had Kennedy not foreseen this risk? I glanced at him. He had found +an electric light, connected with the yacht's dynamo, and, before +turning it on, closed and covered the port so that it threw no +reflection out. + +Far from being disconcerted, on the contrary, he seemed rather pleased +than otherwise at the unexpected turn of events. + +As I looked at our scant and cramped quarters I could see absolutely no +way of getting word to anyone off the _Furious_ who might help us. + +What he was working on I did not know, but if it was some sort of +wireless, even if we were able to send a message, what hope was there +that it would get past the delicate wireless detector which this +criminal must have somewhere near for tapping messages that were being +flashed through the air? Had we not heard him say that the signal was to +be an S O S sent, as it were, from the fleet far out on the ocean? + +I could well have believed that Kennedy could rig up some means of +communication. But, if the possessor of this terrible infra-red ray, or +wireless wave, secret should learn that we, too, knew it, the only +result that he would accomplish would be to insure our destruction +immediately. + +It was a foggy night and a drizzle had set in. The _Furious_ could not +under such circumstances make such good speed as she was accustomed to +make. Fortunately, also, the waves were not running high. + +Craig had taken a desperate chance. How would he meet it? I watched him +at work, fascinated by our peril. + +Finishing as quickly as he could, he put out our sole electric light, +unscrewed the bulb and attached to the socket a wire which he had +connected with the instrument over which he had spent so many precious +moments. + +Through the little porthole he cast a peculiar disk, heavy, such as I +had seen him place so carefully aboard the _Uncas_. + +It sank in the water with a splash and trailed along beside the yacht, +held by a wire, submerged, perhaps, ten or twelve feet. + +He made a final inspection of the thing as well as he could by the light +of a match, then pressed a key which seemed to close a circuit. + +I could feel a dull, metallic vibration, as it were. + +"What are you doing?" I asked, looking curiously also at an arrangement, +like a microphone, which he had placed over his ears. + +"It works!" he cried excitedly. + +"What works?" I reiterated. + +"This Fessenden oscillator," he explained. "It's a system for the +employment of sound for submarine signals. I don't know whether you +realize it, but great advance has been made recently since it was +suggested to use water instead of air as the medium for transmitting +signals. I can't stop to explain this apparatus just now, but it is +composed of a ring magnet, a copper tube which lies in an air gap of a +magnetic field, and a stationary central armature. The magnetic field is +much stronger than that in the ordinary dynamo. + +"The copper tube, which has an alternating current induced in it, is +attached to solid disks of steel which in turn are attached to a steel +diaphragm an inch thick. In the _Uncas_ I had a chance to make that +diaphragm practically a part of the side of the ship. Here I have had to +hang it overboard, with a large water-tight diaphragm attached to the +oscillator." + +I listened eagerly, even if I were not an electrical engineer. + +"The same oscillator," he went on, "is used for sending and receiving, +for, like the ordinary electric motor it is also capable of acting as a +generator, and a very efficient one, too. All I have to do is to throw a +switch in one direction when I want to telegraph or telephone under +water, and in the other direction when I want to listen in." + +I could scarcely credit what I heard. Craig had circumvented even the +spectacular wireless. He was actually talking through water. Craig had +virtually endowed himself with a sixth sense! + +I watched him spellbound. Would he succeed in whatever it was that he +was planning? I waited anxiously. + +"There's the answer!" he exclaimed in sudden exultation. "Burke is on +the _Uncas_. He tells me that he went to see Mrs. Petzka and she is with +him--insisted on going, when she heard that her husband had been engaged +by the _Furious_." + +He waited a moment. + +"You see, Walter," he resumed, "what I am doing is to send out signals +by which the _Uncas_ can locate and follow us. She is fast, but, thank +heaven, this yacht has to go slow tonight. Sound travels in water at a +velocity of about four thousand feet a second. For instance, I find that +I get an echo in about one-twentieth of a second. That is the reflected +sound wave from the bottom, and indicates that we are in water of about +one hundred feet depth. Then I get another echo in something over two +seconds. That is the waves reflected from the _Uncas_, which has been +hovering about, waiting for something to happen. They can't be much more +than a mile and a half away, now. I had expected to signal them from the +shore, a dock or something of the sort, using this oscillator to get +around that fellow's wireless. But we're much better off on the boat." + +I looked at him in amazement. "Surrounded by all this junk that may blow +us to kingdom come any second?" I demanded. + +"Burke says steam is still up on all the ships tied up in the harbor so +that they can make a dash for it. They are evidently waiting for that S +O S signal." + +"That's all right," I said in desperation, "But suppose they blow us up, +first?" + +"Blow us up first?" he repeated. "Why, don't you understand? It is not +the _Furious_ that they are after. The whole war fleet that is hanging +around in this part of the Atlantic is to be blown up in mid-ocean, as +part of the plan to aid the escape of the interned ships in New York." + +"Oh," I breathed, with a sigh of relief, "that's it, is it?" + +"Yes. We'll get in bad all around if we can't stop it--Burke with the +Secret Service and ourselves with Gaskell, who doesn't dream that his +yacht is being used for the exact opposite of the purpose for which he +thinks he has lent it--to say nothing of the mess that our government +will have to face for letting these precious schemers play ducks and +drakes with our neutrality." + +We waited eagerly, Kennedy sending out and receiving the submarine +signals, and I peering out anxiously into the almost impenetrable fog. + +Suddenly, apparently from nowhere in the shifting mist, lights seemed to +loom up. Instead of stopping, however, the _Furious_ put on a sudden +burst of reckless speed. + +The _Uncas_ was no match for her at that game. Would she escape finally, +after all? + +A sharp report rang out. The _Uncas_ had sent a shot across our bows, so +dangerously close that it snapped one of the cables that held the mast. + +The vibration of our engine slowed, and ceased, and we lay, idly +wallowing in the waves as the revenue cutter, bearing our friend Burke +and help, came up. + +A couple of boats put out from the cutter and in almost no time we could +hear the tread of feet and the exchange of harsh words as the government +officers swarmed up the ladder to our deck. + +It was only a moment later that the hatch was broken open and we heard +the welcome brogue of Burke, calling, "Kennedy--are you and Jameson all +right?" + +"Right here," sang out Craig, detaching the oscillator and replacing the +electric bulb, which he lighted. + +The commotion on deck was too great for anyone to make much of finding +us, two stowaways. The Countess was surprised, however, and, I felt, +rather glad to see us at a time when we might, possibly exert some +influence in her favor if matters came to a more serious pass. + +There was scarcely time for a word. Burke's men were working quickly. +They had entered the hold, after a word from Kennedy, and far out into +the ocean they were casting the boxes and bags overboard, one at a time, +as fast as they could. They worked feverishly, as Burke spurred them on, +and I must say that it was with the utmost relief that I saw the things +thrown over. + +The boxes sank, but rose again and floated, bobbing up and down, at +least some of them, perhaps a third above water and two-thirds below. + +It was not for several minutes that I noticed that with those who had +come aboard the _Furious_ from the cutter stood Bettina Petzka. A moment +later she caught sight of Kennedy. + +"Where is my husband?" she demanded, running to him. + +Kennedy had no chance to reply. + +Suddenly a series of flashes shattered the darkness. A terrific roar +seemed to rise from the very ocean, while a rain of sparks lighted up +great spurts of water and then fell back, to perish in the dark waves. +The _Furious_ trembled from end to end. + +We looked, startled, at each other. But we were all safe. The things had +been detonated in the water. + +"Only the fact that he would have blown himself up prevented him from +blowing up the yacht and all the evidence against him, now that we have +discovered his plot," cried Burke, excitedly, dashing down the deck. + +Recovered scarcely from our surprise at the explosion and the queer +actions of the Secret Service man, we rushed after him as best we could, +Craig leading. + +He led the way to the little wireless room. The door was bolted on the +inside, but we managed soon to burst it open. + +I shall never forget the surprise which greeted us. In a chair, bound +and gagged, as though he had been overcome only after a struggle, sat +Petzka. + +Mrs. Petzka threw herself frantically on him, tearing at the stout cords +that held him. + +"Nikola--what is the matter?" she cried. "What has happened?" + +Through his gag, which she had loosened a bit, he made a peculiar, +gurgling noise. As nearly as I could make out, he was struggling to say, +"He came in--surprised me--seized me--locked the door." + +Julia Rovigno stood rooted to the spot--utterly speechless. + +There, surrounded by electric batteries, condensers, projectors, +regulators, resonators, reflectors, voltmeters, and ammeters, queer +apparatus which he had smuggled secretly on the _Furious_, before a +strange sort of device, with a wireless headgear still over his ears, +stood the owner of at least two of the liners of the belligerents which +were to have made the dash for the ocean after he had succeeded by his +new wireless ray device in removing the hostile fleet--Count Rovigno +himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SUPER-TOXIN + + +"I've got to make good in this Delaney case, Kennedy," appealed our old +friend, Dr. Leslie, the coroner, one evening when he had dropped +unexpectedly into the laboratory, looking particularly fagged and +discouraged. + +"You know," he added, "they've been investigating my office--and now, +here comes a case which, I must confess, completely baffles us again." + +"Delaney," mused Craig. "Let me see. That's the rich Texas rancher who +has been blazing a trail through the white lights of Broadway--with that +Baroness Von Dorf and----" + +"And other war brokers," interrupted Leslie. + +"War brokers?" queried Craig. + +"Yes. That's what they call them. They're a new class--people with +something to sell to or with commissions to buy for belligerent +governments. In Delaney's case it was fifty thousand or so head of +cattle and horses, controlled by a syndicate of which he was the +promoter. That's why he came to New York, you know,--to sell them at a +high price to any European power. The syndicate stands to make a small +fortune." + +"I understand," nodded Kennedy, interested. + +"Just as though there wasn't mystery enough about Delaney's sudden +death," Leslie hurried on, "here's a letter that came to him today--too +late." + +Kennedy took the note Leslie handed him. It was postmarked "Washington," +and read: + + DEAR DALEY: + + I intended writing to you sooner but haven't felt well enough + since I came here. The strangest thing about it is that the + doctors I have consulted seem to be unable to tell me + definitely what is the matter. + + I can tell you I have been badly frightened. I seemed to have a + lot of little boils on my face and new ones kept coming. I felt + weak and chilly and had headaches that almost drove me crazy. + Perhaps the thing, whatever it is, has made me insane, but I + cannot help wondering whether there may not be something back + of it all. Do you suppose someone could have poisoned me, + hoping to ruin my beauty, on which, to a great measure, depends + my success in my mission to America during the war? + + Since I came here I have been wondering, too, how you are. If + there should be anything in my suspicions, perhaps it would be + safest for you to leave New York. There is nothing more I can + say, but if you feel the least bit unwell, do not disregard + this warning. + + If you will meet me here, we can arrange the deal with those I + represent at almost any price you name. + + Try hard to get here. + As ever, + LOUISE. + +Craig looked up quickly. "Have you communicated with the Baroness?" he +asked. + +Dr. Leslie leaned forward in his chair. "The fact is," he replied +slowly, "the woman who calls herself the Baroness Von Dorf has suddenly +disappeared, even in Washington. We can find no trace of her whatever. +Indeed, the embassy down there does not even admit that she is a war +buyer. Oh, the newspapers haven't got the whole Delaney story--yet. But +when they do get it"--he paused and glanced significantly at +me--"there's going to be _some_ sensation." + +I recalled now that there had been an air of mystery surrounding the +sudden death of Daley Delaney the day before. At least one of the papers +had called it "the purple death"--whatever that might mean. I had +thought it due to the wild career of the ranchman, perhaps a plain case +of apoplexy, around which the bright young reporters had woven a slender +thread of romance. Kennedy, however, thought otherwise. + +"The purple death," he ruminated, turning the case over in his mind. +"Have you any idea what the papers mean by that?" + +"Why, it's one of the most grewsome things you ever heard of," went on +Leslie eagerly, encouraged. "In some incomprehensible way the hand of +fate seems to have suddenly descended on the whole Delaney entourage. +First his Japanese servant fell a victim to this 'purple death,' as they +call it. + +"He had scarcely been removed to a hospital where, after fighting a +brave fight, he succumbed to the unknown peril, when the butler was +stricken. Delaney himself packed up, to leave, in panic, when suddenly, +apparently without warning, the purple death carried him off. In three +days three of them have died suddenly. Then came this letter from the +Baroness. It set me thinking. Perhaps it _was_ poison--I don't know." + +Craig read the letter of the Baroness again. "Most interesting," he +exclaimed energetically as Dr. Leslie finished. "I shall be only too +glad to help you if I can. Could you take us up to Delaney's rooms? Is +the body still there?" + +"No, it has been removed to a private undertaking establishment and the +apartment is guarded by police. We can stop at the undertaker's on the +way over to the apartment." + +There could be no doubt that Leslie was considerably relieved to think +that Craig would consent to take the case. As for Kennedy, I could see +that the affair aroused his interest to the keenest point. + +"Was anyone associated with Delaney in the syndicate here?" inquired +Craig as we settled ourselves in Dr. Leslie's car. + +"Yes," answered the coroner, hurrying us along, "another member of the +syndicate was his friend, Dr. Harris Haynes." + +"Who is he?" asked Kennedy. + +"Haynes has been a veterinary, but found that there was more money in +the cattle business than in practicing his profession. The needs of +European war seemed to offer just the opportunity they needed to reap a +quick fortune." + +"I've heard," nodded Craig, "that conditions abroad have led to a great +influx of adventurers with other people's money." + +"Yes. According to all accounts, Delaney and Haynes have been leading a +rather rapid existence since they came to New York. It's quite right. +The city is full of queer and mysterious characters, both men and women, +who profess to be agents for various foreign governments, often +unnamed. Delaney and Haynes have met about all of this curious army, I +suppose." + +"I see," prompted Craig. "Among them, I take it, was this stunning woman +who calls herself the Baroness Louise Von Dorf. How friendly were they?" + +"Well, she spent a great deal of time, when she was in the city, up at +the apartment Delaney had rented." + +Leslie and Kennedy exchanged a significant glance. "Who is she?" asked +Craig. "Do you know?" + +"No one seems to know. Yet she is always plentifully supplied with money +and they tell me she talks glibly of those whose 'influence' she can +command in Washington." + +"But she has disappeared," mused Kennedy. "Were there any others?" + +"Haynes hasn't been proof against their wiles," answered the coroner. "I +have found out that he was introduced by one of the 'war brokers' to a +Madame Daphne Dupres." + +"And she?" + +Leslie shook his head. "I don't know anything about her, except that she +lives at the Hotel St. Quentin--the same place, by the way, where Haynes +makes his headquarters." + +Our car pulled up at the private morgue of the burial company to which +Delaney's body had been taken. + +We entered, and Kennedy wasted no time in making a careful examination +of the remains of the unfortunate victim. + +"I couldn't make anything out of it, even after an autopsy," confessed +Dr. Leslie. "It seemed as though it were something that had been +conveyed by the blood all over the body, something that blocked the +capillaries and caused innumerable hemorrhages into organs and tissues, +and especially nerve centers." + +The body seemed to be discolored and variegated in color, with here and +there little marks of boils or vesicles. + +"It looks like something that has depleted the red corpuscles of +oxygen," continued Leslie, noticing that Kennedy had drawn off a little +of the body fluids, evidently for future study. "As nearly as I could +make out there had been a cyanosis in a marked degree. He had all the +appearance of having been asphyxiated." + +"Which seems to have been enough to suggest to some imaginative mind the +'purple death,'" remarked Kennedy dryly. + +Still, I could not help noticing that it was really no exaggeration to +call it the purple death. + +One of the morgue attendants had called Dr. Leslie aside and a moment +later he rejoined us. + +"They tell me Haynes has been here," he reported. "I left word that any +visitors were to be carefully watched." + +"Strange," muttered Kennedy, absorbing Dr. Leslie's latest information +and then looking back at the body, puzzled. "Very strange. Let us go up +to the apartment right away." + +Kennedy stowed the little tube in which he had placed the body fluid +safely in his pocket and led the way out again to our waiting car. + +Delaney had picked out a fashionable neighborhood in which to live. As +we entered the bronze grilled door and rode up in the elevator, Kennedy +handed each of us a cigar and lighted one himself. I lighted up, too, +thinking that perhaps there might be some virtue in tobacco to ward off +the unseen perils into which we were going. + +The wealthy ranchman, evidently, on his arrival in New York had rented +an apartment, furnished, from a lawyer, Ashby Ames, who had gone south +on account of his health. + +We entered and found that it was a very attractive place that Ames had +fitted up. At one side of a library or drawing-room opened out a little +glass sun-parlor or conservatory on a balcony. Into it a dining-room +opened also. In fact, the living rooms of the whole suite could be +thrown into one, with this sun-parlor as a center. + +Everything about the apartment was quite up-to-date, also. For instance, +I noticed that the little conservatory was lighted brilliantly by a +mercury vapor tube that ran around it in a huge rectangle of light. + +Dr. Leslie and the police had already ransacked the place and there did +not seem to be much likelihood that anything could have escaped them. +Still, Kennedy began a searching examination after his own methods, +while we waited, gazing at him curiously. + +By the frown on his forehead I gathered that he was not meeting with +much encouragement, when, suddenly, he withdrew the cigar from his +mouth, looked at it critically, puffed again, then moved his lips and +tongue as if trying to taste something. + +Mechanically I did the same. The cigar had a peculiar flavor. I should +have flung it away if Kennedy himself had not given it to me. It was not +mere imagination, either. Surely there had been none of that +sweetishness about the fragrant Havana when I lighted it on the way up. + +"What is the matter?" I asked. + +"There's cyanogen in this room," Craig remarked keenly, still tasting, +as he stood near the sun-parlor. + +"Cyanogen?" I repeated. + +"Yes, there are artificial aids to the senses that make them much keener +than nature has done for us. For instance, if air contains the merest +traces of the deadly cyanogen gas--prussic acid, you know--cigar smoke +acquires a peculiar taste which furnishes an efficient alarm signal." + +Dr. Leslie's face brightened as Kennedy proceeded. + +"That is something like my idea," he exclaimed. "I have thought all +along that it looked very much like a poisoning case. In fact, the very +first impression I had was that it might have been due to a cyanide--or +at least some gas like cyanogen." + +Kennedy said nothing, and the coroner proceeded. "And the body looked +cyanotic, too, you recall. But the autopsy revealed nothing further. I +have even examined the food, as far as I can, but I can't find anything +wrong with it." + +There was a noise at the door, outside in the hall, and Dr. Leslie +opened it. + +"Dr. Haynes," he introduced, a moment later. + +Haynes was a large man, good-looking, even striking, with a +self-assertive manner. We shook hands, and taking our cue from Craig, +waited for him to speak. + +"It's very strange what could have carried Delaney off so suddenly," +ventured Haynes a moment later. "I've been trying to figure it out +myself. But I must admit that so far it has completely stumped me." + +He was pacing up and down the room and I watched him more or less +suspiciously. Somehow I could not get the idea out of my head that he +had been listening to us outside. Now and then, I fancied, he shot a +glance at us, as if he were watching us. + +"They tell me at the burial company that you were there today," put in +Dr. Leslie, his eyes fixed on Haynes' face. + +Haynes met his gaze squarely, without flinching. "Yes. I got thinking +over what the papers said about the 'purple death,' and I thought +perhaps I might have overlooked something. But there wasn't--" + +The telephone rang. Haynes seized the receiver before any of the rest of +us could get to it. "That must be for me," he said with a brusque +apology. "Why--yes, I am here. Dr. Leslie and Professor Kennedy are up +here. No--we haven't discovered anything new. Yes--I shall keep the +appointment. Good-by." + +The conversation had been short, but, to me at least, it seemed that he +had contrived to convey a warning without seeming to do so. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SECRET AGENTS + + +Dr. Leslie looked at Haynes searchingly. "Who was it?" he asked. "Madame +Dupres?" + +Haynes did not hesitate. "Yes," he nodded. "I had an appointment with +her and told her that if I was late it would probably be that I had +stopped here." + +The answer came so readily that I must confess that I was suspicious of +it. + +"Did Madame Dupres know the Baroness Von Dorf?" asked Craig quickly. + +"Yes, indeed," returned Haynes, then stopped suddenly. + +"But they didn't travel in the same circle, did they?" asked Dr. Leslie, +with the air of the cross-examiner who wished to place on record a fact +that might later prove damaging. + +"Not exactly," answered Haynes, with some hesitation. + +"You knew her, of course?" added Craig. + +Haynes nodded. + +"I wonder if you could locate the Baroness," pursued Kennedy. + +Haynes seemed to express no surprise at the obvious implication that she +was missing. "I have no objection to trying," he answered simply; then, +with a glance at his watch, he reached for his hat and stick and +excused himself. "I'm afraid I must go. If I can be of any assistance," +he added, "don't hesitate to call on me. Delaney and I were pretty +closely associated in this deal and I feel that nothing is too much to +ask of me if it is possible to clear up the mystery of his death, if +there is any." + +He departed as quickly as he had come. + +"I wonder what he dropped in for?" I remarked. + +"Whatever it was, he didn't get it," returned Leslie. + +"I'm not so sure of that," I said, remembering the brief telephone +conversation with Madame Dupres. + +Kennedy did not appear to be bothering much about the question one way +or the other. He had let his cigar go out during Haynes' visit, but now +that we were alone again he continued his minute search of the premises. + +He opened a closet which evidently contained nothing but household +utensils and was about to shut the door when an idea occurred to him. A +moment later he pulled from the mystic depths an electric vacuum cleaner +and dragged it over to the sun-parlor. + +Without a word we watched him as he ran it over the floor and walls, +even over the wicker stands on which the plants stood, and then over the +floor coverings and furniture of the other rooms that opened into the +conservatory. What he was after I could not imagine, but I knew it was +useless to ask him until he had found it or had some reason for telling +it. + +Carefully he removed the dust and dirt from the machine and wrapped it +up tightly in a package. + +We parted from Dr. Leslie at the door of the apartment, promising to +keep in touch with him and let him know the moment anything happened. + +At the first telegraph office Kennedy entered and sent off a long +message to our friend Burke of the Secret Service in Washington, asking +him to locate the Baroness, if possible, in that city, and to give any +information he might have about either Haynes or Madame Dupres. + +"It's still early in the evening," remarked Kennedy as we left the +telegraph office. "Suppose we drop around to the St. Quentin. Perhaps we +may run into our friends there." + +The St. Quentin was a favorite resort of foreigners in New York, and I, +at least, entered prepared to suspect everyone. + +"Not all these mysterious-looking men and women," laughed Kennedy, +noticing me as we walked through the lobby, "are secret agents of +foreign governments." + +"Still they look as if they might give you the 'high sign,'" I replied, +"particularly if you flashed a bankroll." + +"I don't doubt it," he agreed, his eye roving over the throng. "I +suspect that Scotland Yard and the Palais de Justice might be quite +pleased to see some faces here rather than on the other side of the +Atlantic." + +He drew me into an angle and for some moments we studied the passing +crowd of diplomats and near-diplomats. + +A moment later I saw Kennedy bow and, following the direction of his +eyes, looked up to a sort of mezzanine gallery. There were Haynes and a +most attractive woman, talking earnestly. + +"Madame Dupres," Craig whispered to me, aside. + +She was tall, slender, gowned in the most modish manner, and had a +foreign way about her that would have fascinated one even more +cosmopolitan than a Texas veterinary. + +Now and then someone would stop and chat with them and it seemed that +they were on very good terms, at least with a certain group at the St. +Quentin. + +Kennedy moved out further into the lobby where he was more noticeable; +then, with a sudden resolution, mounted the steps to the mezzanine floor +and approached Haynes. + +"Let me introduce Professor Kennedy, Madame Dupres," presented Haynes. + +Kennedy bowed. + +Whatever one's opinion of madame, he was forced to admit that she was +clever. It was evident, also, that she and Haynes were on very intimate +terms, also. + +"I hope that you will be able to clear up the mystery that the +newspapers have found in Mr. Delaney's death," she remarked. "Mr. Haynes +has told me that he met you tonight with Dr. Leslie. By the way, has he +told you his own theory?" she asked. + +"We shall do our best," replied Kennedy, meeting her eye in as +impersonal a manner as it was possible, for it is always difficult to +dissociate a beautiful woman from a case like this and judge her not as +a beautiful woman but on the merits of the case. "No, Mr. Haynes has not +told me his theory--yet." + +"I'm very glad to have met you," she added, extending her daintily +gloved hand to Kennedy, "and you may be sure that if there is any way in +which I can be of service I shall expect you to call on me. Just now I +hope you will excuse me. I have some letters to get off--and I will +leave you men to discuss Mr. Haynes' theory without being hampered by a +mere woman. Never mind, Harris," she added as Haynes made as if to +escort her to the ladies' writing room. + +As Madame Dupres passed down the steps there was no denying that she +made a splendid impression. Haynes watched her with a glance that was +almost ravenous. There could be no doubt of her influence over him. + +As she passed through the lobby she paused at the telegraph desk a +moment, then went into the writing room. + +"Yes, I think I have an explanation," began Haynes, when she was out of +sight. "I've been trying to figure out what could have killed Delaney. +Of course I can only guess, but I don't think it is such a bad guess." + +"What is it?" asked Craig. + +"You remember the mercury vapor light?" + +Kennedy nodded. + +"Mercury vapor lights of that sort are a pretty good source of +ultra-violet rays sometimes," went on Haynes. "Well, doubtless you know +that various plants belonging to different families produce free prussic +acid. They are really cyanogenetic plants. Light and the assimilation +processes depending on light exert a favorable influence on +cyanogenesis. For instance, a mixture of citric acid with a much +smaller amount of potassium nitrite and a trace of bicarbonate of iron, +if exposed to light, will generate hydrocyanic acid. That, I believe, is +what actually happens in some plant tissues. Animals rarely touch such +plants. I believe that such a process might be aided rather than +retarded by ultra-violet rays. What do you think of it?" + +Craig was following Dr. Haynes keenly. As for me, I was astounded by his +frankness. I recalled what Kennedy had already said up in Delaney's +apartment, and watched his face covertly. + +"Your explanation is plausible," was all that Craig said. "By the way, +have you found out anything about the Baroness?" + +"Not a word, yet," replied Haynes unhesitatingly. "She seems to be out +of town." + +"And madame--has she any idea where she is?" + +Haynes shook his head. "You may rest assured," replied Haynes in a tone +that was meant to carry conviction, "that if we can find out we shall be +only too happy to do so--ourselves." + +There was nothing to be gained by further inquiry here, and I could +imagine that Kennedy was burning with anxiety to get at work on his own +line of inquiry at the laboratory. After a few minutes of conversation +we excused ourselves and left the hotel. + +Craig's air of abstraction was not such as to invite further +questioning, and I left him an hour or so later in the laboratory +surrounded by his microscopes, slides, and innumerable test-tubes which +he had prepared for some exceedingly minute investigation in which his +exact soul delighted. + +How late he worked I do not know, for I did not hear him come into our +apartment. But he was up very early, in fact woke me up stirring around +the living room. + +I had scarcely completed dressing, while he scanned the morning papers +in a vain hope that some stray news item might shed some light on the +mystery in which we were now involved, when the whirr of our door buzzer +announced that we had an unusually early caller. + +Kennedy opened the door and admitted a stranger. He was one of those +well-groomed middle-aged men whose appearance denotes with what care +they seek by every means to retain youth that is fast passing. I could +imagine him calmly calculating even his vices. + +"My name is Ames--Ashby Ames," he introduced. "Dr. Leslie, the coroner, +has suggested that I see you." + +Ames looked as if he had been traveling all night and had not had a +chance to freshen himself up in his haste. + +"I've just heard about that trouble down at my apartment," he continued, +"and, though I had planned a trip for my health to the southern resorts, +I thought it best for me to come right back to New York. It's a beastly +mess." + +He had thrown his hat vindictively on the table, though his manner to us +was rather that of one seeking advice. "Why," he stormed, "this affair +is the limit! I rent my apartment to an apparently reputable person. And +what do I find? It is not even a mere scandal. It is worse. The place +is closed and guarded--quarantined, as it were. I can't get back into +my own rooms!" + +Kennedy smiled. "I can't blame you for feeling vexed, Mr. Ames," he +soothed, "but I'm sure I don't know what I can do for you more than I am +doing. We are making every effort to clear the thing up--and I have been +on the case, you must remember, less than twelve hours." + +"Oh, I've no criticism of you," rejoined Ames, somewhat mollified. "I +didn't come here to criticise. I came only because I thought you might +like to know that I was back in town, and because Dr. Leslie mentioned +your name. No, indeed--no criticism. Only," he added, "now that my +vacation is spoiled and I am back in town, there is going to be some +action--that's all." + +"It can't come too swiftly for me," encouraged Craig. + +"I'm going to jump right into this beastly row," pursued Ames +aggressively. "This morning I'm going to look these people up. They tell +me that Baroness has been spending a good deal of time at my place. Pine +business--eh? She's disappeared. But I'll get after that Haynes and the +Madame Dupres they tell me about--and I'll let you know if I find out +anything." + +He had not given Kennedy a chance to say anything, and in fact Kennedy +did not seem to want to say anything yet. + +"Just thought I'd drop in," concluded Ames, who hadn't taken a chair, +but now extended his hand to us; "I think I'll drop into a Turkish bath +and freshen up a bit. Keep in touch with me." + +We shook hands and Ames departed, bustling out as he had bustled in. + +Kennedy looked at me and laughed as the door closed. "If we have many +more people co-operating with us," he exclaimed, "we may resign and let +this case solve itself." + +"I don't think that is likely," I replied. + +"Not unless we hear from Burke," he agreed. "There is plenty for me to +do in the laboratory--but I do wish Burke would wire." + +The morning passed, and still there was no word from Burke. + +"I think we might drop around to the St. Quentin for lunch," suggested +Kennedy in the forenoon. "We might pick up some news there." + +We had scarcely entered when we met Haynes pacing up and down the lobby +furiously. + +"What's the matter?" inquired Craig, eyeing him searchingly. + +"Why," he replied nervously, sticking his thumbs into his waistcoat +pockets and then plunging them into his trousers pockets as if it was +with the utmost difficulty he controlled those unruly members from doing +violence to somebody, "that fellow Ames from whom Delaney hired the +apartment had just returned suddenly to town. I saw him talking to +Madame Dupres in the hotel parlor. She seemed a bit nervous, so I went +in to speak to her. But she said everything was all right and that she'd +meet me out here in a few minutes. It's quarter of an hour now. I think +he's threatening her with something." + +Haynes was evidently worried. I wondered whether he was afraid that Ames +might worm from her some secret common to the two, for I did not doubt +that Ames was a clever and subtle attorney and capable of obtaining a +great deal of information by his kind of kid-glove third degree. + +"I should like to see both of them," decided Craig quickly. + +Before Haynes could say anything more, he strode into the hotel parlor. +Haynes and I followed a short distance behind. + +There was an air of tense, suppressed excitement in the group, but of +all of us, I felt that Madame Dupres was the coolest. + +"I see you've lost no time in getting busy," nodded Craig to Ames. + +"No," he replied easily. "This is certainly a very interesting situation +which madame here has just outlined to me." + +Haynes came up just in time to catch the last words. + +"I say, Ames," he almost roared, "you may be a clever lawyer, but you +must remember that you are also expected to be a gentleman. There are +limits to questioning a woman when she has not the advantage of having a +friend to advise her." + +For a moment I thought there was going to be a fight, but Kennedy moved +unobtrusively between the two men. As for Madame Dupres, I felt that +really she was a match for both of them. + +Instead of getting mad, however, Ames merely laughed. + +"Why, Haynes," he said quietly, "I don't think you ought to complain. I +understand that you, now representing Delaney's Texas syndicate, have +already signed the final contract for the deal with those whom Madame +Dupres represents and have received a certified check from them as a +first payment to bind the bargain." + +Haynes turned almost livid, then recovering himself, glanced at Madame +Dupres. + +"Why, Harris, I didn't think there was any secrecy about it now," she +said, seeing the change in him. "If there is, I'm sorry." + +"There isn't," replied Haynes, quickly recovering his composure. "Only I +just didn't like to see a lawyer, an outsider, quizzing you, that's +all." + +Jealousy was stamped in every line of Haynes' face. Ames said nothing, +but it was impossible to escape the look of gratification which he shot +at Kennedy as he brought out the startling new development. + +Madame Dupres was clever enough to see that no good could come of +prolonging an interview for which now there was an excuse to break up. + +"Take me in to lunch, Harris," she said, slipping her arm familiarly +into his. "Good-morning, gentlemen." + +Somehow I felt that she would have liked to add, "And if you see the +Baroness, tell her I have beaten her to it." + +Ames watched them depart with an air of cynical satisfaction, paused a +moment, then in turn excused himself from us. + +What did it mean? What was behind all this intrigue. Was it merely to +get this cattle contract, big as that was? + +We lunched together at the St. Quentin, and it was evident that Madame +Dupres was doing her best to smooth over the ruffled feelings of her +lover. + +Luncheon over, Kennedy plunged with redoubled energy into his laboratory +investigation. He said little, but I could tell from his manner that he +had found something that was very fascinating to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE GERM OF ANTHRAX + + +It was not until the middle of the afternoon that there came a sudden, +brief message from the Secret Service in Washington: + + Mr. Craig Kennedy, + New York. + + I have located the Baroness Von Dorf in a private sanitarium + here and will have her in New York tonight by eight o'clock. + + BURKE. + +"In a private sanitarium--will have her in New York tonight," reread +Craig, studying the message. "Then it wouldn't seem that there could be +much the matter with her." + +For a few moments he paced the laboratory floor, alternately studying +the boards and the yellow telegram. At last, his face seemed to light up +as if he had reasoned something out to his satisfaction. Quickly he +reached for the telephone and called Dr. Leslie. + +"I shall have the Baroness here tonight at eight, Leslie," I heard him +say. "Don't tell a soul about it. But I'd like to have you make all the +arrangements to secure the attendance of Haynes, Ames, and Madame Dupres +here just a bit ahead of that time." + +There was nothing that I could do to aid Craig more in the hours that +remained than to efface myself, and I did it in the most effectual way I +could think of, compatible with my interest in the case. I rode down to +Dr. Leslie's office and dined hurriedly with him. The only new +information I gleaned was that Haynes had visited him during the +afternoon and had outlined his theory of cyanogen, which certainly +seemed to me to fit in quite readily with the facts. + +When we reached the laboratory, early, Kennedy was still absorbed in +studying his microscope. He said nothing, but apparently had gained an +air of confidence which he lacked the night before. + +The Baroness had not yet arrived, but a few minutes after us came Ashby +Ames, still complaining about the closing of his apartment and the +inconvenience the whole affair had put him to. Haynes arrived and Ames +cut short his tirade, glancing resentfully at the veterinary as though +in some way he were responsible for his troubles. Madame Dupres arrived +shortly, and I could not help noticing that Haynes was patently jealous +of even the nod of recognition she gave to Ames. + +"I don't think I need say that this is one of the most baffling cases +that we have ever had," began Kennedy, with a glance at Dr. Leslie. + +"It certainly is," chimed in the coroner, as though he had been appealed +to for corroboration. + +"In the first place," resumed Kennedy, "I discovered in the air up there +in Delaney's room just a trace of cyanogen." + +Haynes nodded approvingly, glancing from one to the other of us. + +"But," added Craig, as if he had built up a house of cards merely to +demolish it, "I don't think that cyanogen was the cause of Delaney's +death--although it furnished the clew." + +"What could it have been, then?" demanded Haynes, his face clouding. + +Kennedy looked at him calmly. "You've heard of anthrax?" he asked +simply. + +"Y-yes," replied Haynes, meeting his eye fixedly. "Murrain--the cattle +disease." + +"That is so deadly to human beings sometimes," added Craig. "Well, I've +found something very much like anthrax germs in the sweepings that I +took up with the vacuum cleaner up there." + +Dr. Leslie was listening intently. + +"I can't see how it could have been anthrax," he put in, slowly shaking +his head. "Why, Kennedy, the symptoms were entirely different." + +"No, this was a poisoning of some kind," added Dr. Haynes. "Dr. Leslie +himself tells me that you found traces of cyanogen in the air--and you +have just said so, too." + +Kennedy indicated the microscope. "Take a look at that slide under the +lens," he said simply. + +I was nearest and as he evidently meant each of us to look, I did so. +Under the high-power lens I could see some little roundish dots moving +slowly through the field. + +Haynes looked next. "But, Professor Kennedy," he objected, almost as +soon as he had time for a good look, "the bacilli of anthrax have +normally the form of straight bars strung together in a row." + +"Yes, rod bacilli," added Dr. Leslie, also looking. "Like long rows of +hyphens, slender cylindric, non-motile chains joined end to end." + +We looked at Craig inquiringly. + +"Like that," he indicated, substituting another slide. + +We looked again. The field had somewhat the appearance of an exaggerated +war map with dark units of supposed troops. + +"That's it," nodded Haynes. + +Kennedy removed the slide. "Those are some anthrax germs I obtained here +in the city from a pathologist," he said, turning a switch that threw on +in a lamp a peculiar, purplish light. "This is a machine for the +propagation of ultra-violet rays." + +He placed the second slide, with its germs of anthrax, in the light, +allowing it to play over the slide. + +"Now look," he said. + +We did. Something had evidently happened. The chains were broken and +smaller units were moving. + +"If anthrax germs are exposed for a few seconds, even, to ultra-violet +light, they change more or less," Kennedy proceeded. "These new forms +are not stable. They quickly change back again into their original +form." + +For about ten minutes we sat in silence while the weird light played as +if with ghostly fingers on the deadly invisible peril on the little +glass microscope slide. + +"But if the action of the ultra-violet rays is continued," went on +Craig, "the microbe changes into a coccus, and then into a filiform +bacillus. This form is stable. And the germ is changed in other +respects than mere shape. It has entirely new characteristics. It is a +true mutation. It produces a disease entirely different from that of the +anthrax bacillus from which it is derived. I have tried it on a guinea +pig--and it has died in forty-eight hours." + +Startled as I was by this remarkable discovery, I yet had time to watch +Haynes. He had not taken his eyes off Kennedy once since he began to +speak. + +"In anthrax," continued Craig, "an autopsy reveals an enormous serous +swelling, about the point of inoculation, with a large gathering of +microbes which are formed in the blood and spleen. Death seems to be due +to septic poisoning. But this new microbe--super-toxicus, I think it +might well be named--produces no swelling and scarcely any microbes are +to be found in the blood. + +"The lungs are inflamed, with innumerable small abscesses. That is the +internal form of the disease from breathing in the spores of these +microbes. It has an external form, also, but that is by no means so +deadly. One would say that death from the internal form of the disease +was due to poisoning. The toxin of this microbe produces a sort of +asphyxiation, cutting off and eating up the supply of oxygen. + +"Such a condition is called cyanosis. That is why in Delaney it had the +appearance of cyanogen poisoning. The effect was the same. But the trace +of cyanogen in the air was merely a coincidence, Haynes. It wasn't +cyanogen that killed. But it was something quite as deadly--and far +harder to trace--a new germ!" + +We listened, fascinated. + +"A French scientist, a woman, Madame Victor Henri, a student at the +Pasteur Institute in Paris, has shown that a new microbe can actually be +created from anthrax germs by the use of ultra-violet rays. It is not +like anthrax, but may be quite as deadly, perhaps more so. + +"This discovery," he added earnestly, "proves for the first time that a +living organism can be changed suddenly and artificially into an +organism of a new and entirely different species. One can scarcely +appreciate the importance of it. If the germs of different diseases can +be transformed, the germ of one being changed into the germ of another, +it will be a first step toward finding a way to change deadly germs into +others that will be quite innocuous." + +Kennedy paused impressively to let the horror of the thing impress +itself on our minds. "But this criminal has been working for evil +purposes in the wrong direction--creating a disease in order to cover up +his tracks!" + +One could almost feel the net closing. + +"Delaney has fallen a victim to a new germ of which someone learned in +Paris," Craig raced on, inexorably, "a germ that would never, in all +probability, be discovered by American doctors, a germ that poisoned +safely, surely, and swiftly by its deadly super-toxin." + +A few moments before there had been a noise of a car outside the +laboratory window, but in the excitement of Craig's startling revelation +we had paid no attention. + +A hasty tap at the door interrupted him. Before he could open it a very +beautiful woman burst in, followed by a thick-set Irishman. + +It was the Baroness Von Dorf and our friend Burke. + +For a moment the two women fairly glared at each other. + +"I've heard what Professor Kennedy just said," cried the Baroness, her +eyes snapping fire. "Fortunately, I had to go to Washington and was able +to protect myself by seeming to disappear. If I had stayed in New York +another day, there is no telling what might have happened to me. +Probably I should have got this disease internally instead of +externally. As it was, I thought it would come near ruining my beauty." + +Burke tossed a yellow slip of paper on the table near Kennedy. "That is +something one of our special agents found and brought me today," he +exclaimed. + +Kennedy picked it up and read it, while Burke faced us. + +The Secret Service man fixed his eyes on Madame Dupres. "As for you, my +dear lady," he challenged, "how do you happen to be in New York with one +of the greatest international crooks that ever troubled the police of +five continents?" + +"I--in New York?" she shrugged coolly. "Monte Carlo, Paris, Vienna, +London--all were dead. I had to come here to make a living." + +The Baroness drew herself up as if to speak. + +"You scoundrel--you will give my apartment a bad name with your dirty +cattle plague--will you!" ground out a voice harshly at my side. + +I turned quickly. Ames had clutched Haynes by the throat. We were all on +our feet in a moment, but there was no need of separating them. The +veterinary was more than a match for the hot-headed little lawyer. + +"Someone," shot out Kennedy, wheeling quickly, "figured that the cattle +deal could be brought about quite naturally if Delaney were dead and the +Baroness out of the way. Later he could reap the profit and carry off +Madame Dupres into the bargain. And if anything were ever discovered, +what more natural than to throw the suspicion on a veterinary who was +supposed to know all about anthrax?" + +Just then a half circle of nickled steel gleamed momentarily in +Kennedy's hands. I recognized it as a pair of the new handcuffs that +uncoiled automatically, gripping at a mere touch. + +I saw it all in a flash, as I picked up the paper that Burke had tossed +to Kennedy. + +It was a telegram, and read: + + A. A., The New Stratfield, Washington. + Return immediately. Coroner has Craig Kennedy on case. + D. D. + +"It was a devilish scheme," snapped Kennedy, as the handcuffs circled +the fake lawyer's wrists, "but it didn't work, Ames." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE SLEEPMAKER + + +"Perhaps race-horses may be a little out of your line, Mr. Kennedy, but +I think you will find the case sufficiently interesting to warrant you +in taking it up." + +Our visitor was a young man, one of the most carefully groomed and +correctly dressed I have ever met. His card told us that we were honored +by a visit from Montague Broadhurst, a noted society whip, who had +lavished many thousands of dollars on his racing-stable out on Long +Island. + +"You see," he went on hurriedly, "there have been a good many strange +things that have happened to my horses lately." He paused a moment, then +continued: "They have been losing consistently. Take my favorite, Lady +Lee, for instance." + +"Do you think they have been doped?" asked Kennedy quickly, eager to get +down to the point at issue, for I had never known Craig to be interested +in racing. + +"I don't know," replied the young millionaire, drawing his eyelids +together reflectively. "I've had the best veterinary in the country to +look my stable over, and even he can't seem to find a thing that's +wrong." + +"Perhaps a visit out there might show us something," cut in Kennedy, as +though he were rather favorably impressed, after all, by the novelty of +the case. + +Broadhurst's face brightened. + +"Then you will take it up--you are interested?" he queried, adding, "My +car is outside." + +"I'm interested in anything that promises a new experience," returned +Craig, "and I think this affair may be of that sort." + +Broadhurst's stable was out on central Long Island, not far from the +pretty and fashionable town of Northbury. As we passed down the main +street, I could see that Broadhurst was easily the most popular of the +wealthy residents of the neighborhood. In fact, the Broadhurst racing +stables were a sort of local industry, one of the show-places of +Northbury. + +As we swung out again into the country, we could see ahead of us some +stable-boys working out several fine thoroughbreds on Broadhurst's +private track, while a group of grooms and rubbers watched them. + +The stable itself was a circular affair of frame, painted dark red, +which contrasted sharply with the green of the early summer trees. +Broadhurst's car pulled up before a large office and lounging-room at +one end, above which Murchie, his manager and trainer, had his suite of +rooms. + +The office into which Broadhurst led us was decidedly "horsey." About +the place were handsomely mounted saddles, bridles, and whips, more for +exhibition than for use. In velvet-lined cases were scores of glittering +bits. All the appointments were brass-mounted. Sporting prints, +trophies, and Mission easy chairs made the room most attractive. + +Before a desk sat Murchie. As I looked at him, I thought that he had a +cruel expression about his eyes, a predatory mouth and chin. He rose +quickly at the sight of Broadhurst. + +"Murchie, I would like to have you meet my friends, Mr. Kennedy and Mr. +Jameson," introduced Broadhurst. "They are very much interested in +horses, and I want you to show them about the place and let them see +everything." + +We chatted a moment, and then went out to look at the horses. + +In the center of the circular group of stalls was a lawn. The stalls of +the racers in training were large box stalls. + +"You have certainly trained a great horse in Lady Lee," remarked Kennedy +casually, as we made our way around the ring of stalls. + +Murchie looked up at him quickly. + +"Until the last few races, I thought so," he replied, stopping before +the stall of the famous racer and opening the door. + +Lady Lee was a splendid three-year-old bay, a quivering, sensitive, +high-strung animal. Murchie looked at her a moment, then at us. + +"A horse, you know," he said reflectively, "is just as ambitious to win +a race as you are to win success, but must have hard training. I keep +horses in training eight or nine months out of the year. I get them into +shape in the early spring and am very careful what they eat. If they get +a vacation, they may eat green foods, carrots, and grass in open field; +but when we prepare them for the ring or a race, they must have grain, +bran, and soft foods. They must have careful grooming to put the coats +in first-class condition, must be kept exquisitely clean, with the best +ventilation." + +"How about exercise?" asked Kennedy. + +"Well," replied Murchie, "I work out horses according to age, with the +distance for fast work gradually increased." + +Our trip through the wonderful stable over, we returned to the office, +Murchie walking ahead with Broadhurst. As we reached the door, +Broadhurst turned to us. + +"I hope you will pardon me," he said, "but there is some business up at +the house that I must attend to." + +"Oh, Mr. Broadhurst," interjected Murchie, "before you go back to town, +I want to talk over with you some of the changes that ought to be made +about the boys here, as well as their food and quarters." + +"All right," returned Broadhurst; "jump into the car and ride with me. +We can talk on the way, and you can come right back. I'll pick you +gentlemen up later." + +Kennedy nodded, quick to perceive the cue that Broadhurst had given him +to watch the stables without Murchie watching us. + +We sat down in the office, and I looked about at the superb fittings. + +"Do you think it is possible for an owner to make a financial success of +racing without betting?" I asked Kennedy. + +"Possible, but highly improbable," returned Craig. "I believe they +consider that they have an excellent year whenever they clear expenses. +I don't know about Broadhurst, but I believe that a good many owners +don't bet on their horses. They have seen the glaring crookedness of the +thing, especially if they have happened to be officers of jockey clubs +or stewards of various race-meets. Personally, I should think a man of +Broadhurst's stamp would not permit himself to be made a victim of the +leeches of the turf--although he may wager a bit, just to give zest to +the race. American racing has often been called a purely gambling +affair, and I think, before we get through, that we shall see the reason +for much of the public opposition to it." + +Just then a small man entered the office, and, seeing us, asked for Mr. +Murchie. His face was pinched and thin. He wore the latest cut of +clothes, but was so very slight that his garments hung loosely on him. +One could well imagine that he had tried all sorts of schemes to keep +himself down toward the hundred-and-ten-or-twelve-pound mark. He was the +very type of jockey. He introduced himself to us as Danny McGee, and I +recognized at once the famous twenty-five-thousand-dollar-a-year rider, +who had so often successfully defended the Broadhurst colors. + +"Mr. Murchie has gone up to the house," replied Kennedy to his inquiry. + +McGee looked us over a minute. + +"Friends of his?" he asked, in a confidential tone. Kennedy smiled. + +"Of Mr. Broadhurst's," he said quietly. + +There was a noticeable change in McGee's manner. + +"Just out here to look the stable over," went on Kennedy; "a wonderful +place." + +"Yes; we think so," assented McGee. + +"It seems strange," ventured Kennedy, "that, with all this care, Lady +Lee should not be keeping up to her record." + +McGee glanced at us keenly. + +"I don't understand it myself," he said. "I suppose lots of people must +think it is the fault of the jockey, but I have certainly earned my +salary lately with that filly. I don't know what's the matter. I've done +the best I can, but in spite of it there's something wrong." + +He spoke with an air of genuine worry, and, although I tried hard, I +must confess that I found it impossible to fathom him. + +"The filly," he added, "has her regular work-out and the regular feed, +and yet she seems to be all tired out most of the time. Even the +veterinaries can't seem to find out what's the matter." + +An awkward silence followed, during which both Kennedy and myself +endeavored to conceal our ignorance of horses by saying nothing about +them. Finally McGee rose and excused himself, saying that he would be +back soon. + +There were still a few minutes before Murchie would be likely to return. +Without saying a word, Kennedy rose and opened the door which led into +the stable. Across the lawn in the center we could see a man's figure +rapidly retreating through the main entrance, and, somehow or other, I +felt that at the sound of the opening of our door he hastened his pace. + +Kennedy walked quickly around the circle of box stalls until he came +again to Lady Lee. He entered the stall and looked the famous racer over +carefully. I was wondering what, if anything, he expected to find, when, +almost before I knew it, I saw him jab a little hypodermic needle into +her neck and withdraw a few drops of blood. + +Lady Lee reared and snorted, but Kennedy managed to quiet her. He +returned the hypodermic, with these few drops of blood, carefully into +its case again, and we made our way back to the office. + +A few minutes later, the drone of Broadhurst's car told us that Murchie +had returned. We resumed the talk about horses, upstairs in Murchie's +own apartment, which consisted of living-rooms, a library, and bath. It +was a luxuriously appointed place, in keeping with the tastes of its +occupant. We sat down in the library. + +I was quite interested in looking about me. For one thing, Murchie's +idea of art seemed to be a curious blending of horse and woman. There +were pictures of all the string of Broadhurst winners, interspersed with +Venuses and actresses. + +On a little table I noticed, at length, a colored photograph in an oval +gilt frame. It was of a very beautiful girl. She was something over +medium height, with a fine figure, golden hair, and deep-blue eyes. +Somehow, I recalled that I had seen that face before, and when I caught +Kennedy looking at it from time to time, I was certain of it. + +Suddenly it flashed over me that the picture had been published in the +_Star_. It was Cecilie Safford. I remembered having read of Murchie's +escapades, one of which was his elopement with a pretty young +stenographer whom he had met at the horse show a couple of years before. + +The talk ran along about horses still, but I noticed that Kennedy was +even more interested in Murchie's pictures, now, than in his +conversation. In the place of honor, over the mantel, hung a portrait, +in an artistic panel, of a slender girl with dark hair and hazel eyes, +with a soft, swanlike throat and neck, and a somewhat imperious manner +of carrying her head. + +I followed Craig's glance across the room. There, in a frame upon the +wall in a corner, hung an enlargement of a group photograph. It was of a +middle-aged woman, a little boy, and a little girl. Then I remembered +the whole story. + +At the time of his elopement, Murchie had a wife living. Since then he +had been divorced. Although he had promised to marry Cecilie when the +divorce was obtained, he was now engaged to marry a wealthy girl, Amelie +Guernsey. + +Broadhurst returned shortly for us, and we made another tour of the +stable, on the outside, including the quarters of the innumerable +employees. Finally, at a hint from Kennedy that we had seen enough for +the present, Broadhurst motored back to the city with us. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE INTER-URBAN HANDICAP + + +That night, instead of going to the laboratory, we walked down Broadway +until we came to a hotel much frequented by the sporting fraternity. + +We entered the restaurant, which was one of the most brilliant in the +white-light region, took a seat at a table, and Kennedy proceeded to +ingratiate himself with the waiter, and, finally, with the head waiter. +At last, I saw why Kennedy was apparently wasting so much time over +dinner. + +"Do you happen to know that girl, Cecilie Safford, that Broadhurst's +trainer, Murchie, eloped with?" he asked. + +The head waiter nodded. + +"I used to know her," he replied. "She used to come in here a good deal, +but you won't find her in the Broadway places any more these days. She's +more likely to be over on Eighth Avenue." He mentioned the name of a +cabaret saloon. + +Kennedy paid the check and again we started out. We finally entered a +place, down in a basement, and once more Kennedy began to quiz the +waiter. + +This time he had no trouble. Across the room, the waiter pointed to a +girl, seated with a young fellow at a round table. I could scarcely +believe what I saw. The face had the same features as that of the +photograph in the oval gilt frame in Murchie's apartment, but it was not +the same face. + +As I studied her, I could imagine her story without even hearing it. The +months of waiting for Murchie to marry her and his callous refusal had +been her ruin. Cecilie had learned to drink, and from that had gone to +drugs. + +Her mirror must have told her that she was not the same girl who had +eloped with Murchie. Her figure had lost its slim, beautiful lines. Her +features were bloated. Her eyes were smaller, and her lips were heavy. +Her fresh color had disappeared. She had a gray, pasty look. All she +had--her beauty--had vanished. + +Murchie had been divorced, and was about to marry--but not Cecilie. It +was to a young and lovely girl, with such a face of innocence as Cecilie +had when Murchie had first dictated a letter to her in the office at the +horse show, and had fascinated her with his glittering talk of wealth +and ease. The news of his engagement had driven her frantic. + +Curiously enough, the young fellow with her did not seem to be +dissipated in the least. There was, on the contrary, an earnestness +about him that one was rather sorry to see in such a place. In fact, he +was a clean-cut young man, evidently more of a student than a sport. He +reminded me of some one I had seen before. + +I was getting rather interested in an underworld cabaret when, suddenly, +Kennedy grasped my arm. At the same moment, a shot was fired. + +We jumped to our feet in time to see a young tough, with a slouch like +that of the rubbers and grooms at Broadhurst's. The fellow who had been +seated with Cecilie was struggling with him for the possession of a +pistol, which had been discharged harmlessly. Evidently the tough had +been threatening him with it. + +The waiters crowded around them, and the general _melee_ about Cecilie's +table was at its height when a policeman came dashing in on the run. + +The arrest of the gunman and his opponent, as well as of Cecilie as a +witness, seemed imminent. Kennedy moved forward slowly, working his way +through the crowd, nearer to the table. Instead of interfering, however, +he stooped down and picked up something from the floor. + +"Let's get out of this as quickly as possible, Walter," he whispered, +turning to me. + +When we reached the street, he stopped under an arc-light, and I saw him +dive down into his pocket and pull out a little glass vial. He looked at +it curiously. + +"I saw her take it out of her pocketbook and throw it into a corner as +soon as the policeman came in," he explained. + +"What do you think it is?" I asked. "Dope? That's what they all do if +they get a chance when they are pinched--throw it away." + +"Perhaps," answered Kennedy. "But it's worth studying to see what drug +she is really using." + +Late as it was, Craig insisted on going directly to the laboratory to +plunge into work. First, he took the little hypodermic needle with which +he had drawn several drops of blood from the race-horse, and emptied the +contents into a test tube. + +Finding that I was probably of more use at home in our apartment asleep +than bothering Kennedy in the laboratory, I said good-night. But when I +awoke in the morning, I found that Kennedy had not been in bed at all. + +It was as I expected. He had worked all night, and, as I entered the +laboratory, I saw him engaged in checking up two series of tests which +he had been making. + +"Have you found anything yet?" I asked. + +He pointed to a corner where he kept a couple of guinea-pigs. They were +sound asleep, rolled up in little fluffy balls of down. Ordinarily, in +the morning, I found the little fellows very frisky. + +"Yes," he said; "I think I have found something. I have injected just a +drop of blood from Lady Lee into one of them, and I think he's good for +a long sleep." + +"But how about the other one?" I asked. + +"That's what puzzles me," ruminated Kennedy. "Do you remember that +bottle I picked up last night? I haven't finished the analysis of the +blood or of the contents of the bottle, but they seem to contain at +least some of the same substances. Among the things I find are +monopotassium phosphate and sarcolactic acid, with just a trace of +carbon dioxide. I injected some of the liquid from the bottle into the +other fellow, and you see what the effect is--the same in both cases." + +The telephone bell rang excitedly. + +"Is there a Mr. Kennedy there?" asked Long Distance, adding, without +waiting for an answer, "Hold the wire, please." + +I handed the receiver to Kennedy. The conversation was short, and as he +hung up the receiver, Craig turned to me. + +"It was Broadhurst at the Idlewild Hotel," he said quickly. "Today is +the day of the great Interurban Handicap at Belmore Park with stakes of +twenty-five thousand dollars. Usually they take the horse over to the +track at least a week or two before the race, but as Broadhurst's stable +is so near, he didn't do it--hoping he might keep a better watch over +Lady Lee. But she's no better. If the horse is being tampered with, he +wants to know who is doing it and how." + +Kennedy paused a moment, then went over to a cabinet and took from it a +bottle and a very large-sized hypodermic. + +We must have been among the first on the field at Belmore Park that day. +Lady Lee had been sent over there after we left Northbury the day +before, under the care of Murchie and McGee, and had been stabled in the +quarters on the track which had been assigned to Broadhurst. + +With Broadhurst, who was waiting for us, we lounged across the field in +the direction of the stables. There was no doubt about it, Lady Lee was +not in prime condition. It was not that there was anything markedly +wrong, but to the trained observer the famous race-horse seemed to lack +just a trifle of the _elan_ which meant a win. + +While Murchie and the jockey were talking outside to Broadhurst, Kennedy +slipped into the stall to look at the racer. + +"Stand over by that side of the door, Walter," he muttered. "I'll be +through in just a minute. I want you to act as a cover." + +Quickly he jabbed the hypodermic into the horse and pressed down the +plunger. + +Lady Lee reared and snorted as she had done before when he extracted the +blood, and instantly Murchie and McGee were crowding past me. But the +instant had been long enough for Kennedy. He had dropped the hypodermic +into his pocket and was endeavoring to soothe the horse. + +"I guess she's not very much used to strangers," he remarked coolly. No +one thought any more of it, apparently. + +A few minutes later, Broadhurst rejoined Kennedy and myself. I could see +that his face showed plainly he was greatly worried. + +"I don't understand it," he kept repeating. "And what is worse, the news +seems to have leaked out that Lady Lee isn't fit. The odds are going +up." + +Kennedy looked at him fixedly a moment. + +"If you want to win this race, Mr. Broadhurst," he remarked in a low +tone, "I should advise you to watch Lady Lee every minute from now until +the start." + +"What do you mean?" whispered Broadhurst hoarsely. + +"I can't say yet--only watch." + +While Broadhurst and Kennedy hovered about the stall on one pretext or +another, watching both Murchie and McGee as they directed the rubbers +and others who were preparing for the race, I watched the trainer and +the jockey minutely. They certainly did nothing, at least now, to excite +suspicion. But might not the harm have already been done? Was it too +late? + +When the bell sounded the paddock call, McGee led the racer out of the +stall and to the paddock. Presently the field, Lady Lee at the fore, +walked past the grandstand and cantered slowly down the course to the +starting-post. + +Meanwhile, following Broadhurst, we had already made our way over to the +club-house enclosure. + +It was not like the old days when there was money everywhere, thousands +of dollars in plain sight, in the cash-boxes of the bookmakers, when men +rushed wildly about with handfuls of bills of large denomination and +bets were made with frequent rapidity. And yet there was still a certain +maelstrom of the betting-ring left; but the bookmakers had to carry +everything in their heads instead of setting it down on paper. I knew +the system, and knew that, in spite of the apparent ease with which it +seemed possible to beat it, welshing was almost unheard of. + +The grandstand was crowded, although it was quite a different crowd from +that at race meets of former times and on other tracks. Belmore Park lay +within motoring distance of the greatest aggregation of wealth and +fashion in the country. It was a wonderful throng. The gay dresses of +the women mingled kaleidoscopically with the more somber clothing of the +men. + +Every eye in that sea of moving humanity seemed to be riveted on Lady +Lee and her rider. It was a pretty good example of how swiftly inside +news at the race-track may become public property. Ill news, on this +occasion, seemed to have traveled apace. Field-glasses were leveled at +the horse which should have been the favorite, and one could tell, by +the buzz of conversation, that this race was the great event of the +season. As the jockeys maneuvered for position, one could almost feel +that some wonderful feats of memory were being performed by the +bookmakers. The odds, during the morning, had gradually lengthened +against Lady Lee. + +Like all thoroughbreds, Lady Lee had a most delicate organism, and the +good rider, in such a case, was the one who understood his mount. McGee +had, in the past at least, that reputation. He had reached pretty near +the top of his profession by knowing how to deal with horses of all +types. All this and more I had picked up from the gossip of the track. + +The barrier was sprung and the flag dropped. They were off! The +grandstand rose in a body. + +For a moment, it seemed to me that McGee had lost his nerve. Alertness +at the post is an important factor. He had not got away from the barrier +ahead of the field. Another rider, too, had got the rail, and hence the +shortest route. I wondered whether, after all, that had been the trouble +all along, for nothing can win or lose a race quicker or better than +those little failures of the jockey himself. + +Lady Lee, I had heard it said, was one of those horses that do not +require urging, but go to the front naturally. Just now, it did not seem +that she was beaten, but that she lacked just the power to lead the +field. Did McGee figure that the horses ahead of him were setting such a +fast clip that they would drop back to him before the race was over? + +Cleverly, however, he avoided being pocketed, as those ahead of and +beside him tried to close in and make him pull up. + +Around they went until the horses looked to the naked eye like toys +strung on wires. Only the tension of the crowd made one feel that this +was no play; it was deadly serious sport. On they sped, watched in a +lull of deathly stillness. Surely, I felt, this was indeed a great +sight--this acid test of the nerves of men and animals pitted against +one another. + +They were coming into the stretch now! + +Suddenly, it seemed that, by some telepathic connection, both the horse +and the rider caught the electric tension which swayed us in the +club-house enclosure. + +I myself was carried away by the frenzied spirit of the race. Broadhurst +was leaning forward, oblivious of everything else in the world, +straining his eyes through a field-glass. Murchie was watching the race +with a supercilious air, which I knew was clearly assumed. + +On they came! + +I could not help wondering whether McGee had not really planned to throw +the race. Would he, perhaps at the last moment, lose his nerve? + +Lady Lee suddenly shot through the field. A mighty shout rose from the +entire grandstand. + +It was over in a matter of seconds. She had finished first by a +half-length! She had won the classic and the rich stakes. + +Pandemonium seemed to reign in the club-house inclosure. Broadhurst +slapped Murchie over the back with a blow of congratulation that almost +felled him. As for McGee, they nearly carried him off the field on their +shoulders. Only Kennedy seemed to be calm. The race had been won--but +had the problem been solved? + +Broadhurst seemed to have forgotten all about his previous appeal to +Kennedy in the unexpected joy of winning. + +We paused awhile to watch the frantic crowd, and once, I recall, I +caught sight of a stunning, dark-haired woman grasping Murchie's both +hands in an ecstasy of joy. Instantly I recognized Amelie Guernsey. + +As Kennedy and I motored back to the city alone, he was silent most of +the way. Only once did he make a remark. + +"The Belmore Inn," he said, as we passed a rather cheap road-house some +distance from the track. "That's where I heard one of the rubbers say +the former Mrs. Murchie was living." + +That night, Craig plunged back again into work in the laboratory, and I, +having nothing else to do, wrote a feature story of the great race for +the _Star_. + +Kennedy made up for the rest he had lost and the strain of the day by a +long sleep; but early in the morning the telephone bell rang +insistently. Kennedy bounded out of bed to answer it. + +I could gather nothing from the monosyllables which he uttered, except +that the matter under discussion was profoundly serious. Finally, he +jammed down the receiver. + +"Good God, Walter," he exclaimed, "Murchie's been murdered!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE TOXIN OF FATIGUE + + +He gave me no time for questions, and I had no ability to reconstruct my +own theory of the case as we hustled into our clothes to catch the early +morning train. + +"Broadhurst is at the Idlewild Hotel," Kennedy said, as we left the +apartment, "and I think we can make it quicker by railway than by +motor." + +The turfman met us at the station. + +"Tell me just what happened," asked Kennedy. + +"No one seems to understand just what it was," Broadhurst explained, +"but, as nearly as I remember, Murchie was the lion of the Idlewild +grillroom all the evening. He had 'come back.' Once, I recall, he was +paged, and the boy told him someone was waiting outside. He went out, +and returned, considerably flushed and excited. + +"'By George,' he said, 'a man never raises his head above the crowd but +that there's somebody there to take a crack at it! There must have been +some crank outside, for before I could get a look in the dark, I was +seized. I managed to get away. I got a little scratch with a knife or a +pin, though,' he said, dabbing at a cut on his neck." + +"What then?" prompted Kennedy. + +"None of us paid much attention to it," resumed Broadhurst, "until just +as another toast was proposed to Lady Lee and someone suggested that +Murchie respond to it, we turned to find him huddled up in his chair, +absolutely unconscious. The house physician could find nothing wrong +apparently--in fact, said it was entirely a case of heart failure. I +don't think any of us would question his opinion if it had not been for +Murchie's peculiar actions when he came back to the room that time." + +Murchie's body had been removed to the local undertaking establishment. +As Broadhurst drove up there and we entered, Kennedy seemed interested +only in the little jab and a sort of swelling upon the neck of the dead +man. Quickly he made a little incision beside it, and about ten or a +dozen drops of what looked like blood-serum oozed out on a piece of +gauze which Craig held. + +As we turned to leave the undertaker's, a striking, dark-haired girl, +with the color gone from her cheeks, hurried past us and fell on her +knees beside Murchie's body. It was the woman who had congratulated him +the day before, the woman of the panel--Amelie Guernsey. + +I had not noticed, up to this point, another woman who was standing +apart in the crowd, but now I happened to catch her eye. It was the +woman whose picture with the two children hung in Murchie's apartment. +Kennedy drew me back into the crowd, and there we watched the strange +tragedy of the wife that was and the wife that was to have been. + +Craig hurried back to the city after that, and, as we pushed our way up +the ramp from the station, he looked hastily at his watch. + +"Walter," he said, "I want you to locate Cecilie Safford and let me +know at the laboratory the moment you find her. And perhaps it would be +well to start at the police station." + +It seemed to me as though the girl whom we had found so easily the +evening before had now utterly disappeared. At the police station she +had not been held, but had given an address which had proved fictitious. +At the cabaret saloon no one had seen her since the incident of the +fight. + +As I left the place, I ran into Donovan, of the Tenderloin squad, and +put the case to him. He merely laughed. + +"Of course I could find her any time I wanted to," he said. "I knew that +was a fake address." + +He gave me the real address, and I hurried to the nearest telephone to +call up Craig. + +"Have Donovan bring her over here as soon as he can find her," he called +back. + +When I arrived at the laboratory, I found Kennedy engrossed in his +tests. + +"Have you found anything definite?" I asked anxiously. + +He nodded, but would say nothing. + +"I've telephoned Broadhurst," he remarked, a moment later. "You remember +that the former Mrs. Murchie was at Belmore Inn. I have asked him to +stop and get her on the way down here in the car with McGee, and to get +Amelie Guernsey at the Idlewild, too." He continued to work. "And, oh +yes," he added: "I have asked Inspector O'Connor to take up another +line, too." + +It was a strange gathering that assembled that forenoon. Donovan arrived +soon after I did, and with him, sure enough, was Cecilie Safford. A few +moments later Broadhurst's car swung up to the door, and Broadhurst +entered, accompanied by Amelie Guernsey. McGee followed, with the former +Mrs. Murchie. + +"I don't want another job like that," whispered Broadhurst to Kennedy. +"I'm nearly frozen. Neither of those women has spoken a word since we +started." + +"You can hardly blame them," returned Kennedy. + +Mrs. Murchie was still a handsome woman. She now carried herself with an +air of assumed dignity. Amelie Guernsey had regained her color in the +excitement of the ride and was, if anything, more beautiful than ever. +But, as Broadhurst intimated, one could almost feel the frigidity of the +atmosphere as the three women who had played such dramatic parts in +Murchie's life sat there, trying to watch and, at the same time, avoid +each other's gaze. + +The suspense was relieved when O'Connor came in in a department car. +With him were the young man who had been seated with Cecilie at the +table the night of the fight and also the gunman. + +"The magistrate in the night court settled the case that night," +informed O'Connor, under his breath, laying down two slips of paper +before Kennedy, "but I have their pedigrees. That fellow's name is +Ronald Mawson," he said, pointing to Cecilie's companion, then +indicating the gunman, "That's Frank Giani--Frank the Wop." + +I watched Mawson and Cecilie closely, but could discover nothing. They +scarcely looked at each other. + +McGee, however, glared at both Mawson and the gunman, though none of +them said a word. + +"They used to be out there as stable-boys at Broadhurst's," I heard +O'Connor continue, in a whisper. "I think they had a run-in and were +fired. Each says the other got him in wrong." + +A moment later Kennedy began: + +"When you came to my laboratory the other day, Mr. Broadhurst," he said, +"you remarked that perhaps this case might be a little out of my line, +but that I might find it sufficiently interesting. I can assure you that +I have not only found it interesting, but astounding. I have seldom had +the privilege of unraveling a mystery which was so cleverly rigged and +in which there are so many cross-currents of human passion." + +"Then you think Lady Lee was doped?" asked Broadhurst. + +"Doped?" interjected McGee quickly. "Why, Mr. Broadhurst, you remember +what the veterinary said. He couldn't find any signs of heroin or any +other dope they use." + +"That's the devilish ingenuity of it all," shot out Kennedy suddenly, +holding up a little beaker in which there was some colorless fluid. "I +am merely going to show you now what can be done by the use of one of +the latest discoveries of physiological chemistry." + +He took a syringe and, drawing back the plunger, filled it with the +liquid. With a slight jab of cocaine to make the little operation +absolutely painless, he injected the fluid into the livelier of our two +guinea-pigs. + +"While you and Murchie were absent the first day that I went out to your +stable, I succeeded in drawing off some of the blood of Lady Lee," Craig +resumed, talking to Broadhurst. "Here, in my laboratory, I have studied +it. Lady Lee, that day, had had no more than the ordinary amount of +exercise, yet she was completely fagged." + +By this time the little guinea-pig had become more and more listless and +was now curled up in a corner sound asleep. + +"I have had to work very hurriedly this morning," Craig continued, "but +it has only been covering ground over which I have already gone. I was +already studying a peculiar toxin. And from the fluid I obtained from +Murchie's body, I have been able to calculate that a deadly dose of that +same powerful poison killed him." + +Kennedy plunged directly from this startling revelation into his proof. + +"Perhaps you have heard of the famous German scientist, Weichardt, of +Berlin," he resumed, "and his remarkable investigations into the toxin +of fatigue. Scientists define fatigue as the more or less complete loss +of the power of muscles to respond to stimulation due to their normal +activity. An interval of rest is usually enough to bring about their +return to some degree of power. But for complete return to normal +condition, a long interval may be necessary. + +"As the result of chemical changes which occur in a muscle from +contraction, certain substances are formed which depress or inhibit the +power of contraction. Extracts made from the fatigued muscles of one +frog, for instance, when injected into the circulation of another frog +bring on an appearance of fatigue in the latter. Extracts from +unfatigued muscles give no such results. More than that, the production +of this toxin of fatigue by the exercise of one set of muscles, such as +those of the legs in walking, greatly diminishes the amount of work +obtainable from other unused muscles, such as those of the arms." + +Kennedy went on, looking at the sleeping guinea-pig rather than at us: + +"Weichardt has isolated from fatigued muscles a true toxin of a chemical +and physical nature, like the bacterial toxins, which, when introduced +into the blood, gives rise to the phenomena of fatigue. This is the +toxin of fatigue--kenotoxin. Those who have studied the subject have +found at least three fatigue substances--free sarcolactic acid, carbon +dioxide, and monopotassium phosphate, which is so powerful that, after +the injection of one-fifteenth of a gram, the poisoned muscle shows +signs of fatigue and is scarcely able to lift a weight easily lifted in +normal conditions. Other fatigue products may be discovered; but, if +present in large quantity or in small quantity for a long time, each of +the substances I have named will cause depression or fatigue of muscles. + +"Further than that," continued Kennedy, "the depressing influence of +these substances on what is known as striated muscle--heart muscle--is +well known. The physician at the Idlewild might very well have mistaken +the cause of the relaxation of Murchie's heart. For German investigators +have also found that the toxin of fatigue, when injected into the +circulation of a fresh animal, may not only bring on fatigue but may +even cause death--as it did finally here." Kennedy paused. "Lady Lee," +he said, looking from one to the other of his audience keenly, "Lady +Lee was the first victim of the fiendish cunning of this--" + +A shrill voice interrupted. + +"But Lady Lee won the race!" + +It was McGee, the jockey. Kennedy looked at him a moment, then tapped +another beaker on the table before him. + +"Weichardt has also obtained, by the usual methods," he replied, "an +antitoxin with the power of neutralizing the fatigue properties of the +toxin. You thought Lady Lee was not friendly with strangers that morning +at the track. She was not, when the stranger jabbed a needle into her +neck and pumped an extra large dose of the antitoxin of fatigue into her +just in time to neutralize, before the race, the long series of +injections of fatigue toxin." + +Kennedy was now traveling rapidly toward the point which he had in view. +He drew from his pocket the little bottle which he had picked up that +night in the cabaret saloon. + +"One word more," he said, as he held up the bottle and faced Cecilie +Safford, who was now trembling like a leaf ready to fall: "If one with +shattered nerves were unable to sleep, can you imagine what would be a +most ideal sedative--especially if to take almost any other drug would +be merely to substitute that habit for another?" + +He waited a moment, then answered his own question. + +"Naturally," he proceeded, "it might be, theoretically at least, a small +dose of those products of fatigue by which nature herself brings on +sleep. I am not going into the theory of the thing. The fact that you +had such a thing is all that interests me." + +I watched the girl's eyes as they were riveted on Kennedy. She seemed to +be fascinated, horrified. + +"This bottle contains a weak solution of the toxin of fatigue," +persisted Kennedy. + +I thought she would break down, but, by a mighty effort, she kept her +composure and said nothing. + +"Someone was trying to discredit and ruin Murchie by making the horses +he trained lose races--somebody whose life and happiness Murchie himself +had already ruined. + +"That person," pursued Kennedy relentlessly, "was defeated in the +attempt to discredit Murchie when, by my injection of the antitoxin, +Lady Lee finally did win. In that person's mind, Murchie, not the horse, +had won. + +"The wild excitement over Murchie's vindication drove that person to +desperation. There was only one more road to revenge. It was to wait +until Murchie himself could be easily overpowered, when an overwhelming +dose of this fatigue toxin could be shot into him--the weapon that had +failed on the horses turned on himself. Besides, no one--not even the +most expert physician or chemist--would ever suspect that Murchie's +death was not natural." + +"That--that bottle is mine--mine!" shouted a wild voice interrupting. "I +took it--I used it--I--" + +"Just a moment, Miss Safford," entreated Kennedy. "That person," he +rapped out sharply, picking up the pedigrees O'Connor had handed him, +"that person gave the toxin to a poor dope fiend as a sleeping-potion in +one strength, gave it to Lady Lee in still another strength, and to +Murchie in its most fatal strength. It was the poor and unknown +pharmacist described in this pedigree whose dream of happiness Murchie +shattered when he captivated Cecilie Safford--her deserted lover, Ronald +Mawson." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE X-RAY DETECTIVE + + +"I want to consult you, Professor Kennedy, about a most baffling case of +sudden death under suspicious circumstances. Blythe is my name--Dr. +Blythe." + +Our visitor spoke deliberately, without the least perturbation of +manner, yet one could see that he was a physician who only as a last +resort would appeal to outside aid. + +"What is the case, Doctor?" queried Craig. + +The Doctor cleared his throat. "It is of a very pretty young art +student, Rhoda Fleming, who returned to New York from France shortly +after the outbreak of the war and opened a studio in the New Studio +Apartments on Park Avenue, not far from my office," began Dr. Blythe, +pausing as if to set down accurately every feature of the "case history" +of a patient. + +"Yes," prompted Craig. + +"About a week ago," the Doctor resumed, "I was called to attend Miss +Fleming. I think the call came from her maid, Leila, but I am not sure. +She had suddenly been taken ill about an hour after dinner. She was +cyanotic, had a rapid pulse, and nausea. By means of stimulants I +succeeded in bringing her around, however, and she recovered. It looked +like acute gastritis. + +"But last night, at about the same time, I was called again to see the +same girl. She was in an even more serious condition, with all the +former symptoms magnified, unconscious, and suffering severe pains in +the abdominal region. Her temperature was 103. Apparently there had been +too great a delay, for she died in spite of everything I could do +without regaining consciousness." + +Kennedy regarded the Doctor's face pointedly. "Did the necropsy show +that she was--er--" + +"No," interrupted the Doctor, catching his glance. "She was not about to +become a mother. And I doubt the suicide theory, too." He paused and +then after a moment's consideration, added deliberately, "When she +recovered from the first attack she seemed to have a horror of death and +could offer no explanation of her sudden illness." + +"But what other reason could there have been for her condition?" +persisted Kennedy, determined to glean all he could of the Doctor's +personal impressions. + +Dr. Blythe hesitated again, as if considering a point in medical ethics, +then suddenly seemed to allow himself to grow confidential. "I'm very +much interested in art myself, Professor," he explained. "I suppose you +have heard of the famous 'Fete du Printemps,' by Watteau?" + +Kennedy nodded vaguely. + +"The original, you know," Dr. Blythe went on hurriedly, "hung in the +chateau of the Comtesse de la Fontaine in the Forest of Compiegne, and +was immensely valuable--oh--worth probably a hundred thousand dollars or +more." + +A moment later Dr. Blythe leaned over with ill-suppressed excitement. +"After I brought her around the first time she confided to me that it +had been entrusted to her by the Comtesse for safe-keeping during the +war, that she had taken it first to London, but fearing it would not be +safe even there, had brought it to New York." + +"H'm," mused Kennedy, "that is indeed strange. What's your theory, +then,--foul play?" + +Dr. Blythe looked from Kennedy to me, then said slowly, "Yes--but we +can't find a trace of poison. Dr. Leslie--the Coroner--I believe you +know him--and I can find nothing, in fact. It is most incomprehensible." + +I noticed that Kennedy was watching Dr. Blythe rather keenly and, +somehow, I fell to trying to fathom both his story and himself, without, +I confess, any result. + +"I should like to look her apartment over," remarked Craig with +alacrity, needing no second invitation to take up a mystery that already +promised many surprises. + +The New Studio Apartments were in a huge twelve-story ornate Renaissance +affair on upper Park Avenue, an example of the rapidly increasing +co-operative idea which the impractical artistic temperament has proved +soundly practical. + +It was really a studio building, too, designed for those artists who +preferred luxury and convenience to the more romantic atmosphere of the +"Alley"--which is the way the initiated refer to the mews back of +Washington Square, known as Macdougal's Alley, famous in fact and +fiction. + +Rhoda Fleming's was a most attractively arranged suite, with a large +studio commanding the north light and having a ceiling twice as high as +the ordinary room, which allowed of the other rooms being, as it were, +on two floors, since their ceilings were of ordinary height. On every +side, as we entered, we could see works of art in tasteful profusion. + +Since the removal of the body of the beautiful but unfortunate young art +student, no one had been left there, except the maid, Leila. Leila was +herself a very pretty girl, one of those who need neither fine clothes +nor expensive jewels to attract attention. In fact she had neither. I +noticed that she was neatly and tastefully dressed, however, and wore a +plain gold band on the ring finger of her left hand. She seemed to be +heartbroken over the death of her mistress, but how much of it was +genuine, I could not say, though I am frank to admit that even before I +saw her I had determined that she was worth watching. + +"Show me just how you discovered Miss Fleming," asked Kennedy of Dr. +Blythe, getting down to work immediately. + +"Why," he replied, "when I got here she was lying half across that +divan, as if she had fallen there, fainting. Each time a little table +had been set for a light dinner and the dinner had been eaten. The +remains were on the table. And," Blythe added significantly, "each time +there was a place set for another person. That person was gone." + +Kennedy had turned inquiringly to Leila. + +"I was engaged only for the day," she answered modestly. "Evenings when +Mademoiselle had a little party she would often pay me extra to come +back again and clean up. She liked to prepare little chafing-dish +dinners--but disliked the cleaning." + +Dr. Blythe nodded significantly, as though that accounted for the reason +why it had seemed to be Leila who had called him in both times. + +Kennedy and I had found the little pantry closet in the kitchenette +where the maid kept the few housekeeping utensils. He took a hasty +inventory of the slender stock, among which, for some reason, I noted a +bottle of a well-known brand of meat sauce, one of those dark-colored +appetizers, with a heavy, burnt-grain odor. + +Craig's next move was to ransack the little escritoire in the corner of +the studio room itself. That was the work of but a few moments and +resulted in his finding a packet of letters in the single drawer. + +He glanced over them hastily. Several of an intimately personal nature +were signed, "Arnold Faber." Faber, I knew, was a young art collector, +very wealthy and something more than a mere dilettante. Other letters +were of business dealings with well-known Fifth Avenue art galleries of +Pierre Jacot & Cie., quite natural in view of Miss Fleming's long +residence in France. + +The letters had scarcely been replaced when the door of the studio +opened and I caught sight of a tastefully gowned young woman, quite +apparently a foreigner acclimated to New York. + +"Oh, I beg pardon," she apologized. "I heard voices and thought perhaps +it was some of Rhoda's relatives from the West and that I could do +something." + +"Good-evening, Miss Tourville," greeted Dr. Blythe, who was evidently +well-known to this colony of artists. A moment later he introduced us, +"This, by the way, is Miss Rita Tourville, an intimate friend of Miss +Fleming, who has the studio above." + +We bowed, exchanged the conventional remarks that such a tragedy made +necessary, and Rita Tourville excused herself. Somehow or other, +however, I could not resist the impression that she had come in +purposely to see what was going on. + +On our way out, after promising Dr. Blythe to meet him later in the +night at the office of the Coroner, Kennedy, instead of going directly +to the street, descended to the basement of the apartment and sought the +janitor, who lived there. + +"I'd like very much to see the rubbish that has come down from Miss +Fleming's apartment," he asked, slipping into the janitor's hand a large +silver coin. + +"It's all mixed up with rubbish from all the apartments on that side of +the house," replied the janitor, indicating a bulging burlap bag. + +"Miss Tourville's, also?" queries Craig. + +The janitor nodded assent. + +Kennedy surely obtained his money's worth of junk as the janitor spread +the contents of the bag on the cellar floor. With his walking stick he +pawed over it minutely, now and then stooping to examine something more +or less carefully. He had gone through somewhat more than half of the +rubbish that had come from the apartments when he came upon what looked +like the broken remains of a little one-ounce dark-colored, labelless +bottle. + +Kennedy picked it up and sniffed at it. He said nothing, but I saw his +brow knit with thought. A moment later he wrapped it in a piece of +tissue paper, thanked the janitor, and we mounted the cellar steps to +the street. + +"I think I'll try to see Faber tonight," he remarked as we walked down +the avenue. "It will do no harm at any rate." + +Fortunately, we found the young millionaire art connoisseur at home, in +a big house which he had inherited from his father, on Madison Avenue, +in the Murray Hill section. + +"The death of Miss Fleming has completely upset me," he confessed after +we had introduced ourselves without telling too much. "You see, I was +quite well acquainted with her." + +Kennedy said nothing, but I could feel that he was longing to ask +questions leading up to whether Faber had been the mysterious diner in +the Fleming Studio the night before. + +"I suppose you are acquainted with Watteau's 'Fete du Printemps'?" shot +out Craig, after a few inconsequential questions, watching Faber's face +furtively. + +"Indeed I am," replied the young man, apparently not disconcerted in the +least. + +The fact was that he seemed quite willing, even eager to discuss the +painting. I could not make it out, unless it might be that any subject +was less painful than the sudden death of Miss Fleming. + +"Yes," he continued voluntarily, "I suppose you know it represents a +group of dancers. The central figure of the group, as everyone believes, +is reputed to be the passionate and jealous Madame de Montespan, whom +the beautiful Madame de Maintenon replaced in the affections of Louis +XIV. + +"Why, no one thinks of Watteau, with his delightful daintiness and many +graceful figures on such masterfully disposed backgrounds as a portrait +painter. But the Fete shows, I have always contended, that he drew on +many real faces for his characters. Yes, he could paint portraits, too, +wonderfully minute and exact little miniatures." + +Faber had risen as he discoursed. "I have a copy of it," he added, +leading the way into his own private gallery, while Craig and I followed +him without comment. + +We gazed long and intently at the face of the central figure. Small +though it was, it was a study in itself, a puzzle, distracting, +enigmatical. There was a hard, cruel sensuousness about the beautiful +mouth which the painter seemed to have captured and fixed beneath the +very oils. Masked cleverly in the painted penetrating dark eyes was a +sort of cunning which, combined with the ravishing curves of the cheeks +and chin, transfixed the observer. + +Something in the face reminded me of a face I had once seen. It was not +exactly Rita's face, but it had a certain quality that recalled it. I +fancied that there was in both the living and the painted face a +jealousy that would brook no rivalry, that would dare all for the object +of its love. + +Faber saw that we had caught the spirit of the portrait, and seemed +highly gratified. + +"What crimes a man might commit under the spell of a woman like that!" +exclaimed Craig, noticing his gratification. "By the way, do you know +that Miss Fleming was said to have had the original--and that it is +gone?" + +Faber looked from one to the other of us without moving a muscle of his +face. + +"Why, yes," he replied steadily. I could not make out whether he had +expected and been prepared for the question or not. At any rate he +added, half serious, half smiling, "Even for her portrait someone was +ready to risk even life and honor to kidnap her!" + +Evidently in his ardor he personified the picture, felt that the thief +must have been moved by what the psychologists call "an imperative idea" +for the mere possession of such a treasure. + +"Still," Craig remarked dryly, "the wanderings of the lost Duchess by +Gainsborough for a quarter of a century stuffed into a tin tube, to say +nothing of the final sordid ending of the capture of Mona Lisa, might +argue a devotion among art thieves a bit short of infatuation. I think +we'll find this lady, too, to be held for ransom, not for love." + +Faber said nothing. He was evidently waiting for Kennedy to proceed. + +"I may photograph your copy of the Fete?" queried Craig finally, "so as +to use it in identifying the real one?" + +"Surely," replied the collector. "I have no objection. If I should +happen to be out when you came, I'll leave word with my man to let you +go ahead." + +Just then the telephone rang and Faber reached for it before we could +thank him and say good-night. + +"Hello--oh, Miss Tourville, how do you do? Why--er--yes--yes, I'm +listening." + +They chatted for several minutes, Faber answering mostly in +monosyllables. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I thought the +conversation, at least at his end of the line, constrained. As he hung +up the receiver, I fancied, too, that Faber seemed to look on us with a +sort of suspicion. What was his connection with Rita, I wondered? What +had Rita told him? + +A moment later we had said good-by and had gained the street, Kennedy +still making no comment on the case. + +"There's nothing more that we can do tonight," remarked Craig, looking +at his watch finally as we walked along. "Let us go over to the City +Laboratory and see Dr. Leslie, as I promised Blythe." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE MECHANICAL CONNOISSEUR + + +Dr. Leslie, the Coroner, was an old friend of ours with whom we had +co-operated in several cases. When we reached his office we found Dr. +Blythe there already, waiting for us. + +"Have you found anything yet?" asked Dr. Blythe with what I felt was +just a trace of professional pique at the fact that neither physician +had been able to shed any light on the case so far. + +"I can't say--yet," responded Craig, not noticing Blythe's manner, as +from the piece of tissue paper in which he had wrapped them he produced +the broken bits of bottle. + +Carefully he washed off the jagged pieces, as though perhaps some of the +liquid the bottle had contained might have adhered to the glass. + +"I suppose you have animals here for experiment?" he asked of Leslie. + +The Coroner nodded. + +"Chickens?" asked Craig with a broad smile at the double meaning. + +"A Leghorn rooster," returned Dr. Leslie with a laugh. + +"Good--bring him on," replied Craig briskly. + +Quickly Kennedy shot a small quantity of the liquid he had obtained by +washing the bits of glass into the veins of the white Leghorn. Then he +released the rooster, flapping about. + +In a corner chanticleer stood, preening his feathers and restoring his +ruffled dignity, while we compared opinions. + +"Look!" exclaimed Kennedy a few minutes later, when we had almost +forgotten the rooster. + +His bright red comb was now whitish. As we watched, a moment later it +turned dark blue. Otherwise, however, he seemed unaffected. + +"What is it?" I asked in amazement, turning to Craig. + +"Ergot, I think," he replied tersely. "At least that is one test for its +presence." + +"Ergot!" repeated Dr. Leslie, reaching for a book on a shelf above him. +Turning the pages hurriedly, he read, "There has been no experience in +the separation of the constituents of ergot from the organs of the body. +An attempt might be made by the Dragendorff process, but success is +doubtful." + +"Dragendorff found it so, at any rate," put in Dr. Blythe positively. + +Running his fingers over the backs of the other books, Dr. Leslie +selected another. "It is practically impossible," he read, "to separate +ergot from the tissues so as to identify it." + +"Absolutely," asserted Dr. Blythe quickly. + +I looked from one physician to the other. Was this the "safe" poison at +last? + +Kennedy said nothing and I fell to wondering why, too, Dr. Blythe was so +positive. Was it merely to vindicate his professional pride at the +failure he and the Coroner had had so far with the case? + +"I suppose you have no objection to my taking some of this sample of the +contents of the organs of her body, have you?" asked Craig at length of +Dr. Leslie. + +"None in the world," replied the Coroner. + +Kennedy poured out some of the liquid into a bottle, corked it +carefully, and we stood for a few moments longer chatting over the +developments, or rather lack of developments of the case. + +It was late when we returned to our apartment, but the following morning +Kennedy was up long before I was. I knew enough of him, however, to know +that I would find him at his laboratory breakfastless, and my deduction +was correct. + +It was not until the forenoon that Craig had completed the work he had +set himself to do as he puzzled over something in the interminable +litter of tubes and jars, bottles and beakers, reagents, solutions, and +precipitates. + +"I'm going to drop in at Jacot's," he announced finally, laying off his +threadbare and acid-stained coat and pulling on the clothes more fitted +for civilization. + +Having no objection, but quite the contrary, I hastened to accompany +him. Jacot's was a well-known shop. It opened on Fifth Avenue, just a +few feet below the sidewalk, and Jacot himself was a slim Frenchman, +well preserved, faultlessly dressed. + +"I am the agent of Mr. Morehouse, the Western mine-owner and +connoisseur," introduced Kennedy, as we entered the shop. "May I look +around?" + +"Certainement,--avec plaisir, M'sieur," welcomed the suave dealer, with +both hands interlocked. "In what is Mr. Morehouse most interested? In +pictures? In furniture? In--" + +"In almost anything that is rare and beautiful," confided Craig, looking +Jacot squarely in the eye and adding, "and not particular about the +price if he wants a thing, either. But I--I am particular--about one +thing." + +Jacot looked up inquiringly. + +"A rebate," Kennedy went on insinuatingly, "a commission on +the bill--you understand? The price is immaterial, but not +my--er--commission. Comprenez-vous?" + +"Parfaitement," smiled the little Frenchman. "I can arrange all that. +Trust me." + +We spent an hour, perhaps, wandering up and down the long aisles of the +store, admiring, half purchasing, absorbing facts about this, that and +the other thing that might captivate the fictitious Mr. Morehouse. + +Not satisfied with what was displayed so temptingly in the front of the +store, Kennedy wandered back of a partition apparently in search of some +more choice treasures, before Jacot could stop him. He turned over a +painting that had been placed with its face toward the wall, as if for +protection. I recognized the subject with a start. It was Watteau's +Fete! + +"Wonderful!" exclaimed Kennedy in well-feigned ecstasy, just as Jacot +came up. + +"Ah, but, M'sieur," interposed the art dealer, "that is only a copy--and +not for sale." + +"I believe my friend, Mr. Faber, has a copy," ventured Craig. + +"By a Miss Fleming?" asked Jacot quickly, apparently all interest now. + +Kennedy shrugged his shoulders. Was Jacot hinting at something known in +the trade? + +"Might I photograph some of the things here to show Mr. Morehouse?" +asked Craig a moment later. "I see several things in which I think he +might be interested." + +"Surely," answered Jacot, then, after consideration, in which his beady +eye seemed to size up Kennedy, he added, sotto voce, craftily, "Would +Mr. Morehouse be--er--interested in Watteau's Fete?" + +My heart almost stopped beating. Were we really on the right track at +last? + +Jacot leaned over confidentially to Kennedy and added, "Why not sell as +an original, not this, but another copy--a--a--what you call it?--a +fake?" + +I understood. Kennedy, having invited crooked dealing by his remark +about the rake-off, was being approached about another crooked deal. + +"A fake Watteau?" he asked, appearing to meet Jacot halfway. + +Jacot nodded. "Why not? You know the same Botticelli belongs to +collectors in Philadelphia and Boston; that is, each has a picture and +if one is genuine the other must be a fake. Possibly the artist painted +the same picture twice. Why, M'sieur, there are Rubens, Hals, Van Dycks, +Rembrandts galore in this country that hang also at the same time +abroad." Jacot smiled. "Did you never hear of a picture with a dual +personality?" + +Kennedy seemed to consider the idea. "I'll think it over," he remarked +finally, as we prepared to leave, "and let you know when I come back to +snap some of the things for my principal." + +"Well--of all brazen crooks!" I sputtered when we had gained Fifth +Avenue. + +Kennedy shook his head. "We can't be sure of anything in this game. Does +it occur to you that he might perhaps think he was playing us for +suckers, after all?" + +My mind worked rapidly. "And that that picture of Faber's is the real +original, after all?" I asked. "You mean that somehow a copy by Miss +Fleming has come really to Jacot with instructions to palm it off on +some gullible buyer?" + +"Frankly, Walter," he said, as we walked along, "I don't know what to +think. You know even the greatest experts sometimes disagree over +questions like this. Well, Walter, art is long and time is fleeting. If +we are ever to settle where that real Watteau is, we shall have to +resort to science, I think." + +That afternoon after a trip up to the laboratory, where Craig secured a +peculiar and cumbersome photographic outfit, we at last found ourselves +around at Faber's private gallery. Faber was out, but, true to his +promise, he had left word with his man, who admitted us. + +Kennedy set to work immediately, before the painting, placing an +instrument which certainly was not like a regular camera. I was further +astonished, moreover, when Craig set up something back of the canvas, +which he moved away from the wall. As nearly as I could make it out it +consisted of a glass bulb of curious shape. A moment later he attached +the bulb to a wire that connected with a little rheostat or resistance +coil and thence, in turn, to an electric-light socket. + +He switched on the electric current and the apparatus behind the picture +began to sputter. I could not see very well what it was, but it looked +as if the bulb was suffused with a peculiar, yellowish-green light, +divided into two hemispheres of different shades. The pungent odor of +ozone from the electric discharge filled the room. + +While Kennedy was working, I had noticed a little leather party box +lying on a table, as though it had been forgotten. It was not just the +thing one would expect in Faber's rooms and I looked at it more closely. +On it were the initials "R. T." Had Rita Tourville visited him? + +Craig had scarcely finished and was packing up his apparatus when we +heard a noise outside. A second later, Faber himself entered, with Rita, +evidently looking for something. + +"Oh, yes, Rita,--here it is. Why, Kennedy--how are you? Did you get your +photograph?" + +Kennedy replied that he had, and thanked him. + +It was easy to see Rita's pleasure at being with the young connoisseur, +but at the sight of Craig I fancied for a moment that I saw a flash of +that passionate resentment which had caused me to find a resemblance +between the expression of her face and that of De Montespan in the +painting, a hint at what she would do or dare to protect the object of +her affections. + +We departed shortly, leaving Rita and Faber deep in the discussion of +some art topic. + +It was not until late in the afternoon that we were able to revisit +Jacot's. He received us cordially, but Craig, by a whispered word or +two, was able to postpone the answer to the clever proposal which might +have been a trap prepared for us. + +Craig, with a regular camera which he had brought also, set to work +snapping pictures and objects of art with reckless profusion, moving +them about to get a better light and otherwise consuming time. + +At last came the opportunity he had been awaiting, when Jacot had a +customer in the front of the store. Quickly he set up the peculiar +apparatus which he had used at Faber's before the copy of the Watteau in +the rear of the shop, switched on the electricity, and amid the +suppressed sputtering duplicated the work I had seen him do before. + +As he was packing the apparatus up, I happened to glance toward the +front of the store. There were Leila and Jacot in earnest conversation. +I whispered to Kennedy, and, a moment later, she caught sight of me, +appeared not to recognize me, and left. + +Jacot sauntered back to us, I thought, concealing his haste. + +Before he could speak, Kennedy asked, "Who was that woman?" + +He had finished packing up the apparatus and even if Jacot had heard +something that caused him to change his mind, it was now too late to +stop Kennedy. + +"Why," hastened Jacot, apparently frank, "that is the maid of the Miss +Fleming, the artist who has just died. She has come to me to see whether +I can get her a position with another artist." + +"I thought I recognized her," remarked Kennedy. "I remember when I saw +her once before that she had on a wedding ring. Doesn't her husband +support her?" + +Jacot shrugged his shoulders. "She is looking for another position--that +is all I know," he said simply. + +Kennedy picked up his apparatus. + +"You will think over my proposition?" asked Jacot, as we left. + +"And let you know in a day or two," nodded Kennedy. + +As we walked up Fifth Avenue, I confess to have felt all at sea. Who had +the real masterpiece? Was it Faber, or Jacot, or was it someone else? If +Rita had warned Faber against us, and Leila had warned Jacot, which had +copy and which original? Or were they both copies and had the original +been hidden? Had it been stolen for money or had some fiend with a +knowledge of this mysterious ergot stolen it simply for love of art, +stopping not even at murder to get it? + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE RADIOGRAPH WITNESS + + +It was apparent that quick action was necessary if the mystery was ever +to be solved. Kennedy evidently thought so, too, for he did not wait +even until he returned to his laboratory to set in motion, through our +old friend, Commissioner O'Connor, the machinery that would result in +warrants to compel the attendance at the laboratory of all those +interested in the case. Then he called up Dr. Leslie and finally Dr. +Blythe himself. + +Back again in the laboratory, Kennedy employed the time in developing +some plates of the pictures he had taken, and by early evening, after a +brief study of them, his manner indicated that he was ready. + +Dr. Leslie, whom he had asked to come a little before the rest, arrived +early, and a few moments later Dr. Blythe, very much excited by the +message he had received. + +"Have you found anything?" he asked eagerly. "I've been trying all sorts +of tests myself, and I can't prove the presence of a thing--not a +thing." + +"Not ergot?" asked Kennedy quietly. + +"No," he cried, "you can't prove anything--you can't prove that she was +poisoned by ergot." + +Dr. Leslie looked helplessly at Kennedy, but said nothing. + +"Not until recently, perhaps, could I have proved anything," returned +Kennedy calmly. "Evidently you didn't know, Dr. Blythe, that the first +successful isolation of an alkaloid of ergot from the organs in a case +of acute ergotism had been made by two Pittsburgh scientists. True, up +to the present toxicologists had to rely on the physical properties of +this fungus of rye for its identification. That may have made it seem +like a safe poison to someone. But I have succeeded in isolating +ergotinin from the sample of the contents of the organs of the poor +girl." + +Without pausing, he picked up a beaker. "Here I have the residue left +from an acid solution of an extract of the organs, treated with +chloroform. It is, as you see, crystalline." + +In his other hand he held up another beaker. "Next I got the residue +obtained by extraction of the acid aqueous liquid with ether. That, too, +is crystalline." + +Kennedy displayed something in the shape of long needles, the sides of +which were not quite parallel and the ends replaced by a pair of faces. + +Quickly he dissolved some of the crystals in sulphuric acid. Then he +added another chemical from a bottle labeled ferro chlorid. The liquid, +as we bent over it, changed quickly to a brilliant orange, then a +crimson, next a green, and finally became a deep blue. + +"What he has derived from the body responds to all the chemical tests +for ergotinin itself," remarked Dr. Leslie, looking quickly across at +Dr. Blythe. + +Dr. Blythe said nothing. + +I smelt of the stuff. Odors with me, as, I suppose, with other people, +have a psychological effect, calling up scenes associated with them. +This odor recalled something. I strove to recollect what it was. At +last it came with a rush. + +"The meat sauce!" I exclaimed involuntarily. + +"Exactly," replied Kennedy. "I have obtained that bottle. There was +ergot in it, cleverly concealed by the natural smell and taste of the +sauce. But who put it there? Who had the knowledge that would suggest +using such a poison? Who had the motive? Who had been dining with her +that fatal evening?" + +Kennedy had no chance to answer his questions, even if he had intended +to do so. + +The door of the laboratory opened and Rita Tourville, in charge of one +of O'Connor's men, who looked as if he might have enjoyed it better if +the lady had not been so angry, entered. Evidently O'Connor had timed +the arrival closely to what Craig had asked, for scarcely a moment later +Faber came whirling up in one of his own cars. Not a word passed between +him and Rita, yet I felt sure that they had some understanding of each +other. Leila arrived shortly, and it was noticeable that Rita avoided +her, though for what reason I could not guess. Finally came Jacot, +blustering, but, having made the officer the safety-valve of his +mercurial feelings, quickly subsiding before us. Dr. Blythe appeared +amazed at the quickness with which Kennedy moved now. + +"In ordinary times," began Kennedy, noting as he spoke the outward +attitude of our guests toward each other, "the world would have stood +aghast at the disappearance of such a masterpiece as the Fete by +Watteau. It would have ranked with the theft of Gainesborough's Duchess +of Devonshire, Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the brown-skinned Madonna of the +Mexican convent, Millet's Goose-girl, and the Shepherd and Flock, the +portrait of Saskia by Rembrandt, and other stolen masterpieces. + +"But today the vicissitudes of works of art in war time pass almost +unnoticed. Still there is a fascination exercised over the human mind by +works of art and other objects of historic interest, the more so because +the taking of art treasures seems to have become epidemic in northern +Europe." + +He laid down what looked more like two rough sketches than photographs, +yet they were photographs, though the relative brightness of color in +photographs was quite different. Outlines were displaced, also. Ugly +spots and bands marred the general effect. They were peculiar. + +"They are X-ray images or radiographs of two oil paintings, both claimed +to be copies of Watteau's famous Fete," explained Kennedy, picking up +one of them. + +"In a radiograph of the body," he continued, "the difference of +brightness that distinguishes the heart from the lungs, bones from +flesh, is due to the different densities of tissues. In these pictures +the same effect is produced by the different densities of the pigments, +especially of their principal and heaviest elements." + +He paused and laid down a chart. "For anyone who doubts what I am about +to prove, I have made a scale of oil colors arranged in accordance to +their transparency to Roentgen rays by applying standard pigments to +canvas in patches of equal thickness. + +"I think you can see what I am driving at. For instance, a design drawn +in a heavy pigment will show through a layer of a less dense pigment, +under the influence of the X-ray--just as bones show through flesh. In +other words, an ordinary photograph reproduces only the surface of a +painting. A radiograph represents all the pigments underneath, also +producing effects in proportion to their densities. + +"Let me show you the practical result of all this in studying such +radiographs, as worked out by a German student. I have made several very +interesting and conclusive discoveries which these radiographs I have +taken illustrate." + +He paused a moment, for the sake of emphasis. "You will notice," he +resumed carefully, "the lace frill above the bodice on the figure of +Madame de Montespan, in this radiograph. In the painting the frill is +sharply defined and can be clearly distinguished from the bodice. But +look at this radiograph. It appears tattered. It overflows the bodice. + +"That led me to suspect that the bodice was widened as an +afterthought--perhaps to diminish the area of white. That is the reason +why the white shows through the bodice in the radiograph. But in this +other one the bodice and the frill are substantially as they must be in +the original." + +Again he paused, as if taking up a new point. "This radiograph,--number +one, I may call it--shows a broad light band on the right hand of the +figure, of which not a trace is to be found either in the other +radiograph or the painting itself. It represents the first rough sketch +of an arm and hand. + +"Again, in this first radiograph the ring and little fingers are close +together and a sixth finger appears between the index and middle +fingers. From that I infer that the hand hung limp with the fingers +nearly in contact in the first sketch and that the fingers were +afterward separated. But in this second radiograph the arm, hand and +fingers are perfect." + +It was fascinating to listen to Kennedy as he delved down into the +invisible beneath the very oils and dug out their hidden mystery. + +"Take the head and shoulder," he continued. "Radiograph number one +clearly shows flaking of the painting which has been painted over to +conceal it. Ordinary light reveals no trace, either, of a long crack on +the shoulder which evidently was filled with a thick mass of pigment +containing too little white lead to obliterate the crack in the +radiograph. White spots above the ear, in the radiograph, probably +indicate an excess of white lead used in retouching. At any rate, +radiograph number two contains no such defects." + +Kennedy paused before drawing the conclusion. "The radiograph of an +original picture reveals changes made by the artist in the course of his +work. The counterfeiter, like other copyists, reproduces as accurately +as possible the final result. That is all he can see. He makes errors +and corrections, but of a different kind. There are no serious changes. + +"So, a radiograph of even a part of a picture shows the layers of +pigment that are hidden from the eye and the changes made during the +composition of the work. One can easily distinguish the genuine from the +spurious copies, for it is absolutely impossible for an imitator to make +a copy that will stand the X-ray test. + +"You see," he went on enthusiastically, "the most striking feature of +these radiographs is their revelation of details of the first sketch, +which have been altered in the finished picture. We actually obtain an +insight into the methods of an artist--" he paused, adding--"who has +been dead for centuries." + +It was wonderful what Kennedy was getting out of those, to us, blurred +and indistinct skiagraphs. I studied the faces before me. None seemed to +indicate any disposition to break down. Kennedy saw it, too, and +evidently determined to go to the bitter end in hammering out the truth +of the mystery. + +"One moment more, please," he resumed. "The radiograph shows even more +than that. It shows the possibility of detecting a signature that has +been painted over, in order to disarm suspicion. The detection is easier +in proportion to the density of the pigment used for the signature and +the lack of density of the superposed coat." + +He had laid the radiographs on the table before him, with a finger on +the corner of each, as he faced us. + +"At the bottom of each of the paintings in question," he shot out, +leaning forward, "you will find nothing in the way of a signature. But +here, in radiograph number two, for instance, barely discernible, are +the words, "R. Fleming," quite invisible to the eye, but visible to the +X-ray. These words have been painted over. Why? Was it to prevent anyone +from thinking that the owner had ever had any connection with Rhoda +Fleming?" + +I was following Kennedy, but not so closely that I missed a fearful +glance of Rita from Faber to Jacot. What it meant, I did not know. The +others were too intent on Kennedy's exposure to notice. I wondered +whether someone had sought to conceal the fact that he had a copy of the +famous Watteau, made by Miss Fleming? + +"Look at the bottom of the other radiograph, number one, further toward +the left," pursued Kennedy resistlessly. "There you will discover traces +of an 'A' and a 'W,' which do not appear on the painting. Between these +two are marks which can also be deciphered by the X-ray--'Antoine +Watteau.' Perhaps it was painted over lightly so that an original could +be smuggled in as a copy. More likely it was done so that a thief and +murderer could not be traced." + +As Kennedy's voice rang out, more and more accusatory, Rita Tourville +became more and more uncontrollably nervous. + +"It was suggested," modulated Kennedy, playing with his little audience +as a cat might with a mouse, "that someone murdered Rhoda Fleming with +the little-understood poison, ergot, because of an infatuation for the +picture itself. But the modern crook has an eye for pictures, just as +for other valuables. The spread of the taste for art has taught these +fellows that such things as old masters are worth money, and they will +even murder now to get them. No, that radiograph which I have labeled +number one is not a copy. It is of the genuine old master--the real +Watteau. + +"Someone, closely associated with Miss Fleming, had found out that she +had the original. That person, in order to get it, went even so far as +to--" + +Rita Tourville jumped up, wildly, facing Craig and crying out, "No, +no--his _is_ the copy--the copy by Miss Fleming. It was I who told him +to paint over the signature. It was I who called him away--both +nights--on a pretext--when he was dining with her--alone--called him +because--I--I loved him and I knew--" + +Faber was on his feet beside her in a moment, his face plainly showing +his feelings toward her. As he laid his hand on her arm to restrain her, +she turned and caught a penetrating glance from Jacot's hypnotic eye. + +Slowly she collapsed into her chair, covering her face with her hands, +sobbing. For a moment a look of intense scorn and hatred blazed in +Leila's face, then was checked. + +Craig waved the radiograph of the real Watteau as he emphasized his last +words. + +"In spite of Rita Tourville's unexpected love for Faber, winning him +from your victim, and with the aid of your wife, Leila, in the role of +maid, the third member of your unique gang of art thieves, you are +convicted infallibly by my X-ray detective," thundered Craig as he +pointed his finger at the now cowering Jacot. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ABSOLUTE ZERO + + +"Isn't there some way you can save him, Professor Kennedy? You _must_ +come out to Briar Lake." + +When a handsome woman like Mrs. Fraser Ferris pleads, she is +irresistible. Not only that, but the story which she had not trusted +either to a message or a messenger was deeply interesting, for, already, +it had set agog the fashionable country house colony. + +Mrs. Ferris had come to us not as the social leader now, but as a +mother. Only the night before her son, young Fraser, had been arrested +by the local authorities at Briar Lake on the charge of homicide. I had +read the meager dispatch in the morning papers and had wondered what the +whole story might be. + +"You see, Professor Kennedy," she began in an agitated voice as soon as +she arrived at the laboratory and introduced herself to us, "day before +yesterday, Fraser was boxing at the Country Club with another young man, +Irving Evans." + +Kennedy nodded. Both of them were well known. Ferris had been the +All-America tackle on the University football team a couple of years +previous and Evans was a crack pitcher several years before. + +"Irving," she continued, adding, "of course I call him Irving, for his +mother and I were schoolgirls together--Irving, I believe, fell +unconscious during the bout. I'm telling you just what Fraser told me. + +"The other men in the Club gymnasium at the time carried him into the +locker-room and there they all did what they could to revive him. They +succeeded finally, but when he regained consciousness he complained of a +burning sensation in his stomach, or, rather, as Fraser says, just below +the point where his ribs come together. They say, too, that there was a +red spot on his skin, about the size of a half-dollar. + +"Finally," she continued with a sigh, "the other men took Irving +home--but he lapsed into a half-comatose condition. He never got better. +He--he died the next day--yesterday." + +It was evidently a great effort for Mrs. Ferris to talk of the affair +which had involved her son, but she had made up her mind to face the +necessity and was going through it bravely. + +"Of course," she resumed a moment later, "the death of Irving Evans +caused a great deal of talking. It was natural in a community like Briar +Lake. But I don't think anything would have been thought about it, out +of the way, if the afternoon after his death--yesterday--the body of one +of the Club's stewards, Benson, had not been found jammed into a trunk. +Apparently, it had been dumped off an automobile in one of the most +lonely sections of the country. + +"In fact," she went on, "it was the sort of thing that might have taken +place, one would say, in the dark alleys of a big city. But in a country +resort like Briar Lake, the very uncommonness of such a case called +added attention to it." + +"I understand," agreed Craig, "but why did they suspect your son?" + +"That's the ridiculous part of it, at least to me," hastened the mother +to her son's defense. "Both Irving and my son, as you know, were former +University athletic stars, and, as in all country clubs, I suppose, that +meant popularity. Irving was engaged to Anita Allison. Anita is one of +the most beautiful and popular girls in the younger set, a splendid +golfer, charming and clever, the life of the Club at the dances and +teas." + +Mrs. Ferris paused as though she would convey to us just the social +status of everyone concerned. + +"Of course," she threw in parenthetically, "you know the Allisons are +reputed to be quite well off. When old Mr. Allison died, Anita's +brother, Dean, several years older than herself, inherited the brokerage +business of his father and, according to the will, assumed the +guardianship of his younger sister." + +She seemed to be considering something, then suddenly to make up her +mind to tell it. "I suppose everyone knows it," she resumed, "and you +ought to know it, too. Fraser was--er--one of Anita's unsuccessful +suitors. In fact, Anita had been sought by nearly all of the most +eligible young fellows of the Club. I don't think there were many who +had not at some time or other offered her his whole heart as well as his +fortune. + +"I didn't encourage Fraser--or try to discourage him. But I could see +that it lay between Fraser and Irving." + +"And the rather strange circumstances of the death of Evans, as well as +of the steward, occasioned a good deal of gossip, I suppose," chimed in +Kennedy. + +"Yes. Somehow, people began to whisper that it was revenge or hate or +jealousy that had prompted the blow,--that perhaps the steward, Benson, +who was very popular with the young men, knew or had seen something that +made him dangerous. + +"Anyhow, gossip grew until it seemed that, in some way which no one has +ever said definitely, a deliberate attempt was made on Irving Evans's +life, and finally the local authorities, rather glad to take up a +scandal in the Club set, took action and arrested my Fraser--under a +charge of homicide." + +She blurted the words out fiercely and defiantly, but it was all +assumed. Underneath, one could see the woman fighting loyally with every +weapon for her son, keenly alive to the disgrace that even the breath of +scandal unrefuted might bring to his name. + +"How about the other admirers?" asked Craig quickly. + +"That's another queer thing," she replied eagerly. "You see, they have +all suddenly become very busy and have made perfect alibis. But there +was Allan Wyndham--he's a friend of the Allisons,--why shouldn't they +suspect him? In fact, there was quite a group of young fellows closely +associated with Dean Allison in speculation. Irving Evans was one. But," +she added, with a glance at Kennedy as if she realized that it was like +catching at a straw, "with Fraser, of course,--there is that blow. We +can't deny that." + +"What does Miss Allison think?" queried Craig. + +"Oh, I believe Anita is all broken up by the tragedy to her fiance. She +was at the Club at the time--in the tea room. No one dared to tell her +until Irving had been taken home. Then her brother, who was in the +gymnasium when the thing happened and had been one of those to carry +Irving into the locker-room, was naturally chosen by the rest, after +they had done all they could to revive Irving, to break the news as +gently as he could to his sister. She took it calmly. But I think it +would have been better if she had given way to her real feelings. They +say she has secluded herself in the Allison house and won't see a soul." + +Kennedy's brow puckered in thought. + +"You can't imagine what a terrible shock this thing has been to me," +pleaded Mrs. Ferris. "Oh, the horror of it all! You _must_ come out to +Briar Lake with me!" + +There was, naturally, no doubt of the poignancy of her feelings as she +looked from Kennedy to myself, imploringly. As for Craig, he did not +need to betray the sympathy he felt not only for the young man who had +been arrested and his mother, but for the poor girl whose life might be +blasted by the tragedy and the unhappy victim who had been snatched away +so suddenly almost on the very eve of happiness. + +It was not half an hour later, that, with a very grateful mother, we +were on our way out to Briar Lake in Mrs. Ferris's touring car. + +As we whirled along past the city limits, Kennedy leaned back on the +cushions and for some minutes seemed absorbed in thought. + +"Of course it is possible," he remarked at length, noticing that both +Mrs. Ferris and I were watching him nervously, "that Miss Allison may +know something that will throw some light on the affair. But it may be +of an entirely private nature. I don't know how we'll get her to talk, +but we must--if she knows anything. I'd like to stop at the Allison +house, first." + +"Very well," agreed Mrs. Ferris, leaning forward and directing the +chauffeur to turn off before we reached Briar Lake on the main road. + +We sped along and I could not help feeling that the young man who was +driving the car was quite as eager as anyone else to bring help to his +young master. + +The Allison house proved to be a roomy, old-fashioned place on a rise of +ground just this side of Briar Lake, for the Allisons had been among the +first to acquire estates at the exclusive colony. + +Mrs. Ferris remained in the car, while Kennedy and I went in to +introduce ourselves. + +We found the young society girl evidently now in full possession of her +nerves. She was slender, fair, with deep blue eyes, not merely pretty, +but with a face that showed character. + +Anita Allison had been seated in the library, and, as we entered, I +could see that she had hastily shoved some papers, at which she had been +looking, into a drawer of the desk. + +"Miss Allison," began Kennedy, "this is a most unfortunate affair and I +must beg your pardon--" + +"Yes," she interrupted, "I understand. As if I didn't feel badly +enough--oh--they have to make it all so much harder to bear by arresting +Fraser--and then all this notoriety,--it is awful." + +I confess that I had not expected that we would see her so easily. Yet I +felt that there was some constraint in her manner, in spite of that. + +"I want to speak frankly with you, Miss Allison," went on Craig gently. +"Is there anything about the matter--of a personal nature--that you +haven't told? I want to appeal to you. Remember, there is another life +at stake, now." + +She looked at us searchingly. Did she suspect that we knew something or +was she herself seeking information? + +"No, no," she cried. "There isn't a thing--not a thing that I know that +I haven't told--nothing." + +Kennedy said nothing himself, but watched her, apparently assuming that +she would go on. + +"Oh," she cried, "if I could only _do_ something--anything. It might get +my mind off it all. But I--I can't even cry!" + +Plainly there was little except a sort of mental vivisection of her +grief to be gained from her yet--even if she suspected something, of +which I was not entirely sure. + +We excused ourselves and left her, sunk deeply into a leather chair, her +face buried in her hands, but not weeping. + +"Is Mr. Allison at home?" inquired Craig as we passed out through the +hall, meeting the butler at the door. + +"No, sir," he replied. "He went to New York this morning, sir, and said +he'd be at the Club later this afternoon." + +We climbed into the car and Kennedy looked at his watch. "It's getting +well along in the afternoon," he remarked. "I think I'll go over to the +Club. We may find Allison there now." + +As we turned out into the main road our driver had to swerve for a car +which turned off, coming from the city, as we had come a few minutes +before. He looked around at it blackly, as it went up the road to the +Allison house, for he had had to stall his own engine to avoid a +collision. There was no one in the other car but a driver with a visored +hat. + +"Whose car was that?" asked Craig quickly. + +"Allan Wyndham's," answered our driver, starting his engine. + +"H'm," mused Craig. "Wyndham must have sent her a message from town. Too +bad we hurried so to get up here." + +At last, as we turned a bend in the main road, the broad chimneys, white +columns and wide balustrades of the Briar Lake Country Club loomed in +sight. + +The Country Club was a most pretentious building, yet, unlike many such +clubs, had a very hospitable air in spite of its aristocratic and +handsome appearance. + +There was something very inviting about its wide sweep of roof and ample +piazzas, some enclosed in glass, as we approached by the broad graveled +driveway that swung in from the highway between the gentle curves of +green lawns whose expanse was broken by the tall pines through which we +caught a glimpse of the hills. It was indeed a beautiful country. + +We entered a wide hall and came to the reception room crowded with +luxurious armchairs and cozy corners. In a glass case stood the usual +trophies. + +Grouped about a huge deep fire was a knot of people, and here and there +others were talking earnestly. One could feel that this was one of those +social institutions not to be in which argued that one was decidedly +out of things. I could almost visualize the close scrutiny that new +applicants would undergo, not so much as men among men, but through the +eyes of the women folk, dissecting the wives and daughters of the +family. + +Founded originally because of the interest of the older members in +horses and the hunt, the Club had now extended its activities to polo +and motors, golf, tennis, squash, with a fine old English bowling green +and ample shooting traps. + +I could not blame Mrs. Ferris for not wishing to enter the Club just +yet. She had left us at the door, promising to send the car back for our +disposal. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE VACUUM BOTTLE + + +Fortunately, Dean Allison was at the Club, as we hoped, having just +arrived by the train that left New York at the close of the banking day. +Someone told us, however, that Wyndham had probably decided to remain in +town over night. + +Allison was perhaps a little older than I had imagined, rather a grave +young man who seemed to take his club responsibilities on the Council +very seriously. + +"I'd like to talk to you about this Evans case," began Craig when we had +been introduced. + +"Glad to tell you all I know," he responded cordially. "It isn't much, +I'm afraid. It's terrible--terrible. We don't know what to think. My +sister is all broken up by it, poor girl." + +He led the way over to a corner, in a sort of bow window, and we sat +down on the hard leather cushions. + +"No, there isn't much I can say," he resumed. "You see, one of the +recreations of the younger set at the Club is boxing--that's about all +there was to it--not the amateurish thing one usually sees, but real +scientific boxing. + +"Fraser had adopted the so-called Fitzsimmons shift--you know, the right +foot forward, while the left hand shoots out from somewhere near the +hip, plunging at close range into the pit of the stomach." + +Allison rose to illustrate it. "Irving, on the other hand, had been +advocating the Jeffries crouch as the only safeguard to meet it,--like +that." + +He threw himself into position and went on, "The bout had been arranged, +accordingly, and it was _some_ bout, too. Most of us here are fond of +boxing to keep fit. + +"Well, at last Fraser got under his guard, I suppose you'd call it. He +landed. For an instant, Irving stood up straight, his hands helplessly +extended. Most of us thought he was fooling and Fraser jumped back, +laughing at the way his contention had worked out. Then, slowly, +struggling as if against the inevitable, Irving bent forward and toppled +over on his face. + +"That's where we woke up. We rushed forward and picked him up, +apparently unconscious, and carried him to the locker-room. There was a +good deal of excitement. Someone telephoned for a doctor, but couldn't +seem to find one at home." + +"Did you see anything peculiar take place in the locker-room?" asked +Kennedy, following keenly. + +"Anything peculiar?" + +"Yes--anyone near him, perhaps--another blow--while he was unconscious." + +"No--and I think I would have seen anything that was out of the way. I +was there almost all the time--until someone told me my sister was +upstairs and suggested that I was the best one to break the news to +her." + +"I'd like to look over the gymnasium and locker-room," suggested Craig. + +Dean Allison led the way downstairs quickly. Craig did not spend more +than a minute in the gymnasium, but the locker-room he examined +carefully. + +It was a long room. Each locker bore the name of its owner and he +hastily ran his eye over them, getting their location. + +I don't know that even he had, yet, any idea that he would find +anything, but it was just his habit to go over the ground of a tragedy, +in hope of picking up some clew. + +He looked over the floor very carefully, now and then bending down as if +to discover spots. Once he paused a moment, then continued his measured +tread down the long row of lockers until he came to a door at the other +end of the room. We went out and Kennedy looked about closely. + +"Oh,--about Benson, the steward," he said, looking up quickly and +stroking his chin as if an idea had occurred to him. "Is there anyone +here who might know something about him--his habits, associates,--that +sort of thing?" + +"Why--yes," considered Allison slowly, "the chef might know. Wait, I'll +call him." + +As Allison disappeared in the direction of what was evidently the +kitchen, we stood outside by the door, waiting. + +Kennedy's eye traveled back and forth about us and finally fell on a row +of rubbish barrels a few feet away. He moved over to them. + +He had half turned away, retracing his steps back to me thoughtfully, +when his eye must have been attracted by something gleaming. He turned +back and poked at it with his stick. Peeping from the rubbish was a +dented thermos bottle, the lining of which was cracked and broken. + +He was about to turn away again when his eye fell on something else. It +was the top of the bottle, the little metal cap that screws over it, or +rather it was what was left of the cap. + +"That's strange," he muttered to himself, picking it up. + +The cap, which might have been used as a cup, was broken in the most +peculiar manner, in spite of the fact that it was metal. If it had been +of glass I should have said that someone had dropped it. + +Kennedy frowned and dropped the pieces into his pocket, turning to wait +for Allison to return with the chef. + +"I can't seem to find him," reported Allison a moment later. "But he'll +be here soon. He'll have to be--or lose his job. How would after dinner +do? I'll have him and all the other employes, then." + +"Good!" agreed Kennedy. "That will give me time to go into the town +first and get back." + +"I'd be glad to have you dine with me," invited Allison. + +"Thank you," smiled Kennedy. "I'm afraid I won't have time for dining +tonight. I'll be back after dinner, though." + +Mrs. Ferris's car had returned and Craig's next step was to go on into +the town of Briar Lake. + +On the way he decided first to stop at the Evans house, which took us +only a little bit out of our way. There he made a minute examination of +the body of the young man. + +Irving Evans had been a handsome fellow and the tragedy of his death +had been a sad blow to his family. However, I shall not dwell on that, +as it is no part of my story. + +Kennedy was eager to see the red spot in the pit of the stomach of the +dead man of which everyone had spoken. + +He looked at it closely, as I did also, although I could make nothing of +it. Evans had complained of a burning, stinging sensation, during his +moments of consciousness and the mark had had a flushed, angry look. It +seemed as though a sort of crust had formed over it, which now was ashen +white. + +Craig did not spend as long as I had anticipated at the Evans house, +but, although he said nothing, I could tell by the expression of his +face that he was satisfied with the conclusions which he drew from the +examination. Yet I could not see that the combination of circumstances +looked much better for Fraser Ferris. + +We went on now to the town and there we had no trouble in meeting the +authorities and getting them to talk. In fact, they seemed quite eager +to justify themselves. + +As we passed down the main street, Mrs. Ferris's chauffeur mentioned the +fact that a local physician, Dr. Welch, was also the Coroner of the +county. Kennedy asked him to stop at the doctor's office, and we +entered. + +"A most unfortunate occurrence," prefaced the doctor as we seated +ourselves. + +"You assume, then, that it was the blow that killed Evans?" asked +Kennedy pointedly. + +The doctor looked at him a moment. "Of course--why not?" he demanded +argumentatively, as though we had come all the way from the city for the +sole purpose of impugning his medical integrity. "I suppose you know the +classical case of the young man who was coming out of the theater, when +some of the party began indulging in rather boisterous horse play? One +bent another quietly over his arm and tapped him a sharp blow with the +disengaged hand on the stretched abdomen. The blow fell right over the +solar plexus and, to the surprise of everyone, the young man died." + +The Coroner had risen and was pacing the room slowly. "I could cite +innumerable cases. Everyone understands that a blow may be fatal because +of shock to the solar plexus. In such a case no post-mortem trace might +be found and the blow could even be a light one. + +"For instance, in a fight a blow might be struck and the recipient fall +dead. If the medical examiner should find nothing on holding the autopsy +which would have caused sudden death, he can testify that a shock to the +solar plexus will cause death and that the post-mortem examination will +give no evidence to support or disprove the statement. The absolute +absence, however, of any reason or of injury to the other organs will +add weight to his testimony, evidence of the blow being present." + +"And you think this was such a case?" asked Kennedy, with just a trace +of a challenge in his tone. + +"Certainly," replied the Coroner. "Certainly. We know that a blow was +struck--in all probability hard enough to affect the solar plexus." + +It was evident, in his mind at least, that young Ferris was guilty and +Kennedy rose to go, refraining from antagonizing him by further +questions. + +We next visited the county court house, which was not far from the +doctor's office. There, the sheriff, a young man, met us and seemed +willing to talk over the evidence which so far had been unearthed in the +case. + +In his office was a trunk, a cheap brown affair, in which the body of +the unfortunate steward, Benson, had been found. + +"Quite likely the trunk had been carried to the spot in a car and thrown +off," the sheriff explained. "A couple of boys happened to find it. They +told of their find and one of the constables opened the trunk, then +called us up here. In the trunk was the body of a man, crouched, the +head forced back between the knees." + +"I'd like to see Benson's body," remarked Kennedy. + +"Very well, I'll go with you," returned the sheriff. "It's at the +undertaker's--our only local morgue." + +As we walked slowly up the street, the sheriff went on, just to show +that country as well as city detectives knew a thing or two. "There are +just two things in which this differs from the ordinary barrel or trunk +murder you read about." + +"What are they?" encouraged Craig. + +"Well, we know the victim. There wasn't any difficulty about identifying +him. We know it wasn't really a Black Hand crime, although everything +seems to have been done to make it look like one, and the body was left +in the most lonely part of the country. + +"And then the trunk. We have traced it easily to the Club House. It was +Benson's own trunk--had been up in his own room, which was locked." + +"His own trunk?" repeated Craig, suddenly becoming interested. "How +could anyone take it out, without being seen? Didn't anyone hear +anything?" + +"No. Apparently not. None of the other servants seem to have heard a +thing. I don't know how it could have been got out, especially as his +door was locked and we found the keys on him. But--well, it was. That's +all." + +We had reached the undertaker's. + +The body of Benson was horribly mangled about the head and chest, +particularly the mouth. It seemed as if a great hole had been torn in +him, and he must have died instantly. Kennedy examined the grewsome +remains most carefully. + +What had done it, I wondered? Could the man have been drugged, perhaps, +and then shot? + +"Maybe it was a dum-dum bullet," I suggested, "one of those that +mushrooms out and produces such frightful wounds." + +"But assuming it entered the front, there is no exit in the back," the +sheriff put in quickly, "and no bullet has been found." + +"Well, if he wasn't shot," I persisted, "it must have been a blow, and +it seems impossible that a blow could have produced such an effect." + +The sheriff said nothing, evidently preferring to gain with silence a +reputation for superior wisdom. Kennedy had nothing better than silence +to offer, either, though he continued for a long time examining the +wounds on the body. + +Our last visit in town was to Fraser Ferris himself, to whom the sheriff +agreed to conduct us. Ferris was confined in the grim, dark, stone, +vine-clad county jail. + +We had scarcely entered the forbidding door of the place when we heard a +step behind us. We turned to see Mrs. Ferris again. She seemed very much +excited, and together we four, with a keeper, mounted the steps. + +As she caught sight of her son, behind the bars, she seemed to gasp, +then nerve herself up to face the ordeal of seeing a Ferris in such a +place. + +"Fraser," she cried, running forward. + +He was tall, sunburned, and looked like a good sportsman, a clean-cut +fellow. It was hard to think of him as a murderer, especially after the +affecting meeting of the mother and son. + +"Do you know what I've just heard?" she asked at length, then scarcely +pausing for a word of encouragement from him, she went on. "Why, they +say that Benson was in town early that evening, drinking heavily and +that that might account--" + +"There--there you are," he cried earnestly. "I don't know what happened. +But why should I do anything to him? Perhaps someone waylaid him. That's +plausible." + +"Of course," warned Kennedy a few minutes later, "you know that anything +you say may be used against you. But--" + +"I _will_ talk," interrupted the young man passionately, "although my +lawyer tells me not to. Why, it's all so silly. As for Irving Evans, I +can't see how I could have hit him hard enough, while, as for poor +Benson,--well, that's even sillier yet. How should I know anything of +that? Besides, they were all at the Club late that night, all except me, +talking over the--the accident. Why don't they suspect Wyndham? He was +there. Why don't they suspect--some of the others?" + +Mrs. Ferris was trying to keep a brave face and her son was more eager +to encourage her than to do anything else. + +"Keep up a good heart, Mother," he called, as we finally left, after his +thanking Kennedy most heartily. "They haven't indicted me yet, and the +grand jury won't meet for a couple of weeks. Lots of things may turn up +before then." + +It was evident that, next to the disgrace of the arrest, his mother +feared even more the shame of an indictment and trial, even though it +might end in an acquittal. Yet so far we had found no one, as far as I +knew, who had been able to give us a fact that contradicted the +deductions of the authorities in the case. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE SOLAR PLEXUS + + +It was after the dinner hour that we found ourselves at the Country Club +again. Wyndham had not come back from the city, but Allison was there +and had gathered together all the Club help so that Kennedy might +question them. + +He did question them down in the locker-room, I thought perhaps for the +moral effect. The chef, whom I had suspected of knowing something, was +there, but proved to be unenlightening. In fact, no one seemed to have +anything to contribute. Quite the contrary. They could not even suggest +a way in which the trunk might have been taken from the steward's room. + +"That's not very difficult," smiled Kennedy, as one after another the +servants asserted that it would be impossible to get it around the turns +in the stairs without making a noise. "Where was Benson's room?" + +The chef led the way to the door, that by which we had gone out before +when we had seen the rubbish barrels. + +"Up there," he pointed, "on the third floor." + +There was no fire escape, nor were there any outside balconies, and I +wondered how Craig would account for it. + +"Someone might have lowered the trunk from the window by a rope, might +they not?" he asked simply. + +"Yes," returned the chef, unconvinced. "But his door was locked and he +had his keys in his pocket. How about that?" + +"It doesn't follow that he was killed in his room, does it?" asked +Craig. "In fact it is altogether impossible that he could have been. +Suppose he was killed outside. Might not someone have taken the keys +from his pocket, gone up to the room without making any noise and let +the trunk down here by a rope? Then if he had dropped the rope, locked +the door, and returned the keys to Benson's pockets--how about that?" + +It was so simple and feasible that no one could deny it. Yet I could not +see that it furthered us in solving the greater mystery. + +We went up to the steward's room and searched his belongings, without +finding anything that merited even that expenditure of time. + +However, Craig was confident now, although he did not say much, and by a +late train we returned to the city in preference to using Mrs. Ferris's +car. + +All the next day, Kennedy was engaged, either in his laboratory or on an +errand that took him downtown during most of the middle of the day. + +When he returned, I could tell by the look on his face that his quest, +whatever it had been, had been successful. + +"I found Wyndham--had a long talk with him," was all he would say in +answer to my questions, before he went back to whatever he was studying +at the laboratory. + +I had made some inquiries myself in the meantime, especially about +Wyndham. As nearly as I could make out, the young men at Briar Lake +were afflicted with a disease which is very prevalent--the desire to get +rich quick. In that respect Fraser Ferris was no better than the rest. +Nor was Irving Evans. Allan Wyndham had been a plunger almost from +boyhood, and only the tight rein that his conservative father held over +him had checked him. Sometimes the young men succeeded, and that had +served only to whet their appetites for more easy money. But more often +they had failed. In most cases, it seemed, Dean Allison's firm had been +the brokers through whom they dealt, particularly Wyndham. + +In fact, with more time on my hands during the day than I knew what to +do with, in the absence of Kennedy I had evolved several very pretty +little theories of the case which involved the recouping of dissipated +fortunes by marriage with the popular young heiress. + +It was late in the afternoon that the telephone rang, and, as Craig was +busy, I answered it. + +"Oh, Mr. Jameson," I heard Mrs. Ferris's voice calling over long +distance from Briar Lake anxiously, "is Mr. Kennedy there? Please let me +speak to him." + +I hastened to hand over the receiver to Kennedy and waited impatiently +until he finished. + +"A special grand jury has been empanelled for ten o'clock tomorrow +morning," he said as he turned from the wire and faced me, "and unless +we can do something immediately, they are sure to find an indictment." + +Kennedy scowled and shook his head. "It looks to me as if someone were +mighty anxious to railroad young Ferris along," he remarked, hurrying +across to the laboratory table, where he had been at work, and flinging +off his stained smock. + +"Well, are you ready for them?" I asked. + +"Yes," he replied quickly. "Call up and find out about the trains to +Briar Lake, Walter." + +I found that we could easily get a train that would have us at the +Country Club not later than eight o'clock, and as I turned to tell +Kennedy, I saw him carefully packing into a case a peculiar shaped flask +which he had been using in some of his experiments. Outside it had a +felt jacket, and as we hurried over to the station Kennedy carried it +carefully in the case by a handle. + +The ride out to Briar Lake seemed interminable, but it was better than +going up in a car at night, and Mrs. Ferris met us anxiously at the +station. + +Thus, early in the evening, in the little reception room of the Country +Club, there gathered a large party, not the largest it had seen, but +certainly the most interested. In fact no one, except young Ferris, had +any legitimate reason for staying away. + +"Dead men tell no tales," remarked Kennedy sententiously, as he faced +us, having whispered to me that he wanted me to take a position near the +door and stay there, no matter what happened. "But," he added, "science +opens their mute mouths. Science has become the greatest detective in +the world. + +"Once upon a time, it is true, many a murderer was acquitted and perhaps +many an innocent man hanged because of appearances. But today the +assassin has to reckon with the chemist, the physicist, the X-ray +expert, and a host of others. They start on his track and force him to +face damning, dispassionate scientific facts. + +"And," he went on, raising his voice a trifle, "science, with equal +zeal, brings facts to clear an innocent man protesting his innocence, +but condemned by circumstantial evidence." + +For a moment he paused, and when he began again it was evident that he +was going straight to the point at issue in the case. + +"Various theories have been confidently proposed in this unfortunate +affair which resulted in the death of Irving Evans," he proceeded. "One +thing I want clear at the start. The fact is, and I am not running +counter to it, that we have what might very well be called two brains. +One is in the head, does the thinking. The other is a sort of abdominal +brain, controls nutrition and a host of other functions, automatically. +It is the solar plexus--the epigastric, sympathetic nervous system. + +"It is true that the knot of life is situated at the base of the cranial +brain. One jab of a needle and it might be quickly extinguished. Yet +derangement of the so-called abdominal brain destroys life as +effectually, though perhaps not so quickly. A shock to the abdominal +brain of young Evans has been administered--in a most remarkable +manner." + +I could see Mrs. Ferris watching him with staring eyes, for Kennedy was +doing just what many a lawyer does--stating first the bad side of one's +case, and seeming to establish the contention of the opposite side. + +"It was an unfortunate blow," he admitted, "perhaps even dangerous. But +it was not deadly. What happened downstairs in the gymnasium must be +taken into account with what happened afterwards in the locker and both +considered in the light of the death of the steward, Benson, later. + +"The mark on the stomach of Irving Evans was due to something else than +the blow. Everyone has noticed that. It was a peculiar mark and no mere +blow could have produced it. + +"Weird in conception, horribly cunning in its execution was this attempt +at murder," he added, taking from the case the peculiar flask which I +had seen him pack up. + +He held it up so that we could see. It was evidently composed of two +flasks, one inside the other, the outer encased in felt, as I had seen, +the inner coated with quicksilver and a space between the two. Inside +was a peculiar liquid which had a bluish tinge, but was odorless. From +the surface a thin vapor seemed to rise. + +It was not corked, but from the neck he pulled out a light cotton +stopper. As he agitated the liquid slightly, it had the appearance of +boiling. He turned over the bottle and spilled some of it on the floor. +It evaporated instantly, like water on a hot stove. + +Then he took from his pocket a small tin cup and poured out into it some +of the liquid, letting it stand a few moments, smoking. + +He poured back the liquid into the flask and dropped the cup on the +hardwood floor. It shattered as if it had been composed of glass. + +One of the men in the front row moved forward to pick up the pieces. + +"Just a minute," interfered Kennedy. "If you think anything of your +fingers, let that be. In the rubbish, just outside the locker-room, +yesterday, I discovered the remains of a thermos bottle and of a metal +cup like this which I have dropped on the floor. I have examined the +cup, or rather the pieces. + +"These two murders were committed by one of the least known +agencies--freezing, by liquid air." + +I could hear a gasp from the auditors and I knew that someone's heart +must be icy at the discovery of the portentous secret. + +"I have some liquid air in this Dewar flask," continued Kennedy. "That +is what liquid air is usually kept in. But it may be kept in an ordinary +thermos bottle quite well, also. + +"If I should drop just a minute bit on my hand, it would probably boil +away without hurting me, for it evaporates so quickly that it forms a +layer or film of air which prevents contact of the terribly cold liquid +air and the skin. I might thrust my finger in it for a few seconds and +it would not hurt me. But if I kept it there my finger would become +brittle and actually break off, so terrible is the cold of one hundred +and ninety degrees below zero, Centigrade. It produces an instantaneous +frost bite, numbing so quickly that it often is hardly felt. Placed on +the surface of flesh this way, it changes it to a pearly-white, solid +surface. The thawing, however, is intensely painful, giving first a +burning sensation, then a stinging, flushed feeling, exactly as Irving +Evans described what he felt. The part affected swells and a crust forms +which it takes weeks to heal, supposing the part affected is small. + +"Someone, in that locker-room," continued Craig, "placed a piece of +cotton soaked in liquid air on the stomach of the unconscious boy. +Instantly, before anyone noticed it, it froze through to the solar +plexus. Ultimately that was bound to kill him. And who would bear the +blame? Why, Fraser Ferris, of course. The accident in the bout afforded +an opportunity to use the stuff which the criminal in his wildest dreams +could not have bettered." + +"How about Benson, the steward?" spoke up a voice. + +We turned. It was the Coroner, loath even yet to give up the official +theory. + +"That was a pure accident," returned Kennedy. "The club, as you know, is +a temperance club. But the members, or at least some of them, keep +drinks in their lockers. The steward, Benson, knew this. It has been +shown that Benson had been in town that evening, had imbibed +considerably. + +"He had observed one of the members of the club take from his locker +something which he thought was to revive young Evans. What more natural, +then, than for him to visit that locker when he returned from town, open +it? + +"He found a thermos bottle. Instead of the regular cork, it had a light +cotton stopper. In his muddled state, the steward did not stop to +think--even if he had, he would have seen no reason for carefully +corking something that was not designed to keep in a thermos bottle. + +"But instead of whiskey, the bottle contained what had not yet +evaporated of the liquid air. You may not know it, but liquid air can be +easily preserved in open vessels with a stopper which allows the +passage of the evaporated air. However paradoxical it may seem, it +cannot be kept in closed vessels, for enormous pressures are at once +brought into play. + +"Benson opened the bottle and poured out some of the contents in the +metal cup-cap of the bottle. He raised it to his lips--swallowed it--or +that much of it that did not paralyze him. It expanded, boiled, +exploded--producing the ghastly wound by almost literally blowing him +up. + +"The owner of the liquid air, who must have had it there waiting a +chance to use it, was probably waiting up in the club rooms now, for a +chance to get rid of it as evidence. He must have heard a noise down in +the locker-room. What if he had been observed and someone were down +there investigating? + +"He hurried down there. To his horror, in the darkness, he found Benson, +already dead, the locker open, the thermos bottle broken and the cup +smashed. + +"It was a terrible clew. He must get that body away from the +locker-room. He could throw the bottle out; no one could suspect +anything when the air had evaporated, as it soon would, now. But the +body--that was different. The method he employed in getting rid of the +body, I think you all must already know." + +I had been watching Wyndham's face keenly. As Craig proceeded, I fancied +that I saw in it a look of startled surprise. + +"_Was_ it one of Anita Allison's many admirers who did this thing?" +Craig asked suddenly. + +I turned from Wyndham to Craig, wondering. What did he mean? Everyone +had accepted that theory of the case so far. No one had questioned it. +But, with his words, it suddenly dawned on me that it was by no means +the only theory. + +Before Craig could go on, there came a startled cry from one of the +ladies. + +"Oh--he did it--he did it!" + +Anita Allison had fainted. + +Dean Allison was at his sister's side in a moment. + +"Here--let me get her out into the fresh air," he cried. + +Wyndham had started up at the words and the two men were facing each +other over the girl who had already discovered the secret, but had kept +it locked in her breast. + +"Walter--lock that door," rang out Craig's voice mercilessly. + +I backed up, my whole weight against it, and turned the key. + +"I know the gossip of Wall Street now," shot out Kennedy hurriedly, +facing the crowd who were all on their feet. "Today I have visited a +number of speculative young gentlemen of Briar Lake, including Mr. +Wyndham. + +"The truth is that Miss Allison's fortune was gone--dissipated in an +unsuccessful bear raid on the market in which others have shared--and +lost. + +"If she had married, it meant an accounting and surrendering of her full +control of her fortune. You have done this dastardly crime, Dean +Allison, to keep your sister in ignorance of the loss and to save your +own miserable reputation!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE DEMON ENGINE + + +"Perpetual motion sounds foolish, I'll admit. But, Professor Kennedy, +this Creighton self-acting motor does things I can't explain." + +Craig looked perplexed as he gazed from Adele Laidlaw, his young and +very pretty client, to me. We had heard a great deal about the young +lady, one of the wealthiest heiresses of the country. She paused a +moment and looked at us, evidently thinking of the many schemes which +people had devised to get her money away from her. + +"Really," she went on, "I haven't a friend to whom I can go, except Mr. +Tresham--no one on whom I can rely for advice in a case of this kind." + +Several times, I recollected, there had been rumors that she was engaged +to Leslie Tresham, who had been the lawyer for her father before his +death. The rumors had always been denied, however, though I am sure it +was not Tresham's fault. + +"You see," she continued, as Craig still said nothing, "father was of a +mechanical turn of mind; in fact so was the whole family, and I suppose +I have inherited it. I'm just crazy over cars and boats. Anyhow, I was +introduced to Mr. Creighton and he seemed so earnest and his work was so +interesting that I bought a little of his stock. Now he needs more +money to perfect his motor. Perhaps the thing is all right, but,--well, +what do I really know about it?" + +One could not help feeling a great deal of sympathy for her. She was not +the type of woman who would be easily misled, yet I could imagine that +she must constantly be on her guard against schemers of every sort +lurking to take advantage of every whim. + +"H'm," mused Kennedy, with a smile, eyeing our visitor keenly. "I've +been consulted on about everything from pickpockets to the fountain of +youth. Now it's perpetual motion. I must say, Miss Laidlaw, your case +has a decided scientific interest for me, anyhow, as well as personal. +I'd like to look at this wonderful machine, if you can arrange it." + +"I can do that," she answered confidently with a glance of thanks to +Kennedy for his help. "May I use your telephone?" + +She had to wait some time for an answer to her call, but finally she got +Creighton on the wire. + +"He had just come in," she said, hanging up the receiver. "He'll be +there if we come down right away." + +Adele Laidlaw drove us downtown in her own high-powered car, which, true +to her mechanical instincts, she handled herself. She drove it very +well, too. In fact, I felt safer than with Kennedy, who, like many +drivers, was inclined to take chances when he was at the wheel himself +and could see what he was up against, though he balked severely when +anyone else did it. + +"How did you become interested in this perpetual motion machine, Miss +Laidlaw?" he asked as we threaded our way through the dense traffic. + +"Well, I suppose everyone knows that I'm interested in engines," she +replied, as we waited for the signal from a policeman at a cross-street. +"I've spent a good deal on them in speed-boats and in racing cars, too. +An acquaintance, a friend of Mr. Creighton's, a Mrs. Barry,--Mr. Tresham +knows her,--thought perhaps I might use the motor somehow and told me of +it. I went down to see it and--I must confess that it fascinated me." + +I had not yet quite got myself accustomed to a girl who was interested +in such things, though, in these days, I must confess, saw no reason why +she should not be. Kennedy was dividing his attention between the +admirable manner in which she handled the car and her very expressive +face. Was it really, I wondered, that Creighton, more than his motor, +has fascinated her? + +She drew up before the Consolidated Bank Building, a modern steel and +concrete structure in the uptown business section. + +"The laboratory is next door," she said, as she let the car slide ahead +a few feet more. "Mr. Tresham's office is in the Bank Building. I've had +to go there so often since father died that I stopped through force of +habit, I suppose." + +Mindful of Kennedy's admiration for Freud, his theory of forgetting +occurred to me. Was there any significance in the mistake? Had the +unconscious blunder betrayed something which perhaps she herself +consciously did not realize? Was it Tresham, after all, whom she really +admired and wanted to see? + +Creighton's workshop was in an old two-story brick building, evidently +awaiting only the development of the neighborhood before it was torn +down. Meanwhile the two buildings were in marked contrast. Which of them +typified Creighton? Was he hopelessly out of date, or really ahead of +his time? I must confess to having had a lively curiosity to meet the +inventor. + +The entrance to the laboratory from the street was through a large door +into a room in which was a carpenter's bench. On one side were some +powerful winches and a large assortment of tools. In the back of the +room a big door led to another room on the ground floor to the rear. + +"Mr. Creighton's is upstairs," remarked Miss Laidlaw, turning past the +locked door and going up a worn flight of steps. + +"Whose shop is that?" asked Kennedy, indicating the door. + +"I don't know who rents these rooms down here," she replied. + +Up the stairway we went to the second floor. On the top landing stood +some old machinery. In a little room on one side was a big desk, as well +as books, instruments, and drawings of all sorts. Opposite this room was +another little room, with many bits of expensive machinery on shelves +and tables. Back of these two, and up a step, was a large room, the full +width of the building, the workshop of the inventor, into which she led +us. + +"I've brought a couple of friends of mine who may be interested in the +vibrodyne motor," Miss Laidlaw introduced us. + +"Very pleased to meet you, gentlemen," Creighton returned. "Before we +get through, I think you'll agree with me that you never dreamed of +anything more wonderful than this motor of mine." + +He was a large, powerfully built man, with a huge head, square jaw with +heavy side whiskers, and eyes that moved restlessly under a shock of +iron-gray hair. Whether it was the actual size of his head or his bushy +hair, one got the impression that his cranium housed a superabundant +supply of brains. + +Every action was nervous and quick. Even his speech was rapid, as though +his ideas outstripped his tongue. He impressed one as absorbed in this +thing which he said frankly had been his life study, every nerve +strained to make it succeed and convince people. + +"Just what is this force you call vibrodyne?" asked Craig, gazing about +at the curious litter of paraphernalia in the shop. + +"Of course, I'm willing to admit," began Creighton quickly, in the tone +of a man who was used to showing his machine to skeptical strangers but +must be allowed to explain it in his own way, "that never before by any +mechanical, electrical, thermal, or other means has a self-moving motor +been made." + +He paused apparently to let us grasp the significance of what he was +about to say. "But, is it impossible, as some of the old scientists have +proved to their own satisfaction it must be?" he went on, warming up to +his subject. "May there not be molecular, atomic, even ionic forces of +which we have not dreamed? You have only to go back a few years and +study radioactivity, for instance, to see how ideas may change. + +"Today," he added emphatically, "the conservation of energy, in the old +sense at least, has been overthrown. Gentlemen, all the old laws must +be modified by my discovery of vibrodyne. I loose new new forces--I +create energy!" + +I watched him narrowly as he proposed and rapidly answered his own +questions. He was talking quite as much for Miss Laidlaw's benefit, I +thought, as ours. In fact, it was evident that her interest in the +machine and in himself pleased him greatly. + +I knew already that though the search after perpetual motion through +centuries had brought failure, still it captivated a certain type of +inventive mind. I knew also that, just as the exact squaring of the +circle and the transmutation of metals brought out some great +mathematical discoveries and much of modern chemistry, so perpetual +motion had brought out the greatest of all generalizations of +physics--the conservation of energy. + +Yet here was a man who questioned the infallibility of that +generalization. Actually taking the ultra-modern view that matter is a +form of energy, he was asserting that energy in some way might be +created or destroyed, at least transformed in a manner that no one had +ever understood before. To him, radioactivity which had overthrown or +amplified many of the old ideas was only a beginning. + +"Here is the machine," he pointed out at last, still talking, leading us +proudly across the littered floor of his laboratory. + +It seemed, at first glance, to consist of a circular iron frame, about a +foot and a half in diameter, firmly bolted to the floor. + +"I have it fastened down because, as you will see, it develops such a +tremendous power," explained the inventor, adding, as he pointed above +it, "That is all the power is developed from, too." + +On a shelf was a Daniell battery of four cells. In the porous cup was +bichromate of potash and in the outer vessel dilute sulphuric acid. + +"Let me show you how I get two and a half horsepower out of three ounces +of zinc for nine hours," went on Creighton proudly. "As you doubtless +know, the usual thing is one horsepower per pound of zinc per hour. +Ultimately, I expect to perfect the process until I get a thousand +horsepower from an ounce in this vibrodyne motor." + +He started the engine by attaching the wires from the comparatively weak +Daniell cells. Slowly it began to move, gaining speed, until finally the +very floor shook from the great power and the rapidity of the motion. + +It seemed incredible that the small current from the battery should +develop such apparent power and I looked at Kennedy in amazement. + +"There's a carelessly--or purposely--ill-balanced flywheel, I suspect," +whispered Craig to me surreptitiously. + +"Yes, but the power," I persisted. + +He shook his head. Evidently he was not convinced, but had no theory, +yet. + +Adele Laidlaw looked at Craig questioningly, as though to read what he +thought of it. Before her he betrayed nothing. Now and then she would +look earnestly at Creighton. It was evident that she admired him very +much, yet there seemed to be something about him that she did not quite +understand. + +Just then the telephone rang. Creighton stopped his machine and left us +for a moment to answer the call, while the engine slowed down and came +to rest. + +Quickly Kennedy pulled out his watch and pried the crystal off the face. +He walked over to a basin and filled the crystal with a few drops of +water. Then he set it down on the table. + +I looked at it closely. As nearly as I could make out, there seemed to +be a slight agitation on the surface of the thin film of water in the +glass. Craig smiled quietly to himself and flicked the water into the +sink, returning the crystal to his watch. + +I did not understand just what it was that Craig was after, but I felt +sure that there was some kind of vibration that he had discovered. + +Meanwhile, we could hear Creighton telephoning and I noticed that Miss +Laidlaw was alertly listening, too. + +"Why, no," I heard him answer monosyllabically but in a tone that was +carefully modulated, "not alone. Let me call you up--soon." + +The conversation ended almost as abruptly as it had begun. Somehow, it +seemed evident to me that Creighton had been talking to a woman. Though +he apparently had not wanted to say anything before us, he could not +disguise the fact. From his quick, nervous manner with us, I had +concluded that no mere man could have commanded so deferential a tone +from him. + +A moment later he rejoined us, resuming his praises of his motor. By +this time I had come to recognize that he was a master in the +manipulation of fantastic terms, which I, at least, did not understand. +Therein, perhaps, lay their potency, though I doubt whether Kennedy +himself knew what Creighton meant when he talked of "polar sympathy," +"inter-atomic ether," "molecular disintegration," and "orbitic chaos." + +I saw that Adele Laidlaw was watching Creighton narrowly now. Was it on +account of the telephone call? Who had it been? Perhaps, it occurred to +me, it was Mrs. Barry. Was Creighton afraid of arousing the jealousy of +Adele Laidlaw? + +There seemed to be nothing more of importance that Craig could learn at +present and we soon bade Creighton good-by, leaving with Miss Laidlaw. I +noticed that he locked the door after us as we went out. + +"I'd like to meet this Mrs. Barry," remarked Craig as we passed out of +the building. + +He said it evidently to see just how Miss Laidlaw would take it. "I +think I can arrange that," replied Adele Laidlaw colorlessly. "I'll ask +her to visit me this afternoon. You can call casually." + +We accompanied her to her car, promising to report as soon as possible +if we discovered anything new. + +"I'm going in to call on Tresham," remarked Craig, turning into the Bank +Building. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE ELECTROLYSIS CLEW + + +As Kennedy walked through the corridor of the building, he paused and +bent down, as though examining the wall. I looked, too. There was a +crack in the concrete, in the side wall toward the Creighton laboratory. + +"Do you suppose vibration caused it?" I asked, remembering his watch +crystal test. + +Craig shook his head. "The vibrations in a building can be shown by a +watch glass full of water. You saw the surface of the liquid with its +minute waves. There's vibration, all right, but that is not the cause of +such cracks as these." + +He stood for a moment regarding the crack attentively. On the floor on +which we were was the Consolidated Bank itself. Beneath us were the +Consolidated Safety Deposit vaults. + +"What did cause them, then?" I asked, mystified. + +"Apparently escaping currents of electricity are causing electrolysis of +the Bank Building," he replied, his face wrinkled in thought. + +"Electrolysis?" I repeated mechanically. + +"Yes. I suppose you know how stray or vagrant currents affect steel and +concrete?" + +I shook my head in the negative. + +"Well," he explained as we stood there, "I believe that in one +government test at least it was shown that when an electric current of +high voltage passes from steel to concrete, the latter is cracked and +broken. Often a mechanical pressure as great as four or five thousand +pounds a square inch is exerted and there is rapid destruction due to +the heating effect of the current." + +I expressed my surprise at what he had discovered. "The danger is easily +overestimated," he hastened to add. "But in this case I think it is +real, though probably it is a special and extreme condition. Still it is +special and extreme conditions which we are in the habit of encountering +in our cases, Walter. That is what we must be looking out for. In this +instance the destruction due to electrolysis is most likely caused by +the oxidation of the iron anode. The oxides which are formed are twice +as great in volume as the iron was originally and the resulting pressure +is what causes the concrete to break. I think we shall find that this +condition will bear strict watching." + +For a moment Kennedy stopped at the little office of the superintendent +of the building, in the rear. + +"I was just wondering whether you had noticed those cracks in the walls +down the corridor," remarked Kennedy after a brief introduction. + +The superintendent looked at him suspiciously. Evidently he feared we +had some ulterior motive, perhaps represented some rival building and +might try to scare away his tenants. + +"Oh, that's nothing," he said confidently. "Just the building settling a +bit--easily fixed." + +"The safety vault company haven't complained?" persisted Kennedy, +determined to get something out of the agent. + +"No indeed," he returned confidently. "I guess they've got troubles of +their own--real ones." + +"How's that?" asked Craig, falling in with the man's evident desire to +change the subject. + +"Why, I believe their alarm system's out of order," he replied. "Some of +the fine wires in it burnt out, I think. Defective wiring, I guess. Oh, +they've had it patched up, changed about a little,--it's all right now, +they say. But they've had a deuce of a time with the alarm ringing at +all sorts of hours, and not a trace of trouble." + +I looked quickly at Craig. Though the superintendent thought he had been +very clever in changing the topic of conversation, he had unwittingly +furnished us with another clew. I could not ask Craig before him and I +forgot to do so later, but, to me at least, it seemed as if this might +be due to induction from the stray currents. + +"No one here seems to have suspected the Creighton motor, anyhow," +commented Craig to me, as we thanked the superintendent and walked +across to the elevators. + +We rode up to Tresham's office, which was on the third floor, on the +side of the building toward Creighton's laboratory. In fact one of the +windows opened almost on the roof of the brick building next door. + +We found Tresham in his office and he received us affably, I thought. +"Miss Laidlaw told me she was going to consult you," he remarked as we +introduced ourselves. "I'm glad she did so." + +Tresham was a large, well-built fellow, apparently athletically +inclined, clean shaven with dark hair that was getting very thin. He +seemed quite at ease as he talked with us, yet I could tell that he was +weighing us all the time, as lawyers will do. + +"What do you think of Creighton's motor?" opened Kennedy. "You've seen +it, I suppose?" + +"Oh, yes," he replied quickly and jerkily. "Since Miss Laidlaw became +interested he's been in here to have me look over his application for a +patent. You know, I used to be a patent lawyer for a number of years +until I decided to branch out into general practice. Legally Creighton +seems to be sound enough. Of course, you know, the patent office won't +grant a patent on a machine such as he claims without a rigid +demonstration. He needs money, he says, for that. If his idea is sound, +I don't see any reason why he shouldn't get a basic patent." + +Tresham paused. I was conscious that he was furtively watching the face +of Kennedy as though he hoped to learn as much from him as Craig did on +his part. + +"It's the mechanical end of it that I don't understand," continued +Tresham, after a pause. "Creighton claims to have discovered a new force +which he calls vibrodyne. I think it is just as well that Miss Laidlaw +has decided to consult a scientist about it before she puts any more +money into the thing. I can't say I approve of her interest in +it--though, of course, I know next to nothing about it, except from the +legal standpoint." + +"Who is that Mrs. Barry of whom Miss Laidlaw spoke?" asked Kennedy a +moment later. + +"I believe she is a friend of Creighton's. Somehow she got acquainted +with Miss Laidlaw and introduced her to him." + +"You know her?" queried Craig casually. + +"Oh, yes," came the frank reply. "She has been in to see me, too; first +to interest me in the motor, and then to consult me about various legal +points in connection with it." + +I felt sure that Tresham was more than just a bit jealous of his pretty +client. Certainly his tone was intended to convey the impression that he +wished she would leave her affairs in his hands entirely. + +"You don't know anything more about her--where she came from--her +connections?" added Craig. + +"Hardly more than you do," asserted Tresham. "I've only seen the woman a +few times. In fact I should be glad to know more about her--and about +Creighton, too. I hope that if you find out anything you'll let me know +so that I can protect Miss Laidlaw's interests." + +"I shall do so," promised Kennedy, rising. + +"I'll do the same," agreed Tresham, extending his hand. "I see no reason +why we shouldn't work together for--my client." + +There was no mistaking the fact that Tresham would have liked to be able +to say something more intimate than "client." Perhaps he might have been +nearer to it if her interest in him had not been diverted by this +wonderful motor. At any rate I fancied he had little love for Creighton. +Yet, when I reflected afterward, it seemed like a wide gulf that must +separate a comparatively impecunious lawyer from a wealthy girl like +Adele Laidlaw. + +Kennedy was not through with his effort to learn something by a thorough +investigation of the neighborhood yet. For some time after we left +Tresham's office, he stood in the doorway of the Bank Building, looking +about as though he hated to leave without establishing some vantage +point from which to watch what was going on in Creighton's laboratory. + +"Of course I can't very well get into the safety vault under the bank," +he mused. "I wish I could." + +He walked past Creighton's without seeing anything happen. The next +building was a similar two-story brick affair. A sign on it read, +"Studios and Offices For Rent." + +An idea seemed to be suggested to him by the sign. He wheeled and +entered the place. Inquiry brought out a caretaker who showed us several +rooms unoccupied, among them one vacant on the first floor. + +Kennedy looked it over carefully, as though considering whether it was +just the place he wanted, but ended, as I knew he intended, in hiring +it. + +"I can't move my stuff in for a couple of days," he told the caretaker. +"Meanwhile, I may have the key, I suppose?" + +He had paid a good deposit and the key was readily forthcoming. + +The hiring of the ground floor room accomplished without exciting +suspicion, Kennedy and I made a hasty trip up to his own laboratory, +where he took a small box from a cabinet and hurried back to the taxicab +which had brought us uptown. + +Back again in the bare room which he had acquired, Craig set to work +immediately installing a peculiar instrument which he took from the +package. + +It seemed to consist of two rods much like electric light carbons, fixed +horizontally in a wooden support with a spindle-shaped bit of carbon +between the two ends of the rods. Wires were connected with binding +screws at the free ends of the carbon rods. + +First Craig made a connection with an electric light socket from which +he removed the bulb, cutting in a rheostat. Then he attached the free +wires from the carbons to a sort of telephone headgear and switched on +the current. + +"What is it?" I asked curiously. + +"A geophone," he replied simply. + +"And what is a geophone?" I inquired. + +"Literally an earth-phone," he explained. "It is really the simplest +form of telephone, applied to the earth. You saw what it was. Any high +school student of physics can make one, even with two or three dry +batteries in circuit." + +"But what does it do?" I asked. + +"It is really designed to detect earth vibrations. All that is necessary +is to set the carbon stick arrangement, which is the transmitter of this +telephone, on the floor, place myself at the other end and listen. A +trained ear can readily detect rumblings. Really it is doing in a +different and often better way what the seismograph does. This +instrument is so sensitive that it will record the slamming of a cellar +door across the street. No one can go up those stairs next door without +letting me know it, no matter how cautious he is about it." + +Craig stood there some minutes holding the thing over his ears and +listening intently. + +"The vibrodyne machine isn't running," he remarked finally after +repeated adjustments of the geophone. "But someone is in that little +room under Creighton's workshop. I suspected that something was down +there after that watch crystal test of mine. Now I know it. I wonder +what the man is doing?" + +There was no excuse yet, however, for breaking into the room on the +other side of the wall and under Creighton's. Kennedy went out and +watched. Though we waited some time nobody came out. He went back to our +own room in the rear of the first floor. Though we both listened some +time, neither of us could now hear a sound through the geophone except +those made by passing trolleys and street vehicles. + +Inquiry about the neighborhood did not develop who was the tenant or +what was his business. In fact the results were just the reverse. No one +seemed to know even the business conducted there. The room back of the +locked door which Miss Laidlaw had passed was shrouded in mystery. + +Nothing at all of any value was being recorded by the geophone when +Kennedy glanced quickly at his watch. "If we are to see Miss Laidlaw and +meet that Mrs. Barry, we had better be on our way," he remarked +hurriedly. + +Miss Laidlaw was living in a handsome apartment on Central Park, West. +We entered and gave our cards to the man at the door of her suite, who +bowed us into a little reception room. We entered and waited. + +Suddenly we were aware that someone in the next room, a library, was +talking. Whether we would or not we could not help overhearing what was +said. Apparently two women were there, and they were not taking care how +loud they spoke. + +"Then you object to my even knowing Mr. Creighton?" asked one of the +voices, pausing evidently for a reply which the other did not choose to +make. "I suppose if it was Mr. Tresham you'd object, too." + +There was something "catty" and taunting about the voice. It was a hard +voice, the voice of a woman who had seen much, and felt fully capable of +taking care of herself in more. + +"You can't make up your mind which one you care for most, then? Is that +it?" pursued the same voice. "Well, I'll be a sport. I'll leave you +Creighton--if you can keep him." + +"I want neither," broke in a voice which I recognized at once as Adele +Laidlaw's. + +She spoke with a suppressed emotion which plainly indicated that she did +want one of them. + +Just then the butler entered with our cards. We heard no more. A moment +later we were ushered into the library. + +Mrs. Barry was a trim, well-groomed woman whose age was deceptive. I +felt that no matter what one might think of Miss Laidlaw, here was a +woman whose very looks seemed to warn one to be on his guard. She was a +woman of the world, confident in her own ability to take care of +herself. + +Adele was flushed and excited, as we entered, though she was making a +desperate effort to act as though nothing had happened. + +"My friend, Professor Kennedy, and Mr. Jameson," she introduced us +simply, making no pretense to conceal our identity. + +Mrs. Barry was, in addition to her other accomplishments, a good +actress. "I've heard a great deal about you, Professor," she said, +extending her hand, but not taking her eyes off Craig's face. + +Kennedy met her gaze directly. What did she mean? Had she accepted Miss +Laidlaw's invitation to call in order to look us over, knowing that we +had come to do the same? + +"Mr. Creighton tells me that you have been to see his new motor," she +ventured, even before any of us could open the subject. + +She seemed to enjoy making the remark for the specific purpose of +rousing Miss Laidlaw. It succeeded amply, also. The implication that +Creighton took her into his confidence was sufficient to cause Adele +Laidlaw to shoot an angry glance at her. + +Mrs. Barry had no objection to sticking a knife in and turning it +around. "Of course I don't know as much about such things as Miss +Laidlaw," she purred, "but Mr. Tresham tells me that there may be some +trouble with the patent office about allowing the patent. From all I +have heard there's a fortune in that motor for someone. Wonderful, isn't +it?" + +Even the mention of Tresham's name in the studied familiarity of her +tone seemed to increase the scarcely latent hostility between the two +women. Kennedy, so far, had said nothing, content merely to observe. + +"It appears to be wonderful," was all he said, guardedly. + +Mrs. Barry eyed him sharply and Miss Laidlaw appeared to be ill at ease. +Evidently she wanted to believe in Creighton and his motor, yet her +natural caution forbade her. The entrance of Kennedy into the case +seemed to have proved a disturbing factor between the two women, to have +brought matters to a head. + +We chatted for a few minutes, Kennedy deftly refusing to commit himself +on anything, Mrs. Barry seeking to lead him into expressing some +opinion, and endeavoring to conceal her exasperation as he avoided doing +so. + +At last Kennedy glanced at his watch, which reminded him of a mythical +appointment, sufficient to terminate the visit. + +"I'm very glad to have met you," he bowed to Mrs. Barry, as she, too, +rose to go, while he preserved the fiction of merely having dropped in +to see Miss Laidlaw. He turned to her. "I should be delighted to have +both you and Mr. Tresham drop in at my laboratory some time, Miss +Laidlaw." + +Miss Laidlaw caught his eye and read in it that this was his way, under +the circumstances, of asking her to keep in touch with him. + +"I shall do so," she promised. + +We parted from Mrs. Barry at the door of her taxicab. + +"A very baffling woman," I remarked a moment later. "Do you suppose she +is as intimate with Creighton as she implies?" + +Kennedy shook his head. "It isn't that that interests me most, just +now," he replied. "What I can't figure out is Adele Laidlaw's attitude +toward both Creighton and Tresham. She seems to resent Mrs. Barry's +intimacy with either." + +"Yes," I agreed. "Sometimes I have thought she really cared for both--at +least, that she was unable to make up her mind which she cared for most. +Offhand, I should have thought that she was the sort who wouldn't think +a man worth caring much for." + +Kennedy shook his head. "Given a woman, Walter," he said thoughtfully, +"whose own and ancestral training has been a course of suppression, +where she has been taught and drilled that exhibitions of emotion and +passion are disgraceful, as I suspect Miss Laidlaw's parents have +believed, and you have a woman whose primitive instincts have been +stored and strengthened. The instincts are there, nevertheless, far back +in the subconscious mind. I don't think Adele Laidlaw knows it herself, +but there is something about both those men which fascinates her and she +can't make up her mind which fascinates her most. Perhaps they have the +same qualities." + +"But Mrs. Barry," I interrupted. "Surely she must know." + +"I think she does," he returned. "I think she knows more than we +suspect." + +I looked at him quickly, not quite making out the significance of the +remark, but he said no more. For the present, at least, he left Adele +Laidlaw quite as much an enigma as ever. + +"I wish that you would make inquiries about regarding Mrs. Barry," he +said finally as we reached the subway. "I'm going down again to the +little room we hired and watch. You'll find me at the laboratory later +tonight." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE + + +I tried my best, but there was very little that I could find out about +Mrs. Barry. No one seemed to know where she came from, and even "Mr. +Barry" seemed shrouded in obscurity. I was convinced, however, that she +was an adventuress. + +One thing, however, I did turn up. She had called on Tresham at his +office a number of times, usually late in the afternoon, and he had +taken her to dinner and to the theater. Apparently he knew her a great +deal better than he had been willing to admit to us. I was not +surprised, for, like a good many men of his class, Tresham was better +known in the white light district than one might suspect. Mrs. Barry had +all the marks of being good company on such an excursion. + +On the way uptown, I stopped off in the neighborhood of Longacre Square +in the hope of picking up some more gossip at one or another of the +clubs. Tresham was a member of several, though as near as I could find +out, used them more for business than social reasons. On Broadway it was +different, however. There he was known as a liberal spender and lover of +night life. Like many others he now and then accumulated quite large +bills. I wondered whether Mrs. Barry had not found out and taken +advantage of his weakness. + +It was, as I have said, comparatively little that I had been able to +discover, yet when I met Kennedy again, later in the evening, at his +laboratory, he listened eagerly to what I had to report. + +"Did anything happen downtown?" I asked when I had finished. + +"Nothing much," he returned. "Of course, listening over the geophone, I +couldn't watch the Bank Building, too. There's something very queer +about Creighton. I could hear him at work in the room upstairs until +quite late, making a lot of noise. If I don't find out anything more +definite soon, I shall have to adopt some other measures." + +"You didn't do anything more about that electrolysis clew?" I queried. + +"Nothing," he replied briefly, "except that I inquired of the electric +light company and found out that Creighton, or someone in his building, +was using a good deal of power." + +"That looks bad," I ventured, remembering the claims made for the engine +and the comparatively weak batteries that were said to run it. + +Kennedy nodded acquiescence, but said nothing more. We walked over in +silence to our apartment on the Heights and far into the night Craig sat +there, shading his eyes with his hand, apparently studying out the +peculiar features of the case and planning some new angle of approach at +it tomorrow. + +We were surprised the next day to receive an early visit from Miss +Laidlaw at the laboratory. She drove up before the Chemistry Building, +very much excited, as though her news would not bear repeating even over +the telephone. + +"What do you think?" she exclaimed, bursting in on us. "Mr. Creighton +has disappeared!" + +"Disappeared?" repeated Kennedy. "How did you find it out?" + +"Mr. Tresham just telephoned me from his office," she hurried on. "He +was going into the Bank Building when he saw a wagon drive off from the +place next door. He thought it was strange and instead of going on up to +his own office he walked into Creighton's. When he tried to get in, the +place was locked. There's a sign on it, too, 'For Rent,' he says." + +"That's strange," considered Kennedy. "I suppose he didn't notice what +kind of wagon it was?" + +"Yes, he said it looked like a junk wagon--full of stuff." + +I looked from Miss Laidlaw to Kennedy. Plainly our entrance into the +case had been the signal for the flitting of Creighton. + +Quickly he reached for the telephone. "You know Mrs. Barry's number?" he +asked. + +"Yes, it's the Prince Edward Hotel." + +He called up, but the conversation was over in a moment. "She didn't +return to the hotel last night," he announced as he hung up the +receiver. + +"She's in this thing, too," exclaimed Adele Laidlaw. "Can you go down +with me now and meet Mr. Tresham? I promised I would." + +Though she repressed her feelings, as usual, I could see that Adele +Laidlaw was furious. Was it because Creighton had gone off with her +money, or was it pique because Mrs. Barry had, perhaps, won him? At any +rate, someone was going to feel the fury of her scorn. + +We motored down quickly in Miss Laidlaw's car and met Tresham, who was +standing in front of the Bank Building waiting for us. + +"It just happened that I came down early this morning," he explained, +"or I shouldn't have noticed anything out of the way. The junk wagon was +just driving away as I came up. It seemed to be in such a hurry that it +attracted my attention." + +It was the first time we had seen Tresham and Miss Laidlaw together and +I was interested to see how they would act. There was no mistaking his +attitude toward her and Adele was much more cordial to him than I had +expected. + +"While I was waiting I got a key from the agent," he explained. "But I +didn't want to go in until you came." + +Tresham opened the door and led the way upstairs, Miss Laidlaw following +closely. As we entered Creighton's shop, everything seemed to be in the +greatest disorder. Prints and books were scattered about, the tools were +lying about wherever they happened to have been left, all the models +were smashed or missing and a heap of papers in the fireplace showed +where many plans, letters and other documents had been burned. + +We hurried into the big room. Sure enough, the demon motor itself was +gone! Creighton had unbolted it from the floor and some holes in the +boards had been plugged up. The room below was still locked and the +windows were covered with opaque paper on the inside. + +"What do you suppose he has done with the motor?" asked Adele. + +"The only clew is a junk dealer whom we don't know," I replied, as +Kennedy said nothing. + +We looked about the place thoroughly, but could find nothing else. +Creighton seemed to have made a clean getaway in the early hours. + +"I wish I could stay and help you," remarked Tresham at length. "But I +must be in court at ten. If there's anything I can do, though, call on +me." + +"I'm going to find that engine if I have to visit every junk dealer in +New York," declared Miss Laidlaw soon after Tresham left. + +"That's about all we can do, yet, I guess," remarked Kennedy, evidently +not much worried about the disappearance of the inventor. + +Together we three closed up the workshop and started out with a list +from a trade publication giving all those who dealt in scrap iron and +old metal. In fact we spent most of the day going from one to another of +the junk shops. I never knew that there were so many dealers in waste. +They seemed to be all over the city and in nearly every section. It was +a tremendous job, but we mapped it out so that we worked our way from +one section to another. + +We had got as far as the Harlem River when we entered one place and +looked about while we waited for someone in charge to appear. + +I heard a low exclamation from Kennedy, and turned to look in the +direction he indicated. There, in a wagon from which the horse had been +unhitched, was the heavy base of the engine into which so many dollars +had been turned--sold as so much scrap! + +Kennedy examined it quickly, while I questioned a man who appeared from +behind a shed in the rear. It was useless. He could give no clew that +we already could not guess. He had just bought it from a man who seemed +anxious to get rid of it. His description of the man tallied with +Creighton. But that was all. It gave us no chance to trace him. + +"Look," exclaimed Kennedy eagerly, bending closer over the motor. "This +is one of the neatest perpetual motion frauds I ever heard of." + +He had turned the heavy base of the motor upward. One glance left me +with little wonder why Creighton had so carefully bolted the machine to +the floor. In the base were two rectangular apertures to allow a belt to +run over a concealed pulley on the main shaft of the machine in the +case. Evidently, when the circuit from the Daniell cells was closed, the +pulley, somehow, was thrown into gear. It was loose and the machine +began to revolve slowly at first, then faster and with great show of +power. The pounding, as Kennedy had surmised, was due to the flywheel +not well balanced. + +"Well," I remarked, "now that we have found it, I don't see that it does +us much good." + +"Only that we understand it," returned Craig. "I left that geophone down +there in the room next door which I hired. I think, if Miss Laidlaw will +take us down there, I'd like to get it." + +He spoke with a sort of easy confidence which I knew was hard to be +assumed in the face of what looked like defeat. Had Craig deliberately +let Creighton have a chance to get away, in order that he might convict +himself? + +In silence, with Miss Laidlaw at the wheel, we went downtown again to +the room which Craig had hired next to Creighton's workshop. As we +approached it, he leaned over to Miss Laidlaw. + +"Stop around the corner," he asked. "Let's go in quietly." + +We entered our bare little room and Kennedy set to work as though to +detach the geophone, while I explained it to our client. + +"What's the matter?" she interrupted in the middle of my explanation, +indicating Kennedy. + +He had paused and had placed the receivers to his ears. By his +expression I knew that the instrument was registering something. + +"Someone is in the lower room of the shop next door," he answered, +facing us quickly. "If we hurry, we'll have him cornered." + +Miss Laidlaw and I went out and around in front, while Craig dashed +through a back door to cut off retreat that way. + +"What's that? Hurry!" exclaimed Miss Laidlaw. + +Plainly there was a muffled scream of a woman as we entered the street +door. I hurried forward. It was the work of only a few seconds to batter +down the locked door in the room under Creighton's old workshop, and as +the door gave way, I heard the sound of shattered glass from the rear +which told that Kennedy had heard the scream, too, and had gained an +entrance. + +Inside I could make out in the half-light a man and a woman. The woman +was running toward me, as if for help. + +"Mrs. Barry!" gasped Adele Laidlaw. + +"He got me here--to kill me!" she cried hysterically. "I am the only one +who knows the truth--it was the last day--tonight he would have had the +money--and I would have been out of the way. But I'll expose him--I'll +ruin him. See--he came in from the roof--" + +A blinding flash of light greeted us, followed by a scream from Adele +Laidlaw, as she ran past us and dropped on her knees beside a body that +had fallen with a thud in the flame before a yawning hole in the side +wall. + +Mrs. Barry ran past me, back again, at almost the same moment. It was a +strange sight--these two women glaring at each other over the prostrate +figure of the man. + +"Here's the real demon engine," panted Craig, coming up from the back +and pointing to an electric motor as well as other apparatus consisting +of several series of coils. "The perpetual motion machine was just a +fake. It was merely a cover to an attempt to break into the bank vaults +by electrolysis of the steel and concrete. Creighton was a dummy, a +fiction--to take the blame and disappear when the robbery was +discovered." + +"Creighton," I repeated, looking at the man on the floor, "a dummy?" + +"Oh--he's dead!" wailed Adele Laidlaw. "He's dead!" + +"Electrocuted by his own machine rather than face disgrace and +disbarment," cut in Craig. "No wonder she was in doubt which of the two +men fascinated her most." + +I moved forward and bent over the contorted form of the lawyer, Tresham, +who was wearing the whiskers and iron gray wig of his alter-ego, +Creighton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE CANCER HOUSE + + +"You've heard of such things as cancer houses, I suppose, Professor +Kennedy?" + +It was early in the morning and Craig's client, Myra Moreton, as she +introduced herself, had been waiting at the laboratory door in a state +of great agitation as we came up. Just because her beautiful face was +pale and haggard with worry, she was a pathetic figure, as she stood +there, dressed in deep mourning, the tears standing in her eyes merely +because we were a little later than usual. + +"Well," she hurried on as she dropped into a chair, "that is what they +are calling that big house of ours at Norwood--a cancer house, if there +is such a thing." + +Clearly, Myra Moreton was a victim of nervous prostration. She had asked +the question with a hectic eagerness, yet had not waited for an answer. + +"Oh," she exclaimed, "you do not, you cannot know what it means to have +something like this constantly hanging over you. Think of it--five of us +have died in less than five years. It haunts me. Who next. That is all I +can think about. Who next?" + +Her first agitation had been succeeded by a calmness of despair, almost +of fatalism, which was worse for her than letting loose her pent-up +emotions. + +I had heard of cases of people in whom there was no record of hereditary +predisposition to cancer, people apparently in perfect health, who had +moved into houses where cancer patients had lived and died and had +themselves developed the disease. Though I had, of course, never even +remotely experienced such a feeling as she described, I could well fancy +what it must be to her. + +Kennedy watched her sympathetically. "But why do you come to me?" he +asked gently. "Don't you think a cancer specialist would be more likely +to help you?" + +"A specialist?" she repeated with a peculiar hopelessness. "Professor +Kennedy, five years ago, when my Uncle Frank was attacked by cancer, +father was so foolish as to persuade him to consult a specialist whose +advertisement he saw in the papers, a Dr. Adam Loeb on Forty-second +Street here in New York. Specialist! Oh, I'm worried sick every time I +have a sore or anything like this on my neck or anywhere else." + +She had worked herself from her unnatural calm almost into a state of +hysterics as she displayed a little sore on her delicate white throat. + +"That?" reassured Kennedy. "Oh, that may be nothing but a little boil. +But this Dr. Loeb--he must be a quack. No doctor who advertises--" + +"Perhaps," she interrupted. "That is what Dr. Goode out at Norwood tells +me. But father has faith in him, even has him at the house sometimes. I +cannot bear the sight of him. Since I first saw him my uncle, his wife, +another aunt, my cousin have died, and then, last week, my--my mother." + +Her voice broke, but with a great effort she managed to get herself +together. "Now I--I fear that my father may go next. Perhaps it will +strike me--or my brother, Lionel--who can tell? Think of it--the whole +family wiped out by this terrible thing. Can it be natural, I ask +myself? Is there not something back of it?" + +"Who is this Dr. Loeb?" asked Kennedy, more for the purpose of aiding +her in giving vent to her feelings than anything else. + +"He is a New York doctor," she reiterated. "I believe he claims to have +a sure cure for cancer, by the use of radium and such means. My father +has absolute confidence in him--visits him at his office and, as I told +you, even has him at Norwood. In fact they are quite friendly. So was +Lionel until lately." + +"What happened to shake your brother's faith?" asked Craig. + +"Nothing, I imagine, except that Lionel began thinking it over after +someone told him about cancer houses. You must admit yourself that it +is--at least strange. I wish you could see Lionel. He knows more about +it than I do. Or Dr. Goode. I think he has made some kind of test. He +could tell you much better than I can all the strange history. But they +don't agree--Lionel and Gail. Oh--it is more than I can stand. What +shall I--" + +She had fainted. In an instant I was at her side, helping Kennedy bring +her around. + +"There, there," soothed Kennedy several minutes later as her deep eyes +looked at him appealingly. "Perhaps, after all, there may be something I +can do. If I should go out to Norwood with you as soon as you feel +better, wouldn't that be all right?" + +"Oh--will you?" she cried, overjoyed. "If you would--how could I ever +thank you? I feel better. No--don't stop me. I've been living on nerve. +I can do more. Please--let me telephone Lionel that we are coming." + +Kennedy humored her, although I knew he had several important +investigations going on at the time. It was scarcely an hour before we +were on the train and in the early forenoon we were met by her brother +at the station in a light car. + +Through the beautiful streets of the quaint old Connecticut town we rode +until at last we stopped before a great stone house which had been the +Moreton mansion for several generations. + +It was a double house, a gloomy sort of place, surrounded by fir trees, +damp and suggestive of decay. I could not help feeling that if ever +there were a house about which I could associate the story which Myra +had poured forth, this was it. Somehow, to me at least, it had all the +mystery of being haunted. + +Darius Moreton, her father, happened to be at home to lunch when we +arrived. He was a man past middle age. Like his father and grandfather, +he was a manufacturer of optical goods and had increased the business +very well. But, like many successful business men, he was one of those +who are very positive, with whom one cannot argue. + +Myra introduced Kennedy as interested in cause and treatment of cancer, +and especially in the tracing down of a definite case of a "cancer +house." + +"No," he shook his head grimly, "I'm afraid it is heredity. My friend, +Dr. Loeb, is the only one who understands it. I have the most absolute +confidence in him." + +He said it in a way that seemed to discourage all argument. Kennedy did +not antagonize him by disagreeing, but turned to Lionel, who was a +rather interesting type of young man. Son of Darius Moreton by his first +wife, Lionel had gone to the scientific school as had his father and, +graduating, had taken up the business of the Moreton family as a matter +of course. + +Myra seemed overcome by the journey to the city to see Kennedy and, +after a light luncheon, Lionel undertook to talk to us and show us +through the house. It was depressing, almost ghastly, to think of the +slow succession of tragedies which these walls had witnessed. + +"This is a most unusual case," commented Craig thoughtfully as Lionel +went over briefly the family history. "If it can be authenticated that +this is a cancer house, I am sure the medical profession will be +interested, for they seem to be divided into two camps on the question." + +"Authenticated?" hastened Lionel. "Well, take the record. First there +was my Uncle Frank, who was father's partner in the factory. He died +just about five years ago at the age of fifty-one. That same year his +wife, my Aunt Julia, died. She was just forty-eight. Then my other aunt, +Fanny, father's sister, died of cancer of the throat. She was rather +older, fifty-four. Not quite two years afterward my cousin, George, son +of Uncle Frank, died. He was several years younger than I, twenty-nine. +Finally my step-mother died, last week. She was forty-nine. So, I +suppose we may be pardoned if, somehow, in spite of the fact, as you +say, that many believe that the disease is not contagious or infectious +or whatever you call it, we believe that it lurks in the house. Myra and +I would get out tomorrow, only father insists that there is nothing in +it, says it is all heredity. I don't know but that that's worse. That +means that there is no escape." + +We had come down the wide staircase into the library, where we joined +Myra, who was resting on a chaise-longue. + +"I should like very much to have a talk with Dr. Goode," suggested +Craig. + +"By all means," agreed Myra eagerly. "I'll go over to his office with +you. It is only next door." + +"Then I'll wait here," said Lionel, rather curtly, I thought. + +I fancied that there was a coolness that amounted to a latent hostility +between Lionel and Dr. Goode, and I wondered about it. + +Across the sparse lawn that struggled up under the deep shade of the +trees stood a smaller, less pretentious house of a much more modern +type. That was where Dr. Goode lived. + +We crossed with Myra through a break in the hedge between the two +houses. As we were about to pass between the two grounds, Kennedy's foot +kicked something that seemed to have rolled down from some rubbish on +the boundary line of the two properties, piled up evidently waiting to +be carted away. + +Craig stooped casually and picked the object up. It was a queer V-shaped +little porcelain cone. He gave it a hasty look, then dropped it into his +pocket. + +Dr. Goode, into whose office Myra led us, was a youngish man, +smooth-shaven, the type of the new generation of doctors. He had come +to Norwood several years before and had struggled up to a very fair +practice. + +"Miss Moreton tells me," began Kennedy after we had been introduced, +"that there is a theory that theirs is one of these so-called cancer +houses." + +The doctor looked at us keenly. "Yes," he nodded, "I have heard that +theory expressed--and others, too. Of course, I haven't had a chance to +verify it. But I may say that, privately, I am hardly prepared to accept +it, yet, as a case of cancer house." + +He was very guarded in his choice of words, but did not succeed in +covering up the fact that he had a theory of his own. + +I was watching both the young doctor and Myra. She had entered his +office in a way that suggested that she was something more than a +patient. As I watched them, it did not take one of very keen perception +to discover that they were on very intimate terms indeed and thought +very highly of each other. A glance at the solitaire on Myra's finger +convinced me. They were engaged. + +"You don't believe it, then?" asked Craig quickly. + +The young man hesitated and shrugged his shoulders. + +"You have a theory of your own?" persisted Craig, determined to get an +answer. + +"I don't know whether I have or not," he replied non-committally. + +"Is it that you think it possible to produce cancer artificially and +purposely?" shot out Craig. + +Dr. Goode considered. I wondered whether he had any suspicions of which +he would not speak because of professional ethics. Kennedy had fixed +his eyes on him sharply and the doctor seemed uneasy under the scrutiny. + +"I've heard of cases," he ventured finally, "where X-rays and radium +have caused cancerous growths. You know several of the experimenters +have lost their lives in that way--martyrs to science." + +I could not help, somehow or other, thinking of Dr. Loeb. Did Dr. Goode +refer indirectly to him? Loeb certainly was no martyr to science. He +might be a charlatan. But was he a scientific villain? + +"That may all be true," pursued Craig relentlessly, evidently bound to +draw the young man out. "But it is, after all, a question of fact, not +of opinion." + +Myra was looking at him eagerly now and the doctor saw that she expected +him to speak. It was more pressure than he could resist. + +"I have long suspected something of the sort," he remarked in a low, +forced tone. "I've had samples of the blood of the Moretons examined. In +fact I have found that their blood affects the photographic plate +through a layer of black paper. You know red blood cells and serum have +a distinct power of reducing photo-silver on plates when exposed to +certain radiations. In other words, I have found that their blood is, +apparently, radioactive!" + +Myra looked at him aghast. It was evidently the first time he had said +anything about this new suspicion, even to her. The very idea was +shocking. Could it be that someone was using these new forces with +devilish ingenuity? + +"If that's the case, who would be the most likely person to do such a +thing?" shot out Craig. + +"I wouldn't like to say," he returned, dodging, though we were all +thinking of Dr. Loeb. + +"But the motive?" demanded Craig. "What motive would there be?" + +"Darius Moreton is very intimate with a certain person," he returned +enigmatically. "It is even reported in town that he has left that person +a large sum of money in his will in payment for his services, if you +call them so, to the family." + +He had evidently not intended to say so much and, although Craig tried +in every way, he could not get the doctor to amplify what he had hinted +at. + +We returned to the Moreton house, Kennedy apparently much impressed by +what Dr. Goode had said. + +"If you will permit me," he asked, "I should like to have a few drops of +blood from each of you." + +"Goode tried that," remarked old Mr. Moreton. "I don't know that +anything came of it. Still, I am not going to refuse, if Myra and Lionel +agree." + +Craig had already taken from his pocket a small case containing a +hypodermic and some little glass tubes. There seemed to be no valid +objection and from each of them he drew off a small quantity of blood. +As he worked, I thought I saw what he had in mind. Could there be, I +wondered, an X-ray outfit or perhaps radium concealed about the living +rooms of the house? First of all, it was necessary to verify Dr. Goode's +observations. + +We chatted a few moments, then took leave of Myra Moreton. + +"Keep up your courage," whispered Craig with a look that told her that +he had seen the conflict between loyalty to her father and to her +lover. + +Lionel drove us back to the station in the car alone. Nothing of +importance was said by any of us until we had almost reached the +station. + +"I can see," he said finally, "that you don't feel sure that it is a +cancer house." + +Kennedy said nothing. + +"Well," he pursued, "I don't know anything about it, of course. But I do +know this much--those doctors are making a good thing out of father and +the rest of us." + +The car had pulled up. "I've got no use for Loeb," the young man went +on. "Still, I'd rather not that we had trouble with him. I'll tell you," +he added in a burst of confidence, "he has a little girl who works for +him, his secretary, Miss Golder. She comes from Norwood. I should hate +to have anything happen to queer her. People used to think Goode was +engaged to her before he took that office next to us and got ambitious. +Father placed her with Dr. Loeb. If it's necessary to do anything with +him, I wish you'd think whether she couldn't be kept out of it in some +way." + +"I'll try to do it," agreed Craig, as we shook hands and climbed on the +early afternoon train back to the city. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE QUACK DOCTORS + + +Kennedy's first move was to go downtown to the old building opposite the +City Hall and visit the post-office inspectors. + +"I've heard of the government's campaign against the medical quacks who +are using the mails," he introduced when we at last found the proper +inspector. "I wonder whether you know a Dr. Adam Loeb?" + +"Loeb?" repeated the inspector, O'Hanlon, who was in charge of the +investigation which was then in progress. "Of course we know Loeb--a +very slippery customer, too, with just enough science at his command to +make the case against him difficult. + +"I suppose," went on O'Hanlon, "you know that in Europe the popular +furore about radium and its applications appeared earlier than it did +here. But now we have great numbers of dishonest and fake radium cure +establishments. Usually they have neither radium nor knowledge. They +promise a cure, but they can't even palliate the trouble. Loeb has some +radium, I guess, but that's about all." + +"I think I'd like to visit the 'doctor' and his 'medical museum,'" +ventured Kennedy when O'Hanlon had finished describing the case to us. + +"Very well," agreed O'Hanlon. "Our cases against the quacks are just +about completed. I've heard a great deal about you, Mr. Kennedy. I +think I may trust you." + +The inspector paused. "Tomorrow," he added, looking at us significantly, +"we have planned a simultaneous raid of all of them in the city. +However, there's no objection to your seeing Dr. Loeb, if you'll be +careful to give no hint that something is about to be pulled off. I'm +sure any new evidence we may get against him will be quite welcome." + +"I'd like to see him in action before the raid," hastened Craig. + +"Well, I think the best way, then, for you to get at him," advised the +inspector, "would be to adopt the method my investigators use with these +fakers. I mean for one or the other of you to pose as a prospective +patient. Only don't let him treat you too much with any of those +electrical things of his." + +Craig glanced over at me whimsically. + +"Oh," I said good-humoredly, "I'll be the goat, if that's what you're +going to ask me." + +Craig laughed. + +"Come in tomorrow," called the inspector as we left. "I'd like to hear +what happens and I may be able to add something to what you find out." + +We found Dr. Loeb established in a palatial suite of offices in an +ultra-modern office building. Outside was what he called his "medical +museum." It was a grewsome collection of wax figures and colored charts +well calculated to prepare one for the worst. At the end of the room was +a huge sign bearing his name and the words, "Positive Cure for Cancer +Without Cautery or the Knife." + +There were no cappers or steerers about the place, though I have no +doubt he had them working for him outside to bring in business. Instead, +we were met by a very pretty, fluffy-haired girl, evidently the doctor's +secretary. She, I gathered, was the Miss Golder whom Lionel had +mentioned. In fact, I felt that she was really much above the level of +such a position. + +Loeb's office was elaborately equipped. There were static machines, +electric coils, high frequency appliances, X-ray outfits, galvanic and +faradic cabinets, electric light reflectors of high power, light bath +cabinets, electric vibrators, high pressure nebulizers and +ozonizers--everything, as Craig expressed it later, to impress the +patient that Loeb could cure any disease the flesh was heir to. I know +that it impressed me. + +The doctor himself was a pompous man of middle age, with a very +formidable beard and a deep voice that forbade contradiction. + +"I've come to you on the recommendation of a patient of yours," began +Craig, adding hastily, "not for myself, but for my friend here, whom I'm +afraid isn't very well." + +The doctor eyed me through his gold-rimmed spectacles. Already I began +to feel shaky. + +"Who recommended you?" he asked casually. + +"My friend, Mr. Darius Moreton of Norwood. I suppose you remember him?" + +"Oh, very well, very well. A most peculiar case, that of the Moretons. I +have succeeded in prolonging their lives beyond what anyone else could +have done. But I fear that they haven't all followed my treatment. You +know, you must put yourself entirely in my hands, and there is a young +doctor out there, I believe, whom they have also. That isn't fair to +me. I wonder whether you are acquainted with my methods of treatment?" + +Kennedy shook his head negatively. + +"Miss Golder," the doctor called, as the fluffy-haired secretary +responded quickly, "will you give these gentlemen some of my booklets on +the Loeb Method." + +Miss Golder took from a cabinet several handsomely printed pamphlets +extolling the skill and success of Dr. Loeb. Like everything else about +him, no expense had been spared to impress the reader. + +As Miss Golder left the office, Dr. Loeb began a rapid examination of +me, using an X-ray machine. I am sure that if I had not received a +surreptitious encouraging nod from Craig now and then, I should have +been ready to croak or cash in, according to whichever Dr. Loeb +suggested--probably the latter, for I could not help thinking that a +great deal of time was spent in mentally X-raying my pocketbook. + +When he finished, the doctor shook his head gravely. Of course I was +threatened. But the thing was only incipient. Still, if it were not +attended to immediately it was only a question of a short time when I +might be as badly, as the wax figures and charts outside. I had +fortunately come just in time to be saved. + +"I think that with the electrical treatment we can get rid of that +malignant growth in a month," he promised, fixing a price for the +treatment which I thought was pretty high, considering the brief time he +had actually spent on me, and the slight cost of electric light and +power. + +I paid him ten dollars on deposit, and after a final consultation we +left the doctor's office. I was to return for a treatment in a couple of +days. + +We turned out of the entrance of the office building just as scores of +employes were hurrying home. As we reached the door, I felt Kennedy +grasp my arm. I swung around. There, in an angle of the corridor, I +caught sight of a familiar figure. Dr. Goode was standing, evidently +waiting for someone to come out. There were several elevators and the +crowd of discharging passengers was thick. He had been so intent on +looking for someone he expected, apparently, that he had missed us. + +Kennedy drew me on into the doorway of the building next door, from +which we could observe everyone who went in and out of the skyscraper in +which Dr. Loeb had his offices. + +"I wonder what he's down here for," scowled Kennedy. + +"Perhaps he's doing some detective work of his own," I suggested. + +"Lionel Moreton said that Miss Golder and he used to be intimate," +ruminated Kennedy. "I wonder if he's waiting for her?" + +We did not have long to wait. It was only a few minutes when Kennedy's +surmise proved correct. Miss Golder and Dr. Goode came out, and turned +in the direction of the railroad station for Norwood. He was eagerly +questioning her about something, perhaps, I imagined, our visit to Dr. +Loeb. What did it mean? + +There was no use and it was too risky to follow them. Kennedy turned and +we made our way uptown to the laboratory, where he plunged at once into +an examination of the blood specimens he had taken from the Moretons +and of the peculiar porcelain cone which he had picked up in the rubbish +pile between the two houses. + +Having emptied the specimens of blood in several little shallow glass +receptacles which he covered with black paper and some very sensitive +films, he turned his attention to the cone. I noted that he was very +particular in his examination of it, apparently being very careful to +separate whatever it was he was looking for on the inside and the +outside surfaces. + +"That," he explained to me at length as he worked, "is what is known as +a Berkefeld filter, a little porous cup, made of porcelain. The minute +meshes of this filter catch and hold bacteria as if in the meshes of a +microscopic sieve, just like an ordinary water filter. It is so fine +that it holds back even the tiny bacillus fluorescens liquefaciens which +are used to test it. These bacilli measure only from a half to one and +one-and-a-half micromillimeters in diameter. In other words 130,000 +germs of half a micromillimeter would be necessary to make an inch." + +"What has it been used for?" I ventured. + +"I can't say, yet," he returned, and I did not pursue the inquiry, +knowing Kennedy's aversion to being questioned when he was not yet sure +of his facts. + +It was the next day when the post-office inspectors, the police and +others who had been co-operating had settled on the raid not only of Dr. +Loeb's but of all the medical quacks who were fleecing the credulous of +the city out of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by one of the +most cruel swindles that have ever been devised. + +For the time, Kennedy dropped his investigations in the laboratory and +we went down to O'Hanlon's office, where a thick batch of warrants, just +signed, had been received. + +Quickly O'Hanlon disposed his forces so that in all parts of the town +they might swoop down at once and gather in the medical harpies. Dr. +Loeb's stood first on the list of those which O'Hanlon decided to handle +himself. + +"By the way," mentioned O'Hanlon as we hurried uptown to be ready in +time, "I had a letter from Darius Moreton this morning threatening me +with all kinds of trouble unless we let up on Dr. Loeb. It's pretty hard +to keep a big investigation like this secret, but I think we've planned +a little surprise for this morning." + +With the post-office inspector we climbed into a patrol wagon with a +detail of police who were to make a general round-up of the places on +Forty-second Street. + +As the wagon backed up to the curb in front of the building in which +Loeb's office was, the policemen hopped out and hurried into the +building before a crowd could collect. Unceremoniously they rushed +through the outer office, headed by O'Hanlon. + +Quickly though the raid was executed, it could not be done without some +warning commotion. As we entered the front door of the office, we could +just catch a glimpse of a man retreating through a back door. There was +something familiar about his back, and Kennedy and I started after him. +But we were too late. He had fled without even waiting for his hat, +which lay on Miss Golder's desk, and had disappeared down a back +stairway which had been left unguarded. + +"Confound it," muttered O'Hanlon, as we returned, "Loeb hasn't been here +today. Who was that?" + +"I don't know," replied Craig, picking up the hat, underneath which lay +a package. + +He opened the package. Inside were half a dozen Berkefeld filters, those +peculiar porcelain cones such as we had found out at Norwood. + +Quickly Craig ran his eye over the mass of papers on Miss Golder's desk. +He picked up an appointment book and turned the pages rapidly. There +were several entries that seemed to interest him. I bent over. Among +other names entered during the past few days I made out both "Moreton" +and "Dr. Goode." I recalled the letter which O'Hanlon had received from +Moreton. Had he or someone else got wind of the raids and tipped off Dr. +Loeb? + +Above the hubbub of the raid I could hear O'Hanlon putting poor little +Miss Golder through a third degree. + +"Who was it that went out?" he shouted into her face. "You might as well +tell. If you don't it'll go hard with you." + +But, like all women who have been taken into these get-rich-quick +swindles, she was loyal to a fault. "I don't know," she sobbed, dabbing +at her eyes with a bit of a lace handkerchief. + +Nor could all of O'Hanlon's bulldozing get another admission out of her +except that it was a "stranger." She protested and wept. But she even +rode off in the patrol wagon with the rest of the employes unmoved. + +Whom was she shielding? All we had was the secretary, a couple of +cappers, and half a dozen patients, regular and prospective, who had +been waiting in the office. We had a wagon-load of evidence, including +letters and circulars, apparatus of all kinds, medicines, and pills. But +there was nothing more. Craig did not seem especially interested in the +mass of stuff which the police had seized. + +In fact the only thing that seemed to interest him was the man who had +disappeared. We had his hat and the package of filters. Craig picked up +the hat and examined it. + +"It's a soft hat and consequently doesn't tell us very much about the +shape of his head," he remarked. Then his face brightened. "But he +couldn't have left anything much better," he remarked complacently, as +he went over to one of the little wall cabinets which the towel service +companies place over wash-basins in offices. He took from it a comb and +brush and wrapped them up carefully. + +I looked at the hat also. There was no name in it, not even the usual +initials. What did Craig mean? + +Other raids in various parts of the city proved far more successful than +the one in which we had participated and O'Hanlon quickly forgot his +chagrin in the reports that soon came piling in. As for ourselves we had +no further interest except in the disposition of this case, and Craig +decided shortly to go back to work again in the laboratory among his +test-tubes, slides, and microscopes. + +"I will leave you to follow the cases against the quacks, particularly +Dr. Loeb and Miss Golder, Walter," he said. "By the way, you saw me take +that hair brush. I wish I had a collection of them. In some way you +must get me a hair brush from Dr. Goode. You'll have to take a trip out +to Norwood. And while you are there, get the brushes from Darius Moreton +and Lionel. I don't know how you'll get Goode's, but Myra will help you +with the others, I'm sure." + +He turned to his work and was soon absorbed in some microscopic studies, +leaving me no chance to question him about his strange commission. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE FILTERABLE VIRUS + + +I was surprised to run into O'Hanlon himself in the train out to +Norwood. The failure to get Dr. Loeb troubled him and he had reasoned +that if Darius Moreton took the trouble to write a letter about his +friend he might possibly know more of his whereabouts than he professed. +We discussed the case nearly the whole journey, agreeing to separate +just before we reached the station in order not to be seen together. + +It took me longer to carry out Kennedy's request than I had expected. I +found Myra at home alone, very much excited. + +"Someone called me up from New York this morning," she said, "and asked +whether father and Lionel were at home. I thought they were at the +factory, but when I called there, the foreman told me they hadn't been +there. And Dr. Goode is out, too--hasn't seen any of his patients today. +Oh, Mr. Jameson, what does it all mean? Where have they gone?" + +I was a poor one to comfort her, for I had no idea myself. Still, I did +my best, and incidentally secured the brushes, though I must confess I +had to commit a little second-story work to get into Dr. Goode's. + +It seemed heartless to leave the poor girl all alone, but I knew that +Kennedy was waiting anxiously for me. I promised to make inquiries all +over about her father, Lionel, and Dr. Goode, and, I think, the mere +fact that someone showed an interest in her cheered her up, especially +when I told her Kennedy was working hard on the case. + +As I waited for the train that was to take me back to the city, the +train from New York pulled in. Imagine my surprise when I saw Miss +Golder step off nervously and hurry up the main street. + +I watched her, debating what to do, whether to let Kennedy wait and +follow her, or not. + +"Someone, they don't know who, bailed her out," I heard a voice whisper +in my ear. + +I turned quickly. It was O'Hanlon. "She put up cash bail," he added +under his breath. "No one knows where she got it. I'm waiting until she +turns that corner--then I'm going to shadow her. I can't seem to find +anyone in this town just now. Perhaps she knows where Loeb is." + +"If you get on the trail, will you wire me?" I asked. "Here's my train +now." + +O'Hanlon promised, and as I swung on the step I caught a last glimpse of +him sauntering casually in the direction Miss Golder had taken. + +I handed Kennedy the brushes I had obtained, but he gave me no +opportunity to satisfy my curiosity. Instead, he started me out again to +keep in touch with the progress made in the cases of the quacks, +particularly the search for Dr. Loeb, which seemed to interest him quite +as much as the bailing out of Miss Golder. + +It was after dinner and I was preparing to follow the cases on into the +night court, if necessary, when one of O'Hanlon's assistants hurried up +to me. + +"We've just had a wire from Mr. O'Hanlon," he cried excitedly, handing +me a telegram. + +I read: + + "Loeb captured Norwood. Darius Moreton hiding him in vacant + house outside town. Advise Kennedy." + +I dashed for the nearest telephone and called up Craig. + +"Fine, Walter," he shouted back. "I am ready. Meet me at the station and +wire O'Hanlon to wait there for us." + +We made the journey to Norwood as impatiently as any two passengers on +the accommodation at that hour of night, Craig carrying his evidence in +the case in a little leather hand satchel. + +Already, out at the old house, O'Hanlon had gathered the Moreton family, +Dr. Goode, who had turned up with the rest, Dr. Loeb, and Miss Golder. +Myra Moreton was even more agitated than she had been when I left her +during the afternoon. In fact the secrecy maintained by both her family +and Dr. Goode, to say nothing of the presence of Dr. Loeb in the house +under arrest, had all but broken her down. She greeted Kennedy almost as +though he had been a life-long friend. + +"I want you to look after Miss Moreton, Walter," he said in a low tone +as we three stood in the hall. "And you, Miss Moreton, I want to trust +me when I tell you I am going to bring you safely out of this thing. Be +a brave girl," he encouraged, taking her hand. "Remember that Mr. +Jameson and I are here solely in your interest." + +"I know it," she murmured, her lip trembling. "I will try." + +A moment later we entered the Moreton library. Dr. Loeb was glaring +impartially at everybody. I am sure that if he had been able to get at +any of his formidable electrical apparatus he would have made short work +of us "without cautery or knife." Darius Moreton was indignant, Lionel +supercilious, Dr. Goode silent. + +Kennedy lost no time in getting down to the business that had brought +him out to Norwood, for this was not exactly a sociable gathering. + +"Of course," he began, laying his leather case on the table and +unlocking, but not opening it, "references to cancer houses abound in +medical literature, but I think I am safe in saying that nothing has +been conclusively proved in favor either of the believers or the +skeptics. At least, it may be said to be an open question, with the +weight of opinion against it. Such physicians as Sir Thomas Oliver have +said that the evidence in favor is too strong to be ignored. Others, +equally brilliant, have shown why it should be ignored. + +"In the absence of better proof--or rather in the presence of other +facts--perhaps, in this case, it would be better to see whether there is +not some other theory that may fit the facts better." + +"Dr. Goode thought that the cancers might have been caused artificially +by X-rays or radium," I ventured. + +Craig shook his head. "I have taken a piece of filter paper saturated +with a solution of potassium iodide, starch paste, and ferrosulphate and +laid it over a sample of blood, not four millimeters away. The whole I +have kept in the dark. + +"Now, we know that blood gives off peroxide of hydrogen. Peroxide of +hydrogen is capable of attacking photographic plates. The paper can be +permeated by a gas. No, that was not a case of photo-activity observed +by Dr. Goode. It was the emission of gas from the blood that affected +the plates." + +"But suppose that is the case," objected Dr. Goode hastily. "There are +the deaths from cancer. How do you explain them? It is not a cancer +house, you say. Is it mere chance?" + +"Anyone may be pardoned for believing that cancer houses or even cancer +districts exist," reiterated Craig. "Indeed some observations seem to +show it, as I have said, though the opponents of the theory claim to +have found other causes. Here, as you hint, five people, living in close +association, have died in five years." + +He paused and drew from the satchel the little porcelain cone which he +had picked up between the Moreton and Goode houses. + +"I have here," he resumed, "what is known as a Berkefeld filter. Its +meshes let through none of the germs that we can see with a microscope. +It is bacteria-proof. Only something smaller than these things can pass +through it, something that we cannot see, a clear watery fluid. That +something in this case is a filterable virus." + +Kennedy paused again, then went on, "Although the filterable viruses +have only recently come to attention, it is known that they are of very +diverse character. Here we have opened up the world of the infinitely +little--the universe that lies beyond the range of the microscope. The +study of these tiny particles is now one of the greatest objects in +scientific medicine. + +"Are they living? It seems so, for a very little of the virus gives rise +to growths from which many others start. It may, of course, be chemical, +but it looks as if it were organic, since it resists cold, although not +heat, and can be destroyed by phenol, toluol, and other antiseptics. +Perhaps the virus may be visible, but not by any means yet known. Still, +we do know that these things which no eye can see may cause some of the +commonest diseases." + +Kennedy paused. As usual he had his little audience following him +breathlessly. Even Dr. Loeb forgot to glower. + +"In recent experiments with cancer in chickens," continued Craig, "tumor +material ground fine and treated in various ways has been filtered +through these filters. Cancers have been caused by this agent which has +passed through the filter. + +"On the inside of the filter which I picked up back of this very house, +near the boundary of Dr. Goode's, I have found the giant cells of +cancer. On the outside was something which I have been able to develop +into a virus, these micro-organisms that belong to the ultra-invisible. +I do not pretend to know just how this bacteriological dwarf has been +used. But I know enough to say that someone has, without doubt, been +using some sort of filterable virus to induce cancers, just as the +experimenters at the Rockefeller Institute have done with animals. + +"Naturally, in the Moreton family, this person found a fertile soil. +Perhaps he waited until he saw what looked like a favorable wound, or +traumatism. It is well-known that cancer often can be traced to a wound. +Perhaps he introduced this virus surreptitiously into a cut, now and +then. For, experiments show that the virus is strikingly dependent for +its action on the derangement of the tissues with which it is brought in +contact. + +"This person must have had a high percentage of failures in his attempts +to inoculate the virus successfully. But by persistence and taking +advantage of every predisposition afforded by nature, he succeeded. At +any rate, this person must have been intimately acquainted with the +family, must have had some motive for seeking their deaths,--for +instance the family fortune. + +"It makes no difference whether the victims might have had cancer sooner +or later, anyway. Even if that were so, this cold-blooded villain was at +least hastening the development, if not actually causing the frightful +and fatal disease." + +Myra Moreton shuddered, and looked at Dr. Goode anxiously as Kennedy +proceeded. He seemed about to interrupt, but managed to check himself. +Craig reached over and picked out from the satchel the hat which we had +found on a desk at the office of the cancer quack. + +"In the raid of Dr. Loeb's," he explained, changing tone, "a man +disappeared. I have here a soft hat which he left behind in his hurry to +escape, as well as some of the filters he was carrying." + +He turned the hat inside out. "You will see," Craig pointed out, "that +on the felt of the inside there are numerous hairs, from the head of +the wearer." + +I leaned forward, breathlessly. I began to see the part I had played in +building up his case. + +"Human hair," he remarked, "differs greatly. Under the microscope one +may study the oval-shaped medulla, the long pointed cortex, and the flat +cuticle cells of an individual hair. The pigment in the cortex can be +studied also. + +"I have taken some of the hairs from the inside of this hat, examined, +photographed, and measured them. I have compared them with a color scale +perfected by the late Alphonse Bertillon. In fact, in France quite a +science has been built up about hair by the so-called 'pilologists.' The +German scientific criminalists have written minute treaties on the hair +and astounding results have been obtained by them in detection. + +"I have been able to secure samples of the hair of everyone in this case +and I have studied them also. These hairs in the hat which was left over +the package of filters have furnished me with a slender but no less +damning clew to a veritable monster." + +One could have heard a pin drop, as if Kennedy were a judge pronouncing +a death sentence. + +"Dr. Loeb is guilty of being one of the most heartless of quacks, it is +true," Kennedy's voice rang out tensely, as he faced us. "But the slow +murders, one by one, bringing the family estate nearer and nearer--they +were done by one who hoped to throw the blame on Dr. Loeb, by the man +whose hair I have here--Lionel Moreton." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE VOODOO MYSTERY + + +"Everybody's crazy, Kennedy. The whole world is going mad!" + +Our old friend, Burke, of the Secret Service, scowled at the innocent +objects in Craig's laboratory as he mopped his broad forehead. + +"And the Secret Service is as bad as the rest," he went on, still +scowling and not waiting for any comment from us. "Why, what with these +European spies and agitators, strikers and dynamiters, we're nearly +dippy. Here, in less than a week I've been shifted off war cases to +Mexico and now to Hayti. I don't mean that I've been away, of +course,--oh, no. You don't have to go to them. They come to us. Confound +it, New York is full of plots and counterplots. I tell you, Kennedy, the +whole world is crazy." + +Craig listened with sympathy mixed with amusement. "Can I help you out?" +he asked. + +"If you don't I'll be dippy, too," returned Burke with a whimsical +grimace. + +"What's the trouble with Hayti, then?" encouraged Kennedy seriously. + +"Trouble enough," answered Burke. "Why, here's that Caribbean +liner, _Haytien_, just in from Port au Prince. She's full of +refugees--government supporters and revolutionists--you never saw such a +menagerie since the ark." + +I watched Burke keenly as he cut loose with his often picturesque +language. Somehow, it seemed rather fascinating to have the opera bouffe +side of the Black Republic presented to us. At least it was different +from anything we had had lately--and perhaps not at all opera bouffe, +either. Kennedy, at least, did not seem to think so, for although he was +very busy at the time, seemed prepared to lay aside his work to aid +Burke. + +"You haven't heard about it yet," continued the Secret Service man, "but +on the _Haytien_ was a man--black of course--Guillaume Leon. He was a +friend of the United States--at least so he called himself, I +believe--wanted a new revolution down there, more American marines +landed to bolster up a new government that would clean things up, a new +deal all around." + +Burke paused, then added by way of explanation of his own attitude in +the matter, "That may be all right, perhaps,--may be just what they need +down there, but we can't let people come here and plot revolutions like +that right in New York. They're sore enough at us without our letting +them think in Latin America that we're taking a hand in their troubles." + +"Quite right," agreed Kennedy. "About Leon." + +"Yes, Leon," resumed Burke, getting back to the subject. "Well, I was +told by the Chief of the Service to look out for this fellow. And I did. +I thought it would make a good beginning to go down the bay on a revenue +tug to meet the _Haytien_ at Quarantine. But, by Jingo, no sooner was I +over the side of the ship than what do you suppose I ran up against?" + +He did not pause long enough to give us a guess, but shot out +dramatically, "Leon was dead--yes, dead!" + +Kennedy and I had been interested up to this point. Now we were eager to +have him go on. "He died on the voyage up," continued Burke, "just after +passing the Gulf Stream, suddenly and from no apparent cause. At least +the ship's surgeon couldn't find any cause and neither could they down +at Quarantine. So after some time they let the ship proceed up the bay +and placed the whole thing in the hands of the Secret Service." + +"Is there anyone you suspect?" I asked. + +"Suspect?" repeated Burke. "I suspect them all. The _Haytien_ was full +of niggers--as superstitious as they make 'em. The ship's surgeon tells +me that after the body of Leon was discovered there was such a scene as +he had never witnessed. It was more like bedlam than a group of human +beings. Some were for putting the body over into the sea immediately. +Others threatened murder if it was done. Most of them didn't know what +it was they wanted. Then, there was a woman there. She seemed to be +nearly crazy--" + +There came a knock at the laboratory door. + +"If you'll just go into the next room with Walter," said Craig to Burke, +"I'll see you in a few minutes. Sit down, make yourself at home." + +I went in with him and Burke dropped into a chair beside my typewriter. +The laboratory door opened. From where we were sitting we could see in a +mirror on the opposite wall that it was a girl, dark of skin, perhaps a +mulatto, but extremely beautiful, with great brown eyes and just a trace +of kinkiness in her black hair. But it was the worried, almost haunted, +look on her face that attracted one's attention most. + +I happened to glance at Burke to see whether he had noticed it. I +thought his eyes would pop out of his head. + +Just then Kennedy walked across the laboratory and closed our door. + +"What's the matter?" I whispered. + +But before Burke could reply, a draught opened the door just a bit. He +placed his finger on his lips. We could not close the door, and we sat +there in our corner unintentional but no less interested eavesdroppers. + +"Mademoiselle Collette Aux Cayes is my name," she began, with a +strangely French accent which we could just understand. "I've heard of +you, Professor Kennedy, as a great detective." + +"I should be glad to do what I can for you," he returned. "But you +mustn't expect too much. You seem to be in some great trouble." + +"Trouble--yes," she replied excitedly. "My name isn't really Aux Cayes. +That is the name of my guardian, a friend of my father's. Both my father +and mother are dead--killed by a mob during an uprising several years +ago. I was in Paris at the time, being educated in a convent, or I +suppose I should have been killed, too." + +She seemed to take it as a matter of course, from which I concluded that +she had been sent to Paris when she was very young and did not remember +her parents very well. + +"At last the time came for me to go back to Hayti," she resumed. "There +is nothing that would interest you about that--except that after I got +back, in Port au Prince, I met a young lawyer--Guillaume Leon." + +She hesitated and looked at Craig as though trying to read whether he +had ever heard the name before, but Kennedy betrayed nothing. There was +more than that in her tone, though. It was evident that Leon had been +more than a friend to her. + +"Hayti has been so upset during the past months," she went on, "that my +guardian decided to go to New York, and of course I was taken along with +him. It happened that on the ship--the _Haytien_--Monsieur Leon went +also. It was very nice until--" + +She came to a full stop. Kennedy encouraged her gently, knowing what she +was going to tell. + +"One night, after we had been out some time," she resumed unexpectedly, +"I could not sleep and I went out on the deck to walk and watch the +moonlight. As I walked softly up and down, I heard voices, two men, in +the shadow of one of the cabins. They were talking and now and then I +could catch a word. It was about Guillaume. I heard them say that he was +plotting another revolution, that that was the reason he was going to +New York--not because he wanted to be on the boat with me. There was +something about money, too, although I couldn't get it very clearly. It +had to do with an American banking house, Forsythe & Co., I +think,--money that was to be paid to Guillaume to start an uprising. I +think they must have heard me, for I couldn't hear any more and they +moved off down the deck, so that I couldn't recognize them. You see, I +am not a revolutionist. My guardian belongs to the old order." + +She stopped again, as though in doubt just how to go on. "Anyhow," she +continued finally, "I determined to tell Guillaume. It would have made +it harder for us--but it was he, not his politics, I loved." She was +almost crying as she blurted out, "But it was only the next day that he +was found dead in his stateroom. I never saw him alive after I overheard +that talk." + +It was some moments before she had calmed herself so that she could go +on. "You know our people, Professor Kennedy," she resumed, choking back +her sobs. "Some said his dead body was like Jonah, and ought to be +thrown off to the sea. Then others didn't even want to have it touched, +said that it ought to be embalmed. And others didn't want that, either." + +"What do you mean? Who were they?" + +"Oh, there was one man,--Castine," she replied, hesitating over the +name, as though afraid even to mention it. + +"He wanted it thrown overboard?" prompted Craig. + +"N--no, he didn't want that, either," she replied. "He urged them not to +touch it--just to leave it alone." + +She was very much frightened, evidently at her own temerity in coming to +Craig and saying so much. Yet something seemed to impel her to go on. + +"Oh, Professor Kennedy," she exclaimed in a sudden burst of renewed +feeling, "don't you understand? I--I loved him--even after I found out +about the money and what he intended to do with it. I could not see his +dear body thrown in the ocean." + +She shivered all over at the thought, and it was some time before she +said anything more. But Kennedy let her do as she pleased, as he often +did when deep emotion was wringing the secrets from people's hearts. + +"He is dead!" she sobbed wildly. "Was he poisoned? Oh, can't you find +out? Can't you help me?" + +Suddenly her voice in wild appeal sank almost to a hoarse whisper. "You +must not let anybody know that I came to you," she implored. + +"Why not?" + +"Oh--I--I am just afraid--that's all." + +There was real fear in her tone and face now, fear for herself. + +"Where is the body?" asked Kennedy, to get her mind off whatever hung +like an incubus over it. + +"Down on the _Haytien_, at the pier, over in Brooklyn, still," she +replied. "They kept us all interned there. But my guardian had enough +influence to get off for a time and while he is arranging for quarters +for our stay after we are released, I slipped away to see you." + +"You must go back to the boat?" + +"Oh, yes. We agreed to go back." + +"Then I shall be down immediately," Craig promised. "If you will go +ahead, I will see you there. Perhaps, at first you had better not +recognize me. I will contrive some way to meet you. Then they will not +know." + +"Thank you," she murmured, as she rose to go, now in doubt whether she +had done the best thing to come to Craig, now glad that she had some +outside assistance in which she could trust. + +He accompanied her to the door, bidding her keep up her courage, then +closed it, waiting until her footsteps down the hall had died away. + +Then he opened our door and caught sight of Burke's face. + +"That's strange, Burke," he began, before he realized what the +expression on his face meant. "There's a woman--what? You don't mean to +tell me that you knew her?" + +"Why, yes," hastened Burke. "There was a rich old planter, Henri Aux +Cayes, aboard, too. She's his ward, Mademoiselle Collette." + +"That's right," nodded Craig in surprise. + +"She's the woman I was telling you about. She may be a little dark, but +she's a beauty, all right. I heard what she said. No wonder she was so +frantic, then." + +"What do you know of the bankers, Forsythe & Co.?" asked Craig. + +"Forsythe & Co.?" considered Burke. "Well, not much, perhaps. But for a +long time, I believe, they've been the bankers and promoters of defunct +Caribbean islands, reaping a rich harvest out of the troubles of those +decrepit governments, playing one against the other." + +"H-m," mused Kennedy. "Can you go over to Brooklyn with me now?" + +"Of course," agreed Burke, brightening up. "That was what I hoped you'd +do." + +Kennedy and I were just about to leave the laboratory with Burke when an +idea seemed to occur to Craig. He excused himself and went back to a +cabinet where I saw him place a little vial and a hypodermic needle in +his vest pocket. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE FLUORISCINE TEST + + +Our trip over to the other borough was uneventful except for the +toilsome time we had to get to the docks where South and Central +American ships were moored. We boarded the _Haytien_ at last and Burke +led us along the deck toward a cabin. I looked about curiously. There +seemed to be the greatest air of suppressed excitement. Everyone was +talking, in French, too, which seemed strange to me in people of their +color. Yet everything seemed to be in whispers as if they were in fear. + +We entered the cabin after our guide. There in the dim light lay the +body of Leon in a bunk. There were several people in the room, already, +among them the beautiful Mademoiselle Collette. She pretended not to +recognize Kennedy until we were introduced, but I fancied I saw her +start at finding him in company with Burke. Yet she did not exhibit +anything more than surprise, which was quite natural. + +Burke turned the sheet down from the face of the figure in the bunk. +Leon had been a fine-looking specimen of his race, with good features, +strong, and well groomed. Kennedy bent over and examined the body +carefully. + +"A very strange case," remarked the ship's surgeon, whom Burke beckoned +over a moment later. + +"Quite," agreed Craig absently, as he drew the vial and the hypodermic +from his pocket, dipped the needle in and shot a dose of the stuff into +the side of the body. + +"I can't find out that there is any definite cause of death," resumed +the surgeon. + +Before Craig could reply someone else entered the darkened cabin. We +turned and saw Collette run over to him and take his hand. + +"My guardian, Monsieur Aux Cayes," she introduced, then turned to him +with a voluble explanation of something in French. + +Aux Cayes was a rather distinguished looking Haytian, darker than +Collette, but evidently of the better class and one who commanded +respect among the natives. + +"It is quite extraordinary," he said with a marked accent, taking up the +surgeon's remark. "As for these people--" he threw out his hands in a +deprecating gesture--"one cannot blame them for being perplexed when +your doctors disagree." + +Kennedy had covered up Leon's face again and Collette was crying softly. + +"Don't, my dear child," soothed Aux Cayes, patting her shoulder gently. +"Please, try to calm thyself." + +It was evident that he adored his beautiful ward and would have done +anything to relieve her grief. Kennedy evidently thought it best to +leave the two together, as Aux Cayes continued to talk to her in +diminutives and familiar phrases from the French. + +"Were there any other people on the boat who might be worth watching?" +he asked as we rejoined Burke, who was looking about at the gaping +crowd. + +Burke indicated a group. "Well, there was an old man, Castine, and the +woman he calls his wife," he replied. "They were the ones who really +kept the rest from throwing the body overboard." + +"Oh, yes," assented Kennedy. "She told me about them. Are they here +now?" + +Burke moved over to the group and beckoned someone aside toward us. +Castine was an old man with gray hair, and a beard which gave him quite +an appearance of wisdom, besides being a matter of distinction among +those who were beardless. With him was Madame Castine, much younger and +not unattractive for a negress. + +"You knew Monsieur Leon well?" asked Kennedy. + +"We knew him in Port au Prince, like everybody," replied Castine, +without committing himself to undue familiarity. + +"Do you know of any enemies of his on the boat?" cut in Burke. "You were +present when they were demanding that his body be thrown over, were you +not? Who was foremost in that?" + +Castine shrugged his shoulders in a deprecatory manner. "I do not speak +English very well," he replied. "It was only those who fear the dead." + +There was evidently nothing to be gained by trying on him any of Burke's +third degree methods. He had always that refuge that he did not +understand very well. + +I turned and saw that Collette and Aux Cayes had come out of the cabin +to the deck together, he holding her arm while she dabbed the tears away +from her wonderful eyes. + +At the sight of us talking to Castine and the other woman, she seemed +to catch her breath. She did not speak to us, but I saw the two women +exchange a glance of appraisal, and I determined that "Madame" Castine +was at least worth observing. + +By the attitude of the group from which we had drawn them, Castine, it +seemed, exercised some kind of influence over all, rich and poor, +revolutionist and government supporter. + +The appearance of Collette occasioned a buzz of conversation and +glances, and it was only a moment before she retreated into the cabin +again. Apparently she did not wish to lose anything, as long as Kennedy +and Burke were about. + +Kennedy did not seem to be so much interested in quizzing Castine just +yet, now that he had seen him, as he was in passing the time profitably +for a few minutes. He looked at his watch, snapped it back into his +pocket, and walked deliberately into the cabin again. + +There he drew back the cover over Leon's face, bent over it, raised the +lids of the eyes, and gazed into them. + +Collette, who had been standing near him, watching every motion, drew +back with an exclamation of horror and surprise. + +"The voodoo sign is on him!" she cried. "It must be that!" + +Almost in panic she fled, dragging her guardian with her. + +I, too, looked. The man's eyes were actually green, now. What did it +mean? + +"Burke," remarked Kennedy decisively, "I shall take the responsibility +of having the body transferred to my laboratory where I can observe it. +I'll leave you to attend to the formalities with the coroner. Then I +want you to get in touch with Forsythe & Co. Watch them without letting +them know you are doing so--and watch their visitors, particularly." + +A private ambulance was called and, with much wagging of heads and +tongues, the body of Leon was carried on a stretcher, covered by a +sheet, down the gangplank and placed in it. We followed closely in a +taxicab, across the bridge and uptown. + +For some days, I may say, Kennedy had been at work in his laboratory in +a little anteroom, where he was installing some new apparatus for which +he had received an appropriation from the trustees of the University. + +It was a very complicated affair, one part of which seemed to be a +veritable room within the room. Into this chamber, as it were, he now +directed the men to carry Leon's body and lay it on a sort of bed or +pallet that was let down from the side wall of the compartment. + +I had been quite mystified by the apparatus which Kennedy had set up, +but had had no opportunity to discuss it with him and he had been so +busy installing it that he had not taken time, often, for meals. In +fact, the only way I knew that he had finished was that when Burke had +called he had seemed interested in the call. + +Outside the small chamber I have spoken of, in the room itself, were +several large pieces of machinery, huge cylinders with wheels and belts, +run by electric motors. No sooner had the body been placed in the little +chamber and the door carefully closed than Kennedy threw a switch, +setting the apparatus in motion. + +"How could Leon have been killed?" I asked, as he rejoined me in the +outside laboratory. "What did Collette mean by her frightened cry of the +'voodoo sign'?" + +The incident had made a marked impression on me and I had been unable +quite to arrive at any sensible explanation. + +"Of course, you know that voodoo means literally anything that inspires +fear," remarked Kennedy after a moment's thought. "The god of voodoo is +the snake. I cannot say now what it was that she feared. But to see the +eyeballs turn green is uncanny, isn't it?" + +"I should say so," I agreed. "But is that all?" + +He shook his head. "No, I don't believe it is. Hayti is the hotbed of +voodoo worship. The cult has inaugurated a sort of priesthood--often a +priest and a priestess, called 'papaloi' and 'mammaloi'--papa and mamma, +probably with a corruption of the French word, 'roi,' king. They are, as +it were, heads of the community, father and mother, king and queen. Some +of the leading men of the communities in the islands of the Caribbean +are secret voodoists and leaders. Just what is going on under the +surface in this case, I cannot even hazard a guess. But there is some +deviltry afoot." + +Just then the telephone rang and Craig answered it. + +"It was from Burke," he said as he hung up the receiver. "Confidential +agents of his have been about. No one from the ship seems to have been +down to see Forsythe, but Forsythe has had people over at the ship. +Burke says someone is sending off great bunches of messages to +Hayti--he thinks the powerful wireless apparatus of the _Haytien_ is +being used." + +For a moment Kennedy stood in the center of the laboratory, thinking. +Then he appeared to make up his mind to something. + +"Has that taxicab gone?" he asked, opening a cabinet from which he took +several packages. + +I looked out of the window. The ambulance had gone back, but the driver +of the car had evidently waited to call up his office for instructions. +I beckoned to him, and together Kennedy and I placed the packages in the +car. + +Thus we were able quickly to get back again to the wharf where the +_Haytien_ was berthed. Instead of going aboard again, however, Kennedy +stopped just outside, where he was not observed and got out of the car, +dismissing it. + +In the office of the steamship company, he sought one of the employes +and handed him a card, explaining that we were aiding Burke in the case. +The result of the parley was that Kennedy succeeded in getting to the +roof of the covered pier on the opposite side from that where the ship +lay. + +There he set to work on a strange apparatus, wires from which ran up to +a flag pole on which he was constructing what looked like a hastily +improvised wireless aerial. That part arranged, Kennedy followed his +wires down again and took them in by a window to a sort of lumber-room +back of the office. Outside everyone was too busy to watch what we were +doing there and Craig could work uninterrupted. + +"What are you doing?" I asked. "Installing a wireless plant?" + +"Not quite," he smiled quietly. "This is a home-made wireless +photo-recording set. Of course, wireless aerials of amateurs don't hum +any more since war has caused the strict censorship of all wireless. But +there is no reason why one can't receive messages, even if they can't be +sent by everybody. + +"This is a fairly easy and inexpensive means by which automatic records +can be taken. It involves no delicate instruments and the principal part +of it can be made in a few hours from materials that I have in my +laboratory. The basis is the capillary electrometer." + +"Sounds very simple," I volunteered, trying not to be sarcastic. + +"Well, here it is," he indicated, touching what looked like an ordinary +soft glass tube of perhaps a quarter of an inch diameter, bent U-shaped, +with one limb shorter than the other. + +"It is filled nearly to the top of the shorter limb with chemically pure +mercury," he went on. "On the top of it, I have poured a little twenty +per cent sulphuric acid. Dipping into the acid is a small piece of +capillary tube drawn out to a very fine point at the lower end." + +He filled the little tube with mercury also. "The point of this," he +observed, "is fine enough to prevent the mercury running through of its +own weight--about as fine as a hair." + +He dipped the point and held it in the sulphuric acid and blew through +the capillary tube. When the mercury bubbled through the point in minute +drops, he stopped blowing. It drew back for a short distance by +capillary attraction and the acid followed it up. + +"You can see that connections are made to the mercury in the arm and the +tube by short pieces of platinum wire," he continued. "It isn't +necessary to go into the theory of the instrument. But the most minute +difference of potential between the two masses of mercury will cause the +fine point at the junction of the liquids to move up and down. + +"Connected to the aerial and the earth, with a crystal detector in +series, it is only a matter of applying an ordinary photo-recording +drum, and the machine is made." + +He had been setting up a light-tight box, inside of which was a little +electric lamp. Opposite was a drum covered with bromide paper. He +started the clockwork going and after a few moments' careful +observation, we went away, and left the thing, trusting that no one was +the wiser. + +Nothing further occurred that day, except for frequent reports from +Burke, who told us how his men were getting on in their shadowing of +Forsythe & Co. Apparently, the death of Leon had put a stop to +revolutionary plots, or at least had caused the plotters to change their +methods radically. + +The time was shortening, too, during which Burke could keep the +passengers of the _Haytien_ under such close surveillance, and it was +finally decided that on the next morning they should be released, while +all those suspected were to be shadowed separately by Secret Service +agents, in the hope that once free they would commit some overt act that +might lead to a clew. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE RESPIRATION CALORIMETER + + +It was early the next morning, about half an hour after the time set for +the release of the passengers, that our laboratory door was flung open +and Collette Aux Cayes rushed in, wildly excited. + +"What's the matter?" asked Kennedy anxiously. + +"Someone has been trying to keep me on the boat," she panted. "And all +the way over here a man has been following me." + +Kennedy looked at her a minute calmly. We could understand why she might +have been shadowed, though it must have been a bungling job of Burke's +operative. But who could have wanted her kept on the boat? + +"I don't know," she replied, in answer to Kennedy's question. "But +somehow I was the only one not told that we could go. And when I did go, +one of the Secret Service men stopped me." + +"Are you sure it was a Secret Service man?" + +"He said he was." + +"Yes, but if he had been, he would not have done that, nor let you get +away, if he had. Can't you imagine anyone who might want you detained +longer?" + +She looked at us, half frightened. "N--not unless it is that man--or the +woman with him," she replied, clasping her hands. + +"You mean Castine?" + +"Yes," she replied, avoiding the use of his name. "Ever since you had +the body removed, he has been in great fear. I have heard him ask fifty +times, 'Where have they taken him?' and 'Is he to be embalmed?'" + +"That's strange," remarked Kennedy. "Why that anxiety from him? I +remember that it was he who wanted the body left alone. Is it for fear +that we might discover something which might be covered up?" + +Kennedy disappeared into the anteroom and I heard him making a great +fuss as he regulated the various pieces of machinery that surrounded the +little chamber. + +Some minutes later, he emerged. + +"Meet us here in an hour," he directed Collette, "with your guardian." + +Quickly Craig telephoned for a tank of oxygen to be sent over to the +laboratory, then got Burke on the wire and asked him to meet us down at +the dock. + +We arrived first and Craig hurried into the lumber-room, where +fortunately he found everything undisturbed. He tore off the strip of +paper from the drum and held it up. On it was a series of marks, which +looked like dots and dashes, of a peculiar kind, along a sort of base +line. Carefully he ran his eye over the strip. Then he shoved it into +his pocket in great excitement. + +"Hello," greeted Burke, as he came up puffing from the hurried trip over +from the Customs House, where his office was. "What's doing now?" + +"A great deal, I think," returned Kennedy. "Can you locate Castine and +that woman and come up to the laboratory--right away?" + +"I can put my finger on them in five minutes and be there in half an +hour," he returned, not pausing to inquire further, for, like me, Burke +had learned that Kennedy could not be hurried in any of his revelations. + +Together, Craig and I returned to the laboratory to find that Collette +Aux Cayes was already there with her guardian, as solicitous as ever for +her comfort and breathing fire and slaughter against the miscreants who +had tried to detain her, without his knowledge. + +Some minutes later Castine and "Madame" Castine arrived. At sight of +Collette she seemed both defiant and restless, as though sensing +trouble, I thought. Few words were spoken now by anyone, as Burke and I +completed the party. + +"Will you be so kind as to step into the little anteroom with me?" +invited Craig, holding open the door for us. + +We entered and he followed; then, as he led the way, stopped before a +little glass window in the compartment which I have described. Collette +was next to me. I could feel the tenseness of her senses as she gazed +through the window at the body on the shelf-like pallet inside. + +"What is this thing?" asked Aux Cayes, as Collette drew back, and he +caught her by the arm. + +For the moment Kennedy said nothing, but opened a carefully sealed door +and slid the pallet out, unhinging it, while I saw Castine trembling and +actually turning ashen about the lips. + +"This," Kennedy replied at length, "is what is known as a respiration +calorimeter, which I have had constructed after the ideas of Professors +Atwater and Benedict of Wesleyan, with some improvements of my own. It +is used, as you may know, in studying food values, both by the +government and by other investigators. A man could live in that room for +ten or twelve days. My idea, however, was to make use of it for other +things than that for which it was intended." + +He took a few steps over to the complicated apparatus which had so +mystified me, now at rest, as he turned a switch on opening the +carefully sealed door. + +"It is what is known as a closed circuit calorimeter," he went on. "For +instance, through this tube air leaves the chamber. Here is a blower. At +this point, the water in the air is absorbed by sulphuric acid. Next the +carbon dioxide is absorbed by soda lime. Here a little oxygen is +introduced to keep the composition normal and at this point the air is +returned to the chamber." + +He traced the circuit as he spoke, then paused and remarked, "Thus, you +see, it is possible to measure the carbon dioxide and the other +respiration products. As for heat, the walls are constructed so that the +gain or loss of heat in the chamber is prevented. Heat cannot escape in +any other way than that provided for carrying it off and measuring it. +Any heat is collected by this stream of water which keeps the +temperature constant and in that way we can measure any energy that is +given off. The walls are of concentric shells of copper and zinc with +two of wood, between which is 'dead air,' an effective heat insulator. +In other words," he concluded, "it is like a huge thermos bottle." + +It was all very weird and fascinating. But what he could have been +doing with a dead body, I could not imagine. Was there some subtle, +unknown poison which had hitherto baffled science, but which now he was +about to reveal to us? + +He seemed to be in no hurry to overcome the psychological effect his +words had on his auditors, for as he picked up and glanced at a number +of sheets of figures, he went on: "In the case of live persons, there is +a food aperture here, a little window with air locks arranged for the +passage of food and drink. That large window through which you looked +admits light. There is also a telephone. Everything is arranged so that +all that enters, no matter how minute, is weighed and measured. The same +is true of all that leaves. Nothing is too small to take into account." + +He shook the sheaf of papers before us. "Here I have some records which +have been made by myself, and, in my absence, by one of my students. In +them the most surprising thing that I have discovered is that in the +body of Leon metabolism seems still to be going on." + +I listened to him in utter amazement, wondering toward what his argument +was tending. + +"I got my first clew from an injection of fluoriscine," he resumed. "You +know there are many people who have a horror of being buried alive. It +is a favorite theme of the creepy-creep writers. As you know, the heart +may stop beating, but that does not necessarily mean that the person is +dead. There are on record innumerable cases where the use of stimulants +has started again the beating of a heart that has stopped. + +"Still, burial alive is hardly likely among civilized people, for the +simple reason that the practice of embalming makes death practically +certain. At once, when I heard that there had been objections to the +embalming of this body, I began to wonder why they had been made. + +"Then it occurred to me that one certain proof of death was the absolute +cessation of circulation. You may not know, but scientists have devised +this fluoriscine test to take advantage of that. I injected about ten +grains. If there is any circulation, there should be an emerald green +discoloration of the cornea of the eye. If not, the eye should remain +perfectly white. + +"I tried the test. The green eye-ball gave me a hint. Then I decided to +make sure with a respiration calorimeter that would measure whatever +heat, what breath, no matter how minute they were." + +Collette gave a start as she began to realize vaguely what Craig was +driving at. + +"It was not the voodoo sign, Mademoiselle," he said, turning to her. "It +was a sign, however, of something that suggested at once to me the +connection of voodoo practices." + +There was something so uncanny about it that my own heart almost skipped +beating, while Burke, by my other side, muttered something which was not +meant to be profane. + +Collette was now trembling violently and I took her arm so that if she +should faint she would not fall either on my side or on that of her +guardian, who seemed himself on the verge of keeling over. Castine was +mumbling. Only his wife seemed to retain her defiance. + +"The skill of the voodoo priests in the concoction of strange draughts +from the native herbs of Hayti is well known," Kennedy began again. +"There are among them fast and slow poisons, poisons that will kill +almost instantly and others that are guaged in strength to accumulate +and resemble wasting away and slow death. + +"I know that in all such communities today no one will admit that there +is such a thing still as the human sacrifice, 'the lamb without horns.' +But there is on record a case where a servant was supposed to have died. +The master ordered the burial, and it took place. But the grave was +robbed. Later the victim was resuscitated and sacrificed. + +"Most uncanny of the poisons is that which will cause the victim to pass +into an unconscious condition so profound that it may easily be mistaken +for death. It is almost cataleptic. Such is the case here. My +respiration calorimeter shows that from that body there are still coming +the products of respiration, that there is still heat in it. It must +have been that peculiar poison of the voodoo priests that was used." + +Racing on now, not giving any of us a chance even to think of the weird +thing, except to shudder instinctively, Kennedy drew from his pocket and +slapped down on a table the photographic records that had been taken by +his home-made wireless recording apparatus. + +"From Mr. Burke," he said, as he did so, "I received the hint that many +messages were being transmitted by wireless, secretly perhaps, from the +_Haytien_. I wanted to read those messages that were being flashed so +quietly and secretly through the air. How could it be done? I managed +to install down at the dock an apparatus known as the capillary +electrometer. By the use of this almost unimaginably delicate instrument +I was able to drag down literally out of the air the secrets that seemed +so well hidden from all except those for whom they were intended. +Listen." + +He took the roll of paper from the drum and ran his finger along it +hastily, translating to himself the Morse code as he passed from one +point to another. + +"Here," cried Craig excitedly. "'Leon out of way for time safely. +Revolution suppressed before Forsythe can make other arrangements. +Conspiracy frustrated.' Just a moment. Here's another. 'Have engaged +bridal suite at Hotel La Coste. Communicate with me there after +tomorrow.'" + +Still holding the wireless record, Kennedy swung about to Burke and +myself. "Burke, stand over by the door," he shouted. "Walter--that tank +of oxygen, please." + +I dragged over the heavy tank which he had ordered as he adjusted a sort +of pulmotor breathing apparatus over Leon. Then I dropped back to my +place beside Collette, as the oxygen hissed out. + +Castine was now on his knees, his aged arms outstretched. + +"Before God, Mr. Kennedy--I didn't do it. I didn't give Leon the +poison!" + +Kennedy, however, engrossed in what he was doing, paid no attention to +the appeal. + +Suddenly I saw what might have been a faint tremor of an eyelid on the +pallid body before us. + +I felt Collette spring forward from my side. + +"He lives! He lives!" she cried, falling on her knees before the still +cataleptic form. "Guillaume!" + +There was just a faint movement of the lips, as though as the man came +back from another world he would have called, "Collette!" + +"Seize that man--it is his name signed to the wireless messages!" +shouted Kennedy, extending his accusing forefinger at Aux Cayes, who had +plotted so devilishly to use his voodoo knowledge both to suppress the +revolution and at the same time to win his beautiful ward for himself +from her real lover. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE EVIL EYE + + +"You don't know the woman who is causing the trouble. You haven't seen +her eyes. But--Madre de Dios!--my father is a changed man. Sometimes I +think he is--what you call--mad!" + +Our visitor spoke in a hurried, nervous tone, with a marked foreign +accent which was not at all unpleasing. She was a young woman, +unmistakably beautiful, of the dark Spanish type and apparently a South +American. + +"I am Senorita Inez de Mendoza of Lima, Peru," she introduced herself, +as she leaned forward in her chair in a high state of overwrought +excitement. "We have been in this country only a short time--my father +and I, with his partner in a mining venture, Mr. Lockwood. Since the hot +weather came we have been staying at the Beach Inn at Atlantic Beach." + +She paused a moment and hesitated, as though in this strange land of the +north she had no idea of which way to turn for help. + +"Perhaps I should have gone to see a doctor about him," she considered, +doubtfully; then her emotions got the better of her and she went on +passionately, "but, Mr. Kennedy it is not a case for a doctor. It is a +case for a detective--for someone who is more than a detective." + +She spoke pleadingly now, in a soft musical voice that was far more +pleasing to the ear than that of the usual Spanish-American. I had heard +that the women of Lima were famed for their beauty and melodious voices. +Senorita Mendoza surely upheld their reputation. + +There was an appealing look in her soft brown eyes and her thin, +delicate lips trembled as she hurried on with her strange story. + +"I never saw my father in such a state before," she murmured. "All he +talks about is the 'big fish'--whatever that may mean--and the curse of +Mansiche. At times his eyes are staring wide open. Sometimes I think he +has a violent fever. He is excited--and seems to be wasting away. He +seems to see strange visions and hear voices. Yet I think he is worse +when he is quiet in a dark room alone than when he is down in the lobby +of the hotel in the midst of the crowd." + +A sudden flash of fire seemed to light up her dark eyes. "There is a +woman at the hotel, too," she went on, "a woman from Truxillo, Senora de +Moche. Ever since she has been there my father has been growing worse +and worse." + +"Who is this Senora de Moche?" asked Kennedy, studying the Senorita as +if she were under a lens. + +"A Peruvian of an old Indian family," she replied. "She has come to New +York with her son, Alfonso, who is studying at the University here. I +knew him in Peru," she added, as if by way of confession, "when he was a +student at the University of Lima." + +There was something in both her tone and her manner that would lead one +to believe that she bore no enmity toward the son--indeed quite the +contrary--whatever might be her feelings toward the mother of de Moche. + +Kennedy reached for our university catalogue and found the name, Alfonso +de Moche, a post-graduate student in the School of Engineering, and +therefore not in any of Kennedy's own courses. I could see that Craig +was growing more and more interested. + +"And you think," he queried, "that in some way this woman is connected +with the strange change that has taken place in your father?" + +"I don't know," she temporized, but the tone of her answer was +sufficient to convey the impression that in her heart she did suspect +something, she knew not what. + +"It's not a long run to Atlantic Beach," considered Kennedy. "I have one +or two things that I must finish up first, however." + +"Then you will come down tonight?" she asked, as Kennedy rose and took +the little white silk gloved hand which she extended. + +"Tonight surely," answered Craig, holding the door for her to pass out. + +"Well," I said, when we were alone, "what is it--a romance or a crime?" + +"Both, I think," he replied abstractedly, taking up the experiment which +the visit had interrupted. + +"I think," he remarked late in the afternoon, as he threw off his +acid-stained smock, "that I will go over to the University library +before it closes and refresh my mind on some of those old Peruvian +antiquities and traditions. The big fish or _peje grande_, as I remember +it, was the name given by the natives to one of the greatest buried +treasures about the time of Pizarro's conquest. If I remember +correctly, Mansiche was the great cacique, or something of that +sort--the ruler in northern Peru at that time. He is said to have left a +curse on any native who ever divulged the whereabouts of the treasure +and the curse was also to fall on any Spaniard who might discover it." + +For more than an hour Kennedy delved into the archeological lore in the +library. Then he rejoined me at the laboratory and after a hasty bite of +dinner we hurried down to the station. + +That evening we stepped off the train at Atlantic Beach to make our way +to the Beach Inn. The resort was just springing into night life, as the +millions of incandescent lights flooded it with a radiance which we +could see reflected in the sky long before our train arrived. There was +something intoxicating about the combination of the bracing salt air and +the gay throngs seeking pleasure. + +Instead of taking the hotel 'bus, Kennedy decided to stroll to the inn +along the boardwalk. We were just about to turn into the miniature park +which separated the inn from the walk when we noticed a wheel chair +coming in our direction. In it were a young man and a woman of +well-preserved middle age. They had evidently been enjoying the ocean +breeze after dinner, and the sound of music had drawn them back to the +hotel. + +We entered the lobby of the inn just as the first number of the evening +concert by the orchestra was finishing. Kennedy stood at the desk for a +moment while Senorita Mendoza was being paged, and ran his eye over the +brilliant scene. In a minute the boy returned and led us through the +maze of wicker chairs to an alcove just off the hall which later in the +evening would be turned into a ballroom. + +On a wide settee, the Senorita was talking with animation to a tall, +clean-cut young man in evening clothes, whose face bore the tan of a sun +much stronger than that at Atlantic Beach. He was unmistakably of the +type of American soldier of fortune. In a deep rocker before them sat a +heavy-set man whose piercing black eyes beetled forth from under bushy +eyebrows. He was rather distinguished looking, and his close-cropped +hair and mustache set him off as a man of affairs and consequence in his +own country. + +As we approached, Senorita Mendoza rose quickly. I wondered how she was +going to get over the awkward situation of introducing us, for surely +she did not intend to let her father know that she was employing a +detective. She did it most cleverly, with a significant look at Kennedy +which he understood. + +"Good-evening. I am delighted to see you," she greeted. Then, turning to +her father, she introduced Craig. "This is Professor Kennedy," she +explained, "whom I met at the reception of the Hispano-American Society. +You remember I told you he was so much interested in our Peruvian +ruins." + +Don Luis's eyes seemed fairly to glitter with excitement. They were +prominent eyes, staring, and I could not help studying them. + +"Then, Senor Kennedy," he exclaimed, "you know of our ruins of +Chan-Chan, of Chima--those wonderful places--and have heard the legend +of the _peje grande_?" His eyes, by that time, were almost starting from +their sockets, and I noticed that the pupils were dilated almost to the +size of the iris. "We must sit down," he went on, "and talk about Peru." + +The soldier of fortune also had risen as we approached. In her soft +musical voice, the Senorita now interrupted her father. + +"Professor Kennedy, let me introduce you to Mr. Lockwood, my father's +partner in a mining project which brings us to New York." + +As Kennedy and I shook hands with the young mining engineer, I felt that +Lockwood was something more to her than a mere partner in her father's +mining venture. + +We drew up chairs and joined the circle. + +Kennedy said something about mining and the very word "mine" seemed to +excite Senor Mendoza still further. + +"Your American financiers have lost millions in mining in Peru," he +exclaimed excitedly, taking out a beautifully chased gold cigarette +case, "but we are going to make more millions than they ever dreamed of, +because we are simply going to mine for the products of centuries of +labor already done, for the great treasure of Truxillo." + +He opened the cigarette case and handed it about. The cigarettes seemed +to be his own special brand. We lighted up and puffed away for a moment. +There was a peculiar taste about them, however, which I did not like. In +fact, I think that the Latin-American cigarettes do not seem to appeal +to an American very much, anyhow. + +As we talked, I noticed that Kennedy evidently shared my own tastes, for +he allowed his cigarette to go out, and after a puff or two I did the +same. For the sake of my own comfort I drew out one of my own +cigarettes as soon as I could do so politely. + +"We are not the only ones who have sought the _peje grande_," resumed +Mendoza eagerly, "but we are the only ones who are seeking it in the +right place, and," he added, leaning over with a whisper, "I am the only +one who has the concession, the monopoly, from the government to seek in +what we know to be the right place. Others have found the little fish. +We shall find the big fish." + +He had raised his voice from the whisper and I caught the Senorita +looking anxiously at Kennedy, as much as to say, "You see? His mind is +full of only one subject." + +Senor Mendoza's eyes had wandered from us and he seemed all of a sudden +to grow wild. + +"We shall find it," he cried, "no matter what obstacles man or devil put +in our way. It is ours--for a simple piece of engineering--ours! The +curse of Mansiche--pouf!" + +He snapped his fingers almost defiantly as he said it in a high-pitched +voice. There was an air of bravado about it and I could not help feeling +that perhaps in his heart he was not so sure of himself as he would have +others think. It was as though some diabolical force had taken +possession of his brain and he fought it off. + +Kennedy quickly followed the staring glance of Mendoza. Out on the broad +veranda, by an open window a few yards from us, sat the woman of the +wheel chair. The young man who accompanied her had his back toward us +for the moment, but she was looking fixedly in our direction, paying no +attention apparently to the music. She was a large woman, with dark +hair, and contrasting full red lips. Her face, in marked contradiction +to her Parisian costume and refined manners, had a slight copper +swarthiness about it. + +But it was her eyes that arrested and held one's attention. Whether it +was in the eyes themselves or in the way that she used them, there could +be no mistake about the hypnotic power that their owner wielded. She saw +us looking at her, but it made no difference. Not for an instant did she +allow our gaze to distract her in the projection of their weird power +straight at Don Luis himself. + +Don Luis, on his part, seemed fascinated. + +He rose, and, for a moment, I thought that he was going over to speak to +her, as if drawn by that intangible attraction which Poe has so cleverly +expressed in his "Imp of the Perverse." Instead, in the midst of the +number which the orchestra was playing, he turned and, as though by a +superhuman effort, moved away among the guests out into the brighter +lights and gayety of the lobby. + +I glanced up in time to see the anxious look on the Senorita's face +change momentarily into a flash of hatred toward the woman in the +window. + +The young man turned just about that time, and there was no mistaking +the ardent glance he directed toward the fair Peruvian. I fancied that +her face softened a bit, too. + +She resumed her normal composure as she said to Lockwood, "You will +excuse me, I know. Father is tired of the music. I think I will take him +for a turn down the boardwalk. If you can join us in our rooms in an +hour or so, may we see you!" she asked, with another significant glance +at Kennedy. + +Craig had barely time to reply that we should be delighted before she +was gone. Evidently she did not dare let her father get very far out of +her sight. + +We sat for a few moments smoking and chatting with Lockwood. + +"What is the curse of Mansiche?" asked Kennedy at length. + +"Oh, I don't know," returned Lockwood, impatiently flicking the ashes +from his cigar, as though such stories had no interest for the practical +mind of an engineer. "Some old superstition. I don't know much about the +story; but I do know that there is treasure in that great old Chimu +mound near Truxillo, and that Don Luis has got us the government +concession to bore into it, if we can only raise the capital to carry it +out." + +Kennedy showed no disposition to leave the academic and become +interested in the thing from the financial standpoint, and the +conversation dragged. + +"I beg pardon," apologized Lockwood at length, "but I have some very +important letters that I must get off before the mail closes. I'll see +you, I presume, when the Senorita and Don Luis come back?" + +Kennedy nodded. In fact, I think he was rather glad of the opportunity +to look things over unhampered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE BURIED TREASURE + + +Senora de Moche--for I had no doubt now that this was the Peruvian +Indian woman of whom Senorita Inez had spoken--seemed to lose interest +in us and in the concert the moment Don Luis went out. Her son also +seemed restive. He was a good-looking fellow, with high forehead, nose +slightly aquiline, chin and mouth firm, in fact the whole face refined +and intellectual, though tinged with melancholy. + +We strolled down the wide veranda, and as we passed the woman and her +son I was conscious of that strange feeling (which psychologists tell +us, however, has no foundation) of being stared at from behind. + +Kennedy turned suddenly and again we passed, just in time to catch in a +low tone from the young man, "Yes, I have seen him at the University. +Everyone knows that he--" + +The rest was lost. + +It was quite evident now that they thought we were interested in them. +There was, then, no use in our watching them further. Indeed, when we +turned again, we found that the Senora and Alfonso had risen, gone +through the long, open window inside, and were making their way slowly +to the elevator. + +The door of the elevator had scarcely closed when Kennedy turned on his +heel and quickly made his way back to the alcove where we had been +sitting. Lying about on the ash tray on a little wicker table were +several of Mendoza's half-burned cigarettes. We sat down a moment and, +after a hasty glance around, Craig gathered them up and folded them in a +piece of paper. + +Leisurely Kennedy strolled over to the desk, and, as guests in a summer +hotel will do, looked over the register. The Mendozas, father and +daughter, were registered in rooms 810 and 812, a suite on the eighth +floor. Lockwood was across the hall in 811. + +Turning the pages, Kennedy paused, then nudged me. Senora de Moche and +Senor Alfonso de Moche were on the same floor in 839 and 841, just +around an "L" in the hall. The two parties must meet frequently not only +downstairs in the inn, but in the corridors and elevators. + +Kennedy said nothing, but glanced at his watch. We had nearly +three-quarters of an hour to wait yet until our pretty client returned. + +"There's no use in wasting time or in trying to conceal our identity," +he said finally, drawing a card from his pocket and handing it to the +clerk. "Senora de Moche, please." + +Much to my surprise, the Senora telephoned down that she would see us in +her own sitting-room, and I followed Kennedy into the elevator. + +Alfonso was out and the Senora was alone. + +"I hope that you will pardon me," began Craig with an elaborate +explanation, "but I have become interested in an opportunity to invest +in a Peruvian venture and they tell me at the office that you are a +Peruvian. I thought that perhaps you could advise me." + +She looked at us keenly. I fancied that she detected the subterfuge, yet +she did not try to avoid us. On closer view, her eyes were really +remarkable--those of a woman endowed with an abundance of health and +energy--eyes that were full of what the old phrenologists used to call +amativeness, denoting a nature capable of intense passion, whether of +love or hate. Yet I confess that I could not find anything especially +abnormal about them, as I had about Mendoza's. + +"I suppose you mean that scheme of Senor Mendoza and his friend, Mr. +Lockwood," she returned, speaking rapidly. "Let me tell you about it. +You may know that the Chimu tribes in the north were the wealthiest at +the time of the coming of the Spaniards. Well, they had a custom of +burying with their dead all their movable property. Sometimes a common +grave or _huaca_ was given to many. That would become a cache of +treasure. + +"Back in the seventeenth century," she continued, leaning forward +eagerly as she talked, "a Spaniard opened a Chimu _huaca_ and found gold +that is said to have been worth a million dollars. An Indian told him of +it. After he had shown him the treasure, the Indian told the Spaniard +that he had given him only the little fish, the _peje chica_, but that +some day he would give him the big fish, the _peje grande_. + +"The Indian died," she went on solemnly, flashing at Craig a glance from +her wonderful eyes. "He was poisoned by the other members of his tribe." +She paused, then flashed, "That is my tribe, my family." + +She paused a moment. "The big fish is still a secret--or at least it +was until they got it from my brother, to whom the tradition had been +intrusted. They drove him crazy--until he talked. Then, after he had +told the secret, and lost his mind, he threw himself one day into Lake +Titicaca." + +She stopped dramatically in her passionate out-pouring of the tragedies +that had followed the hidden treasure. + +"I cannot tell you more than you probably already know," she resumed, +watching our faces intently. "You know, I suppose, that the treasure is +believed to be in a large mound, a tumulus I think you call it, visible +from our town of Truxillo. Many people have tried to open it, but the +mass of sand pours down on them and they have been discouraged. But +Senor Mendoza believes that he knows just where to bore and Mr. Lockwood +has a plan for a well-timbered tunnel which can be driven at the right +point." + +She said it with a sort of quiet assurance that conveyed the impression +without her saying it that the venture was somehow doomed to failure, +that these desecrators were merely toying with fate. All through her +remarks one could feel that she suspected Mendoza of having been +responsible for the downfall and tragedy of her brother, who had +betrayed the age-old secret. + +Her eyes assumed a far-away, dreamy look as she went on. "You must know +that we Peruvians have been so educated that we never explore ruins for +hidden treasure--not even if we have the knowledge of engineering to do +so." + +Apparently she was thinking of her son and his studies at the +University. One could follow her thoughts as they flitted from him to +the beautiful girl with whom she had seen us. + +"We are a peculiar race," she proceeded. "We seldom intermarry with +other races. We are as proud as Senor Mendoza, as proud of our unmixed +lineage as your 'belted earls.'" + +She said it with a quiet dignity quite in contrast with the nervous, +hasty manner of Don Luis. There was no doubt that the race feeling cut +deep. + +Kennedy had been following her closely and I could see that the cross +currents of superstition, avarice and race hatred in the case presented +a tangle that challenged him. + +"Thank you," he murmured, rising. "You have told me quite enough to make +me think seriously before I join in any such undertaking." + +She smiled enigmatically and we bowed ourselves out. + +"A most baffling woman," was Craig's only comment as we rode down again +in the elevator to wait for the return of Don Luis and the Senorita. + +Scarcely had their chair set them down at the inn than Alfonso seemed to +appear from nowhere. He had evidently been waiting in the shadow of the +porch for them. + +We stood aside and watched the little drama. For a few minutes the +Senorita talked with him. One did not need to be told that she had a +deep regard for the young man. She wanted to see him, yet she did not +want to see him. Don Luis, on the contrary, seemed to become quite +restive and impatient again and to wish to cut the conversation short. + +It was self-evident that Alfonso was deeply in love with Inez. I +wondered whether, after all, the trouble was that the proud old +Castilian Don Luis would never consent to the marriage of his daughter +to one of Indian blood? Was he afraid of a love forbidden by race +prejudice? + +In any event, one could easily imagine the feelings of Alphonso toward +Lockwood, whom he saw carrying off the prize under his very eyes. As for +his mother, we had seen that the Peruvians of her caste were a proud old +race. Her son was the apple of her eye. Who were these to scorn her +race, her family? + +It was a little more than an hour after our first meeting when the +party, including Lockwood, who had finished his letters, gathered again +up in the rooms of the Mendozas. + +It was a delightful evening, even in spite of the tension on which we +were. We chatted about everything from archeology to Wall Street, until +I could well imagine how anyone possessed of an imagination susceptible +to the influence of mystery and tradition would succumb to the +glittering charm of the magic words, _peje chica_, and feel all the gold +hunter's enthusiasm when brought into the atmosphere of the _peje +grande_. Visions of hidden treasure seemed to throw a glamour over +everything. + +Kennedy and the Senorita had moved over to a window, where they were +gazing out on the fairyland of Atlantic Beach spread out before them, +while Lockwood and Don Luis were eagerly quizzing me on the +possibilities of newspaper publicity. + +"Oh, Professor Kennedy," I heard her say under her breath, "sometimes I +fear that it is the _mal de ojo_--the evil eye." + +I did not catch Craig's answer, but I did catch time and again narrowly +observing Don Luis. Our host was smoking furiously now, and his eyes had +even more than before that peculiar, staring look. By the way his veins +stood out I could see that Mendoza's heart action must be rapid. He was +talking more and more wildly as he grew more excited. Even Lockwood +noticed it and, I thought, frowned. + +Slowly the conviction was forced on me. The man was mad--raving mad! + +"Really, I must get back to the city tonight," I overheard Craig say to +the Senorita as finally he turned from the window toward us. + +Her face clouded, but she said nothing. + +"If you could arrange to have us dine with you tomorrow night up here, +however," he added quickly in a whisper, "I think I might be prepared to +take some action." + +"By all means," she replied eagerly, as though catching at anything that +promised aid. + +On the late train back, I half dozed, wondering what had caused +Mendoza's evident madness. Was it a sort of auto-hypnotism? There was, I +knew, a form of illusion known as ophthalmophobia--fear of the eye. It +ranged from mere aversion at being gazed at, all the way to the +subjective development of real physical illness out of otherwise +trifling ailments. If not that, what object could there be for anyone to +cause such a condition? Might it be for the purpose of robbery? Or might +it be for revenge? + +Back in the laboratory, Kennedy pulled out from a cabinet a peculiar +apparatus. It seemed to consist of a sort of triangular prism set with +its edge vertically on a rigid platform attached to a massive stand. + +Next he lighted one of the cigarette stubs which he had carried away so +carefully. The smoke curled up between a powerful light and the peculiar +instrument, while Craig peered through a lens, manipulating the thing +with exhaustless patience and skill. + +Finally he beckoned me over and I looked through, too. On a sort of fine +grating all I could see was a number of strange lines. + +"That," he explained in answer to my unspoken question as I continued to +gaze, "is one of the latest forms of the spectroscope, known as the +interferometer, with delicately ruled gratings in which power to resolve +the straight close lines in the spectrum is carried to the limit of +possibility. A small watch is delicate, but it bears no comparison to +the delicacy of these detraction spectroscopes. + +"Every substance, you know, is, when radiating light, characterized by +what at first appears to be almost a haphazard set of spectral lines +without relation to one another. But they are related by mathematical +laws and the apparent haphazard character is only the result of our lack +of knowledge of how to interpret the results." + +He resumed his place at the eye-piece to check over his results. +"Walter," he said finally with a twinkle of the eye, "I wish you'd go +out and find me a cat." + +"A cat?" I repeated. + +"Yes--a cat--felis domesticus, if it sounds better that way, a plain +ordinary cat." + +I jammed on my hat and, late as it was, sallied forth on this apparently +ridiculous mission. + +Several belated passers-by and a policeman watched me as though I were a +house-breaker and I felt like a fool, but at last by perseverance and +tact I managed to capture a fairly good specimen of the species and +transported it in my arms to the laboratory without an undue number of +scratches. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE WEED OF MADNESS + + +In my absence Craig had set to work on a peculiar apparatus, as though +he were distilling something from several of the other cigarette stubs. + +I placed the cat in a basket and watched Craig until finally he seemed +to be rewarded for his patient labors. It was well along toward morning +when he obtained in a test-tube a few drops of a colorless, almost +odorless liquid. + +I watched him curiously as he picked the cat out of the basket and held +it gently in his arms. With a dropper he sucked up a bit of the liquid +from the test-tube. Then he let a small drop fall into the eye of the +cat. + +The cat blinked a moment and I bent over to observe it more closely. The +cat's eye seemed to enlarge, even under the light, as if it were the +proverbial cat's eye under a bed. + +What did it mean? Was there such a thing as the drug of the evil eye? + +"What have you found?" I queried. + +"Something very much like the so-called 'weed of madness,' I think," he +replied slowly. + +"The weed of madness?" I repeated. + +"Yes, something like that Mexican toloache and the Hindu datura which +you must have heard about," he continued. "You know the jimson +weed--the Jamestown weed? It grows almost everywhere in the world, but +most thrivingly in the tropics. They are all related in some way, I +believe. The jimson weed on the Pacific coast of the Andes has large +white flowers which exhale a faint, repulsive odor. It is a harmless +looking plant with its thick tangle of leaves, a coarse green growth, +with trumpet-shaped flowers. But, to one who knows its properties, it is +quite too dangerously convenient. + +"I think those cigarettes have been doped," he went on positively. "It +isn't toloache that was used. I think it must be some particularly +virulent variety of the jimson weed. Perhaps it is in the preparation of +the thing. The seeds of the stramonium, which is the same thing, contain +a higher percentage of poison than the leaves and flowers. Perhaps they +were used. I can't say." + +He took a drop of the liquid he had isolated and added a drop of nitric +acid. Then he evaporated it by gentle heat and it left a residue which +was slightly yellow. + +Next he took from the shelf over his table a bottle marked alcoholic +solution, potassium hydrate, and let a drop fall on it. Instantly the +residue became a beautiful purple, turning rapidly to violet, then to +dark red and finally disappeared. + +"Stramonium all right," he nodded with satisfaction. "That was known as +Vitali's test. Yes, there was stramonium in those cigarettes--datura +stramonium--perhaps a trace of hyocyamino. They are all, like atropine, +mydriatic alkaloids, so-called from the effect on the eye. One +one-hundred-thousandth of a grain will affect the cat's eye. You saw how +it acted. It is more active than even atropine. Better yet, you +remember how Don Luis's eyes looked." + +"How about the Senora?" I put in. + +"Oh," he answered quickly, "her pupils were normal enough. Didn't you +notice that? This concentrated poison which has been used in Mendoza's +cigarettes does not kill, at least not outright. It is worse. Slowly it +accumulates in the system. It acts on the brain. Of all the dangers to +be met with in superstitious countries, these mydriatic alkaloids are +among the worst. They offer a chance for crimes of the most fiendish +nature--worse than the gun or the stiletto, and with little fear of +detection. It is the production of insanity!" + +Horrible though the idea was I could not doubt it in the face of Craig's +investigations and what I had already seen. In fact, it was necessary +for me only to recall the peculiar sensations I myself had experienced +after smoking merely a few puffs of one of Mendoza's cigarettes in order +to be convinced of the possible effect of the insidious poison contained +in the many that he smoked. + +It was almost dawn before Craig and I left the laboratory after his +discovery of the manner of the stramonium poisoning. I was thoroughly +tired, though not so much so that my dreams were not haunted by a +succession of baleful eyes peering at me from the darkness. + +I slept late, but Kennedy was about early at the laboratory, verifying +his experiments and checking over his results, carefully endeavoring to +isolate any other of the closely related mydriatic alkaloids that might +be contained in the noxious fumes of the poisoned tobacco. Though he was +already convinced of what was going on, I knew that he considered it a +matter of considerable medico-legal importance to be exact, for if the +affair ever came to the stage of securing an indictment, the charge +could be sustained only by specific proof. + +Early in the forenoon Kennedy left me alone in the laboratory and made a +trip downtown, where he visited a South American tobacco dealer and +placed a rush order for a couple of hundred cigarettes, duplicating in +shape and quality those which Senor Mendoza doza preferred, except, +however, the deadly drug which was in those he was smoking. + +I had some writing to do and was busily engaged at my typewriter when I +suddenly became conscious of that feeling of being watched. Perhaps I +had heard a footstep outside and did not remember it, but at any rate I +had the feeling. I stopped tapping the keys suddenly and wheeled about +in my chair just in time to catch a glimpse of a face dodging back from +the window. I don't think that I would be prepared to swear just who it +was, but there was just enough that was familiar about the fleeting +glimpse of the eyes to make me feel uncomfortable. + +I ran to the door, but it was too late. The intruder had disappeared. +Still, the more I thought about it, the more determined I was to verify +my suspicions, if possible. I put on my hat and walked over to the +registrar's office. Sure enough, Alfonso de Moche was registered in the +summer school as well as in the regular course. I was now fully +convinced that it was he who had been watching us. + +Not satisfied, I determined to make further inquiries about the young +man. He had been at the University that morning, I learned from one of +his professors, and that convinced me more than ever that he had +employed at least a part of the time in spying on us. As I had expected, +the professor told me that he was an excellent student, though very +quiet and reserved. His mind seemed to run along the line of engineering +and mining, especially, and I could not help drawing the conclusion that +perhaps he, too, was infected by the furore for treasure hunting, in +spite of his Indian ancestry. + +Nothing further occurred, however, during the day to excite suspicion +and Craig listened with interest, though without comment, when I related +what had happened. He divided his time during the rest of the day +between some experimental work of his own and fits of deep reverie in +which he was evidently trying to piece together the broken strands of +the strange story in which we were now concerned. + +The package of cigarettes which he had ordered was delivered late in the +afternoon. Kennedy had already wrapped up a small package of a powder +and filled a small atomizer with some liquid. Stowing these things away +in his pockets as best he could, with a little vial which he shoved into +his waistcoat pocket, he announced that he was ready at last to take an +early train to Atlantic Beach. + +We dined that night, as Craig had requested, with the Mendozas and +Lockwood up in the sitting-room of Don Luis's suite. It was a +delightfully situated room, overlooking the boardwalk and the ocean, and +the fresh wind that was wafted in from the water made it quite the equal +of a roof garden. + +Dinner had been ordered but not served, when Craig maneuvered to get a +few minutes alone with Inez. Although I could not hear, I gathered that +he was outlining at least a part of his plans to her and seeking her +co-operation. She seemed to understand and approve, and I really believe +that the dinner was the first in a long time that the distracted girl +had really enjoyed. + +While we were waiting for it, I suddenly became aware that she had +contrived to leave Kennedy and myself alone in the sitting-room for a +moment. It was evidently part of Craig's plan. Instantly he opened a +large case in which Mendoza kept cigarettes and hastily substituted for +those in it an equal number of the cigarettes which he had had made. + +The dinner itself was more like a family party than a formal dinner, for +Kennedy, when he wanted to do so, had a way of ingratiating himself and +leading the conversation so that everyone was at his ease. Everything +progressed smoothly until we came to the coffee. The Senorita poured, +and as she raised the coffee pot Kennedy called our attention to a long +line of colliers just on the edge of the horizon, slowly making their +way up the coast. + +I was sitting next to the Senorita, not particularly interested in +colliers at that moment. From a fold in her dress I saw her hastily draw +a little vial and pour a bit of yellowish, syrupy liquid into the cup +which she was preparing for her father. + +I could not help looking at her quickly. She saw me, then raised her +finger to her lips with an explanatory glance at Kennedy, who was +keeping the others interested in colliers. Instantly I recognized the +little vial that Kennedy had shoved into his vest pocket. + +More coffee and innumerable cigarettes followed. I did my best to aid in +the conversation, but my real interest was centered in Don Luis himself, +whom I could not help watching closely. + +Was it a fact or was it merely imagination? He seemed quite different. +The pupils of his eyes did not seem to be quite so dilated as they had +been the night before. Even his heart action appeared to be more normal. +I think the Senorita noticed it, too. + +Dinner over and darkness cutting off the magnificent sweep of ocean +view, Inez suggested that we go down to the concert, as had been their +custom. It was the first time that Kennedy had not seemed to fall in +with any of her suggestions, but I knew that that, too, must be part of +his preconcerted plan. + +"If you will pardon us," he excused, "Mr. Jameson and I have some +friends over at Stillson Hall whom we have promised to run in to see. I +think this would be a good opportunity. We'll rejoin you--in the alcove +where we were last night, if possible." + +No one objected. In fact I think Lockwood was rather glad to have a +chance to talk to Inez, for Kennedy had monopolized a great deal of her +attention. + +We left them at the elevator, but instead of leaving the Inn Kennedy +edged his way around into the shadow of a doorway where we could watch. +Fortunately the Senorita managed to get the same settee in the corner +which we had occupied the night before. + +A moment later I caught a glimpse of a familiar face at the long window +opening on the veranda. Senora de Moche and her son had drawn up +chairs, just outside. + +They had not seen us and, as far as we knew, had no reason to suspect +that we were about. As we watched the two groups, I could not fail to +note that the change in Don Luis was really marked. There was none of +the wildness in his conversation, as there had been. Once he even met +the keen eye of the Senora, but it did not seem to have the effect it +had had on the previous occasion. + +"What was it you had the Senorita drop into his coffee?" I asked Craig +under my breath. + +"You saw that?" he smiled. "It was pilocarpine, jaborandi, a plant found +largely in Brazil, one of the antidotes for stramonium poisoning. It +doesn't work with everyone. But it seems to have done so with Mendoza. +Besides, the caffeine in the coffee probably aided the pilocarpine. Did +you notice how it contracted his pupils almost back to normal again?" + +Kennedy did not take his eyes off the two groups as he talked. "I've got +at the case from a brand-new angle, I think," he added. "Unless I am +mistaken, when the criminal sees Don Luis getting better, it will mean +another attempt to substitute more cigarettes doped with that drug." + +Satisfied so far with the play he was staging, Kennedy moved over to the +hotel desk, and after a quiet conference with the head clerk, found out +that the room next to the suite of the Mendozas was empty. The clerk +gave him several keys and with a last look at the Senora and her son, to +see whether they were getting restive, I followed Craig into the +elevator and we rode up to the eighth floor again. + +The halls were deserted now and we entered the room next to the Mendozas +without being observed. It was a simple matter after that to open a +rather heavy door that communicated between the two suites. + +Instead of switching on the light, Kennedy first looked about carefully +until he was assured that no one was there. Quickly he sprinkled on the +floor from the hall door to the table on which the case of cigarettes +lay some of the powder which I had seen him wrap up in the laboratory +before we left. Then with the atomizer he sprayed over it something that +had a pungent, familiar odor, walking backwards from the hall door as he +did so. + +"Don't you want more light?" I asked, starting to cross to a window to +raise a shade to let the moonlight stream in. + +"Don't walk on it, Walter," he whispered, pushing me back. "First I +sprinkled some powdered iodine and then ammonia enough to moisten it. It +evaporates quickly, leaving what I call my anti-burglar powder." + +He had finished his work and now the evening wind was blowing away the +slight fumes that had risen. For a few moments he left the door into the +next room open to clear away the odor, then quietly closed it, but did +not lock it. + +In the darkness we settled ourselves now for a vigil that was to last we +knew not how long. Neither of us spoke as we half crouched in the shadow +of the next room, listening. + +Slowly the time passed. Would anyone take advantage of the opportunity +to tamper with that box of cigarettes on Mendoza's table? Who was it who +had conceived and executed this devilish plot? What was the purpose +back of it all? + +Once or twice we heard the elevator door clang and waited expectantly, +but nothing happened. I began to wonder whether if someone had a +pass-key to the Mendoza suite we could hear them enter. The outside hall +was thickly carpeted and deadened every footfall if one exercised only +reasonable caution. + +"Don't you think we might leave the door ajar a little?" I suggested +anxiously. + +"Sh!" was Kennedy's only comment in the negative. + +I glanced now and then at my watch and was surprised to see how early it +was. The minutes were surely leaden-footed. + +In the darkness and silence I fell to reviewing the weird succession of +events which had filled the past two days. I am not by nature +superstitious, but in the darkness I could well imagine a staring +succession of eyes, beginning with the dilated pupils of Don Luis and +always ending with those remarkable piercing black eyes of the Indian +woman with the melancholy-visaged son. + +Suddenly I heard in the next room what sounded like a series of little +explosions, as though someone were treading on match-heads. + +"My burglar powder," muttered Craig in a hoarse whisper. "Every step, +even those of a mouse running across, sets it off!" + +He rose quickly and threw open the door into the Mendoza suite. I sprang +through after him. + +There, in the shadows, I saw a dark form, starting back in retreat. But +it was too late. + +In the dim light of the little explosions, I caught a glimpse of a +face--the face of the person who had been craftily working on the +superstition of Don Luis, now that his influence had got from the +government the precious concession, working with the dread drug to drive +him insane and thus capture both Mendoza's share of the fortune as well +as his daughter, well knowing that suspicion would rest on the jealous +Indian woman with the wonderful eyes whose brother had already been +driven insane and whose son Inez Mendoza really loved better than +himself--the soldier of fortune, Lockwood. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Social Gangster, by Arthur B. 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