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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5007.txt b/5007.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0ff593 --- /dev/null +++ b/5007.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11559 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poisoned Pen, 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 Poisoned Pen + (From the Craig Kennedy series) + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Posting Date: September 15, 2012 [EBook #5007] +Release Date: February, 2004 +First Posted: April 8, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POISONED PEN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + + +THE CRAIG KENNEDY SERIES + +THE POISONED PEN + + +BY + + +ARTHUR. B. REEVE + + +FRONTISPIECE BY WILL FOSTER + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + I THE POISONED PEN + + II THE YEGGMAN + + III THE GERM OF DEATH + + IV THE FIREBUG + + V THE CONFIDENCE KING + + VI THE SAND-HOG + + VII THE WHITE SLAVE + +VIII THE FORGER + + IX THE UNOFFICIAL SPY + + X THE SMUGGLER + + XI THE INVISIBLE RAY + + XII THE CAMPAIGN GRAFTER + + + + +THE POISONED PEN + + + +I + +THE POISONED PEN + + +Kennedy's suit-case was lying open on the bed, and he was literally +throwing things into it from his chiffonier, as I entered after a +hurried trip up-town from the Star office in response to an urgent +message from him. + +"Come, Walter," he cried, hastily stuffing in a package of clean +laundry without taking off the wrapping-paper, "I've got your suit-case +out. Pack up whatever you can in five minutes. We must take the six +o'clock train for Danbridge." + +I did not wait to hear any more. The mere mention of the name of the +quaint and quiet little Connecticut town was sufficient. For Danbridge +was on everybody's lips at that time. It was the scene of the now +famous Danbridge poisoning case--a brutal case in which the pretty +little actress, Vera Lytton, had been the victim. + +"I've been retained by Senator Adrian Willard," he called from his +room, as I was busy packing in mine. "The Willard family believe that +that young Dr. Dixon is the victim of a conspiracy--or at least Alma +Willard does, which comes to the same thing, and--well, the senator +called me up on long-distance and offered me anything I would name in +reason to take the case. Are you ready? Come on, then. We've simply got +to make that train." + +As we settled ourselves in the smoking-compartment of the Pullman, +which for some reason or other we had to ourselves, Kennedy spoke again +for the first time since our frantic dash across the city to catch the +train. + +"Now let us see, Walter," he began. "We've both read a good deal about +this case in the papers. Let's try to get our knowledge in an orderly +shape before we tackle the actual case itself." + +"Ever been in Danbridge?" I asked. + +"Never," he replied. "What sort of place is it?" + +"Mighty interesting," I answered; "a combination of old New England and +new, of ancestors and factories, of wealth and poverty, and above all +it is interesting for its colony of New-Yorkers--what shall I call +it?--a literary-artistic-musical combination, I guess." + +"Yes," he resumed, "I thought as much. Vera Lytton belonged to the +colony. A very talented girl, too--you remember her in 'The Taming of +the New Woman' last season? Well, to get back to the facts as we know +them at present. + +"Here is a girl with a brilliant future on the stage discovered by her +friend, Mrs. Boncour, in convulsions--practically insensible--with a +bottle of headache-powder and a jar of ammonia on her dressing-table. +Mrs. Boncour sends the maid for the nearest doctor, who happens to be a +Dr. Waterworth. Meanwhile she tries to restore Miss Lytton, but with no +result. She smells the ammonia and then just tastes the +headache-powder, a very foolish thing to do, for by the time Dr. +Waterworth arrives he has two patients." + +"No?" I corrected, "only one, for Miss Lytton was dead when he arrived, +according to his latest statement." + +"Very well, then--one. He arrives, Mrs. Boncour is ill, the maid knows +nothing at all about it, and Vera Lytton is dead. He, too, smells the +ammonia, tastes the headache-powder--just the merest trace--and then he +has two patients, one of them himself. We must see him, for his +experience must have been appalling. How he ever did it I can't +imagine, but he saved both himself and Mrs. Boncour from +poisoning--cyanide, the papers say, but of course we can't accept that +until we see. It seems to me, Walter, that lately the papers have made +the rule in murder cases: When in doubt, call it cyanide." + +Not relishing Kennedy in the humour of expressing his real opinion of +the newspapers, I hastily turned the conversation back again by asking, +"How about the note from Dr. Dixon?" + +"Ah, there is the crux of the whole case--that note from Dixon. Let us +see. Dr. Dixon is, if I am informed correctly, of a fine and +aristocratic family, though not wealthy. I believe it has been +established that while he was an interne in a city hospital he became +acquainted with Vera Lytton, after her divorce from that artist +Thurston. Then comes his removal to Danbridge and his meeting and later +his engagement with Miss Willard. On the whole, Walter, judging from +the newspaper pictures, Alma Willard is quite the equal of Vera Lytton +for looks, only of a different style of beauty. Oh, well, we shall see. +Vera decided to spend the spring and summer at Danbridge in the +bungalow of her friend, Mrs. Boncour, the novelist. That's when things +began to happen." + +"Yes," I put in, "when you come to know Danbridge as I did after that +summer when you were abroad, you'll understand, too. Everybody knows +everybody else's business. It is the main occupation of a certain set, +and the per-capita output of gossip is a record that would stagger the +census bureau. Still, you can't get away from the note, Craig. There it +is, in Dixon's own handwriting, even if he does deny it: 'This will +cure your headache. Dr. Dixon.' That's a damning piece of evidence." + +"Quite right," he agreed hastily; "the note was queer, though, wasn't +it? They found it crumpled up in the jar of ammonia. Oh, there are lots +of problems the newspapers have failed to see the significance of, let +alone trying to follow up." + +Our first visit in Danbridge was to the prosecuting attorney, whose +office was not far from the station on the main street. Craig had wired +him, and he had kindly waited to see us, for it was evident that +Danbridge respected Senator Willard and every one connected with him. + +"Would it be too much to ask just to see that note that was found in +the Boncour bungalow?" asked Craig. + +The prosecutor, an energetic young man, pulled out of a document-case a +crumpled note which had been pressed flat again. On it in clear, deep +black letters were the words, just as reported: + + This will cure your headache. + + DR. DIXON. + +"How about the handwriting?" asked Kennedy. + +The lawyer pulled out a number of letters. "I'm afraid they will have +to admit it," he said with reluctance, as if down in his heart he hated +to prosecute Dixon. "We have lots of these, and no handwriting expert +could successfully deny the identity of the writing." + +He stowed away the letters without letting Kennedy get a hint as to +their contents. Kennedy was examining the note carefully. + +"May I count on having this note for further examination, of course +always at such times and under such conditions as you agree to?" + +The attorney nodded. "I am perfectly willing to do anything not illegal +to accommodate the senator," he said. "But, on the other hand, I am +here to do my duty for the state, cost whom it may." + +The Willard house was in a virtual state of siege. Newspaper reporters +from Boston and New York were actually encamped at every gate, terrible +as an army, with cameras. It was with some difficulty that we got in, +even though we were expected, for some of the more enterprising had +already fooled the family by posing as officers of the law and +messengers from Dr. Dixon. + +The house was a real, old colonial mansion with tall white pillars, a +door with a glittering brass knocker, which gleamed out severely at you +as you approached through a hedge of faultlessly trimmed boxwoods. + +Senator, or rather former Senator, Willard met us in the library, and a +moment later his daughter Alma joined him. She was tall, like her +father, a girl of poise and self-control. Yet even the schooling of +twenty-two years in rigorous New England self-restraint could not hide +the very human pallor of her face after the sleepless nights and +nervous days since this trouble had broken on her placid existence. Yet +there was a mark of strength and determination on her face that was +fascinating. The man who would trifle with this girl, I felt, was +playing fast and loose with her very life. I thought then, and I said +to Kennedy afterward: "If this Dr. Dixon is guilty, you have no right +to hide it from that girl. Anything less than the truth will only +blacken the hideousness of the crime that has already been committed." + +The senator greeted us gravely, and I could not but take it as a good +omen when, in his pride of wealth and family and tradition, he laid +bare everything to us, for the sake of Alma Willard. It was clear that +in this family there was one word that stood above all others, "Duty." + +As we were about to leave after an interview barren of new facts, a +young man was announced, Mr. Halsey Post. He bowed politely to us, but +it was evident why he had called, as his eye followed Alma about the +room. + +"The son of the late Halsey Post, of Post & Vance, silversmiths, who +have the large factory in town, which you perhaps noticed," explained +the senator. "My daughter has known him all her life. A very fine young +man." + +Later, we learned that the senator had bent every effort toward +securing Halsey Post as a son-in-law, but his daughter had had views of +her own on the subject. + +Post waited until Alma had withdrawn before he disclosed the real +object of his visit. In almost a whisper, lest she should still be +listening, he said, "There is a story about town that Vera Lytton's +former husband--an artist named Thurston--was here just before her +death." + +Senator Willard leaned forward as if expecting to hear Dixon +immediately acquitted. None of us was prepared for the next remark. + +"And the story goes on to say that he threatened to make a scene over a +wrong he says he has suffered from Dixon. I don't know anything more +about it, and I tell you only because I think you ought to know what +Danbridge is saying under its breath." + +We shook off the last of the reporters who affixed themselves to us, +and for a moment Kennedy dropped in at the little bungalow to see Mrs. +Boncour. She was much better, though she had suffered much. She had +taken only a pinhead of the poison, but it had proved very nearly fatal. + +"Had Miss Lytton any enemies whom you think of, people who were jealous +of her professionally or personally?" asked Craig. + +"I should not even have said Dr. Dixon was an enemy," she replied +evasively. + +"But this Mr. Thurston," put in Kennedy quickly. "One is not usually +visited in perfect friendship by a husband who has been divorced." + +She regarded him keenly for a moment. "Halsey Post told you that," she +said. "No one else knew he was here. But Halsey Post was an old friend +of both Vera and Mr. Thurston before they separated. By chance he +happened to drop in the day Mr. Thurston was here, and later in the day +I gave him a letter to forward to Mr. Thurston, which had come after +the artist left. I'm sure no one else knew the artist. He was here the +morning of the day she died, and--and--that's every bit I'm going to +tell you about him, so there. I don't know why he came or where he +went." + +"That's a thing we must follow up later," remarked Kennedy as we made +our adieus. "Just now I want to get the facts in hand. The next thing +on my programme is to see this Dr. Waterworth." + +We found the doctor still in bed; in fact, a wreck as the result of his +adventure. He had little to correct in the facts of the story which had +been published so far. But there were many other details of the +poisoning he was quite willing to discuss frankly. + +"It was true about the jar of ammonia?" asked Kennedy. + +"Yes," he answered. "It was standing on her dressing-table with the +note crumpled up in it, just as the papers said." + +"And you have no idea why it was there?" + +"I didn't say that. I can guess. Fumes of ammonia are one of the +antidotes for poisoning of this kind." + +"But Vera Lytton could hardly have known that," objected Kennedy. + +"No, of course not. But she probably did know that ammonia is good for +just that sort of faintness which she must have experienced after +taking the powder. Perhaps she thought of sal volatile, I don't know. +But most people know that ammonia in some form is good for faintness of +this sort, even if they don't know anything about cyanides and---" + +"Then it was cyanide?" interrupted Craig. + +"Yes," he replied slowly. It was evident that he was suffering great +physical and nervous anguish as the result of his too intimate +acquaintance with the poisons in question. "I will tell you precisely +how it was, Professor Kennedy. When I was called in to see Miss Lytton +I found her on the bed. I pried open her jaws and smelled the sweetish +odour of the cyanogen gas. I knew then what she had taken, and at the +moment she was dead. In the next room I heard some one moaning. The +maid said that it was Mrs. Boncour, and that she was deathly sick. I +ran into her room, and though she was beside herself with pain I +managed to control her, though she struggled desperately against me. I +was rushing her to the bathroom, passing through Miss Lytton's room. +'What's wrong?' I asked as I carried her along. 'I took some of that,' +she replied, pointing to the bottle on the dressing-table. + +"I put a small quantity of its crystal contents on my tongue. Then I +realised the most tragic truth of my life. I had taken one of the +deadliest poisons in the world. The odour of the released gas of +cyanogen was strong. But more than that, the metallic taste and the +horrible burning sensation told of the presence of some form of +mercury, too. In that terrible moment my brain worked with the +incredible swiftness of light. In a flash I knew that if I added malic +acid to the mercury--perchloride of mercury or corrosive sublimate--I +would have calomel or subchloride of mercury, the only thing that would +switch the poison out of my system and Mrs. Boncour's. + +"Seizing her about the waist, I hurried into the dining-room. On a +sideboard was a dish of fruit. I took two apples. I made her eat one, +core and all. I ate the other. The fruit contained the malic acid I +needed to manufacture the calomel, and I made it right there in +nature's own laboratory. But there was no time to stop. I had to act +just as quickly to neutralise that cyanide, too. Remembering the +ammonia, I rushed back with Mrs. Boncour, and we inhaled the fumes. +Then I found a bottle of peroxide of hydrogen. I washed out her stomach +with it, and then my own. Then I injected some of the peroxide into +various parts of her body. The peroxide of hydrogen and hydrocyanic +acid, you know, make oxamide, which is a harmless compound. + +"The maid put Mrs. Boncour to bed, saved. I went to my house, a wreck. +Since then I have not left this bed. With my legs paralysed I lie here, +expecting each hour to be my last." + +"Would you taste an unknown drug again to discover the nature of a +probable poison?" asked Craig. + +"I don't know," he answered slowly, "but I suppose I would. In such a +case a conscientious doctor has no thought of self. He is there to do +things, and he does them, according to the best that is in him. In +spite of the fact that I haven't had one hour of unbroken sleep since +that fatal day, I suppose I would do it again." + +When we were leaving, I remarked: "That is a martyr to science. Could +anything be more dramatic than his willing penalty for his devotion to +medicine?" + +We walked along in silence. "Walter, did you notice he said not a word +of condemnation of Dixon, though the note was before his eyes? Surely +Dixon has some strong supporters in Danbridge, as well as enemies." + +The next morning we continued our investigation. We found Dixon's +lawyer, Leland, in consultation with his client in the bare cell of the +county jail. Dixon proved to be a clear-eyed, clean-cut young man. The +thing that impressed me most about him, aside from the prepossession in +his favour due to the faith of Alma Willard, was the nerve he +displayed, whether guilty or innocent. Even an innocent man might well +have been staggered by the circumstantial evidence against him and the +high tide of public feeling, in spite of the support that he was +receiving. Leland, we learned, had been very active. By prompt work at +the time of the young doctor's arrest he had managed to secure the +greater part of Dr. Dixon's personal letters, though the prosecutor +secured some, the contents of which had not been disclosed. + +Kennedy spent most of the day in tracing out the movements of Thurston. +Nothing that proved important was turned up, and even visits to near-by +towns failed to show any sales of cyanide or sublimate to any one not +entitled to buy them. Meanwhile, in turning over the gossip of the +town, one of the newspapermen ran across the fact that the Boncour +bungalow was owned by the Posts, and that Halsey Post, as the executor +of the estate, was a more frequent visitor than the mere collection of +the rent would warrant. Mrs. Boncour maintained a stolid silence that +covered a seething internal fury when the newspaperman in question +hinted that the landlord and tenant were on exceptionally good terms. + +It was after a fruitless day of such search that we were sitting in the +reading-room of the Fairfield Hotel. Leland entered. His face was +positively white. Without a word he took us by the arm and led us +across Main Street and up a flight of stairs to his office. Then he +locked the door. + +"What's the matter?" asked Kennedy. + +"When I took this case," he said, "I believed down in my heart that +Dixon was innocent. I still believe it, but my faith has been rudely +shaken. I feel that you should know about what I have just found. As I +told you, we secured nearly all of Dr. Dixon's letters. I had not read +them all then. But I have been going through them to-night. Here is a +letter from Vera Lytton herself. You will notice it is dated the day of +her death." + +He laid the letter before us. It was written in a curious greyish-black +ink in a woman's hand, and read: + +DEAR HARRIS: + +Since we agreed to disagree we have at least been good friends, if no +longer lovers. I am not writing in anger to reproach you with your new +love, so soon after the old. I suppose Alma Willard is far better +suited to be your wife than is a poor little actress--rather looked +down on in this Puritan society here. But there is something I wish to +warn you about, for it concerns us all intimately. + +We are in danger of an awful mix-up if we don't look out. Mr. +Thurston--I had almost said my husband, though I don't know whether +that is the truth or not--who has just come over from New York, tells +me that there is some doubt about the validity of our divorce. You +recall he was in the South at the time I sued him, and the papers were +served on him in Georgia, He now says the proof of service was +fraudulent and that he can set aside the divorce. In that case you +might figure in a suit for alienating my affections. + +I do not write this with ill will, but simply to let you know how +things stand. If we had married, I suppose I would be guilty of bigamy. +At any rate, if he were disposed he could make a terrible scandal. + +Oh, Harris, can't you settle with him if he asks anything? Don't forget +so soon that we once thought we were going to be the happiest of +mortals--at least I did. Don't desert me, or the very earth will cry +out against you. I am frantic and hardly know what I am writing. My +head aches, but it is my heart that is breaking. Harris, I am yours +still, down in my heart, but not to be cast off like an old suit for a +new one. You know the old saying about a woman scorned. I beg you not +to go back on + + Your poor little deserted + + VERA. + +As we finished reading, Leland exclaimed, "That never must come before +the jury." + +Kennedy was examining the letter carefully. "Strange," he muttered. +"See how it was folded. It was written on the wrong side of the sheet, +or rather folded up with the writing outside. Where have these letters +been?" + +"Part of the time in my safe, part of the time this afternoon on my +desk by the window." + +"The office was locked, I suppose?" asked Kennedy. "There was no way to +slip this letter in among the others since you obtained them?" + +"None. The office has been locked, and there is no evidence of any one +having entered or disturbed a thing." + +He was hastily running over the pile of letters as if looking to see +whether they were all there. Suddenly he stopped. + +"Yes," he exclaimed excitedly, "one of them is gone." Nervously he +fumbled through them again. "One is gone," he repeated, looking at us, +startled. + +"What was it about?" asked Craig. + +"It was a note from an artist, Thurston, who gave the address of Mrs. +Boncour's bungalow--ah, I see you have heard of him. He asked Dixon's +recommendation of a certain patent headache medicine. I thought it +possibly evidential, and I asked Dixon about it. He explained it by +saying that he did not have a copy of his reply, but as near as he +could recall, he wrote that the compound would not cure a headache +except at the expense of reducing heart action dangerously. He says he +sent no prescription. Indeed, he thought it a scheme to extract advice +without incurring the charge for an office call and answered it only +because he thought Vera had become reconciled to Thurston again. I +can't find that letter of Thurston's. It is gone." + +We looked at each other in amazement. + +"Why, if Dixon contemplated anything against Miss Lytton, should he +preserve this letter from her?" mused Kennedy. "Why didn't he destroy +it?" + +"That's what puzzles me," remarked Leland. "Do you suppose some one has +broken in and substituted this Lytton letter for the Thurston letter?" + +Kennedy was scrutinising the letter, saying nothing. "I may keep it?" +he asked at length. Leland was quite willing and even undertook to +obtain some specimens of the writing of Vera Lytton. With these and the +letter Kennedy was working far into the night and long after I had +passed into a land troubled with many wild dreams of deadly poisons and +secret intrigues of artists. + +The next morning a message from our old friend First Deputy O'Connor in +New York told briefly of locating the rooms of an artist named Thurston +in one of the co-operative studio apartments. Thurston himself had not +been there for several days and was reported to have gone to Maine to +sketch. He had had a number of debts, but before he left they had all +been paid--strange to say, by a notorious firm of shyster lawyers, Kerr +& Kimmel. Kennedy wired back to find out the facts from Kerr & Kimmel +and to locate Thurston at any cost. + +Even the discovery of the new letter did not shake the wonderful +self-possession of Dr. Dixon. He denied ever having received it and +repeated his story of a letter from Thurston to which he had replied by +sending an answer, care of Mrs. Boncour, as requested. He insisted that +the engagement between Miss Lytton and himself had been broken before +the announcement of his engagement with Miss Willard. As for Thurston, +he said the man was little more than a name to him. He had known +perfectly all the circumstances of the divorce, but had had no dealings +with Thurston and no fear of him. Again and again he denied ever +receiving the letter from Vera Lytton. + +Kennedy did not tell the Willards of the new letter. The strain had +begun to tell on Alma, and her father had had her quietly taken to a +farm of his up in the country. To escape the curious eyes of reporters, +Halsey Post had driven up one night in his closed car. She had entered +it quickly with her father, and the journey had been made in the car, +while Halsey Post had quietly dropped off on the outskirts of the town, +where another car was waiting to take him back. It was evident that the +Willard family relied implicitly on Halsey, and his assistance to them +was most considerate. While he never forced himself forward, he kept in +close touch with the progress of the case, and now that Alma was away +his watchfulness increased proportionately, and twice a day he wrote a +long report which was sent to her. + +Kennedy was now bending every effort to locate the missing artist. When +he left Danbridge, he seemed to have dropped out of sight completely. +However, with O'Connor's aid, the police of all New England were on the +lookout. + +The Thurstons had been friends of Halsey's before Vera Lytton had ever +met Dr. Dixon, we discovered from the Danbridge gossips, and I, at +least, jumped to the conclusion that Halsey was shielding the artist, +perhaps through a sense of friendship when he found that Kennedy was +interested in Thurston's movement. I must say I rather liked Halsey, +for he seemed very thoughtful of the Willards, and was never too busy +to give an hour or so to any commission they wished carried out without +publicity. + +Two days passed with not a word from Thurston. Kennedy was obviously +getting impatient. One day a rumour was received that he was in Bar +Harbour; the next it was a report from Nova Scotia. At last, however, +came the welcome news that he had been located in New Hampshire, +arrested, and might be expected the next day. + +At once Kennedy became all energy. He arranged for a secret conference +in Senator Willard's house, the moment the artist was to arrive. The +senator and his daughter made a flying trip back to town. Nothing was +said to any one about Thurston, but Kennedy quietly arranged with the +district attorney to be present with the note and the jar of ammonia +properly safeguarded. Leland of course came, although his client could +not. Halsey Post seemed only too glad to be with Miss Willard, though +he seemed to have lost interest in the case as soon as the Willards +returned to look after it themselves. Mrs. Boncour was well enough to +attend, and even Dr. Waterworth insisted on coming in a private +ambulance which drove over from a near-by city especially for him. The +time was fixed just before the arrival of the train that was to bring +Thurston. + +It was an anxious gathering of friends and foes of Dr. Dixon who sat +impatiently waiting for Kennedy to begin this momentous exposition that +was to establish the guilt or innocence of the calm young physician who +sat impassively in the jail not half a mile from the room where his +life and death were being debated. + +"In many respects this is the most remarkable case that it has ever +been my lot to handle," began Kennedy. "Never before have I felt so +keenly my sense of responsibility. Therefore, though this is a somewhat +irregular proceeding, let me begin by setting forth the facts as I see +them. + +"First, let us consider the dead woman. The question that arises here +is, Was she murdered or did she commit suicide? I think you will +discover the answer as I proceed. Miss Lytton, as you know, was, two +years ago, Mrs. Burgess Thurston. The Thurstons had temperament, and +temperament is quite often the highway to the divorce court. It was so +in this case. Mrs. Thurston discovered that her husband was paying much +attention to other women. She sued for divorce in New York, and he +accepted service in the South, where he happened to be. At least it was +so testified by Mrs. Thurston's lawyer. + +"Now here comes the remarkable feature of the case. The law firm of +Kerr & Kimmel, I find, not long ago began to investigate the legality +of this divorce. Before a notary Thurston made an affidavit that he had +never been served by the lawyer for Miss Lytton, as she was now known. +Her lawyer is dead, but his representative in the South who served the +papers is alive. He was brought to New York and asserted squarely that +he had served the papers properly. + +"Here is where the shrewdness of Mose Kimmel, the shyster lawyer, came +in. He arranged to have the Southern attorney identify the man he had +served the papers on. For this purpose he was engaged in conversation +with one of his own clerks when the lawyer was due to appear. Kimmel +appeared to act confused, as if he had been caught napping. The +Southern lawyer, who had seen Thurston only once, fell squarely into +the trap and identified the clerk as Thurston. There were plenty of +witnesses to it, and it was point number two for the great Mose Kimmel. +Papers were drawn up to set aside the divorce decree. + +"In the meantime, Miss Lytton, or Mrs. Thurston, had become acquainted +with a young doctor in a New York hospital, and had become engaged to +him. It matters not that the engagement was later broken. The fact +remains that if the divorce were set aside an action would lie against +Dr. Dixon for alienating Mrs. Thurston's affections, and a grave +scandal would result. I need not add that in this quiet little town of +Danbridge the most could be made of such a suit." + +Kennedy was unfolding a piece of paper. As he laid it down, Leland, who +was sitting next to me, exclaimed under his breath: + +"My God, he's going to let the prosecutor know about that letter. Can't +you stop him?" + +It was too late. Kennedy had already begun to read Vera's letter. It +was damning to Dixon, added to the other note found in the ammonia-jar. + +When he had finished reading, you could almost hear the hearts +throbbing in the room. A scowl overspread Senator Willard's features. +Alma Willard was pale and staring wildly at Kennedy. Halsey Post, ever +solicitous for her, handed her a glass of water from the table. Dr. +Waterworth had forgotten his pain in his intense attention, and Mrs. +Boncour seemed stunned with astonishment. The prosecuting attorney was +eagerly taking notes. + +"In some way," pursued Kennedy in an even voice, "this letter was +either overlooked in the original correspondence of Dr. Dixon or it was +added to it later. I shall come back to that presently. My next point +is that Dr. Dixon says he received a letter from Thurston on the day +the artist visited the Boncour bungalow. It asked about a certain +headache compound, and his reply was brief and, as nearly as I can find +out, read, 'This compound will not cure your headache except at the +expense of reducing heart action dangerously.' + +"Next comes the tragedy. On the evening of the day that Thurston left, +after presumably telling Miss Lytton about what Kerr & Kimmel had +discovered, Miss Lytton is found dying with a bottle containing cyanide +and sublimate beside her. You are all familiar with the circumstances +and with the note discovered in the jar of ammonia. Now, if the +prosecutor will be so kind as to let me see that note--thank you, sir. +This is the identical note. You have all heard the various theories of +the jar and have read the note. Here it is in plain, cold black and +white--in Dr. Dixon's own handwriting, as you know, and reads: 'This +will cure your headache. Dr. Dixon.'" + +Alma Willard seemed as one paralysed. Was Kennedy, who had been engaged +by her father to defend her fiance, about to convict him? + +"Before we draw the final conclusion," continued Kennedy gravely, +"there are one or two points I wish to elaborate. Walter, will you open +that door into the main hall?" + +I did so, and two policemen stepped in with a prisoner. It was +Thurston, but changed almost beyond recognition. His clothes were worn, +his beard shaved off, and he had a generally hunted appearance. + +Thurston was visibly nervous. Apparently he had heard all that Kennedy +had said and intended he should hear, for as he entered he almost broke +away from the police officers in his eagerness to speak. + +"Before God," he cried dramatically, "I am as innocent as you are of +this crime, Professor Kennedy." + +"Are you prepared to swear before ME," almost shouted Kennedy, his eyes +blazing, "that you were never served properly by your wife's lawyers in +that suit?" + +The man cringed back as if a stinging blow had been delivered between +his eyes. As he met Craig's fixed glare he knew there was no hope. +Slowly, as if the words were being wrung from him syllable by syllable, +he said in a muffled voice: + +"No, I perjured myself. I was served in that suit. But--" + +"And you swore falsely before Kimmel that you were not?" persisted +Kennedy. + +"Yes," he murmured. "But--" + +"And you are prepared now to make another affidavit to that effect?" + +"Yes," he replied. "If--" + +"No buts or ifs, Thurston," cried Kennedy sarcastically. "What did you +make that affidavit for? What is YOUR story?" + +"Kimmel sent for me. I did not go to him. He offered to pay my debts if +I would swear to such a statement. I did not ask why or for whom. I +swore to it and gave him a list of my creditors. I waited until they +were paid. Then my conscience"--I could not help revolting at the +thought of conscience in such a wretch, and the word itself seemed to +stick in his throat as he went on and saw how feeble an impression he +was making on us--"my conscience began to trouble me. I determined to +see Vera, tell her all, and find out whether it was she who wanted this +statement. I saw her. When at last I told her, she scorned me. I can +confirm that, for as I left a man entered. I now knew how grossly I had +sinned, in listening to Mose Kimmel. I fled. I disappeared in Maine. I +travelled. Every day my money grew less. At last I was overtaken, +captured, and brought back here." + +He stopped and sank wretchedly down in a chair and covered his face +with his hands. + +"A likely story," muttered Leland in my ear. + +Kennedy was working quickly. Motioning the officers to be seated by +Thurston, he uncovered a jar which he had placed on the table. The +colour had now appeared in Alma's cheeks, as if hope had again sprung +in her heart, and I fancied that Halsey Post saw his claim on her +favour declining correspondingly. + +"I want you to examine the letters in this case with me," continued +Kennedy. "Take the letter which I read from Miss Lytton, which was +found following the strange disappearance of the note from Thurston." + +He dipped a pen into a little bottle, and wrote on a piece of paper: + +What is your opinion about Cross's Headache Cure? Would you recommend +it for a nervous headache? BURGESS THURSTON, c/o MRS. S. BONCOUR. + +Craig held up the writing so that we could all see that he had written +what Dixon declared Thurston wrote in the note that had disappeared. +Then he dipped another pen into a second bottle, and for some time he +scrawled on another sheet of paper. He held it up, but it was still +perfectly blank. + +"Now," he added, "I am going to give a little demonstration which I +expect to be successful only in a measure. Here in the open sunshine by +this window I am going to place these two sheets of paper side by side. +It will take longer than I care to wait to make my demonstration +complete, but I can do enough to convince you." + +For a quarter of an hour we sat in silence, wondering what he would do +next. At last he beckoned us over to the window. As we approached he +said, "On sheet number one I have written with quinoline; on sheet +number two I wrote with a solution of nitrate of silver." + +We bent over. The writing signed "Thurston" on sheet number one was +faint, almost imperceptible, but on paper number two, in black letters, +appeared what Kennedy had written: "Dear Harris: Since we agreed to +disagree we have at least been good friends." + +"It is like the start of the substituted letter, and the other is like +the missing note," gasped Leland in a daze. + +"Yes," said Kennedy quickly. "Leland, no one entered your office. No +one stole the Thurston note. No one substituted the Lytton letter. +According to your own story, you took them out of the safe and left +them in the sunlight all day. The process that had been started earlier +in ordinary light, slowly, was now quickly completed. In other words, +there was writing which would soon fade away on one side of the paper +and writing which was invisible but would soon appear on the other. + +"For instance, quinoline rapidly disappears in sunlight. Starch with a +slight trace of iodine writes a light blue, which disappears in air. It +was something like that used in the Thurston letter. Then, too, silver +nitrate dissolved in ammonia gradually turns black as it is acted on by +light and air. Or magenta treated with a bleaching-agent in just +sufficient quantity to decolourise it is invisible when used for +writing. But the original colour reappears as the oxygen of the air +acts upon the pigment. I haven't a doubt but that my analyses of the +inks are correct and on one side quinoline was used and on the other +nitrate of silver. This explains the inexplicable disappearance of +evidence incriminating one person, Thurston, and the sudden appearance +of evidence incriminating another, Dr. Dixon. Sympathetic ink also +accounts for the curious circumstance that the Lytton letter was folded +up with the writing apparently outside. It was outside and unseen until +the sunlight brought it out and destroyed the other, inside, writing--a +change, I suspect, that was intended for the police to see after it was +completed, not for the defence to witness as it was taking place." + +We looked at each other aghast. Thurston was nervously opening and +shutting his lips and moistening them as if he wanted to say something +but could not find the words. + +"Lastly," went on Craig, utterly regardless of Thurston's frantic +efforts to speak, "we come to the note that was discovered so queerly +crumpled up in the jar of ammonia on Vera Lytton's dressing-table. I +have here a cylindrical glass jar in which I place some sal-ammoniac +and quicklime. I will wet it and heat it a little. That produces the +pungent gas of ammonia. + +"On one side of this third piece of paper I myself write with this +mercurous nitrate solution. You see, I leave no mark on the paper as I +write. I fold it up and drop it into the jar-and in a few seconds +withdraw it. Here is a very quick way of producing something like the +slow result of sunlight with silver nitrate. The fumes of ammonia have +formed the precipitate of black mercurous nitrate, a very distinct +black writing which is almost indelible. That is what is technically +called invisible rather than sympathetic ink." + +We leaned over to read what he had written. It was the same as the note +incriminating Dixon: + + This will cure your headache. + + DR. DIXON. + +A servant entered with a telegram from New York. Scarcely stopping in +his exposure, Kennedy tore it open, read it hastily, stuffed it into +his pocket, and went on. + +"Here in this fourth bottle I have an acid solution of iron chloride, +diluted until the writing is invisible when dry," he hurried on. "I +will just make a few scratches on this fourth sheet of paper--so. It +leaves no mark. But it has the remarkable property of becoming red in +vapour of sulpho-cyanide. Here is a long-necked flask of the gas, made +by sulphuric acid acting on potassium sulpho-cyanide. Keep back, Dr. +Waterworth, for it would be very dangerous for you to get even a whiff +of this in your condition. Ah! See--the scratches I made on the paper +are red." + +Then hardly giving us more than a moment to let the fact impress itself +on our minds, he seized the piece of paper and dashed it into the jar +of ammonia. When he withdrew it, it was just a plain sheet of white +paper again. The red marks which the gas in the flask had brought out +of nothingness had been effaced by the ammonia. They had gone and left +no trace. + +"In this way I can alternately make the marks appear and disappear by +using the sulpho-cyanide and the ammonia. Whoever wrote this note with +Dr. Dixon's name on it must have had the doctor's reply to the Thurston +letter containing the words, 'This will not cure your headache.' He +carefully traced the words, holding the genuine note up to the light +with a piece of paper over it, leaving out the word 'not' and using +only such words as he needed. This note was then destroyed. + +"But he forgot that after he had brought out the red writing by the use +of the sulpho-cyanide, and though he could count on Vera Lytton's +placing the note in the jar of ammonia and hence obliterating the +writing, while at the same time the invisible writing in the mercurous +nitrate involving Dr. Dixon's name would be brought out by the ammonia +indelibly on the other side of the note--he forgot"--Kennedy was now +speaking eagerly and loudly--"that the sulpho-cyanide vapours could +always be made to bring back to accuse him the words that the ammonia +had blotted out." + +Before the prosecutor could interfere, Kennedy had picked up the note +found in the ammonia-jar beside the dying girl and had jammed the +state's evidence into the long-necked flask of sulpho-cyanide vapour. + +"Don't fear," he said, trying to pacify the now furious prosecutor, "it +will do nothing to the Dixon writing. That is permanent now, even if it +is only a tracing." + +When he withdrew the note, there was writing on both sides, the black +of the original note and something in red on the other side. + +We crowded around, and Craig read it with as much interest as any of us: + +"Before taking the headache-powder, be sure to place the contents of +this paper in a jar with a little warm water." + +"Hum," commented Craig, "this was apparently written on the outside +wrapper of a paper folded about some sal-ammoniac and quicklime. It +goes on: + +"'Just drop the whole thing in, PAPER AND ALL. Then if you feel a +faintness from the medicine the ammonia will quickly restore you. One +spoonful of the headache-powder swallowed quickly is enough.'" + +No name was signed to the directions, but they were plainly written, +and "PAPER AND ALL" was underscored heavily. + +Craig pulled out some letters. "I have here specimens of writing of +many persons connected with this case, but I can see at a glance which +one corresponds to the writing on this red death-warrant by an almost +inhuman fiend. I shall, however, leave that part of it to the +handwriting experts to determine at the trial. Thurston, who was the +man whom you saw enter the Boncour bungalow as you left--the constant +visitor?" + +Thurston had not yet regained his self-control, but with trembling +forefinger he turned and pointed to Halsey Post. + +"Yes, ladies and gentlemen," cried Kennedy as he slapped the telegram +that had just come from New York down on the table decisively, "yes, +the real client of Kerr & Kimmel, who bent Thurston to his purposes, +was Halsey Post, once secret lover of Vera Lytton till threatened by +scandal in Danbridge--Halsey Post, graduate in technology, student of +sympathetic inks, forger of the Vera Lytton letter and the other notes, +and dealer in cyanides in the silver-smithing business, fortune-hunter +for the Willard millions with which to recoup the Post & Vance losses, +and hence rival of Dr. Dixon for the love of Alma Willard. That is the +man who wielded the poisoned pen. Dr. Dixon is innocent." + + + + +II + +THE YEGGMAN + + +"Hello! Yes, this is Professor Kennedy. I didn't catch the name--oh, +yes--President Blake of the Standard Burglary Insurance Company. +What--really? The Branford pearls--stolen? Maid chloroformed? Yes, I'll +take the case. You'll be up in half an hour? All right, I'll be here. +Goodbye." + +It was through this brief and businesslike conversation over the +telephone that Kennedy became involved in what proved to be one of the +most dangerous cases he had ever handled. + +At the mention of the Branford pearls I involuntarily stopped reading, +and listened, not because I wanted to pry into Craig's affairs, but +because I simply couldn't help it. This was news that had not yet been +given out to the papers, and my instinct told me that there must be +something more to it than the bare statement of the robbery. + +"Some one has made a rich haul," I commented. "It was reported, I +remember, when the Branford pearls were bought in Paris last year that +Mrs. Branford paid upward of a million francs for the collection." + +"Blake is bringing up his shrewdest detective to co-operate with me in +the case," added Kennedy. "Blake, I understand, is the head of the +Burglary Insurance Underwriters' Association, too. This will be a big +thing, Walter, if we can carry it through." + +It was the longest half-hour that I ever put in, waiting for Blake to +arrive. When he did come, it was quite evident that my surmise had been +correct. + +Blake was one of those young old men who are increasingly common in +business today. There was an air of dignity and keenness about his +manner that showed clearly how important he regarded the case. So +anxious was he to get down to business that he barely introduced +himself and his companion, Special Officer Maloney, a typical private +detective. + +"Of course you haven't heard anything except what I have told you over +the wire," he began, going right to the point. "We were notified of it +only this noon ourselves, and we haven't given it out to the papers +yet, though the local police in Jersey are now on the scene. The New +York police must be notified tonight, so that whatever we do must be +done before they muss things up. We've got a clue that we want to +follow up secretly. These are the facts." + +In the terse, straightforward language of the up-to-date man of +efficiency, he sketched the situation for us. + +"The Branford estate, you know, consists of several acres on the +mountain back of Montclair, overlooking the valley, and surrounded by +even larger estates. Branford, I understand, is in the West with a +party of capitalists, inspecting a reported find of potash salts. Mrs. +Branford closed up the house a few days ago and left for a short stay +at Palm Beach. Of course they ought to have put their valuables in a +safe deposit vault. But they didn't. They relied on a safe that was +really one of the best in the market--a splendid safe, I may say. Well, +it seems that while the master and mistress were both away the servants +decided on having a good time in New York. They locked up the house +securely--there's no doubt of that--and just went. That is, they all +went except Mrs. Branford's maid, who refused to go for some reason or +other. We've got all the servants, but there's not a clue to be had +from any of them. They just went off on a bust, that's clear. They +admit it. + +"Now, when they got back early this morning they found the maid in +bed--dead. There was still a strong odor of chloroform about the room. +The bed was disarranged as if there had been a struggle. A towel had +been wrapped up in a sort of cone, saturated with chloroform, and +forcibly held over the girl's nose. The next thing they discovered was +the safe--blown open in a most peculiar manner. I won't dwell on that. +We're going to take you out there and show it to you after I've told +you the whole story. + +"Here's the real point. It looks all right, so far. The local police +say that the thief or thieves, whoever they were, apparently gained +access by breaking a back window. That's mistake number one. Tell Mr. +Kennedy about the window, Maloney." + +"It's just simply this," responded the detective. "When I came to look +at the broken window I found that the glass had fallen outside in such +a way as it could not have fallen if the window had been broken from +the outside. The thing was a blind. Whoever did it got into the house +in some other way and then broke the glass later to give a false clue." + +"And," concluded Blake, taking his cigar between his thumb and +forefinger and shaking it to give all possible emphasis to his words, +"we have had our agent at Palm Beach on long-distance 'phone twice this +afternoon. Mrs. Branford did NOT go to Palm Beach. She did NOT engage +rooms in any hotel there. And furthermore she never had any intention +of going there. By a fortunate circumstance Maloney picked up a hint +from one of the servants, and he has located her at the Grattan Inn in +this city. In other words, Mrs. Branford has stolen her own jewels from +herself in order to collect the burglary insurance--a common-enough +thing in itself, but never to my knowledge done on such a large scale +before." + +The insurance man sank back in his chair and surveyed us sharply. + +"But," interrupted Kennedy slowly, "how about--" + +"I know--the maid," continued Blake. "I do not mean that Mrs. Branford +did the actual stealing. Oh, no. That was done by a yeggman of +experience. He must have been above the average, but everything points +to the work of a yeggman. She hired him. But he overstepped the mark +when he chloroformed the maid." + +For a moment Kennedy said nothing. Then he remarked: "Let us go out and +see the safe. There must be some clue. After that I want to have a talk +with Mrs. Branford. By the way," he added, as we all rose to go down to +Blake's car, "I once handled a life insurance case for the Great +Eastern. I made the condition that I was to handle it in my own way, +whether it went for or against the company. That's understood, is it, +before I undertake the case?" + +"Yes, yes," agreed Blake. "Get at the truth. We're not seeking to +squirm out of meeting an honest liability. Only we want to make a +signal example if it is as we have every reason to believe. There has +been altogether too much of this sort of fake burglary to collect +insurance, and as president of the underwriters it is my duty and +intention to put a stop to it. Come on." + +Maloney nodded his head vigorously in assent with his chief. "Never +fear," he murmured. "The truth is what will benefit the company, all +right. She did it." + +The Branford estate lay some distance back from the railroad station, +so that, although it took longer to go by automobile than by train, the +car made us independent of the rather fitful night train service and +the local cabmen. + +We found the house not deserted by the servants, but subdued. The body +of the maid had been removed to a local morgue, and a police officer +was patrolling the grounds, though of what use that could be I was at a +loss to understand. + +Kennedy was chiefly interested in the safe. It was of the so-called +"burglar-proof" variety, spherical in shape, and looking for all the +world like a miniature piece of electrical machinery. + +"I doubt if anything could have withstood such savage treatment as has +been given to this safe," remarked Craig as he concluded a cursory +examination of it. "It shows great resistance to high explosives, +chiefly, I believe, as a result of its rounded shape. But nothing could +stand up against such continued assaults." + +He continued to examine the safe while we stood idly by. "I like to +reconstruct my cases in my own mind," explained Kennedy, as he took his +time in the examination. "Now, this fellow must have stripped the safe +of all the outer trimmings. His next move was to make a dent in the +manganese surface across the joint where the door fits the body. That +must have taken a good many minutes of husky work. In fact, I don't see +how he could have done it without a sledge-hammer and a hot chisel. +Still, he did it and then--" + +"But the maid," interposed Maloney. "She was in the house. She would +have heard and given an alarm." + +For answer, Craig simply went to a bay-window and raised the curtain. +Pointing to the lights of the next house, far down the road, he said, +"I'll buy the best cigars in the state if you can make them hear you on +a blustery night like last night. No, she probably did scream. Either +at this point, or at the very start, the burglar must have chloroformed +her. I don't see any other way to explain it. I doubt if he expected +such a tough proposition as he found in this safe, but he was evidently +prepared to carry it through, now that he was here and had such an +unexpectedly clear field, except for the maid. He simply got her out of +the way, or his confederates did--in the easiest possible way, poor +girl." + +Returning to the safe, he continued: "Well, anyhow, he made a furrow +perhaps an inch and a half long and a quarter of an inch wide and, I +should say, not over an eighth of an inch deep. Then he commenced to +burgle in earnest. Under the dent he made a sort of little cup of red +clay and poured in the 'soup'--the nitroglycerin--so that it would run +into the depression. Then he exploded it in the regular way with a +battery and a fulminate cap. I doubt if it did much more than discolour +the metal at first. Still, with the true persistency of his kind, he +probably repeated the dose, using more and more of the 'soup' until the +joint was stretched a little, and more of an opening made so that the +'soup' could run in. + +"Again and again he must have repeated and increased the charges. +Perhaps he used two or three cups at a time. By this time the outer +door must have been stretched so as to make it easy to introduce the +explosive. No doubt he was able to use ten or twelve ounces of the +stuff at a charge. It must have been more like target-practice than +safe-blowing. But the chance doesn't often come--an empty house and +plenty of time. Finally the door must have bulged a fraction of an inch +or so, and then a good big charge and the outer portion was ripped off +and the safe turned over. There was still two or three inches of +manganese steel protecting the contents, wedged in so tight that it +must have seemed that nothing could budge it. But he must have kept at +it until we have the wreck that we see here," and Kennedy kicked the +safe with his foot as he finished. + +Blake was all attention by this time, while Maloney gasped, "If I was +in the safe-cracking business, I'd make you the head of the firm." + +"And now," said Craig, "let us go back to New York and see if we can +find Mrs. Branford." + +"Of course you understand," explained Blake as we were speeding back, +"that most of these cases of fake robberies are among small people, +many of them on the East Side among little jewellers or other +tradesmen. Still, they are not limited to any one class. Indeed, it is +easier to foil the insurance companies when you sit in the midst of +finery and wealth, protected by a self-assuring halo of moral +rectitude, than under less fortunate circumstances. Too often, I'm +afraid, we have good-naturedly admitted the unsolved burglary and paid +the insurance claim. That has got to stop. Here's a case where we +considered the moral hazard a safe one, and we are mistaken. It's the +last straw." + +Our interview with Mrs. Branford was about as awkward an undertaking as +I have ever been concerned with. Imagine yourself forced to question a +perfectly stunning woman, who was suspected of plotting so daring a +deed and knew that you suspected her. Resentment was no name for her +feelings. She scorned us, loathed us. It was only by what must have +been the utmost exercise of her remarkable will-power that she +restrained herself from calling the hotel porters and having us thrown +out bodily. That would have put a bad face on it, so she tolerated our +presence. Then, of course, the insurance company had reserved the right +to examine everybody in the household, under oath if necessary, before +passing on the claim. + +"This is an outrage," she exclaimed, her eyes flashing and her breast +rising and falling with suppressed emotion, "an outrage. When my +husband returns I intend to have him place the whole matter in the +hands of the best attorney in the city. Not only will I have the full +amount of the insurance, but I will have damages and costs and +everything the law allows. Spying on my every movement in this way--it +is an outrage! One would think we were in St. Petersburg instead of New +York." + +"One moment, Mrs. Branford," put in Kennedy, as politely as he could. +"Suppose--" + +"Suppose nothing," she cried angrily. "I shall explain nothing, say +nothing. What if I do choose to close up that lonely big house in the +suburbs and come to the city to live for a few days--is it anybody's +business except mine?" + +"And your husband's?" added Kennedy, nettled at her treatment of him. + +She shot him a scornful glance. "I suppose Mr. Branford went out to +Arizona for the express purpose of collecting insurance on my jewels," +she added sarcastically with eyes that snapped fire. + +"I was about to say," remarked Kennedy as imperturbably as if he were +an automaton, "that supposing some one took advantage of your absence +to rob your safe, don't you think the wisest course would be to be +perfectly frank about it?" + +"And give just one plausible reason why you wished so much to have it +known that you were going to Palm Beach when in reality you were in New +York?" pursued Maloney, while Kennedy frowned at his tactless attempt +at a third degree. + +If she had resented Kennedy, she positively flew up in the air and +commenced to aviate at Maloney's questioning. Tossing her head, she +said icily: "I do not know that you have been appointed my guardian, +sir. Let us consider this interview at an end. Good-night," and with +that she swept out of the room, ignoring Maloney and bestowing one +biting glance on Blake, who actually winced, so little relish did he +have for this ticklish part of the proceedings. + +I think we all felt like schoolboys who had been detected robbing a +melon-patch or in some other heinous offence, as we slowly filed down +the hall to the elevator. A woman of Mrs. Branford's stamp so readily +and successfully puts one in the wrong that I could easily comprehend +why Blake wanted to call on Kennedy for help in what otherwise seemed a +plain case. + +Blake and Maloney were some distance ahead of us, as Craig leaned over +to me and whispered. "That Maloney is impossible. I'll have to shake +him loose in some way. Either we handle this case alone or we quit." + +"Right-o," I agreed emphatically. "He's put his foot in it badly at the +very start. Only, be decent about it, Craig. The case is too big for +you to let it slip by." + +"Trust me, Walter. I'll do it tactfully," he whispered, then to Blake +he added as we overtook them: "Maloney is right. The case is simple +enough, after all. But we must find out some way to fasten the thing +more closely on Mrs. Branford. Let me think out a scheme to-night. I'll +see you tomorrow." + +As Blake and Maloney disappeared down the street in the car, Kennedy +wheeled about and walked deliberately back into the Grattan Inn again. +It was quite late. People were coming in from the theatres, laughing +and chatting gaily. Kennedy selected a table that commanded a view of +the parlour as well as of the dining-room itself. + +"She was dressed to receive some one--did you notice?" he remarked as +we sat down and cast our eyes over the dizzy array of inedibles on the +card before us. "I think it is worth waiting a while to see who it is." + +Having ordered what I did not want, I glanced about until my eye rested +on a large pier-glass at the other end of the dining-room. + +"Craig," I whispered excitedly, "Mrs. B. is in the writing-room--I can +see her in that glass at the end of the room, behind you." + +"Get up and change places with me as quietly as you can, Walter," he +said quickly. "I want to see her when she can't see me." + +Kennedy was staring in rapt attention at the mirror. "There's a man +with her, Walter," he said under his breath. "He came in while we were +changing places--a fine-looking chap. By Jove, I've seen him before +somewhere. His face and his manner are familiar to me. But I simply +can't place him. Did you see her wraps in the chair? No? Well, he's +helping her on with them. They're going out. GARCON, L'ADDITION--VITE" + +We were too late, however, for just as we reached the door we caught a +fleeting glimpse of a huge new limousine. + +"Who was that man who just went out with the lady?" asked Craig of the +negro who turned the revolving-door at the carriage entrance. + +"Jack Delarue, sah--in 'The Grass Widower,' sah," replied the doorman. +"Yes, sah, he stays here once in a while. Thank you, sah," as Kennedy +dropped a quarter into the man's hand. + +"That complicates things considerably," he mused as we walked slowly +down to the subway station. "Jack Delarue--I wonder if he is mixed up +in this thing also." + +"I've heard that 'The Grass Widower' isn't such a howling success as a +money-maker," I volunteered. "Delarue has a host of creditors, no +doubt. By the way, Craig," I exclaimed, "don't you think it would be a +good plan to drop down and see O'Connor? The police will have to be +informed in a few hours now, anyhow. Maybe Delarue has a criminal +record." + +"A good idea, Walter," agreed Craig, turning into a drug-store which +had a telephone booth. "I'll just call O'Connor up, and we'll see if he +does know anything about it." + +O'Connor was not at headquarters, but we finally found him at his home, +and it was well into the small hours when we arrived there. Trusting to +the first deputy's honour, which had stood many a test, Craig began to +unfold the story. He had scarcely got as far as describing the work of +the suspected hired yeggman, when O'Connor raised both hands and +brought them down hard on the arms of his chair. + +"Say," he ejaculated, "that explains it!" + +"What?" we asked in chorus. + +"Why, one of my best stool-pigeons told me to-day that there was +something doing at a house in the Chatham Square district that we have +been watching for a long time. It's full of crooks, and to-day they've +all been as drunk as lords, a sure sign some one has made a haul and +been generous with the rest, And one or two of the professional +'fences' have been acting suspiciously, too. Oh, that explains it all +right." + +I looked at Craig as much as to say, "I told you so," but he was +engrossed in what O'Connor was saying. + +"You know," continued the police officer, "there is one particular +'fence' who runs his business under the guise of a loan-shark's office. +He probably has a wider acquaintance among the big criminals than any +other man in the city. From him crooks can obtain anything from a jimmy +to a safe-cracking outfit. I know that this man has been trying to +dispose of some unmounted pearls to-day among jewellers in Maiden Lane. +I'll bet he has been disposing of some of the Branford pearls, one by +one. I'll follow that up. I'll arrest this 'fence' and hold him till he +tells me what yeggman came to him with the pearls." + +"And if you find out, will you go with me to that house near Chatham +Square, providing it was some one in that gang?" asked Craig eagerly. + +O'Connor shook his head. "I'd better keep out of it. They know me too +well. Go alone. I'll get that stool-pigeon--the Gay Cat is his name--to +go with you. I'll help you in any way. I'll have any number of +plain-clothes men you want ready to raid the place the moment you get +the evidence. But you'll never get any evidence if they know I'm in the +neighbourhood." + +The next morning Craig scarcely ate any breakfast himself and made me +bolt my food most unceremoniously. We were out in Montclair again +before the commuters had started to go to New York, and that in spite +of the fact that we had stopped at his laboratory on the way and had +got a package which he carried carefully. + +Kennedy instituted a most thorough search of the house from cellar to +attic in daylight. What he expected to find, I did not know, but I am +quite sure nothing escaped him. + +"Now, Walter," he said after he had ransacked the house, "there remains +just one place. Here is this little wall safe in Mrs. Branford's room. +We must open it." + +For an hour if not longer he worked over the combination, listening to +the fall of the tumblers in the lock. It was a simple little thing and +one of the old-timers in the industry would no doubt have opened it in +short order. The perspiration stood out on his forehead, so intent was +he in working the thing. At last it yielded. Except for some of the +family silver, the safe was empty. + +Carefully noting how the light shone on the wall safe, Craig unwrapped +the package he had brought and disclosed a camera. He placed it on a +writing-desk opposite the safe, in such a way that it was not at all +conspicuous, and focused it on the safe. + +"This is a camera with a newly-invented between-lens shutter of great +illumination and efficiency," he explained. "It has always been +practically impossible to get such pictures, but this new shutter has +so much greater speed than anything ever invented before that it is +possible to use it in detective work. I'll just run these fine wires +like a burglar alarm, only instead of having an alarm I'll attach them +to the camera so that we can get a picture. I've proved its speed up to +one two-thousandth of a second. It may or it may not work. If it does +we'll catch somebody, right in the act." + +About noon we went down to Liberty Street, home of burglary insurance. +I don't think Blake liked it very much because Kennedy insisted on +playing the lone hand, but he said nothing, for it was part of the +agreement. Maloney seemed rather glad than otherwise. He had been +combing out some tangled clues of his own about Mrs. Branford. Still, +Kennedy smoothed things over by complimenting the detective on his +activity, and indeed he had shown remarkable ability in the first place +in locating Mrs. Branford. + +"I started out with the assumption that the Branfords must have needed +money for some reason or other," said Maloney. "So I went to the +commercial agencies to-day and looked up Branford. I can't say he has +been prosperous; nobody has been in Wall Street these days, and that's +just the thing that causes an increase in fake burglaries. Then there +is another possibility," he continued triumphantly. "I had a man up at +the Grattan Inn, and he reports to me that Mrs. Stanford was seen with +the actor Jack Delarue last night, I imagine they quarrelled, for she +returned alone, much agitated, in a taxi-cab. Any way you look at it, +the clues are promising--whether she needed money for Branford's +speculations or for the financing of that rake Delarue." + +Maloney regarded Craig with the air of an expert who could afford to +patronise a good amateur--but after all an amateur. Kennedy said +nothing, and of course I took the cue. + +"Yes," agreed Blake, "you see, our original hypothesis was a pretty +good one. Meanwhile, of course, the police are floundering around in a +bog of false scents." + +"It would make our case a good deal stronger," remarked Kennedy +quietly, "if we could discover some of the stolen jewellery hidden +somewhere by Mrs. Branford herself." He said nothing of his own +unsuccessful search through the house, but continued: "What do you +suppose she has done with the jewels? She must have put them somewhere +before she got the yeggman to break the safe. She'd hardly trust them +in his hands. But she might have been foolish enough for that. Of +course it's another possibility that he really got away with them. I +doubt if she has them at Grattan Inn, or even if she would personally +put them in a safe deposit vault. Perhaps Delarue figures in that end +of it. We must let no stone go unturned." + +"That's right," meditated Maloney, apparently turning something over in +his mind as if it were a new idea. "If we only had some evidence, even +part of the jewels that she had hidden, it would clinch the case. +That's a good idea, Kennedy." + +Craig said nothing, but I could see, or fancied I saw, that he was +gratified at the thought that he had started Maloney off on another +trail, leaving us to follow ours unhampered. The interview with Blake +was soon over, and as we left I looked inquiringly at Craig. + +"I want to see Mrs. Branford again," he said. "I think we can do better +alone today than we did last night." + +I must say I half expected that she would refuse to see us and was +quite surprised when the page returned with the request that we go up +to her suite. It was evident that her attitude toward us was very +different from that of the first interview. Whether she was ruffled by +the official presence of Blake or the officious presence of Maloney, +she was at least politely tolerant of us. Or was it that she at last +began to realise that the toils were closing about her and that things +began to look unmistakably black? + +Kennedy was quick to see his advantage. "Mrs. Branford," he began, +"since last night I have come into the possession of some facts that +are very important. I have heard that several loose pearls which may or +may not be yours have been offered for sale by a man on the Bowery who +is what the yeggmen call a 'fence.'" + +"Yeggmen--'fence'?" she repeated. "Mr. Kennedy, really I do not care to +discuss the pearls any longer. It is immaterial to me what becomes of +them. My first desire is to collect the insurance. If anything is +recovered I am quite willing to deduct that amount from the total. But +I must insist on the full insurance or the return of the pearls. As +soon as Mr. Branford arrives I shall take other steps to secure +redress." + +A boy rapped at the door and brought in a telegram which she tore open +nervously. "He will be here in four days," she said, tearing the +telegram petulantly, and not at all as if she were glad to receive it. +"Is there anything else that you wish to say?" + +She was tapping her foot on the rug as if anxious to conclude the +interview. Kennedy leaned forward earnestly and played his trump card +boldly. + +"Do you remember that scene in 'The Grass Widower,'" he said slowly, +"where Jack Delarue meets his runaway wife at the masquerade ball?" + +She coloured slightly, but instantly regained her composure. "Vaguely," +she murmured, toying with the flowers in her dress. + +"In real life," said Kennedy, his voice purposely betraying that he +meant it to have a personal application, "husbands do not forgive even +rumours of--ah--shall we say affinities?--much less the fact." + +"In real life," she replied, "wives do not have affinities as often as +some newspapers and plays would have us believe." + +"I saw Delarue after the performance last night," went on Kennedy +inexorably. "I was not seen, but I saw, and he was with----" + +She was pacing the room now in unsuppressed excitement. "Will you never +stop spying on me?" she cried. "Must my every act be watched and +misrepresented? I suppose a distorted version of the facts will be +given to my husband. Have you no chivalry, or justice, or--or mercy?" +she pleaded, stopping in front of Kennedy. + +"Mrs. Branford," he replied coldly, "I cannot promise what I shall do. +My duty is simply to get at the truth about the pearls. If it involves +some other person, it is still my duty to get at the truth. Why not +tell me all that you really know about the pearls and trust me to bring +it out all right?" + +She faced him, pale and haggard. "I have told," she repeated steadily. +"I cannot tell any more--I know nothing more." + +Was she lying? I was not expert enough in feminine psychology to judge, +but down in my heart I knew that the woman was hiding something behind +that forced steadiness. What was it she was battling for? We had +reached an impasse. + +It was after dinner when I met Craig at the laboratory. He had made a +trip to Montclair again, where his stay had been protracted because +Maloney was there and he wished to avoid him. He had brought back the +camera, and had had another talk with O'Connor, at which he had mapped +out a plan of battle. + +"We are to meet the Gay Cat at the City Hall at nine o'clock," +explained Craig laconically. "We are going to visit a haunt of yeggmen, +Walter, that few outsiders have ever seen. Are you game? O'Connor and +his men will be close by--hiding, of course." + +"I suppose so," I replied slowly. "But what excuse are you going to +have for getting into this yegg-resort?" + +"Simply that we are two newspaper men looking for an article, without +names, dates, or places--just a good story of yeggmen and tramps. I've +got a little--well, we'll call it a little camera outfit that I'm going +to sling over my shoulder. You are the reporter, remember, and I'm the +newspaper photographer. They won't pose for us, of course, but that +will be all right. Speaking about photographs, I got one out at +Montclair that is interesting. I'll show it to you later in the +evening--and in case anything should happen to me, Walter, you'll find +the original plate locked here in the top drawer of my desk. I guess +we'd better be getting downtown." + +The house to which we were guided by the Gay Cat was on a cross street +within a block or two of Chatham Square. If we had passed it casually +in the daytime there would have been nothing to distinguish it above +the other ramshackle buildings on the street, except that the other +houses were cluttered with children and baby-carriages, while this one +was vacant, the front door closed, and the blinds tightly drawn. As we +approached, a furtive figure shambled from the basement areaway and +slunk off into the crowd for the night's business of pocket-picking or +second-story work. + +I had had misgivings as to whether we would be admitted at all--I might +almost say hopes--but the Gay Cat succeeded in getting a ready response +at the basement door. The house itself was the dilapidated ruin of what +had once been a fashionable residence in the days when society lived in +the then suburban Bowery. The iron handrail on the steps was still +graceful, though rusted and insecure. The stones of the steps were +decayed and eaten away by time, and the front door was never opened. + +As we entered the low basement door, I felt that those who entered here +did indeed abandon hope. Inside, the evidences of the past grandeur +were still more striking. What had once been a drawing-room was now the +general assembly room of the resort. Broken-down chairs lined the +walls, and the floor was generously sprinkled with sawdust. A huge +pot-bellied stove occupied the centre of the room, and by it stood a +box of sawdust plentifully discoloured with tobacco-juice. + +Three or four of the "guests"--there was no "register" in this +yeggman's hotel--were seated about the stove discussing something in a +language that was English, to be sure, but of a variation that only a +yegg could understand. I noted the once handsome white marble mantel, +now stained by age, standing above the unused grate. Double +folding-doors led to what, I imagine, was once a library. Dirt and +grime indescribable were everywhere. There was the smell of old clothes +and old cooking, the race odours of every nationality known to the +metropolis. I recalled a night I once spent in a Bowery lodging-house +for "local colour." Only this was infinitely worse. No law regulated +this house. There was an atmosphere of cheerlessness that a +half-blackened Welsbach mantle turned into positive ghastliness. + +Our guide introduced us. There was a dead silence as eight eyes were +craftily fixed on us, sizing us up. What should I say? Craig came to +the rescue. To him the adventure was a lark. It was novel, and that was +merit enough. + +"Ask about the slang," he suggested. "That makes a picturesque story." + +It seemed to me innocuous enough, so I engaged in conversation with a +man whom the Gay Cat had introduced as the proprietor. Much of the +slang I already knew by hearsay, such as "bulls" for policemen, a +"mouthpiece" for a lawyer to defend one when he is "ditched" or +arrested; in fact, as I busily scribbled away I must have collected a +lexicon of a hundred words or so for future reference. + +"And names?" I queried. "You have some queer nicknames." + +"Oh, yes," replied the man. "Now here's the Gay Cat--that's what we +call a fellow who is the finder, who enters a town ahead of the gang. +Then there's Chi Fat--that means he's from Chicago and fat. And Pitts +Slim--he's from Pittsburgh and--" + +"Aw, cut it," broke in one of the others. "Pitts Slim'll be here +to-night. He'll give you the devil if he hears you talking to reporters +about him." + +The proprietor began to talk of less dangerous subjects. Craig +succeeded in drawing out from him the yegg recipe for making "soup." +"It's here in this cipher," said the man, drawing out a dirty piece of +paper. "It's well known, and you can have this. Here's the key. It was +written by 'Deafy' Smith, and the police pinched it." + +Craig busily translated the curious document: + +Take ten or a dozen sticks of dynamite, crumble it up fine, and put it +in a pan or washbowl, then pour over it enough alcohol, wood or pure, +to cover it well. Stir it up well with your hands, being careful to +break all the lumps. Leave it set for a few minutes. Then get a few +yards of cheesecloth and tear it up in pieces and strain the mixture +through the cloth into another vessel. Wring the sawdust dry and throw +it away. The remains will be the soup and alcohol mixed. Next take the +same amount of water as you used of alcohol and pour it in. Leave the +whole set for a few minutes. + +"Very interesting," commented Craig. "Safeblowing in one lesson by +correspondence school. The rest of this tells how to attack various +makes, doesn't it?" + +Just then a thin man in a huge, worn ulster came stamping upstairs from +the basement, his collar up and his hat down over his eyes. There was +something indefinably familiar about him, but as his face and figure +were so well concealed, I could not tell just why I thought so. + +Catching a glimpse of us, he beat a retreat across the opposite end of +the room, beckoning to the proprietor, who joined him outside the door. +I thought I heard him ask: "Who are those men? Who let them in?" but I +could not catch the reply. + +One by one the other occupants of the room rose and sidled out, leaving +us alone with the Gay Cat. Kennedy reached over to get a cigarette from +my case and light it from one that I was smoking. + +"That's our man, I think," he whispered--"Pitts Slim." + +I said nothing, but I would have been willing to part with a large +section of my bank-account to be up on the Chatham Square station of +the Elevated just then. + +There was a rush from the half-open door behind us. Suddenly everything +turned black before me; my eyes swam; I felt a stinging sensation on my +head and a weak feeling about the stomach; I sank half-conscious to the +floor. All was blank, but, dimly, I seemed to be dragged and dropped +down hard. + +How long I lay there I don't know. Kennedy says it was not over five +minutes. It may have been so, but to me it seemed an age. When I opened +my eyes I was lying on my back on a very dirty sofa in another room. +Kennedy was bending over me with blood streaming from a long deep gash +on his head. Another figure was groaning in the semi-darkness opposite; +it was the Gay Cat. + +"They blackjacked us," whispered Kennedy to me as I staggered to my +feet. "Then they dragged us through a secret passage into another +house. How do you feel?" + +"All right," I answered, bracing myself against a chair, for I was weak +from the loss of blood, and dizzy. I was sore in every joint and +muscle. I looked about, only half comprehending. Then my recollection +flooded back with a rush. We had been locked in another room after the +attack, and left to be dealt with later. I felt in my pocket. I had +left my watch at the laboratory, but even the dollar watch I had taken +and the small sum of money in my pocketbook were gone. + +Kennedy still had his camera slung over his shoulder, where he had +fastened it securely. + +Here we were, imprisoned, while Pitts Slim, the man we had come after, +whoever he was, was making his escape. Somewhere across the street was +O'Connor, waiting in a room as we had agreed. There was only one window +in our room, and it opened on a miserable little dumbwaiter air-shaft. +It would be hours yet before his suspicions would be aroused and he +would discover which of the houses we were held in. Meanwhile what +might not happen to us? + +Kennedy calmly set up his tripod. One leg had been broken in the +rough-house, but he tied it together with his handkerchief, now wet +with blood. I wondered how he could think of taking a picture. His very +deliberation set me fretting and fuming, and I swore at him under my +breath. Still, he worked calmly ahead. I saw him take the black box and +set it on the tripod. It was indistinct in the darkness. It looked like +a camera, and yet it had some attachment at the side that was queer, +including a little lamp. Craig bent and attached some wires about the +box. + +At last he seemed ready. "Walter," he whispered, "roll that sofa +quietly over against the door. There, now the table and that bureau, +and wedge the chairs in. Keep that door shut at any cost. It's now or +never--here goes." + +He stopped a moment and tinkered with the box on the tripod. "Hello! +Hello! Hello! Is that you, O'Connor?" he shouted. + +I watched him in amazement. Was the man crazy? Had the blow affected +his brain? Here he was, trying to talk into a camera. A little +signalling-bell in the box commenced to ring, as if by spirit hands. + +"Shut up in that room," growled a voice from outside the door. "By God, +they've barricaded the door. Come on, pals, we'll kill the spies." + +A smile of triumph lighted up Kennedy's pale face. "It works, it +works," he cried as the little bell continued to buzz. "This is a +wireless telephone you perhaps have seen announced recently--good for +several hundred feet--through walls and everything. The inventor placed +it in a box easily carried by a man, including a battery, and mounted +on an ordinary camera tripod so that the user might well be taken for a +travelling photographer. It is good in one direction only, but I have a +signalling-bell here that can be rung from the other end by Hertzian +waves. Thank Heaven, it's compact and simple. + +"O'Connor," he went on, "it is as I told you. It was Pitts Slim. He +left here ten or fifteen minutes ago--I don't know by what exit, but I +heard them say they would meet at the Central freightyards at midnight. +Start your plain-clothes men out and send some one here, quick, to +release us. We are locked in a room in the fourth or fifth house from +the corner. There's a secret passage to the yegg-house. The Gay Cat is +still unconscious, Jameson is groggy, and I have a bad scalp wound. +They are trying to beat in our barricade. Hurry." + +I think I shall never get straight in my mind the fearful five minutes +that followed, the battering at the door, the oaths, the scuffle +outside, the crash as the sofa, bureau, table, and chairs all yielded +at once--and my relief when I saw the square-set, honest face of +O'Connor and half a dozen plainclothes men holding the yeggs who would +certainly have murdered us this time to protect their pal in his +getaway. The fact is I didn't think straight until we were halfway +uptown, speeding toward the railroad freight-yards in O'Connor's car. +The fresh air at last revived me, and I began to forget my cute and +bruises in the renewed excitement. + +We entered the yards carefully, accompanied by several of the +railroad's detectives, who met us with a couple of police dogs. +Skulking in the shadow under the high embankment that separated the +yards with their interminable lines of full and empty cars on one side +and the San Juan Hill district of New York up on the bluff on the other +side, we came upon a party of three men who were waiting to catch the +midnight "side-door Pullman"--the fast freight out of New York. + +The fight was brief, for we outnumbered them more than three to one. +O'Connor himself snapped a pair of steel bracelets on the thin man, who +seemed to be leader of the party. + +"It's all up, Pitts Slim," he ground out from his set teeth. + +One of our men flashed his bull's-eye on the three prisoners. I caught +myself as in a dream. + +Pitts Slim was Maloney, the detective. + +An hour later, at headquarters, after the pedigrees had been taken, the +"mugging" done, and the jewels found on the three yeggs checked off +from the list of the Branford pearls, leaving a few thousand dollars' +worth unaccounted for, O'Connor led the way into his private office. +There were Mrs. Branford and Blake, waiting. + +Maloney sullenly refused to look at his former employer, as Blake +rushed over and grasped Kennedy's hand, asking eagerly: "How did you do +it, Kennedy? This is the last thing I expected." + +Craig said nothing, but slowly opened a now crumpled envelope, which +contained an untoned print of a photograph. He laid it on the desk. +"There is your yeggman--at work," he said. + +We bent over to look. It was a photograph of Maloney in the act of +putting something in the little wall safe in Mrs. Branford's room. In a +flash it dawned on me--the quick-shutter camera, the wire connected +with the wall safe, Craig's hint to Maloney that if some of the jewels +were found hidden in a likely place in the house, it would furnish the +last link in the chain against her, Maloney's eager acceptance of the +suggestion, and his visit to Montclair during which Craig had had hard +work to avoid him. + +"Pitts Slim, alias Maloney," added Kennedy, turning to Blake, "your +shrewdest private detective, was posing in two characters at once very +successfully. He was your trusted agent in possession of the most +valuable secrets of your clients, at the same time engineering all the +robberies that you thought were fakes, and then working up the evidence +incriminating the victims themselves. He got into the Branford house +with a skeleton key, and killed the maid. The picture shows him putting +this shield-shaped brooch in the safe this afternoon--here's the +brooch. And all this time he was the leader of the most dangerous band +of yeggmen in the country." + +"Mrs. Branford," exclaimed Blake, advancing and bowing most profoundly, +"I trust that you understand my awkward position? My apologies cannot +be too humble. It will give me great pleasure to hand you a certified +check for the missing gems the first thing in the morning." + +Mrs. Branford bit her lip nervously. The return of the pearls did not +seem to interest her in the least. + +"And I, too, must apologise for the false suspicion I had of you +and--and--depend on me, it is already forgotten," said Kennedy, +emphasising the "false" and looking her straight in the eyes. + +She read his meaning and a look of relief crossed her face. "Thank +you," she murmured simply, then dropping her eyes she added in a lower +tone which no one heard except Craig: "Mr. Kennedy, how can I ever +thank you? Another night, and it would have been too late to save me +from myself." + + + + +III + +THE GERM OF DEATH + + +By this time I was becoming used to Kennedy's strange visitors and, in +fact, had begun to enjoy keenly the uncertainty of not knowing just +what to expect from them next. Still, I was hardly prepared one evening +to see a tall, nervous foreigner stalk noiselessly and unannounced into +our apartment and hand his card to Kennedy without saying a word. + +"Dr. Nicholas Kharkoff--hum--er, Jameson, you must have forgotten to +latch the door. Well, Dr. Kharkoff, what can I do for you? It is +evident something has upset you." + +The tall Russian put his forefinger to his lips and, taking one of our +good chairs, placed it by the door. Then he stood on it and peered +cautiously through the transom into the hallway. "I think I eluded him +this time," he exclaimed, as he nervously took a seat. "Professor +Kennedy, I am being followed. Every step that I take somebody shadows +me, from the moment I leave my office until I return. It is enough to +drive me mad. But that is only one reason why I have come here +to-night. I believe that I can trust you as a friend of justice--a +friend of Russian freedom?" + +He had included me in his earnest but somewhat vague query, so that I +did not withdraw. Somehow, apparently, he had heard of Kennedy's rather +liberal political views. + +"It is about Vassili Saratovsky, the father of the Russian revolution, +as we call him, that I have come to consult you," he continued quickly. +"Just two weeks ago he was taken ill. It came on suddenly, a violent +fever which continued for a week. Then he seemed to grow better, after +the crisis had passed, and even attended a meeting of our central +committee the other night. But in the meantime Olga Samarova, the +little Russian dancer, whom yon have perhaps seen, fell ill in the same +way. Samarova is an ardent revolutionist, you know. This morning the +servant at my own home on East Broadway was also stricken, and--who +knows?--perhaps it will be my turn next. For to-night Saratovsky had an +even more violent return of the fever, with intense shivering, +excruciating pains in the limbs, and delirious headache. It is not like +anything I ever saw before. Can you look into the case before it grows +any worse, Professor?" + +Again the Russian got on the chair and looked over the transom to be +sure that he was not being overheard. + +"I shall be only too glad to help you in any way I can," returned +Kennedy, his manner expressing the genuine interest that he never +feigned over a particularly knotty problem in science and crime. "I had +the pleasure of meeting Saratovsky once in London. I shall try to see +him the first thing in the morning." + +Dr. Kharkov's face fell. "I had hoped you would see him to-night. If +anything should happen----" + +"Is it as urgent as that?" + +"I believe it is," whispered Kharkoff, leaning forward earnestly. "We +can call a taxicab--it will not take long, sir. Consider, there are +many lives possibly at stake," he pleaded. + +"Very well, I will go," consented Kennedy. + +At the street door Kharkoff stopped short and drew Kennedy back. +"Look--across the street in the shadow. There is the man. If I start +toward him he will disappear; he is very clever. He followed me from +Saratovsky's here, and has been waiting for me to come out." + +"There are two taxicabs waiting at the stand," suggested Kennedy. +"Doctor, you jump in the first, and Jameson and I will take the second. +Then he can't follow us." + +It was done in a moment, and we were whisked away, to the chagrin of +the figure, which glided impotently out of the shadow in vain pursuit, +too late even to catch the number of the cab. + +"A promising adventure," commented Kennedy, as we bumped along over New +York's uneven asphalt. "Have you ever met Saratovsky?" + +"No," I replied dubiously. "Will you guarantee that he will not blow us +up with a bomb?" + +"Grandmother!" replied Craig. "Why, Walter, he is the most gentle, +engaging old philosopher----" + +"That ever cut a throat or scuttled a ship?" I interrupted. + +"On the contrary," insisted Kennedy, somewhat nettled, "he is a +patriarch, respected by every faction of the revolutionists, from the +fighting organisation to the believers in non-resistance and Tolstoy. I +tell you, Walter, the nation that can produce a man such as Saratovsky +deserves and some day will win political freedom. I have heard of this +Dr. Kharkoff before, too. His life would be a short one if he were in +Russia. A remarkable man, who fled after those unfortunate uprisings in +1905. Ah, we are on Fifth Avenue. I suspect that he is taking us to a +club on the lower part of the avenue, where a number of the Russian +reformers live, patiently waiting and planning for the great +'awakening' in their native land." + +Kharkoff's cab had stopped. Our quest had indeed brought us almost to +Washington Square. Here we entered an old house of the past generation. +As we passed through the wide hall, I noted the high ceilings, the +old-fashioned marble mantels stained by time, the long, narrow rooms +and dirty-white woodwork, and the threadbare furniture of black walnut +and horsehair. + +Upstairs in a small back room we found the venerable Saratovsky, +tossing, half-delirious with the fever, on a disordered bed. His was a +striking figure in this sordid setting, with a high intellectual +forehead and deep-set, glowing coals of eyes which gave a hint at the +things which had made his life one of the strangest among all the +revolutionists of Russia and the works he had done among the most +daring. The brown dye was scarcely yet out of his flowing white +beard--a relic of his last trip back to his fatherland, where he had +eluded the secret police in the disguise of a German gymnasium +professor. + +Saratovsky extended a thin, hot, emaciated hand to us, and we remained +standing. Kennedy said nothing for the moment. The sick man motioned +feebly to us to come closer. + +"Professor Kennedy," he whispered, "there is some deviltry afoot. The +Russian autocracy would stop at nothing. Kharkoff has probably told you +of it. I am so weak----" + +He groaned and sank back, overcome by a chill that seemed to rack his +poor gaunt form. + +"Kazanovitch can tell Professor Kennedy something, Doctor. I am too +weak to talk, even at this critical time. Take him to see Boris and +Ekaterina." + +Almost reverently we withdrew, and Kharkoff led us down the hall to +another room. The door was ajar, and a light disclosed a man in a +Russian peasant's blouse, bending laboriously over a writing-desk. So +absorbed was he that not until Kharkoff spoke did he look up. His +figure was somewhat slight and his face pointed and of an ascetic mould. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed. "You have recalled me from a dream. I fancied I was +on the old mir with Ivan, one of my characters. Welcome, comrades." + +It flashed over me at once that this was the famous Russian novelist, +Boris Kazanovitch. I had not at first connected the name with that of +the author of those gloomy tales of peasant life. Kazanovitch stood +with his hands tucked under his blouse. + +"Night is my favourite time for writing," he explained. "It is then +that the imagination works at its best." + +I gazed curiously about the room. There seemed to be a marked touch of +a woman's hand here and there; it was unmistakable. At last my eye +rested on a careless heap of dainty wearing apparel on a chair in the +corner. "Where is Nevsky?" asked Dr. Kharkoff, apparently missing the +person who owned the garments. + +"Ekaterina has gone to a rehearsal of the little play of Gershuni's +escape from Siberia and betrayal by Rosenberg. She will stay with +friends on East Broadway to-night. She has deserted me, and here I am +all alone, finishing a story for one of the American magazines." + +"Ah, Professor Kennedy, that is unfortunate," commented Kharkoff. "A +brilliant woman is Mademoiselle Nevsky--devoted to the cause. I know +only one who equals her, and that is my patient downstairs, the little +dancer, Samarova." + +"Samarova is faithful--Nevsky is a genius," put in Kazanovitch. +Kharkoff said nothing for a time, though it was easy to see he regarded +the actress highly. + +"Samarova," he said at length to us, "was arrested for her part in the +assassination of Grand Duke Sergius and thrown into solitary +confinement in the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. They tortured +her, the beasts--burned her body with their cigarettes. It was +unspeakable. But she would not confess, and finally they had to let her +go. Nevsky, who was a student of biology at the University of St. +Petersburg when Von Plehve was assassinated, was arrested, but her +relatives had sufficient influence to secure her release. They met in +Paris, and Nevsky persuaded Olga to go on the stage and come to New +York." + +"Next to Ekaterina's devotion to the cause is her devotion to science," +said Kazanovitch, opening a door to a little room. Then he added: "If +she were not a woman, or if your universities were less prejudiced, she +would be welcome anywhere as a professor. See, here is her laboratory. +It is the best we--she can afford. Organic chemistry, as you call it in +English, interests me too, but of course I am not a trained +scientist--I am a novelist." + +The laboratory was simple, almost bare. Photographs of Koch, Ehrlich, +Metchnikoff, and a number of other scientists adorned the walls. The +deeply stained deal table was littered with beakers and test-tubes. + +"How is Saratovsky?" asked the writer of the doctor, aside, as we gazed +curiously about. + +Kharkoff shook his head gravely. "We have just come from his room. He +was too weak to talk, but he asked that you tell Mr. Kennedy anything +that it is necessary he should know about our suspicions." + +"It is that we are living with the sword of Damocles constantly +dangling over our heads, gentlemen," cried Kazanovitch passionately, +turning toward us. "You will excuse me if I get some cigarettes +downstairs? Over them I will tell you what we fear." + +A call from Saratovsky took the doctor away also at the same moment, +and we were left alone. + +"A queer situation, Craig," I remarked, glancing involuntarily at the +heap of feminine finery on the chair, as I sat down before +Kazanovitch's desk. + +"Queer for New York; not for St. Petersburg," was his laconic reply, as +he looked around for another chair. Everything was littered with books, +and papers, and at last he leaned over and lifted the dress from the +chair to place it on the bed, as the easiest way of securing a seat in +the scantily furnished room. + +A pocketbook and a letter fell to the floor from the folds of the +dress. He stooped to pick them up, and I saw a strange look of surprise +on his face. Without a moment's hesitation he shoved the letter into +his pocket and replaced the other things as he had found them. + +A moment later Kazanovitch returned with a large box of Russian +cigarettes. "Be seated, sir," he said to Kennedy, sweeping a mass of +books and papers off a large divan. "When Nevsky is not here the room +gets sadly disarranged. I have no genius for order." + +Amid the clouds of fragrant light smoke we waited for Kazanovitch to +break the silence. + +"Perhaps you think that the iron hand of the Russian prime minister has +broken the backbone of revolution in Russia," he began at length. "But +because the Duma is subservient, it does not mean that all is over. Not +at all. We are not asleep. Revolution is smouldering, ready to break +forth at any moment. The agents of the government know it. They are +desperate. There is no means they would not use to crush us. Their long +arm reaches even to New York, in this land of freedom." + +He rose and excitedly paced the room. Somehow or other, this man did +not prepossess me. Was it that I was prejudiced by a puritanical +disapproval of the things that pass current in Old World morality? Or +was it merely that I found the great writer of fiction seeking the +dramatic effect always at the cost of sincerity? + +"Just what is it that you suspect?" asked Craig, anxious to dispense +with the rhetoric and to get down to facts. "Surely, when three persons +are stricken, you must suspect something." + +"Poison," replied Kazanovitch quickly. "Poison, and of a kind that even +the poison doctors of St. Petersburg have never employed. Dr. Kharkoff +is completely baffled. Your American doctors--two were called in to see +Saratovsky--say it is the typhus fever. But Kharkoff knows better. +There is no typhus rash. Besides"--and he leaned forward to emphasise +his words--"one does not get over typhus in a week and have it again as +Saratovsky has." + +I could see that Kennedy was growing impatient. An idea had occurred to +him, and only politeness kept him listening to Kazanovitch longer. + +"Doctor," he said, as Kharkoff entered the room again, "do you suppose +you could get some perfectly clean test-tubes and sterile bouillon from +Miss Nevsky's laboratory? I think I saw a rack of tubes on the table." + +"Surely," answered Kharkoff. + +"You will excuse us, Mr. Kazanovitch," apologised Kennedy briskly, "but +I feel that I am going to have a hard day to-morrow and--by the way, +would you be so kind as to come up to my laboratory some time during +the day, and continue your story." + +On the way out Craig took the doctor aside for a moment, and they +talked earnestly. At last Craig motioned to me. + +"Walter," he explained, "Dr. Kharkoff is going to prepare some cultures +in the test-tubes to-night so that I can make a microscopic examination +of the blood of Saratovsky, Samarova, and later of his servant. The +tubes will be ready early in the morning, and I have arranged with the +doctor for you to call and get them if you have no objection." + +I assented, and we started downstairs. As we passed a door on the +second floor, a woman's voice called out, "Is that you, Boris?" + +"No, Olga, this is Nicholas," replied the doctor. "It is Samarova," he +said to us as he entered. + +In a few moments he rejoined us. "She is no better," he continued, as +we again started away. "I may as well tell you, Professor Kennedy, just +how matters stand here. Samarova is head over heels in love with +Kazanovitch--you heard her call for him just now? Before they left +Paris, Kazanovitch showed some partiality for Olga, but now Nevsky has +captured him. She is indeed a fascinating woman, but as for me, if Olga +would consent to become Madame Kharkoff, it should be done tomorrow, +and she need worry no longer over her broken contract with the American +theatre managers. But women are not that way. She prefers the hopeless +love. Ah, well, I shall let you know if anything new happens. +Good-night, and a thou-sand thanks for your help, gentlemen." + +Nothing was said by either of us on our journey uptown, for it was late +and I, at least, was tired. + +But Kennedy had no intention of going to bed, I found. Instead, he sat +down in his easy chair and shaded his eyes, apparently in deep thought. +As I stood by the table to fill my pipe for a last smoke, I saw that he +was carefully regarding the letter he had picked up, turning it over +and over, and apparently debating with himself what to do with it. + +"Some kinds of paper can be steamed open without leaving any trace," he +remarked in answer to my unspoken question, laying the letter down +before me. + +I read the address: "M. Alexander Alexandrovitch Orloff,--Rue de----, +Paris, France." + +"Letter-opening has been raised to a fine art by the secret service +agents of foreign countries," he continued. "Why not take a chance? The +simple operation of steaming a letter open is followed by reburnishing +the flap with a bone instrument, and no trace is left. I can't do that, +for this letter is sealed with wax. One way would be to take a matrix +of the seal before breaking the wax and then replace a duplicate of it. +No, I won't risk it. I'll try a scientific way." + +Between two pieces of smooth wood, Craig laid the letter flat, so that +the edges projected about a thirty-second of an inch. He flattened the +projecting edge of the envelope, then roughened it, and finally slit it +open. + +"You see, Walter, later I will place the letter back, apply a hair line +of strong white gum, and unite the edges of the envelope under +pressure. Let us see what we have here." + +He drew out what seemed to be a manuscript on very thin paper, and +spread it out flat on the table before us. Apparently it was a +scientific paper on a rather unusual subject, "Spontaneous Generation +of Life." It was in longhand and read: + +Many thanks for the copy of the paper by Prof. Betaillon of Dijon on +the artificial fertilization of the eggs of frogs. I consider it a most +important advance in the artificial generation of life. + +I will not attempt to reproduce in facsimile the entire manuscript, for +it is unnecessary, and, in fact, I merely set down part of its contents +here because it seemed so utterly valueless to me at the time. It went +on to say: + +While Betaillon punctured the eggs with a platinum needle and developed +them by means of electric discharges, Loeb in America placed eggs of +the sea-urchin in a strong solution of sea water, then in a bath where +they were subjected to the action of butyric acid. Finally they were +placed in ordinary sea water again, where they developed in the natural +manner. Delage at Roscorf used a liquid containing salts of magnesia +and tannate of ammonia to produce the same result. + +In his latest book on the Origin of Life Dr. Charlton Bastian tells of +using two solutions. One consisted of two or three drops of dilute +sodium silicate with eight drops of liquor ferri pernitratis to one +ounce of distilled water. The other was composed of the same amount of +the silicate with six drops of dilute phosphoric acid and six grains of +ammonium phosphate. He filled sterilised tubes, sealed them +hermetically, and heated them to 125 or 145 degrees, Centigrade, +although 60 or 70 degrees would have killed any bacteria remaining in +them. + +Next he exposed them to sunlight in a south window for from two to four +months. When the tubes were opened Dr. Bastian found organisms in them +which differed in no way from real bacteria. They grew and multiplied. +He contends that he has proved the possibility of spontaneous +generation of life. + +Then there were the experiments of John Butler Burke of Cambridge, who +claimed that he had developed "radiobes" in tubes of sterilised +bouillon by means of radium emanations. Daniel Berthelot in France last +year announced that he had used the ultra-violet rays to duplicate +nature's own process of chlorophyll assimilation. He has broken up +carbon dioxide and water-vapour in the air in precisely the same way +that the green cells of plants do it. + +Leduc at Nantes has made crystals grow from an artificial "egg" +composed of certain chemicals. These crystals show all the apparent +vital phenomena without being actually alive. His work is interesting, +for it shows the physical forces that probably control minute life +cells, once they are created. + +"What do you make of it?" asked Kennedy, noting the puzzled look on my +face as I finished reading. + +"Well, recent research in the problem of the origin of life may be very +interesting," I replied. "There are a good many chemicals mentioned +here--I wonder if any of them is poisonous? But I am of the opinion +that there is something more to this manuscript than a mere scientific +paper." + +"Exactly, Walter," said Kennedy in half raillery. "What I wanted to +know was how you would suggest getting at that something." + +Study as I might, I could make nothing out of it. Meanwhile Craig was +busily figuring with a piece of paper and a pencil. + +"I give it up, Craig," I said at last. "It is late. Perhaps we had +better both turn in, and we may have some ideas on it in the morning." + +For answer he merely shook his head and continued to scribble and +figure on the paper. With a reluctant good-night I shut my door, +determined to be up early in the morning and go for the tubes that +Kharkoff was to prepare. + +But in the morning Kennedy was gone. I dressed hastily, and was just +about to go out when he hurried in, showing plainly the effects of +having spent a sleepless night. He flung an early edition of a +newspaper on the table. + +"Too late," he exclaimed. "I tried to reach Kharkoff, but it was too +late." + +"Another East Side Bomb Outrage," I read. "While returning at a late +hour last night from a patient, Dr. Nicholas Kharkoff, of--East +Broadway, was severely injured by a bomb which had been placed in his +hallway earlier in the evening. Dr. Kharkoff, who is a well-known +physician on the East Side, states that he has been constantly shadowed +by some one unknown for the past week or two. He attributes his escape +with his life to the fact that since he was shadowed he has observed +extreme caution. Yesterday his cook was poisoned and is now dangerously +ill. Dr. Kharkoff stands high in the Russian community, and it is +thought by the police that the bomb was placed by a Russian political +agent, as Kharkoff has been active in the ranks of the revolutionists." + +"But what made you anticipate it?" I asked of Kennedy, considerably +mystified. + +"The manuscript," he replied. + +"The manuscript? How? Where is it?" + +"After I found that it was too late to save Kharkoff and that he was +well cared for at the hospital, I hurried to Saratovsky's. Kharkoff had +fortunately left the tubes there, and I got them. Here they are. As for +the manuscript in the letter, I was going to ask you to slip upstairs +by some strategy and return it where I found it, when you went for the +tubes this morning. Kazanovitch was out, and I have returned it myself, +so you need not go, now." + +"He's coming to see you today, isn't he?" + +"I hope so. I left a note asking him to bring Miss Nevsky, if possible, +too. Come, let us breakfast and go over to the laboratory. They may +arrive at any moment. Besides, I'm interested to see what the tubes +disclose." + +Instead of Kazanovitch awaiting us at the laboratory, however, we found +Miss Nevsky, haggard and worn. She was a tall, striking girl with more +of the Gaul than the Slav in her appearance. There was a slightly +sensuous curve to her mouth, but on the whole her face was striking and +intellectual. I felt that if she chose she could fascinate a man so +that he would dare anything. I never before understood why the Russian +police feared the women revolutionists so much. It was because they +were themselves, plus every man they could influence. + +Nevsky appeared very excited. She talked rapidly, and fire flashed from +her grey eyes. "They tell me at the club," she began, "that you are +investigating the terrible things that are happening to us. Oh, +Professor Kennedy, it is awful! Last night I was staying with some +friends on East Broadway. Suddenly we heard a terrific explosion up the +street. It was in front of Dr. Kharkoff's house. Thank Heaven, he is +still alive I But I was so unnerved I could not sleep. I fancied I +might be the next to go. + +"Early this morning I hastened to return to Fifth Avenue. As I entered +the door of my room I could not help thinking of the horrible fate of +Dr. Kharkoff. For some unknown reason, just as I was about to push the +door farther open, I hesitated and looked--I almost fainted. There +stood another bomb just inside. If I had moved the door a fraction of +an inch it would have exploded. I screamed, and Olga, sick as she was, +ran to my assistance--or perhaps she thought something had happened to +Boris. It is standing there yet. None of us dares touch it. Oh, +Professor Kennedy, it is dreadful, dreadful. And I cannot find +Boris--Mr. Kazanovitch, I mean. Saratovsky, who is like a father to us +all, is scarcely able to speak. Dr. Kharkoff is helpless in the +hospital. Oh, what are we to do, what are we to do?" + +She stood trembling before us, imploring. + +"Calm yourself, Miss Nevsky," said Kennedy in a reassuring tone. "Sit +down and let us plan. I take it that it was a chemical bomb and not one +with a fuse, or you would have a different story to tell. First of all, +we must remove it. That is easily done." + +He called up a near-by garage and ordered an automobile. "I will drive +it myself," he ordered, "only send a man around with it immediately." + +"No, no, no," she cried, running toward him, "you must not risk it. It +is bad enough that we should risk our lives. But strangers must not. +Think, Professor Kennedy. Suppose the bomb should explode at a touch! +Had we not better call the police and let them take the risk, even if +it does get into the papers?" + +"No," replied Kennedy firmly. "Miss Nevsky, I am quite willing to take +the risk. Besides, here comes the automobile." + +"You are too kind," she exclaimed. "Kazanovitch himself could do no +more. How am I ever to thank you?" + +On the back of the automobile Kennedy placed a peculiar oblong box, +swung on two concentric rings balanced on pivots, like a most delicate +compass. + +We rode quickly downtown, and Kennedy hurried into the house, bidding +us stand back. With a long pair of tongs he seized the bomb firmly. It +was a tense moment. Suppose his hand should unnecessarily tremble, or +he should tip it just a bit--it might explode and blow him to atoms. +Keeping it perfectly horizontal he carried it carefully out to the +waiting automobile and placed it gingerly in the box. + +"Wouldn't it be a good thing to fill the box with water?" I suggested, +having read somewhere that that was the usual way of opening a bomb, +under water. + +"No," he replied, as he closed the lid, "that wouldn't do any good with +a bomb of this sort. It would explode under water just as well as in +air. This is a safety bomb-carrier. It is known as the Cardan +suspension. It was invented by Professor Cardono, an Italian. You see, +it is always held in a perfectly horizontal position, no matter how you +jar it. I am now going to take the bomb to some safe and convenient +place where I can examine it at my leisure. Meanwhile, Miss Nevsky, I +will leave you in charge of Mr. Jameson." + +"Thank you so much," she said. "I feel better now. I didn't dare go +into my own room with that bomb at the door. If Mr. Jameson can only +find out what has become of Mr. Kazanovitch, that is all I want. What +do you suppose has happened to him? Is he, too, hurt or ill?" + +"Very well, then," Craig replied. "I will commission you, Walter, to +find Kazanovitch. I shall be back again shortly before noon to examine +the wreck of Kharkoff's office. Meet me there. Goodbye, Miss Nevsky." + +It was not the first time that I had had a roving commission to find +some one who had disappeared in New York. I started by inquiring for +every possible place that he might be found. No one at the Fifth Avenue +house could tell me anything definite, though they were able to give me +a number of places where he was known. I consumed practically the whole +morning going from one place to another on the East Side. Some of the +picturesque haunts of the revolutionists would have furnished material +for a story in themselves. But nowhere had they any word of +Kazanovitch, until I visited a Polish artist who was illustrating his +stories. He had been there, looking very worn and tired, and had talked +vacantly about the sketches which the artist had showed him. After that +I lost all trace of him again. It was nearly noon as I hurried to meet +Craig at Kharkoff's. + +Imagine my surprise to see Kazanovitch already there, seated in the +wrecked office, furiously smoking cigarettes and showing evident signs +of having something very disturbing on his mind. The moment he caught +sight of me, he hurried forward. + +"Is Professor Kennedy coming soon?" he inquired eagerly. "I was going +up to his laboratory, but I called up Nevsky, and she said he would be +here at noon." Then he put his hand up to my ear and whispered, "I have +found out who it was who shadowed Kharkoff." + +"Who?" I asked, saying nothing of my long search of the morning. + +"His name is Revalenko--Feodor Revalenko. I saw him standing across the +street in front of the house last night after you had gone. When +Kharkoff left, he followed him. I hurried out quietly and followed both +of them. Then the explosion came. This man slipped down a narrow street +as soon as he saw Kharkoff fall. As people were running to Kharkoff's +assistance, I did the same. He saw me following him and ran, and I ran, +too, and overtook him. Mr. Jameson, when I looked into his face I could +not believe it. Revalenko--he is one of the most ardent members of our +organisation. He would not tell me why he had followed Kharkoff. I +could make him confess nothing. But I am sure he is an agent +provocateur of the Russian government, that he is secretly giving away +the plans that we are making, everything. We have a plot on +now--perhaps he has informed them of that. Of course he denied setting +the bomb or trying to poison any of us, but he was very frightened. I +shall denounce him at the first opportunity." + +I said nothing. Kazanovitch regarded me keenly to see what impression +the story made on me, but I did not let my looks betray anything, +except proper surprise, and he seemed satisfied. + +It might be true, after all, I reasoned, the more I thought of it. I +had heard that the Russian consul-general had a very extensive spy +system in the city. In fact, even that morning I had had pointed out to +me some spies at work in the public libraries, watching what young +Russians were reading. I did not doubt that there were spies in the +very inner circle of the revolutionists themselves. + +At last Kennedy appeared. While Kazanovitch poured forth his story, +with here and there, I fancied, an elaboration of a particularly +dramatic point, Kennedy quickly examined the walls and floor of the +wrecked office with his magnifying-glass. When he had concluded his +search, he turned to Kazanovitch. + +"Would it be possible," he asked, "to let this Revalenko believe that +he could trust you, that it would be safe for him to visit you to-night +at Saratovsky's? Surely you can find some way of reassuring him." + +"Yes, I think that can be arranged," said Kazanovitch. "I will go to +him, will make him think I have misunderstood him, that I have not lost +faith in him, provided he can explain all. He will come. Trust me." + +"Very well, then. To-night at eight I shall be there," promised +Kennedy, as the novelist and he shook hands. + +"What do you think of the Revalenko story?" I asked of Craig, as we +started uptown again. + +"Anything is possible in this case," he answered sententiously. + +"Well," I exclaimed, "this all is truly Russian. For intrigue they are +certainly the leaders of the world to-day. There is only one person +that I have any real confidence in, and that is old Saratovsky himself. +Somebody is playing traitor, Craig. Who is it?" + +"That is what science will tell us to-night," was his brief reply. +There was no getting anything out of Craig until he was absolutely sure +that his proofs had piled up irresistibly. + +Promptly at eight we met at the old house on Fifth Avenue. Kharkoff's +wounds had proved less severe than had at first been suspected, and, +having recovered from the shock, he insisted on being transferred from +the hospital in a private ambulance so that he could be near his +friends. Saratovsky, in spite of his high fever, ordered that the door +to his room be left open and his bed moved so that he could hear and +see what passed in the room down the hall. Nevsky was there and +Kazanovitch, and even brave Olga Samarova, her pretty face burning with +the fever, would not be content until she was carried upstairs, +although Dr. Kharkoff protested vigorously that it might have fatal +consequences. Revalenko, an enigma of a man, sat stolidly. The only +thing I noticed about him was an occasional look of malignity at Nevsky +and Kazanovitch when he thought he was unobserved. + +It was indeed a strange gathering, the like of which the old house had +never before harboured in all its varied history. Every one was on the +qui vive, as Kennedy placed on the table a small wire basket containing +some test-tubes, each tube corked with a small wadding of cotton. There +was also a receptacle holding a dozen glass-handled platinum wires, a +microscope, and a number of slides. The bomb, now rendered innocuous by +having been crushed in a huge hydraulic press, lay in fragments in the +box. + +"First, I want you to consider the evidence of the bomb," began +Kennedy. "No crime, I firmly believe, is ever perpetrated without +leaving some clue. The slightest trace, even a drop of blood no larger +than a pin-head, may suffice to convict a murderer. The impression made +on a cartridge by the hammer of a pistol, or a single hair found on the +clothing of a suspected person, may serve as valid proof of crime. + +"Until lately, however, science was powerless against the bomb-thrower. +A bomb explodes into a thousand parts, and its contents suddenly become +gaseous. You can't collect and investigate the gases. Still, the +bomb-thrower is sadly deceived if he believes the bomb leaves no trace +for the scientific detective. It is difficult for the chemist to find +out the secrets of a shattered bomb. But it can be done. + +"I examined the walls of Dr. Kharkoff's house, and fortunately was able +to pick out a few small fragments of the contents of the bomb which had +been thrown out before the flame ignited them. I have analysed them, +and find them to be a peculiar species of blasting-gelatine. It is made +at only one factory in this country, and I have a list of purchasers +for some time back. One name, or rather the description of an assumed +name, in the list agrees with other evidence I have been able to +collect. Moreover, the explosive was placed in a lead tube. Lead tubes +are common enough. However, there is no need of further evidence." + +He paused, and the revolutionists stared fixedly at the fragments of +the now harmless bomb before them. + +"The exploded bomb," concluded Craig, "was composed of the same +materials as this, which I found unexploded at the door of Miss +Nevsky's room--the same sort of lead tube, the same blasting-gelatine. +The fuse, a long cord saturated in sulphur, was merely a blind. The +real method of explosion was by means of a chemical contained in a +glass tube which was inserted after the bomb was put in place. The +least jar, such as opening a door, which would tip the bomb ever so +little out of the horizontal, was all that was necessary to explode it. +The exploded bomb and the unexploded were in all respects +identical--the same hand set both." + +A gasp of astonishment ran through the circle. Could it be that one of +their own number was playing false? In at least this instance in the +warfare of the chemist and the dynamiter the chemist had come out ahead. + +"But," Kennedy hurried along, "the thing that interests me most about +this case is not the evidence of the bombs. Bombs are common enough +weapons, after all. It is the evidence of almost diabolical cunning +that has been shown in the effort to get rid of the father of the +revolution, as you like to call him." + +Craig cleared his throat and played with our feelings as a cat does +with a mouse. "Strange to say, the most deadly, the most insidious, the +most elusive agency for committing murder is one that can be obtained +and distributed with practically no legal restrictions. Any doctor can +purchase disease germs in quantities sufficient to cause thousands and +thousands of deaths without giving any adequate explanation for what +purpose he requires them. More than that, any person claiming to be a +scientist or having some acquaintance with science and scientists can +usually obtain germs without difficulty. Every pathological laboratory +contains stores of disease germs, neatly sealed up in test-tubes, +sufficient to depopulate whole cities and even nations. With almost no +effort, I myself have actually cultivated enough germs to kill every +person within a radius of a mile of the Washington Arch down the +street. They are here in these test-tubes." + +We scarcely breathed. Suppose Kennedy should let loose this deadly foe, +these germs of death, whatever they were? Yet that was precisely what +some fiend incarnate had done, and that fiend was sitting in the room +with us. + +"Here I have one of the most modern dark-field microscopes," he +resumed. "On this slide I have placed a little pin-point of a culture +made from the blood of Saratovsky. I will stain the culture. +Now--er--Walter, look through the microscope under this powerful light +and tell us what you see on the slide." + +I bent over. "In the darkened field I see a number of germs like +dancing points of coloured light," I said. "They are wriggling about +with a peculiar twisting motion." + +"Like a corkscrew," interrupted Kennedy, impatient to go on. "They are +of the species known as Spirilla. Here is another slide, a culture from +the blood of Samarova." + +"I see them there, too," I exclaimed. + +Every one was now crowding about for a glimpse, as I raised my head. + +"What is this germ?" asked a hollow voice from the doorway. + +We looked, startled. There stood Saratovsky, more like a ghost than a +living being. Kennedy sprang forward and caught him as he swayed, and I +moved up an armchair for him. + +"It is the spirillum Obermeieri," said Kennedy, "the germ of the +relapsing fever, but of the most virulent Asiatic strain. Obermeyer, +who discovered it, caught the disease and died of it, a martyr to +science." + +A shriek of consternation rang forth from Samarova. The rest of us +paled, but repressed our feelings. + +"One moment," added Kennedy hastily. "Don't be unnecessarily alarmed. I +have something more to say. Be calm for a moment longer." + +He unrolled a blue-print and placed it on the table. + +"This," he continued, "is the photographic copy of a message which, I +suppose, is now on its way to the Russian minister to France in Paris. +Some one in this room besides Mr. Jameson and myself has seen this +letter before. I will hold it up as I pass around and let each one see +it." + +In intense silence Kennedy passed before each of us, holding up the +blue-print and searchingly scanning the faces. No one betrayed by any +sign that he recognised it. At last it came to Revalenko himself. + +"The checkerboard, the checkerboard!" he cried, his eyes half starting +from their sockets as he gazed at it. + +"Yes," said Kennedy in a low tone, "the checkerboard. It took me some +time to figure it out. It is a cipher that would have baffled Poe. In +fact, there is no means of deciphering it unless you chance to know its +secret. I happened to have heard of it a long time ago abroad, yet my +recollection was vague, and I had to reconstruct it with much +difficulty. It took me all night to do it. It is a cipher, however, +that is well known among the official classes of Russia. + +"Fortunately I remember the crucial point, without which I should still +be puzzling over it. It is that a perfectly innocent message, on its +face, may be used to carry a secret, hidden message. The letters which +compose the words, instead of being written continuously along, as we +ordinarily write, have, as you will observe if you look twice, breaks, +here and there. These breaks in the letters stand for numbers. + +"Thus the first words are 'Many thanks.' The first break is at the end +of the letter 'n,' between it and the 'y.' There are three letters +before this break. That stands for the number 3. + +"When you come to the end of a word, if the stroke is down at the end +of the last letter, that means no break; if it is up, it means a break. +The stroke at the end of the 'y' is plainly down. Therefore there is no +break until after the 't.' That gives us the number 2. So we get 1 +next, and again 1, and still again 1; then 5; then 5; then 1; and so on. + +"Now, take these numbers in pairs, thus 3-2; 1-1; 1-5; 5-1. By +consulting this table you can arrive at the hidden message." + +He held up a cardboard bearing the following arrangement of the letters +of the alphabet: + + 1 2 3 4 5 + 1 A B C D E + 2 F G H IJ K + 3 L M N O P + 4 Q R S T U + 5 V W X Y Z + +"Thus," he continued, "3-2 means the third column and second line. That +is 'H.' Then 1-1 is 'A '; 1-5 is 'V '; 5-1 is 'E'--and we get the word +'Have.'" + +Not a soul stirred as Kennedy unfolded the cipher. What was the +terrible secret in that scientific essay I had puzzled so +unsuccessfully over, the night before? + +"Even this can be complicated by choosing a series of fixed numbers to +be added to the real numbers over and over again. Or the order of the +alphabet can be changed. However, we have the straight cipher only to +deal with here." + +"And what for Heaven's sake does it reveal?" asked Saratovsky, leaning +forward, forgetful of the fever that was consuming him. + +Kennedy pulled out a piece of paper on which he had written the hidden +message and read: + +"Have successfully inoculated S. with fever. Public opinion America +would condemn violence. Think best death should appear natural. +Samarova infected also. Cook unfortunately took dose in food intended +Kharkoff. Now have three cases. Shall stop there at present. Dangerous +excite further suspicion health authorities." + +Rapidly I eliminated in my mind the persons mentioned, as Craig read. +Saratovsky of course was not guilty, for the plot had centred about +him. Nor was little Samarova, nor Dr. Kharkoff. I noted Revalenko and +Kazanovitch glaring at each other and hastily tried to decide which I +more strongly suspected. + +"Will get K.," continued Kennedy. "Think bomb perhaps all right. K. +case different from S. No public sentiment." + +"So Kharkoff had been marked for slaughter," I thought. Or was "K." +Kazanovitch? I regarded Revalenko more closely. He was suspiciously +sullen. + +"Must have more money. Cable ten thousand rubles at once Russian +consul-general. Will advise you plot against Czar as details perfected +here. Expect break up New York band with death of S." + +If Kennedy himself had thrown a bomb or scattered broadcast the +contents of the test-tubes, the effect could not have been more +startling than his last quiet sentence--and sentence it was in two +senses. + +"Signed," he said, folding the paper up deliberately, "Ekaterina +Nevsky." + +It was as if a cable had snapped and a weight had fallen. Revalenko +sprang up and grasped Kazanovitch by the hand. "Forgive me, comrade, +for ever suspecting you," he cried. + +"And forgive me for suspecting you," replied Kazanovitch, "but how did +you come to shadow Kharkoff?" + +"I ordered him to follow Kharkoff secretly and protect him," explained +Saratovsky. + +Olga and Ekaterina faced each other fiercely. Olga was trembling with +emotion. Nevsky stood coldly, defiantly. If ever there was a consummate +actress it was she, who had put the bomb at her own door and had rushed +off to start Kennedy on a blind trail. + +"You traitress," cried Olga passionately, forgetting all in her +outraged love. "You won his affections from me by your false +beauty--yet all the time you would have killed him like a dog for the +Czar's gold. At last you are unmasked--you Azeff in skirts. False +friend--you would have killed us all--Saratovsky, Kharkoff--" + +"Be still, little fool," exclaimed Nevsky contemptuously. "The spirilla +fever has affected your brains. Bah! I will not stay with those who are +so ready to suspect an old comrade on the mere word of a charlatan. +Boris Kazanovitch, do you stand there SILENT and let this insult be +heaped upon me?" + +For answer, Kazanovitch deliberately turned his back on his lover of a +moment ago and crossed the room. "Olga," he pleaded, "I have been a +fool. Some day I may be worthy of your love. Fever or not, I must beg +your forgiveness." + +With a cry of delight the actress flung her arms about Boris, as he +imprinted a penitent kiss on her warm lips. + +"Simpleton," hissed Nevsky with curling lips. "Now you, too, will die." + +"One moment, Ekaterina Nevsky," interposed Kennedy, as he picked up +some vacuum tubes full of a golden-yellow powder, that lay on the +table. "The spirilla, as scientists now know, belong to the same family +as those which cause what we call, euphemistically, the 'black plague.' +It is the same species as that of the African sleeping sickness and the +Philippine yaws. Last year a famous doctor whose photograph I see in +the next room, Dr. Ehrlich of Frankfort, discovered a cure for all +these diseases. It will rid the blood of your victims of the Asiatic +relapsing fever germs in forty-eight hours. In these tubes I have the +now famous salvarsan." + +With a piercing shriek of rage at seeing her deadly work so quickly and +completely undone, Nevsky flung herself into the little laboratory +behind her and bolted the door. + +Her face still wore the same cold, contemptuous smile, as Kennedy +gently withdrew a sharp scalpel from her breast. + +"Perhaps it is best this way, after all," he said simply. + + + + +IV + +THE FIREBUG + + +A big, powerful, red touring-car, with a shining brass bell on the +front of it, was standing at the curb before our apartment late one +afternoon as I entered. It was such a machine as one frequently sees +threading its reckless course in and out among the trucks and +street-cars, breaking all rules and regulations, stopping at nothing, +the bell clanging with excitement, policemen holding back traffic +instead of trying to arrest the driver--in other words, a Fire +Department automobile. + +I regarded it curiously for a moment, for everything connected with +modern fire-fighting is interesting. Then I forgot about it as I was +whisked up in the elevator, only to have it recalled sharply by the +sight of a strongly built, grizzled man in a blue uniform with red +lining. He was leaning forward, earnestly pouring forth a story into +Kennedy's ear. + +"And back of the whole thing, sir," I heard him say as he brought his +large fist down on the table, "is a firebug--mark my words." + +Before I could close the door, Craig caught my eye, and I read in his +look that he had a new case--one that interested him greatly. "Walter," +he cried, "this is Fire Marshal McCormick. It's all right, McCormick. +Mr. Jameson is an accessory both before and after the fact in my +detective cases." + +A firebug!--one of the most dangerous of criminals. The word excited my +imagination at once, for the newspapers had lately been making much of +the strange and appalling succession of apparently incendiary fires +that had terrorised the business section of the city. + +"Just what makes you think that there is a firebug--one firebug, I +mean--back of this curious epidemic of fires?" asked Kennedy, leaning +back in his morrischair with his finger-tips together and his eyes half +closed as if expecting a revelation from some subconscious train of +thought while the fire marshal presented his case. + +"Well, usually there is no rhyme or reason about the firebug," replied +McCormick, measuring his words, "but this time I think there is some +method in his madness. You know the Stacey department-stores and their +allied dry-goods and garment-trade interests?" + +Craig nodded. Of course we knew of the gigantic dry-goods combination. +It had been the talk of the press at the time of its formation, a few +months ago, especially as it included among its organisers one very +clever business woman, Miss Rebecca Wend. There had been considerable +opposition to the combination in the trade, but Stacey had shattered it +by the sheer force of his personality. + +McCormick leaned forward and, shaking his forefinger to emphasise his +point, replied slowly, "Practically every one of these fires has been +directed against a Stacey subsidiary or a corporation controlled by +them." + +"But if it has gone as far as that," put in Kennedy, "surely the +regular police ought to be of more assistance to you than I." + +"I have called in the police," answered McCormick wearily, "but they +haven't even made up their minds whether it is a single firebug or a +gang. And in the meantime, my God, Kennedy, the firebug may start a +fire that will get beyond control!" + +"You say the police haven't a single clue to any one who might be +responsible for the fires?" I asked, hoping that perhaps the marshal +might talk more freely of his suspicions to us than he had already +expressed himself in the newspaper interviews I had read. + +"Absolutely not a clue--except such as are ridiculous," replied +McCormick, twisting his cap viciously. + +No one spoke. We were waiting for McCormick to go on. + +"The first fire," he began, repeating his story for my benefit, +although Craig listened quite as attentively as if he had not heard it +already, "was at the big store of Jones, Green leaders have been +arrested, but I can't say we have anything against any of them. Still, +Max Bloom, the manager of this company, insists that the fire was set +for revenge, and indeed it looks as much like a fire for revenge as the +Jones-Green fire does"--here he lowered his voice confidentially--"for +the purpose of collecting insurance. + +"Then came the fire in the Slawson Building, a new loft-building that +had been erected just off Fourth Avenue. Other than the fact that the +Stacey interests put up the money for financing this building there +seemed to be no reason for that fire at all. The building was reputed +to be earning a good return on the investment, and I was at a loss to +account for the fire. I have made no arrests for it--just set it down +as the work of a pure pyromaniac, a man who burns buildings for fun, a +man with an inordinate desire to hear the fire-engines screech through +the streets and perhaps get a chance to show a little heroism in +'rescuing' tenants. However, the adjuster for the insurance company, +Lazard, and the adjuster for the insured, Hartstein, have reached an +agreement, and I believe the insurance is to be paid." + +"But," interposed Kennedy, "I see no evidence of organised arson so +far." + +"Wait," replied the fire marshal. "That was only the beginning, you +understand. A little later came a fire that looked quite like an +attempt to mask a robbery by burning the building afterward. That was +in a silk-house near Spring Street. But after a controversy the +adjusters have reached an agreement on that case. I mention these fires +because they show practically all the types of work of the various +kinds of firebug--insurance, revenge, robbery, and plain insanity. But +since the Spring Street fire, the character of the fires has been more +uniform. They have all been in business places, or nearly all." + +Here the fire marshal launched forth into a catalogue of fires of +suspected incendiary origin, at least eight in all. I took them down +hastily, intending to use the list some time in a box head with an +article in the Star. When he had finished his list I hastily counted up +the number of killed. There were six, two of them firemen, and four +employees. The money loss ranged into the millions. + +McCormick passed his hand over his forehead to brush off the +perspiration. "I guess this thing has got on my nerves," he muttered +hoarsely. "Everywhere I go they talk about nothing else. If I drop into +the restaurant for lunch, my waiter talks of it. If I meet a newspaper +man, he talks of it. My barber talks of it--everybody. Sometimes I +dream of it; other times I lie awake thinking about it. I tell you, +gentlemen, I've sweated blood over this problem." + +"But," insisted Kennedy, "I still can't see why you link all these +fires as due to one firebug. I admit there is an epidemic of fires. But +what makes you so positive that it is all the work of one man?" + +"I was coming to that. For one thing, he isn't like the usual firebug +at all. Ordinarily they start their fires with excelsior and petroleum, +or they smear the wood with paraffin or they use gasoline, benzine, or +something of that sort. This fellow apparently scorns such crude +methods. I can't say how he starts his fires, but in every case I have +mentioned we have found the remains of a wire. It has something to do +with electricity--but what, I don't know. That's one reason why I think +these fires are all connected. Here's another." + +McCormick pulled a dirty note out of his pocket and laid it on the +table. We read it eagerly: + +Hello, Chief! Haven't found the firebug yet, have you? You will know +who he is only when I am dead and the fires stop. I don't suppose you +even realise that the firebug talks with you almost every day about +catching the firebug. That's me. I am the real firebug, that is writing +this letter. I am going to tell you why I am starting these fires. +There's money in it--an easy living. They never caught me in Chicago or +anywhere, so you might as well quit looking for me and take your +medicine. + A. SPARK. + +"Humph!" ejaculated Kennedy, "he has a sense of humour, anyhow--A. +Spark!" + +"Queer sense of humour," growled McCormick, gritting his teeth. "Here's +another I got to-day: + +Say, Chief: We are going to get busy again and fire a big +department-store next. How does that suit Your Majesty? Wait till the +fun begins when the firebug gets to work again. + A. SPARK. + +"Well, sir, when I got that letter," cried McCormick, "I was almost +ready to ring in a double-nine alarm at once--they have me that bluffed +out. But I said to myself, 'There's only one thing to do--see this man +Kennedy.' So here I am. You see what I am driving at? I believe that +firebug is an artist at the thing, does it for the mere fun of it and +the ready money in it. But more than that, there must be some one back +of him. Who is the man higher up--we must catch him. See?" + +"A big department-store," mused Kennedy. "That's definite--there are +only a score or so of them, and the Stacey interests control several. +Mac, I'll tell you what I'll do. Let me sit up with you to-night at +headquarters until we get an alarm. By George, I'll see this case +through to a finish!" + +The fire marshal leaped to his feet and bounded over to where Kennedy +was seated. With one hand on Craig's shoulder and the other grasping +Craig's hand, he started to speak, but his voice choked. + +"Thanks," he blurted out huskily at last. "My reputation in the +department is at stake, my promotion, my position itself, my--my +family--er--er--" + +"Not a word, sir," said Kennedy, his features working sympathetically. +"To-night at eight I will go on watch with you. By the way, leave me +those A. Spark notes." + +McCormick had so far regained his composure as to say a hearty +farewell. He left the room as if ten years had been lifted off his +shoulders. A moment later he stuck his head in the door again. "I'll +have one of the Department machines call for you, gentlemen," he said. + +After the marshal had gone, we sat for several minutes in silence. +Kennedy was reading and rereading the notes, scowling to himself as if +they presented a particularly perplexing problem. I said nothing, +though my mind was teeming with speculations. At length he placed the +notes very decisively on the table and snapped out the remark, + +"Yes, it must be so." + +"What?" I queried, still drumming away at my typewriter, copying the +list of incendiary fires against the moment when the case should be +complete and the story "released for publication," as it were. + +"This note," he explained, picking up the first one and speaking +slowly, "was written by a woman." + +I swung around in my chair quickly. "Get out!" I exclaimed sceptically. +"No woman ever used such phrases." + +"I didn't say composed by a woman--I said written by a woman," he +replied. + +"Oh," I said, rather chagrined. + +"It is possible to determine sex from handwriting in perhaps eighty +cases out of a hundred," Kennedy went on, enjoying my discomfiture. +"Once I examined several hundred specimens of writing to decide that +point to my satisfaction. Just to test my conclusions I submitted the +specimens to two professional graphologists. I found that our results +were slightly different, but I averaged the thing up to four cases out +of five correct. The so-called sex signs are found to be largely +influenced by the amount of writing done, by age, and to a certain +extent by practice and professional requirements, as in the +conventional writing of teachers and the rapid hand of bookkeepers. Now +in this case the person who wrote the first note was only an +indifferent writer. Therefore the sex signs are pretty likely to be +accurate. Yes, I'm ready to go on the stand and swear that this note +was written by a woman and the second by a man." + +"Then there's a woman in the case, and she wrote the first note for the +firebug--is that what you mean?" I asked. + +"Exactly. There nearly always is a woman in the case, somehow or other. +This woman is closely connected with the firebug. As for the firebug, +whoever it may be, he performs his crimes with cold premeditation and, +as De Quincey said, in a spirit of pure artistry. The lust of fire +propels him, and he uses his art to secure wealth. The man may be a +tool in the hands of others, however. It's unsafe to generalise on the +meagre facts we now have. Oh, well, there is nothing we can do just +yet. Let's take a walk, get an early dinner, and be back here before +the automobile arrives." + +Not a word more did Kennedy say about the case during our stroll or +even on the way downtown to fire headquarters. + +We found McCormick anxiously waiting for us. High up in the sandstone +tower at headquarters, we sat with him in the maze of delicate +machinery with which the fire game is played in New York. In great +glass cases were glistening brass and nickel machines with discs and +levers and bells, tickers, sheets of paper, and annunciators without +number. This was the fire-alarm telegraph, the "roulettewheel of the +fire demon," as some one has aptly called it. + +"All the alarms for fire from all the boroughs, both from the regular +alarm-boxes and the auxiliary systems, come here first over the network +of three thousand miles or more of wire nerves that stretch out through +the city," McCormick was explaining to us. + +A buzzer hissed. + +"Here's an alarm now," he exclaimed, all attention. + +"Three," "six," "seven," the numbers appeared on the annunciator. The +clerks in the office moved as if they were part of the mechanism. Twice +the alarm was repeated, being sent out all over the city. McCormick +relapsed from his air of attention. + +"That alarm was not in the shopping district," he explained, much +relieved. "Now the fire-houses in the particular district where that +fire is have received the alarm instantly. Four engines, two +hook-and-ladders, a water-tower, the battalion chief, and a deputy are +hurrying to that fire. Hello, here comes another." + +Again the buzzer sounded. "One," "four," "five" showed in the +annunciator. + +Even before the clerks could respond, McCormick had dragged us to the +door. In another instant we were wildly speeding uptown, the bell on +the front of the automobile clanging like a fire-engine, the siren horn +going continuously, the engine of the machine throbbing with energy +until the water boiled in the radiator. + +"Let her out, Frank," called McCormick to his chauffeur, as we rounded +into a broad and now almost deserted thoroughfare. + +Like a red streak in the night we flew up that avenue, turned into +Fourteenth Street on two wheels, and at last were on Sixth Avenue. With +a jerk and a skid we stopped. There were the engines, the hose-carts, +the hook-and-ladders, the salvage corps, the police establishing fire +lines--everything. But where was the fire? + +The crowd indicated where it ought to be--it was Stacey's. Firemen and +policemen were entering the huge building. McCormick shouldered in +after them, and we followed. + +"Who turned in the alarm?" he asked as we mounted the stairs with the +others. + +"I did," replied a night watchman on the third landing. "Saw a light in +the office on the third floor back--something blazing. But it seems to +be out now." + +We had at last come to the office. It was dark and deserted, yet with +the lanterns we could see the floor of the largest room littered with +torn books and ledgers. + +Kennedy caught his foot in something. It was a loose wire on the floor. +He followed it. It led to an electric-light socket, where it was +attached. + +"Can't you turn on the lights?" shouted McCormick to the watchman. + +"Not here. They're turned on from downstairs, and they're off for the +night. I'll go down if you want me to and--" + +"No," roared Kennedy. "Stay where you are until I follow the wire to +the other end." + +At last we came to a little office partitioned off from the main room. +Kennedy carefully opened the door. One whiff of the air from it was +sufficient. He banged the door shut again. + +"Stand back with those lanterns, boys," he ordered. + +I sniffed, expecting to smell illuminating-gas. Instead, a peculiar, +sweetish odour pervaded the air. For a moment it made me think of a +hospital operating-room. + +"Ether," exclaimed Kennedy. "Stand back farther with those lights and +hold them up from the floor." + +For a moment he seemed to hesitate as if at loss what to do next. +Should he open the door and let this highly inflammable gas out or +should he wait patiently until the natural ventilation of the little +office had dispelled it? + +While he was debating he happened to glance out of the window and catch +sight of a drug-store across the street. + +"Walter," he said to me, "hurry across there and get all the saltpeter +and sulphur the man has in the shop." + +I lost no time in doing so. Kennedy dumped the two chemicals into a pan +in the middle of the main office, about three-fifths saltpeter and +two-fifths sulphur, I should say. Then he lighted it. The mass burned +with a bright flame but without explosion. We could smell the +suffocating fumes from it, and we retreated. For a moment or two we +watched it curiously at a distance. + +"That's very good extinguishing-powder," explained Craig as we sniffed +at the odour. "It yields a large amount of carbon dioxide and sulphur +dioxide. Now--before it gets any worse--I guess it's safe to open the +door and let the ether out. You see this is as good a way as any to +render safe a room full of inflammable vapour. Come, we'll wait outside +the main office for a few minutes until the gases mix." + +It seemed hours before Kennedy deemed it safe to enter the office again +with a light. When we did so, we made a rush for the little cubby-hole +of an office at the other end. On the floor was a little can of ether, +evaporated of course, and beside it a small apparatus apparently used +for producing electric sparks. + +"So, that's how he does it," mused Kennedy, fingering the can +contemplatively. "He lets the ether evaporate in a room for a while and +then causes an explosion from a safe distance with this little electric +spark. There's where your wire comes in, McCormick. Say, my man, you +can switch on the lights from downstairs, now." + +As we waited for the watchman to turn on the lights I exclaimed, "He +failed this time because the electricity was shut off." + +"Precisely, Walter," assented Kennedy. + +"But the flames which the night watchman saw, what of them?" put in +McCormick, considerably mystified. "He must have seen something." + +Just then the lights winked up. + +"Oh, that was before the fellow tried to touch off the ether vapour," +explained Kennedy. "He had to make sure of his work of destruction +first--and, judging by the charred papers about, he did it well. See, +he tore leaves from the ledgers and lighted them on the floor. There +was an object in all that. What was it? Hello! Look at this mass of +charred paper in the corner." + +He bent down and examined it carefully. + +"Memoranda of some kind, I guess. I'll save this burnt paper and look +it over later. Don't disturb it. I'll take it away myself." + +Search as we might, we could find no other trace of the firebug, and at +last we left. Kennedy carried the charred paper carefully in a large +hat-box. + +"There'll be no more fires to-night, McCormick," he said. "But I'll +watch with you every night until we get this incendiary. Meanwhile I'll +see what I can decipher, if anything, in this burnt paper." + +Next day McCormick dropped in to see us again. This time he had another +note, a disguised scrawl which read: + +Chief: I'm not through. Watch me get another store yet. I won't fall +down this time. + A. SPARK. + +Craig scowled as he read the note and handed it to me. "The man's +writing this time--like the second note," was all he said. "McCormick, +since we know where the lightning is going to strike, don't you think +it would be wiser to make our headquarters in one of the engine-houses +in that district?" + +The fire marshal agreed, and that night saw us watching at the +fire-house nearest the department-store region. + +Kennedy and I were assigned to places on the hose-cart and engine, +respectively, Kennedy being in the hose-cart so that he could be with +McCormick. We were taught to descend one of the four brass poles hand +under elbow, from the dormitory on the second floor. They showed us how +to jump into the "turn-outs"--a pair of trousers opened out over the +high top boots. We were given helmets which we placed in regulation +fashion on our rubber coats, turned inside out with the right armhole +up. Thus it came about that Craig and I joined the Fire Department +temporarily. It was a novel experience for us both. + +"Now, Walter," said Kennedy, "as long as we have gone so far, we'll +'roll' to every fire, just like the regulars. We won't take any chances +of missing the firebug at any time of night or day." + +It proved to be a remarkably quiet evening with only one little blaze +in a candy-shop on Seventh Avenue. Most of the time we sat around +trying to draw the men out about their thrilling experiences at fires. +But if there is one thing the fireman doesn't know it is the English +language when talking about himself. It was quite late when we turned +into the neat white cots upstairs. + +We had scarcely fallen into a half doze in our strange surroundings +when the gong downstairs sounded. It was our signal. + +We could hear the rapid clatter of the horses' hoofs as they were +automatically released from their stalls and the collars and harness +mechanically locked about them. All was stir, and motion, and shouts. +Craig and I had bounded awkwardly into our paraphernalia at the first +sound. We slid ungracefully down the pole and were pushed and shoved +into our places, for scientific management in a New York fire-house has +reached one hundred per cent. efficiency, and we were not to be allowed +to delay the game. + +The oil-torch had been applied to the engine, and it rolled forth, +belching flames. I was hanging on for dear life, now and then catching +sight of the driver urging his plunging horses onward like a charioteer +in a modern Ben Hur race. The tender with Craig and McCormick was lost +in the clouds of smoke and sparks that trailed behind us. On we dashed +until we turned into Sixth Avenue. The glare of the sky told us that +this time the firebug had made good. + +"I'll be hanged if it isn't the Stacey store again," shouted the man +next me on the engine as the horses lunged up the avenue and stopped at +the allotted hydrant. It was like a war game. Every move had been +planned out by the fire-strategists, even down to the hydrants that the +engines should take at a given fire. + +Already several floors were aflame, the windows glowing like +open-hearth furnaces, the glass bulging and cracking and the flames +licking upward and shooting out in long streamers. The hose was coupled +up in an instant, the water turned on, and the limp rubber and canvas +became as rigid as a post with the high pressure of the water being +forced through it. Company after company dashed into the blazing +"fireproof" building, urged by the hoarse profanity of the chief. + +Twenty or thirty men must have disappeared into the stifle from which +the police retreated. There was no haste, no hesitation. Everything +moved as smoothly as if by clockwork. Yet we could not see one of the +men who had disappeared into the burning building. They had been +swallowed up, as it were. For that is the way with the New York +firemen. They go straight to the heart of the fire. Now and then a +stream of a hose spat out of a window, showing that the men were still +alive and working. About the ground floors the red-helmeted salvage +corps were busy covering up what they could of the goods with rubber +sheets to protect them from water. Doctors with black bags and white +trousers were working over the injured. Kennedy and I were busy about +the engine, and there was plenty for us to do. + +Above the shrill whistle for more coal I heard a voice shout, "Began +with an explosion--it's the firebug, all right." I looked up. It was +McCormick, dripping and grimy, in a high state of excitement, talking +to Kennedy. + +I had been so busy trying to make myself believe that I was really of +some assistance about the engine that I had not taken time to watch the +fire itself. It was now under control. The sharp and scientific attack +had nipped what might have been one of New York's historic +conflagrations. + +"Are you game to go inside?" I heard McCormick ask. + +For answer Kennedy simply nodded. As for me, where Craig went I went. + +The three of us drove through the scorching door, past twisted masses +of iron still glowing dull red in the smoke and steam, while the water +hissed and spattered and slopped. The smoke was still suffocating, and +every once in a while we were forced to find air close to the floor and +near the wall. My hands and arms and legs felt like lead, yet on we +drove. + +Coughing and choking, we followed McCormick to what had been the heart +of the fire, the office. Men with picks and axes and all manner of +cunningly devised instruments were hacking and tearing at the walls and +woodwork, putting out the last smouldering sparks while a thousand +gallons of water were pouring in at various parts of the building where +the fire still showed spirit. + +There on the floor of the office lay a charred, shapeless, +unrecognisable mass. What was that gruesome odour in the room? Burned +human flesh? I recoiled from what had once been the form of a woman. + +McCormick uttered a cry, and as I turned my eyes away, I saw him +holding a wire with the insulation burned off. He had picked it up from +the wreckage of the floor. It led to a bent and blackened can--that had +once been a can of ether. + +My mind worked rapidly, but McCormick blurted out the words before I +could form them, "Caught in her own trap at last!" + +Kennedy said nothing, but as one of the firemen roughly but reverently +covered the remains with a rubber sheet, he stooped down and withdrew +from the breast of the woman a long letter-file. "Come, let us go," he +said. + +Back in our apartment again we bathed our racking heads, gargled our +parched throats, and washed out our bloodshot eyes, in silence. The +whole adventure, though still fresh and vivid in my mind, seemed +unreal, like a dream. The choking air, the hissing steam, the ghastly +object under the tarpaulin--what did it all mean? Who was she? I strove +to reason it out, but could find no answer. + +It was nearly dawn when the door opened and McCormick came in and +dropped wearily into a chair. "Do you know who that woman was?" he +gasped. "It was Miss Wend herself." + +"Who identified her?" asked Kennedy calmly. + +"Oh, several people. Stacey recognised her at once. Then Hartstein, the +adjuster for the insured, and Lazard, the adjuster for the company, +both of whom had had more or less to do with her in connection with +settling up for other fires, recognised her. She was a very clever +woman, was Miss Wend, and a very important cog in the Stacey +enterprises. And to think she was the firebug, after all. I can hardly +believe it." + +"Why believe it?" asked Kennedy quietly. + +"Why believe it?" echoed McCormick. "Stacey has found shortages in his +books due to the operation of her departments. The bookkeeper who had +charge of the accounts in her department, a man named Douglas, is +missing. She must have tried to cover up her operations by fires and +juggling the accounts. Failing in that she tried to destroy Stacey's +store itself, twice. She was one of the few that could get into the +office unobserved. Oh, it's a clear case now. To my mind, the heavy +vapours of ether--they are heavier than air, you know--must have +escaped along the surface of the floor last night and become ignited at +a considerable distance from where she expected. She was caught in a +back-draught, or something of the sort. Well, thank God, we've seen the +last of this firebug business. What's that?" + +Kennedy had laid the letter-file on the table. "Nothing. Only I found +this embedded in Miss Wend's breast right over her heart." + +"Then she was murdered?" exclaimed McCormick. + +"We haven't come to the end of this case yet," replied Craig evasively. +"On the contrary, we have just got our first good clue. No, McCormick, +your theory will not hold water. The real point is to find this missing +bookkeeper at any cost. You must persuade him to confess what he knows. +Offer him immunity--he was only a pawn in the hands of those higher up." + +McCormick was not hard to convince. Tired as he was, he grabbed up his +hat and started off to put the final machinery in motion to wind up the +long chase for the firebug. + +"I must get a couple of hours' sleep," he yawned as he left us, "but +first I want to start something toward finding Douglas. I shall try to +see you about noon." + +I was too exhausted to go to the office. In fact, I doubt if I could +have written a line. But I telephoned in a story of personal +experiences at the Stacey fire and told them they could fix it up as +they chose and even sign my name to it. + +About noon McCormick came in again, looking as fresh as if nothing had +happened. He was used to it. + +"I know where Douglas is," he announced breathlessly. + +"Fine," said Kennedy, "and can you produce him at any time when it is +necessary?" + +"Let me tell you what I have done. I went down to the district attorney +from here--routed him out of bed. He has promised to turn loose his +accountants to audit the reports of the adjusters, Hartstein and +Lazard, as well as to make a cursory examination of what Stacey books +there are left. He says he will have a preliminary report ready +to-night, but the detailed report will take days, of course. + +"It's the Douglas problem that is difficult, though. I haven't seen +him, but one of the central-office men, by shadowing his wife, has +found that he is in hiding down on the East Side. He's safe there; he +can't make a move to get away without being arrested. The trouble is +that if I arrest him, the people higher up will know it and will escape +before I can get his confession and the warrants. I'd much rather have +the whole thing done at once. Isn't there some way we can get the whole +Stacey crowd together, make the arrest of Douglas and nab the guilty +ones in the case, all together without giving them a chance to escape +or to shield the real firebug?" + +Kennedy thought a moment. "Yes," he answered slowly. "There is. If you +can get them all together at my laboratory to-night at, say, eight +o'clock, I'll give you two clear hours to make the arrest of Douglas, +get the confession, and swear out the warrants. All that you'll need to +do is to let me talk a few minutes this afternoon with the judge who +will sit in the night court to-night. I shall install a little machine +on his desk in the court, and we'll catch the real criminal--he'll +never get a chance to cross the state line or disappear in any way. You +see, my laboratory will be neutral ground. I think you can get them to +come, inasmuch as they know the bookkeeper is safe and that dead women +tell no tales." + +When next I saw Kennedy it was late in the afternoon, in the +laboratory. He was arranging something in the top drawer of a flat-top +desk. It seemed to be two instruments composed of many levers and discs +and magnets, each instrument with a roll of paper about five inches +wide. On one was a sort of stylus with two silk cords attached at right +angles to each other near the point. On the other was a capillary glass +tube at the junction of two aluminum arms, also at right angles to each +other. + +It was quite like old times to see Kennedy at work in his laboratory +preparing for a "seance." He said nothing as I watched him curiously, +and I asked nothing. Two sets of wires were attached to each of the +instruments, and these he carefully concealed and led out the window. +Then he arranged the chairs on the opposite side of the desk from his +own. + +"Walter," he said, "when our guests begin to arrive I want you to be +master of ceremonies. Simply keep them on the opposite side of the desk +from me. Don't let them move their chairs around to the right or left. +And, above all, leave the doors open. I don't want any one to be +suspicious or to feel that he is shut in in any way. Create the +impression that they are free to go and come when they please." + +Stacey arrived first in a limousine which he left standing at the door +of the Chemistry Building. Bloom and Warren came together in the +latter's car. Lazard came in a taxicab which he dismissed, and +Hartstein came up by the subway, being the last to arrive. Every one +seemed to be in good humour. + +I seated them as Kennedy had directed. Kennedy pulled out the extension +on the left of his desk and leaned his elbow on it as he began to +apologise for taking up their time at such a critical moment. As near +as I could make out, he had quietly pulled out the top drawer of his +desk on the right, the drawer in which I had seen him place the +complicated apparatus. But as nothing further happened I almost forgot +about it in listening to him. He began by referring to the burned +papers he had found in the office. + +"It is sometimes possible," he continued, "to decipher writing on +burned papers if one is careful. The processes of colour photography +have recently been applied to obtain a legible photograph of the +writing on burned manuscripts which are unreadable by any other known +means. As long as the sheet has not been entirely disintegrated +positive results can be obtained every time. The charred manuscript is +carefully arranged in as near its original shape as possible, on a +sheet of glass and covered with a drying varnish, after which it is +backed by another sheet of glass. + +"By using carefully selected colour screens and orthochromatic plates a +perfectly legible photograph of the writing may be taken, although +there may be no marks on the charred remains that are visible to the +eye. This is the only known method in many cases. I have here some +burned fragments of paper which I gathered up after the first attempt +to fire your store, Mr. Stacey." + +Stacey coughed in acknowledgment. As for Craig, he did not mince +matters in telling what he had found. + +"Some were notes given in favour of Rebecca Wend and signed by Joseph +Stacey," he said quietly. "They represent a large sum of money in the +aggregate. Others were memoranda of Miss Wend's, and still others were +autograph letters to Miss Wend of a very incriminating nature in +connection with the fires by another person." + +Here he laid the "A. Spark" letters on the desk before him. "Now," he +added "some one, in a spirit of bravado, sent these notes to the fire +marshal at various times. Curiously enough, I find that the handwriting +of the first one bears a peculiar resemblance to that of Miss Wend, +while the second and third, though disguised also, greatly suggest the +handwriting of Miss Wend's correspondent." + +No one moved. But I sat aghast. She had been a part of the conspiracy, +after all, not a pawn. Had they played fair? + +"Taking up next the remarkable succession of fires," resumed Kennedy, +"this case presents some unique features. In short, it is a clear case +of what is known as a 'firebug trust.' Now just what is a firebug +trust? Well, it is, as near as I can make out, a combination of +dishonest merchants and insurance adjusters engaged in the business of +deliberately setting fires for profit. These arson trusts are not the +ordinary kind of firebugs whom the firemen plentifully damn in the +fixed belief that one-fourth of all fires are kindled by incendiaries. +Such 'trusts' exist all over the country. They have operated in +Chicago, where they are said to have made seven hundred and fifty +thousand dollars in one year. Another group is said to have its +headquarters in Kansas City. Others have worked in St. Louis, +Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo. The fire marshals of Illinois, +Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio have investigated their work. But until +recently New York has been singularly free from the organised work of +this sort. Of course we have plenty of firebugs and pyromaniacs in a +small way, but the big conspiracy has never come to my personal +attention before. + +"Now, the Jones-Green fire, the Quadrangle fire, the Slawson Building +fire, and the rest, have all been set for one purpose--to collect +insurance. I may as well say right here that some people are in bad in +this case, but that others are in worse. Miss Wend was originally a +party to the scheme. Only the trouble with Miss Wend was that she was +too shrewd to be fooled. She insisted that she have her full share of +the pickings. In that case it seems to have been the whole field +against Miss Wend, not a very gallant thing, nor yet according to the +adage about honour among thieves. + +"A certain person whose name I am frank to say I do not +know--yet--conceived the idea of destroying the obligations of the +Stacey companies to Miss Wend as well as the incriminating evidence +which she held of the 'firebug trust,' of which she was a member up to +this time. The plan only partly succeeded. The chief coup, which was to +destroy the Stacey store into the bargain, miscarried. + +"What was the result? Miss Wend, who had been hand in glove with the +'trust,' was now a bitter enemy, perhaps would turn state's evidence. +What more natural than to complete the conspiracy by carrying out the +coup and at the same time get rid of the dangerous enemy of the +conspirators? I believe that Miss Wend was lured under some pretext or +other to the Stacey store on the night of the big fire. The person who +wrote the second and third 'A. Spark' letters did it. She was murdered +with this deadly instrument"--Craig laid the letter-file on the +table--"and it was planned to throw the entire burden of suspicion on +her by asserting that there was a shortage in the books of her +department." + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Stacey, smoking complacently at his cigar. "We have +been victimised in those fires by people who have grudges against us, +labour unions and others. This talk of an arson trust is bosh--yellow +journalism. More than that, we have been systematically robbed by a +trusted head of a department, and the fire at Stacey's was the way the +thief took to cover--er--her stealings. At the proper time we shall +produce the bookkeeper Douglas and prove it." + +Kennedy fumbled in the drawer of the desk, then drew forth a long strip +of paper covered with figures. "All the Stacey companies," he said, +"have been suffering from the depression that exists in the trade at +present. They are insolvent. Glance over that, Stacey. It is a summary +of the preliminary report of the accountants of the district attorney +who have been going over your books to-day." + +Stacey gasped. "How did you get it? The report was not to be ready +until nine o'clock, and it is scarcely a quarter past now." + +"Never mind how I got it. Go over it with the adjusters, anybody. I +think you will find that there was no shortage in Miss Wend's +department, that you were losing money, that you were in debt to Miss +Wend, and that she would have received the lion's share of the proceeds +of the insurance if the firebug scheme had turned out as planned." + +"We absolutely repudiate these figures as fiction," said Stacey, +angrily turning toward Kennedy after a hurried consultation. + +"Perhaps, then, you'll appreciate this," replied Craig, pulling another +piece of paper from the desk. "I'll read it. 'Henry Douglas, being duly +sworn, deposes and says that one'--we'll call him 'Blank' for the +present--'with force and arms did feloniously, wilfully, and +intentionally kill Rebecca Wend whilst said Blank was wilfully burning +and setting on fire--'" + +"One moment," interrupted Stacey. "Let me see that paper." + +Kennedy laid it down so that only the signature showed. The name was +signed in a full round hand, "Henry Douglas." + +"It's a forgery," cried Stacey in rage. "Not an hour before I came into +this place I saw Henry Douglas. He had signed no such paper then. He +could not have signed it since, and you could not have received it. I +brand that document as a forgery." + +Kennedy stood up and reached down into the open drawer on the right of +his desk. From it he lifted the two machines I had seen him place there +early in the evening. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "this is the last scene of the play you are +enacting. You see here on the desk an instrument that was invented many +years ago, but has only recently become really practical. It is the +telautograph--the long-distance writer. In this new form it can be +introduced into the drawer of a desk for the use of any one who may +wish to make inquiries, say, of clerks without the knowledge of a +caller. It makes it possible to write a message under these conditions +and receive an answer concerning the personality or business of the +individual seated at one's elbow without leaving the desk or seeming to +make inquiries. + +"With an ordinary pencil I have written on the paper of the +transmitter. The silk cord attached to the pencil regulates the current +which controls a pencil at the other end of the line. The receiving +pencil moves simultaneously with my pencil. It is the principle of the +pantagraph cut in half, one half here, the other half at the end of the +line, two telephone wires in this case connecting the halves. + +"While we have been sitting here I have had my right hand in the +half-open drawer of my desk writing with this pencil notes of what has +transpired in this room. These notes, with other evidence, have been +simultaneously placed before Magistrate Brenner in the night court. At +the same time, on this other, the receiving, instrument the figures of +the accountants written in court have been reproduced here. You have +seen them. Meanwhile, Douglas was arrested, taken before the +magistrate, and the information for a charge of murder in the first +degree perpetrated in committing arson has been obtained. You have seen +it. It came in while you were reading the figures." + +The conspirators seemed dazed. + +"And now," continued Kennedy, "I see that the pencil of the receiving +instrument is writing again. Let us see what it is." + +We bent over. The writing started: "County of New York. In the name of +the People of the State of New York--" + +Kennedy did not wait for us to finish reading. He tore the writing from +the telautograph and waved it over his head. + +"It is a warrant. You are all under arrest for arson. But you, Samuel +Lazard, are also under arrest for the murder of Rebecca Wend and six +other persons in fires which you have set. You are the real firebug, +the tool of Joseph Stacey, perhaps, but that will all come out in the +trial. McCormick, McCormick," called Craig, "it's all right. I have the +warrant. Are the police there?" + +There was no answer. + +Lazard and Stacey made a sudden dash for the door, and in an instant +they were in Stacey's waiting car. The chauffeur took off the brake and +pulled the lever. Suddenly Craig's pistol flashed, and the chauffeur's +arms hung limp and useless on the steering-wheel. + +As McCormick with the police loomed up, a moment late, out of the +darkness and after a short struggle clapped the irons on Stacey and +Lazard in Stacey's own magnificently upholstered car, I remarked +reproachfully to Kennedy: "But, Craig, you have shot the innocent +chauffeur. Aren't you going to attend to him?" + +"Oh," replied Kennedy nonchalantly, "don't worry about that. They were +only rock-salt bullets. They didn't penetrate far. They'll sting for +some time, but they're antiseptic, and they'll dissolve and absorb +quickly." + + + + +V + +THE CONFIDENCE KING + + +"Shake hands with Mr. Burke of the secret service, Professor Kennedy." + +It was our old friend First Deputy O'Connor who thus in his bluff way +introduced a well-groomed and prosperous-looking man whom he brought up +to our apartment one evening. + +The formalities were quickly over. "Mr. Burke and I are old friends," +explained O'Connor. "We try to work together when we can, and very +often the city department can give the government service a lift, and +then again it's the other way--as it was in the trunk-murder mystery. +Show Professor Kennedy the 'queer,' Tom." + +Burke drew a wallet out of his pocket, and from it slowly and +deliberately selected a crisp, yellow-backed hundred-dollar bill. He +laid it flat on the table before us. Diagonally across its face from +the upper left-to the lower right-hand corner extended two parallel +scorings in indelible ink. + +Not being initiated into the secrets of the gentle art of "shoving the +queer," otherwise known as passing counterfeit money, I suppose my +questioning look betrayed me. + +"A counterfeit, Walter," explained Kennedy. "That's what they do with +bills when they wish to preserve them as records in the secret service +and yet render them valueless." + +Without a word Burke handed Kennedy a pocket magnifying-glass, and +Kennedy carefully studied the bill. He was about to say something when +Burke opened his capacious wallet again and laid down a Bank of England +five-pound note which had been similarly treated. + +Again Kennedy looked through the glass with growing amazement written +on his face, but before he could say anything, Burke laid down an +express money-order on the International Express Company. + +"I say," exclaimed Kennedy, putting down the glass, "stop! How many +more of these are there?" + +Burke smiled. "That's all," he replied, "but it's not the worst." + +"Not the worst? Good heavens, man, next you'll tell me that the +government is counterfeiting its own notes! How much of this stuff do +you suppose has been put into circulation?" + +Burke chewed a pencil thoughtfully, jotted down some figures on a piece +of paper, and thought some more. "Of course I can't say exactly, but +from hints I have received here and there I should think that a safe +bet would be that some one has cashed in upward of half a million +dollars already." + +"Whew," whistled Kennedy, "that's going some. And I suppose it is all +salted away in some portable form. What an inventory it must be--good +bills, gold, diamonds, and jewellery. This is a stake worth playing +for." + +"Yes," broke in O'Connor, "but from my standpoint, professionally, I +mean, the case is even worse than that. It's not the counterfeits that +bother us. We understand that, all right. But," and he leaned forward +earnestly and brought his fist down hard on the table with a resounding +Irish oath, "the finger-print system, the infallible finger-print +system, has gone to pieces. We've just imported this new 'portrait +parle' fresh from Paris and London, invented by Bertillon and all that +sort of thing--it has gone to pieces, too. It's a fine case, this is, +with nothing left of either scientific or unscientific +criminal-catching to rely on. There--what do you know about that?" + +"You'll have to tell me the facts first," said Kennedy. "I can't +diagnose your disease until I know the symptoms." + +"It's like this," explained Burke, the detective in him showing now +with no effort at concealment. "A man, an Englishman, apparently, went +into a downtown banker's office about three months ago and asked to +have some English bank-notes exchanged for American money. After he had +gone away, the cashier began to get suspicious. He thought there was +something phoney in the feel of the notes. Under the glass he noticed +that the little curl on the 'e' of the 'Five' was missing. It's the +protective mark. The water-mark was quite equal to that of the +genuine--maybe better. Hold that note up to the light and see for +yourself. + +"Well, the next day, down to the Custom House, where my office is, a +man came who runs a swell gambling-house uptown. He laid ten brand-new +bills on my desk. An Englishman had been betting on the wheel. He +didn't seem to care about winning, and he cashed in each time with a +new one-hundred-dollar bill. Of course he didn't care about winning. He +cared about the change--that was his winning. The bill on the table is +one of the original ten, though since then scores have been put into +circulation. I made up my mind that it was the same Englishman in both +cases. + +"Then within a week, in walked the manager of the Mozambique Hotel--he +had been stung with the fake International Express money-order--same +Englishman, too, I believe." + +"And you have no trace of him?" asked Kennedy eagerly. + +"We had him under arrest once--we thought. A general alarm was sent +out, of course, to all the banks and banking-houses. But the man was +too clever to turn up in that way again. In one gambling-joint which +women frequent a good deal, a classy dame who might have been a duchess +or a--well, she was a pretty good loser and always paid with +hundred-dollar bills. Now, you know women are NOT good losers. Besides, +the hundred-dollar-bill story had got around among the gambling-houses. +This joint thought it worth taking a chance, so they called me up on +the 'phone, extracted a promise that I'd play fair and keep O'Connor +from raiding them, but wouldn't I please come up and look over the dame +of the yellow bills? Of course I made a jump at it. Sure enough, they +were the same counterfeits. I could tell because the silk threads were +drawn in with coloured ink. But instead of making an arrest I decided +to trail the lady. + +"Now, here comes the strange part of it. Let me see, this must have +been over two months ago. I followed her out to a suburban town, +Riverwood along the Hudson, and to a swell country house overlooking +the river, private drive, stone gate, hedges, old trees, and all that +sort of thing. A sporty-looking Englishman met her at the gate with one +of those big imported touring-cars, and they took a spin. + +"I waited a day or so, but nothing more happened, and I began to get +anxious. Perhaps I was a bit hasty. Anyhow I watched my chance and made +an arrest of both of them when they came to New York on a shopping +expedition. You should have heard that Englishman swear. I didn't know +such language was possible. But in his pocket we found twenty more of +those hundred-dollar bills--that was all. Do you think he owned up? Not +a bit of it. He swore he had picked the notes up in a pocketbook on the +pier as he left the steamer. I laughed. But when he was arraigned in +court he told the magistrate the same story and that he had advertised +his find at the time. Sure enough, in the files of the papers we +discovered in the lost-and-found column the ad., just as he claimed. We +couldn't even prove that he had passed the bills. So the magistrate +refused to hold them, and they were both released. But we had had them +in our power long enough to take their finger-prints and get +descriptions and measurements of them, particularly by this new +'portrait parle' system. We felt we could send out a strange detective +and have him pick them out of a crowd--you know the system, I presume?" + +Kennedy nodded, and I made a mental note of finding out more about the +"portrait parle" later. + +Burke paused, and O'Connor prompted, "Tell them about Scotland Yard, +Tom." + +"Oh, yes," resumed Burke. "Of course I sent copies of the finger-prints +to Scotland Yard. Within two weeks they replied that one set belonged +to William Forbes, a noted counterfeiter, who, they understood, had +sailed for South Africa but had never arrived there. They were glad to +learn that he was in America, and advised me to look after him sharply. +The woman was also a noted character--Harriet Wollstone, an +adventuress." + +"I suppose you have shadowed them ever since?" Kennedy asked. + +"Yes, a few days after they were arrested the man had an accident with +his car. It was said he was cranking the engine and that it kicked back +and splintered the bone in his forearm. Anyhow, he went about with his +hand and arm in a sling." + +"And then?" + +"They gave my man the slip that night in their fast touring-car. You +know automobiles have about made shadowing impossible in these days. +The house was closed up, and it was said by the neighbours that +Williams and Mrs. Williams--as they called themselves--had gone to +visit a specialist in Philadelphia. Still, as they had a year's lease +on the house, I detailed a man to watch it more or less all the time. +They went to Philadelphia all right; some of the bills turned up there. +But we saw nothing of them. + +"A short time ago, word came to me that the house was open again. It +wasn't two hours later that the telephone rang like mad. A Fifth Avenue +jeweller had just sold a rope of pearls to an Englishwoman who paid for +it herself in crisp new one-hundred-dollar bills. The bank had returned +them to him that very afternoon--counterfeits. I didn't lose any time +making a second arrest up at the house of mystery at Riverwood. I had +the county authorities hold them--and, now, O'Connor, tell the rest of +it. You took the finger-prints up there." + +O'Connor cleared his throat as if something stuck in it, in the +telling. "The Riverwood authorities refused to hold them," he said with +evident chagrin. "As soon as I heard of the arrest I started up myself +with the finger-print records to help Burke. It was the same man, all +right--I'll swear to that on a stack of Bibles. So will Burke. I'll +never forget that snub nose--the concave nose, the nose being the first +point of identification in the 'portrait parle.' And the ears, too--oh, +it was the same man, all right. But when we produced the London +finger-prints which tallied with the New York fingerprints which we had +made--believe it or not, but it is a fact, the Riverwood finger-prints +did not tally at all." + +He laid the prints on the table. Kennedy examined them closely. His +face clouded. It was quite evident that he was stumped, and he said so. +"There are some points of agreement," he remarked, "but more points of +difference. Any points of difference are usually considered fatal to +the finger-print theory." + +"We had to let the man go," concluded Burke. "We could have held the +woman, but we let her go, too, because she was not the principal in the +case. My men are shadowing the house now and have been ever since then. +But the next day after the last arrest, a man from New York, who looked +like a doctor, made a visit. The secret-service man on the job didn't +dare leave the house to follow him, but as he never came again perhaps +it doesn't matter. Since then the house has been closed." + +The telephone rang. It was Burke's office calling him. As he talked we +could gather that something tragic must have happened at Riverwood, and +we could hardly wait until he had finished. + +"There has been an accident up there," he remarked as he hung up the +receiver rather petulantly. "They returned in the car this afternoon +with a large package in the back of the tonneau. But they didn't stay +long. After dark they started out again in the car. The accident was at +the bad railroad crossing just above Riverwood. It SEEMS Williams's car +got stalled on the track just as the Buffalo express was due. No one +saw it, but a man in a buggy around the bend in the road heard a woman +scream. He hurried down. The train had smashed the car to bits. How the +woman escaped was a miracle, but they found the man's body up the +tracks, horribly mangled. It was Williams, they say. They identified +him by the clothes and by letters in his pockets. But my man tells me +he found a watch on him with 'W. F.' engraved on it. His hands and arms +and head must have been right under the locomotive when it struck him, +I judge." + +"I guess that winds the case up, eh?" exclaimed O'Connor with evident +chagrin. "Where's the woman?" + +"They said she was in the little local hospital, but not much hurt. +Just the shock and a few bruises." + +O'Connor's question seemed to suggest an idea to Burke, and he reached +for the telephone again. "Riverwood 297," he ordered; then to us as he +waited he said: "We must hold the woman. Hello, 297? The hospital? This +is Burke of the secret service. Will you tell my man, who must be +somewhere about, that I would like to have him hold that woman who was +in the auto smash until I can--what? Gone? The deuce!" + +He hung up the receiver angrily. "She left with a man who called for +her about half an hour ago," he said. "There must be a gang of them. +Forbes is dead, but we must get the rest. Mr. Kennedy, I'm sorry to +have bothered you, but I guess we can handle this alone, after all. It +was the finger-prints that fooled us, but now that Forbes is out of the +way it's just a straight case of detective work of the old style which +won't interest you." + +"On the contrary," answered Kennedy, "I'm just beginning to be +interested. Does it occur to you that, after all, Forbes may not be +dead?" + +"Not dead?" echoed Burke and O'Connor together. + +"Exactly; that's just what I said--not dead. Now stop and think a +moment. Would the great Forbes be so foolish as to go about with a +watch marked 'W. F.' if he knew, as he must have known, that you would +communicate with London and by means of the prints find out all about +him?" + +"Yes," agreed Burke, "all we have to go by is his watch found on +Williams. I suppose there is some possibility that Forbes may still be +alive." + +"Who is this third man who comes in and with whom Harriet Wollstone +goes away so willingly?" put in O'Connor. "You said the house had been +closed--absolutely closed?" + +Burke nodded. "Been closed ever since the last arrest. There's a +servant who goes in now and then, but the car hasn't been there before +to-night, wherever it has been." + +"I should like to watch that house myself for a while," mused Kennedy. +"I suppose you have no objections to my doing so?" + +"Of course not. Go ahead," said Burke. "I will go along with you if you +wish, or my man can go with you." + +"No," said Kennedy, "too many of us might spoil the broth. I'll watch +alone to-night and will see you in the morning. You needn't even say +anything to your man there about us." + +"Walter, what's on for to-night?" he asked when they had gone. "How are +you fixed for a little trip out to Riverwood?" + +"To tell the truth, I had an engagement at the College Club with some +of the fellows." + +"Oh, cut it." + +"That's what I intend to do," I replied. + +It was a raw night, and we bundled ourselves up in old football +sweaters under our overcoats. Half an hour later we were on our way up +to Riverwood. + +"By the way, Craig," I asked, "I didn't like to say anything before +those fellows. They'd think I was a dub. But I don't mind asking you. +What is this 'portrait parle' they talk about, anyway?" + +"Why, it's a word-picture--a 'spoken picture,' to be literal. I took +some lessons in it at Bertillon's school when I was in Paris. It's a +method of scientific apprehension of criminals, a sort of necessary +addition and completion to the methods of scientific identification of +them after they are arrested. For instance, in trying to pick out a +given criminal from his mere description you begin with the nose. Now, +noses are all concave, straight, or convex. This Forbes had a nose that +was concave, Burke says. Suppose you were sent out to find him. Of all +the people you met, we'll say, roughly, two-thirds wouldn't interest +you. You'd pass up all with straight or convex noses. Now the next +point to observe is the ear. There are four general kinds of +ears-triangular, square, oval, and round, besides a number of other +differences which are clear enough after you study ears. This fellow is +a pale man with square ears and a peculiar lobe to his ear. So you +wouldn't give a second glance to, say, three-fourths of the +square-eared people. So by a process of elimination of various +features, the eyes, the mouth, the hair, wrinkles, and so forth, you +would be able to pick your man out of a thousand--that is, if you were +trained." + +"And it works?" I asked rather doubtfully. + +"Oh, yes. That's why I'm taking up this case. I believe science can +really be used to detect crime, any crime, and in the present instance +I've just pride enough to stick to this thing until--until they begin +to cut ice on the Styx. Whew, but it will be cold out in the country +to-night, Walter--speaking about ice." + +It was quite late when we reached Riverwood, and Kennedy hurried along +the dimly lighted streets, avoiding the main street lest some one might +be watching or following us. He pushed on, following the directions +Burke had given him. The house in question was a large, newly built +affair of concrete, surrounded by trees and a hedge, directly +overlooking the river. A bitter wind swept in from the west, but in the +shadow of an evergreen tree and of the hedge Kennedy established our +watch. + +Of all fruitless errands this seemed to me to be the acme. The house +was deserted; that was apparent, I thought, and I said so. Hardly had I +said it when I heard the baying of a dog. It did not come from the +house, however, and I concluded that it must have come from the next +estate. + +"It's in the garage," whispered Kennedy. "I can hardly think they would +go away and leave a dog locked up in it. They would at least turn him +loose." + +Hour after hour we waited. Midnight passed, and still nothing happened. +At last when the moon had disappeared under the clouds, Kennedy pulled +me along. We had seen not a sign of life in the house, yet he observed +all the caution he would have if it had been well guarded. Quickly we +advanced over the open space to the house, approaching in the shadow as +much as possible, on the side farthest from the river. + +Tiptoeing over the porch, Kennedy tried a window. It was fastened. +Without hesitation he pulled out some instruments. One of them was a +rubber suction-cup, which he fastened to the window-pane. Then with a +very fine diamond-cutter he proceeded to cut out a large section. It +soon fell and was prevented from smashing on the floor by the string +and the suction-cup. Kennedy put his hand in and unlatched the window, +and we stepped in. + +All was silent. Apparently the house was deserted. + +Cautiously Kennedy pressed the button of his pocket storage-battery +lamp and flashed it slowly about the room. It was a sort of library, +handsomely furnished. At last the beam of light rested on a huge desk +at the opposite end. It seemed to interest Kennedy, and we tiptoed over +to it. One after another he opened the drawers. One was locked, and he +saved that until the last. + +Quietly as he could, he jimmied it open, muffling the jimmy in a felt +cloth that was on a table. Most people do not realise the disruptive +force that there is in a simple jimmy. I didn't until I saw the solid +drawer with its heavy lock yield with just the trace of a noise. +Kennedy waited an instant and listened. Nothing happened. + +Inside the drawer was a most nondescript collection of useless +articles. There were a number of pieces of fine sponge, some of them +very thin and cut in a flat oval shape, smelling of lysol strongly; +several bottles, a set of sharp little knives, some paraffin, bandages, +antiseptic gauze, cotton--in fact, it looked like a first-aid kit. As +soon as he saw it Kennedy seemed astonished but not at a loss to +account for it. + +"I thought he left that sort of thing to the doctors, but I guess he +took a hand in it himself," he muttered, continuing to fumble with the +knives in the drawer. It was no time to ask questions, and I did not. +Kennedy rapidly stowed away the things in his pockets. One bottle he +opened and held to his nose. I could distinguish immediately the +volatile smell of ether. He closed it quickly, and it, too, went into +his pocket with the remark, "Somebody must have known how to administer +an anaesthetic--probably the Wollstone woman." + +A suppressed exclamation from Kennedy caused me to look. The drawer had +a false back. Safely tucked away in it reposed a tin box, one of those +so-called strong-boxes which are so handy in that they save a burglar +much time and trouble in hunting all over for the valuables he has come +after. Kennedy drew it forth and laid it on the desk. It was locked. + +Even that did not seem to satisfy Kennedy, who continued to scrutinise +the walls and corners of the room as if looking for a safe or something +of that sort. + +"Let's look in the room across the hall," he whispered. + +Suddenly a piercing scream of a woman rang out upstairs. "Help! Help! +There's some one in the house! Billy, help!" + +I felt an arm grasp me tightly, and for a moment a chill ran over me at +being caught in the nefarious work of breaking and entering a +dwelling-house at night. But it was only Kennedy, who had already +tucked the precious little tin box under his arm. + +With a leap he dragged me to the open window, cleared it, vaulted over +the porch, and we were running for the clump of woods that adjoined the +estate on one side. Lights flashed in all the windows of the house at +once. There must have been some sort of electric-light system that +could be lighted instantly as a "burglar-expeller." Anyhow, we had made +good our escape. + +As we lost ourselves in the woods I gave a last glance back and saw a +lantern carried from the house to the garage. As the door was unlocked +I could see, in the moonlight, a huge dog leap out and lick the hands +and face of a man. + +Quickly we now crashed through the frozen underbrush. Evidently Kennedy +was making for the station by a direct route across country instead of +the circuitous way by the road and town. Behind us we could hear a deep +baying. + +"By the Lord, Walter," cried Kennedy, for once in his life thoroughly +alarmed, "it's a bloodhound, and our trail is fresh." + +Closer it came. Press forward as we might, we could never expect to +beat that dog. + +"Oh, for a stream," groaned Kennedy, "but they are all frozen--even the +river." + +He stopped short, fumbled in his pocket, and drew out the bottle of +ether. + +"Raise your foot, Walter," he ordered. + +I did so and he smeared first mine and then his with the ether. Then we +doubled on our trail once or twice and ran again. + +"The dog will never be able to pick up the ether as our trail," panted +Kennedy; "that is, if he is any good and trained not to go off on +wild-goose chases." + +On we hurried from the woods to the now dark and silent town. It was +indeed fortunate that the dog had been thrown off our scent, for the +station was closed, and, indeed, if it had been open I am sure the +station agent would have felt more like locking the door against two +such tramps as we were, carrying a tin box and pursued by a dog, than +opening it for us. The best we could do was to huddle into a corner +until we succeeded in jumping a milk-train that luckily slowed down as +it passed Riverwood station. + +Neither of us could wait to open the tin box in our apartment, and +instead of going uptown Kennedy decided it would be best to go to a +hotel near the station. Somehow we succeeded in getting a room without +exciting suspicion. Hardly had the bellboy's footsteps ceased echoing +in the corridor than Kennedy was at work wrenching off the lid of the +box with such leverage as the scanty furnishings of the room afforded. + +At last it yielded, and we looked in curiously, expecting to find +fabulous wealth in some form. A few hundred dollars and a rope of +pearls lay in it. It was a good "haul," but where was the vast spoil +the counterfeiters had accumulated? We had missed it. So far we were +completely baffled. + +"Perhaps we had better snatch a couple of hours' sleep," was all that +Craig said, stifling his chagrin. + +Over and over in my mind I was turning the problem of where they had +hidden the spoil. I dozed off, still thinking about it and thinking +that, even should they be captured, they might have stowed away perhaps +a million dollars to which they could go back after their sentences +were served. + +It was still early for New York when Kennedy roused me by talking over +the telephone in the room. In fact, I doubt if he had slept at all. + +Burke was at the other end of the wire. His man had just reported that +something had happened during the night at Riverwood, but he couldn't +give a very clear account. Craig seemed to enjoy the joke immensely as +he told his story to Burke. + +The last words I heard were: "All right. Send a man up here to the +station--one who knows all the descriptions of these people. I'm sure +they will have to come into town to-day, and they will have to come by +train, for their car is wrecked. Better watch at the uptown stations, +also." + +After a hasty breakfast we met Burke's man and took our places at the +exit from the train platforms. Evidently Kennedy had figured out that +the counterfeiters would have to come into town for some reason or +other. The incoming passengers were passing us in a steady stream, for +a new station was then being built, and there was only a temporary +structure with one large exit. + +"Here is where the 'portrait parle' ought to come in, if ever," +commented Kennedy as he watched eagerly. + +And yet neither man nor woman passed us who fitted the description. +Train after train emptied its human freight, yet the pale man with the +concave nose and the peculiar ear, accompanied perhaps by a lady, did +not pass us. + +At last the incoming stream began to dwindle down. It was long past the +time when the counterfeiters should have arrived if they had started on +any reasonable train. + +"Perhaps they have gone up to Montreal, instead," I ventured. + +Kennedy shook his head. "No," he answered. "I have an idea that I was +mistaken about the money being kept at Riverwood. It would have been +too risky. I thought it out on the way back this morning. They probably +kept it in a safe deposit vault here. I had figured that they would +come down and get it and leave New York after last night's events. We +have failed--they have got by us. Neither the 'portrait parle' nor the +ordinary photography nor any other system will suffice alone against +the arch-criminal back of this, I'm afraid. Walter, I am sore and +disgusted. What I should have done was to accept Burke's +offer--surround the house with a posse if necessary, last night, and +catch the counterfeiters by sheer force. I was too confident. I thought +I could do it with finesse, and I have failed. I'd give anything to +know what safe deposit vault they kept the fake money in." + +I said nothing as we strolled away, leaving Burke's man still to watch, +hoping against hope. Kennedy walked disconsolately through the station, +and I followed. In a secluded part of the waiting-room he sat down, his +face drawn up in a scowl such as I had never seen. Plainly he was +disgusted with himself--with only himself. This was no bungling of +Burke or any one else. Again the counterfeiters had escaped from the +hand of the law. + +As he moved his fingers restlessly in the pockets of his coat, he +absently pulled out the little pieces of sponge and the ether bottle. +He regarded them without much interest. + +"I know what they were for," he said, diving back into his pocket for +the other things and bringing out the sharp little knives in their +case. I said nothing, for Kennedy was in a deep study. At last he put +the things back into his pocket. As he did so his hand encountered +something which he drew forth with a puzzled air. It was the piece of +paraffin. + +"Now, what do you suppose that was for?" he asked, half to himself. "I +had forgotten that. What was the use of a piece of paraffin? Phew, +smell the antiseptic worked into it." + +"I don't know," I replied, rather testily. "If you would tell me what +the other things were for I might enlighten you, but--" + +"By George, Walter, what a chump I am!" cried Kennedy, leaping to his +feet, all energy again. "Why did I forget that lump of paraffin? Why, +of course--I think I can guess what they have been doing--of course. +Why, man alive, he walked right past us, and we never knew it. Boy, +boy," he shouted to a newsboy who passed, "what's the latest sporting +edition you have?" + +Eagerly he almost tore a paper open and scanned the sporting pages. +"Racing at Lexington begins to-morrow," he read. "Yes, I'll bet that's +it. We don't have to know the safe deposit vault, after all. It would +be too late, anyhow. Quick, let us look up the train to Lexington." + +As we hurried over to the information booth, I gasped, in a whirl: +"Now, look here, Kennedy, what's all this lightning calculation? What +possible connection is there between a lump of paraffin and one of the +few places in the country where they still race horses?" + +"None," he replied, not stopping an instant. "None. The paraffin +suggested to me the possible way in which our man managed to elude us +under our very eyes. That set my mind at work again. Like a flash it +occurred to me: Where would they be most likely to go next to work off +some of the bills? The banks are on, the jewellery-houses are on, the +gambling-joints are on. Why, to the racetracks, of course. That's it. +Counterfeiters all use the bookmakers, only since racing has been +killed in New York they have had to resort to other means here. If New +York has suddenly become too hot, what more natural than to leave it? +Here, let me see--there's a train that gets there early to-morrow, the +best train, too. Say, is No. 144 made up yet?" he inquired at the desk. + +"No. 144 will be ready in fifteen minutes. Track 8." + +Kennedy thanked the man, turned abruptly, and started for the still +closed gate at Track 8. + +"Beg pardon--why, hulloa--it's Burke," he exclaimed as we ran plump +into a man staring vacantly about. + +It was not the gentleman farmer of the night before, nor yet the +supposed college graduate. This man was a Western rancher; his +broad-brimmed hat, long moustache, frock coat, and flowing tie +proclaimed it. Yet there was something indefinably familiar about him, +too. It was Burke in another disguise. + +"Pretty good work, Kennedy," nodded Burke, shifting his tobacco from +one side of his jaws to the other. "Now, tell me how your man escaped +you this morning, when you can recognise me instantly in this rig." + +"You haven't altered your features," explained Kennedy simply. "Our +pale-faced, snub-nosed peculiar-eared friend has. What do you think of +the possibility of his going to the Lexington track, now that he finds +it too dangerous to remain in New York?" + +Burke looked at Kennedy rather sharply. "Say, do you add telepathy to +your other accomplishments?" + +"No," laughed Craig, "but I'm glad to see that two of us working +independently have arrived at the same conclusion. Come, let us saunter +over to Track 8--I guess the train is made up." + +The gate was just opened, and the crowd filed through. No one who +seemed to satisfy either Burke or Kennedy appeared. The train-announcer +made his last call. Just then a taxicab pulled up at the street-end of +the platform, not far from Track 8. A man jumped out and assisted a +heavily veiled lady, paid the driver, picked up the grips, and turned +toward us. + +We waited expectantly. As he turned I saw a dark-skinned, hook-nosed +man, and I exclaimed disgustedly to Burke: "Well, if they are going to +Lexington they can't make this train. Those are the last people who +have a chance." + +Kennedy, however, continued to regard the couple steadily. The man saw +that he was being watched and faced us defiantly, "Such impertinence!" +Then to his wife, "Come, my dear, we'll just make it." + +"I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to show us what's in that grip," +said Kennedy, calmly laying his hand on the man's arm. + +"Well, now, did you ever hear of such blasted impudence? Get out of my +way, sir, this instant, or I'll have you arrested." + +"Come, come, Kennedy," interrupted Burke. "Surely you are getting in +wrong here. This can't be the man." + +Craig shook his head decidedly. "You can make the arrest or not, Burke, +as you choose. If not, I am through. If so--I'll take all the +responsibility." + +Reluctantly Burke yielded. The man protested; the woman cried; a crowd +collected. + +The train-gate shut with a bang. As it did so the man's demeanour +changed instantly. "There," he shouted angrily, "you have made us miss +our train. I'll have you in jail for this. Come on now to the nearest +magistrate's court. I'll have my rights as an American citizen. You +have carried your little joke too far. Knight is my name--John Knight, +of Omaha, pork-packer. Come on now. I'll see that somebody suffers for +this if I have to stay in New York a year. It's an outrage--an outrage." + +Burke was now apparently alarmed--more at the possibility of the +humorous publicity that would follow such a mistake by the secret +service than at anything else. However, Kennedy did not weaken, and on +general principles I stuck to Kennedy. + +"Now," said the man surlily while he placed "Mrs. Knight" in as easy a +chair as he could find in the judge's chambers, "what is the occasion +of all this row? Tell the judge what a bad man from Bloody Gulch I am." + +O'Connor had arrived, having broken all speed laws and perhaps some +records on the way up from headquarters. Kennedy laid the Scotland Yard +finger-prints on the table. Beside them he placed those taken by +O'Connor and Burke in New York. + +"Here," he began, "we have the finger-prints of a man who was one of +the most noted counterfeiters in Great Britain. Beside them are those +of a man who succeeded in passing counterfeits of several kinds +recently in New York. Some weeks later this third set of prints was +taken from a man who was believed to be the same person." + +The magistrate was examining the three sets of prints. As he came to +the third, he raised his head as if about to make a remark, when +Kennedy quickly interrupted. + +"One moment, sir. You were about to say that finger-prints never +change, never show such variations as these. That is true. There are +fingerprints of people taken fifty years ago that are exactly the same +as their finger-prints of to-day. They don't change--they are +permanent. The fingerprints of mummies can be deciphered even after +thousands of years. But," he added slowly, "you can change fingers." + +The idea was so startling that I could scarcely realise what he meant +at first. I had read of the wonderful work of the surgeons of the +Rockefeller Institute in transplanting tissues and even whole organs, +in grafting skin and in keeping muscles artificially alive for days +under proper conditions. Could it be that a man had deliberately +amputated his fingers and grafted on new ones? Was the stake sufficient +for such a game? Surely there must be some scars left after such +grafting. I picked up the various sets of prints. It was true that the +third set was not very clear, but there certainly were no scars there. + +"Though there is no natural changeability of finger-prints," pursued +Kennedy, "such changes can be induced, as Dr. Paul Prager of Vienna has +shown, by acids and other reagents, by grafting and by injuries. Now, +is there any method by which lost finger-tips can be restored? I know +of one case where the end of a finger was taken off and only +one-sixteenth inch of the nail was left. The doctor incised the edges +of the granulating surface and then led the granulations on by what is +known in the medical profession as the 'sponge graft.' He grew a new +finger-tip. + +"The sponge graft consists in using portions of a fine Turkish surgical +sponge, such I have here. I found these pieces in a desk at Riverwood. +The patient is anaesthetised. An incision is made from side to side in +the stump of the finger and flaps of skin are sliced off and turned up +for the new end of the finger to develop in--a sort of shell of living +skin. Inside this, the sponge is placed, not a large piece, but a very +thin piece sliced off and cut to the shape of the finger-stump. It is +perfectly sterilised in water and washed in green soap after all the +stony particles are removed by hydrochloric acid. Then the finger is +bound up and kept moist with normal salt solution. + +"The result is that the end of the finger, instead of healing over, +grows into the fine meshes of the pieces of sponge, by capillary +attraction. Of course even this would heal in a few days, but the +doctor does not let it heal. In three days he pulls the sponge off +gently. The end of the finger has grown up just a fraction of an inch. +Then a new thin layer of sponge is added. Day after day this process is +repeated, each time the finger growing a little more. A new nail +develops if any of the matrix is left, and I suppose a clever surgeon +by grafting up pieces of epidermis could produce on such a stump very +passable finger-prints." + +No one of us said anything, but Kennedy seemed to realise the thought +in our minds and proceeded to elaborate the method. + +"It is known as the 'education sponge method,' and was first described +by Dr. D. J. Hamilton, of Edinburgh, in 1881. It has frequently been +used in America since then. The sponge really acts in a mechanical +manner to support the new finger-tissue that is developed. The meshes +are filled in by growing tissue, and as it grows the tissue absorbs +part of the sponge, which is itself an animal tissue and acts like +catgut. Part of it is also thrown off. In fact, the sponge imitates +what happens naturally in the porous network of a regular blood-clot. +It educates the tissue to grow, stimulates it--new blood-vessels and +nerves as well as flesh. + +"In another case I know of, almost the whole of the first joint of a +finger was crushed off, and the doctor was asked to amputate the stump +of bone that protruded. Instead, he decided to educate the tissue to +grow out to cover it and appear like a normal finger. In these cases +the doctors succeeded admirably in giving the patients entire new +finger-tips, without scars, and, except for the initial injury and +operation, with comparatively little inconvenience except that absolute +rest of the hands was required. + +"That is what happened, gentlemen," concluded Kennedy. "That is why Mr. +Forbes, alias Williams, made a trip to Philadelphia to be treated--for +crushed finger-tips, not for the kick of an automobile engine. He may +have paid the doctors in counterfeits. In reality this man was playing +a game in which there was indeed a heavy stake at issue. He was a +counterfeiter sought by two governments with the net closing about him. +What are the tips of a few fingers compared with life, liberty, wealth, +and a beautiful woman? The first two sets of prints are different from +the third because they are made by different finger-tips--on the same +man. The very core of the prints was changed. But the finger-print +system is vindicated by the very ingenuity of the man who so cleverly +has contrived to beat it." + +"Very interesting--to one who is interested," remarked the stranger, +"but what has that to do with detaining my wife and myself, making us +miss our train, and insulting us?" + +"Just this," replied Craig. "If you will kindly oblige us by laying +your fingers on this inking-pad and then lightly on this sheet of +paper, I think I can show you an answer." + +Knight demurred, and his wife grew hysterical at the idea, but there +was nothing, to do but comply. Kennedy glanced at the fourth set of +prints, then at the third set taken a week ago, and smiled. No one said +a word. Knight or Williams, which was it? He nonchalantly lit a +cigarette. + +"So you say I am this Williams, the counterfeiter?" he asked +superciliously. + +"I do," reiterated Kennedy. "You are also Forbes." + +"I don't suppose Scotland Yard has neglected to furnish you with +photographs and a description of this Forbes?" + +Burke reluctantly pulled out a Bertillon card from his pocket and laid +it on the table. It bore the front face and profile of the famous +counterfeiter, as well as his measurements. + +The man picked it up as if indeed it was a curious thing. His coolness +nearly convinced me. Surely he should have hesitated in actually +demanding this last piece of evidence. I had heard, however, that the +Bertillon system of measurements often depended on the personal +equation of the measurer as well as on the measured. Was he relying on +that, or on his difference in features? + +I looked over Kennedy's shoulder at the card on the table. There was +the concave nose of the "portrait parle" of Forbes, as it had first +been described to us. Without looking further I involuntarily glanced +at the man, although I had no need to do so. I knew that his nose was +the exact opposite of that of Forbes. + +"Ingenious at argument as you are," he remarked quietly, "you will +hardly deny that Knight, of Omaha, is the exact opposite of Forbes, of +London. My nose is almost Jewish--my complexion is dark as an Arab's. +Still, I suppose I am the sallow, snub-nosed Forbes described here, +inasmuch as I have stolen Forbes's fingers and lost them again by a +most preposterous method." + +"The colour of the face is easily altered," said Kennedy. "A little +picric acid will do that. The ingenious rogue Sarcey in Paris eluded +the police very successfully until Dr. Charcot exposed him and showed +how he changed the arch of his eyebrows and the wrinkles of his face. +Much is possible to-day that would make Frankenstein and Dr. Moreau +look clumsy and antiquated." + +A sharp feminine voice interrupted. It was the woman, who had kept +silent up to this time. "But I have read in one of the papers this +morning that a Mr. Williams was found dead in an automobile accident up +the Hudson yesterday. I remember reading it, because I am afraid of +accidents myself." + +All eyes were now fixed on Kennedy. "That body," he answered quickly, +"was a body purchased by you at a medical school, brought in your car +to Riverwood, dressed in Williams's clothes with a watch that would +show he was Forbes, placed on the track in front of the auto, while you +two watched the Buffalo express run it down, and screamed. It was a +clever scheme that you concocted, but these facts do not agree." + +He laid the measurements of the corpse obtained by Burke and those from +the London police card side by side. Only in the roughest way did they +approximate each other. + +"Your honour, I appeal to your sense of justice," cried our prisoner +impatiently. "Hasn't this farce been allowed to go far enough? Is there +any reason why this fake detective should make fools out of us all and +keep my wife longer in this court? I'm not disposed to let the matter +drop. I wish to enter a charge against him of false arrest and +malicious prosecution. I shall turn the whole thing over to my attorney +this afternoon. The deuce with the races--I'll have justice." + +The man had by this time raised himself to a high pitch of apparently +righteous wrath. He advanced menacingly toward Kennedy, who stood with +his shoulders thrown back, and his hands deep in his pockets, and a +half amused look on his face. + +"As for you, Mr. Detective," added the man, "for eleven cents I'd lick +you to within an inch of your life. 'Portrait parle,' indeed! It's a +fine scientific system that has to deny its own main principles in +order to vindicate itself. Bah! Take that, you scoundrel!" + +Harriet Wollstone threw her arms about him, but he broke away. His fist +shot out straight. Kennedy was too quick for him, however. I had seen +Craig do it dozens of times with the best boxers in the "gym." He +simply jerked his head to one side, and the blow passed just a fraction +of an inch from his jaw, but passed it as cleanly as if it had been a +yard away. + +The man lost his balance, and as he fell forward and caught himself, +Kennedy calmly and deliberately slapped him on the nose. + +It was an intensely serious instant, yet I actually laughed. The man's +nose was quite out of joint, even from such a slight blow. It was +twisted over on his face in the most ludicrous position imaginable. + +"The next time you try that, Forbes," remarked Kennedy, as he pulled +the piece of paraffin from his pocket and laid it on the table with the +other exhibits, "don't forget that a concave nose built out to +hook-nose convexity by injections of paraffin, such as the +beauty-doctors everywhere advertise, is a poor thing for a White Hope." + +Both Burke and O'Connor had seized Forbes, but Kennedy had turned his +attention to the larger of Forbes's grips, which the Wollstone woman +vociferously claimed as her own. Quickly he wrenched it open. + +As he turned it up on the table my eyes fairly bulged at the sight. +Forbes' suit-case might have been that of a travelling salesman for the +Kimberley, the Klondike, and the Bureau of Engraving, all in one. Craig +dumped the wealth out on the table--stacks of genuine bills, gold coins +of two realms, diamonds, pearls, everything portable and tangible all +heaped up and topped off with piles of counterfeits awaiting the magic +touch of this Midas to turn them into real gold. + +"Forbes, you have failed in your get-away," said Craig triumphantly. +"Gentlemen, you have here a master counterfeiter, surely--a master +counterfeiter of features and fingers as well as of currency." + + + + +VI + +THE SAND-HOG + + +"Interesting story, this fight between the Five-Borough and the +Inter-River Transit," I remarked to Kennedy as I sketched out the draft +of an expose of high finance for the Sunday Star. + +"Then that will interest you, also," said he, throwing a letter down on +my desk. He had just come in and was looking over his mail. + +The letterhead bore the name of the Five-Borough Company. It was from +Jack Orton, one of our intimates at college, who was in charge of the +construction of a new tunnel under the river. It was brief, as Jack's +letters always were. "I have a case here at the tunnel that I am sure +will appeal to you, my own case, too," it read. "You can go as far as +you like with it, but get to the bottom of the thing, no matter whom it +hits. There is some deviltry afoot, and apparently no one is safe. +Don't say a word to anybody about it, but drop over to see me as soon +as you possibly can." + +"Yes," I agreed, "that does interest me. When are you going over?" + +"Now," replied Kennedy, who had not taken off his hat. "Can you come +along?" + +As we sped across the city in a taxicab, Craig remarked: "I wonder what +is the trouble? Did you see in the society news this morning the +announcement of Jack's engagement to Vivian Taylor, the daughter of the +president of the Five-Borough?" + +I had seen it, but could not connect it with the trouble, whatever it +was, at the tunnel, though I did try to connect the tunnel mystery with +my expose. + +We pulled up at the construction works, and a strapping Irishman met +us. "Is this Professor Kennedy?" he asked of Craig. + +"It is. Where is Mr. Orton's office?" + +"I'm afraid, sir, it will be a long time before Mr. Orton is in his +office again, sir. The doctor have just took him out of the medical +lock, an' he said if you was to come before they took him to the +'orspital I was to bring you right up to the lock." + +"Good heavens, man, what has happened?" exclaimed Kennedy. "Take us up +to him quick." + +Without waiting to answer, the Irishman led the way up and across a +rough board platform until at last we came to what looked like a huge +steel cylinder, lying horizontally, in which was a floor with a cot and +some strange paraphernalia. On the cot lay Jack Orton, drawn and +contorted, so changed that even his own mother would scarcely have +recognised him. A doctor was bending over him, massaging the joints of +his legs and his side. + +"Thank you, Doctor, I feel a little better," he groaned. "No, I don't +want to go back into the lock again, not unless the pain gets worse." + +His eyes were closed, but hearing us he opened them and nodded. + +"Yes, Craig," he murmured with difficulty, "this is Jack Orton. What do +you think of me? I'm a pretty sight. How are you? And how are you, +Walter? Not too vigorous with the hand-shakes, fellows. Sorry you +couldn't get over before this happened." + +"What's the matter?" we asked, glancing blankly from Orton to the +doctor. + +Orton forced a half smile. "Just a touch of the 'bends' from working in +compressed air," he explained. + +We looked at him, but could say nothing. I, at least, was thinking of +his engagement. + +"Yes," he added bitterly, "I know what you are thinking about, fellows. +Look at me! Do you think such a wreck as I am now has any right to be +engaged to the dearest girl in the world?" + +"Mr. Orton," interposed the doctor, "I think you'll feel better if +you'll keep quiet. You can see your friends in the hospital to-night, +but for a few hours I think you had better rest. Gentlemen, if you will +be so good as to postpone your conversation with Mr. Orton until later +it would be much better." + +"Then I'll see you to-night," said Orton to us feebly. Turning to a +tall, spare, wiry chap, of just the build for tunnel work, where fat is +fatal, he added: "This is Mr. Capps, my first assistant. He will show +you the way down to the street again." + +"Confound it!" exclaimed Craig, after we had left Capps. "What do you +think of this? Even before we can get to him something has happened. +The plot thickens before we are well into it. I think I'll not take a +cab, or a car either. How are you for a walk until we can see Orton +again?" + +I could see that Craig was very much affected by the sudden accident +that had happened to our friend, so I fell into his mood, and we walked +block after block scarcely exchanging a word. His only remark, I +recall, was, "Walter, I can't think it was an accident, coming so close +after that letter." As for me, I scarcely knew what to think. + +At last our walk brought us around to the private hospital where Orton +was. As we were about to enter, a very handsome girl was leaving. +Evidently she had been visiting some one of whom she thought a great +deal. Her long fur coat was flying carelessly, unfastened in the cold +night air; her features were pale, and her eyes had the fixed look of +one who saw nothing but grief. + +"It's terrible, Miss Taylor," I heard the man with her say soothingly, +"and you must know that I sympathise with you a great deal." + +Looking up quickly, I caught sight of Capps and bowed. He returned our +bows and handed her gently into an automobile that was waiting. + +"He might at least have introduced us," muttered Kennedy, as we went on +into the hospital. + +Orton was lying in bed, white and worn, propped up by pillows which the +nurse kept arranging and rearranging to ease his pain. The Irishman +whom we had seen at the tunnel was standing deferentially near the foot +of the bed. + +"Quite a number of visitors, nurse, for a new patient," said Orton, as +he welcomed us. "First Capps and Paddy from the tunnel, then +Vivian"--he was fingering some beautiful roses in a vase on a table +near him--"and now, you fellows. I sent her home with Capps. She +oughtn't to be out alone at this hour, and Capps is a good fellow. +She's known him a long time. No, Paddy, put down your hat. I want you +to stay. Paddy, by the way, fellows, is my right-hand man in managing +the 'sandhogs' as we call the tunnel-workers. He has been a sand-hog on +every tunnel job about the city since the first successful tunnel was +completed. His real name is Flanagan, but we all know him best as +Paddy." + +Paddy nodded. "If I ever get over this and back to the tunnel," Orton +went on, "Paddy will stick to me, and we will show Taylor, my +prospective father-in-law and the president of the railroad company +from which I took this contract, that I am not to blame for all the +troubles we are having on the tunnel. Heaven knows that--" + +"Oh, Mr. Orton, you ain't so bad," put in Paddy without the faintest +touch of undue familiarity. "Look what I was when ye come to see me +when I had the bends, sir." + +"You old rascal," returned Orton, brightening up. "Craig, do you know +how I found him? Crawling over the floor to the sink to pour the +doctor's medicine down." + +"Think I'd take that medicine," explained Paddy, hastily. "Not much. +Don't I know that the only cure for the bends is bein' put back in the +'air' in the medical lock, same as they did with you, and bein' brought +out slowly? That's the cure, that, an' grit, an' patience, an' time. +Mark me wurds, gintlemen, he'll finish that tunnel an' beggin' yer +pardon, Mr. Orton, marry that gurl, too. Didn't I see her with tears in +her eyes right in this room when he wasn't lookin', and a smile when he +was? Sure, ye'll be all right," continued Paddy, slapping his side and +thigh. "We all get the bends more or less--all us sand-hogs. I was that +doubled up meself that I felt like a big jack-knife. Had it in the arm, +the side, and the leg all at once, that time he was just speakin' of. +He'll be all right in a couple more weeks, sure, an' down in the air +again, too, with the rest of his men. It's somethin' else he has on his +moind." + +"Then the case has nothing to do with your trouble, nothing to do with +the bends?" asked Kennedy, keenly showing his anxiety to help our old +friend. + +"Well, it may and it may not," replied Orton thoughtfully. "I begin to +think it has. We have had a great many cases of the bends among the +men, and lots of the poor fellows have died, too. You know, of course, +how the newspapers are roasting us. We are being called inhuman; they +are going to investigate us; perhaps indict me. Oh, it's an awful mess; +and now some one is trying to make Taylor believe it is my fault. + +"Of course," he continued, "we are working under a high air-pressure +just now, some days as high as forty pounds. You see, we have struck +the very worst part of the job, a stretch of quicksand in the +river-bed, and if we can get through this we'll strike pebbles and rock +pretty soon, and then we'll be all right again." + +He paused. Paddy quietly put in: "Beggin' yer pardon again, Mr. Orton, +but we had intirely too many cases of the bends even when we were +wurkin' at low pressure, in the rock, before we sthruck this sand. +There's somethin' wrong, sir, or ye wouldn't be here yerself like this. +The bends don't sthrike the ingineers, them as don't do the hard work, +sir, and is careful, as ye know--not often." + +"It's this way, Craig," resumed Orton. "When I took this contract for +the Five-Borough Transit Company, they agreed to pay me liberally for +it, with a big bonus if I finished ahead of time, and a big penalty if +I exceeded the time. You may or may not know it, but there is some +doubt about the validity of their franchise after a certain date, +provided the tunnel is not ready for operation. Well, to make a long +story short, you know there are rival companies that would like to see +the work fail and the franchise revert to the city, or at least get +tied up in the courts. I took it with the understanding that it was +every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost." + +"Have you yourself seen any evidences of rival influences hindering the +work?" asked Kennedy. + +Orton carefully weighed his reply. "To begin with," he answered at +length, "while I was pushing the construction end, the Five-Borough was +working with the state legislature to get a bill extending the +time-limit of the franchise another year. Of course, if it had gone +through it would have been fine for us. But some unseen influence +blocked the company at every turn. It was subtle; it never came into +the open. They played on public opinion as only demagogues of high +finance can, very plausibly of course, but from the most selfish and +ulterior motives. The bill was defeated." + +I nodded. I knew all about that part of it, for it was in the article +which I had been writing for the Star. + +"But I had not counted on the extra year, anyhow," continued Orton, "so +I wasn't disappointed. My plans were laid for the shorter time from the +start. I built an island in the river so that we could work from each +shore to it, as well as from the island to each shore, really from four +points at once. And then, when everything was going ahead fine, and we +were actually doubling the speed in this way, these confounded +accidents"--he was leaning excitedly forward--"and lawsuits and delays +and deaths began to happen." + +Orton sank back as a paroxysm of the bends seized him, following his +excitement. + +"I should like very much to go down into the tunnel," said Kennedy +simply. + +"No sooner said than done," replied Orton, almost cheerfully, at seeing +Kennedy so interested. + +"We can arrange that easily. Paddy will be glad to do the honours of +the place in my absence." + +"Indade I will do that same, sor," responded the faithful Paddy, "an' +it's a shmall return for all ye've done for me." + +"Very well, then," agreed Kennedy. "Tomorrow morning we shall be on +hand. Jack, depend on us. We will do our level best to get you out of +this scrape." + +"I knew you would, Craig," he replied. "I've read of some of your and +Walter's exploits. You're a pair of bricks, you are. Good-bye, +fellows," and his hands mechanically sought the vase of flowers which +reminded him of their giver. + +At home we sat for a long time in silence. "By George, Craig," I +exclaimed at length, my mind reverting through the whirl of events to +the glimpse of pain I had caught on the delicate face of the girl +leaving the hospital, "Vivian Taylor is a beauty, though, isn't she?" + +"And Capps thinks so, too," he returned, sinking again into his shell +of silence. Then he suddenly rose and put on his hat and coat. I could +see the old restless fever for work which came into his eyes whenever +he had a case which interested him more than usual. I knew there would +be no rest for Kennedy until he had finished it. Moreover, I knew it +was useless for me to remonstrate with him, so I kept silent. + +"Don't wait up for me," he said. "I don't know when I'll be back. I'm +going to the laboratory and the university library. Be ready early in +the morning to help me delve into this tunnel mystery." + +I awoke to find Kennedy dozing in a chair, partly dressed, but just as +fresh as I was after my sleep. I think he had been dreaming out his +course of action. At any rate, breakfast was a mere incident in his +scheme, and we were over at the tunnel works when the night shift were +going off. + +Kennedy carried with him a moderate-sized box of the contents of which +he seemed very careful. Paddy was waiting for us, and after a hasty +whispered conversation, Craig stowed the box away behind the +switchboard of the telephone central, after attaching it to the various +wires. Paddy stood guard while this was going on so that no one would +know about it, not even the telephone girl, whom he sent off on an +errand. + +Our first inspection was of that part of the works which was above +ground. Paddy, who conducted us, introduced us first to the engineer in +charge of this part of the work, a man named Shelton, who had knocked +about the world a great deal, but had acquired a taciturnity that was +Sphinx-like. If it had not been for Paddy, I fear we should have seen +very little, for Shelton was not only secretive, but his explanations +were such that even the editor of a technical journal would have had to +blue pencil them considerably. However, we gained a pretty good idea of +the tunnel works above ground--at least Kennedy did. He seemed very +much interested in how the air was conveyed below ground, the tank for +storing compressed air for emergencies, and other features. It quite +won Paddy, although Shelton seemed to resent his interest even more +than he despised my ignorance. + +Next Paddy conducted us to the dressing-rooms. There we put on old +clothes and oilskins, and the tunnel doctor examined us and extracted a +written statement that we went down at our own risk and released the +company from all liability--much to the disgust of Paddy. + +"We're ready now, Mr. Capps," called Paddy, opening an office door on +the way out. + +"Very well, Flanagan," answered Capps, barely nodding to us. We heard +him telephone some one, but could not catch the message, and in a +minute he joined us. By this time I had formed the opinion, which I +have since found to be correct, that tunnel men are not as a rule +loquacious. + +It was a new kind of thrill to me to go under the "air," as the men +called it. With an instinctive last look at the skyline of New York and +the waves playing in the glad sunlight, we entered a rude construction +elevator and dropped from the surface to the bottom of a deep shaft. It +was like going down into a mine. There was the air-lock, studded with +bolts, and looking just like a huge boiler, turned horizontally. + +The heavy iron door swung shut with a bang as Paddy and Capps, followed +by Kennedy and myself, crept into the air-lock. Paddy turned on a +valve, and compressed air from the tunnel began to rush in with a hiss +as of escaping steam. Pound after pound to the square inch the pressure +slowly rose until I felt sure the drums of my ears would burst. Then +the hissing noise began to dwindle down to a wheeze, and then it +stopped all of a sudden. That meant that the air-pressure in the lock +was the same as that in the tunnel. Paddy pushed open the door in the +other end of the lock from that by which we had entered. + +Along the bottom of the completed tube we followed Paddy and Capps. On +we trudged, fanned by the moist breath of the tunnel. Every few feet an +incandescent light gleamed in the misty darkness. After perhaps a +hundred paces we had to duck down under a semicircular partition +covering the upper half of the tube. + +"What is that?" I shouted at Paddy, the nasal ring of my own voice +startling me. + +"Emergency curtain," he shouted back. + +Words were economised. Later, I learned that should the tunnel start to +flood, the other half of the emergency curtain could be dropped so as +to cut off the inrushing water. + +Men passed, pushing little cars full of "muck" or sand taken out from +before the "shield"--which is the head by which this mechanical mole +advances under the river-bed. These men and others who do the +shovelling are the "muckers." + +Pipes laid along the side of the tunnel conducted compressed air and +fresh water, while electric light and telephone wires were strung all +about. These and the tools and other things strewn along the tunnel +obstructed the narrow passage to such an extent that we had to be +careful in picking our way. + +At last we reached the shield, and on hands and knees we crawled out +into one of its compartments. Here we experienced for the first time +the weird realisation that only the "air" stood between us and +destruction from the tons and tons of sand and water overhead. At some +points in the sand we could feel the air escaping, which appeared at +the surface of the river overhead in bubbles, indicating to those +passing in the river boats just how far each tunnel heading below had +proceeded. When the loss of air became too great, I learned, scows +would dump hundreds of tons of clay overhead to make an artificial +river bed for the shield to stick its nose safely through, for if the +river bed became too thin overhead the "air" would blow a hole in it. + +Capps, it seemed to me, was unusually anxious to have the visit over. +At any rate, while Kennedy and Paddy were still crawling about the +shield, he stood aside, now and then giving the men an order and +apparently forgetful of us. + +My own curiosity was quickly satisfied, and I sat down on a pile of the +segments out of which the successive rings of the tunnel were made. As +I sat there waiting for Kennedy, I absently reached into my pocket and +pulled out a cigarette and lighted it. It burned amazingly fast, as if +it were made of tinder, the reason being the excess of oxygen in the +compressed air. I was looking at it in astonishment, when suddenly I +felt a blow on my hand. It was Capps. + +"You chump!" he shouted as he ground the cigarette under his boot. +"Don't you know it is dangerous to smoke in compressed air?" + +"Why, no," I replied, smothering my anger at his manner. "No one said +anything about it." + +"Well, it is dangerous, and Orton's a fool to let greenhorns come in +here." + +"And to whom may it be dangerous?" I heard a voice inquire over my +shoulder. It was Kennedy. "To Mr. Jameson or the rest of us?" + +"Well," answered Capps, "I supposed everybody knew it was reckless, and +that he would hurt himself more by one smoke in the air than by a +hundred up above. That's all." + +He turned on Kennedy sullenly, and started to walk back up the tunnel. +But I could not help thinking that his manner was anything but +solicitude for my own health. I could just barely catch his words over +the tunnel telephone some feet away. I thought he said that everything +was going along all right and that he was about to start back again. +Then he disappeared in the mist of the tube without even nodding a +farewell. + +Kennedy and I remained standing, not far from the outlet of the pipe by +which the compressed air was being supplied in the tunnel from the +compressors above, in order to keep the pressure up to the constant +level necessary. I saw Kennedy give a hurried glance about, as if to +note whether any one were looking at us. No one was. With a quick +motion he reached down. In his hand was a stout little glass flask with +a tight-fitting metal top. For a second he held it near the outlet of +the pipe; then he snapped the top shut and slipped it back into his +pocket as quickly as he had produced it. + +Slowly we commenced to retrace our steps to the air-lock, our curiosity +satisfied by this glimpse of one of the most remarkable developments of +modern engineering. + +"Where's Paddy?" asked Kennedy, stopping suddenly. "We've forgotten +him." + +"Back there at the shield, I suppose," said I. "Let's whistle and +attract his attention." + +I pursed up my lips, but if I had been whistling for a million dollars +I couldn't have done it. + +Craig laughed. "Walter, you are indeed learning many strange things. +You can't whistle in compressed air." + +I was too chagrined to answer. First it was Capps; now it was my own +friend Kennedy chaffing me for my ignorance. I was glad to see Paddy's +huge form looming in the semi-darkness. He had seen that we were gone +and hurried after us. + +"Won't ye stay down an' see some more, gintlemen?" he asked. "Or have +ye had enough of the air? It seems very smelly to me this mornin'--I +don't blame ye. I guess them as doesn't have to stay here is satisfied +with a few minutes of it." + +"No, thanks, I guess we needn't stay down any longer," replied Craig. +"I think I have seen all that is necessary--at least for the present. +Capps has gone out ahead of us. I think you can take us out now, Paddy. +I would much rather have you do it than to go with anybody else." + +Coming out, I found, was really more dangerous than going in, for it is +while coming out of the "air" that men are liable to get the bends. +Roughly, half a minute should be consumed in coming out from each pound +of pressure, though for such high pressures as we had been under, +considerably more time was required in order to do it safely. We spent +about half an hour in the air-lock, I should judge. + +Paddy let the air out of the lock by turning on a valve leading to the +outside, normal atmosphere. Thus he let the air out rapidly at first +until we had got down to half the pressure of the tunnel. The second +half he did slowly, and it was indeed tedious, but it was safe. There +was at first a hissing sound when he opened the valve, and it grew +colder in the lock, since air absorbs heat from surrounding objects +when it expands. We were glad to draw sweaters on over our heads. It +also grew as misty as a London fog as the water-vapour in the air was +condensed. + +At last the hiss of escaping air ceased. The door to the modern dungeon +of science grated open. We walked out of the lock to the elevator shaft +and were hoisted up to God's air again. We gazed out across the river +with its waves dancing in the sunlight. There, out in the middle, was a +wreath of bubbles on the water. That marked the end of the tunnel, over +the shield. Down beneath those bubbles the sand-hogs were rooting. But +what was the mystery that the tunnel held in its dark, dank bosom? Had +Kennedy a clue? + +"I think we had better wait around a bit," remarked Kennedy, as we +sipped our hot coffee in the dressing-room and warmed ourselves from +the chill of coming out of the lock. "In case anything should happen to +us and we should get the bends, this is the place for us, near the +medical lock, as it is called--that big steel cylinder over there, +where we found Orton. The best cure for the bends is to go back under +the air--recompression they call it. The renewed pressure causes the +gas in the blood to contract again, and thus it is +eliminated--sometimes. At any rate, it is the best-known cure and +considerably reduces the pain in the worst cases. When you have a bad +case like Orton's it means that the damage is done; the gas has +ruptured some veins. Paddy was right. Only time will cure that." + +Nothing happened to us, however, and in a couple of hours we dropped in +on Orton at the hospital where he was slowly convalescing. + +"What do you think of the case?" he asked anxiously. + +"Nothing as yet," replied Craig, "but I have set certain things in +motion which will give us a pretty good line on what is taking place in +a day or so." + +Orton's face fell, but he said nothing. He bit his lip nervously and +looked out of the sun-parlour at the roofs of New York around him. + +"What has happened since last night to increase your anxiety, Jack?" +asked Craig sympathetically. + +Orton wheeled his chair about slowly, faced us, and drew a letter from +his pocket. Laying it flat on the table he covered the lower part with +the envelope. + +"Read that," he said. + +"Dear Jack," it began. I saw at once that it was from Miss Taylor. +"Just a line," she wrote, "to let you know that I am thinking about you +always and hoping that you are better than when I saw you this evening. +Papa had the chairman of the board of directors of the Five-Borough +here late to-night, and they were in the library for over an hour. For +your sake, Jack, I played the eavesdropper, but they talked so low that +I could hear nothing, though I know they were talking about you and the +tunnel. When they came out, I had no time to escape, so I slipped +behind a portiere. I heard father say: 'Yes, I guess you are right, +Morris. The thing has gone on long enough. If there is one more big +accident we shall have to compromise with the Inter-River and carry on +the work jointly. We have given Orton his chance, and if they demand +that this other fellow shall be put in, I suppose we shall have to +concede it.' Mr. Morris seemed pleased that father agreed with him and +said so. Oh, Jack, can't you DO something to show them they are wrong, +and do it quickly? I never miss an opportunity of telling papa it is +not your fault that all these delays take place." + +The rest of the letter was covered by the envelope, and Orton would not +have shown it for worlds. + +"Orton," said Kennedy, after a few moments' reflection, "I will take a +chance for your sake--a long chance, but I think a good one. If you can +pull yourself together by this afternoon, be over at your office at +four. Be sure to have Shelton and Capps there, and you can tell Mr. +Taylor that you have something very important to set before him. Now, I +must hurry if I am to fulfil my part of the contract. Good-bye, Jack. +Keep a stiff upper lip, old man. I'll have something that will surprise +you this afternoon." + +Outside, as he hurried uptown, Craig was silent, but I could see his +features working nervously, and as we parted he merely said: "Of +course, you'll be there, Walter. I'll put the finishing touches on your +story of high finance." + +Slowly enough the few hours passed before I found myself again in +Orton's office. He was there already, despite the orders of his +physician, who was disgusted at this excursion from the hospital. +Kennedy was there, too, grim and silent. We sat watching the two +indicators beside Orton's desk, which showed the air pressure in the +two tubes. The needles were vibrating ever so little and tracing a +red-ink line on the ruled paper that unwound from the drum. From the +moment the tunnels were started, here was preserved a faithful record +of every slightest variation of air pressure. + +"Telephone down into the tube and have Capps come up," said Craig at +length, glancing at Orton's desk clock. "Taylor will be here pretty +soon, and I want Capps to be out of the tunnel by the time he comes. +Then get Shelton, too." + +In response to Orton's summons Capps and Shelton came into the office, +just as a large town car pulled up outside the tunnel works. A tall, +distinguished-looking man stepped out and turned again toward the door +of the car. + +"There's Taylor," I remarked, for I had seen him often at +investigations before the Public Service Commission. + +"And Vivian, too," exclaimed Orton excitedly. "Say, fellows, clear off +these desks. Quick, before she gets up here. In the closet with these +blueprints, Walter. There, that's a little better. If I had known she +was coming I would at least have had the place swept out. Puff! look at +the dust on this desk of mine. Well, there's no help for it. There they +are at the door now. Why, ivian, what a surprise." + +"Jack!" she exclaimed, almost ignoring the rest of us and quickly +crossing to his chair to lay a restraining hand on his shoulder as he +vainly tried to stand up to welcome her. + +"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" he asked eagerly. "I would +have had the place fixed up a bit." + +"I prefer it this way," she said, looking curiously around at the +samples of tunnel paraphernalia and the charts and diagrams on the +walls. + +"Yes, Orton," said President Taylor, "she would come--dropped in at the +office and when I tried to excuse myself for a business appointment, +demanded which way I was going. When I said I was coming here, she +insisted on coming, too." + +Orton smiled. He knew that she had taken this simple and direct means +of being there, but he said nothing, and merely introduced us to the +president and Miss Taylor. + +An awkward silence followed. Orton cleared his throat. "I think you all +know why we are here," he began. "We have been and are having +altogether too many accidents in the tunnel, too many cases of the +bends, too many deaths, too many delays to the work. +Well--er--I--er--Mr. Kennedy has something to say about them, I +believe." + +No sound was heard save the vibration of the air-compressors and an +occasional shout of a workman at the shaft leading down to the +air-locks. + +"There is no need for me to say anything about caisson disease to you, +gentlemen, or to you, Miss Taylor," began Kennedy. "I think you all +know how it is caused and a good deal about it already. But, to be +perfectly clear, I will say that there are five things that must, above +all others, be looked after in tunnel work: the air pressure, the +amount of carbon dioxide in the air, the length of the shifts which the +men work, the state of health of the men as near as physical +examination can determine it, and the rapidity with which the men come +out of the 'air,' so as to prevent carelessness which may cause the +bends. + +"I find," he continued, "that the air pressure is not too high for +safety. Proper examinations for carbon dioxide are made, and the amount +in the air is not excessive. The shifts are not even as long as those +prescribed by the law. The medical inspection is quite adequate and as +for the time taken in coming out through the locks the rules are +stringent." + +A look of relief crossed the face of Orton at this commendation of his +work, followed by a puzzled expression that plainly indicated that he +would like to know what was the matter, if all the crucial things were +all right. + +"But," resumed Kennedy, "the bends are still hitting the men, and there +is no telling when a fire or a blow-out may occur in any of the eight +headings that are now being pushed under the river. Quite often the +work has been delayed and the tunnel partly or wholly flooded. Now, you +know the theory of the bends. It is that air--mostly the nitrogen in +the air--is absorbed by the blood under the pressure. In coming out of +the 'air' if the nitrogen is not all eliminated, it stays in the blood +and, as the pressure is reduced, it expands. It is just as if you take +a bottle of charged water and pull the cork suddenly. The gas rises in +big bubbles. Cork it again and the gas bubbles cease to rise and +finally disappear. If you make a pin-hole in the cork the gas will +escape slowly, without a bubble. You must decompress the human body +slowly, by stages, to let the super-saturated blood give up its +nitrogen to the lungs, which can eliminate it. Otherwise these bubbles +catch in the veins, and the result is severe pains, paralysis, and even +death. Gentlemen, I see that I am just wasting time telling you this, +for you know it all well. But consider." + +Kennedy placed an empty corked flask on the table. The others regarded +it curiously, but I recalled having seen it in the tunnel. + +"In this bottle," explained Kennedy, "I collected some of the air from +the tunnel when I was down there this morning. I have since analysed +it. The quantity of carbon dioxide is approximately what it should +be--not high enough of itself to cause trouble. But," he spoke slowly +to emphasise his words, "I found something else in that air beside +carbon dioxide." + +"Nitrogen?" broke in Orton quickly, leaning forward. + +"Of course; it is a constituent of air. But that is not what I mean." + +"Then, for Heaven's sake, what did you find?" asked Orton. + +"I found in this air," replied Kennedy, "a very peculiar mixture--an +explosive mixture." + +"An explosive mixture?" echoed Orton. + +"Yes, Jack, the blow-outs that you have had at the end of the tunnel +were not blow-outs at all, properly speaking. They were explosions." + +We sat aghast at this revelation. + +"And, furthermore," added Kennedy, "I should, if I were you, call back +all the men from the tunnel until the cause for the presence of this +explosive mixture is discovered and remedied." + +Orton reached mechanically for the telephone to give the order, but +Taylor laid his hand on his arm. "One moment, Orton," he said. "Let's +hear Professor Kennedy out. He may be mistaken, and there is no use +frightening the men, until we are certain." + +"Shelton," asked Kennedy, "what sort of flash oil is used to lubricate +the machinery?" + +"It is three-hundred-and-sixty-degree Fahrenheit flash test," he +answered tersely. + +"And are the pipes leading air down into the tunnel perfectly straight?" + +"Straight?" + +"Yes, straight--no joints, no pockets where oil, moisture, and gases +can collect." + +"Straight as lines, Kennedy," he said with a sort of contemptuous +defiance. + +They were facing each other coldly, sizing each other up. Like a +skilful lawyer, Kennedy dropped that point for a moment, to take up a +new line of attack. + +"Capps," he demanded, turning suddenly, "why do you always call up on +the telephone and let some one know when you are going down in the +tunnel and when you are coming out?" + +"I don't," replied Capps, quickly recovering his composure. + +"Walter," said Craig to me quietly, "go out in the outer office. Behind +the telephone switchboard you will find a small box which you saw me +carry in there this morning and connect with the switchboard. Detach +the wires, as you saw me attach them, and bring it here." + +No one moved, as I placed the box on a drafting-table before them. +Craig opened it. Inside he disclosed a large disc of thin steel, like +those used by some mechanical music-boxes, only without any +perforations. He connected the wires from the box to a sort of +megaphone. Then he started the disc revolving. + +Out of the little megaphone horn, sticking up like a miniature +talking-machine, came a voice: "Number please. Four four three o, +Yorkville. Busy, I'll call you. Try them again, Central. Hello, hello, +Central--" + +Kennedy stopped the machine. "It must be further along on the disc," he +remarked. "This, by the way, is an instrument known as the +telegraphone, invented by a Dane named Poulsen. It records +conversations over a telephone on this plain metal disc by means of +localised, minute electric charges." + +Having adjusted the needle to another place on the disc he tried again. +"We have here a record of the entire day's conversations over the +telephone, preserved on this disc. I could wipe out the whole thing by +pulling a magnet across it, but, needless to say, I wouldn't do +that--yet. Listen." + +This time it was Capps speaking. "Give me Mr. Shelton. Oh, Shelton, I'm +going down in the south tube with those men Orton has sent nosing +around here. I'll let you know when I start up again. Meanwhile--you +know--don't let anything happen while I am there. Good-bye." + +Capps sat looking defiantly at Kennedy, as he stopped the telegraphone. + +"Now," continued Kennedy suavely, "what COULD happen? I'll answer my +own question by telling what actually did happen. Oil that was smoky at +a lower point than its flash was being used in the machinery--not +really three-hundred-and-sixty-degree oil. The water-jacket had been +tampered with, too. More than that, there is a joint in the pipe +leading down into the tunnel, where explosive gases can collect. It is +a well-known fact in the use of compressed air that such a condition is +the best possible way to secure an explosion. + +"It would all seem so natural, even if discovered," explained Kennedy +rapidly. "The smoking oil--smoking just as an automobile often does--is +passed into the compressed-air pipe. Condensed oil, moisture, and gases +collect in the joint, and perhaps they line the whole distance of the +pipe. A spark from the low-grade oil--and they are ignited. What takes +place is the same thing that occurs in the cylinder of an automobile +where the air is compressed with gasoline vapour. Only here we have +compressed air charged with vapour of oil. The flame proceeds down the +pipe--exploding through the pipe, if it happens to be not strong +enough. This pipe, however, is strong. Therefore, the flame in this +case shoots out at the open end of the pipe, down near the shield, and +if the air in the tunnel happens also to be surcharged with oil-vapour, +an explosion takes place in the tunnel--the river bottom is blown +out--then God help the sand-hogs! + +"That's how your accidents took place, Orton," concluded Kennedy in +triumph, "and that impure air--not impure from carbon dioxide, but from +this oil-vapour mixture--increased the liability of the men for the +bends. Capps knew about it. He was careful while he was there to see +that the air was made as pure as possible under the circumstances. He +was so careful that he wouldn't even let Mr. Jameson smoke in the +tunnel. But as soon as he went to the surface, the same deadly mixture +was pumped down again--I caught some of it in this flask, and--" + +"My God, Paddy's down there now," cried Orton, suddenly seizing his +telephone. "Operator, give me the south tube--quick--what--they don't +answer?" + +Out in the river above the end of the heading, where a short time +before there had been only a few bubbles on the surface of the water, I +could see what looked like a huge geyser of water spouting up. I pulled +Craig over to me and pointed. + +"A blow-out," cried Kennedy, as he rushed to the door, only to be met +by a group of blanched-faced workers who had come breathless to the +office to deliver the news. + +Craig acted quickly. "Hold these men," he ordered, pointing to Capps +and Shelton, "until we come back. Orton, while we are gone, go over the +entire day's record on the telegraphone. I suspect you and Miss Taylor +will find something there that will interest you." + +He sprang down the ladder to the tunnel air-lock, not waiting for the +elevator. In front of the closed door of the lock, an excited group of +men was gathered. One of them was peering through the dim, thick, glass +porthole in the door. + +"There he is, standin' by the door with a club, an' the men's crowdin' +so fast that they're all wedged so's none can get in at all. He's +beatin' 'em back with the stick. Now, he's got the door clear and has +dragged one poor fellow in. It's Jimmy Rourke, him with the eight +childer. Now he's dragged in a Polack. Now he's fightin' back a big +Jamaica nigger who's tryin' to shove ahead of a little Italian." + +"It's Paddy," cried Craig. "If he can bring them all out safely without +the loss of a life he'll save the day yet for Orton. And he'll do it, +too, Walter." + +Instantly I reconstructed in my mind the scene in the tunnel--the +explosion of the oil-vapour, the mad race up the tube, perhaps the +failure of the emergency curtain to work, the frantic efforts of the +men, in panic, all to crowd through the narrow little door at once; the +rapidly rising water--and above all the heroic Paddy, cool to the last, +standing at the door and single-handed beating the men back with a +club, so that they could go through one at a time. + +Only when the water had reached the level of the door of the lock, did +Paddy bang it shut as he dragged the last man in. Then followed an +interminable wait for the air in the lock to be exhausted. When, at +last, the door at our end of the lock swung open, the men with a cheer +seized Paddy and, in spite of his struggles, hoisted him on to their +shoulders, and carried him off, still struggling, in triumph up the +construction elevator to the open air above. + +The scene in Orton's office was dramatic as the men entered with Paddy. +Vivian Taylor was standing defiantly, with burning eyes, facing Capps, +who stared sullenly at the floor before him. Shelton was plainly +abashed. + +"Kennedy," cried Orton, vainly trying to rise, "listen. Have you still +that place on the telegraphone record, Vivian?" + +Miss Taylor started the telegraphone, while we all crowded around +leaning forward eagerly. + +"Hello. Inter-River? Is this the president's office? Oh, hello. This is +Capps talking. How are you? Oh, you've heard about Orton, have you? Not +so bad, eh? Well, I'm arranging with my man Shelton here for the final +act this afternoon. After that you can compromise with the Five-Borough +on your own terms. I think I have argued Taylor and Morris into the +right frame of mind for it, if we have one more big accident. What's +that? How is my love affair? Well, Orton's in the way yet, but you know +why I went into this deal. When you put me into his place after the +compromise, I think I will pull strong with her. Saw her last night. +She feels pretty bad about Orton, but she'll get over it. Besides, the +pater will never let her marry a man who's down and out. By the way, +you've got to do something handsome for Shelton. All right. I'll see +you to-night and tell you some more. Watch the papers in the meantime +for the grand finale. Good-bye." + +An angry growl rose from one or two of the more quick-witted men. +Kennedy reached over and pulled me with him quickly through the crowd. + +"Hurry, Walter," he whispered hoarsely, "hustle Shelton and Capps out +quick before the rest of the men wake up to what it's all about, or we +shall have a lynching instead of an arrest." + +As we shoved and pushed them out, I saw the rough and grimy sand-hogs +in the rear move quickly aside, and off came their muddy, frayed hats. +A dainty figure flitted among them toward Orton. It was Vivian Taylor. + +"Papa," she cried, grasping Jack by both hands and turning to Taylor, +who followed her closely, "Papa, I told you not to be too hasty with +Jack." + + + + +VII + +THE WHITE SLAVE + + +Kennedy and I had just tossed a coin to decide whether it should be a +comic opera or a good walk in the mellow spring night air and the opera +had won, but we had scarcely begun to argue the vital point as to where +to go, when the door buzzer sounded--a sure sign that some box-office +had lost four dollars. + +It was a much agitated middle-aged couple who entered as Craig threw +open the door. Of our two visitors, the woman attracted my attention +first, for on her pale face the lines of sorrow were almost visibly +deepening. Her nervous manner interested me greatly, though I took +pains to conceal the fact that I noticed it. It was quickly accounted +for, however, by the card which the man presented, bearing the name +"Mr. George Gilbert" and a short scribble from First Deputy O'Connor: + + Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert desire to consult you with regard to the + mysterious disappearance of their daughter, Georgette. I am + sure I need say nothing further to interest you than that the + M. P. Squad is completely baffled. + + O'CONNOR. + +"H-m," remarked Kennedy; "not strange for the Missing Persons Squad to +be baffled--at least, at this case." + +"Then you know of our daughter's strange--er--departure?" asked Mr. +Gilbert, eagerly scanning Kennedy's face and using a euphemism that +would fall less harshly on his wife's ears than the truth. + +"Indeed, yes," nodded Craig with marked sympathy: "that is, I have read +most of what the papers have said. Let me introduce my friend, Mr. +Jameson. You recall we were discussing the Georgette Gilbert case this +morning, Walter?" + +I did, and perhaps before I proceed further with the story I should +quote at least the important parts of the article in the morning Star +which had occasioned the discussion. The article had been headed, "When +Personalities Are Lost," and with the Gilbert case as a text many +instances had been cited which had later been solved by the return of +the memory of the sufferer. In part the article had said: + +Mysterious disappearances, such as that of Georgette Gilbert, have +alarmed the public and baffled the police before this, disappearances +that in their suddenness, apparent lack of purpose, and +inexplicability, have had much in common with the case of Miss Gilbert. + +Leaving out of account the class of disappearances such as embezzlers, +blackmailers, and other criminals, there is still a large number of +recorded cases where the subjects have dropped out of sight without +apparent cause or reason and have left behind them untarnished +reputations. Of these a small percentage are found to have met with +violence; others have been victims of a suicidal mania; and sooner or +later a clue has come to light, for the dead are often easier to find +than the living. Of the remaining small proportion there are on record +a number of carefully authenticated cases where the subjects have been +the victims of a sudden and complete loss of memory. + +This dislocation of memory is a variety of aphasia known as amnesia, +and when the memory is recurrently lost and restored it is an +"alternating personality." The psychical researchers and psychologists +have reported many cases of alternating personality. Studious efforts +are being made to understand and to explain the strange type of mental +phenomena exhibited in these cases, but no one has as yet given a +final, clear, and comprehensive explanation of them. Such cases are by +no means always connected with disappearances, but the variety known as +the ambulatory type, where the patient suddenly loses all knowledge of +his own identity and of his past and takes himself off, leaving no +trace or clue, is the variety which the present case calls to popular +attention. + +Then followed a list of a dozen or so interesting cases of persons who +had vanished completely and had, some several days and some even years +later, suddenly "awakened" to their first personality, returned, and +taken up the thread of that personality where it had been broken. + +To Kennedy's inquiry I was about to reply that I recalled the +conversation distinctly, when Mr. Gilbert shot an inquiring glance from +beneath his bushy eyebrows, quickly shifting from my face to Kennedy's, +and asked, "And what was your conclusion--what do you think of the +case? Is it aphasia or amnesia, or whatever the doctors call it, and do +you think she is wandering about somewhere unable to recover her real +personality?" + +"I should like to have all the facts at first hand before venturing an +opinion," Craig replied with precisely that shade of hesitancy that +might reassure the anxious father and mother, without raising a false +hope. + +Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert exchanged glances, the purport of which was that +she desired him to tell the story. + +"It was day before yesterday," began Mr. Gilbert, gently touching his +wife's trembling hand that sought his arm as he began rehearsing the +tragedy that had cast its shadow across their lives, "Thursday, that +Georgette--er--since we have heard of Georgette." His voice faltered a +bit, but he proceeded: "As you know, she was last seen walking on Fifth +Avenue. The police have traced her since she left home that morning. It +is known that she went first to the public library, then that she +stopped at a department store on the avenue, where she made a small +purchase which she had charged to our family account, and finally that +she went to a large book-store. Then--that is the last." + +Mrs. Gilbert sighed, and buried her face in a lace handkerchief as her +shoulders shook convulsively. + +"Yes, I have read that," repeated Kennedy gently, though with manifest +eagerness to get down to facts that might prove more illuminating. "I +think I need hardly impress upon you the advantage of complete +frankness, the fact that anything you may tell me is of a much more +confidential nature than if it were told to the police. Er--r, had Miss +Gilbert any--love affair, any trouble of such a nature that it might +have preyed on her mind?" + +Kennedy's tactful manner seemed to reassure both the father and the +mother, who exchanged another glance. + +"Although we have said no to the reporters," Mrs. Gilbert replied +bravely in answer to the nod of approval from her husband, and much as +if she herself were making a confession for them both, "I fear that +Georgette had had a love affair. No doubt you have heard hints of +Dudley Lawton's name in connection with the case? I can't imagine how +they could have leaked out, for I should have said that that old affair +had long since been forgotten even by the society gossips. The fact is +that shortly after Georgette 'came out,' Dudley Lawton, who is quite on +the road to becoming one of the rather notorious members of the younger +set, began to pay her marked attentions. He is a fascinating, romantic +sort of fellow, one that, I imagine, possesses much attraction for a +girl who has been brought up as simply as Georgette was, and who has +absorbed a surreptitious diet of modern literature such as we now know +Georgette did. I suppose you have seen portraits of Georgette in the +newspapers and know what a dreamy and artistic nature her face +indicates?" + +Kennedy nodded. It is, of course, one of the cardinal tenets of +journalism that all women are beautiful, but even the coarse screen of +the ordinary newspaper half-tone had not been able to conceal the +rather exceptional beauty of Miss Georgette Gilbert. If it had, all the +shortcomings of the newspaper photographic art would have been quickly +glossed over by the almost ardent descriptions by those ladies of the +press who come along about the second day after an event of this kind +with signed articles analysing the character and motives, the life and +gowns of the latest actors in the front-page stories. + +"Naturally both my husband and myself opposed his attentions from the +first. It was a hard struggle, for Georgette, of course, assumed the +much-injured air of some of the heroines of her favourite novels. But +I, at least, believed that we had won and that Georgette finally was +brought to respect and, I hoped, understand our wishes in the matter. I +believe so yet. Mr. Gilbert in a roundabout way came to an +understanding with old Mr. Dudley Lawton, who possesses a great +influence over his son, and--well, Dudley Lawton seemed to have passed +out of Georgette's life. I believed so then, at least, and I see no +reason for not believing so yet. I feel that you ought to know this, +but really I don't think it is right to say that Georgette had a love +affair. I should rather say that she had HAD a love affair, but that it +had been forgotten, perhaps a year ago." + +Mrs. Gilbert paused again, and it was evident that though she was +concealing nothing she was measuring her words carefully in order not +to give a false impression. + +"What does Dudley Lawton say about the newspapers bringing his name +into the case?" asked Kennedy, addressing Mr. Gilbert. + +"Nothing," replied he. "He denies that he has even spoken to her for +nearly a year. Apparently he has no interest in the case. And yet I +cannot quite believe that Lawton is as uninterested as he seems. I know +that he has often spoken about her to members of the Cosmos Club where +he lives, and that he reads practically everything that the newspapers +print about the case." + +"But you have no reason to think that there has ever been any secret +communication between them? Miss Georgette left no letters or anything +that would indicate that her former infatuation survived?" + +"None whatever," repeated Mr. Gilbert emphatically. "We have gone over +her personal effects very carefully, and I can't say they furnish a +clue. In fact, there were very few letters. She rarely kept a letter. +Whether it was merely from habit or for some purpose, I can't say." + +"Besides her liking for Dudley Lawton and her rather romantic nature, +there are no other things in her life that would cause a desire for +freedom?" asked Kennedy, much as a doctor might test the nerves of a +patient. "She had no hobbies?" + +"Beyond the reading of some books which her mother and I did not +altogether approve of, I should say no--no hobbies." + +"So far, I suppose, it is true that neither you nor the police have +received even a hint as to where she went after leaving the book-store?" + +"Not a hint. She dropped out as completely as if the earth had +swallowed her." + +"Mrs. Gilbert," said Kennedy, as our visitors rose to go, "you may rest +assured that if it is humanly possible to find your daughter I shall +leave no stone unturned until I have probed to the bottom of this +mystery. I have seldom had a case that hung on more slender threads, +yet if I can weave other threads to support it I feel that we shall +soon find that the mystery is not so baffling as the Missing Persons +Squad has found it so far." + +Scarcely had the Gilberts left when Kennedy put on his hat, remarking: +"We'll at least get our walk, if not the show. Let's stroll around to +the Cosmos Club. Perhaps we may catch Lawton in." + +Luckily we chanced to find him there in the reading-room. Lawton was, +as Mrs. Gilbert had said, a type that is common enough in New York and +is very fascinating to many girls. In fact, he was one of those fellows +whose sins are readily forgiven because they are always interesting. +Not a few men secretly admire though publicly execrate the Lawton type. + +I say we chanced to find him in. That was about all we found. Our +interview was most unsatisfactory. For my part, I could not determine +whether he was merely anxious to avoid any notoriety in connection with +the case or whether he was concealing something that might compromise +himself. + +"Really, gentlemen," he drawled, puffing languidly on a cigarette and +turning slowly toward the window to watch the passing throng under the +lights of the avenue, "really I don't see how I can be of any +assistance. You see, except for a mere passing acquaintance Miss +Gilbert and I had drifted entirely apart--entirely apart--owing to +circumstances over which I, at least, had no control." + +"I thought perhaps you might have heard from her or about her, through +some mutual friend," remarked Kennedy, carefully concealing under his +nonchalance what I knew was working in his mind--a belief that, after +all, the old attachment had not been so dead as the Gilberts had +fancied. + +"No, not a breath, either before this sad occurrence or, of course, +after. Believe me, if I could add one fact that would simplify the +search for Georgette--ah, Miss Gilbert--ah--I would do so in a moment," +replied Lawton quickly, as if desirous of getting rid of us as soon as +possible. Then perhaps as if regretting the brusqueness with which he +had tried to end the interview, he added, "Don't misunderstand me. The +moment you have discovered anything that points to her whereabouts, let +me know immediately. You can count on me--provided you don't get me +into the papers. Good-night, gentlemen. I wish you the best of success." + +"Do you think he could have kept up the acquaintance secretly?" I asked +Craig as we walked up the avenue after this baffling interview. "Could +he have cast her off when he found that in spite of her parents' +protests she was still in his power?" + +"It's impossible to say what a man of Dudley Lawton's type could do," +mused Kennedy, "for the simple reason that he himself doesn't know +until he has to do it. Until we have more facts, anything is both +possible and probable." + +There was nothing more that could be done that night, though after our +walk we sat up for an hour or two discussing probabilities. It did not +take me long to reach the end of my imagination and give up the case, +but Kennedy continued to revolve the matter in his mind, looking at it +from every angle and calling upon all the vast store of information +that he had treasured up in that marvellous brain of his, ready to be +called on almost as if his mind were card-indexed. + +"Murders, suicides, robberies, and burglaries are, after all, pretty +easily explained," he remarked, after a long period of silence on my +part, "but the sudden disappearance of people out of the crowded city +into nowhere is something that is much harder to explain. And it isn't +so difficult to disappear as some people imagine, either. You remember +the case of the celebrated Arctic explorer whose picture had been +published scores of times in every illustrated paper. He had no trouble +in disappearing and then reappearing later, when he got ready. + +"Yet experience has taught me that there is always a reason for +disappearances. It is our next duty to discover that reason. Still, it +won't do to say that disappearances are not mysterious. Disappearances +except for money troubles are all mysterious. The first thing in such a +case is to discover whether the person has any hobbies or habits or +fads. That is what I tried to find out from the Gilberts. I can't tell +yet whether I succeeded." + +Kennedy took a pencil and hastily jotted down something on a piece of +paper which he tossed over to me. It read: + +1. Love, family trouble. + +2. A romantic disposition. + +3. Temporary insanity, self-destruction. + +4. Criminal assault. + +5. Aphasia. + +6. Kidnapping. + +"Those are the reasons why people disappear, eliminating criminals and +those who have financial difficulties. Dream on that and see if you can +work out the answer in your subliminal consciousness. Good-night." + +Needless to say, I was no further advanced in the morning than at +midnight, but Kennedy seemed to have evolved at least a tentative +programme. It started with a visit to the public library, where he +carefully went over the ground already gone over by the police. Finding +nothing, he concluded that Miss Gilbert had not found what she wanted +at the library and had continued the quest, even as he was continuing +the quest of herself. + +His next step was to visit the department-store. The purchase had been +an inconsequential affair of half a dozen handkerchiefs, to be sent +home. This certainly did not look like a premeditated disappearance; +but Craig was proceeding on the assumption that this purchase indicated +nothing except that there had been a sale of handkerchiefs which had +caught her eye. Having stopped at the library first and a book-shop +afterward, he assumed that she had also visited the book-department of +the store. But here again nobody seemed to recall her or that she had +asked for anything in particular. + +Our last hope was the book-shop. We paused for a moment to look at the +display in the window, but only for a moment, for Craig quickly pulled +me along inside. In the window was a display of books bearing the sign: + +BOOKS ON NEW THOUGHT, OCCULTISM, CLAIRVOYANCE, MESMERISM + +Instead of attempting to go over the ground already traversed by the +police, who had interrogated the numerous clerks without discovering +which one, if any, had waited on Miss Gilbert, Kennedy asked at once to +see the record of sales of the morning on which she had disappeared. +Running his eye quickly down the record, he picked out a work on +clairvoyance and asked to see the young woman who had made the sale. +The clerk was, however, unable to recall to whom she had sold the book, +though she finally admitted that she thought it might have been a young +woman who had some difficulty in making up her mind just which one of +the numerous volumes she wanted. She could not say whether the picture +Kennedy showed her of Miss Gilbert was that of her customer, nor was +she sure that the customer was not escorted by some one. Altogether it +was nearly as hazy as our interview with Lawton. + +"Still," remarked Kennedy cheerfully, "it may furnish a clue, after +all. The clerk at least was not positive that it was NOT Miss Gilbert +to whom she sold the book. Since we are down in this neighbourhood, let +us drop in and see Mr. Gilbert again. Perhaps something may have +happened since last night." + +Mr. Gilbert was in the dry-goods business in a loft building in the new +dry-goods section on Fourth Avenue. One could almost feel that a +tragedy had invaded even his place of business. As we entered, we could +see groups of clerks, evidently discussing the case. It was no wonder, +I felt, for the head of the firm was almost frantic, and beside the +loss of his only daughter the loss of his business would count as +nothing, at least until the keen edge of his grief was worn off. + +"Mr. Gilbert is out," replied his secretary, in answer to our inquiry. +"Haven't you heard? They have just discovered the body of his daughter +in a lonely spot in the Croton Aqueduct. The report came in from the +police just a few minutes ago. It is thought that she was murdered in +the city and carried there in an automobile." + +The news came with a stinging shock. I felt that, after all, we were +too late. In another hour the extras would be out, and the news would +be spread broadcast. The affair would be in the hands of the amateur +detectives, and there was no telling how many promising clues might be +lost. + +"Dead!" exclaimed Kennedy, as he jammed his hat on his head and bolted +for the door. "Hurry, Walter. We must get there before the coroner +makes his examination." + +I don't know how we managed to do it, but by dint of subway, elevated, +and taxicab we arrived on the scene of the tragedy not very long after +the coroner. Mr. Gilbert was there, silent, and looking as if he had +aged many years since the night before; his hand shook and he could +merely nod recognition to us. + +Already the body had been carried to a rough shanty in the +neighbourhood, and the coroner was questioning those who had made the +discovery, a party of Italian labourers on the water improvement near +by. They were a vicious looking crew, but they could tell nothing +beyond the fact that one of them had discovered the body in a thicket +where it could not possibly have lain longer than overnight. There was +no reason, as yet, to suspect any of them, and indeed, as a much +travelled automobile road ran within a few feet of the thicket, there +was every reason to believe that the murder, if murder it was, had been +committed elsewhere and that the perpetrator had taken this means of +getting rid of his unfortunate victim. + +Drawn and contorted were the features of the poor girl, as if she had +died in great physical agony or after a terrific struggle. Indeed, +marks of violence on her delicate throat and neck showed only too +plainly that she had been choked. + +As Kennedy bent over the form of the once lovely Georgette, he noted +the clenched hands. Then he looked at them more closely. I was standing +a little behind him, for though Craig and I had been through many +thrilling adventures, the death of a human being, especially of a girl +like Miss Gilbert, filled me with horror and revulsion. I could see, +however, that he had noted something unusual. He pulled out a little +pocket magnifying glass and made an even more minute examination of the +hands. At last he rose and faced us, almost as if in triumph. I could +not see what he had discovered--at least it did not seem to be anything +tangible, like a weapon. + +Quickly he opened the pocketbook which she had carried. It seemed to be +empty, and he was about to shut it when something white, sticking in +one corner, caught his eye. Craig pulled out a clipping from a +newspaper, and we crowded about him to look at it. It was a large +clipping from the section of one of the metropolitan journals which +carries a host of such advertisements as "spirit medium," "psychic +palmist," "yogi mediator," "magnetic influences," "crystal gazer," +"astrologer," "trance medium," and the like. At once I thought of the +sallow, somewhat mystic countenance of Dudley, and the idea flashed, +half-formed, in my mind that somehow this clue, together with the +purchase of the book on clairvoyance, might prove the final link +necessary. + +But the first problem in Kennedy's mind was to keep in touch with what +the authorities were doing. That kept us busy for several hours, during +which Craig was in close consultation with the coroner's physician. The +physician was of the opinion that Miss Gilbert had been drugged as well +as strangled, and for many hours, down in his laboratory, his chemists +were engaged in trying to discover from tests of her blood whether the +theory was true. One after another the ordinary poisons were +eliminated, until it began to look hopeless. + +So far Kennedy had been only an interested spectator, but as the +different tests failed, he had become more and more keenly alive. At +last it seemed as if he could wait no longer. + +"Might I try one or two reactions with that sample?" he asked of the +physician who handed him the test tube in silence. + +For a moment or two Craig thoughtfully regarded it, while with one hand +he fingered the bottles of ether, alcohol, distilled water, and the +many reagents standing before him. He picked up one and poured a little +liquid into the test tube. Then, removing the precipitate that was +formed, he tried to dissolve it in water. Not succeeding, he tried the +ether and then the alcohol. Both were successful. + +"What is it?" we asked as he held the tube up critically to the light. + +"I can't be sure yet," he answered slowly. "I thought at first that it +was some alkaloid. I'll have to make further tests before I can be +positive just what it is. If I may retain this sample I think that with +other clues that I have discovered I may be able to tell you something +definite soon." + +The coroner's physician willingly assented, and Craig quickly +dispatched the tube, carefully sealed, to his laboratory. + +"That part of our investigation will keep," he remarked as we left the +coroner's office. "To-night I think we had better resume the search +which was so unexpectedly interrupted this morning. I suppose you have +concluded, Walter, that we can be reasonably sure that the trail leads +back through the fortune-tellers and soothsayers of New York,--which +one, it would be difficult to say. The obvious thing, therefore, is to +consult them all. I think you will enjoy that part of it, with your +newspaperman's liking for the bizarre." + +The fact was that it did appeal to me, though at the moment I was +endeavouring to formulate a theory in which Dudley Lawton and an +accomplice would account for the facts. + +It was early in the evening as we started out on our tour of the +clairvoyants of New York. The first whom Kennedy selected from the +advertisements in the clipping described himself as "Hata, the Veiled +Prophet, born with a double veil, educated in occult mysteries and +Hindu philosophy in Egypt and India." Like all of them his +advertisement dwelt much on love and money: + + The great questions of life are quickly solved, failure + turned to success, sorrow to joy, the separated are brought + together, foes made friends. Truths are laid bare to his + mysterious mind. He gives you power to attract and control + those whom you may desire, tells you of living or dead, your + secret troubles, the cause and remedy. Advice on all affairs + of life, love, courtship, marriage, business, speculations, + investments. Overcomes rivals, enemies, and all evil influences. + Will tell you how to attract, control, and change the + thought, intentions, actions, or character of any one you + desire. + +Hata was a modest adept who professed to be able to explain the whole +ten stages of Yoga. He had established himself on a street near Times +Square, just off Broadway, and there we found several automobiles and +taxicabs standing at the curb, a mute testimony to the wealth of at +least some of his clientele. + +A solemn-faced coloured man ushered us into a front parlour and asked +if we had come to see the professor. Kennedy answered that we had. + +"Will you please write your names and addresses on the outside sheet of +this pad, then tear it off and keep it?" asked the attendant. "We ask +all visitors to do that simply as a guarantee of good faith. Then if +you will write under it what you wish to find out from the professor I +think it will help you concentrate. But don't write while I am in the +room, and don't let me see the writing." + +"A pretty cheap trick," exclaimed Craig when the attendant had gone. +"That's how he tells the gullible their names before they tell him. +I've a good notion to tear off two sheets. The second is chemically +prepared, with paraffin, I think. By dusting it over with powdered +charcoal you can bring out what was written on the first sheet over it. +Oh, well, let's let him get something across, anyway. Here goes, our +names and addresses, and underneath I'll write, 'What has become of +Georgette Gilbert?'" + +Perhaps five minutes later the negro took the pad, the top sheet having +been torn off and placed in Kennedy's pocket. He also took a small fee +of two dollars. A few minutes later we were ushered into the awful +presence of the "Veiled Prophet," a tall, ferret-eyed man in a robe +that looked suspiciously like a brocaded dressing-gown much too large +for him. + +Sure enough, he addressed us solemnly by name and proceeded directly to +tell us why we had come. + +"Let us look into the crystal of the past, present, and future and read +what it has to reveal," he added solemnly, darkening the room, which +was already only dimly lighted. Then Hata, the crystal-gazer, solemnly +seated himself in a chair. Before him, in his hands, reposing on a bag +of satin, lay a huge oval piece of glass. He threw forward his head and +riveted his eyes on the milky depths of the crystal. In a moment he +began to talk, first ramblingly, then coherently. + +"I see a man, a dark man," he began. "He is talking earnestly to a +young girl. She is trying to avoid him. Ah--he seizes her by both arms. +They struggle. He has his hand at her throat. He is choking her." + +I was thinking of the newspaper descriptions of Lawton, which the fakir +had undoubtedly read, but Kennedy was leaning forward over the +crystal-gazer, not watching the crystal at all, nor with his eyes on +the clairvoyant's face. + +"Her tongue is protruding from her mouth, her eyes are bulging---" + +"Yes, yes," urged Kennedy. "Go on." + +"She falls. He strikes her. He flees. He goes to---" + +Kennedy laid his hand ever so lightly on the arm of the clairvoyant, +then quickly withdrew it. + +"I cannot see where he goes. It is dark, dark. You will have to come +back to-morrow when the vision is stronger." + +The thing stung me by its crudity. Kennedy, however, seemed elated by +our experience as we gained the street. + +"Craig," I remonstrated, "you don't mean to say you attach any +importance to vapourings like that? Why, there wasn't a thing the +fellow couldn't have imagined from the newspapers, even the clumsy +description of Dudley Lawton." + +"We'll see," he replied cheerfully, as we stopped under a light to read +the address of the next seer, who happened to be in the same block. + +It proved to be the psychic palmist who called himself "the Pandit." He +also was "born with a strange and remarkable power--not meant to +gratify the idle curious, but to direct, advise, and help men and +women"--at the usual low fee. He said in print that he gave instant +relief to those who had trouble in love, and also positively guaranteed +to tell your name and the object of your visit. He added: + + Love, courtship, marriage. What is more beautiful than + the true unblemished love of one person for another? What + is sweeter, better, or more to be desired than perfect harmony + and happiness? If you want to win the esteem, love, and + everlasting affection of another, see the Pandit, the greatest + living master of the occult science. + +Inasmuch as this seer fell into a passion at the other incompetent +soothsayers in the next column (and almost next door) it seemed as if +we must surely get something for our money from the Pandit. + +Like Hata, the Pandit lived in a large brownstone house. The man who +admitted us led us into a parlour where several people were seated +about as if waiting for some one. The pad and writing process was +repeated with little variation. Since we were the latest comers we had +to wait some time before we were ushered into the presence of the +Pandit, who was clad in a green silk robe. + +The room was large and had very small windows of stained glass. At one +end of the room was an altar on which burned several candles which gave +out an incense. The atmosphere of the room was heavy with a fragrance +that seemed to combine cologne with chloroform. + +The Pandit waved a wand, muttering strange sounds as he did so, for in +addition to his palmistry, which he seemed not disposed to exhibit that +night, he dealt in mysteries beyond human ken. A voice, quite evidently +from a phonograph buried in the depths of the altar, answered in an +unknown language which sounded much like "Al-ya wa-aa haal-ya waa-ha." +Across the dim room flashed a pale blue light with a crackling noise, +the visible rays from a Crookes tube, I verily believe. The Pandit, +however, said it was the soul of a saint passing through. Then he +produced two silken robes, one red, which he placed on Kennedy's +shoulders, and one violet, which he threw over me. + +From the air proceeded strange sounds of weird music and words. The +Pandit seemed to fall asleep, muttering. Apparently, however, Kennedy +and I were bad subjects, for after some minutes of this he gave it up, +saying that the spirits had no revelation to make to-night in the +matter in which we had called. Inasmuch as we had not written on the +pad just what that matter was, I was not surprised. Nor was I surprised +when the Pandit laid off his robe and said unctuously, "But if you will +call to-morrow and concentrate, I am sure that I can secure a message +that will be helpful about your little matter." + +Kennedy promised to call, but still he lingered. The Pandit, anxious to +get rid of us, moved toward the door. Kennedy sidled over toward the +green robe which the Pandit had laid on a chair. + +"Might I have some of your writings to look over in the meantime?" +asked Craig as if to gain time. + +"Yes, but they will cost you three dollars a copy--the price I charge +all my students," answered the Pandit with just a trace of a gleam of +satisfaction at having at last made an impression. + +He turned and entered a cabinet to secure the mystic literature. The +moment he had disappeared Kennedy seized the opportunity he had been +waiting for. He picked up the green robe and examined the collar and +neck very carefully under the least dim of the lights in the room. He +seemed to find what he wished, yet he continued to examine the robe +until the sound of returning footsteps warned him to lay it down again. +He had not been quite quick enough. The Pandit eyed us suspiciously, +then he rang a bell. The attendant appeared instantly, noiselessly. + +"Show these men into the library," he commanded with just the faintest +shade of trepidation. "My servant will give you the book," he said to +Craig. "Pay him." + +It seemed that we had suddenly been looked upon with disfavour, and I +half suspected he thought we were spies of the police, who had recently +received numerous complaints of the financial activities of the fortune +tellers, who worked in close harmony with certain bucket-shop operators +in fleecing the credulous of their money by inspired investment advice. +At any rate, the attendant quickly opened a door into the darkness. +Treading cautiously I followed Craig. The door closed behind us. I +clenched my fists, not knowing what to expect. + +"The deuce!" exclaimed Kennedy. "He passed us out into an alley. There +is the street not twenty feet away. The Pandit is a clever one, all +right." + +It was now too late to see any of the other clairvoyants on our list, +so that with this unceremonious dismissal we decided to conclude our +investigations for the night. + +The next morning we wended our way up into the Bronx, where one of the +mystics had ensconced himself rather out of the beaten track of police +protection, or persecution, one could not say which. I was wondering +what sort of vagary would come next. It proved to be "Swami, the +greatest clairvoyant, psychic palmist, and Yogi mediator of them all." +He also stood alone in his power, for he asserted: + + Names friends, enemies, rivals, tells whom and when you + will marry, advises you upon love, courtship, marriage, + business, speculation, transactions of every nature. If you are + worried, perplexed, or in trouble come to this wonderful + man. He reads your life like an open book; he overcomes + evil influences, reunites the separated, causes speedy and + happy marriage with the one of your choice, tells how to + influence any one you desire, tells whether wife or sweetheart + is true or false. Love, friendship, and influence of + others obtained and a greater share of happiness in life + secured. The key to success is that marvellous, subtle, + unseen power that opens to your vision the greatest secrets + of life. It gives you power which enables you to control + the minds of men and women. + +The Swami engaged to explain the "wonderful Karmic law," and by his +method one could develop a wonderful magnetic personality by which he +could win anything the human heart desired. It was therefore with great +anticipation that we sought out the wonderful Swami and, falling into +the spirit of his advertisement, posed as "come-ons" and pleaded to +obtain this wonderful magnetism and a knowledge of the Karmic law--at a +ridiculously low figure, considering its inestimable advantages to one +engaged in the pursuit of criminal science. Naturally the Swami was +pleased at two such early callers, and his narrow, half-bald head, long +slim nose, sharp grey eyes, and sallow, unwholesome complexion showed +his pleasure in every line and feature. + +Rubbing his hands together as he motioned us into the next room, the +Swami seated us on a circular divan with piles of cushions upon it. +There were clusters of flowers in vases about the room, which gave it +the odour of the renewed vitality of the year. + +A lackey entered with a silver tray of cups of coffee and a silver jar +in the centre. Talking slowly and earnestly about the "great Karmic +law," the Swami bade us drink the coffee, which was of a vile, muddy, +Turkish variety. Then from the jar he took a box of rock crystal +containing a sort of greenish compound which he kneaded into a little +gum--gum tragacanth, I afterward learned,--and bade us taste. It was +not at all unpleasant to the taste, and as nothing happened, except the +suave droning of the mystic before us, we ate several of the gum +pellets. + +I am at a loss to describe adequately just the sensations that I soon +experienced. It was as if puffs of hot and cold air were alternately +blown on my spine, and I felt a twitching of my neck, legs, and arms. +Then came a subtle warmth. The whole thing seemed droll; the noise of +the Swami's voice was most harmonious. His and Kennedy's faces seemed +transformed. They were human faces, but each had a sort of animal +likeness back of it, as Lavater has said. The Swami seemed to me to be +the fox, Kennedy the owl. I looked in the glass, and I was the eagle. I +laughed outright. + +It was sensuous in the extreme. The beautiful paintings on the walls at +once became clothed in flesh and blood. A picture of a lady hanging +near me caught my eye. The countenance really smiled and laughed and +varied from moment to moment. Her figure became rounded and living and +seemed to stir in the frame. The face was beautiful but ghastly. I +seemed to be borne along on a sea of pleasure by currents of voluptuous +happiness. + +The Swami was affected by a profound politeness. As he rose and walked +about the room, still talking, he salaamed and bowed. When I spoke it +sounded like a gun, with an echo long afterward rumbling in my brain. +Thoughts came to me like fury, bewildering, sometimes as points of +light in the most exquisite fireworks. Objects were clothed in most +fantastic garbs. I looked at my two animal companions. I seemed to read +their thoughts. I felt strange affinities with them, even with the +Swami. Yet it was all by the psychological law of the association of +ideas, though I was no longer master but the servant of those ideas. + +As for Kennedy, the stuff seemed to affect him much differently than it +did myself. Indeed, it seemed to rouse in him something vicious. The +more I smiled and the more the Swami salaamed, the more violent I could +see Craig getting, whereas I was lost in a maze of dreams that I would +not have stopped if I could. Seconds seemed to be years; minutes ages. +Things at only a short distance looked much as they do when looked at +through the inverted end of a telescope. Yet it all carried with it an +agreeable exhilaration which I can only describe as the heightened +sense one feels on the first spring day of the year. + +At last the continued plying of the drug seemed to be too much for +Kennedy. The Swami had made a profound salaam. In an instant Kennedy +had seized with both hands the long flowing hair at the back of the +Swami's bald forehead, and he tugged until the mystic yelled with pain +and the tears stood in his eyes. + +With a leap I roused myself from the train of dreams and flung myself +between them. At the sound of my voice and the pressure of my grasp, +Craig sullenly and slowly relaxed his grip. A vacant look seemed to +steal into his face, and seizing his hat, which lay on a near-by stool, +he stalked out in silence, and I followed. + +Neither of us spoke for a moment after we had reached the street, but +out of the corner of my eye I could see that Kennedy's body was +convulsed as if with suppressed emotion. + +"Do you feel better in the air?" I asked anxiously, yet somewhat vexed +and feeling a sort of lassitude and half regret at the reality of life +and not of the dreams. + +It seemed as if he could restrain himself no longer. He burst out into +a hearty laugh. "I was just watching the look of disgust on your face," +he said as he opened his hand and showed me three or four of the gum +lozenges that he had palmed instead of swallowing. "Ha, ha! I wonder +what the Swami thinks of his earnest effort to expound the Karmic law." + +It was beyond me. With the Swami's concoction still shooting thoughts +like sky rockets through my brain I gave it up and allowed Kennedy to +engineer our next excursion into the occult. + +One more seer remained to be visited. This one professed to "hold your +life mirror" and by his "magnetic monochrome," whatever that might be, +he would "impart to you an attractive personality, mastery of being, +for creation and control of life conditions." + +He described himself as the "Guru," and, among other things, he +professed to be a sun-worshipper. At any rate, the room into which we +were admitted was decorated with the four-spoked wheel, or wheel and +cross, the winged circle, and the winged orb. The Guru himself was a +swarthy individual with a purple turban wound around his head. In his +inner room were many statuettes, photographs of other Gurus of the +faith, and on each of the four walls were mysterious symbols in plaster +representing a snake curved in a circle, swallowing his tail, a +five-pointed star, and in the centre another winged sphere. + +Craig asked the Guru to explain the symbols, to which he replied with a +smile: "The snake represents eternity, the star involution and +evolution of the soul, while the winged sphere--eh, well, that +represents something else. Do you come to learn of the faith?" + +At this gentle hint Craig replied that he did, and the utmost +amicability was restored by the purchase of the Green Book of the Guru, +which seemed to deal with everything under the sun, and particularly +the revival of ancient Asiatic fire-worship with many forms and +ceremonies, together with posturing and breathing that rivalled the +"turkey trot," the "bunny hug," and the "grizzly bear." The book, as we +turned over its pages, gave directions for preparing everything from +food to love-philtres and the elixir of life. One very interesting +chapter was devoted to "electric marriage," which seemed to come to +those only who, after searching patiently, at last found perfect mates. +Another of the Guru's tenets seemed to be purification by eliminating +all false modesty, bathing in the sun, and while bathing engaging in +any occupation which kept the mind agreeably occupied. On the first +page was the satisfying legend, "There is nothing in the world that a +disciple can give to pay the debt to the Guru who has taught him one +truth." + +As we talked, it seemed quite possible to me that the Guru might exert +a very powerful hypnotic influence over his disciples or those who came +to seek his advice. Besides this indefinable hypnotic influence, I also +noted the more material lock on the door to the inner sanctuary. + +"Yes," the Guru was saying to Kennedy, "I can secure you one of the +love-pills from India, but it will cost you--er--ten dollars." I think +he hesitated, to see how much the traffic would bear, from one to one +hundred, and compromised with only one zero after the unit. Kennedy +appeared satisfied, and the Guru departed with alacrity to secure the +specially imported pellet. + +In a corner was a sort of dressing-table on which lay a comb and brush. +Kennedy seemed much interested in the table and was examining it when +the Guru returned. Just as the door opened he managed to slip the brush +into his pocket and appear interested in the mystic symbols on the wall +opposite. + +"If that doesn't work," remarked the Guru in remarkably good English, +"let me know, and you must try one of my charm bottles. But the +love-pills are fine. Good-day." + +Outside Craig looked at me quizzically. "You wouldn't believe it, +Walter, would you?" he said. "Here in this twentieth century in New +York, and in fact in every large city of the world--love-philtres, +love-pills, and all the rest of it. And it is not among the ignorant +that these things are found, either. You remember we saw automobiles +waiting before some of the places." + +"I suspect that all who visit the fakirs are not so gullible, after +all," I replied sententiously. + +"Perhaps not. I think I shall have something interesting to say +to-night as a result of our visits, at least." + +During the remainder of the day Kennedy was closely confined in his +laboratory with his microscopes, slides, chemicals, test-tubes, and +other apparatus. As for myself, I put in the time speculating which of +the fakirs had been in some mysterious way connected with the case and +in what manner. Many were the theories which I had formed and the +situations I conjured up, and in nearly all I had one central figure, +the young man whose escapades had been the talk of even the fast set of +a fast society. + +That night Kennedy, with the assistance of First Deputy O'Connor, who +was not averse to taking any action within the law toward the +soothsayers, assembled a curiously cosmopolitan crowd in his +laboratory. Besides the Gilberts were Dudley Lawton and his father, +Hata, the Pandit, the Swami, and the Guru--the latter four persons in +high dudgeon at being deprived of the lucrative profits of a Sunday +night. + +Kennedy began slowly, leading gradually up to his point: "A new means +of bringing criminals to justice has been lately studied by one of the +greatest scientific detectives of crime in the world, the man to whom +we are indebted for our most complete systems of identification and +apprehension." Craig paused and fingered the microscope before him +thoughtfully. "Human hair," he resumed, "has recently been the study of +that untiring criminal scientist, M. Bertillon. He has drawn up a full, +classified, and graduated table of all the known colours of the human +hair, a complete palette, so to speak, of samples gathered in every +quarter of the globe. Henceforth burglars, who already wear gloves or +paint their fingers with a rubber composition for fear of leaving +finger-prints, will have to wear close-fitting caps or keep their heads +shaved. Thus he has hit upon a new method of identification of those +sought by the police. For instance, from time to time the question +arises whether hair is human or animal. In such cases the microscope +tells the answer truthfully. + +"For a long time I have been studying hair, taking advantage of those +excellent researches by M. Bertillon. Human hair is fairly uniform, +tapering gradually. Under the microscope it is practically always +possible to distinguish human hair from animal. I shall not go into the +distinctions, but I may add that it is also possible to determine very +quickly the difference between all hair, human or animal, and cotton +with its corkscrew-like twists, linen with its jointed structure, and +silk, which is long, smooth, and cylindrical." + +Again Kennedy paused as if to emphasise this preface. "I have here," he +continued, "a sample of hair." He had picked up a microscope slide that +was lying on the table. It certainly did not look very thrilling--a +mere piece of glass, that was all. But on the glass was what appeared +to be merely a faint line. "This slide," he said, holding it up, "has +what must prove an unescapable clue to the identity of the man +responsible for the disappearance of Miss Gilbert. I shall not tell you +yet who he is, for the simple reason that, though I could make a shrewd +guess, I do not yet know what the verdict of science is, and in science +we do not guess where we can prove. + +"You will undoubtedly remember that when Miss Gilbert's body was +discovered, it bore no evidence of suicide, but on the contrary the +marks of violence. Her fists were clenched, as if she had struggled +with all her power against a force that had been too much for her. I +examined her hands, expecting to find some evidence of a weapon she had +used to defend herself. Instead, I found what was more valuable. Here +on this slide are several hairs that I found tightly grasped in her +rigid hands." + +I could not help recalling Kennedy's remark earlier in the case--that +it hung on slender threads. Yet how strong might not those threads +prove! + +"There was also in her pocketbook a newspaper clipping bearing the +advertisements of several clairvoyants," he went on. "Mr. Jameson and +myself had already discovered what the police had failed to find, that +on the morning of the day on which she disappeared Miss Gilbert had +made three distinct efforts, probably, to secure books on clairvoyance. +Accordingly, Mr. Jameson and myself have visited several of the +fortune-tellers and practitioners of the occult sciences in which we +had reason to believe Miss Gilbert was interested. They all, by the +way, make a specialty of giving advice in money matters and solving the +problems of lovers. I suspect that at times Mr. Jameson has thought +that I was demented, but I had to resort to many and various expedients +to collect the specimens of hair which I wanted. From the police, who +used Mr. Lawton's valet, I received some hair from his head. Here is +another specimen from each of the advertisers, Hata, the Swami, the +Pandit, and the Guru. There is just one of these specimens which +corresponds in every particular of colour, thickness, and texture with +the hair found so tightly grasped in Miss Gilbert's hand." + +As Craig said this I could feel a sort of gasp of astonishment from our +little audience. Still he was not quite ready to make his disclosure. + +"Lest I should be prejudiced," he pursued evenly, "by my own rather +strong convictions, and in order that I might examine the samples +without fear or favour, I had one of my students at the laboratory take +the marked hairs, mount them, number them, and put in numbered +envelopes the names of the persons who furnished them. But before I +open the envelope numbered the same as the slide which contains the +hair which corresponds precisely with that hair found in Miss Gilbert's +hand--and it is slide No. 2---" said Kennedy, picking out the slide +with his finger and moving it on the table with as much coolness as if +he were moving a chessman on a board instead of playing in the terrible +game of human life, "before I read the name I have still one more +damning fact to disclose." + +Craig now had us on edge with excitement, a situation which I sometimes +thought he enjoyed more keenly than any other in his relentless tracing +down of a criminal. + +"What was it that caused Miss Gilbert's death?" asked Kennedy. "The +coroner's physician did not seem to be thoroughly satisfied with the +theory of physical violence alone. Nor did I. Some one, I believe, +exerted a peculiar force in order to get her into his power. What was +that force? At first I thought it might have been the hackneyed +knockout drops, but tests by the coroner's physician eliminated that. +Then I thought it might be one of the alkaloids, such as morphine, +cocaine, and others. But it was not any of the usual things that was +used to entice her away from her family and friends. From tests that I +have made I have discovered the one fact necessary to complete my case, +the drug used to lure her and against which she fought in deadly +struggle." + +He placed a test tube in a rack before us. "This tube," he continued, +"contains one of the most singular and, among us, least known of the +five common narcotics of the world--tobacco, opium, coca, betel nut, +and hemp. It can be smoked, chewed, used as a drink, or taken as a +confection. In the form of a powder it is used by the narghile smoker. +As a liquid it can be taken as an oily fluid or in alcohol. Taken in +any of these forms, it literally makes the nerves walk, dance, and run. +It heightens the feelings and sensibilities to distraction, producing +what is really hysteria. If the weather is clear, this drug will make +life gorgeous; if it rains, tragic. Slight vexation becomes deadly +revenge; courage becomes rashness; fear, abject terror; and gentle +affection or even a passing liking is transformed into passionate love. +It is the drug derived from the Indian hemp, scientifically named +Cannabis Indica, better known as hashish, or bhang, or a dozen other +names in the East. Its chief characteristic is that it has a profound +effect on the passions. Thus, under its influence, natives of the East +become greatly exhilarated, then debased, and finally violent, rushing +forth on the streets with the cry, 'Amok, amok,'--'Kill, kill'--as we +say, 'running amuck.' An overdose of this drug often causes insanity, +while in small quantities our doctors use it as a medicine. Any one who +has read the brilliant Theophile Gautier's 'Club des Hachichens' or +Bayard Taylor's experience at Damascus knows something of the effect of +hashish, however. + +"In reconstructing the story of Georgette Gilbert, as best I can, I +believe that she was lured to the den of one of the numerous cults +practised in New York, lured by advertisements offering advice in +hidden love affairs. Led on by her love for a man whom she could not +and would not put out of her life, and by her affection for her +parents, she was frantic. This place offered hope, and to it she went +in all innocence, not knowing that it was only the open door to a life +such as the most lurid disorderly resorts of the metropolis could +scarcely match. There her credulity was preyed upon, and she was +tricked into taking this drug, which itself has such marked and +perverting effect. But, though she must have been given a great deal of +the drug, she did not yield, as many of the sophisticated do. She +struggled frantically, futilely. Will and reason were not conquered, +though they sat unsteadily on their thrones. The wisp of hair so +tightly clasped in her dead hand shows that she fought bitterly to the +end." + +Kennedy was leaning forward earnestly, glaring at each of us in turn. +Lawton was twisting uneasily in his chair, and I could see that his +fists were doubled up and that he was holding himself in leash as if +waiting for something, eyeing us all keenly. The Swami was seized with +a violent fit of trembling, and the other fakirs were staring in +amazement. + +Quickly I stepped between Dudley Lawton and Kennedy, but as I did so, +he leaped behind me, and before I could turn he was grappling wildly +with some one on the floor. + +"It's all right, Walter," cried Kennedy, tearing open the envelope on +the table. "Lawton has guessed right. The hair was the Swami's. +Georgette Gilbert was one victim who fought and rescued herself from a +slavery worse than death. And there is one mystic who could not foresee +arrest and the death house at Sing Sing in his horoscope." + + + + +VIII + +THE FORGER + + +We were lunching with Stevenson Williams, a friend of Kennedy's, at the +Insurance Club, one of the many new downtown luncheon clubs, where the +noon hour is so conveniently combined with business. + +"There isn't much that you can't insure against nowadays," remarked +Williams when the luncheon had progressed far enough to warrant a +tentative reference to the obvious fact that he had had a purpose in +inviting us to the club. "Take my own company, for example, the +Continental Surety. We have lately undertaken to write forgery +insurance." + +"Forgery insurance?" repeated Kennedy. "Well, I should think you'd be +doing a ripping business--putting up the premium rate about every day +in this epidemic of forgery that seems to be sweeping over the country." + +Williams, who was one of the officers of the company, smiled somewhat +wearily, I thought. "We are," he replied drily. "That was precisely +what I wanted to see you about." + +"What? The premiums or the epidemic?" + +"Well--er--both, perhaps. I needn't say much about the epidemic, as you +call it. To you I can admit it; to the newspapers, never. Still, I +suppose you know that it is variously estimated that the forgers of the +country are getting away with from ten to fifteen million dollars a +year. It is just one case that I was thinking about--one on which the +regular detective agencies we employ seem to have failed utterly so +far. It involves pretty nearly one of those fifteen millions." + +"What? One case? A million dollars?" gasped Kennedy, gazing fixedly at +Williams as if he found it difficult to believe. + +"Exactly," replied Williams imperturbably, "though it was not done all +at one fell swoop, of course, but gradually, covering a period of some +months. You have doubtless heard of the By-Products Company of Chicago?" + +Craig nodded. + +"Well, it is their case," pursued Williams, losing his quiet manner and +now hurrying ahead almost breathlessly. "You know they own a bank out +there also, called the By-Products Bank. That's how we come to figure +in the case, by having insured their bank against forgery. Of course +our liability runs up only to $50,000. But the loss to the company as +well as to its bank through this affair will reach the figure I have +named. They will have to stand the balance beyond our liability and, +well, fifty thousand is not a small sum for us to lose, either. We +can't afford to lose it without a fight." + +"Of course not. But you must have some suspicions, some clues. You must +have taken some action in tracing the thing out, whatever is back of +it." + +"Surely. For instance, only the other day we had the cashier of the +bank, Bolton Brown, arrested, though he is out on bail now. We haven't +anything directly against him, but he is suspected of complicity on the +inside, and I may say that the thing is so gigantic that there must +have been some one on the inside concerned with it. Among other things +we have found that Bolton Brown has been leading a rather fast life, +quite unknown to his fellow-officials. We know that he has been +speculating secretly in the wheat corner that went to pieces, but the +most significant thing is that he has been altogether too intimate with +an adventuress, Adele De-Mott, who has had some success as a woman of +high finance in various cities here and in Europe and even in South +America. It looks bad for him from the commonsense standpoint, though +of course I'm not competent to speak of the legal side of the matter. +But, at any rate, we know that the insider must have been some one +pretty close to the head of the By-Products Company or the By-Products +Bank." + +"What was the character of the forgeries?" asked Kennedy. + +"They seem to have been of two kinds. As far as we are concerned it is +the check forgeries only that interest the Surety Company. For some +time, apparently, checks have been coming into the bank for sums all +the way from a hundred dollars to five thousand. They have been so well +executed that some of them have been certified by the bank, all of them +have been accepted when they came back from other banks, and even the +officers of the company don't seem to be able to pick any flaws in them +except as to the payee and the amounts for which they were drawn. They +have the correct safety tint on the paper and are stamped with rubber +stamps that are almost precisely like those used by the By-Products +Company. + +"You know that banking customs often make some kinds of fraud +comparatively easy. For instance no bank will pay out a hundred dollars +or often even a dollar without identification, but they will certify a +check for almost any office boy who comes in with it. The common method +of forgers lately has been to take such a certified forged check, +deposit it in another bank, then gradually withdraw it in a few days +before there is time to discover the forgery. In this case they must +have had the additional advantage that the insider in the company or +bank could give information and tip the forger off if the forgery +happened to be discovered." + +"Who is the treasurer of the company?" asked Craig quickly. + +"John Carroll--merely a figurehead, I understand. He's in New York now, +working with us, as I shall tell you presently. If there is any one +else besides Brown in it, it might be Michael Dawson, the nominal +assistant but really the active treasurer. There you have another man +whom we suspect, and, strangely enough, can't find. Dawson was the +assistant treasurer of the company, you understand, not of the bank." + +"You can't find him? Why?" asked Kennedy, considerably puzzled. + +"No, we can't find him. He was married a few days ago, married a pretty +prominent society girl in the city, Miss Sibyl Sanderson. It seems they +kept the itinerary of their honeymoon secret, more as a joke on their +friends than anything else, they said, for Miss Sanderson was a +well-known beauty and the newspapers bothered the couple a good deal +with publicity that was distasteful. At least that was his story. No +one knows where they are or whether they'll ever turn up again. + +"You see, this getting married had something to do with the exposure in +the first place. For the major part of the forgeries consists not so +much in the checks, which interest my company, but in fraudulently +issued stock certificates of the By-Products Company. About a million +of the common stock was held as treasury stock--was never issued. + +"Some one has issued a large amount of it, all properly signed and +sealed. Whoever it was had a little office in Chicago from which the +stock was sold quietly by a confederate, probably a woman, for women +seem to rope in the suckers best in these get-rich-quick schemes. And, +well, if it was Dawson the honeymoon has given him a splendid chance to +make his get-away, though it also resulted in the exposure of the +forgeries. Carroll had to take up more or less active duty, with the +result that a new man unearthed the--but, say, are you really +interested in this case?" + +Williams was leaning forward, looking anxiously at Kennedy and it would +not have taken a clairvoyant to guess what answer he wanted to his +abrupt question. + +"Indeed I am," replied Craig, "especially as there seems to be a doubt +about the guilty person on the inside." + +"There is doubt enough, all right," rejoined Williams, "at least I +think so, though our detectives in Chicago who have gone over the thing +pretty thoroughly have been sure of fixing something on Bolton Brown, +the cashier. You see the blank stock certificates were kept in the +company's vault in the bank to which, of course, Brown had access. But +then, as Carroll argues, Dawson had access to them, too, which is very +true--more so for Dawson than for Brown, who was in the bank and not in +the company. I'm all at sea. Perhaps if you're interested you'd better +see Carroll. He's here in the city and I'm sure I could get you a good +fee out of the case if you cared to take it up. Shall I see if I can +get him on the wire?" + +We had finished luncheon and, as Craig nodded, Williams dived into a +telephone booth outside the dining-room and in a few moments emerged, +perspiring from the closeness. He announced that Carroll requested that +we call on him at an office in Wall Street, a few blocks away, where he +made his headquarters when he was in New York. The whole thing was done +with such despatch that I could not help feeling that Carroll had been +waiting to hear from his friend in the insurance company. The look of +relief on Williams's face when Kennedy said he would go immediately +showed plainly that the insurance man considered the cost of the +luncheon, which had been no slight affair, in the light of a good +investment in the interest of his company, which was "in bad" for the +largest forgery insurance loss since they had begun to write that sort +of business. + +As we hurried down to Wall Street, Kennedy took occasion to remark, +"Science seems to have safeguarded banks and other institutions pretty +well against outside robbery. But protection against employees who can +manipulate books and records does not seem to have advanced as rapidly. +Sometimes I think it may have lessened. Greater temptations assail the +cashier or clerk with greater opportunity for speculation, and the +banks, as many authorities will agree, have not made enough use of the +machinery available to put a stop to embezzlement. This case is +evidently one of the results. The careless fellows at the top, like +this man Carroll whom we are going to see, generally put forward as +excuse the statement that the science of banking and of business is so +complex that a rascal with ingenuity enough to falsify the books is +almost impossible of detection. Yet when the cat is out of the bag as +in several recent cases the methods used are often of the baldest and +most transparent sort, fictitious names, dummies, and all sorts of +juggling and kiting of checks. But I hardly think this is going to +prove one of those simple cases." + +John Carroll was a haggard and unkempt sort of man. He looked to me as +if the defalcations had preyed on his mind until they had become a +veritable obsession. It was literally true that they were all that he +could talk about, all that he was thinking about. He was paying now a +heavy penalty for having been a dummy and honorary officer. + +"This thing has become a matter of life and death with me," he began +eagerly, scarcely waiting for us to introduce ourselves, as he fixed +his unnaturally bright eyes on us anxiously. "I've simply got to find +the man who has so nearly wrecked the By-Products Bank and Company. +Find him or not, I suppose I am a ruined man, myself, but I hope I may +still prove myself honest." + +He sighed and his eyes wandered vacantly out of the window as if he +were seeking rest and could not find it. + +"I understand that the cashier, Bolton Brown, has been arrested," +prompted Kennedy. + +"Yes, Bolton Brown, arrested," he repeated slowly, "and since he has +been out on bail he, too, seems to have disappeared. Now let me tell +you about what I think of that, Kennedy. I know it looks bad for Brown. +Perhaps he's the man. The Surety Company says so, anyway. But we must +look at this thing calmly." + +He was himself quite excited, as he went on, "You understand, I +suppose, just how much Brown must have been reasonably responsible for +passing the checks through the bank? He saw personally about as many of +them as--as I did, which was none until the exposure came. They were +deposited in other banks by people whom we can't identify but who must +have opened accounts for the purpose of finally putting through a few +bad checks. Then they came back to our bank in the regular channels and +were accepted. By various kinds of juggling they were covered up. Why, +some of them looked so good that they were even certified by our bank +before they were deposited in the other banks. Now, as Brown claims, he +never saw checks unless there was something special about them and +there seemed at the time to be nothing wrong about these. + +"But in the public mind I know there is prejudice against any bank +official who speculates or leads a fast life, and of course it is +warranted. Still, if Brown should clear himself finally the thing will +come back to Dawson and even if he is guilty, it will make me +the--er--the ultimate goat. The upshot of it all will be that I shall +have to stand the blame, if not the guilt, and the only way I can atone +for my laxity in the past is by activity in catching the real offender +and perhaps by restoring to the company and the bank whatever can yet +be recovered." + +"But," asked Kennedy sympathetically, "what makes you think that you +will find your man, whoever he proves to be, in New York?" + +"I admit that it is only a very slight clue that I have," he replied +confidentially. "It is just a hint Dawson dropped once to one of the +men with whom he was confidential in the company. This clerk told me +that a long time ago Dawson said he had always wanted to go to South +America and that perhaps on his honeymoon he might get a chance. This +is the way I figured it out. You see, he is clever and some of these +South American countries have no extradition treaties with us by which +we could reach him, once he got there." + +"Perhaps he has already arrived in one of them with his wife. What +makes you think he hasn't sailed yet?" + +"No, I don't think he has. You see, she wanted to spend a part of the +honeymoon at Atlantic City. I learned that indirectly from her folks, +who profess to know no better than we do where the couple are. That was +an additional reason why I wanted to see if by coming to New York I +might not pick up some trace of them, either here or in Atlantic City." + +"And have you?" + +"Yes, I think I have." He handed us a letter-gram which he had just +received from Chicago. It read: "Two more checks have come in to-day +from Atlantic City and New York. They seem to be in payment of bills, +as they are for odd amounts. One is from the Lorraine at Atlantic City +and the other from the Hotel Amsterdam of New York. They were dated the +19th and 20th." + +"You see," he resumed as we finished reading, "it is now the 23rd, so +that there is a difference of three days. He was here on the 20th. Now +the next ship that he could take after the 20th sails from Brooklyn on +the 25th. If he's clever he won't board that ship except in a disguise, +for he will know that by that time some one must be watching. Now I +want you to help me penetrate that disguise. Of course we can't arrest +the whole shipload of passengers, but if you, with your scientific +knowledge, could pick him out, then we could hold him and have +breathing space to find out whether he is guilty alone or has been +working with Bolton Brown." + +Carroll was now pacing the office with excitement as he unfolded his +scheme which meant so much for himself. + +"H--m," mused Kennedy. "I suppose Dawson was a man of exemplary habits? +They almost always are. No speculating or fast living with him as with +Brown?" + +Carroll paused in his nervous tread. "That's another thing I've +discovered. On the contrary, I think Dawson was a secret drug fiend. I +found that out after he left. In his desk at the By-Products office we +discovered hypodermic needles and a whole outfit--morphine, I think it +was. You know how cunningly a real morphine fiend can cover up his +tracks." + +Kennedy was now all attention. As the case unrolled it was assuming one +new and surprising aspect after another. + +"The lettergram would indicate that he had been stopping at the +Lorraine in Atlantic City," remarked Kennedy. + +"So I would infer, and at the Amsterdam in New York. But you can depend +on it that he has not been going under his own name nor, I believe as +far as I can find out, even under his own face. I think the fellow has +already assumed a disguise, for nowhere can I find any description that +even I could recognise." + +"Strange," murmured Kennedy. "I'll have to look into it. And only two +days in which to do it, too. You will pardon me if I excuse myself now? +There are certain aspects of the case that I hope I shall be able to +shed some light on by going at them at once." + +"You'll find Dawson clever, clever as he can be," said Carroll, not +anxious to have Kennedy go as long as he would listen to the story +which was bursting from his overwrought mind. "He was able to cover up +the checks by juggling the accounts. But that didn't satisfy him. He +was after something big. So he started in to issue the treasury stock, +forging the signatures of the president and the treasurer, that is, my +signature. Of course that sort of game couldn't last forever. Some one +was going to demand dividends on his stock, or transfer it, or ask to +have it recorded on the books, or something that would give the whole +scheme away. From each person to whom he sold stock I believe he +demanded some kind of promise not to sell it within a certain period, +and in that way we figure that he gave himself plenty of time to +realise several hundred thousand dollars quietly. It may be that some +of the forged checks represented fake interest payments. Anyhow, he's +at the end of his rope now. We've had an exciting chase. I had followed +down several false clues before the real significance of the hint about +South America dawned on me. Now I have gone as far as I dare with it +without calling in outside assistance. I think now We are up with him +at last--with your help." + +Kennedy was anxious to go, but he paused long enough to ask another +question. "And the girl?" he broke in. "She must be in the game or her +letters to some of her friends would have betrayed their whereabouts. +What was she like?" + +"Miss Sanderson was very popular in a certain rather flashy set in +Chicago. But her folks were bounders. They lived right up to the limit, +just as Dawson did, in my opinion. Oh, you can be sure that if a +proposition like this were put up to her she'd take a chance to get +away with it. She runs no risks. She didn't do it anyhow, and as for +her part, after the fact, why, a woman is always pretty safe--more +sinned against than sinning, and all that. It's a queer sort of +honeymoon, hey?" + +"Have you any copies of the forged certificates?" asked Craig. + +"Yes, plenty of them. Since the story has been told in print they have +been pouring in. Here are several." + +He pulled several finely engraved certificates from his pocket and +Kennedy scrutinised them minutely. + +"I may keep these to study at my leisure?" he asked. + +"Certainly," replied Carroll, "and if you want any more I can wire to +Chicago for them." + +"No, these will be sufficient for the present, thank you," said Craig. +"I shall keep in touch with you and let you know the moment anything +develops." + +Our ride uptown to the laboratory was completed in silence which I did +not interrupt, for I could see that Kennedy was thinking out a course +of action. The quick pace at which he crossed the campus to the +Chemistry Building told me that he had decided on something. + +In the laboratory Craig hastily wrote a note, opened a drawer of his +desk, and selected one from a bunch of special envelopes which he +seemed to be saving for some purpose. He sealed it with some care, and +gave it to me to post immediately. It was addressed to Dawson at the +Hotel Amsterdam. + +On my return I found him deeply engrossed in the examination of the +forged shares of stock. Having talked with him more or less in the past +about handwriting I did not have to be told that he was using a +microscope to discover any erasures and that photography both direct +and by transmitted light might show something. + +"I can't see anything wrong with these documents," he remarked at +length. "They show no erasures or alterations. On their face they look +as good as the real article. Even if they are tracings they are +remarkably fine work. It certainly is a fact, however, that they +superimpose. They might all have been made from the same pair of +signatures of the president and treasurer. + +"I need hardly to say to you, Walter, that the microscope in its +various forms and with its various attachments is of great assistance +to the document examiner. Even a low magnification frequently reveals a +drawing, hesitating method of production, or patched and reinforced +strokes as well as erasures by chemicals or by abrasion. The +stereoscopic microscope, which is of value in studying abrasions and +alterations since it gives depth, in this case tells me that there has +been nothing of that sort practised. My colour comparison microscope, +which permits the comparison of the ink on two different documents or +two places on one document at the same time, tells me something. This +instrument with new and accurately coloured glasses enables me to +measure the tints of the ink of these signatures with the greatest +accuracy and I can do what was hitherto impossible--determine how long +the writing has been on the paper. I should say it was all very recent, +approximately within the last two months or six weeks, and I believe +that whenever the stock may have been issued it at least was all forged +at the same time. + +"There isn't time now to go into the thing more deeply, but if it +becomes necessary I can go back to it with the aid of the camera lucida +and the microscopic enlarger, as well as this specially constructed +document camera with lenses certified by the government. If it comes to +a show-down I suppose I shall have to prove my point with the +micrometer measurements down to the fifty-thousandth part of an inch. + +"There is certainly something very curious about these signatures," he +concluded. "I don't know what measurements would show, but they are +really too good. You know a forged signature may be of two kinds--too +bad or too good. These are, I believe, tracings. If they were your +signature and mine, Walter, I shouldn't hesitate to pronounce them +tracings. But there is always some slight room for doubt in these +special cases where a man sits down and is in the habit of writing his +signature over and over again on one stock or bond after another. He +may get so used to it that he does it automatically and his signatures +may come pretty close to superimposing. If I had time, though, I think +I could demonstrate that there are altogether too many points of +similarity for these to be genuine signatures. But we've got to act +quickly in this case or not at all, and I see that if I am to get to +Atlantic City to-night I can't waste much more time here. I wish you +would keep an eye on the Hotel Amsterdam while I am gone, Walter, and +meet me here, to-morrow. I'll wire when I'll be back. Good-bye." + +It was well along in the afternoon when Kennedy took a train for the +famous seaside resort, leaving me in New York with a roving commission +to do nothing. All that I was able to learn at the Hotel Amsterdam was +that a man with a Van Dyke beard had stung the office with a bogus +check, although he had seemed to come well recommended. The description +of the woman with him who seemed to be his wife might have fitted +either Mrs. Dawson or Adele DeMott. The only person who had called had +been a man who said he represented the By-Products Company and was the +treasurer. He had questioned the hotel people rather closely about the +whereabouts of the couple who had paid their expenses with the +worthless slip of paper. It was not difficult to infer that this man +was Carroll who had been hot on the trail, especially as he said that +he personally would see the check paid if the hotel people would keep a +sharp watch for the return of the man who had swindled them. + +Kennedy wired as he promised and returned by an early train the next +day. + +He seemed bursting with news. "I think I'm on the trail," he cried, +throwing his grip into a corner and not waiting for me to ask him what +success he had had. "I went directly to the Lorraine and began frankly +by telling them that I represented the By-Products Company in New York +and was authorised to investigate the bad check which they had +received. They couldn't describe Dawson very well--at least their +description would have fitted almost any one. One thing I think I did +learn and that was that his disguise must include a Van Dyke beard. He +would scarcely have had time to grow one of his own and I believe when +he was last seen in Chicago he was clean-shaven." + +"But," I objected, "men with Van Dyke beards are common enough." Then I +related my experience at the Amsterdam. + +"The same fellow," ejaculated Kennedy. "The beard seems to have covered +a multitude of sins, for while every one could recall that, no one had +a word to say about his features. However, Walter, there's just one +chance of making his identification sure, and a peculiar coincidence it +is, too. It seems that one night this man and a lady who may have been +the former Miss Sanderson, though the description of her like most +amateur descriptions wasn't very accurate, were dining at the Lorraine. +The Lorraine is getting up a new booklet about its accommodations and a +photographer had been engaged to take a flashlight of the dining-room +for the booklet. + +"No sooner had the flash been lighted and the picture taken than a man +with a Van Dyke beard--your friend of the Amsterdam, no doubt, +Walter,--rushed up to the photographer and offered him fifty dollars +for the plate. The photographer thought at first it was some sport who +had reasons for not wishing to appear in print in Atlantic City, as +many have. The man seemed to notice that the photographer was a little +suspicious and he hastened to make some kind of excuse about 'wanting +the home folks to see how swell he and his wife were dining in evening +dress.' It was a rather lame excuse, but the fifty dollars looked good +to the photographer and he agreed to develop the plate and turn it over +with some prints all ready for mailing the next day. The man seemed +satisfied and the photographer took another flashlight, this time with +one of the tables vacant. + +"Sure enough, the next day the man with a beard turned up for the +plate. The photographer tells me that he had it all wrapped up ready to +mail, just to call the fellow's bluff. The man was equal to the +occasion, paid the money, wrote an address on the package which the +photographer did not see, and as there was a box for mailing packages +right at the door on the boardwalk there was no excuse for not mailing +it directly. Now if I could get hold of that plate or a print from it I +could identify Dawson in his disguise in a moment. I've started the +post-office trying to trace that package both at Atlantic City and in +Chicago, where I think it must have been mailed. I may hear from them +at any moment--at least, I hope." + +The rest of the afternoon we spent in canvassing the drug stores in the +vicinity of the Amsterdam, Kennedy's idea being that if Dawson was a +habitual morphine fiend he must have replenished his supply of the drug +in New York, particularly if he was contemplating a long journey where +it might be difficult to obtain. + +After many disappointments we finally succeeded in finding a shop where +a man posing as a doctor had made a rather large purchase. The name he +gave was of course of no importance. What did interest us was that +again we crossed the trail of a man with a Van Dyke beard. He had been +accompanied by a woman whom the druggist described as rather flashily +dressed, though her face was hidden under a huge hat and a veil. +"Looked very attractive," as the druggist put it, "but she might have +been a negress for all I could tell you of her face." + +"Humph," grunted Kennedy, as we were leaving the store. "You wouldn't +believe it, but it is the hardest thing in the world to get an accurate +description of any one. The psychologists have said enough about it, +but you don't realise it until you are up against it. Why, that might +have been the DeMott woman just as well as the former Miss Sanderson, +and the man might have been Bolton Brown as well as Dawson, for all we +know. They've both disappeared now. I wish we could get some word about +that photograph. That would settle it." + +In the last mail that night Kennedy received back the letter which he +had addressed to Michael Dawson. On it was stamped "Returned to sender. +Owner not found." + +Kennedy turned the letter over slowly and looked at the back of it +carefully. + +"On the contrary," he remarked, half to himself, "the owner was found. +Only he returned the letter back to the postman after he had opened it +and found that it was just a note of no importance which I scribbled +just to see if he was keeping in touch with things from his +hiding-place, wherever it is." + +"How do you know he opened it?" I asked. + +"Do you see those blots on the back? I had several of these envelopes +prepared ready for use when I needed them. I had some tannin placed on +the flap and then covered thickly with gum. On the envelope itself was +some iron sulphate under more gum. I carefully sealed the letter, using +very little moisture. The gum then separated the two prepared parts. +Now if that letter were steamed open the tannin and the sulphate would +come together, run, and leave a smudge. You see the blots? The +inference is obvious." + +Clearly, then, our chase was getting warmer. Dawson had been in +Atlantic City at least within a few days. The fruit company steamer to +South America on which Carroll believed he was booked to sail under an +assumed name and with an assumed face was to sail the following noon. +And still we had no word from Chicago as to the destination of the +photograph, or the identity of the man in the Van Dyke beard who had +been so particular to disarm suspicion in the purchase of the plate +from the photographer a few days before. + +The mail also contained a message from Williams of the Surety Company +with the interesting information that Bolton Brown's attorney had +refused to say where his client had gone since he had been released on +bail, but that he would be produced when wanted. Adele DeMott had not +been seen for several days in Chicago and the police there were of the +opinion that she had gone to New York, where it would be pretty easy +for her to pass unnoticed. These facts further complicated the case and +made the finding of the photograph even more imperative. + +If we were going to do anything it must be done quickly. There was no +time to lose. The last of the fast trains for the day had left and the +photograph, even though it were found, could not possibly reach us in +time to be of use before the steamer sailed from Brooklyn. It was an +emergency such as Kennedy had never yet faced, apparently physically +insuperable. + +But, as usual, Craig was not without some resource, though it looked +impossible to me to do anything but make a hit or miss arrest at the +boat. It was late in the evening when he returned from a conference +with an officer of the Telegraph and Telephone Company to whom Williams +had given him a card of introduction. The upshot had been that he had +called up Chicago and talked for a long time with Professor Clark, a +former classmate of ours who was now in the technology school of the +university out there. Kennedy and Clark had been in correspondence for +some time, I knew, about some technical matters, though I had no idea +what it was they concerned. + +"There's one thing we can always do," I remarked as we walked slowly +over to the laboratory from our apartment. + +"What's that?" he asked absent-mindedly, more from politeness than +anything else. + +"Arrest every one with a Van Dyke beard who goes on the boat +to-morrow," I replied. + +Kennedy smiled. "I don't feel prepared to stand a suit for false +arrest," he said simply, "especially as the victim would feel pretty +hot if we caused him to miss his boat. Men with beards are not so +uncommon, after all." + +We had reached the laboratory. Linemen were stringing wires under the +electric lights of the campus from the street to the Chemistry Building +and into Kennedy's sanctum. + +That night and far into the morning Kennedy was working in the +laboratory on a peculiarly complicated piece of mechanism consisting of +electromagnets, rolls, and a stylus and numerous other contrivances +which did not suggest to my mind anything he had ever used before in +our adventures. I killed time as best I could watching him adjust the +thing with the most minute care and precision. Finally I came to the +conclusion that as I was not likely to be of the least assistance, even +if I had been initiated into what was afoot, I had as well retire. + +"There is one thing you can do for me in the morning, Walter," said +Kennedy, continuing to work over a delicate piece of clockwork which +formed a part of the apparatus. "In case I do not see you then, get in +touch with Williams and Carroll and have them come here about ten +o'clock with an automobile. If I am not ready for them then I'm afraid +I never shall be, and we shall have to finish the job with the lack of +finesse you suggested by arresting all the bearded men." + +Kennedy could not have slept much during the night, for though his bed +had been slept in he was up and away before I could see him again. I +made a hurried trip downtown to catch Carroll and Williams and then +returned to the laboratory, where Craig had evidently just finished a +satisfactory preliminary test of his machine. + +"Still no message," he began in reply to my unspoken question. He was +plainly growing restless with the inaction, though frequent talks over +long-distance with Chicago seemed to reassure him. Thanks to the +influence of Williams he had at least a direct wire from his laboratory +to the city which was now the scene of action. + +As nearly as I could gather from the one-sided conversations I heard +and the remarks which Kennedy dropped, the Chicago post-office +inspectors were still searching for a trace of the package from +Atlantic City which was to reveal the identity of the man who had +passed the bogus checks and sold the forged certificates of stock. +Somewhere in that great city was a photograph of the promoter and of +the woman who was aiding him to escape, taken in Atlantic City and sent +by mail to Chicago. Who had received it? Would it be found in time to +be of use? What would it reveal? It was like hunting for a needle in a +haystack, and yet the latest reports seemed to encourage Kennedy with +the hope that the authorities were at last on the trail of the secret +office from which the stock had been sold. He was fuming and wishing +that he could be at both ends of the line at once. + +"Any word from Chicago yet?" appealed an anxious voice from the doorway. + +We turned. There were Carroll and Williams who had come for us with an +automobile to go over to watch at the wharf in Brooklyn for our man. It +was Carroll who spoke. The strain of the suspense was telling on him +and I could readily imagine that he, like so many others who had never +seen Kennedy in action, had not the faith in Craig's ability which I +had seen tested so many times. + +"Not yet," replied Kennedy, still busy about his apparatus on the +table. "I suppose you have heard nothing?" + +"Nothing since my note of last night," returned Williams impatiently. +"Our detectives still insist that Bolton Brown is the man to watch, and +the disappearance of Adele DeMott at this time certainly looks bad for +him." + +"It does, I admit," said Carroll reluctantly. "What's all this stuff on +the table?" he asked, indicating the magnets, rolls, and clockwork. + +Kennedy did not have time to reply, for the telephone bell was tinkling +insistently. + +"I've got Chicago on the wire," Craig informed us, placing his hand +over the transmitter as he waited for long-distance to make the final +connection. '"I'll try to repeat as much of the conversation as I can +so that you can follow it. Hello--yes--this is Kennedy. Is that you, +Clark? It's all arranged at this end. How's your end of the line? Have +you a good connection? Yes? My synchroniser is working fine here, too. +All right. Suppose we try it. Go ahead." + +As Kennedy gave a few final touches to the peculiar apparatus on the +table, the cylindrical drum before us began slowly to revolve and the +stylus or needle pressed down on the sensitised paper with which the +drum was covered, apparently with varying intensity as it turned. Round +and round the cylinder revolved like a graphophone. + +"This," exclaimed Kennedy proudly, "is the 'electric eye,' the +telelectrograph invented by Thorne Baker in England. Clark and I have +been intending to try it out for a long time. It at last makes possible +the electric transmission of photographs, using the telephone wires +because they are much better for such a purpose than the telegraph +wires." + +Slowly the needle was tracing out a picture on the paper. It was only a +thin band yet, but gradually it was widening, though we could not guess +what it was about to reveal as the ceaseless revolutions widened the +photographic print. + +"I may say," explained Kennedy as we waited breathlessly, "that another +system known as the Korn system of telegraphing pictures has also been +in use in London, Paris, Berlin, and other cities at various times for +some years. Korn's apparatus depends 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. +A new field has been opened by these inventions which are now becoming +more and more numerous, since the Korn system did the pioneering. + +"The various steps in sending a photograph by the Baker telelectrograph +are not so difficult to understand, after all. First an ordinary +photograph is taken and a negative made. Then a print is made and a wet +plate negative is printed on a sheet of sensitised tinfoil which has +been treated with a single-line screen. You know a halftone consists of +a photograph through a screen composed of lines running perpendicular +to each other--a coarse screen for newspaper work, and a fine screen +for better work, such as in magazines. Well, in this case the screen is +composed of lines running parallel in one direction only, not crossing +at right angles. A halftone is composed of minute points, some light, +some dark. This print is composed of long shaded lines, some parts +light, others dark, giving the effect of a picture, you understand?" + +"Yes, yes," I exclaimed, thoroughly excited. "Go on." + +"Well," he resumed as the print widened visibly, "this tinfoil negative +is wrapped around a cylinder at the other end of the line and a stylus +with a very delicate, sensitive point begins passing over it, crossing +the parallel lines at right angles, like the other lines of a regular +halftone. Whenever the point of the stylus passes over one of the +lighter spots on the photographic print it sends on a longer electrical +vibration, over the darker spots a shorter vibration. The ever changing +electrical current passes up through the stylus, vibrates with ever +varying degrees of intensity over the thousand miles of telephone wire +between Chicago and this instrument here at the other end of the line. + +"In this receiving apparatus the current causes another stylus to pass +over a sheet of sensitised chemical paper such as we have here. The +receiving stylus passes over the paper here synchronously with the +transmitting stylus in Chicago. The impression which each stroke of the +receiving stylus makes on the paper is black or light, according to the +length of the very quickly changing vibrations of the electric current. +White spots on the photographic print come out as black spots here on +the sensitised paper over which this stylus is passing, and vice versa. +In that way you can see the positive print growing here before your +very eyes as the picture is transmitted from the negative which Clark +has prepared and is sending from Chicago." + +As we bent over eagerly we could indeed now see what the thing was +doing. It was reproducing faithfully in New York what could be seen by +the mortal eye only in Chicago. + +"What is it?" asked Williams, still half incredulous in spite of the +testimony of his eyes. + +"It is a photograph which I think may aid us in deciding whether it is +Dawson or Brown who is responsible for the forgeries," answered +Kennedy, "and it may help us to penetrate the man's disguise yet, +before he escapes to South America or wherever he plans to go." + +"You'll have to hurry," interposed Carroll, nervously looking at his +watch. "She sails in an hour and a half and it is a long ride over to +the pier even with a fast car." + +"The print is almost ready," repeated Kennedy calmly. "By the way, it +is a photograph which was taken at Atlantic City a few days ago for a +booklet which the Lorraine was getting out. The By-Products forger +happened to get in it and he bribed the photographer to give him the +plate and take another picture for the booklet which would leave him +out. The plate was sent to a little office in Chicago, discovered by +the post-office inspectors, where the forged stock certificates were +sold. I understood from what Clark told me over the telephone before he +started to transmit the picture that the woman in it looked very much +like Adele DeMott. Let us see." + +The machine had ceased to revolve. Craig stripped a still wet +photograph off the telelectrograph instrument and stood regarding it +with intense satisfaction. Outside, the car which had been engaged to +hurry us over to Brooklyn waited. "Morphine fiends," said Kennedy as he +fanned the print to dry it, "are the most unreliable sort of people. +They cover their tracks with almost diabolical cunning. In fact they +seem to enjoy it. For instance, the crimes committed by morphinists are +usually against property and character and based upon selfishness, not +brutal crimes such as alcohol and other drugs induce. Kleptomania, +forgery, swindling, are among the most common. + +"Then, too, one of the most marked phases of morphinism is the pleasure +its victims take in concealing their motives and conduct. They have a +mania for leading a double life, and enjoy the deception and mask which +they draw about themselves. Persons under the influence of the drug +have less power to resist physical and mental impressions and they +easily succumb to temptations and suggestions from others. Morphine +stands unequalled as a perverter of the moral sense. It creates a +person whom the father of lies must recognise as kindred to himself. I +know of a case where a judge charged a jury that the prisoner, a +morphine addict, was mentally irresponsible for that reason. The judge +knew what he was talking about. It subsequently developed that he had +been a secret morphine fiend himself for years." + +"Come, come," broke in Carroll impatiently, "we're wasting time. The +ship sails in an hour and unless you want to go down the bay on a tug +you've got to catch Dawson now or never. The morphine business +explains, but it does not excuse. Come on, the car is waiting. How long +do you think it will take us to get over to---" + +"Police headquarters?" interrupted Craig. "About fifteen minutes. This +photograph shows, as I had hoped, the real forger. John Carroll, this +is a peculiar case. You have forged the name of the president of your +company, but you have also traced your own name very cleverly to look +like a forgery. It is what is technically known as auto-forgery, +forging one's own handwriting. At your convenience we'll ride down to +Centre Street directly." + +Carroll was sputtering and almost frothing at the mouth with rage which +he made no effort to suppress. Williams was hesitating, nonplussed, +until Kennedy reached over unexpectedly and grasped Carroll by the arm. +As he shoved up Carroll's sleeve he disclosed the forearm literally +covered with little punctures made by the hypodermic needle. + +"It may interest you," remarked Kennedy, still holding Carroll in his +vise-like grip, while the drug fiend's shattered nerves caused him to +cower and tremble, "to know that a special detective working for me has +located Mr. and Mrs. Dawson at Bar Harbor, where they are enjoying a +quiet honeymoon. Brown is safely in the custody of his counsel, ready +to appear and clear himself as soon as the public opinion which has +been falsely inflamed against him subsides. Your plan to give us the +slip at the last moment at the wharf and board the steamer for South +America has miscarried. It is now too late to catch it, but I shall +send a wireless that will cause the arrest of Miss DeMott the moment +the ship touches an American port at Colon, even if she succeeds in +eluding the British authorities at Kingston. The fact is, I don't much +care about her, anyway. Thanks to the telelectrograph here we have the +real criminal." + +Kennedy slapped down the now dry print that had come in over his +"seeing over a wire" machine. Barring the false Van Dyke beard, it was +the face of John Carroll, forger and morphine fiend. Next him in the +picture in the brilliant and fashionable dining-room of the Lorraine +was sitting Adele DeMott who had used her victim, Bolton Brown, to +shield her employer, Carroll. + + + + +IX + +THE UNOFFICIAL SPY + + +"Craig, do you see that fellow over by the desk, talking to the night +clerk?" I asked Kennedy as we lounged into the lobby of the new Hotel +Vanderveer one evening after reclaiming our hats from the plutocrat who +had acquired the checking privilege. We had dined on the roof garden of +the Vanderveer apropos of nothing at all except our desire to become +acquainted with a new hotel. + +"Yes," replied Kennedy, "what of him?" + +"He's the house detective, McBride. Would you like to meet him? He's +full of good stories, an interesting chap. I met him at a dinner given +to the President not long ago and he told me a great yarn about how the +secret service, the police, and the hotel combined to guard the +President during the dinner. You know, a big hotel is the stamping +ground for all sorts of cranks and crooks." + +The house detective had turned and had caught my eye. Much to my +surprise, he advanced to meet me. + +"Say,--er--er--Jameson," he began, at last recalling my name, though he +had seen me only once and then for only a short time. "You're on the +Star, I believe?" + +"Yes," I replied, wondering what he could want. + +"Well--er--do you suppose you could do the house a little--er--favour?" +he asked, hesitating and dropping his voice. + +"What is it?" I queried, not feeling certain but that it was a veiled +attempt to secure a little free advertising for the Vanderveer. "By the +way, let me introduce you to my friend Kennedy, McBride." + +"Craig Kennedy?" he whispered aside, turning quickly to me. I nodded. + +"Mr. Kennedy," exclaimed the house man deferentially, "are you very +busy just now?" + +"Not especially so," replied Craig. "My friend Jameson was telling me +that you knew some interesting yarns about hotel detective life. I +should like to hear you tell some of them, if you are not yourself +too---" + +"Perhaps you'd rather see one instead?" interrupted the house +detective, eagerly scanning Craig's face. + +"Indeed, nothing could please me more. What is it--a 'con' man or a +hotel 'beat'?" + +McBride looked about to make sure that no one was listening. "Neither," +he whispered. "It's either a suicide or a murder. Come upstairs with +me. There isn't a man in the world I would rather have met at this very +instant, Mr. Kennedy, than yourself." + +We followed McBride into an elevator which he stopped at the fifteenth +floor. With a nod to the young woman who was the floor clerk, the house +detective led the way down the thickly carpeted hall, stopping at a +room which, we could see through the transom, was lighted. He drew a +bunch of keys from his pocket and inserted a pass key into the lock. + +The door swung open into a sumptuously fitted sitting-room. I looked +in, half fearfully, but, although all the lights were turned on, the +room was empty. McBride crossed the room quickly, opened a door to a +bedroom, and jerked his head back with a quick motion, signifying his +desire for us to follow. + +Stretched lifeless on the white linen of the immaculate bed lay the +form of a woman, a beautiful woman she had been, too, though not with +the freshness which makes American women so attractive. There was +something artificial about her beauty, the artificiality which hinted +at a hidden story of a woman with a past. + +She was a foreigner, apparently of one of the Latin races, although at +the moment in the horror of the tragedy before us I could not guess her +nationality. It was enough for me that here lay this cold, stony, rigid +beauty, robed in the latest creations of Paris, alone in an elegantly +furnished room of an exclusive hotel where hundreds of gay guests were +dining and chatting and laughing without a suspicion of the terrible +secret only a few feet distant from them. + +We stood awestruck for the moment. + +"The coroner ought to be here any moment," remarked McBride and even +the callousness of the regular detective was not sufficient to hide the +real feelings of the man. His practical sense soon returned, however, +and he continued, "Now, Jameson, don't you think you could use a little +influence with the newspaper men to keep this thing off the front +pages? Of course something has to be printed about it. But we don't +want to hoodoo the hotel right at the start. We had a suicide the other +day who left an apologetic note that was played up by some of the +papers. Now comes this affair. The management are just as anxious to +have the crime cleared up as any one--if it is a crime. But can't it be +done with the soft pedal? We will stop at nothing in the way of +expense--just so long as the name of the Vanderveer is kept in the +background. Only, I'm afraid the coroner will try to rub it in and make +the thing sensational." + +"What was her name?" asked Kennedy. "At least, under what name was she +registered?" + +"She was registered as Madame de Nevers. It is not quite a week now +since she came here, came directly from the steamer Tripolitania. See, +there are her trunks and things, all pasted over with foreign labels, +not an American label among them. I haven't the slightest doubt that +her name was fictitious, for as far as I can see all the ordinary marks +of identification have been obliterated. It will take time to identify +her at the best, and in the meantime, if a crime has been committed, +the guilty person may escape. What I want now, right away, is action." + +"Has nothing in her actions about the hotel offered any clue, no matter +how slight?" asked Kennedy. + +"Plenty of things," replied McBride quickly. "For one thing, she didn't +speak very much English and her maid seemed to do all the talking for +her, even to ordering her meals, which were always served here. I did +notice Madame a few times about the hotel, though she spent most of her +time in her rooms. She was attractive as the deuce, and the men all +looked at her whenever she stirred out. She never even noticed them. +But she was evidently expecting some one, for her maid had left word at +the desk that if a Mr. Gonzales called, she was at home; if any one +else, she was out. For the first day or two she kept herself closely +confined, except that at the end of the second day she took a short +spin through the park in a taxicab--closed, even in this hot weather. +Where she went I cannot say, but when they returned the maid seemed +rather agitated. At least she was a few minutes later when she came all +the way downstairs to telephone from a booth, instead of using the room +telephone. At various times the maid was sent out to execute certain +errands, but always returned promptly. Madame de Nevers was a genuine +woman of mystery, but as long as she was a quiet mystery, I thought it +no business of ours to pry into the affairs of Madame." + +"Did she have any visitors? Did this Mr. Gonzales call?" asked Kennedy +at length. + +"She had one visitor, a woman who called and asked if a Madame de +Nevers was stopping at the hotel," answered McBride. "That was what the +clerk was telling me when I happened to catch sight of you. He says +that, obedient to the orders from the maid, he told the visitor that +Madame was not at home." + +"Who was this visitor, do you suppose?" asked Craig. "Did she leave any +card or message? Is there any clue to her?" + +The detective looked at him earnestly for a time as if he hesitated to +retail what might be merely pure gossip. + +"The clerk does not know this absolutely, but from his acquaintance +with society news and the illustrated papers he is sure that he +recognised her. He says that he feels positive that it was Miss +Catharine Lovelace." + +"The Southern heiress," exclaimed Kennedy. "Why, the papers say that +she is engaged---" + +"Exactly," cut in McBride, "the heiress who is rumoured to be engaged +to the Duc de Chateaurouge." + +Kennedy and I exchanged glances. "Yes," I added, recollecting a remark +I had heard a few days before from our society reporter on the Star, "I +believe it has been said that Chateaurouge is in this country, +incognito." + +"A pretty slender thread on which to hang an identification," McBride +hastened to remark. "Newspaper photographs are not the best means of +recognising anybody. Whatever there may be in it, the fact remains that +Madame de Nevers, supposing that to be her real name, has been dead for +at least a day or two. The first thing to be determined is whether this +is a death from natural causes, a suicide, or a murder. After we have +determined that we shall be in a position to run down this Lovelace +clue." + +Kennedy said nothing and I could not gather whether he placed greater +or less value on the suspicion of the hotel clerk. He had been making a +casual examination of the body on the bed, and finding nothing he +looked intently about the room as if seeking some evidence of how the +crime had been committed. + +To me the thing seemed incomprehensible, that without an outcry being +overheard by any of the guests a murder could have been done in a +crowded hotel in which the rooms on every side had been occupied and +people had been passing through the halls at all hours. Had it indeed +been a suicide, in spite of McBride's evident conviction to the +contrary? + +A low exclamation from Kennedy attracted our attention. Caught in the +filmy lace folds of the woman's dress he had found a few small and thin +pieces of glass. He was regarding them with an interest that was +oblivious to everything else. As he turned them over and over and tried +to fit them together they seemed to form at least a part of what had +once been a hollow globe of very thin glass, perhaps a quarter of an +inch or so in diameter. + +"How was the body discovered?" asked Craig at length, looking up at +McBride quickly. + +"Day before yesterday Madame's maid went to the cashier," repeated the +detective slowly as if rehearsing the case as much for his own +information as ours, "and said that Madame had asked her to say to him +that she was going away for a few days and that under no circumstances +was her room to be disturbed in her absence. The maid was commissioned +to pay the bill, not only for the time they had been here, but also for +the remainder of the week, when Madame would most likely return, if not +earlier. The bill was made out and paid. + +"Since then only the chambermaid has entered this suite. The key to +that closet over in the corner was gone, and it might have hidden its +secret until the end of the week or perhaps a day or two longer, if the +chambermaid hadn't been a bit curious. She hunted till she found +another key that fitted, and opened the closet door, apparently to see +what Madame had been so particular to lock up in her absence. There lay +the body of Madame, fully dressed, wedged into the narrow space and +huddled up in a corner. The chambermaid screamed and the secret was +out." + +"And Madame de Nevers's maid? What has become of her?" asked Kennedy +eagerly. + +"She has disappeared," replied McBride. "From the moment when the bill +was paid no one about the hotel has seen her." + +"But you have a pretty good description of her, one that you could send +out in order to find her if necessary?" + +"Yes, I think I could give a pretty good description." + +Kennedy's eye encountered the curious gaze of McBride. "This may prove +to be a most unusual case," he remarked in answer to the implied +inquiry of the detective. "I suppose you have heard of the 'endormeurs' +of Paris?" + +McBride shook his head in the negative. + +"It is a French word signifying a person who puts another to sleep, the +sleep makers," explained Kennedy. "They are the latest scientific +school of criminals who use the most potent, quickest-acting stupefying +drugs. Some of their exploits surpass anything hitherto even imagined +by the European police. The American police have been officially warned +of the existence of the endormeurs and full descriptions of their +methods and photographs of their paraphernalia have been sent over here. + +"There is nothing in their repertoire so crude as chloral or knock-out +drops. All the derivatives of opium such as morphine, codeine, heroine, +dionine, narceine, and narcotine, to say nothing of bromure d'etyle, +bromoform, nitrite d'amyle, and amyline are known to be utilised by the +endormeurs to put their victims to sleep, and the skill which they have +acquired in the use of these powerful drugs establishes them as one of +the most dangerous groups of criminals in existence. The men are all of +superior intelligence and daring; the chief requisite of the women is +extreme beauty as well as unscrupulousness. + +"They will take a little thin glass ball of one of these liquids, for +instance, hold it in a pocket handkerchief, crush it, shove it under +the nose of their victim, and--whiff!--the victim is unconscious. But +ordinarily the endormeur does not kill. He is usually satisfied to +stupefy, rob, and then leave his victim. There is something more to +this case than a mere suicide or murder, McBride. Of course she may +have committed suicide with the drugs of the endormeurs; then again she +may merely have been rendered unconscious by those drugs and some other +poison may have been administered. Depend on it, there is something +more back of this affair than appears on the surface. Even as far as I +have gone I do not hesitate to say that we have run across the work of +one or perhaps a band of the most up-to-date and scientific criminals." + +Kennedy had scarcely finished when McBride brought his right fist down +with a resounding smack into the palm of his left hand. + +"Say," he cried in great excitement, "here's another thing which may or +may not have some connection with the case. The evening after Madame +arrived, I happened to be walking through the cafe, where I saw a face +that looked familiar to me. It was that of a dark-haired, olive-skinned +man, a fascinating face, but a face to be afraid of. I remembered him, +I thought, from my police experience, as a notorious crook who had not +been seen in New York for years, a man who in the old days used to +gamble with death in South American revolutions, a soldier of fortune. + +"Well, I gave the waiter, Charley, the wink and he met me in the rear +of the cafe, around a corner. You know we have a regular system in the +hotel by which I can turn all the help into amateur sleuths. I told him +to be very careful about the dark-faced man and the younger man who was +with him, to be particular to wait on them well, and to pick up any +scraps of conversation he could. + +"Charley knows his business, and the barest perceptible sign from me +makes him an obsequious waiter. Of course the dark man didn't notice it +at the time, but if he had been more observant he would have seen that +three times during his chat with his companion Charley had wiped off +his table with lingering hand. Twice he had put fresh seltzer in his +drink. Like a good waiter always working for a big tip he had hovered +near, his face blank and his eyes unobservant. But that waiter was an +important link in my chain of protection of the hotel against crooks. +He was there to listen and to tip me off, which he did between orders. + +"There wasn't much that he overheard, but what there was of it was so +suspicious that I did not hesitate to conclude that the fellow was an +undesirable guest. It was something about the Panama Canal, and a +coaling station of a steamship and fruit concern on the shore of one of +the Latin American countries. It was, he said, in reality to be the +coaling station of a certain European power which he did not name but +which the younger man seemed to understand. They talked of wharves and +tracts of land, of sovereignty and blue prints, the Monroe Doctrine, +value in case of war, and a lot of other things. Then they talked of +money, and though Charley was most assiduous at the time all he +overheard was something about 'ten thousand francs' and 'buying her +off,' and finally a whispered confidence of which he caught the words, +'just a blind to get her over here, away from Paris.' Finally the dark +man in an apparent burst of confidence said something about 'the other +plans being the real thing after all,' and that the whole affair would +bring him in fifty thousand francs, with which he could afford to be +liberal. Charley could get no inkling about what that other thing was. + +"But I felt sure that he had heard enough to warrant the belief that +some kind of confidence game was being discussed. To tell the truth I +didn't care much what it was, at the time. It might have been an +attempt of the dark-visaged fellow to sell the Canal to a come-on. What +I wanted was to have it known that the Vanderveer was not to be a +resort of such gentry as this. But I'm afraid it was much more serious +than I thought at the time. + +"Well, the dark man finally excused himself and sauntered into the +lobby and up to the desk, with me after him around the opposite way. He +was looking over the day's arrivals on the register when I concluded +that it was about time to do something. I was standing directly beside +him lighting a cigar. I turned quickly on him and deliberately trod on +the man's patent leather shoe. He faced me furiously at not getting any +apology. 'Sacre,' he exclaimed, 'what the--' But before he could finish +I moved still closer and pinched his elbow. A dull red glow of +suppressed anger spread over his face, but he cut his words short. He +knew and I knew he knew. That is the sign in the continental hotels +when they find a crook and quietly ask him to move on. The man turned +on his heel and stalked out of the hotel. By and by the young man in +the cafe, considerably annoyed at the sudden inattention of the waiter +who acted as if he wasn't satisfied with his tip, strolled through the +lobby and not seeing his dark-skinned friend, also disappeared. I wish +to heaven I had had them shadowed. The young fellow wasn't a come-on at +all. There was something afoot between these two, mark my words." + +"But why do you connect that incident with this case of Madame de +Nevers?" asked Kennedy, a little puzzled. + +"Because the next day, and the day that Madame's maid disappeared, I +happened to see a man bidding good-bye to a woman at the rear carriage +entrance of the hotel. The woman was Madame's maid and the man was the +dark man who had been seated in the cafe." + +"You said a moment ago that you had a good description of the maid or +could write one. Do you think you could locate her?" + +The hotel detective thought a minute or two. "If she has gone to any of +the other hotels in this city, I could," he answered slowly. "You know +we have recently formed a sort of clearing house, we hotel detectives, +and we are working together now very well, though secretly. It is +barely possible that she has gone to another hotel. The very brazenness +of that would be its safeguard, she might think." + +"Then I can leave that part of it to you, McBride?" asked Kennedy +thoughtfully as if laying out a programme of action in his mind. "You +will set the hotel detectives on the trail as well as the police of the +city, and of other cities, will make the inquiries at the steamships +and railroads, and all that sort of thing? Try to find some trace of +the two men whom you saw in the cafe at the same time. But for the +present I should say spare no effort to locate that girl." + +"Trust it to me," agreed McBride confidently. + +A heavy tap sounded at the door and McBride opened it. It was the +coroner. + +I shall not go into the lengthy investigation which the coroner +conducted, questioning one servant and employee after another without +eliciting any more real information than we had already obtained so +concisely from the house man. The coroner was, of course, angry at the +removal of the body from the closet to the bed because he wanted to +view it in the position in which it had been found, but as that had +been done by the servants before McBride could stop them, there was +nothing to do about it but accept the facts. + +"A very peculiar case," remarked the coroner at the conclusion of his +examination, with the air of a man who could shed much light on it from +his wide experience if he chose. "There is just one point that we shall +have to clear up, however. What was the cause of the death of the +deceased? There is no gas in the room. It couldn't have been +illuminating gas, then. No, it must have been a poison of some kind. +Then as to the motive," he added, trying to look confident but really +shooting a tentative remark at Craig and the house detective, who said +nothing. "It looks a good deal like that other suicide--at least a +suicide which some one has endeavoured to conceal," he added, hastily +recollecting the manner in which the body had been found and his +criticisms of the removal from the closet. "Didn't I tell you?" +rejoined McBride dolefully after we had left the coroner downstairs a +few minutes later. "I knew he would think the hotel was hiding +something from him." + +"We can't help what he thinks--yet," remarked Craig. "All we can do is +to run down the clues which we have. I will leave the maid to be found +by your organisation, McBride. Let me see, the theatres and roof +gardens must be letting out by this time. I will see if I can get any +information from Miss Lovelace. Find her address, Walter, and call a +cab." + +The Southern heiress, who had attracted more attention by her beauty +than by her fortune which was only moderate as American fortunes go +nowadays, lived in an apartment facing the park, with her mother, a +woman whose social ambitions it was commonly known had no bounds and +were often sadly imposed upon. + +Fortunately we arrived at the apartment not very many minutes after the +mother and daughter, and although it was late, Kennedy sent up his card +with an urgent message to see them. They received us in a large +drawing-room and were plainly annoyed by our visit, though that of +course was susceptible of a natural interpretation. + +"What is it that you wished to see me about?" began Mrs. Lovelace in a +tone which was intended to close the interview almost before it was +begun. + +Kennedy had not wished to see her about anything, but of course he did +not even hint as much in his reply which was made to her but directed +at Miss Lovelace. + +"Could you tell me anything about a Madame de Nevers who was staying at +the Vanderveer?" asked Craig, turning quickly to the daughter so as to +catch the full effect of his question, and then waiting as if expecting +the answer from her. + +The young lady's face blanched slightly and she seemed to catch her +breath for an instant, but she kept her composure admirably in spite of +the evident shock of Craig's purposely abrupt question. + +"I have heard of her," Miss Lovelace replied with forced calmness as he +continued to look to her for an answer. "Why do you ask?" + +"Because a woman who is supposed to be Madame de Nevers has committed +suicide at the Vanderveer and it was thought that perhaps you could +identify her." + +By this time she had become perfect mistress of herself again, from +which I argued that whatever knowledge she had of Madame was limited to +the time before the tragedy. + +"I, identify her? Why, I never saw her. I simply know that such a +creature exists." + +She said it defiantly and with an iciness which showed more plainly +than in mere words that she scorned even an acquaintance with a +demi-mondaine. + +"Do you suppose the Duc de Chateaurouge would be able to identify her?" +asked Kennedy mercilessly. "One moment, please," he added, +anticipating the blank look of amazement on her face. "I have reason to +believe that the duke is in this country incognito--is he not?" + +Instead of speaking she merely raised her shoulders a fraction of an +inch. + +"Either in New York or in Washington," pursued Kennedy. + +"Why do you ask me?" she said at length. "Isn't it enough that some of +the newspapers have said so? If you see it in the newspapers, it's +so--perhaps--isn't it?" + +We were getting nowhere in this interview, at least so I thought. +Kennedy cut it short, especially as he noted the evident restlessness +of Mrs. Lovelace. However, he had gained his point. Whether or not the +duke was in New York or Washington or Spitzbergen, he now felt sure +that Miss Lovelace knew of, and perhaps something about, Madame de +Nevers. In some way the dead woman had communicated with her and Miss +Lovelace had been the woman whom the hotel clerk had seen at the +Vanderveer. We withdrew as gracefully as our awkward position permitted. + +As there was nothing else to be done at that late hour, Craig decided +to sleep soundly over the case, his infallible method of taking a fresh +start after he had run up a cul-de-sac. + +Imagine our surprise in the morning at being waited on by the coroner +himself, who in a few words explained that he was far from satisfied +with the progress his own office was making with the case. + +"You understand," he concluded after a lengthy statement of confession +and avoidance, "we have no very good laboratory facilities of our own +to carry out the necessary chemical, pathological, and bacteriological +investigations in cases of homicide and suicide. We are often forced to +resort to private laboratories, as you know in the past when I have had +to appeal to you. Now, Professor Kennedy, if we might turn over that +research part of the case to you, sir, I will engage to see that a +reasonable bill for your professional services goes through the office +of my friend the city comptroller promptly." + +Craig snapped at the opportunity, though he did not allow the coroner +to gain that impression. + +"Very well," agreed that official, "I shall see that all the necessary +organs for a thorough test as to the cause of the death of this woman +are sent up to the Chemistry Building right away." + +The coroner was as good as his word, and we had scarcely breakfasted +and arrived at Craig's scientific workshop before that official +appeared, accompanied by a man who carried in uncanny jars the +necessary materials for an investigation following an autopsy. + +Kennedy was now in his element. The case had taken an unexpected turn +which made him a leading factor in its solution. Whatever suspicions he +may have entertained unofficially the night before he could now openly +and quickly verify. + +He took a little piece of lung tissue and with a sharp sterilised knife +cut it up. Then he made it slightly alkaline with a little sodium +carbonate, talking half to us and half to himself as he worked. The +next step was to place the matter in a glass flask in a water bath +where it was heated. From the flask a Bohemian glass tube led into a +cool jar and on a part of the tube a flame was playing which heated it +to redness for two or three inches. + +Several minutes we waited in silence. Finally when the process had gone +far enough, Kennedy took a piece of paper which had been treated with +iodised starch, as he later explained. He plunged the paper into the +cool jar. Slowly it turned a strong blue tint. + +Craig said nothing, but it was evident that he was more than gratified +by what had happened. He quickly reached for a bottle on the shelves +before him, and I could see from the label on the brown glass that it +was nitrate of silver. As he plunged a little in a test-tube into the +jar a strong precipitate was gradually formed. + +"It is the decided reaction for chloroform," he exclaimed simply in +reply to our unspoken questions. + +"Chloroform," repeated the coroner, rather doubtfully, and it was +evident that he had expected a poison and had not anticipated any +result whatever from an examination of the lungs instead of the stomach +to which he had confined his own work so far. "Could chloroform be +discovered in the lungs or viscera after so many days? There was one +famous chloroform case for which a man is now serving a life term in +Sing Sing which I have understood there was grave doubt in the minds of +the experts. Mind, I am not trying to question the results of your work +except as they might naturally be questioned in court. It seems to me +that the volatility of chloroform might very possibly preclude its +discovery after a short time. Then again, might not other substances be +generated in a dead body which would give a reaction very much like +chloroform? We must consider all these questions before we abandon the +poison theory, sir. Remember, this is the summer time too, and +chloroform would evaporate very much more rapidly now than in winter." + +Kennedy smiled, but his confidence remained unshaken. + +"I am in a position to meet all of your objections," he explained +simply. "I think I could lay it down as a rule that by proper methods +chloroform may be discovered in the viscera much longer after death +than is commonly supposed--in summer from six days to three weeks, with +a practical working range of say twelve days, while in winter it may be +found even after several months--by the right method. Certainly this +case comes within the average length of time. More than that, no +substance is generated by the process of decomposition which will +vitiate the test for chloroform which I have just made. Chloroform has +an affinity for water and is also a preservative, and hence from all +these facts I think it safe to conclude that sometimes traces of it may +be found for two weeks after its administration, certainly for a few +days." + +"And Madame de Nevers?" queried the coroner, as if the turn of events +was necessitating a complete reconstruction of his theory of the case. + +"Was murdered," completed Kennedy in a tone that left nothing more to +be said on the subject. + +"But," persisted the coroner, "if she was murdered by the use of +chloroform, how do you account for the fact that it was done without a +struggle? There were no marks of violence and I, for one, do not +believe that under ordinary circumstances any one will passively submit +to such an administration without a hard fight." + +From his pocket Kennedy drew a small pasteboard box filled with tiny +globes, some bonbons and lozenges, a small hypodermic syringe, and a +few cigars and cigarettes. He held it out in the palm of his hand so +that we could see it. + +"This," he remarked, "is the standard equipment of the endormeur. +Whoever obtained admittance to Madame's rooms, either as a matter of +course or secretly, must have engaged her in conversation, disarmed +suspicion, and then suddenly she must have found a pocket handkerchief +under her nose. The criminal crushed a globe of liquid in the +handkerchief, the victim lost consciousness, the chloroform was +administered without a struggle, all marks of identification were +obliterated, the body was placed in the closet, and the maid--either as +principal or accessory--took the most likely means of postponing +discovery by paying the bill in advance at the office, and then +disappeared." + +Kennedy slipped the box back into his pocket. The coroner had, I think, +been expecting Craig's verdict, although he was loath to abandon his +own suicide theory and had held it to the last possible moment. At any +rate, so far he had said little, apparently preferring to keep his own +counsel as to his course of action and to set his own machinery in +motion. + +He drew a note from his pocket, however. "I suppose," he began +tentatively, shaking the note as he glanced doubtfully from it to us, +"that you have heard that among the callers on this unfortunate woman +was a lady of high social position in this city?" + +"I have heard a rumour to that effect," replied Kennedy as he busied +himself cleaning up the apparatus he had just used. There was nothing +in his manner even to hint at the fact that we had gone further and +interviewed the young lady in question. + +"Well," resumed the coroner, "in view of what you have just discovered +I don't mind telling you that I believe it was more than a rumour. I +have had a man watching the woman and this is a report I received just +before I came up here." + +We read the note which he now handed to us. It was just a hasty line: +"Miss Lovelace left hurriedly for Washington this morning." + +What was the meaning of it? Clearly, as we probed deeper into the case, +its ramifications grew wider than anything we had yet expected. Why had +Miss Lovelace gone to Washington, of all places, at this torrid season +of the year? + +The coroner had scarcely left us, more mystified than ever, when a +telephone message came from McBride saying that he had some important +news for us if we would meet him at the St. Cenis Hotel within an hour. +He would say nothing about it over the wire. + +As Kennedy hung up the receiver he quietly took a pistol from a drawer +of his desk, broke it quickly, and looked thoughtfully at the +cartridges in the cylinder. Then he snapped it shut and stuck it into +his pocket. + +"There's no telling what we may run up against before we get back to +the laboratory," he remarked and we rode down to meet McBride. + +The description which the house man had sent out to the other hotel +detectives the night before had already produced a result. Within the +past two days a man answering the description of the younger man whom +McBride had seen in the cafe and a woman who might very possibly have +been Madame's maid had come to the St. Cenis as M. and Mme. Duval. +Their baggage was light, but they had been at pains to impress upon the +hotel that they were persons of some position and that it was going +direct from the railroad to the steamer, after their tour of America. +They had, as a matter of fact, done nothing to excite suspicion until +the general request for information had been received. + +The house man of the St. Cenis welcomed us cordially upon McBride's +introduction and agreed to take us up to the rooms of the strange +couple if they were not in. As it happened it was the lunch hour and +they were not in the room. Still, Kennedy dared not be too particular +in his search of their effects, for he did not wish to arouse suspicion +upon their return, at least not yet. + +"It seems to me, Craig," I suggested after we had nosed about for a few +minutes, finding nothing, "that this is pre-eminently a case in which +to use the dictograph as you did in that Black Hand case." + +He shook his head doubtfully, although I could see that the idea +appealed to him. "The dictograph has been getting too much publicity +lately," he said. "I'm afraid they would discover it, that is, if they +are at all the clever people I think them. Besides, I would have to +send up to the laboratory to get one and by the time the messenger +returned they might be back from lunch. No, we've got to do something +else, and do it quickly." + +He was looking about the room in an apparently aimless manner. On the +side wall hung a cheap etching of a woodland scene. Kennedy seemed +engrossed in it while the rest of us fidgeted at the delay. + +"Can you get me a couple of old telephone instruments?" he asked at +length, turning to us and addressing the St. Cenis detective. + +The detective nodded and disappeared down the hall. A few minutes later +he deposited the instruments on a table. Where he got them I do not +know, but I suspect he simply lifted them from vacant rooms. + +"Now some Number 30 copper wire and a couple of dry cells," ordered +Kennedy, falling to work immediately on the telephones. The detective +despatched a bellboy down to the basement to get the wire from the +house electrician. + +Kennedy removed the transmitters of the telephones, and taking the +carbon capsules from them placed the capsules on the table carefully. +Then he lifted down the etching from the wall and laid it flat on its +face before us. Quickly he removed the back of the picture. + +Pressing the transmitter fronts with the carbon capsules against the +paper and the glass on the picture he mounted them so that the paper +and glass acted as a large diaphragm to collect all the sounds in the +room. + +"The size of this glass diaphragm," he explained as we gathered around +in intense interest at what he was doing, "will produce a strikingly +sensitive microphone action and the merest whisper will be reproduced +with startling distinctness." + +The boy brought the wire up and also the news that the couple in whose +room we were had very nearly finished luncheon and might be expected +back in a few minutes. + +Kennedy took the tiny wires, and after connecting them hung up the +picture again and ran them up alongside the picture wires leading from +the huge transmitter up to the picture moulding. Along the top of the +moulding and out through the transom it was easy enough to run the +wires and so down the hall to a vacant room, where Craig attached them +quickly to one of the old telephone receivers. + +Then we sat down in this room to await developments from our hastily +improvised picture frame microphone detective. + +At last we could hear the elevator door close on our floor. A moment +later it was evident from the expression of Kennedy's face that some +one had entered the room which we had just left. He had finished not a +moment too soon. + +"It's a good thing that I didn't wait to put a dictograph there," he +remarked to us. "I thought I wasn't reckoning without reason. The +couple, whoever they are, are talking in undertones and looking about +the room to see if anything has been disturbed in their absence." + +Kennedy alone, of course, could follow over his end of the telephone +what they said. The rest of us could do nothing but wait, but from +notes which Craig jotted down as he listened to the conversation I +shall reproduce it as if we had all heard it. There were some anxious +moments until at last they had satisfied themselves that no one was +listening and that no dictograph or other mechanical eavesdropper, such +as they had heard of, was concealed in the furniture or back of it. + +"Why are you so particular, Henri?" a woman's voice was saying. + +"Louise, I've been thinking for a long time that we are surrounded by +spies in these hotels. You remember I told you what happened at the +Vanderveer the night you and Madame arrived? I'm sure that waiter +overheard what Gonzales and I were talking about." + +"Well, we are safe now anyhow. What was it that you would not tell me +just now at luncheon?" asked the woman, whom Kennedy recognised as +Madame de Nevers's maid. + +"I have a cipher from Washington. Wait until I translate it." + +There was a pause. "What does it say?" asked the woman impatiently. + +"It says," repeated the man slowly, "that Miss Lovelace has gone to +Washington. She insists on knowing whether the death of Marie was a +suicide or not. Worse than that the Secret Service must have wind of +some part of our scheme, for they are acting suspiciously. I must go +down there or the whole affair may be exposed and fall through. Things +could hardly be worse, especially this sudden move on her part." + +"Who was that detective who forced his way to see her the night they +discovered Marie's body?" asked the woman. "I hope that that wasn't the +Secret Service also. Do you think they could have suspected anything?" + +"I hardly think so," the man replied. "Beyond the death of Madame they +suspect nothing here in New York, I am convinced. You are sure that all +her letters were secured, that all clues to connect her with the +business in hand were destroyed, and particularly that the package she +was to deliver is safe?" + +"The package? You mean the plans for the coaling station on the Pacific +near the Canal? You see, Henri, I know." + +"Ha, ha,--yes," replied the man. "Louise, shall I tell you a secret? +Can you keep it?" + +"You know I can, Henri." + +"Well, Louise, the scheme is deeper than even you think. We are playing +one country against another, America against--you know the government +our friend Schmidt works for in Paris. Now, listen. Those plans of the +coaling station are a fake--a fake. It is just a commercial venture. No +nation would be foolish enough to attempt such a thing, yet. We know +that they are a fake. But we are going to sell them through that friend +of ours in the United States War Department. But that is only part of +the coup, the part that will give us the money to turn the much larger +coups we have in the future. You can understand why it has all to be +done so secretly and how vexatious it is that as soon as one obstacle +is overcome a dozen new ones appear. Louise, here is the big secret. By +using those fake plans as a bait we are going to obtain something which +when we all return to Paris we can convert into thousands of francs. +There, I can say no more. But I have told you so much to impress upon +you the extreme need of caution." + +"And how much does Miss Lovelace know?" + +"Very little--I hope. That is why I must go to Washington myself. She +must know nothing of this coup nor of the real de Nevers, or the whole +scheme may fall through. It would have fallen through before, Louise, +if you had failed us and had let any of de Nevers's letters slip +through to Miss Lovelace. She richly deserved her fate for that act of +treachery. The affair would have been so simple, otherwise. Luck was +with us until her insane jealousy led her to visit Miss Lovelace. It +was fortunate the young lady was out when Madame called on her or all +would have been lost. Ah, we owe you a great deal, Louise, and we shall +not forget it, never. You will be very careful while I am gone?" + +"Absolutely. When will you return to me, Henri?" + +"To-morrow morning at the latest. This afternoon the false coaling +station plans are to be turned over to our accomplice in the War +Department and in exchange he is to give us something else--the secret +of which I spoke. You see the trail leads up into high circles. It is +very much more important than you suppose and discovery might lead to a +dangerous international complication just now." + +"Then you are to meet your friend in Washington to-night? When do you +start, Henri? Don't let the time slip by. There must be no mistake this +time as there was when we were working for Japan and almost had the +blue prints of Corregidor at Manila only to lose them on the streets of +Calcutta." + +"Trust me. We are to meet about nine o'clock and therefore I leave on +the limited at three-thirty, in about an hour. From the station I am +going straight to the house on Z Street--let me see, the cipher says +the number is 101--and ask for a man named Gonzales. I shall use the +name Montez. He is to appear, hand over the package--that thing I have +told you about--then I am to return here by one of the midnight trains. +At any cost we must allow nothing to happen which will reach the ears +of Miss Lovelace. I'll see you early to-morrow morning, ma cherie, and +remember, be ready, for the Aquitania sails at ten. The division of the +money is to be made in Paris. Then we shall all go our separate ways." + +Kennedy was telephoning frantically through the regular hotel service +to find out how the trains ran for Washington. The only one that would +get there before nine was the three-thirty; the next, leaving an hour +later, did not arrive until nearly eleven. He had evidently had some +idea of causing some delay that would result in our friend down the +hall missing the limited, but abandoned it. Any such scheme would +simply result in a message to the gang in Washington putting them on +their guard and defeating his purpose. + +"At all costs we must beat this fellow to it," exclaimed Craig, waiting +to hear no more over his improvised dictograph. "Come, Walter, we must +catch the limited for Washington immediately. McBride, I leave you and +the regular house man to shadow this woman. Don't let her get out of +your sight for a moment." + +As we rode across the city to the new railroad terminus Craig hastily +informed me of what he had overheard. We took up our post so that we +could see the outgoing travellers, and a few minutes later Craig +spotted our man from McBride's description, and succeeded in securing +chairs in the same car in which he was to ride. + +Taken altogether it was an uneventful journey. For five mortal hours we +sat in the Pullman or toyed with food in the dining-car, never letting +the man escape our sight, yet never letting him know that we were +watching him. Nevertheless I could not help asking myself what good it +did. Why did not Kennedy hire a special if the affair was so important +as it appeared? How were we to get ahead of him in Washington better +than in New York? I knew that some plan lurked behind the calm and +inscrutable face of Kennedy as I tried to read and could not. + +The train had come to a stop in the Union Station. Our man was walking +rapidly up the platform in the direction of the cab stand. Suddenly +Kennedy darted ahead and for a moment we were walking abreast of him. + +"I beg your pardon," began Craig as we came to a turn in the shadow of +the arc lights, "but have you a match?" + +The man halted and fumbled for his match-box. Instantly Kennedy's +pocket handkerchief was at his nose. + +"Some of the medicine of your own gang of endormeurs," ground out +Kennedy, crushing several of the little glass globes under his +handkerchief to make doubly sure of their effect. + +The man reeled and would have fallen if we had not caught him between +us. Up the platform we led him in a daze. + +"Here," shouted Craig to a cabman, "my friend is ill. Drive us around a +bit. It will sober him up. Come on, Walter, jump in, the air will do us +all good." + +Those who were in Washington during that summer will remember the +suppressed activity in the State, War, and Navy Departments on a +certain very humid night. Nothing leaked out at the time as to the +cause, but it was understood later that a crisis was narrowly averted +at a very inopportune season, for the heads of the departments were all +away, the President was at his summer home in the North, and even some +of the under-secretaries were out of town. Hasty messages had been +sizzling over the wires in cipher and code for hours. + +I recall that as we rode a little out of our way past the Army +Building, merely to see if there was any excitement, we found it a +blaze of lights. Something was plainly afoot even at this usually dull +period of the year. There was treachery of some kind and some trusted +employee was involved, I felt instinctively. As for Craig he merely +glanced at the insensible figure between us and remarked sententiously +that to his knowledge there was only one nation that made a practice of +carrying out its diplomatic and other coups in the hot weather, a +remark which I understood to mean that our mission was more than +commonly important. + +The man had not recovered when we arrived within several blocks of our +destination, nor did he show signs of recovery from his profound +stupor. Kennedy stopped the cab in a side street, pressed a bill into +the cabman's hand, and bade him wait until we returned. + +We had turned the corner of Z Street and were approaching the house +when a man walking in the opposite direction eyed us suspiciously, +turned, and followed us a step or two. + +"Kennedy!" he exclaimed. + +If a fourteen-inch gun had exploded behind us I could not have been +more startled. Here, in spite of all our haste and secrecy we were +followed, watched, and beaten. + +Craig wheeled about suddenly. Then he took the man by the arm. "Come," +he said quickly, and we three dove into the shadow of an alley. + +As we paused, Kennedy was the first to speak. "By Jove, Walter, it's +Burke of the Secret Service," he exclaimed. + +"Good," repeated the man with some satisfaction. "I see that you still +have that memory for faces." He was evidently referring to our +experiences together some months before with the portrait parle and +identification in the counterfeiting case which Craig cleared up for +him. + +For a moment or two Burke and Kennedy spoke in whispers. Under the dim +light from the street I could see Kennedy's face intent and working +with excitement. + +"No wonder the War Department is a blaze of lights," he exclaimed as we +moved out of the shadow again, leaving the Secret Service man. "Burke, +I had no idea when I took up this case that I should be doing my +country a service also. We must succeed at any hazard. The moment you +hear a pistol shot, Burke, we shall need you. Force the door if it is +not already open. You were right as to the street but not the number. +It is that house over there. Come on, Walter." + +We mounted the low steps of the house and a negress answered the bell. +"Is Mr. Gonzales in?" asked Kennedy. + +The hallway into which we were admitted was dark but it opened into a +sitting-room, where a dim light was burning behind the thick portieres. +Without a word the negress ushered us into this room, which was +otherwise empty. + +"Tell him Mr. Montez is here," added Craig as we sat down. + +The negress disappeared upstairs, and in a few minutes returned with +the message that he would be down directly. + +No sooner had the shuffle of her footsteps died away than Kennedy was +on his feet, listening intently at the door. There was no sound. He +took a chair and tiptoed out into the dark hall with it. Turning it +upside down he placed it at the foot of the stairs with the four legs +pointing obliquely up. Then he drew me into a corner with him. + +How long we waited I cannot say. The next I knew was a muffled step on +the landing above, then the tread on the stairs. + +A crash and a deep volley of oaths in French followed as the man +pitched headlong over the chair on the dark steps. + +Kennedy whipped out his revolver and fired pointblank at the prostrate +figure. I do not know what the ethics are of firing on a man when he is +down, nor did I have time to stop to think. + +Craig grasped my arm and pulled me toward the door. A sickening odour +seemed to pervade the air. Upstairs there was shouting and banging of +doors. + +"Closer, Walter," he muttered, "closer to the door, and open it a +little, or we shall both be suffocated. It was the Secret Service gun I +shot off--the pistol that shoots stupefying gas from its vapour-filled +cartridges and enables you to put a criminal out of commission without +killing him. A pull of the trigger, the cap explodes, the gunpowder and +the force of the explosion unite some capsicum and lycopodium, +producing the blinding, suffocating vapour whose terrible effect you +see. Here, you upstairs," he shouted, "advance an inch or so much as +show your heads over the rail and I pump a shot at you, too. Walter, +take the gun yourself. Fire at a move from them. I think the gases have +cleared away enough now. I must get him before he recovers +consciousness." + +A tap at the door came, and without taking my eyes off the stairs I +opened it. Burke slid in and gulped at the nauseous atmosphere. + +"What's up?" he gasped. "I heard a shot. Where's Kennedy?" + +I motioned in the darkness. Kennedy's electric bull's-eye flashed up at +that instant and we saw him deftly slip a bright pair of manacles on +the wrists of the man on the floor, who was breathing heavily, while +blood flowed from a few slight cuts due to his fall. + +Dexterously as a pickpocket Craig reached into the man's coat, pulled +out a packet of papers, and gazed eagerly at one after another. From +among them he unfolded one written in French to Madame Marie de Nevers +some weeks before. I translate: + +DEAR MARIE: Herr Schmidt informs me that his agent in the War +Department at Washington, U. S. A., has secured some important +information which will interest the Government for which Herr Schmidt +is the agent--of course you know who that is. + +It is necessary that you should carry the packet which will be handed +to you (if you agree to my proposal) to New York by the steamer +Tripolitania. Go to the Vandeveer Hotel and in a few days, as soon as a +certain exchange can be made, either our friend in Washington or myself +will call on you, using the name Gonzales. In return for the package +which you carry he will hand you another. Lose no time in bringing the +second package back to Paris. + +I have arranged that you will receive ten thousand francs and your +expenses for your services in this matter. Under no conditions betray +your connection with Herr Schmidt. I was to have carried the packet to +America myself and make the exchange but knowing your need of money I +have secured the work for you. You had better take your maid, as it is +much better to travel with distinction in this case. If, however, you +accept this commission I shall consider you in honour bound to +surrender your claim upon my name for which I agree to pay you fifty +thousand francs upon my marriage with the American heiress of whom you +know. Please let me know immediately through our mutual friend Henri +Duval whether this proposal is satisfactory. Henri will tell you that +fifty thousand is my ultimatum, + +CHATEAUROUGE. + +"The scoundrel," ground out Kennedy. "He lured his wife from Paris to +New York, thinking the Paris police too acute for him, I suppose. Then +by means of the treachery of the maid Louise and his friend Duval, a +crook who would even descend to play the part of valet for him and fall +in love with the maid, he has succeeded in removing the woman who stood +between him and an American fortune." + +"Marie," rambled Chateaurouge as he came blinking, sneezing, and +choking out of his stupor, "Marie, you are clever, but not too clever +for me. This blackmailing must stop. Miss Lovelace knows something, +thanks to you, but she shall never know all--never--never. +You--you--ugh!--Stop. Do you think you can hold me back now with those +little white hands on my wrists? I wrench them +loose--so--and--ugh!--What's this? Where am I?" + +The man gazed dazedly at the manacles that held his wrists instead of +the delicate hands he had been dreaming of as he lived over the +terrible scene of his struggle with the woman who was his wife in the +Vanderveer. + +"Chateaurouge," almost hissed Kennedy in his righteous wrath, "fake +nobleman, real swindler of five continents. Marie de Nevers alive stood +in the way of your marriage to the heiress Miss Lovelace. Dead, she +prevents it absolutely." + +Craig continued to turn over the papers in his hand, as he spoke. At +last he came to a smaller packet in oiled silk. As he broke the seal he +glanced at it in surprise, then hurriedly exclaimed, "There, Burke. +Take these to the War Department and tell them they can turn out their +lights and stop their telegrams. This seems to be a copy of our +government's plans for the fortification of the Panama Canal, heights +of guns, location of searchlights, fire control stations, everything +from painstaking search of official and confidential records. That is +what this fellow obtained in exchange for his false blue prints of the +supposed coaling station on the Pacific. + +"I leave the Secret Service to find the leak in the War Department. +What I am interested in is not the man who played spy for two nations +and betrayed one of them. To me this adventurer who calls himself +Chateaurouge is merely the murderer of Madame de Nevers." + + + + +X + +THE SMUGGLER + + +It was a rather sultry afternoon in the late summer when people who had +calculated by the calendar rather than by the weather were returning to +the city from the seashore, the mountains, and abroad. + +Except for the week-ends, Kennedy and I had been pretty busy, though on +this particular day there was a lull in the succession of cases which +had demanded our urgent attention during the summer. + +We had met at the Public Library, where Craig was doing some special +research at odd moments in criminology. Fifth Avenue was still half +deserted, though the few pedestrians who had returned or remained in +town like ourselves were, as usual, to be found mostly on the west side +of the street. Nearly everybody, I have noticed, walks on the one side +of Fifth Avenue, winter or summer. + +As we stood on the corner waiting for the traffic man's whistle to halt +the crush of automobiles, a man on the top of a 'bus waved to Kennedy. + +I looked up and caught a glimpse of Jack Herndon, an old college mate, +who had had some political aspirations and had recently been appointed +to a position in the customs house of New York. Herndon, I may add, +represented the younger and clean-cut generation which is entering +official life with great advantage to both themselves and politics. + +The 'bus pulled up to the curb, and Jack tore down the breakneck steps +hurriedly. + +"I was just thinking of you, Craig," he beamed as we all shook hands, +"and wondering whether you and Walter were in town. I think I should +have come up to see you to-night, anyhow." + +"Why, what's the matter--more sugar frauds?" laughed Kennedy. "Or +perhaps you have caught another art dealer red-handed?" + +"No, not exactly," replied Herndon, growing graver for the moment. +"We're having a big shake-up down at the office, none of your 'new +broom' business, either. Real reform it is, this time." + +"And you--are you going or coming?" inquired Craig with an interested +twinkle. + +"Coming, Craig, coming," answered Jack enthusiastically. "They've put +me in charge of a sort of detective force as a special deputy surveyor +to rout out some smuggling that we know is going on. If I make good it +will go a long way for me--with all this talk of efficiency and economy +down in Washington these days." + +"What's on your mind now?" asked Kennedy observantly. "Can I help you +in any way?" + +Herndon had taken each of us by an arm and walked us over to a stone +bench in the shade of the library building. + +"You have read the accounts in the afternoon papers of the peculiar +death of Mademoiselle Violette, the little French modiste, up here on +Forty-sixth Street?" he inquired. + +"Yes," answered Kennedy. "What has that to do with customs reform?" + +"A good deal, I fear," Herndon continued. "It's part of a case that has +been bothering us all summer. It's the first really big thing I've been +up against and it's as ticklish a bit of business as even a veteran +treasury agent could wish." + +Herndon looked thoughtfully at the passing crowd on the other side of +the balustrade and continued. "It started, like many of our cases, with +the anonymous letter writer. Early in the summer the letters began to +come in to the deputy surveyor's office, all unsigned, though quite +evidently written in a woman's hand, disguised of course, and on rather +dainty notepaper. They warned us of a big plot to smuggle gowns and +jewellery from Paris. Smuggling jewellery is pretty common because +jewels take up little space and are very valuable. Perhaps it doesn't +sound to you like a big thing to smuggle dresses, but when you realise +that one of those filmy lacy creations may often be worth several +hundred, if not thousand, dollars, and that it needs only a few of them +on each ship that comes in to run up into the thousands, perhaps +hundreds of thousands in a season, you will see how essential it is to +break up that sort of thing. We've been getting after the individual +private smugglers pretty sharply this summer and we've had lots of +criticism. If we could land a big fellow and make an object-lesson of +the extent of the thing I believe it would leave our critics of the +press without a leg to stand on. + +"At least that was why I was interested in the letters. But it was not +until a few days ago that we got a tip that gave us a real working +clue, for the anonymous letters had been very vague as to names, dates, +and places, though bold enough as to general charges, as if the writer +were fearful of incriminating herself--or himself. Strange to say, this +new clue came from the wife of one of the customs men. She happened to +be in a Broadway manicure shop one day when she heard a woman talking +with the manicurist about fall styles, and she was all attention when +she heard the customer say, 'You remember Mademoiselle Violette's--that +place that had the exquisite things straight from Paris, and so +cheaply, too? Well, Violette says she'll have to raise her prices so +that they will be nearly as high as the regular stores. She says the +tariff has gone up, or something, but it hasn't, has it?' + +"The manicurist laughed knowingly, and the next remark caught the +woman's attention. 'No, indeed. But then, I guess she meant that she +had to pay the duty now. You know they are getting much stricter. To +tell the truth, I imagine most of Violette's goods were--well--' + +"'Smuggled?' supplied the customer in an undertone. + +"The manicurist gave a slight shrug of the shoulders and a bright +little yes of a laugh. + +"That was all. But it was enough. I set a special customs officer to +watch Mademoiselle, a clever fellow. He didn't have time to find out +much, but on the other hand I am sure he didn't do anything to alarm +Mademoiselle. That would have been a bad game. His case was progressing +favourably and he had become acquainted with one of the girls who +worked in the shop. We might have got some evidence, but suddenly this +morning he walked up to my desk and handed me an early edition of an +afternoon paper. Mademoiselle Violette had been discovered dead in her +shop by the girls when they came to work this morning. Apparently she +had been there all night, but the report was quite indefinite and I am +on my way up there now to meet the coroner, who has agreed to wait for +me." + +"You think there is some connection between her death and the letters?" +put in Craig. + +"Of course I can't say, yet," answered Herndon dubiously. "The papers +seem to think it was a suicide. But then why should she commit suicide? +My man found out that among the girls it was common gossip that she was +to marry Jean Pierre, the Fifth Avenue jeweller, of the firm of Lang +goods by Americans abroad. Well, the chief of our men in Paris cables +me that Pierre is known to have made extraordinarily heavy purchases of +made-up jewellery this season. For one thing, we believe he has +acquired from a syndicate a rather famous diamond necklace which it has +taken years to assemble and match up, worth about three hundred +thousand. You know the duty on made-up jewellery is sixty per cent., +and even if he brought the stones in loose it would be ten per cent., +which on a valuation of, say, two hundred thousand, means twenty +thousand dollars duty alone. Then he has a splendid 'dog collar' of +pearls, and, oh, a lot of other stuff. I know because we get our tips +from all sorts of sources and they are usually pretty straight. Some +come from dealers who are sore about not making sales themselves. So +you see there is a good deal at stake in this case and it may be that +in following it out we shall kill more than one bird. I wish you'd come +along with me up to Mademoiselle Violette's and give me an opinion." + +Craig had already risen from the bench and we were walking up the +Avenue. + +The establishment of Mademoiselle Violette consisted of a three-story +and basement brownstone house in which the basement and first floor had +been remodelled for business purposes. Mademoiselle's place, which was +on the first floor, was announced to the world by a neat little oval +gilt sign on the handrailing of the steps. + +We ascended and rang the bell. As we waited I noticed that there were +several other modistes on the same street, while almost directly across +was a sign which proclaimed that on September 15 Mademoiselle Gabrielle +would open with a high class exhibition of imported gowns from Paris. + +We entered. The coroner and an undertaker were already there, and the +former was expecting Herndon. Kennedy and I had already met him and he +shook hands cordially. + +Mademoiselle Violette, it seemed, had rented the entire house and then +had sublet the basement to a milliner, using the first floor herself, +the second as a workroom for the girls whom she employed, while she +lived on the top floor, which had been fitted for light housekeeping +with a kitchenette. It was in the back room of the shop itself on the +first floor that her body had been discovered, lying on a davenport. + +"The newspaper reports were very indefinite," began Herndon, +endeavouring to take in the situation. "I suppose they told nearly all +the story, but what caused her death? Have you found that out yet? Was +it poison or violence?" + +The coroner said nothing, but with a significant glance at Kennedy he +drew a peculiar contrivance from his pocket. It had four round holes in +it and through each hole he slipped a finger, then closed his hand, and +exhibited his clenched fist. It looked as if he wore a series of four +metal rings on his fingers. + +"Brass knuckles?" suggested Herndon, looking hastily at the body, which +showed not a sign of violence on the stony face. + +The coroner shook his head knowingly. Suddenly he raised his fist. I +saw him press hard with his thumb on the upper end of the metal +contrivance. From the other end, just concealed under his little +finger, there shot out as if released by a magic spring a thin keen +little blade of the brightest and toughest steel. He was holding, +instead of a meaningless contrivance of four rings, a most dangerous +kind of stiletto or dagger upraised. He lifted his thumb and the blade +sprang back into its sheath like an extinguished spark of light. + +"An Apache dagger, such as is used in the underworld of Paris," broke +out Kennedy, his eyes gleaming with interest. + +The coroner nodded. "We found it," he said, "clasped loosely in her +hand. But it is only by expert medical testimony that we can determine +whether it was placed on her fingers before or after this happened. We +have photographed it, and the prints are being developed." + +He had now uncovered the slight figure of the little French modiste. On +the dress, instead of the profuse flow of blood which we had expected +to see, there was a single round spot. And in the white marble skin of +her breast was a little, nearly microscopic puncture, directly over the +heart. + +"She must have died almost instantly," commented Kennedy, glancing from +the Apache weapon to the dead woman and back again. "Internal +hemorrhage. I suppose you have searched her effects. Have you found +anything that gives a hint among them?" + +"No," replied the coroner doubtfully, "I can't say we have--unless it +is the bundle of letters from Pierre, the jeweller. They seem to have +been engaged, and yet the letters stopped abruptly, and, well, from the +tone of the last one from him I should say there was a quarrel brewing." + +An exclamation from Herndon followed. "The same notepaper and the same +handwriting as the anonymous letters," he cried. + +But that was all. Go over the ground as Kennedy might he could find +nothing further than the coroner and Herndon had already revealed. + +"About these people, Lang & Pierre," asked Craig thoughtfully when we +had left Mademoiselle's and were riding downtown to the customs house +with Herndon. "What do you know about them? I presume that Lang is in +America, if his partner is abroad." + +"Yes, he is here in New York. I believe the firm has a rather unsavoury +reputation; they have to be watched, I am told. Then, too, one or the +other of the partners makes frequent trips abroad, mostly Pierre. +Pierre, as you see, was very intimate with Mademoiselle, and the +letters simply confirm what the girls told my detective. He was +believed to be engaged to her and I see no reason now to doubt that. +The fact is, Kennedy, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to learn +that it was he who engineered the smuggling for her as well as himself." + +"What about the partner? What role does he play in your suspicions?" + +"That's another curious feature. Lang doesn't seem to bother much with +the business. He is a sort of silent partner, although nominally the +head of the firm. Still, they both seem always to be plentifully +supplied with money and to have a good trade. Lang lives most of the +time up on the west shore of the Hudson, and seems to be more +interested in his position as commodore of the Riverledge Yacht Club +than in his business down here. He is quite a sport, a great motor-boat +enthusiast, and has lately taken to hydroplanes." + +"I meant," repeated Kennedy, "what about Lang and Mademoiselle +Violette. Were they--ah--friendly?" + +"Oh," replied Herndon, seeming to catch the idea. "I see. Of +course--Pierre abroad and Lang here. I see what you mean. Why, the girl +told my man that Mademoiselle Violette used to go motor-boating with +Lang, but only when her fiance, Pierre, was along. No, I don't think +she ever had anything to do with Lang, if that's what you are driving +at. He may have paid attentions to her, but Pierre was her lover, and I +haven't a doubt but that if Lang made any advances she repelled them. +She seems to have thought everything of Pierre." + +We had reached Herndon's office by this time. Leaving word with his +stenographer to get the very latest reports from La Montaigne, he +continued talking to us about his work. + +"Dressmakers, milliners, and jewellers are our worst offenders now," he +remarked as we stood gazing out of the window at the panorama of the +bay off the sea-wall of the Battery. "Why, time and again we unearth +what looks for all the world like a 'dressmakers' syndicate,' though +this case is the first I've had that involved a death. Really, I've +come to look on smuggling as one of the fine arts among crimes. Once +the smuggler, like the pirate and the highwayman, was a sort of +gentleman-rogue. But now it has become a very ladylike art. The extent +of it is almost beyond belief, too. It begins with the steerage and +runs right up to the absolute unblushing cynicism of the first cabin. I +suppose you know that women, particularly a certain brand of society +women, are the worst and most persistent offenders. Why, they even +boast of it. Smuggling isn't merely popular--it's aristocratic. But +we're going to take some of the flavour out of it before we finish." + +He tore open a cable message which a boy had brought in. "Now, take +this, for instance," he continued. "You remember the sign across the +street from Mademoiselle Violette's, announcing that a Mademoiselle +Gabrielle was going to open a salon or whatever they call it? Well, +here's another cable from our Paris Secret Service with a belated tip. +They tell us to look out for a Mademoiselle Gabrielle--on La Montaigne, +too. That's another interesting thing. You know the various lines are +all ranked, at least in our estimation, according to the likelihood of +such offences being perpetrated by their passengers. We watch ships +from London, Liverpool, and Paris most carefully. Scandinavian ships +are the least likely to need watching. Well, Miss Roberts?" + +"We have just had a wireless about La Montaigne" reported his +stenographer, who had entered while he was speaking, "and she is three +hundred miles east of Sandy Hook. She won't dock until to-morrow." + +"Thank you. Well, fellows, it is getting late and that means nothing +more doing to-night. Can you be here early in the morning? We'll go +down the bay and 'bring in the ship,' as our men call it when the +deputy surveyor and his acting deputies go down to meet it at +Quarantine. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your kindness in +helping me. If my men get anything connecting Lang with Mademoiselle +Violette's case I'll let you know immediately." + +It was a bright clear snappy morning, in contrast with the heat of the +day before, when we boarded the revenue tug at the Barge Office. The +waters of the harbour never looked more blue as they danced in the +early sunlight, flecked here and there by a foaming whitecap as the +conflicting tides eddied about. The shores of Staten Island were almost +as green as in the spring, and even the haze over the Brooklyn +factories had lifted. It looked almost like a stage scene, clear and +sharp, new and brightly coloured. + +Perhaps the least known and certainly one of the least recognised of +the government services is that which includes the vigilant ships of +the revenue service. It was not a revenue cutter, however, on which we +were ploughing down the bay. The cutter lay, white and gleaming in the +morning sun, at anchor off Stapleton, like a miniature warship, +saluting as we passed. The revenue boats which steam down to Quarantine +and make fast to the incoming ocean greyhounds are revenue tugs. + +Down the bay we puffed and buffeted for about forty minutes before we +arrived at the little speck of an island that is Quarantine. Long +before we were there we sighted the great La Montaigne near the group +of buildings on the island, where she had been waiting since early +morning for the tide and the customs officials. The tug steamed +alongside, and quickly up the high ladders swarmed the boarding officer +and the deputy collectors. We followed Herndon straight to the main +saloon, where the collectors began to receive the declarations which +had been made out on blanks furnished to the passengers on the voyage +over. They had had several days to write them out--the less excuse for +omissions. + +Glancing at each hastily the collector detached from it the slip with +the number at the bottom and handed the number back, to be presented at +the inspector's desk at the pier, where customs inspectors were +assigned in turn. + +"Number 140 is the one we want to watch," I heard Herndon whisper to +Kennedy. "That tall dark fellow over there." + +I followed his direction cautiously and saw a sparely built, striking +looking man who had just filed his declaration and was chatting +vivaciously with a lady who was just about to file hers. She was a +clinging looking little thing with that sort of doll-like innocence +that deceives nobody. + +"No, you don't have to swear to it," he said. "You used to do that, but +now you simply sign your name--and take a chance," he added, smiling +and showing a row of perfect teeth. + +"Number 156," Herndon noted as the collector detached the stub and +handed it to her. "That was Mademoiselle Gabrielle." + +The couple passed out to the deck, still chatting gaily. + +"In the old days, before they got to be so beastly particular," I heard +him say, "I always used to get the courtesy of the port, an official +expedite. But that is over now." + +The ship was now under way, her flags snapping in the brisk coolish +breeze that told of approaching autumn. We had passed up the lower bay +and the Narrows, and the passengers were crowded forward to catch the +first glimpse of the skyscrapers of New York. + +On up the bay we ploughed, throwing the spray proudly as we went +Herndon employed the time in keeping a sharp watch on the tall, thin +man. Incidentally he sought out the wireless operator and from him +learned that a code wireless message had been received for Pierre, +apparently from his partner, Lang. + +"There is no mention of anything dutiable in this declaration by 140 +which corresponds with any of the goods mentioned in the first cable +from Paris," a collector remarked unobtrusively to Herndon, "nor in 156 +corresponding to the second cable." + +"I didn't suppose there would be," was his laconic reply. "That's our +job--to find the stuff." + +At last La Montaigne was warped into the dock. The piles of first-class +baggage on the ship were raucously deposited on the wharf and slowly +the passengers filed down the plank to meet the line of white-capped +uniformed inspectors and plain-clothes appraisers. The comedy and +tragedy of the customs inspection had begun. + +We were among the first to land. Herndon took up a position from which +he could see without being seen. In the semi-light of the little +windows in the enclosed sides of the pier, under the steel girders of +the arched roof like a vast hall, there was a panorama of a huge mass +of open luggage. + +At last Number 140 came down, alone, to the roped-off dock. He walked +nonchalantly over to the little deputy surveyor's desk, and an +inspector was quickly assigned to him. It was all done neatly in the +regular course of business apparently. He did not know that in the +orderly rush the sharpest of Herndon's men had been picked out, much as +a trick card player will force a card on his victim. + +Already the customs inspection was well along. One inspector had been +assigned to about each five passengers, and big piles of finery were +being remorselessly tumbled out in shapeless heaps and exposed to the +gaze of that part of the public which was not too much concerned over +the same thing as to its own goods and chattels. Reticules and purses +were being inspected. Every trunk was presumed to have a false bottom, +and things wrapped up in paper were viewed suspiciously and unrolled. +Clothes were being shaken and pawed. There did not seem to be much +opportunity for concealment. + +Herndon now had donned the regulation straw hat of the appraiser, and +accompanied by us, posing as visitors, was sauntering about. At last we +came within earshot of the spot where the inspector was going through +the effects of 140. + +Out of the corner of my eyes I could see that a dispute was in progress +over some trifling matter. The man was cool and calm. "Call the +appraiser," he said at last, with the air of a man standing on his +rights. "I object to this frisking of passengers. Uncle Sam is little +better than a pickpocket. Besides, I can't wait here all day. My +partner is waiting for me uptown." + +Herndon immediately took notice. But it was quite evidently, after all, +only an altercation for the benefit of those who were watching. I am +sure he knew he was being watched, but as the dispute proceeded he +assumed the look of a man keenly amused. The matter, involving only a +few dollars, was finally adjusted by his yielding gracefully and with +an air of resignation. Still Herndon did not go and I am sure it +annoyed him. + +Suddenly he turned and faced Herndon. I could not help thinking, in +spite of all that he must be so expert, that, if he really were a +smuggler, he had all the poise and skill at evasion that would entitle +him to be called a cast master of the art. + +"You see that woman over there?" he whispered. "She says she is just +coming home after studying music in Paris." + +We looked. It was the guileless ingenue, Mademoiselle Gabrielle. + +"She has dutiable goods, all right. I saw her declaration. She is +trying to bring in as personal effects of a foreign resident gowns +which, I believe, she intends to wear on the stage. She's an actress." + +There was nothing for Herndon to do but to act on the tip. The man had +got rid of us temporarily, but we knew the inspector would be, if +anything, more vigilant. I think he took even longer than usual. + +Mademoiselle Gabrielle and her maid pouted and fussed over the renewed +examination which Herndon ordered. According to the inspector +everything was new and expensive; according to her, old, shabby, and +cheap. She denied everything, raged and threatened. But when, instead +of ordering the stamp "Passed" to be placed on her half dozen trunks +and bags which contained in reality only a few dutiable articles, +Herndon threatened to order them to the appraiser's stores and herself +to go to the Law Division if she did not admit the points in dispute, +there was a real scene. + +"Generally, madame," he remonstrated, though I could see he was baffled +at finding nothing of the goods he had really expected to find, +"generally even for a first offence the goods are confiscated and the +court or district attorney is content to let the person off with a +fine. If this happens again we'll be more severe. So you had better pay +the duty on these few little matters, without that." + +If he had been expecting to "throw a scare" into her, it did not +succeed. "Well, I suppose if I must, I must," she said, and the only +result of the diversion was that she paid a few dollars more than had +been expected and went off in a high state of mind. + +Herndon had disappeared for a moment, after a whisper from Kennedy, to +instruct two of his men to shadow Mademoiselle Gabrielle and, later, +Pierre. He soon rejoined us and we casually returned to the vicinity of +our tall friend, Number 140, for whom I felt even less respect than +ever after his apparently ungallant action toward the lady he had been +talking with. He seemed to notice my attitude and he remarked +defensively for my benefit, "Only a patriotic act." + +His inspector by this time had finished a most minute examination. +There was nothing that could be discovered, not a false book with a +secret spring that might disclose instead of reading matter a heap of +almost priceless jewels, not a suspicious bulging of any garment or of +the lining of a trunk or grip. Some of the goods might have been on his +person, but not much, and certainly there was no excuse for ordering a +personal examination, for he could not have hidden a tenth part of what +we knew he had, even under the proverbial porous plaster. He was +impeccable. Accordingly there was nothing for the inspector to do but +to declare a polite armistice. + +"So you didn't find 'Mona Lisa' in a false bottom, and my trunks were +not lined with smuggled cigars after all," he rasped savagely as the +stamp "Passed" was at last affixed and he paid in cash at the little +window with its sign, "Pay Duty Here: U. S. Custom House," some hundred +dollars instead of the thousands Herndon had been hoping to collect, if +not to seize. + +All through the inspection, an extra close scrutiny had been kept on +the other passengers as well, to prevent any of them from being in +league with the smugglers, though there was no direct or indirect +evidence to show that any of the others were. + +We were about to leave the wharf, also, when Craig's attention was +called to a stack of trunks still remaining. + +"Whose are those?" he asked as he lifted one. It felt suspiciously +light. + +"Some of them belong to a Mr. Pierre and the rest to a Miss Gabrielle," +answered an inspector. "Bonded for Troy and waiting to be transferred +by the express company." + +Here, perhaps, at last was an explanation, and Craig took advantage of +it. Could it be that the real seat of trouble was not here but at some +other place, that some exchange was to be made en route or perhaps an +attempt at bribery? + +Herndon, too, was willing to run a risk. He ordered the trunks opened +immediately. But to our disappointment they were almost empty. There +was scarcely a thing of value in them. Most of the contents consisted +of clothes that had plainly been made in America and were being brought +back here. It was another false scent. We had been played with and +baffled at every turn. Perhaps this had been the method originally +agreed on. At any rate it had been changed. + +"Could they have left the goods in Paris, after all?" I queried. + +"With the fall and winter trade just coming on?" Kennedy replied, with +an air of finality that set at rest any doubts about his opinion on +that score. "I thought perhaps we had a case of--what do you call it, +Herndon, when they leave trunks that are to be secretly removed by +dishonest expressmen from the wharf at night?" + +"'Sleepers.' Oh, we've broken that up, too. No expressman would dare +try it now. I must confess this thing is beyond me, Craig." + +Kennedy made no answer. Evidently there was nothing to do but to await +developments and see what Herndon's men reported. We had been beaten at +every turn in the game. Herndon seemed to feel that there was a bitter +sting in the defeat, particularly because the smuggler or smugglers had +actually been in our grasp so long to do with as we pleased, and had so +cleverly slipped out again, leaving us holding the bag. + +Kennedy was especially thoughtful as he told over the facts of the case +in his mind. "Of course," he remarked, "Mademoiselle Gabrielle wasn't +an actress. But we can't deny that she had very little that would +justify Herndon in holding her, unless he simply wants a newspaper row." + +"But I thought Pierre was quite intimate with her at first," I +ventured. "That was a dirty trick of his." + +Craig laughed. "You mean an old one. That was simply a blind, to divert +attention from himself. I suspect they talked that over between +themselves for days before." + +It was plainly more perplexing than ever. What had happened? Had Pierre +been a prestidigitator and had he merely said presto! when our backs +were turned and whisked the goods invisibly into the country? I could +find no explanation for the little drama on the pier. If Herndon's men +had any genius in detecting smuggling, their professional opponent +certainly had greater genius in perpetrating it. + +We did not see Herndon again until after a hasty luncheon. He was in +his office and inclined to take a pessimistic view of the whole affair. +He brightened up when a telephone message came in from one of his +shadows. The men trailing Pierre and Mademoiselle Gabrielle had crossed +trails and run together at a little French restaurant on the lower West +Side, where Pierre, Lang, and Mademoiselle Gabrielle had met and were +dining in a most friendly spirit. Kennedy was right. She had been +merely a cog in the machinery of the plot. + +The man reported that even when a newsboy had been sent in by him with +the afternoon papers displaying in big headlines the mystery of the +death of Mademoiselle Violette, they had paid no attention. It seemed +evident that whatever the fate of the modiste, Mademoiselle Gabrielle +had quite replaced her in the affections of Pierre. There was nothing +for us to do but to separate and await developments. + +It was late in the afternoon when Craig and I received a hurried +message from Herndon. One of his men had just called him up over long +distance from Riverledge. The party had left the restaurant hurriedly, +and though they had taken the only taxicab in sight he had been able to +follow them in time to find out that they were going up to Riverledge. +They were now preparing to go out for a sail in one of Lang's +motor-boats and he would be unable, of course, to follow them further. + +For the remainder of the afternoon Kennedy remained pondering the case. +At last an idea seemed to dawn on him. He found Herndon still at his +office and made an appointment to meet on the waterfront near La +Montaigne's pier, after dinner. The change in Kennedy's spirits was +obvious, though it did not in the least enlighten my curiosity. Even +after a dinner which was lengthened out considerably, I thought, I did +not get appreciably nearer a solution, for we strolled over to the +laboratory, where Craig loaded me down with a huge package which was +wrapped up in heavy paper. + +We arrived on the corner opposite the wharf just as it was growing +dusk. The neighbourhood did not appeal to me at night, and even though +there were two of us I was rather glad when we met Herndon, who was +waiting in the shadow of a fruit stall. + +But instead of proceeding across to the pier by the side of which La +Montaigne was moored, we cut across the wide street and turned down the +next pier, where a couple of freighters were lying. The odour of salt +water, sewage, rotting wood, and the night air was not inspiring. +Nevertheless I was now carried away with the strangeness of our +adventure. + +Halfway down the pier Kennedy paused before one of the gangways that +was shrouded in darkness. The door was opened and we followed gingerly +across the dirty deck of the freight ship. Below we could hear the +water lapping the piles of the pier. Across a dark abyss lay the grim +monster La Montaigne with here and there a light gleaming on one of her +decks. The sounds of the city seemed miles away. + +"What a fine place for a murder," laughed Kennedy coolly. He was +unwrapping the package which he had taken from me. It proved to be a +huge reflector in front of which was placed a little arrangement which, +under the light of a shaded lantern carried by Herndon, looked like a +coil of wire of some kind. + +To the back of the reflector Craig attached two other flexible wires +which led to a couple of dry cells and a cylinder with a broadened end, +made of vulcanised rubber. It might have been a telephone receiver, for +all I could tell in the darkness. + +While I was still speculating on the possible use of the enormous +parabolic reflector, a slight commotion on the opposite side of the +pier distracted my attention. A ship was coming in and was being +carefully and quietly berthed alongside the other big iron freighter on +that side. Herndon had left us. + +"The Mohican is here," he remarked as he rejoined us. To my look of +inquiry he added, "The revenue cutter." + +Kennedy had now finished and had pointed the reflector full at La +Montaigne. With a whispered hasty word of caution and advice to +Herndon, he drew me along with him down the wharf again. + +At the little door which was cut in the barrier guarding the shore end +of La Montaigne's wharf Kennedy stopped. The customs service night +watchman--there is always a watchman of some kind aboard every ship, +passenger or freighter, all the time she is in port--seemed to +understand, for he admitted us after a word with Kennedy. + +Threading our way carefully among the boxes, and bales, and crates +which were piled high, we proceeded down the wharf. Under the electric +lights the longshoremen were working feverishly, for the unloading and +loading of a giant trans-Atlantic vessel in the rush season is a long +and tedious process at best, requiring night work and overtime, for +every moment, like every cubic foot of space, counts. + +Once within the door, however, no one paid much attention to us. They +seemed to take it for granted that we had some right there. We boarded +the ship by one of the many entrances and then proceeded down to a deck +where apparently no one was working. It was more like a great house +than a ship, I felt, and I wondered whether Kennedy's search was not +more of a hunt for a needle in a haystack than anything else. Yet he +seemed to know what he was after. + +We had descended to what I imagined must be the quarters of the +steward. About us were many large cases and chests, stacked up and +marked as belonging to the ship. Kennedy's attention was attracted to +them immediately. All at once it flashed on me what his purpose was. In +some of those cases were the smuggled goods! + +Before I could say a word and before Kennedy had a chance even to try +to verify his suspicions, a sudden approach of footsteps startled us. +He drew me into a cabin or room full of shelves with ship's stores. + +"Why didn't you bring Herndon over and break into the boxes, if you +think the stuff is hidden in one of them?" I whispered. + +"And let those higher up escape while their tools take all the blame?" +he answered. "Sh-h." + +The men who had come into the compartment looked about as if expecting +to see some one. + +"Two of them came down," a gruff voice said. "Where are they?" + +From the noise I inferred that there must be four or five men, and from +the ease with which they shifted the cases about some of them must have +been pretty husky stevedores. + +"I don't know," a more polished but unfamiliar voice answered. + +The door to our hiding-place was opened roughly and then banged shut +before we realised it. With a taunting laugh, some one turned a key in +the lock and before we could move a quick shift of packing cases +against the door made escape impossible. + +Here we were marooned, shanghaied, as it were, within sight if not call +of Herndon and our friends. We had run up against professional +smugglers, of whom I had vaguely read, disguised as stewards, +deckhands, stokers, and other workers. + +The only other opening to the cabin was a sort of porthole, more for +ventilation than anything else. Kennedy stuck his head through it, but +it was impossible for a man to squeeze out. There was one of the lower +decks directly before us while a bright arc light gleamed tantalisingly +over it, throwing a round circle of light into our prison. I reflected +bitterly on our shipwreck within sight of port. + +Kennedy remained silent, and I did not know what was working in his +mind. Together we made out the outline of the freighter at the next +wharf and speculated as to the location where we had left Herndon with +the huge reflector. There was no moon and it was as black as ink in +that direction, but if we could have got out I would have trusted to +luck to reach it by swimming. + +Below us, from the restless water lapping on the sides of the hulk of +La Montaigne, we could now hear muffled sounds. It was a motor-boat +which had come crawling up the river front, with lights extinguished, +and had pushed a cautious nose into the slip where our ship lay at the +quay. None of your romantic low-lying, rakish craft of the old +smuggling yarns was this, ready for deeds of desperation in the dark +hours of midnight. It was just a modern little motor-boat, up-to-date, +and swift. + +"Perhaps we'll get out of this finally," I grumbled as I understood now +what was afoot, "but not in time to be of any use." + +A smothered sound as of something going over the vessel's side +followed. It was one of the boxes which we had seen outside in the +storeroom. Another followed, and a third and a fourth. + +Then came a subdued parley. "We have two customs detectives locked in a +cabin here. We can't stay now. You'll have to take us and our things +off, too." + +"Can't do it," called up another muffled voice. "Make your things into +a little bundle. We'll take that, but you'll have to get past the +nightwatchman yourselves and meet us at Riverledge." + +A moment later something else went over the side, and from the sound we +could infer that the engine of the motor-boat was being started. + +A voice sounded mockingly outside our door. "Bon soir, you fellows in +there. We're going up the dock. Sorry to leave you here till morning, +but they'll let you out then. Au revoir." + +Below I could hear just the faintest well-muffled chug-chug. Kennedy in +the meantime had been coolly craning his neck out of our porthole under +the rays of the arc light overhead. He was holding something in his +hand. It seemed like a little silver-backed piece of thin glass with a +flaring funnel-like thing back of it, which he held most particularly. +Though he heard the parting taunt outside he paid no attention. + +"You go to the deuce, whoever you are," I cried, beating on the door, +to which only a coarse laugh echoed back down the passageway. + +"Be quiet, Walter," ordered Kennedy. "We have located the smuggled +goods in the storeroom of the steward, four wooden cases of them. I +think the stuff must have been brought on the ship in the trunks and +then transferred to the cases, perhaps after the code wireless message +was received. But we have been overpowered and locked in a cabin with a +port too small to crawl through. The cases have been lowered over the +side of the ship to a motor-boat that was waiting below. The lights on +the boat are out, but if you hurry you can get it. The accomplices who +locked us in are going to disappear up the wharf. If you could only get +the night watchman quickly enough you could catch them, too, before +they reach the street." + +I had turned, half expecting to see Kennedy talking to a ship's officer +who might have chanced on the deck outside. There was no one. The only +thing of life was the still sputtering arc light. Had the man gone +crazy? + +"What of it?" I growled. "Don't you suppose I know all that? What's the +use of repeating it now? The thing to do is to get out of this hole. +Come, help me at this door. Maybe we can batter it down." + +Kennedy paid no attention to me, however, but kept his eyes glued on +the Cimmerian blackness outside the porthole. + +He had done nothing apparently, yet a long finger of light seemed to +shoot out into the sky from the pier across from us and begin waving +back and forth as it was lowered to the dark waters of the river. It +was a searchlight. At once I thought of the huge reflector which I had +seen set up. But that had been on our side of the next pier and this +light came from the far side where the Mohican lay. + +"What is it?" I asked eagerly. "What has happened?" + +It was as if a prayer had been answered from our dungeon on La +Montaigne. + +"I knew we should need some means to communicate with Herndon," he +explained simply, "and the wireless telephone wasn't practicable. So I +have used Dr. Alexander Graham Bell's photophone. Any of the lights on +this side of La Montaigne, I knew, would serve. What I did, Walter, was +merely to talk into the mouthpiece back of this little silvered mirror +which reflects light. The vibrations of the voice caused a diaphragm in +it to vibrate and thus the beam of reflected light was made to pulsate. +In other words, this little thing is just a simple apparatus to +transform the air vibrations of the voice into light vibrations. + +"The parabolic reflector over there catches these light vibrations and +focuses them on the cell of selenium which you perhaps noticed in the +centre of the reflector. You remember doubtless that the element +selenium varies its electrical resistance under light? Thus there are +reproduced similar variations in the cell to those vibrations here in +this transmitter. The cell is connected with a telephone receiver and +batteries over there--and there you are. It is very simple. In the +ordinary carbon telephone transmitter a variable electrical resistance +is produced by pressure, since carbon is not so good a conductor under +pressure. Then these variations are transmitted along two wires. This +photophone is wireless. Selenium even emits notes under a vibratory +beam of light, the pitch depending on the frequency. Changes in the +intensity of the light focused by the reflector on the cell alter its +electrical resistance and vary the current from the dry batteries. +Hence the telephone receiver over there is affected. Bell used the +photophone or radiophone over several hundred feet, Ruhmer over several +miles. When you thought I was talking to myself I was really telling +Herndon what had happened and what to do--talking to him literally over +a beam of light." + +I could scarcely believe it, but an exclamation from Kennedy as he drew +his head in quickly recalled my attention. "Look out on the river, +Walter," he cried. "The Mohican has her searchlight sweeping up and +down. What do you see?" + +The long finger of light had now come to rest. In its pathway I saw a +lightless motor-boat bobbing up and down, crowding on all speed, yet +followed relentlessly by the accusing finger. The river front was now +alive with shouting. + +Suddenly the Mohican shot out from behind the pier where she had been +hidden. In spite of Lang's expertness it was an unequal race. Nor would +it have made much difference if it had been otherwise, for a shot rang +out from the Mohican which commanded instant respect. The powerful +revenue cutter rapidly overhauled the little craft. + +A hurried tread down the passageway followed. Cases were being shoved +aside and a key in the door of our compartment turned quickly. I waited +with clenched fists, prepared for an attack. + +"You're all right?" Herndon's voice inquired anxiously. "We've got that +steward and the other fellows all right." + +"Yes, come on," shouted Craig. "The cutter has made a capture." + +We had reached the stern of the ship, and far out in the river the +Mohican was now headed toward us. She came alongside, and Herndon +quickly seized a rope, fastened it to the rail, and let himself down to +the deck of the cutter. Kennedy and I followed. + +"This is a high-handed proceeding," I heard a voice that must have been +Lang's protesting. "By what right do you stop me? You shall suffer for +this." + +"The Mohican," broke in Herndon, "has the right to appear anywhere from +Southshoal Lightship off Nantucket to the capes of the Delaware, demand +an inspection of any vessel's manifest and papers, board anything from +La Montaigne to your little motor-boat, inspect it, seize it, if +necessary put a crew on it." He slapped the little cannon. + +"That commands respect. Besides, you were violating the regulations--no +lights." + +On the deck of the cutter now lay four cases. A man broke one of them +open, then another. Inside he disclosed thousands of dollars' worth of +finery, while from a tray he drew several large chamois bags of +glittering diamonds and pearls. + +Pierre looked on, crushed, all his jauntiness gone. + +"So," exclaimed Kennedy, facing him, "you have your jilted fiancee, +Mademoiselle Violette, to thank for this--her letters and her suicide. +It wasn't as easy as you thought to throw her over for a new soul mate, +this Mademoiselle Gabrielle whom you were going to set up as a rival in +business to Violette. Violette has her revenge for making a plaything +of her heart, and if the dead can take any satisfaction she--" + +With a quick movement Kennedy anticipated a motion of Pierre's. The +ruined smuggler had contemplated either an attack on himself or his +captor, but Craig had seized him by the wrist and ground his knuckles +into the back of Pierre's clenched fist until he winced with pain. An +Apache dagger similar to that which the little modiste had used to end +her life tragedy clattered to the deck of the ship, a mute testimonial +to the high class of society Pierre and his associates must have +cultivated. + +"None of that, Pierre," Craig muttered, releasing him. "You can't cheat +the government out of its just dues even in the matter of punishment." + + + + +XI + +THE INVISIBLE RAY + + +"I won't deny that I had some expectations from the old man myself." + +Kennedy's client was speaking in a low, full-chested, vibrating voice, +with some emotion, so low that I had entered the room without being +aware that any one was there until it was too late to retreat. + +"As his physician for over twelve years," the man pursued, "I certainly +had been led to hope to be remembered in his will. But, Professor +Kennedy, I can't put it too strongly when I say that there is no +selfish motive in my coming to you about the case. There is something +wrong--depend on that." + +Craig had glanced up at me and, as I hesitated, I could see in an +instant that the speaker was a practitioner of a type that is rapidly +passing away, the old-fashioned family doctor. + +"Dr. Burnham, I should like to have you know Mr. Jameson," introduced +Craig. "You can talk as freely before him as you have to me alone. We +always work together." + +I shook hands with the visitor. + +"The doctor has succeeded in interesting me greatly in a case which has +some unique features," Kennedy explained. "It has to do with Stephen +Haswell, the eccentric old millionaire of Brooklyn. Have you ever heard +of him?" + +"Yes, indeed," I replied, recalling an occasional article which had +appeared in the newspapers regarding a dusty and dirty old house in +that part of the Heights in Brooklyn whence all that is fashionable had +not yet taken flight, a house of mystery, yet not more mysterious than +its owner in his secretive comings and goings in the affairs of men of +a generation beyond his time. Further than the facts that he was +reputed to be very wealthy and led, in the heart of a great city, what +was as nearly like the life of a hermit as possible, I knew little or +nothing. "What has he been doing now?" I asked. + +"About a week ago," repeated the doctor, in answer to a nod of +encouragement from Kennedy, "I was summoned in the middle of the night +to attend Mr. Haswell, who, as I have been telling Professor Kennedy, +had been a patient of mine for over twelve years. He had been suddenly +stricken with total blindness. Since then he appears to be failing +fast, that is, he appeared so the last time I saw him, a few days ago, +after I had been superseded by a younger man. It is a curious case and +I have thought about it a great deal. But I didn't like to speak to the +authorities; there wasn't enough to warrant that, and I should have +been laughed out of court for my pains. The more I have thought about +it, however, the more I have felt it my duty to say something to +somebody, and so, having heard of Professor Kennedy, I decided to +consult him. The fact of the matter is, I very much fear that there are +circumstances which will bear sharp looking into, perhaps a scheme to +get control of the old man's fortune." + +The doctor paused, and Craig inclined his head, as much as to signify +his appreciation of the delicate position in which Burnham stood in the +case. Before the doctor could proceed further, Kennedy handed me a +letter which had been lying before him on the table. It had evidently +been torn into small pieces and then carefully pasted together. + +The superscription gave a small town in Ohio and a date about a +fortnight previous. + +Dear Father [it read]: I hope you will pardon me for writing, but I +cannot let the occasion of your seventy-fifth birthday pass without a +word of affection and congratulation. I am alive and well--Time has +dealt leniently with me in that respect, if not in money matters. I do +not say this in the hope of reconciling you to me. I know that is +impossible after all these cruel years. But I do wish that I could see +you again. Remember, I am your only child and even if you still think I +have been a foolish one, please let me come to see you once before it +is too late. We are constantly travelling from place to place, but +shall be here for a few days. + +Your loving daughter, + +GRACE HASWELL MARTIN. + +"Some fourteen or fifteen years ago," explained the doctor as I looked +up from reading the note, "Mr. Haswell's only daughter eloped with an +artist named Martin. He had been engaged to paint a portrait of the +late Mrs. Haswell from a photograph. It was the first time that Grace +Haswell had ever been able to find expression for the artistic yearning +which had always been repressed by the cold, practical sense of her +father. She remembered her mother perfectly since the sad bereavement +of her girlhood and naturally she watched and helped the artist +eagerly. The result was a portrait which might well have been painted +from the subject herself rather than from a cold photograph. + +"Haswell saw the growing intimacy of his daughter and the artist. His +bent of mind was solely toward money and material things, and he at +once conceived a bitter and unreasoning hatred for Martin, who, he +believed, had 'schemed' to capture his daughter and an easy living. Art +was as foreign to his nature as possible. Nevertheless they went ahead +and married, and, well, it resulted in the old man disinheriting the +girl. The young couple disappeared bravely to make their way by their +chosen profession and, as far as I know, have never been heard from +since until now. Haswell made a new will and I have always understood +that practically all of his fortune is to be devoted to founding the +technology department in a projected university of Brooklyn." + +"You have never seen this Mrs. Martin or her husband?" asked Kennedy. + +"No, never. But in some way she must have learned that I had some +influence with her father, for she wrote to me not long ago, enclosing +a note for him and asking me to intercede for her. I did so. I took the +letter to him as diplomatically as I could. The old man flew into a +towering rage, refused even to look at the letter, tore it up into +bits, and ordered me never to mention the subject to him again. That is +her note, which I saved. However, it is the sequel about which I wish +your help." + +The physician folded up the patched letter carefully before he +continued. "Mr. Haswell, as you perhaps know, has for many years been a +prominent figure in various curious speculations, or rather in loaning +money to many curious speculators. It is not necessary to go into the +different schemes which he has helped to finance. Even though most of +them have been unknown to the public they have certainly given him such +a reputation that he is much sought after by inventors. + +"Not long ago Haswell became interested in the work of an obscure +chemist over in Brooklyn, Morgan Prescott. Prescott claims, as I +understand, to be able to transmute copper into gold. Whatever you +think of it offhand, you should visit his laboratory yourselves, +gentlemen. I am told it is wonderful, though I have never seen it and +can't explain it. I have met Prescott several times while he was trying +to persuade Mr. Haswell to back him in his scheme, but he was never +disposed to talk to me, for I had no money to invest. So far as I know +about it the thing sounds scientific and plausible enough. I leave you +to judge of that. It is only an incident in my story and I will pass +over it quickly. Prescott, then, believes that the elements are merely +progressive variations of an original substance or base called +'protyle,' from which everything is derived. But this fellow Prescott +goes much further than any of the former theorists. He does not stop +with matter. He believes that he has the secret of life also, that he +can make the transition from the inorganic to the organic, from inert +matter to living protoplasm, and thence from living protoplasm to mind +and what we call soul, whatever that may be." + +"And here is where the weird and uncanny part of it comes in," +commented Craig, turning from the doctor to me to call my attention +particularly to what was about to follow. + +"Having arrived at the point where he asserts that he can create and +destroy matter, life, and mind," continued the doctor, as if himself +fascinated by the idea, "Prescott very naturally does not have to go +far before he also claims a control over telepathy and even a +communication with the dead. He even calls the messages which he +receives by a word which he has coined himself, 'telepagrams.' Thus he +says he has unified the physical, the physiological, and the +psychical--a system of absolute scientific monism." + +The doctor paused again, then resumed. "One afternoon, about a week +ago, apparently, as far as I am able to piece together the story, +Prescott was demonstrating his marvellous discovery of the unity of +nature. Suddenly he faced Mr. Haswell. + +"'Shall I tell you a fact, sir, about yourself?' he asked quickly. 'The +truth as I see it by means of my wonderful invention? If it is the +truth, will you believe in me? Will you put money into my invention? +Will you share in becoming fabulously rich?' + +"Haswell made some noncommittal answer. But Prescott seemed to look +into the machine through a very thick plate-glass window, with Haswell +placed directly before it. He gave a cry. 'Mr. Haswell,' he exclaimed, +'I regret to tell you what I see. You have disinherited your daughter; +she has passed out of your life and at the present moment you do not +know where she is.' + +"'That's true,' replied the old man bitterly, 'and more than that I +don't care. Is that all you see? That's nothing new.' + +"'No, unfortunately, that is not all I see. Can you bear something +further? I think you ought to know it. I have here a most mysterious +telepagram.' + +"'Yes. What is it? Is she dead?' + +"'No, it is not about her. It is about yourself. To-night at midnight +or perhaps a little later,' repeated Prescott solemnly, 'you will lose +your sight as a punishment for your action.' + +"'Pouf!' exclaimed the old man in a dudgeon, 'if that is all your +invention can tell me, good-bye. You told me you were able to make +gold. Instead, you make foolish prophecies. I'll put no money into such +tomfoolery. I'm a practical man,' and with that he stamped out of the +laboratory. + +"Well, that night, about one o'clock, in the silence of the lonely old +house, the aged caretaker, Jane, whom he had hired after he banished +his daughter from his life, heard a wild shout of 'Help! Help!' +Haswell, alone in his room on the second floor, was groping about in +the dark. + +"'Jane,' he ordered, 'a light--a light.' + +"'I have lighted the gas, Mr. Haswell,' she cried. + +"A groan followed. He had himself found a match, had struck it, had +even burnt his fingers with it, yet he saw nothing. + +"The blow had fallen. At almost the very hour which Prescott, by means +of his weird telepagram had predicted, old Haswell was stricken. + +"'I'm blind,' he gasped. 'Send for Dr. Burnham.' + +"I went to him immediately when the maid roused me, but there was +nothing I could do except prescribe perfect rest for his eyes and +keeping in a dark room in the hope that his sight might be restored as +suddenly and miraculously as it had been taken away. + +"The next morning, with his own hand, trembling and scrawling in his +blindness, he wrote the following on a piece of paper: + +"'MRS. GRACE MARTIN.--Information wanted about the present whereabouts +of Mrs. Grace Martin, formerly Grace Haswell of Brooklyn." + +STEPHEN HASWELL,----Pierrepont St., Brooklyn. + +"This advertisement he caused to be placed in all the New York papers +and to be wired to the leading Western papers. Haswell himself was a +changed man after his experience. He spoke bitterly of Prescott, yet +his attitude toward his daughter was completely reversed. Whether he +admitted to himself a belief in the prediction of the inventor, I do +not know. Certainly he scouted such an idea in telling me about it. + +"A day or two after the advertisements appeared a telegram came to the +old man from a little town in Indiana. It read simply: 'Dear Father: Am +starting for Brooklyn to-day. Grace.' + +"The upshot was that Grace Haswell, or rather Grace Martin, appeared +the next day, forgave and was forgiven with much weeping, although the +old man still refused resolutely to be reconciled with and receive her +husband. Mrs. Martin started in to clean up the old house. A vacuum +cleaner sucked a ton or two of dust from it. Everything was changed. +Jane grumbled a great deal, but there was no doubt a great improvement. +Meals were served regularly. The old man was taken care of as never +before. Nothing was too good for him. Everywhere the touch of a woman +was evident in the house. The change was complete. It even extended to +me. Some friend had told her of an eye and ear specialist, a Dr. Scott, +who was engaged. Since then, I understand, a new will has been made, +much to the chagrin of the trustees of the projected school. Of course +I am cut out of the new will, and that with the knowledge at least of +the woman who once appealed to me, but it does not influence me in +coming to you." + +"But what has happened since to arouse suspicion?" asked Kennedy, +watching the doctor furtively. + +"Why, the fact is that, in spite of all this added care, the old man is +failing more rapidly than ever. He never goes out except attended and +not much even then. The other day I happened to meet Jane on the +street. The faithful old soul poured forth a long story about his +growing dependence on others and ended by mentioning a curious red +discoloration that seems to have broken out over his face and hands. +More from the way she said it than from what she said I gained the +impression that something was going on which should be looked into." + +"Then you perhaps think that Prescott and Mrs. Martin are in some way +connected in this case?" I hazarded. + +I had scarcely framed the question before he replied in an emphatic +negative. "On the contrary, it seems to me that if they know each other +at all it is with hostility. With the exception of the first stroke of +blindness"--here he lowered his voice earnestly--"practically every +misfortune that has overtaken Mr. Haswell has been since the advent of +this new Dr. Scott. Mind, I do not wish even to breathe that Mrs. +Martin has done anything except what a daughter should do. I think she +has shown herself a model of forgiveness and devotion. Nevertheless the +turn of events under the new treatment has been so strange that almost +it makes one believe that there might be something occult about it--or +wrong with the new doctor." + +"Would it be possible, do you think, for us to see Mr. Haswell?" asked +Kennedy, when Dr. Burnham had come to a full stop after pouring forth +his suspicions. "I should like to see this Dr. Scott. But first I +should like to get into the old house without exciting hostility." + +The doctor was thoughtful. "You'll have to arrange that yourself," he +answered. "Can't you think up a scheme? For instance, go to him with a +proposal like the old schemes he used to finance. He is very much +interested in electrical inventions. He made his money by speculation +in telegraphs and telephones in the early days when they were more or +less dreams. I should think a wireless system of television might at +least interest him and furnish an excuse for getting in, although I am +told his daughter discourages all tangible investment in the schemes +that used to interest his active mind." + +"An excellent idea," exclaimed Kennedy. "It is worth trying anyway. It +is still early. Suppose we ride over to Brooklyn with you. You can +direct us to the house and we'll try to see him." + +It was still light when we mounted the high steps of the house of +mystery across the bridge. Mrs. Martin, who met us in the parlour, +proved to be a stunning looking woman with brown hair and beautiful +dark eyes. As far as we could see the old house plainly showed the +change. The furniture and ornaments were of a period long past, but +everything was scrupulously neat. Hanging over the old marble mantel +was a painting which quite evidently was that of the long since +deceased Mrs. Haswell, the mother of Grace. In spite of the hideous +style of dress of the period after the war, she had evidently been a +very beautiful woman with large masses of light chestnut hair and blue +eyes which the painter had succeeded in catching with almost +life-likeness for a portrait. + +It took only a few minutes for Kennedy, in his most engaging and +plausible manner, to state the hypothetical reason of our call. Though +it was perfectly self-evident from the start that Mrs. Martin would +throw cold water on anything requiring an outlay of money Craig +accomplished his full purpose of securing an interview with Mr. +Haswell. The invalid lay propped up in bed, and as we entered he heard +us and turned his sightless eyes in our direction almost as if he saw. + +Kennedy had hardly begun to repeat and elaborate the story which he had +already told regarding his mythical friend who had at last a commercial +wireless "televue," as he called it on the spur of the moment, when +Jane, the aged caretaker, announced Dr. Scott. The new doctor was a +youthfully dressed man, clean-shaven, but with an undefinable air of +being much older than his smooth face led one to suppose. As he had a +large practice, he said, he would beg our pardon for interrupting but +would not take long. + +It needed no great powers of observation to see that the old man placed +great reliance on his new doctor and that the visit partook of a social +as well as a professional nature. Although they talked low we could +catch now and then a word or phrase. Dr. Scott bent down and examined +the eyes of his patient casually. It was difficult to believe that they +saw nothing, so bright was the blue of the iris. + +"Perfect rest for the present," the doctor directed, talking more to +Mrs. Martin than to the old man. "Perfect rest, and then when his +health is good, we shall see what can be done with that cataract." + +He was about to leave, when the old man reached up and restrained him, +taking hold of the doctor's wrist tightly, as if to pull him nearer in +order to whisper to him without being overheard. Kennedy was sitting in +a chair near the head of the bed, some feet away, as the doctor leaned +down. Haswell, still holding his wrist, pulled him closer. I could not +hear what was said, though somehow I had an impression that they were +talking about Prescott, for it would not have been at all strange if +the old man had been greatly impressed by the alchemist. + +Kennedy, I noticed, had pulled an old envelope from his pocket and was +apparently engaged in jotting down some notes, glancing now and then +from his writing to the doctor and then to Mr. Haswell. + +The doctor stood erect in a few moments and rubbed his wrist +thoughtfully with the other hand, as if it hurt. At the same time he +smiled on Mrs. Martin. "Your father has a good deal of strength yet, +Mrs. Martin," he remarked. "He has a wonderful constitution. I feel +sure that we can pull him out of this and that he has many, many years +to live." + +Mr. Haswell, who caught the words eagerly, brightened visibly, and the +doctor passed out. Kennedy resumed his description of the supposed +wireless picture apparatus which was to revolutionise the newspaper, +the theatre, and daily life in general. The old man did not seem +enthusiastic and turned to his daughter with some remark. + +"Just at present," commented the daughter, with an air of finality, +"the only thing my father is much interested in is a way in which to +recover his sight without an operation. He has just had a rather +unpleasant experience with one inventor. I think it will be some time +before he cares to embark in any other such schemes." + +Kennedy and I excused ourselves with appropriate remarks of +disappointment. From his preoccupied manner it was impossible for me to +guess whether Craig had accomplished his purpose or not. + +"Let us drop in on Dr. Burnham since we are over here," he said when we +had reached the street. "I have some questions to ask him." + +The former physician of Mr. Haswell lived not very far from the house +we had just left. He appeared a little surprised to see us so soon, but +very interested in what had taken place. + +"Who is this Dr. Scott?" asked Craig when we were seated in the +comfortable leather chairs of the old-fashioned consulting-room. + +"Really, I know no more about him than you do," replied Burnham. I +thought I detected a little of professional jealousy in his tone, +though he went on frankly enough, "I have made inquiries and I can find +out nothing except that he is supposed to be a graduate of some Western +medical school and came to this city only a short time ago. He has +hired a small office in a new building devoted entirely to doctors and +they tell me that he is an eye and ear specialist, though I cannot see +that he has any practice. Beyond that I know nothing about him." + +"Your friend Prescott interests me, too," remarked Kennedy, changing +the subject quickly. + +"Oh, he is no friend of mine," returned the doctor, fumbling in a +drawer of his desk. "But I think I have one of his cards here which he +gave me when we were introduced some time ago at Mr. Haswell's. I +should think it would be worth while to see him. Although he has no use +for me because I have neither money nor influence, still you might take +this card. Tell him you are from the university, that I have interested +you in him, that you know a trustee with money to invest--anything you +like that is plausible. When are you going to see him?" + +"The first thing in the morning," replied Kennedy. "After I have seen +him I shall drop in for another chat with you. Will you be here?" + +The doctor promised, and we took our departure. + +Prescott's laboratory, which we found the next day from the address on +the card, proved to be situated in one of the streets near the +waterfront under the bridge approach, where the factories and +warehouses clustered thickly. It was with a great deal of anticipation +of seeing something happen that we threaded our way through the maze of +streets with the cobweb structure of the bridge carrying its endless +succession of cars arching high over our heads. We had nearly reached +the place when Kennedy paused and pulled out two pairs of glasses, +those huge round tortoiseshell affairs. + +"You needn't mind these, Walter," he explained. "They are only plain +glass, that is, not ground. You can see through them as well as through +air. We must be careful not to excite suspicion. Perhaps a disguise +might have been better, but I think this will do. There--they add at +least a decade to your age. If you could see yourself you wouldn't +speak to your reflection. You look as scholarly as a Chinese mandarin. +Remember, let me do the talking and do just as I do." + +We had now entered the shop, stumbled up the dark stairs, and presented +Dr. Burnham's card with a word of explanation along the lines which he +had suggested. Prescott, surrounded by his retorts, crucibles, +burettes, and condensers, received us much more graciously than I had +had any reason to anticipate. He was a man in the late forties, his +face covered with a thick beard, and his eyes, which seemed a little +weak, were helped out with glasses almost as scholarly as ours. + +I could not help thinking that we three bespectacled figures lacked +only the flowing robes to be taken for a group of mediaeval alchemists +set down a few centuries out of our time in the murky light of +Prescott's sanctum. Yet, though he accepted us at our face value, and +began to talk of his strange discoveries there was none of the old +familiar prating about matrix and flux, elixir, magisterium, magnum +opus, the mastery and the quintessence, those alternate names for the +philosopher's stone which Paracelsus, Simon Forman, Jerome Cardan, and +the other mediaeval worthies indulged in. This experience at least was +as up-to-date as the Curies, Becquerel, Ramsay, and the rest. + +"Transmutation," remarked Prescott, "was, as you know, finally declared +to be a scientific absurdity in the eighteenth century. But I may say +that it is no longer so regarded. I do not ask you to believe anything +until you have seen; all I ask is that you maintain the same open mind +which the most progressive scientists of to-day exhibit in regard to +the subject." + +Kennedy had seated himself some distance from a curious piece or rather +collection of apparatus over which Prescott was working. It consisted +of numerous coils and tubes. + +"It may seem strange to you, gentlemen," Prescott proceeded, "that a +man who is able to produce gold from, say, copper should be seeking +capital from other people. My best answer to that old objection is that +I am not seeking capital, as such. The situation with me is simply +this. Twice I have applied to the patent office for a patent on my +invention. They not only refuse to grant it, but they refuse to +consider the application or even to give me a chance to demonstrate my +process to them. On the other hand, suppose I try this thing secretly. +How can I prevent any one from learning my trade secret, leaving me, +and making gold on his own account? Men will desert as fast as I +educate them. Think of the economic result of that; it would turn the +world topsy-turvy. I am looking for some one who can be trusted to the +last limit to join with me, furnish the influence and standing while I +furnish the brains and the invention. Either we must get the government +interested and sell the invention to it, or we must get government +protection and special legislation. I am not seeking capital; I am +seeking protection. First let me show you something." + +He turned a switch, and a part of the collection of apparatus began to +vibrate. + +"You are undoubtedly acquainted with the modern theories of matter," he +began, plunging into the explanation of his process. "Starting with the +atom, we believe no longer that it is indivisible. Atoms are composed +of thousands of ions, as they are called,--really little electric +charges. Again, you know that we have found that all the elements fall +into groups. Each group has certain related atomic weights and +properties which can be and have been predicted in advance of the +discovery of missing elements in the group. I started with the +reasonable assumption that the atom of one element in a group could be +modified so as to become the atom of another element in the group, that +one group could perhaps be transformed into another, and so on, if only +I knew the force that would change the number or modify the vibrations +of these ions composing the various atoms. + +"Now for years I have been seeking that force or combination of forces +that would enable me to produce this change in the elements--raising or +lowering them in the scale, so to speak. I have found it. I am not +going to tell you or any other man whom you may interest the secret of +how it is done until I find some one I can trust as I trust myself. But +I am none the less willing that you should see the results. If they are +not convincing, then nothing can be." + +He appeared to be debating whether to explain further, and finally +resumed: "Matter thus being in reality a manifestation of force or +ether in motion, it is necessary to change and control that force and +motion. This assemblage of machines here is for that purpose. Now a few +words as to my theory." + +He took a pencil and struck a sharp blow on the table. "There you have +a single blow," he said, "just one isolated noise. Now if I strike this +tuning fork you have a vibrating note. In other words, a succession of +blows or wave vibrations of a certain kind affects the ear and we call +it sound, just as a succession of other wave vibrations affects the +retina and we have sight. If a moving picture moves slower than a +certain number of pictures a minute you see the separate pictures; +faster it is one moving picture. + +"Now as we increase the rapidity of wave vibration and decrease the +wave length we pass from sound waves to heat waves or what are known as +the infra-red waves, those which lie below the red in the spectrum of +light. Next we come to light, which is composed of the seven colours as +you know from seeing them resolved in a prism. After that are what are +known as the ultra-violet rays, which lie beyond the violet of white +light. We also have electric waves, the waves of the alternating +current, and shorter still we find the Hertzian waves, which are used +in wireless. We have only begun to know of X-rays and the alpha, beta, +and gamma rays from them, of radium, radioactivity, and finally of this +new force which I have discovered and call 'protodyne,' the original +force. + +"In short, we find in the universe Matter, Force, and Ether. Matter is +simply ether in motion, is composed of corpuscles, electrically charged +ions, or electrons, moving units of negative electricity about one +one-thousandth part of the hydrogen atom. Matter is made up of +electricity and nothing but electricity. Let us see what that leads to. +You are acquainted with Mendeleeff's periodic table?" + +He drew forth a huge chart on which all the eighty or so elements were +arranged in eight groups or octaves and twelve series. Selecting one, +he placed his finger on the letters "Au," under which was written the +number, 197.2. I wondered what the mystic letters and figures meant. + +"That," he explained, "is the scientific name for the element gold and +the figure is its atomic weight. You will see," he added, pointing down +the second vertical column on the chart, "that gold belongs to the +hydrogen group--hydrogen, lithium, sodium, potassium, copper, rubidium, +silver, caesium, then two blank spaces for elements yet to be +discovered to science, then gold, and finally another unknown element." + +Running his finger along the eleventh, horizontal series, he, +continued: "The gold series--not the group--reads gold, mercury, +thallium, lead, bismuth, and other elements known only to myself. For +the known elements, however, these groups and series are now perfectly +recognised by all scientists; they are determined by the fixed weight +of the atom, and there is a close approximation to regularity. + +"This twelfth series is interesting. So far only radium, thorium, and +uranium are generally known. We know that the radioactive elements are +constantly breaking down, and one often hears uranium, for instance, +called the 'parent' of radium. Radium also gives off an emanation, and +among its products is helium, quite another element. Thus the +transmutation of matter is well known within certain bounds to all +scientists to-day like yourself, Professor Kennedy. It has even been +rumoured but never proved that copper has been transformed into +lithium--both members of the hydrogen-gold group, you will observe. +Copper to lithium is going backward, so to speak. It has remained for +me to devise this protodyne apparatus by which I can reverse that +process of decay and go forward in the table, so to put it--can change +lithium into copper and copper into gold. I can create and destroy +matter by protodyne." + +He had been fingering a switch as he spoke. Now he turned it on +triumphantly. A curious snapping and crackling noise followed, becoming +more rapid, and as it mounted in intensity I could smell a pungent +odour of ozone which told of an electric discharge. On went the machine +until we could feel heat radiating from it. Then came a piercing burst +of greenish-blue light from a long tube which looked like a curious +mercury vapour lamp. + +After a few minutes of this Prescott took a small crucible of black +lead. "Now we are ready to try it," he cried in great excitement. "Here +I have a crucible containing some copper. Any substance in the group +would do, even hydrogen if there was any way I could handle the gas. I +place it in the machine--so. Now if you could watch inside you would +see it change; it is now rubidium, now silver, now caesium. Now it is a +hitherto unknown element which I have named after myself, presium, now +a second unknown element, cottium--ah!--there we have gold." + +He drew forth the crucible, and there glowed in it a little bead or +globule of molten gold. + +"I could have taken lead or mercury and by varying the process done the +same thing with the gold series as well as the gold group," he said, +regarding the globule with obvious pride. "And I can put this gold back +and bring it out copper or hydrogen, or better yet, can advance it +instead of cause it to decay, and can get a radioactive element which I +have named morganium--after my first name, Morgan Prescott. Morganium +is a radioactive element next in the series to radium and much more +active. Come closer and examine the gold." + +Kennedy shook his head as if perfectly satisfied to accept the result. +As for me I knew not what to think. It was all so plausible and there +was the bead of gold, too, that I turned to Craig for enlightenment. +Was he convinced? His face was inscrutable. + +But as I looked I could see that Kennedy had been holding concealed in +the palm of his hand a bit of what might be a mineral. From my position +I could see the bit of mineral glowing, but Prescott could not. + +"Might I ask," interrupted Kennedy, "what that curious greenish or +bluish light from the tube is composed of?" + +Prescott eyed him keenly for an instant through his thick glasses. +Craig had shifted his gaze from the bit of mineral in his own hand, but +was not looking at the light. He seemed to be indifferently +contemplating Prescott's hand as it rested on the switch. + +"That, sir," replied Prescott slowly, "is an emanation due to this new +force, protodyne, which I use. It is a manifestation of energy, sir, +that may run changes not only through the whole gamut of the elements, +but is capable of transforming the ether itself into matter, matter +into life, and life into mind. It is the outward sign of the unity of +nature, the--" + +"The means by which you secure the curious telepagrams I have heard +of?" inquired Kennedy eagerly. + +Prescott looked at him sharply, and for a moment I thought his face +seemed to change from a livid white to an apoplectic red, although it +may have been only the play of the weird light. When he spoke it was +with no show of even suppressed surprise. + +"Yes," he answered calmly. "I see that you have heard something of +them. I had a curious case a few days ago. I had hoped to interest a +certain capitalist of high standing in this city. I had showed him just +what I have showed you, and I think he was impressed by it. Then I +thought to clinch the matter by a telepagram, but for some reason or +other I failed to consult the forces I control as to the wisdom of +doing so. Had I, I should have known better. But I went ahead in +self-confidence and enthusiasm. I told him of a long banished daughter +with whom, in his heart, he was really wishing to become reconciled but +was too proud to say the word. He resented it. He started to stamp out +of this room, but not before I had another telepagram which told of a +misfortune that was soon to overtake the old man himself. If he had +given me a chance I might have saved him, at least have flashed a +telepagram to that daughter myself, but he gave me no chance. He was +gone. + +"I do not know precisely what happened after that, but in some way this +man found his daughter, and to-day she is living with him. As for my +hopes of getting assistance from him, I lost them from the moment when +I made my initial mistake of telling him something distasteful. The +daughter hates me and I hate her. I have learned that she never ceases +advising the old man against all schemes for investment except those +bearing moderate interest and readily realised on. Dr. Burnham--I see +you know him--has been superseded by another doctor, I believe. Well, +well, I am through with that incident. I must get assistance from other +sources. The old man, I think, would have tricked me out of the fruits +of my discovery anyhow. Perhaps I am fortunate. Who knows?" + +A knock at the door cut him short. Prescott opened it, and a messenger +boy stood there. "Is Professor Kennedy here?" he inquired. + +Craig motioned to the boy, signed for the message, and tore it open. +"It is from Dr. Burnham," he exclaimed, handing the message to me. + +"Mr. Haswell is dead," I read. "Looks to me like asphyxiation by gas or +some other poison. Come immediately to his house. Burnham." + +"You will pardon me," broke in Craig to Prescott, who was regarding us +without the slightest trace of emotion, "but Mr. Haswell, the old man +to whom I know you referred, is dead, and Dr. Burnham wishes to see me +immediately. It was only yesterday that I saw Mr. Haswell and he seemed +in pretty good health and spirits. Prescott, though there was no love +lost between you and the old man, I would esteem it a great favour if +you would accompany me to the house. You need not take any +responsibility unless you desire." + +His words were courteous enough, but Craig spoke in a tone of quiet +authority which Prescott found it impossible to deny. Kennedy had +already started to telephone to his own laboratory, describing a +certain suitcase to one of his students and giving his directions. It +was only a moment later that we were panting up the sloping street that +led from the river front. In the excitement I scarcely noticed where we +were going until we hurried up the steps to the Haswell house. + +The aged caretaker met us at the door. She was in tears. Upstairs in +the front room where we had first met the old man we found Dr. Burnham +working frantically over him. It took only a minute to learn what had +happened. The faithful Jane had noticed an odour of gas in the hall, +had traced it to Mr. Haswell's room, had found him unconscious, and +instinctively, forgetting the new Dr. Scott, had rushed forth for Dr. +Burnham. Near the bed stood Grace Martin, pale but anxiously watching +the efforts of the doctor to resuscitate the blue-faced man who was +stretched cold and motionless on the bed. + +Dr. Burnham paused in his efforts as we entered. "He is dead, all +right," he whispered, aside. "I have tried everything I know to bring +him back, but he is beyond help." + +There was still a sickening odour of illuminating gas in the room, +although the windows were now all open. + +Kennedy, with provoking calmness in the excitement, turned from and +ignored Dr. Burnham. "Have you summoned Dr. Scott?" he asked Mrs. +Martin. + +"No," she replied, surprised. "Should I have done so?" + +"Yes. Send Jame immediately. Mr. Prescott, will you kindly be seated +for a few moments." + +Taking off his coat, Kennedy advanced to the bed where the emaciated +figure lay, cold and motionless. Craig knelt down at Mr. Haswell's head +and took the inert arms, raising them up until they were extended +straight. Then he brought them down, folded upward at the elbow at the +side. Again and again he tried this Sylvester method of inducing +respiration, but with no more result than Dr. Burnham had secured. He +turned the body over on its face and tried the new Schaefer method. +There seemed to be not a spark of life left. + +"Dr. Scott is out," reported the maid breathlessly, "but they are +trying to locate him from his office, and if they do they will send him +around immediately." + +A ring at the doorbell caused us to think that he had been found, but +it proved to be the student to whom Kennedy had telephoned at his own +laboratory. He was carrying a heavy suitcase and a small tank. + +Kennedy opened the suitcase hastily and disclosed a little motor, some +long tubes of rubber fitting into a small rubber cap, forceps, and +other paraphernalia. The student quickly attached one tube to the +little tank, while Kennedy grasped the tongue of the dead man with the +forceps, pulled it up off the soft palate, and fitted the rubber cap +snugly over his mouth and nose. + +"This is the Draeger pulmotor," he explained as he worked, "devised to +resuscitate persons who have died of electric shock, but actually found +to be of more value in cases of asphyxiation. Start the motor." + +The pulmotor began to pump. One could see the dead man's chest rise as +it was inflated with oxygen forced by the accordion bellows from the +tank through one of the tubes into the lungs. Then it fell as the +oxygen and the poisonous gas were slowly sucked out through the other +tube. Again and again the process was repeated, about ten times a +minute. + +Dr. Burnham looked on in undisguised amazement. He had long since given +up all hope. The man was dead, medically dead, as dead as ever was any +gas victim at this stage on whom all the usual methods of resuscitation +had been tried and had failed. + +Still, minute after minute, Kennedy worked faithfully on, trying to +discover some spark of life and to fan it into flame. At last, after +what seemed to be a half-hour of unremitting effort, when the oxygen +had long since been exhausted and only fresh air was being pumped into +the lungs and out of them, there was a first faint glimmer of life in +the heart and a touch of colour in the cheeks. Haswell was coming to. +Another half-hour found him muttering and rambling weakly. + +"The letter--the letter," he moaned, rolling his glazed eyes about. +"Where is the letter? Send for Grace." + +The moan was so audible that it was startling. It was like a voice from +the grave. What did it all mean? Mrs. Martin was at his side in a +moment. + +"Father, father,--here I am--Grace. What do you want?" + +The old man moved restlessly, feverishly, and pressed his trembling +hand to his forehead as if trying to collect his thoughts. He was weak, +but it was evident that he had been saved. + +The pulmotor had been stopped. Craig threw the cap to his student to be +packed up, and as he did so he remarked quietly, "I could wish that Dr. +Scott had been found. There are some matters here that might interest +him." + +He paused and looked slowly from the rescued man lying dazed on the bed +toward Mrs. Martin. It was quite apparent even to me that she did not +share the desire to see Dr. Scott, at least not just then. She was +flushed and trembling with emotion. Crossing the room hurriedly she +flung open the door into the hall. + +"I am sure," she cried, controlling herself with difficulty and +catching at a straw, as it were, "that you gentlemen, even if you have +saved my father, are no friends of either his or mine. You have merely +come here in response to Dr. Burnham, and he came because Jane lost her +head in the excitement and forgot that Dr. Scott is now our physician." + +"But Dr. Scott could not have been found in time, madame," interposed +Dr. Burnham with evident triumph. + +She ignored the remark and continued to hold the door open. + +"Now leave us," she implored, "you, Dr. Burnham, you, Mr. Prescott, +you, Professor Kennedy, and your friend Mr. Jameson, whoever you may +be." + +She was now cold and calm. In the bewildering change of events we had +forgotten the wan figure on the bed still gasping for the breath of +life. I could not help wondering at the woman's apparent lack of +gratitude, and a thought flashed over my mind. Had the affair come to a +contest between various parties fighting by fair means or foul for the +old man's money--Scott and Mrs. Martin perhaps against Prescott and Dr. +Burnham? No one moved. We seemed to be waiting on Kennedy. Prescott and +Mrs. Martin were now glaring at each other implacably. + +The old man moved restlessly on the bed, and over my shoulder I could +hear him gasp faintly, "Where's Grace? Send for Grace." + +Mrs. Martin paid no attention, seemed not to hear, but stood facing us +imperiously as if waiting for us to obey her orders and leave the +house. Burnham moved toward the door, but Prescott stood his ground +with a peculiar air of defiance. Then he took my arm and started rather +precipitately, I thought, to leave. + +"Come, come," said somebody behind us, "enough of the dramatics." + +It was Kennedy, who had been bending down, listening to the muttering +of the old man. + +"Look at those eyes of Mr. Haswell," he said. "What colour are they?" + +We looked. They were blue. + +"Down in the parlour," continued Kennedy leisurely, "you will find a +portrait of the long deceased Mrs. Haswell. If you will examine that +painting you will see that her eyes are also a peculiarly limpid blue. +No couple with blue eyes ever had a black-eyed child. At least, if this +is such a case, the Carnegie Institution investigators would be glad to +hear of it, for it is contrary to all that they have discovered on the +subject after years of study of eugenics. Dark-eyed couples may have +light-eyed children, but the reverse, never. What do you say to that, +madame?" + +"You lie," screamed the woman, rushing frantically past us. "I AM his +daughter. No interlopers shall separate us. Father!" + +The old man moved feebly away from her. + +"Send for Dr. Scott again," she demanded. "See if he cannot be found. +He must be found. You are all enemies, villains." + +She addressed Kennedy, but included the whole room in her denunciation. + +"Not all," broke in Kennedy remorselessly. "Yes, madame, send for Dr. +Scott. Why is he not here?" + +Prescott, with one hand on my arm and the other on Dr. Burnham's, was +moving toward the door. + +"One moment, Prescott," interrupted Kennedy, detaining him with a look. +"There was something I was about to say when Dr. Burnham's urgent +message prevented it. I did not take the trouble even to find out how +you obtained that little globule of molten gold from the crucible of +alleged copper. There are so many tricks by which the gold could have +been 'salted' and brought forth at the right moment that it was hardly +worth while. Besides, I had satisfied myself that my first suspicions +were correct. See that?" + +He held out the little piece of mineral I had already seen in his hand +in the alchemist's laboratory. + +"That is a piece of willemite. It has the property of glowing or +fluorescing under a certain kind of rays which are themselves invisible +to the human eye. Prescott, your story of the transmutation of elements +is very clever, but not more clever than your real story. Let us piece +it together. I had already heard from Dr. Burnham how Mr. Haswell was +induced by his desire for gain to visit you and how you had most +mysteriously predicted his blindness. Now, there is no such thing as +telepathy, at least in this case. How then was I to explain it? What +could cause such a catastrophe naturally? Why, only those rays +invisible to the human eye, but which make this piece of willemite +glow--the ultraviolet rays." + +Kennedy was speaking rapidly and was careful not to pause long enough +to give Prescott an opportunity to interrupt him. + +"These ultra-violet rays," he continued, "are always present in an +electric arc light though not to a great degree unless the carbons have +metal cores. They extend for two octaves above the violet of the +spectrum and are too short to affect the eye as light, although they +affect photographic plates. They are the friend of man when he uses +them in moderation as Finsen did in the famous blue light treatment. +But they tolerate no familiarity. To let them--particularly the shorter +of the rays--enter the eye is to invite trouble. There is no warning +sense of discomfort, but from six to eighteen hours after exposure to +them the victim experiences violent pains in the eyes and headache. +Sight may be seriously impaired, and it may take years to recover. +Often prolonged exposure results in blindness, though a moderate +exposure acts like a tonic. The rays may be compared in this double +effect to drugs, such as strychnine. Too much of them may be +destructive even to life itself." + +Prescott had now paused and was regarding Kennedy contemptuously. +Kennedy paid no attention, but continued: "Perhaps these mysterious +rays may shed some light on our minds, however. Now, for one thing, +ultra-violet light passes readily through quartz, but is cut off by +ordinary glass, especially if it is coated with chromium. Old Mr. +Haswell did not wear glasses. Therefore he was subject to the rays--the +more so as he is a blond, and I think it has been demonstrated by +investigators that blonds are more affected by them than are brunettes. + +"You have, as a part of your machine, a peculiarly shaped quartz +mercury vapour lamp, and the mercury vapour lamp of a design such as +that I saw has been invented for the especial purpose of producing +ultra-violet rays in large quantity. There are also in your machine +induction coils for the purpose of making an impressive noise, and a +small electric furnace to heat the salted gold. I don't know what other +ingenious fakes you have added. The visible bluish light from the tube +is designed, I suppose, to hoodwink the credulous, but the dangerous +thing about it is the invisible ray that accompanies that light. Mr. +Haswell sat under those invisible rays, Prescott, never knowing how +deadly they might be to him, an old man. + +"You knew that they would not take effect for hours, and hence you +ventured the prediction that he would be stricken at about midnight. +Even if it was partial or temporary, still you would be safe in your +prophecy. You succeeded better than you hoped in that part of your +scheme. You had already prepared the way by means of a letter sent to +Mr. Haswell through Dr. Burnham. But Mr. Haswell's credulity and fear +worked the wrong way. Instead of appealing to you he hated you. In his +predicament he thought only of his banished daughter and turned +instinctively to her for help. That made necessary a quick change of +plans." + +Prescott, far from losing his nerve, turned on us bitterly. "I knew you +two were spies the moment I saw you," he shouted. "It seemed as if in +some way I knew you for what you were, as if I knew you had seen Mr. +Haswell before you came to me. You, too, would have robbed an inventor +as I am sure he would. But have a care, both of you. You may be +punished also by blindness for your duplicity. Who knows?" + +A shudder passed over me at the horrible thought contained in his +mocking laugh. Were we doomed to blindness, too? I looked at the +sightless man on the bed in alarm. + +"I knew that you would know us," retorted Kennedy calmly. "Therefore we +came provided with spectacles of Euphos glass, precisely like those you +wear. No, Prescott, we are safe, though perhaps we may have some burns +like those red blotches on Mr. Haswell, light burns." + +Prescott had fallen back a step and Mrs. Martin was making an effort to +appear stately and end the interview. "No," continued Craig, suddenly +wheeling, and startling us by the abruptness of his next exposure, "it +is you and your wife here--Mrs. Prescott, not Mrs. Martin--who must +have a care. Stop glaring at each other. It is no use playing at +enemies longer and trying to get rid of us. You overdo it. The game is +up." + +Prescott made a rush at Kennedy, who seized him by the wrist and held +him tightly in a grasp of steel that caused the veins on the back of +his hands to stand out like whipcords. + +"This is a deep-laid plot," he went on calmly, still holding Prescott, +while I backed up against the door and cut off his wife; "but it is not +so difficult to see it after all. Your part was to destroy the eyesight +of the old man, to make it necessary for him to call on his daughter. +Your wife's part was to play the role of Mrs. Martin, whom he had not +seen for years and could not see now. She was to persuade him, with her +filial affection, to make her the beneficiary of his will, to see that +his money was kept readily convertible into cash. + +"Then, when the old man was at last out of the way, you two could +decamp with what you could realise before the real daughter, cut off +somewhere across the continent, could hear of the death of her father. +It was an excellent scheme. But Haswell's plain, material newspaper +advertisement was not so effective for your purposes, Prescott, as the +more artistic 'telepagram,' as you call it. Although you two got in +first in answering the advertisement, it finally reached the right +person after all. You didn't get away quickly enough. + +"You were not expecting that the real daughter would see it and turn up +so soon. But she has. She lives in California. Mr. Haswell in his +delirium has just told of receiving a telegram which I suppose you, +Mrs. Prescott, read, destroyed, and acted upon. It hurried your plans, +but you were equal to the emergency. Besides, possession is nine points +in the law. You tried the gas, making it look like a suicide. Jane, in +her excitement, spoiled that, and Dr. Burnham, knowing where I was, as +it happened, was able to summon me immediately. Circumstances have been +against you from the first, Prescott." + +Craig was slowly twisting up the hand of the inventor, which he still +held. With his other hand he pulled a paper from his pocket. It was the +old envelope on which he had written upon the occasion of our first +visit to Mr. Haswell when we had been so unceremoniously interrupted by +the visit of Dr. Scott. + +"I sat here yesterday by this bed," continued Craig, motioning toward +the chair he had occupied, as I remembered. "Mr. Haswell was telling +Dr. Scott something in an undertone. I could not hear it. But the old +man grasped the doctor by the wrist to pull him closer to whisper to +him. The doctor's hand was toward me and I noticed the peculiar +markings of the veins. + +"You perhaps are not acquainted with the fact, but the markings of the +veins in the back of the hand are peculiar to each individual--as +infallible, indestructible, and ineffaceable as finger prints or the +shape of the ear. It is a system invented and developed by Professor +Tamassia of the University of Padua, Italy. A superficial observer +would say that all vein patterns were essentially similar, and many +have said so, but Tamassia has found each to be characteristic and all +subject to almost incredible diversities. There are six general +classes--in this case before us, two large veins crossed by a few +secondary veins forming a V with its base near the wrist. + +"Already my suspicions had been aroused. I sketched the arrangement of +the veins standing out on that hand. I noted the same thing just now on +the hand that manipulated the fake apparatus in the laboratory. Despite +the difference in make-up Scott and Prescott are the same. + +"The invisible rays of the ultra-violet light may have blinded Mr. +Haswell, even to the recognition of his own daughter, but you can rest +assured, Prescott, that the very cleverness of your scheme will +penetrate the eyes of the blindfolded goddess of justice. Burnham, if +you will have the kindness to summon the police, I will take all the +responsibility for the arrest of these people." + + + + +XII + +THE CAMPAIGN GRAFTER + + +"What a relief it will be when this election is over and the newspapers +print news again," I growled as I turned the first page of the Star +with a mere glance at the headlines. + +"Yes," observed Kennedy, who was puzzling over a note which he had +received in the morning mail. "This is the bitterest campaign in years. +Now, do you suppose that they are after me in a professional way or are +they trying to round me up as an independent voter?" + +The letter which had called forth this remark was headed, "The Travis +Campaign Committee of the Reform League," and, as Kennedy evidently +intended me to pass an opinion on it, I picked it up. It was only a few +lines, requesting him to call during the morning, if convenient, on +Wesley Travis, the candidate for governor and the treasurer of his +campaign committee, Dean Bennett. It had evidently been written in +great haste in longhand the night before. + +"Professional," I hazarded. "There must be some scandal in the campaign +for which they require your services." + +"I suppose so," agreed Craig. "Well, if it is business instead of +politics it has at least this merit--it is current business. I suppose +you have no objection to going with me?" + +Thus it came about that not very much later in the morning we found +ourselves at the campaign headquarters, in the presence of two nervous +and high-keyed gentlemen in frock coats and silk hats. It would have +taken no great astuteness, even without seeing the surroundings, to +deduce instantly that they were engaged in the annual struggle of +seeking the votes of their fellow-citizens for something or other, and +were nearly worn out by the arduous nature of that process. + +Their headquarters were in a tower of a skyscraper, whence poured forth +a torrent of appeal to the moral sense of the electorate, both in +printed and oral form. Yet there was a different tone to the place from +that which I had ordinarily associated with political headquarters in +previous campaigns. There was an absence of the old-fashioned +politicians and of the air of intrigue laden with tobacco. Rather, +there was an air of earnestness and efficiency which was decidedly +prepossessing. Maps of the state were hanging on the walls, some stuck +full of various coloured pins denoting the condition of the canvass. A +map of the city in colours, divided into all sorts of districts, told +how fared the battle in the stronghold of the boss, Billy McLoughlin. +Huge systems of card indexes, loose leaf devices, labour-saving +appliances for getting out a vast mass of campaign "literature" in a +hurry, in short a perfect system, such as a great, well-managed +business might have been proud of, were in evidence everywhere. + +Wesley Travis was a comparatively young man, a lawyer who had early +made a mark in politics and had been astute enough to shake off the +thraldom of the bosses before the popular uprising against them. Now he +was the candidate of the Reform League for governor and a good stiff +campaign he was putting up. + +His campaign manager, Dean Bennett, was a business man whose financial +interests were opposed to those usually understood to be behind Billy +McLoughlin, of the regular party to which both Travis and Bennett might +naturally have been supposed to belong in the old days. Indeed the +Reform League owed its existence to a fortunate conjunction of both +moral and economic conditions demanding progress. + +"Things have been going our way up to the present," began Travis +confidentially, when we were seated democratically with our campaign +cigars lighted. "Of course we haven't such a big 'barrel' as our +opponents, for we are not frying the fat out of the corporations. But +the people have supported us nobly, and I think the opposition of the +vested interests has been a great help. We seem to be winning, and I +say 'seem' only because one can never be certain how anything is going +in this political game nowadays. + +"You recall, Mr. Kennedy, reading in the papers that my country house +out on Long Island was robbed the other day? Some of the reporters made +much of it. To tell the truth, I think they had become so satiated with +sensations that they were sure that the thing was put up by some +muckrakers and that there would be an expose of some kind. For the +thief, whoever he was, seems to have taken nothing from my library but +a sort of scrap-book or album of photographs. It was a peculiar +robbery, but as I had nothing to conceal it didn't worry me. Well, I +had all but forgotten it when a fellow came into Bennett's office here +yesterday and demanded--tell us what it was, Bennett. You saw him." + +Bennett cleared his throat. "You see, it was this way. He gave his name +as Harris Hanford and described himself as a photographer. I think he +has done work for Billy McLoughlin. At any rate, his offer was to sell +us several photographs, and his story about them was very +circumstantial. He hinted that they had been evidently among those +stolen from Mr. Travis and that in a roundabout way they had come into +the possession of a friend of his without his knowing who the thief +was. He said that he had not made the photographs himself, but had an +idea by whom they were made, that the original plates had been +destroyed, but that the person who made them was ready to swear that +the pictures were taken after the nominating convention this fall which +had named Travis. At any rate the photographs were out and the price +for them was $25,000." + +"What are they that he should set such a price on them?" asked Kennedy, +keenly looking from Bennett quickly to Travis. + +Travis met his look without flinching. "They are supposed to be +photographs of myself," he replied slowly. "One purports to represent +me in a group on McLoughlin's porch at his farm on the south shore of +the island, about twenty miles from my place. As Hanford described it, +I am standing between McLoughlin and J. Cadwalader Brown, the trust +promoter who is backing McLoughlin to save his investments. Brown's +hand is on my shoulder and we are talking familiarly. Another is a +picture of Brown, McLoughlin, and myself riding in Brown's car, and in +it Brown and I are evidently on the best of terms. Oh, there are +several of them, all in the same vein. Now," he added, and his voice +rose with emotion as if he were addressing a cart-tail meeting which +must be convinced that there was nothing criminal in riding in a +motor-car, "I don't hesitate to admit that a year or so ago I was not +on terms of intimacy with these men, but at least acquainted with them. +At various times, even as late as last spring, I was present at +conferences over the presidential outlook in this state, and once I +think I did ride back to the city with them. But I know that there were +no pictures taken, and even if there had been I would not care if they +told the truth about them. I have frankly admitted in my speeches that +I knew these men, that my knowledge of them and breaking from them is +my chief qualification for waging an effective war on them if I am +elected. They hate me cordially. You know that. What I do care about is +the sworn allegation that now accompanies these--these fakes. They were +not, could not have been taken after the independent convention that +nominated me. If the photographs were true I would be a fine traitor. +But I haven't even seen McLoughlin or Brown since last spring. The +whole thing is a--" + +"Lie from start to finish," put in Bennett emphatically. "Yes, Travis, +we all know that. I'd quit right now if I didn't believe in you. But +let us face the facts. Here is this story, sworn to as Hanford says and +apparently acquiesced in by Billy McLoughlin and Cad. Brown. What do +they care anyhow as long as it is against you? And there, too, are the +pictures themselves--at least they will be in print or suppressed, +according as we act. Now, you know that nothing could hurt the reform +ticket worse than to have an issue like this raised at this time. We +were supposed at least to be on the level, with nothing to explain +away. There may be just enough people to believe that there is some +basis for this suspicion to turn the tide against us. If it were +earlier in the campaign I'd say accept the issue, fight it out to a +finish, and in the turn of events we should really have the best +campaign material. But it is too late now to expose such a knavish +trick of theirs on the Friday before election. Frankly, I believe +discretion is the better part of valour in this case and without +abating a jot of my faith in you, Travis, well, I'd pay first and +expose the fraud afterward, after the election, at leisure." + +"No, I won't," persisted Travis, shutting his square jaw doggedly. "I +won't be held up." + +The door had opened and a young lady in a very stunning street dress, +with a huge hat and a tantalising veil, stood in it for a moment, +hesitated, and then was about to shut it with an apology for intruding +on a conference. + +"I'll fight it if it takes my last dollar," declared Travis, "but I +won't be blackmailed out of a cent. Good-morning, Miss Ashton. I'll be +free in a moment. I'll see you in your office directly." + +The girl, with a portfolio of papers in her hand, smiled, and Travis +quickly crossed the room and held the door deferentially open as he +whispered a word or two. When she had disappeared he returned and +remarked, "I suppose you have heard of Miss Margaret Ashton, the +suffragette leader, Mr. Kennedy? She is the head of our press bureau." +Then a heightened look of determination set his fine face in hard +lines, and he brought his fist down on the desk. "No, not a cent," he +thundered. + +Bennett shrugged his shoulders hopelessly and looked at Kennedy in mock +resignation as if to say, "What can you do with such a fellow?" Travis +was excitedly pacing the floor and waving his arms as if he were +addressing a meeting in the enemy's country. "Hanford comes at us in +this way," he continued, growing more excited as he paced up and down. +"He says plainly that the pictures will of course be accepted as among +those stolen from me, and in that, I suppose, he is right. The public +will swallow it. When Bennett told him I would prosecute he laughed and +said, 'Go ahead. I didn't steal the pictures. That would be a great +joke for Travis to seek redress from the courts he is criticising. I +guess he'd want to recall the decision if it went against him--hey?' +Hanford says that a hundred copies have been made of each of the +photographs and that this person, whom we do not know, has them ready +to drop into the mail to the one hundred leading papers of the state in +time for them to appear in the Monday editions just before Election +Day. He says no amount of denying on our part can destroy the +effect--or at least he went further and said 'shake their validity.' + +"But I repeat. They are false. For all I know, it is a plot of +McLoughlin's, the last fight of a boss for his life, driven into a +corner. And it is meaner than if he had attempted to forge a letter. +Pictures appeal to the eye and mind much more than letters. That's what +makes the thing so dangerous. Billy McLoughlin knows how to make the +best use of such a roorback on the eve of an election, and even if I +not only deny but prove that they are a fake, I'm afraid the harm will +be done. I can't reach all the voters in time. Ten see such a charge to +one who sees the denial." + +"Just so," persisted Bennett coolly. "You admit that we are practically +helpless. That's what I have been saying all along. Get control of the +prints first, Travis, for God's sake. Then raise any kind of a howl you +want--before election or after. As I say, if we had a week or two it +might be all right to fight. But we can make no move without making +fools of ourselves until they are published Monday as the last big +thing of the campaign. The rest of Monday and the Tuesday morning +papers do NOT give us time to reply. Even if they were published to-day +we should hardly have time to expose the plot, hammer it in, and make +the issue an asset instead of a liability. No, you must admit it +yourself. There isn't time. We must carry out the work we have so +carefully planned to cap the campaign, and if we are diverted by this +it means a let-up in our final efforts, and that is as good as +McLoughlin wants anyhow. Now, Kennedy, don't you agree with me? Squelch +the pictures now at any cost, then follow the thing up and, if we can, +prosecute after election?" + +Kennedy and I, who had been so far little more than interested +spectators, had not presumed to interrupt. Finally Craig asked, "You +have copies of the pictures?" + +"No," replied Bennett. "This Hanford is a brazen fellow, but he was too +astute to leave them. I saw them for an instant. They look bad. And the +affidavits with them look worse." + +"H'm," considered Kennedy, turning the crisis over in his mind. "We've +had alleged stolen and forged letters before, but alleged stolen and +forged photographs are new. I'm not surprised that you are alarmed, +Bennett,--nor that you want to fight, Travis." + +"Then you will take up the case?" urged the latter eagerly, forgetting +both his campaign manager and his campaign manners, and leaning forward +almost like a prisoner in the dock to catch the words of the foreman of +the jury. "You will trace down the forger of those pictures before it +is too late?" + +"I haven't said I'll do that--yet," answered Craig measuredly. "I +haven't even said I'd take up the case. Politics is a new game to me, +Mr. Travis. If I go into this thing I want to go into it and stay in +it--well, you know how you lawyers put it, with clean hands. On one +condition I'll take the matter up, and on only one." + +"Name it," cried Travis anxiously, + +"Of course, having been retained by you," continued Craig with +provoking slowness, "it is not reasonable to suppose that if I +find--how shall I put it--bluntly, yes?--if I find that the story of +Hanford has some--er--foundation, it is not reasonable to suppose that +I should desert you and go over to the other side. Neither is it to be +supposed that I will continue and carry such a thing through for you +regardless of truth. What I ask is to have a free hand, to be able to +drop the case the moment I cannot proceed further in justice to myself, +drop it, and keep my mouth shut. You understand? These are my +conditions and no less." + +"And you think you can make good?" questioned Bennett rather +sceptically. "You are willing to risk it? You don't think it would be +better to wait until after the election is won?" + +"You have heard my conditions," reiterated Craig. + +"Done," broke in Travis. "I'm going to fight it out, Bennett. If we get +in wrong by dickering with them at the start it may be worse for us in +the end. Paying amounts to confession." + +Bennett shook his head dubiously. "I'm afraid this will suit +McLoughlin's purpose just as well. Photographs are like statistics. +They don't lie unless the people who make them do. But it's hard to +tell what a liar can accomplish with either in an election." + +"Say, Dean, you're not going to desert me?" reproached Travis. "You're +not offended at my kicking over the traces, are you?" + +Bennett rose, placed a hand on Travis's shoulder, and grasped his +other. "Wesley," he said earnestly, "I wouldn't desert you even if the +pictures were true." + +"I knew it," responded Travis heartily. "Then let Mr. Kennedy have one +day to see what he can do. Then if we make no progress we'll take your +advice, Dean. We'll pay, I suppose, and ask Mr. Kennedy to continue the +case after next Tuesday." + +"With the proviso," put in Craig. + +"With the proviso, Kennedy," repeated Travis. "Your hand on that. Say, +I think I've shaken hands with half the male population of this state +since I was nominated, but this means more to me than any of them. Call +on us, either Bennett or myself, the moment you need aid. Spare no +reasonable expense, and--and get the goods, no matter whom it hits +higher up, even if it is Cadwalader Brown himself. Good-bye and a +thousand thanks--oh, by the way, wait. Let me take you around and +introduce you to Miss Ashton. She may be able to help you." + +The office of Bennett and Travis was in the centre of the suite. On one +side were the cashier and clerical force as well as the speakers' +bureau, where spellbinders of all degrees were getting instruction, +tours were being laid out, and reports received from meetings already +held. + +On the other side was the press bureau with a large and active force in +charge of Miss Ashton, who was supporting Travis because he had most +emphatically declared for "Votes for Women" and had insisted that his +party put this plank in its platform. Miss Ashton was a clever girl, a +graduate of a famous woman's college, and had had several years of +newspaper experience before she became a leader in the suffrage cause. +I recalled having read and heard a great deal about her, though I had +never met her. The Ashtons were well known in New York society, and it +was a sore trial to some of her conservative friends that she should +reject what they considered the proper "sphere" for women. Among those +friends, I understood, was Cadwalader Brown himself. + +Travis had scarcely more than introduced us, yet already I scented a +romance behind the ordinarily prosaic conduct of a campaign press +bureau. It is far from my intention to minimise the work or the ability +of the head of the press bureau, but it struck me, both then and later, +that the candidate had an extraordinary interest in the newspaper +campaign, much more than in the speakers' bureau, and I am sure that it +was not solely accounted for by the fact that publicity is playing a +more and more important part in political campaigning. + +Nevertheless such innovations as her card index system by election +districts all over the state, showing the attitude of the various +newspaper editors, of local political leaders, and changes of +sentiment, were very full and valuable. Kennedy, who had a regular +pigeon-hole mind for facts, was visibly impressed by this huge +mechanical memory built up by Miss Ashton. Though he said nothing to me +I knew he had also observed the state of affairs between the reform +candidate and the suffrage leader. + +It was at a moment when Travis had been called back to his office that +Kennedy, who had been eyeing Miss Ashton with marked approval, leaned +over and said in a low voice. "Miss Ashton, I think I can trust you. Do +you want to do a great favour for Mr. Travis?" + +She did not betray even by a fleeting look on her face what the true +state of her feelings was, although I fancied that the readiness of her +assent had perhaps more meaning than she would have placed in a simple +"Yes" otherwise. + +"I suppose you know that an attempt is being made to blackmail Mr. +Travis?" added Kennedy quickly. + +"I know something about it," she replied in a tone which left it for +granted that Travis had told her before even we were called in. I felt +that not unlikely Travis's set determination to fight might be +traceable to her advice or at least to her opinion of him. + +"I suppose in a large force like this it is not impossible that your +political enemies may have a spy or two," observed Kennedy, glancing +about at the score or more clerks busily engaged in getting out +"literature." + +"I have sometimes thought that myself," she agreed. "But of course I +don't know. Still, I have to be pretty careful. Some one is always over +here by my desk or looking over here. There isn't much secrecy in a big +room like this. I never leave important stuff lying about where any of +them could see it." + +"Yes," mused Kennedy. "What time does the office close?" + +"We shall finish to-night about nine, I think. To-morrow it may be +later." + +"Well, then, if I should call here to-night at, say, half-past nine, +Could you be here? I need hardly say that your doing so may be of +inestimable value to--to the campaign." + +"I shall be here," she promised, giving her hand with a peculiar +straight arm shake and looking him frankly in the face with those eyes +which even the old guard in the legislature admitted were vote-winners. + +Kennedy was not quite ready to leave yet, but sought out Travis and +obtained permission to glance over the financial end of the campaign. +There were few large contributors to Travis's fund, but a host of small +sums ranging from ten and twenty-five dollars down to dimes and +nickels. Truly it showed the depth of the popular uprising. Kennedy +also glanced hastily over the items of expense--rent, salaries, +stenographer and office force, advertising, printing and stationery, +postage, telephone, telegraph, automobile and travelling expenses, and +miscellaneous matters. + +As Kennedy expressed it afterwards, as against the small driblets of +money coming in, large sums were going out for expenses in lumps. +Campaigning in these days costs money even when done honestly. The +miscellaneous account showed some large indefinite items, and after a +hasty calculation Kennedy made out that if all the obligations had to +be met immediately the committee would be in the hole for several +thousand dollars. + +"In short," I argued as we were leaving, "this will either break Travis +privately or put his fund in hopeless shape. Or does it mean that he +foresees defeat and is taking this way to recoup himself under cover of +being held up?" + +Kennedy said nothing in response to my suspicions, though I could see +that in his mind he was leaving no possible clue unnoted. + +It was only a few blocks to the studio of Harris Hanford, whom Kennedy +was now bent on seeing. We found him in an old building on one of the +side streets in the thirties which business had captured. His was a +little place on the top floor, up three flights of stairs, and I +noticed as we climbed up that the room next to his was vacant. + +Our interview with Hanford was short and unsatisfactory. He either was +or at least posed as representing a third party in the affair, and +absolutely refused to permit us to have even a glance at the +photographs. + +"My dealings," he asserted airily, "must all be with Mr. Bennett, or +with Mr. Travis, direct, not with emissaries. I don't make any secret +about it. The prints are not here. They are safe and ready to be +produced at the right time, either to be handed over for the money or +to be published in the newspapers. We have found out all about them; we +are satisfied, although the negatives have been destroyed. As for their +having been stolen from Travis, you can put two and two together. They +are out and copies have been made of them, good copies. If Mr. Travis +wishes to repudiate them, let him start proceedings. I told Bennett all +about that. To-morrow is the last day, and I must have Bennett's answer +then, without any interlopers coming into it. If it is yes, well and +good; if not, then they know what to expect. Good-bye." + +It was still early in the forenoon, and Kennedy's next move was to go +out on Long Island to examine the library at Travis's from which the +pictures were said to have been stolen. At the laboratory Kennedy and I +loaded ourselves with a large oblong black case containing a camera and +a tripod. + +His examination of the looted library was minute, taking in the window +through which the thief had apparently entered, the cabinet he had +forced, and the situation in general. Finally Craig set up his camera +with most particular care and took several photographs of the window, +the cabinet, the doors, including the room from every angle. Outside he +snapped the two sides of the corner of the house in which the library +was situated. Partly by trolley and partly by carriage we crossed the +island to the south shore, and finally found McLoughlin's farm where we +had no trouble in getting half a dozen photographs of the porch and +house. Altogether the proceedings seemed tame to me, yet I knew from +previous experience that Kennedy had a deep laid purpose. + +We parted in the city, to meet just before it was time to visit Miss +Ashton. Kennedy had evidently employed the interval in developing his +plates, for he now had ten or a dozen prints, all of exactly the same +size, mounted on stiff cardboard in a space with scales and figures on +all four sides. He saw me puzzling over them. + +"Those are metric photographs such as Bertillon of Paris takes," he +explained. "By means of the scales and tables and other methods that +have been worked out we can determine from those pictures distances and +many other things almost as well as if we were on the spot itself. +Bertillon has cleared up many crimes with this help, such as the +mystery of the shooting in the Hotel Quai d'Orsay and other cases. The +metric photograph, I believe, will in time rank with the portrait +parle, finger prints, and the rest. + +"For instance, in order to solve the riddle of a crime the detective's +first task is to study the scene topographically. Plans and elevations +of a room or house are made. The position of each object is +painstakingly noted. In addition, the all-seeing eye of the camera is +called into requisition. The plundered room is photographed, as in this +case. I might have done it by placing a foot rule on a table and taking +that in the picture, but a more scientific and accurate method has been +devised by Bertillon. His camera lens is always used at a fixed height +from the ground and forms its image on the plate at an exact focus. The +print made from the negative is mounted on a card in a space of +definite size, along the edges of which a metric scale is printed. In +the way he has worked it out the distance between any two points in the +picture can be determined. With a topographical plan and a metric +photograph one can study a crime as a general studies the map of a +strange country. There were several peculiar things that I observed +to-day, and I have here an indelible record of the scene of the crime. +Preserved in this way it cannot be questioned. + +"Now the photographs were in this cabinet. There are other cabinets, +but none of them has been disturbed. Therefore the thief must have +known just what he was after. The marks made in breaking the lock were +not those of a jimmy but of a screwdriver. No amazing command of the +resources of science is needed so far. All that is necessary is a +little scientific common sense, Walter. + +"Now, how did the robber get in? All the windows and doors were +supposedly locked. It is alleged that a pane was cut from this window +at the side. It was, and the pieces were there to show it. But take a +glance at this outside photograph. To reach that window even a tall man +must have stood on a ladder or something. There are no marks of a +ladder or of any person in the soft soil under the window. What is +more, that window was cut from the inside. The marks of the diamond +which cut it plainly show that. Scientific common sense again." + +"Then it must have been some one in the house or at least some one +familiar with it?" I exclaimed. + +Kennedy nodded. "One thing we have which the police greatly neglect," +he pursued, "a record. We have made some progress in reconstructing the +crime, as Bertillon calls it. If we only had those Hanford pictures we +should be all right." + +We were now on our way to see Miss Ashton at headquarters, and as we +rode downtown I tried to reason out the case. Had it really been a +put-up job? Was Travis himself faking, and was the robbery a "plant" by +which he might forestall exposure of what had become public property in +the hands of another, no longer disposed to conceal it? Or was it after +all the last desperate blow of the Boss? + +The whole thing began to assume a suspicious look in my mind. Although +Kennedy seemed to have made little real progress, I felt that, far from +aiding Travis, it made things darker. There was nothing but his +unsupported word that he had not visited the Boss subsequent to the +nominating convention. He admitted having done so before the Reform +League came into existence. Besides it seemed tacitly understood that +both the Boss and Cadwalader Brown acquiesced in the sworn statement of +the man who said he had made the pictures. Added to that the mere +existence of the actual pictures themselves was a graphic clincher to +the story. Personally, if I had been in Kennedy's place I think I +should have taken advantage of the proviso in the compact with Travis +to back out gracefully. Kennedy, however, now started on the case, hung +to it tenaciously. + +Miss Ashton was waiting for us at the press bureau. Her desk was at the +middle of one end of the room in which, if she could keep an eye on her +office force, the office force also could keep an eye on her. + +Kennedy had apparently taken in the arrangement during our morning +visit, for he set to work immediately. The side of the room toward the +office of Travis and Bennett presented an expanse of blank wall. With a +mallet he quickly knocked a hole in the rough plaster, just above the +baseboard about the room. The hole did not penetrate quite through to +the other side. In it he placed a round disc of vulcanised rubber, with +insulated wires leading down back of the baseboard, then out underneath +it, and under the carpet. Some plaster quickly closed up the cavity in +the wall, and he left it to dry. + +Next he led the wires under the carpet to Miss Ashton's desk. There +they ended, under the carpet and a rug, eighteen or twenty huge coils +several feet in diameter disposed in such a way as to attract no +attention by a curious foot on the carpet which covered them. + +"That is all, Miss Ashton," he said as we watched for his next move. "I +shall want to see you early to-morrow, and,--might I ask you to be sure +to wear that hat which you have on?" + +It was a very becoming hat, but Kennedy's tone clearly indicated that +it was not his taste in inverted basket millinery that prompted the +request. She promised, smiling, for even a suffragette may like pretty +hats. + +Craig had still to see Travis and report on his work. The candidate was +waiting anxiously at his hotel after a big political mass meeting on +the East Side, at which capitalism and the bosses had been hissed to +the echo, if that is possible. + +"What success?" inquired Travis eagerly. + +"I'm afraid," replied Kennedy, and the candidate's face fell at the +tone, "I'm afraid you will have to meet them, for the present. The time +limit will expire to-morrow, and I understand Hanford is coming up for +a final answer. We must have copies of those photographs, even if we +have to pay for them. There seems to be no other way." + +Travis sank back in his chair and regarded Kennedy hopelessly. He was +actually pale. "You--you don't mean to say that there is no other way, +that I'll have to admit even before Bennett--and others that I'm in +bad?" + +"I wouldn't put it that way," said Kennedy mercilessly, I thought. + +"It is that way," Travis asserted almost fiercely. "Why, we could have +done that anyhow. No, no,--I don't mean that. Pardon me. I'm upset by +this. Go ahead," he sighed. + +"You will direct Bennett to make the best terms he can with Hanford +when he comes up to-morrow. Have him arrange the details of payment and +then rush the best copies of the photographs to me." + +Travis seemed crushed. + +We met Miss Ashton the following morning entering her office. Kennedy +handed her a package, and in a few words, which I did not hear, +explained what he wanted, promising to call again later. + +When we called, the girls and other clerks had arrived, and the office +was a hive of industry in the rush of winding up the campaign. +Typewriters were clicking, clippings were being snipped out of a huge +stack of newspapers and pasted into large scrap-books, circulars were +being folded and made ready to mail for the final appeal. The room was +indeed crowded, and I felt that there was no doubt, as Kennedy had +said, that nothing much could go on there unobserved by any one to +whose interest it was to see it. + +Miss Ashton was sitting at her desk with her hat on directing the work. +"It works," she remarked enigmatically to Kennedy. + +"Good," he replied. "I merely dropped in to be sure. Now if anything of +interest happens, Miss Ashton, I wish you would let me know +immediately. I must not be seen up here, but I shall be waiting +downstairs in the corridor of the building. My next move depends +entirely on what you have to report." + +Downstairs Craig waited with growing impatience. We stood in an angle +in which we could see without being readily seen, and our impatience +was not diminished by seeing Hanford enter the elevator. + +I think that Miss Ashton would have made an excellent woman detective, +that is, on a case in which her personal feelings were not involved as +they were here. She was pale and agitated as she appeared in the +corridor, and Kennedy hurried toward her. + +"I can't believe it. I won't believe it," she managed to say. + +"Tell me, what happened?" urged Kennedy soothingly. + +"Oh, Mr. Kennedy, why did you ask me to do this?" she reproached. "I +would almost rather not have known it at all." + +"Believe me, Miss Ashton," said Kennedy, "you ought to know. It is on +you that I depend most. We saw Hanford go up. What occurred?" + +She was still pale, and replied nervously, "Mr. Bennett came in about +quarter to ten. He stopped to talk to me and looked about the room +curiously. Do you know, I felt very uncomfortable for a time. Then he +locked the door leading from the press bureau to his office, and left +word that he was not to be disturbed. A few minutes later a man called." + +"Yes, yes," prompted Kennedy. "Hanford, no doubt." + +She was racing on breathlessly, scarcely giving one a chance to inquire +how she had learned so much. + +"Why," she cried with a sort of defiant ring in her tone, "Mr. Travis +is going to buy those pictures after all. And the worst of it is that I +met him in the hall coming in as I was coming down here, and he tried +to act toward me in the same old way--and that after all I know now +about him. They have fixed it all up, Mr. Bennett acting for Mr. +Travis, and this Mr. Hanford. They are even going to ask me to carry +the money in a sealed envelope to the studio of this fellow Hanford, to +be given to a third person who will be there at two o'clock this +afternoon." + +"You, Miss Ashton?" inquired Kennedy, a light breaking on his face as +if at last he saw something. + +"Yes, I," she repeated. "Hanford insisted that it was part of the +compact. They--they haven't asked me openly yet to be the means of +carrying out their dirty deals, but when they do, I--I won't----" + +"Miss Ashton," remonstrated Kennedy, "I beg you to be calm. I had no +idea you would take it like this, no idea. Please, please. Walter, you +will excuse us if we take a turn down the corridor and out in the air. +This is most extraordinary." + +For five or ten minutes Kennedy and Miss Ashton appeared to be +discussing the new turn of events earnestly, while I waited +impatiently. As they approached again she seemed calmer, but I heard +her say, "I hope you're right. I'm all broken up by it. I'm ready to +resign. My faith in human nature is shaken. No, I won't expose Wesley +Travis for his sake. It cuts me to have to admit it, but Cadwalader +used always to say that every man has his price. I am afraid this will +do great harm to the cause of reform and through it to the woman +suffrage cause which cast its lot with this party. I--I can hardly +believe----" + +Kennedy was still looking earnestly at her. "Miss Ashton," he implored, +"believe nothing. Remember one of the first rules of politics is +loyalty. Wait until----" + +"Wait?" she echoed. "How can I? I hate Wesley Travis for giving +in--more than I hate Cadwalader Brown for his cynical disregard of +honesty in others." + +She bit her lip at thus betraying her feelings, but what she had heard +had evidently affected her deeply. It was as though the feet of her +idol had turned to clay. Nevertheless it was evident that she was +coming to look on it more as she would if she were an outsider. + +"Just think it over," urged Kennedy. "They won't ask you right away. +Don't do anything rash. Suspend judgment. You won't regret it." + +Craig's next problem seemed to be to transfer the scene of his +operations to Hanford's studio. He was apparently doing some rapid +thinking as we walked uptown after leaving Miss Ashton, and I did not +venture to question him on what had occurred when it was so evident +that everything depended on being prepared for what was still to occur. + +Hanford was out. That seemed to please Kennedy, for with a brightening +face, which told more surely than words that he saw his way more and +more clearly, he asked me to visit the agent and hire the vacant office +next to the studio while he went uptown to complete his arrangements +for the final step. + +I had completed my part and was waiting in the empty room when he +returned. He lost no time in getting to work, and it seemed to me as I +watched him curiously in silence that he was repeating what he had +already done at the Travis headquarters. He was boring into the wall, +only this time he did it much more carefully, and it was evident that +if he intended putting anything into this cavity it must be pretty +large. The hole was square, and as I bent over I could see that he had +cut through the plaster and laths all the way to the wallpaper on the +other side, though he was careful to leave that intact. Then he set up +a square black box in the cavity, carefully poising it and making +measurements that told of the exact location of its centre with +reference to the partitions and walls. + +A skeleton key took us into Hanford's well-lighted but now empty +studio. For Miss Ashton's sake I wished that the photographs had been +there. I am sure Kennedy would have found slight compunction in a +larceny of them, if they had been. It was something entirely different +that he had in mind now, however, and he was working quickly for fear +of discovery. By his measurements I guessed that he was calculating as +nearly as possible the centre of the box which he had placed in the +hole in the wall on the other side of the dark wallpaper. When he had +quite satisfied himself he took a fine pencil from his pocket and made +a light cross on the paper to indicate it. The dot fell to the left of +a large calendar hanging on the wall. + +Kennedy's appeal to Margaret Ashton had evidently had its effect, for +when we saw her a few moments after these mysterious preparations she +had overcome her emotion. + +"They have asked me to carry a note to Mr. Hanford's studio," she said +quietly, "and without letting them know that I know anything about it I +have agreed to do so." + +"Miss Ashton," said Kennedy, greatly relieved, "you're a trump." + +"No," she replied, smiling faintly, "I'm just feminine enough to be +curious." + +Craig shook his head, but did not dispute the point. "After you have +handed the envelope to the person, whoever it may be, in Hanford's +studio, wait until he does something--er,--suspicious. Meanwhile look +at the wall on the side toward the next vacant office. To the left of +the big calendar you will see a light pencil mark, a cross. Somehow you +must contrive to get near it, but don't stand in front of it. Then if +anything happens stick this little number 10 needle in the wall right +at the intersection of the cross. Withdraw it quickly, count fifteen, +then put this little sticker over the cross, and get out as best you +can, though we shan't be far away if you should need us. That's all." + +We did not accompany her to the studio for fear of being observed, but +waited impatiently in the next office. We could hear nothing of what +was said, but when a door shut and it was evident that she had gone, +Kennedy quickly removed something from the box in the wall covered with +a black cloth. + +As soon as it was safe Kennedy had sent me posting after her to secure +copies of the incriminating photographs which were to be carried by her +from the studio, while he remained to see who came out. I thought a +change had come over her as she handed me the package with the request +that I carry it to Mr. Bennett and get them from him. + +The first inkling I had that Kennedy had at last been able to trace +back something in the mysterious doings of the past two days came the +following evening, when Craig remarked casually that he would like to +have me call on Billy McLoughlin if I had no engagement. I replied that +I had none--and managed to squirm out of the one I really had. + +The Boss's office was full of politicians, for it was the eve of "dough +day," when the purse strings were loosed and a flood of potent argument +poured forth to turn the tide of election. Hanford was there with the +other ward heelers. + +"Mr. McLoughlin," began Kennedy quietly, when we were seated alone with +Hanford in the little sanctum of the Boss, "you will pardon me if I +seem a little slow in coming to the business that has brought me here +to-night. First of all, I may say, and you, Hanford, being a +photographer will appreciate it, that ever since the days of Daguerre +photography has been regarded as the one infallible means of portraying +faithfully any object, scene, or action. Indeed a photograph is +admitted in court as irrefutable evidence. For when everything else +fails, a picture made through the photographic lens almost invariably +turns the tide. However, such a picture upon which the fate of an +important case may rest should be subjected to critical examination for +it is an established fact that a photograph may be made as untruthful +as it may be reliable. Combination photographs change entirely the +character of the initial negative and have been made for the past fifty +years. The earliest, simplest, and most harmless photographic deception +is the printing of clouds into a bare sky. But the retoucher with his +pencil and etching tool to-day is very skilful. A workman of ordinary +skill can introduce a person taken in a studio into an open-air scene +well blended and in complete harmony without a visible trace of falsity. + +"I need say nothing of how one head can be put on another body in a +picture, nor need I say what a double exposure will do. There is almost +no limit to the changes that may be wrought in form and feature. It is +possible to represent a person crossing Broadway or walking on +Riverside Drive, places he may never have visited. Thus a person +charged with an offence may be able to prove an alibi by the aid of a +skilfully prepared combination photograph. + +"Where, then, can photography be considered as irrefutable evidence? +The realism may convince all, will convince all, except the expert and +the initiated after careful study. A shrewd judge will insist that in +every case the negative be submitted and examined for possible +alterations by a clever manipulator." + +Kennedy bent his gaze on McLoughlin. "Now, I do not accuse you, sir, of +anything. But a photograph has come into the possession of Mr. Travis +in which he is represented as standing on the steps of your house with +yourself and Mr. Cadwalader Brown. He and Mr. Brown are in poses that +show the utmost friendliness. I do not hesitate to say that that was +originally a photograph of yourself, Mr. Brown, and your own candidate. +It is a pretty raw deal, a fake in which Travis has been substituted by +very excellent photographic forgery." + +McLoughlin motioned to Hanford to reply. "A fake?" repeated the latter +contemptuously. "How about the affidavits? There's no negative. You've +got to prove that the original print stolen from Travis, we'll say, is +a fake. You can't do it." + +"September 19th was the date alleged, I believe?" asked Kennedy +quietly, laying down the bundle of metric photographs and the alleged +photographs of Travis. He was pointing to a shadow of a gable on the +house as it showed in the metric photographs and the others. + +"You see that shadow of the gable? Perhaps you never heard of it, +Hanford, but it is possible to tell the exact time at which a +photograph was taken from a study of the shadows. It is possible in +principle and practice and can be trusted. Almost any scientist may be +called on to bear testimony in court nowadays, but you would say the +astronomer is one of the least likely. Well, the shadow in this picture +will prove an alibi for some one. + +"Notice. It is seen very prominently to the right, and its exact +location on the house is an easy matter. You could almost use the +metric photograph for that. The identification of the gable casting the +shadow is easy. To be exact it is 19.62 feet high. The shadow is 14.23 +feet down, 13.10 feet east, and 3.43 feet north. You see I am exact. I +have to be. In one minute it moved 0.080 feet upward, 0.053 feet to the +right and 0.096 feet in its apparent path. It passes the width of a +weatherboard, 0.37 foot, in four minutes and thirty-seven seconds." + +Kennedy was talking rapidly of data which he had derived from his +metric photograph, from plumb line, level, compass, and tape, +astronomical triangle, vertices, zenith, pole and sun, declination, +azimuth, solar time, parallactic angles, refraction, and a dozen +bewildering terms. + +"In spherical trigonometry," he concluded, "to solve the problem three +elements must be known. I knew four. Therefore I could take each of the +known, treat it as unknown, and have four ways to check my result. I +find that the time might have been either three o'clock, twenty-one +minutes and twelve seconds, in the afternoon, or 3:21:31, or 3:21:29, +or 3:21:33. The average is 3:21:26, and there can therefore be no +appreciable error except for a few seconds. For that date must have +been one of two days, either May 22 or July 22. Between these two dates +we must decide on evidence other than the shadow. It must have been in +May, as the immature condition of the foliage shows. But even if it had +been in July, that is far from being September. The matter of the year +I have also settled. Weather conditions, I find, were favourable on all +these dates except that in September. I can really answer, with an +assurance and accuracy superior to that of the photographer +himself--even if he were honest--as to the real date. The real picture, +aside from being doctored, was actually taken last May. Science is not +fallible, but exact in this matter." + +Kennedy had scored a palpable hit. McLoughlin and Hanford were +speechless. Still Craig hurried on. + +"But, you may ask, how about the automobile picture? That also is an +unblushing fake. Of course I must prove that. In the first place, you +know that the general public has come to recognise the distortion of a +photograph as denoting speed. A picture of a car in a race that doesn't +lean is rejected--people demand to see speed, speed, more speed even in +pictures. Distortion does indeed show speed, but that, too, can be +faked. + +"Hanford knows that the image is projected upside down by the lens on +the plate, and that the bottom of the picture is taken before the top. +The camera mechanism admits light, which makes the picture, in the +manner of a roller blind curtain. The slit travels from the top to the +bottom and the image on the plate being projected upside down, the +bottom of the object appears on the top of the plate. For instance, the +wheels are taken before the head of the driver. If the car is moving +quickly the image moves on the plate and each successive part is taken +a little in advance of the last. The whole leans forward. By widening +the slit and slowing the speed of the shutter, there is more distortion. + +"Now, this is what happened. A picture was taken of Cadwalader Brown's +automobile, probably at rest, with Brown in it. The matter of faking +Travis or any one else by his side is simple. If with an enlarging +lantern the image of this faked picture is thrown on the paper like a +lantern slide, and if the right hand side is a little further away than +the left, the top further away than the bottom, you can print a +fraudulent high speed ahead picture. True, everything else in, the +picture, even if motionless, is distorted, and the difference between +this faking and the distortion of the shutter can be seen by an expert. +But it will pass. In this case, however, the faker was so sure of that +that he was careless. Instead of getting the plate further from the +paper on the right he did so on the left. It was further away on the +bottom than on the top. He got distortion all right, enough still to +satisfy the uninitiated. But it was distortion in the wrong way! The +top of the wheel, which goes fastest and ought to be most indistinct, +is, in the fake, as sharp as any other part. It is a small mistake, but +fatal. That picture is really at high speed--backwards! It is too raw, +too raw." + +"You don't think people are going to swallow all that stuff, do you?" +asked Hanford coolly, in spite of the exposures. + +Kennedy paid no attention. He was looking at McLoughlin. The Boss was +regarding him surlily. "Well," he said at length, "what of all this? I +had nothing to do with it. Why do you come to me? Take it to the proper +parties." + +"Shall I?" asked Kennedy quietly. + +He had uncovered another picture carefully. We could not see it, but as +he looked at it McLoughlin fairly staggered. + +"Wh--where did you get that?" he gasped. + +"I got it where I got it, and it is no fake," replied Kennedy +enigmatically. Then he appeared to think better of it. "This," he +explained, "is what is known as a pinhole photograph. Three hundred +years ago della Porta knew the camera obscura, and but for the lack of +a sensitive plate would have made photographs. A box, thoroughly +light-tight, slotted inside to receive plates, covered with black, and +glued tight, a needle hole made by a number 10 needle in a thin sheet +of paper--and you have the apparatus for lensless photography. It has a +correctness such as no image-forming means by lenses can have. It is +literally rectigraphic, rectilinear, it needs no focussing, and it +takes a wide angle with equal effect. Even pinhole snapshots are +possible where the light is abundant, with a ten to fifteen second +exposure. + +"That picture, McLoughlin, was taken yesterday at Hanford's. After Miss +Ashton left I saw who came out, but this picture shows what happened +before. At a critical moment Miss Ashton stuck a needle in the wall of +the studio, counted fifteen, closed the needle-hole, and there is the +record. Walter, Hanford,--leave us alone an instant." + +When Kennedy passed out of the Boss's office there was a look of quiet +satisfaction on his face which I could not fathom. Not a word could I +extract from him either that night or on the following day, which was +the last before the election. + +I must say that I was keenly disappointed by the lack of developments, +however. The whole thing seemed to me to be a mess. Everybody was +involved. What had Miss Ashton overheard and what had Kennedy said to +McLoughlin? Above all, what was his game? Was he playing to spare the +girl's feelings by allowing the election to go on without a scandal for +Travis? + +At last election night arrived. We were all at the Travis headquarters, +Kennedy, Travis, Bennett, and myself. Miss Ashton was not present, but +the first returns had scarcely begun to trickle in when Craig whispered +to me to go out and find her, either at her home or club. I found her +at home. She had apparently lost interest in the election, and it was +with difficulty that I persuaded her to accompany me. The excitement of +any other night in the year paled to insignificance before this. +Distracted crowds everywhere were cheering and blowing horns. Now a +series of wild shouts broke forth from the dense mass of people before +a newspaper bulletin board. Now came sullen groans, hisses, and +catcalls, or all together with cheers as the returns swung in another +direction. Not even baseball could call out such a crowd as this. +Lights blazed everywhere. Automobiles honked and ground their gears. +The lobster palaces were thronged. Police were everywhere. People with +horns and bells and all manner of noise-making devices pushed up one +side of the thoroughfares and down the other. Hungrily, ravenously they +were feeding on the meagre bulletins of news. + +Yet back of all the noise and human energy I could only think of the +silent, systematic gathering and editing of the news. High up in the +League headquarters, when we returned, a corps of clerks was tabulating +returns, comparing official and semi-official reports. As first the +state swung one way, then another, our hopes rose and fell. Miss Ashton +seemed cold and ill at ease, while Travis looked more worried and paid +less attention to the returns than would have seemed natural. She +avoided him and he seemed to hesitate to seek her out. + +Would the up-state returns, I had wondered at first, be large enough to +overcome the hostile city vote? I was amazed now to see how strongly +the city was turning to Travis. + +"McLoughlin has kept his word," ejaculated Kennedy as district after +district showed that the Boss's pluralities were being seriously cut +into. + +"His word? What do you mean?" we asked almost together. + +"I mean that he has kept his word given to me at a conference which Mr. +Jameson saw but did not hear. I told him I would publish the whole +thing, not caring whom or where or when it hit if he did not let up on +Travis. I advised him to read his Revised Statutes again about money in +elections, and I ended up with the threat, 'There will be no dough day, +McLoughlin, or this will be prosecuted to the limit.' There was no +dough day. You see the effect in the returns." + +"But how did you do it?" I asked, not comprehending. "The faked +photographs did not move him, that I could see." + +The words, "faked photographs," caused Miss Ashton to glance up +quickly. I saw that Kennedy had not told her or any one yet, until the +Boss had made good. He had simply arranged one of his little dramas. + +"Shall I tell, Miss Ashton?" he asked, adding, "Before I complete my +part of the compact and blot out the whole affair?" + +"I have no right to say no," she answered tremulously, but with a look +of happiness that I had not seen since our first introduction. + +Kennedy laid down a print on a table. It was the pinhole photograph, a +little blurry, but quite convincing. On a desk in the picture was a +pile of bills. McLoughlin was shoving them away from him toward +Bennett. A man who was facing forward in the picture was talking +earnestly to some one who did not appear. I felt intuitively, even +before Kennedy said so, that the person was Miss Ashton herself as she +stuck the needle into the wall. The man was Cadwalader Brown. + +"Travis," demanded Kennedy, "bring the account books of your campaign. +I want the miscellaneous account particularly." + +The books were brought, and he continued, turning the leaves, "It +seemed to me to show a shortage of nearly twenty thousand dollars the +other day. Why, it has been made up. How was that, Bennett?" + +Bennett was speechless. "I will tell you," Craig proceeded inexorably. +"Bennett, you embezzled that money for your business. Rather than be +found out, you went to Billy McLoughlin and offered to sell out the +Reform campaign for money to replace it. With the aid of the crook, +Hanford, McLoughlin's tool, you worked out the scheme to extort money +from Travis by forged photographs. You knew enough about Travis's house +and library to frame up a robbery one night when you were staying there +with him. It was inside work, I found, at a glance. Travis, I am sorry +to have to tell you that your confidence was misplaced. It was Bennett +who robbed you--and worse. + +"But Cadwalader Brown, always close to his creature, Billy McLoughlin, +heard of it. To him it presented another idea. To him it offered a +chance to overthrow a political enemy and a hated rival for Miss +Ashton's hand. Perhaps into the bargain it would disgust her with +politics, disillusion her, and shake her faith in what he believed to +be some of her 'radical' notions. All could be gained at one blow. They +say that a check-book knows no politics, but Bennett has learned some, +I venture to say, and to save his reputation he will pay back what he +has tried to graft." + +Travis could scarcely believe it yet. "How did you get your first +hint?" he gasped. + +Kennedy was digging into the wall with a bill file at the place where +he had buried the little vulcanised disc. I had already guessed that it +was a dictograph, though I could not tell how it was used or who used +it. There it was, set squarely in the plaster. There also were the +wires running under the carpet. As he lifted the rug under Miss +Ashton's desk there also lay the huge circles of wire. That was all. + +At this moment Miss Ashton stepped forward. "Last Friday," she said in +a low tone, "I wore a belt which concealed a coil of wire about my +waist. From it a wire ran under my coat, connecting with a small dry +battery in a pocket. Over my head I had an arrangement such as the +telephone girls wear with a receiver at one ear connected with the +battery. No one saw it, for I wore a large hat which completely hid it. +If any one had known, and there were plenty of eyes watching, the whole +thing would have fallen through. I could walk around; no one could +suspect anything; but when I stood or sat at my desk I could hear +everything that was said in Mr. Bennett's office." + +"By induction," explained Kennedy. "The impulses set up in the +concealed dictograph set up currents in these coils of wire concealed +under the carpet. They were wirelessly duplicated by induction in the +coil about Miss Ashton's waist and so affected the receiver under her +very becoming hat. Tell the rest, Miss Ashton." + +"I heard the deal arranged with this Hanford," she added, almost as if +she were confessing something, "but not understanding it as Mr. Kennedy +did, I very hastily condemned Mr. Travis. I heard talk of putting back +twenty thousand into the campaign accounts, of five thousand given to +Hanford for his photographic work, and of the way Mr. Travis was to be +defeated whether he paid or not. I heard them say that one condition +was that I should carry the purchase money. I heard much that must have +confirmed Mr. Kennedy's suspicion in one way, and my own in an opposite +way, which I know now was wrong. And then Cadwalader Brown in the +studio taunted me cynically and-and it cut me, for he seemed right. I +hope that Mr. Travis will forgive me for thinking that Mr. Bennett's +treachery was his----" + +A terrific cheer broke out among the clerks in the outer office. A boy +rushed in with a still unblotted report. Kennedy seized it and read: +"McLoughlin concedes the city by a small majority to Travis, fifteen +election districts estimated. This clinches the Reform League victory +in the state." + +I turned to Travis. He was paying no attention except to the pretty +apology of Margaret Ashton. + +Kennedy drew me to the door. "We might as well concede Miss Ashton to +Travis," he said, adding gaily, "by induction of an arm about the +waist. Let's go out and watch the crowd." + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poisoned Pen, by Arthur B. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Poisoned Pen + (From the Craig Kennedy Series) + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5007] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 8, 2002] + +Edition: 10a + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POISONED PEN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + +THE CRAIG KENNEDY SERIES + +THE POISONED PEN + + +BY + + +ARTHUR. B. REEVE + + +FRONTISPIECE BY WILL FOSTER + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + I THE POISONED PEN + + II THE YEGGMAN + + III THE GERM OF DEATH + + IV THE FIREBUG + + V THE CONFIDENCE KING + + VI THE SAND-HOG + + VII THE WHITE SLAVE + +VIII THE FORGER + + IX THE UNOFFICIAL SPY + + X THE SMUGGLER + + XI THE INVISIBLE RAY + + XII THE CAMPAIGN GRAFTER + + + + +THE POISONED PEN + + + +I + +THE POISONED PEN + + +Kennedy's suit-case was lying open on the bed, and he was +literally throwing things into it from his chiffonier, as I +entered after a hurried trip up-town from the Star office in +response to an urgent message from him. + +"Come, Walter," he cried, hastily stuffing in a package of clean +laundry without taking off the wrapping-paper, "I've got your +suit-case out. Pack up whatever you can in five minutes. We must +take the six o'clock train for Danbridge." + +I did not wait to hear any more. The mere mention of the name of +the quaint and quiet little Connecticut town was sufficient. For +Danbridge was on everybody's lips at that time. It was the scene +of the now famous Danbridge poisoning case--a brutal case in which +the pretty little actress, Vera Lytton, had been the victim. + +"I've been retained by Senator Adrian Willard," he called from his +room, as I was busy packing in mine. "The Willard family believe +that that young Dr. Dixon is the victim of a conspiracy--or at +least Alma Willard does, which comes to the same thing, and--well, +the senator called me up on long-distance and offered me anything +I would name in reason to take the case. Are you ready? Come on, +then. We've simply got to make that train." + +As we settled ourselves in the smoking-compartment of the Pullman, +which for some reason or other we had to ourselves, Kennedy spoke +again for the first time since our frantic dash across the city to +catch the train. + +"Now let us see, Walter," he began. "We've both read a good deal +about this case in the papers. Let's try to get our knowledge in +an orderly shape before we tackle the actual case itself." + +"Ever been in Danbridge?" I asked. + +"Never," he replied. "What sort of place is it?" + +"Mighty interesting," I answered; "a combination of old New +England and new, of ancestors and factories, of wealth and +poverty, and above all it is interesting for its colony of New- +Yorkers--what shall I call it?--a literary-artistic-musical +combination, I guess." + +"Yes," he resumed, "I thought as much. Vera Lytton belonged to the +colony. A very talented girl, too--you remember her in 'The Taming +of the New Woman' last season? Well, to get back to the facts as +we know them at present. + +"Here is a girl with a brilliant future on the stage discovered by +her friend, Mrs. Boncour, in convulsions--practically insensible-- +with a bottle of headache-powder and a jar of ammonia on her +dressing-table. Mrs. Boncour sends the maid for the nearest +doctor, who happens to be a Dr. Waterworth. Meanwhile she tries to +restore Miss Lytton, but with no result. She smells the ammonia +and then just tastes the headache-powder, a very foolish thing to +do, for by the time Dr. Waterworth arrives he has two patients." + +"No?" I corrected, "only one, for Miss Lytton was dead when he +arrived, according to his latest statement." + +"Very well, then--one. He arrives, Mrs. Boncour is ill, the maid +knows nothing at all about it, and Vera Lytton is dead. He, too, +smells the ammonia, tastes the headache-powder--just the merest +trace--and then he has two patients, one of them himself. We must +see him, for his experience must have been appalling. How he ever +did it I can't imagine, but he saved both himself and Mrs. Boncour +from poisoning--cyanide, the papers say, but of course we can't +accept that until we see. It seems to me, Walter, that lately the +papers have made the rule in murder cases: When in doubt, call it +cyanide." + +Not relishing Kennedy in the humour of expressing his real opinion +of the newspapers, I hastily turned the conversation back again by +asking, "How about the note from Dr. Dixon?" + +"Ah, there is the crux of the whole case--that note from Dixon. +Let us see. Dr. Dixon is, if I am informed correctly, of a fine +and aristocratic family, though not wealthy. I believe it has been +established that while he was an interne in a city hospital he +became acquainted with Vera Lytton, after her divorce from that +artist Thurston. Then comes his removal to Danbridge and his +meeting and later his engagement with Miss Willard. On the whole, +Walter, judging from the newspaper pictures, Alma Willard is quite +the equal of Vera Lytton for looks, only of a different style of +beauty. Oh, well, we shall see. Vera decided to spend the spring +and summer at Danbridge in the bungalow of her friend, Mrs. +Boncour, the novelist. That's when things began to happen." + +"Yes," I put in, "when you come to know Danbridge as I did after +that summer when you were abroad, you'll understand, too. +Everybody knows everybody else's business. It is the main +occupation of a certain set, and the per-capita output of gossip +is a record that would stagger the census bureau. Still, you can't +get away from the note, Craig. There it is, in Dixon's own +handwriting, even if he does deny it: 'This will cure your +headache. Dr. Dixon.' That's a damning piece of evidence." + +"Quite right," he agreed hastily; "the note was queer, though, +wasn't it? They found it crumpled up in the jar of ammonia. Oh, +there are lots of problems the newspapers have failed to see the +significance of, let alone trying to follow up." + +Our first visit in Danbridge was to the prosecuting attorney, +whose office was not far from the station on the main street. +Craig had wired him, and he had kindly waited to see us, for it +was evident that Danbridge respected Senator Willard and every one +connected with him. + +"Would it be too much to ask just to see that note that was found +in the Boncour bungalow?" asked Craig. + +The prosecutor, an energetic young man, pulled out of a document- +case a crumpled note which had been pressed flat again. On it in +clear, deep black letters were the words, just as reported: + + This will cure your headache. + + DR. DIXON. + +"How about the handwriting?" asked Kennedy. + +The lawyer pulled out a number of letters. "I'm afraid they will +have to admit it," he said with reluctance, as if down in his +heart he hated to prosecute Dixon. "We have lots of these, and no +handwriting expert could successfully deny the identity of the +writing." + +He stowed away the letters without letting Kennedy get a hint as +to their contents. Kennedy was examining the note carefully. + +"May I count on having this note for further examination, of +course always at such times and under such conditions as you agree +to?" + +The attorney nodded. "I am perfectly willing to do anything not +illegal to accommodate the senator," he said. "But, on the other +hand, I am here to do my duty for the state, cost whom it may." + +The Willard house was in a virtual state of siege. Newspaper +reporters from Boston and New York were actually encamped at every +gate, terrible as an army, with cameras. It was with some +difficulty that we got in, even though we were expected, for some +of the more enterprising had already fooled the family by posing +as officers of the law and messengers from Dr. Dixon. + +The house was a real, old colonial mansion with tall white +pillars, a door with a glittering brass knocker, which gleamed out +severely at you as you approached through a hedge of faultlessly +trimmed boxwoods. + +Senator, or rather former Senator, Willard met us in the library, +and a moment later his daughter Alma joined him. She was tall, +like her father, a girl of poise and self-control. Yet even the +schooling of twenty-two years in rigorous New England self- +restraint could not hide the very human pallor of her face after +the sleepless nights and nervous days since this trouble had +broken on her placid existence. Yet there was a mark of strength +and determination on her face that was fascinating. The man who +would trifle with this girl, I felt, was playing fast and loose +with her very life. I thought then, and I said to Kennedy +afterward: "If this Dr. Dixon is guilty, you have no right to hide +it from that girl. Anything less than the truth will only blacken +the hideousness of the crime that has already been committed." + +The senator greeted us gravely, and I could not but take it as a +good omen when, in his pride of wealth and family and tradition, +he laid bare everything to us, for the sake of Alma Willard. It +was clear that in this family there was one word that stood above +all others, "Duty." + +As we were about to leave after an interview barren of new facts, +a young man was announced, Mr. Halsey Post. He bowed politely to +us, but it was evident why he had called, as his eye followed Alma +about the room. + +"The son of the late Halsey Post, of Post & Vance, silversmiths, +who have the large factory in town, which you perhaps noticed," +explained the senator. "My daughter has known him all her life. A +very fine young man." + +Later, we learned that the senator had bent every effort toward +securing Halsey Post as a son-in-law, but his daughter had had +views of her own on the subject. + +Post waited until Alma had withdrawn before he disclosed the real +object of his visit. In almost a whisper, lest she should still be +listening, he said, "There is a story about town that Vera +Lytton's former husband--an artist named Thurston--was here just +before her death." + +Senator Willard leaned forward as if expecting to hear Dixon +immediately acquitted. None of us was prepared for the next +remark. + +"And the story goes on to say that he threatened to make a scene +over a wrong he says he has suffered from Dixon. I don't know +anything more about it, and I tell you only because I think you +ought to know what Danbridge is saying under its breath." + +We shook off the last of the reporters who affixed themselves to +us, and for a moment Kennedy dropped in at the little bungalow to +see Mrs. Boncour. She was much better, though she had suffered +much. She had taken only a pinhead of the poison, but it had +proved very nearly fatal. + +"Had Miss Lytton any enemies whom you think of, people who were +jealous of her professionally or personally?" asked Craig. + +"I should not even have said Dr. Dixon was an enemy," she replied +evasively. + +"But this Mr. Thurston," put in Kennedy quickly. "One is not +usually visited in perfect friendship by a husband who has been +divorced." + +She regarded him keenly for a moment. "Halsey Post told you that," +she said. "No one else knew he was here. But Halsey Post was an +old friend of both Vera and Mr. Thurston before they separated. By +chance he happened to drop in the day Mr. Thurston was here, and +later in the day I gave him a letter to forward to Mr. Thurston, +which had come after the artist left. I'm sure no one else knew +the artist. He was here the morning of the day she died, and--and- +-that's every bit I'm going to tell you about him, so there. I +don't know why he came or where he went." + +"That's a thing we must follow up later," remarked Kennedy as we +made our adieus. "Just now I want to get the facts in hand. The +next thing on my programme is to see this Dr. Waterworth." + +We found the doctor still in bed; in fact, a wreck as the result +of his adventure. He had little to correct in the facts of the +story which had been published so far. But there were many other +details of the poisoning he was quite willing to discuss frankly. + +"It was true about the jar of ammonia?" asked Kennedy. + +"Yes," he answered. "It was standing on her dressing-table with +the note crumpled up in it, just as the papers said." + +"And you have no idea why it was there?" + +"I didn't say that. I can guess. Fumes of ammonia are one of the +antidotes for poisoning of this kind." + +"But Vera Lytton could hardly have known that," objected Kennedy. + +"No, of course not. But she probably did know that ammonia is good +for just that sort of faintness which she must have experienced +after taking the powder. Perhaps she thought of sal volatile, I +don't know. But most people know that ammonia in some form is good +for faintness of this sort, even if they don't know anything about +cyanides and---" + +"Then it was cyanide?" interrupted Craig. + +"Yes," he replied slowly. It was evident that he was suffering +great physical and nervous anguish as the result of his too +intimate acquaintance with the poisons in question. "I will tell +you precisely how it was, Professor Kennedy. When I was called in +to see Miss Lytton I found her on the bed. I pried open her jaws +and smelled the sweetish odour of the cyanogen gas. I knew then +what she had taken, and at the moment she was dead. In the next +room I heard some one moaning. The maid said that it was Mrs. +Boncour, and that she was deathly sick. I ran into her room, and +though she was beside herself with pain I managed to control her, +though she struggled desperately against me. I was rushing her to +the bathroom, passing through Miss Lytton's room. 'What's wrong?' +I asked as I carried her along. 'I took some of that,' she +replied, pointing to the bottle on the dressing-table. + +"I put a small quantity of its crystal contents on my tongue. Then +I realised the most tragic truth of my life. I had taken one of +the deadliest poisons in the world. The odour of the released gas +of cyanogen was strong. But more than that, the metallic taste and +the horrible burning sensation told of the presence of some form +of mercury, too. In that terrible moment my brain worked with the +incredible swiftness of light. In a flash I knew that if I added +malic acid to the mercury--perchloride of mercury or corrosive +sublimate--I would have calomel or subchloride of mercury, the +only thing that would switch the poison out of my system and Mrs. +Boncour's. + +"Seizing her about the waist, I hurried into the dining-room. On a +sideboard was a dish of fruit. I took two apples. I made her eat +one, core and all. I ate the other. The fruit contained the malic +acid I needed to manufacture the calomel, and I made it right +there in nature's own laboratory. But there was no time to stop. I +had to act just as quickly to neutralise that cyanide, too. +Remembering the ammonia, I rushed back with Mrs. Boncour, and we +inhaled the fumes. Then I found a bottle of peroxide of hydrogen. +I washed out her stomach with it, and then my own. Then I injected +some of the peroxide into various parts of her body. The peroxide +of hydrogen and hydrocyanic acid, you know, make oxamide, which is +a harmless compound. + +"The maid put Mrs. Boncour to bed, saved. I went to my house, a +wreck. Since then I have not left this bed. With my legs paralysed +I lie here, expecting each hour to be my last." + +"Would you taste an unknown drug again to discover the nature of a +probable poison?" asked Craig. + +"I don't know," he answered slowly, "but I suppose I would. In +such a case a conscientious doctor has no thought of self. He is +there to do things, and he does them, according to the best that +is in him. In spite of the fact that I haven't had one hour of +unbroken sleep since that fatal day, I suppose I would do it +again." + +When we were leaving, I remarked: "That is a martyr to science. +Could anything be more dramatic than his willing penalty for his +devotion to medicine?" + +We walked along in silence. "Walter, did you notice he said not a +word of condemnation of Dixon, though the note was before his +eyes? Surely Dixon has some strong supporters in Danbridge, as +well as enemies." + +The next morning we continued our investigation. We found Dixon's +lawyer, Leland, in consultation with his client in the bare cell +of the county jail. Dixon proved to be a clear-eyed, clean-cut +young man. The thing that impressed me most about him, aside from +the prepossession in his favour due to the faith of Alma Willard, +was the nerve he displayed, whether guilty or innocent. Even an +innocent man might well have been staggered by the circumstantial +evidence against him and the high tide of public feeling, in spite +of the support that he was receiving. Leland, we learned, had been +very active. By prompt work at the time of the young doctor's +arrest he had managed to secure the greater part of Dr. Dixon's +personal letters, though the prosecutor secured some, the contents +of which had not been disclosed. + +Kennedy spent most of the day in tracing out the movements of +Thurston. Nothing that proved important was turned up, and even +visits to near-by towns failed to show any sales of cyanide or +sublimate to any one not entitled to buy them. Meanwhile, in +turning over the gossip of the town, one of the newspapermen ran +across the fact that the Boncour bungalow was owned by the Posts, +and that Halsey Post, as the executor of the estate, was a more +frequent visitor than the mere collection of the rent would +warrant. Mrs. Boncour maintained a stolid silence that covered a +seething internal fury when the newspaperman in question hinted +that the landlord and tenant were on exceptionally good terms. + +It was after a fruitless day of such search that we were sitting +in the reading-room of the Fairfield Hotel. Leland entered. His +face was positively white. Without a word he took us by the arm +and led us across Main Street and up a flight of stairs to his +office. Then he locked the door. + +"What's the matter?" asked Kennedy. + +"When I took this case," he said, "I believed down in my heart +that Dixon was innocent. I still believe it, but my faith has been +rudely shaken. I feel that you should know about what I have just +found. As I told you, we secured nearly all of Dr. Dixon's +letters. I had not read them all then. But I have been going +through them to-night. Here is a letter from Vera Lytton herself. +You will notice it is dated the day of her death." + +He laid the letter before us. It was written in a curious greyish- +black ink in a woman's hand, and read: + +DEAR HARRIS: + +Since we agreed to disagree we have at least been good friends, if +no longer lovers. I am not writing in anger to reproach you with +your new love, so soon after the old. I suppose Alma Willard is +far better suited to be your wife than is a poor little actress-- +rather looked down on in this Puritan society here. But there is +something I wish to warn you about, for it concerns us all +intimately. + +We are in danger of an awful mix-up if we don't look out. Mr. +Thurston--I had almost said my husband, though I don't know +whether that is the truth or not--who has just come over from New +York, tells me that there is some doubt about the validity of our +divorce. You recall he was in the South at the time I sued him, +and the papers were served on him in Georgia, He now says the +proof of service was fraudulent and that he can set aside the +divorce. In that case you might figure in a suit for alienating my +affections. + +I do not write this with ill will, but simply to let you know how +things stand. If we had married, I suppose I would be guilty of +bigamy. At any rate, if he were disposed he could make a terrible +scandal. + +Oh, Harris, can't you settle with him if he asks anything? Don't +forget so soon that we once thought we were going to be the +happiest of mortals--at least I did. Don't desert me, or the very +earth will cry out against you. I am frantic and hardly know what +I am writing. My head aches, but it is my heart that is breaking. +Harris, I am yours still, down in my heart, but not to be cast off +like an old suit for a new one. You know the old saying about a +woman scorned. I beg you not to go back on + + Your poor little deserted + + VERA. + +As we finished reading, Leland exclaimed, "That never must come +before the jury." + +Kennedy was examining the letter carefully. "Strange," he +muttered. "See how it was folded. It was written on the wrong side +of the sheet, or rather folded up with the writing outside. Where +have these letters been?" + +"Part of the time in my safe, part of the time this afternoon on +my desk by the window." + +"The office was locked, I suppose?" asked Kennedy. "There was no +way to slip this letter in among the others since you obtained +them?" + +"None. The office has been locked, and there is no evidence of any +one having entered or disturbed a thing." + +He was hastily running over the pile of letters as if looking to +see whether they were all there. Suddenly he stopped. + +"Yes," he exclaimed excitedly, "one of them is gone." Nervously he +fumbled through them again. "One is gone," he repeated, looking at +us, startled. + +"What was it about?" asked Craig. + +"It was a note from an artist, Thurston, who gave the address of +Mrs. Boncour's bungalow--ah, I see you have heard of him. He asked +Dixon's recommendation of a certain patent headache medicine. I +thought it possibly evidential, and I asked Dixon about it. He +explained it by saying that he did not have a copy of his reply, +but as near as he could recall, he wrote that the compound would +not cure a headache except at the expense of reducing heart action +dangerously. He says he sent no prescription. Indeed, he thought +it a scheme to extract advice without incurring the charge for an +office call and answered it only because he thought Vera had +become reconciled to Thurston again. I can't find that letter of +Thurston's. It is gone." + +We looked at each other in amazement. + +"Why, if Dixon contemplated anything against Miss Lytton, should +he preserve this letter from her?" mused Kennedy. "Why didn't he +destroy it?" + +"That's what puzzles me," remarked Leland. "Do you suppose some +one has broken in and substituted this Lytton letter for the +Thurston letter?" + +Kennedy was scrutinising the letter, saying nothing. "I may keep +it?" he asked at length. Leland was quite willing and even +undertook to obtain some specimens of the writing of Vera Lytton. +With these and the letter Kennedy was working far into the night +and long after I had passed into a land troubled with many wild +dreams of deadly poisons and secret intrigues of artists. + +The next morning a message from our old friend First Deputy +O'Connor in New York told briefly of locating the rooms of an +artist named Thurston in one of the co-operative studio +apartments. Thurston himself had not been there for several days +and was reported to have gone to Maine to sketch. He had had a +number of debts, but before he left they had all been paid-- +strange to say, by a notorious firm of shyster lawyers, Kerr & +Kimmel. Kennedy wired back to find out the facts from Kerr & +Kimmel and to locate Thurston at any cost. + +Even the discovery of the new letter did not shake the wonderful +self-possession of Dr. Dixon. He denied ever having received it +and repeated his story of a letter from Thurston to which he had +replied by sending an answer, care of Mrs. Boncour, as requested. +He insisted that the engagement between Miss Lytton and himself +had been broken before the announcement of his engagement with +Miss Willard. As for Thurston, he said the man was little more +than a name to him. He had known perfectly all the circumstances +of the divorce, but had had no dealings with Thurston and no fear +of him. Again and again he denied ever receiving the letter from +Vera Lytton. + +Kennedy did not tell the Willards of the new letter. The strain +had begun to tell on Alma, and her father had had her quietly +taken to a farm of his up in the country. To escape the curious +eyes of reporters, Halsey Post had driven up one night in his +closed car. She had entered it quickly with her father, and the +journey had been made in the car, while Halsey Post had quietly +dropped off on the outskirts of the town, where another car was +waiting to take him back. It was evident that the Willard family +relied implicitly on Halsey, and his assistance to them was most +considerate. While he never forced himself forward, he kept in +close touch with the progress of the case, and now that Alma was +away his watchfulness increased proportionately, and twice a day +he wrote a long report which was sent to her. + +Kennedy was now bending every effort to locate the missing artist. +When he left Danbridge, he seemed to have dropped out of sight +completely. However, with O'Connor's aid, the police of all New +England were on the lookout. + +The Thurstons had been friends of Halsey's before Vera Lytton had +ever met Dr. Dixon, we discovered from the Danbridge gossips, and +I, at least, jumped to the conclusion that Halsey was shielding +the artist, perhaps through a sense of friendship when he found +that Kennedy was interested in Thurston's movement. I must say I +rather liked Halsey, for he seemed very thoughtful of the +Willards, and was never too busy to give an hour or so to any +commission they wished carried out without publicity. + +Two days passed with not a word from Thurston. Kennedy was +obviously getting impatient. One day a rumour was received that he +was in Bar Harbour; the next it was a report from Nova Scotia. At +last, however, came the welcome news that he had been located in +New Hampshire, arrested, and might be expected the next day. + +At once Kennedy became all energy. He arranged for a secret +conference in Senator Willard's house, the moment the artist was +to arrive. The senator and his daughter made a flying trip back to +town. Nothing was said to any one about Thurston, but Kennedy +quietly arranged with the district attorney to be present with the +note and the jar of ammonia properly safeguarded. Leland of course +came, although his client could not. Halsey Post seemed only too +glad to be with Miss Willard, though he seemed to have lost +interest in the case as soon as the Willards returned to look +after it themselves. Mrs. Boncour was well enough to attend, and +even Dr. Waterworth insisted on coming in a private ambulance +which drove over from a near-by city especially for him. The time +was fixed just before the arrival of the train that was to bring +Thurston. + +It was an anxious gathering of friends and foes of Dr. Dixon who +sat impatiently waiting for Kennedy to begin this momentous +exposition that was to establish the guilt or innocence of the +calm young physician who sat impassively in the jail not half a +mile from the room where his life and death were being debated. + +"In many respects this is the most remarkable case that it has +ever been my lot to handle," began Kennedy. "Never before have I +felt so keenly my sense of responsibility. Therefore, though this +is a somewhat irregular proceeding, let me begin by setting forth +the facts as I see them. + +"First, let us consider the dead woman. The question that arises +here is, Was she murdered or did she commit suicide? I think you +will discover the answer as I proceed. Miss Lytton, as you know, +was, two years ago, Mrs. Burgess Thurston. The Thurstons had +temperament, and temperament is quite often the highway to the +divorce court. It was so in this case. Mrs. Thurston discovered +that her husband was paying much attention to other women. She +sued for divorce in New York, and he accepted service in the +South, where he happened to be. At least it was so testified by +Mrs. Thurston's lawyer. + +"Now here comes the remarkable feature of the case. The law firm +of Kerr & Kimmel, I find, not long ago began to investigate the +legality of this divorce. Before a notary Thurston made an +affidavit that he had never been served by the lawyer for Miss +Lytton, as she was now known. Her lawyer is dead, but his +representative in the South who served the papers is alive. He was +brought to New York and asserted squarely that he had served the +papers properly. + +"Here is where the shrewdness of Mose Kimmel, the shyster lawyer, +came in. He arranged to have the Southern attorney identify the +man he had served the papers on. For this purpose he was engaged +in conversation with one of his own clerks when the lawyer was due +to appear. Kimmel appeared to act confused, as if he had been +caught napping. The Southern lawyer, who had seen Thurston only +once, fell squarely into the trap and identified the clerk as +Thurston. There were plenty of witnesses to it, and it was point +number two for the great Mose Kimmel. Papers were drawn up to set +aside the divorce decree. + +"In the meantime, Miss Lytton, or Mrs. Thurston, had become +acquainted with a young doctor in a New York hospital, and had +become engaged to him. It matters not that the engagement was +later broken. The fact remains that if the divorce were set aside +an action would lie against Dr. Dixon for alienating Mrs. +Thurston's affections, and a grave scandal would result. I need +not add that in this quiet little town of Danbridge the most could +be made of such a suit." + +Kennedy was unfolding a piece of paper. As he laid it down, +Leland, who was sitting next to me, exclaimed under his breath: + +"My God, he's going to let the prosecutor know about that letter. +Can't you stop him?" + +It was too late. Kennedy had already begun to read Vera's letter. +It was damning to Dixon, added to the other note found in the +ammonia-jar. + +When he had finished reading, you could almost hear the hearts +throbbing in the room. A scowl overspread Senator Willard's +features. Alma Willard was pale and staring wildly at Kennedy. +Halsey Post, ever solicitous for her, handed her a glass of water +from the table. Dr. Waterworth had forgotten his pain in his +intense attention, and Mrs. Boncour seemed stunned with +astonishment. The prosecuting attorney was eagerly taking notes. + +"In some way," pursued Kennedy in an even voice, "this letter was +either overlooked in the original correspondence of Dr. Dixon or +it was added to it later. I shall come back to that presently. My +next point is that Dr. Dixon says he received a letter from +Thurston on the day the artist visited the Boncour bungalow. It +asked about a certain headache compound, and his reply was brief +and, as nearly as I can find out, read, 'This compound will not +cure your headache except at the expense of reducing heart action +dangerously.' + +"Next comes the tragedy. On the evening of the day that Thurston +left, after presumably telling Miss Lytton about what Kerr & +Kimmel had discovered, Miss Lytton is found dying with a bottle +containing cyanide and sublimate beside her. You are all familiar +with the circumstances and with the note discovered in the jar of +ammonia. Now, if the prosecutor will be so kind as to let me see +that note--thank you, sir. This is the identical note. You have +all heard the various theories of the jar and have read the note. +Here it is in plain, cold black and white--in Dr. Dixon's own +handwriting, as you know, and reads: 'This will cure your +headache. Dr. Dixon.'" + +Alma Willard seemed as one paralysed. Was Kennedy, who had been +engaged by her father to defend her fiance, about to convict him? + +"Before we draw the final conclusion," continued Kennedy gravely, +"there are one or two points I wish to elaborate. Walter, will you +open that door into the main hall?" + +I did so, and two policemen stepped in with a prisoner. It was +Thurston, but changed almost beyond recognition. His clothes were +worn, his beard shaved off, and he had a generally hunted +appearance. + +Thurston was visibly nervous. Apparently he had heard all that +Kennedy had said and intended he should hear, for as he entered he +almost broke away from the police officers in his eagerness to +speak. + +"Before God," he cried dramatically, "I am as innocent as you are +of this crime, Professor Kennedy." + +"Are you prepared to swear before ME," almost shouted Kennedy, his +eyes blazing, "that you were never served properly by your wife's +lawyers in that suit?" + +The man cringed back as if a stinging blow had been delivered +between his eyes. As he met Craig's fixed glare he knew there was +no hope. Slowly, as if the words were being wrung from him +syllable by syllable, he said in a muffled voice: + +"No, I perjured myself. I was served in that suit. But--" + +"And you swore falsely before Kimmel that you were not?" persisted +Kennedy. + +"Yes," he murmured. "But--" + +"And you are prepared now to make another affidavit to that +effect?" + +"Yes," he replied. "If--" + +"No buts or ifs, Thurston," cried Kennedy sarcastically. "What did +you make that affidavit for? What is YOUR story?" + +"Kimmel sent for me. I did not go to him. He offered to pay my +debts if I would swear to such a statement. I did not ask why or +for whom. I swore to it and gave him a list of my creditors. I +waited until they were paid. Then my conscience"--I could not help +revolting at the thought of conscience in such a wretch, and the +word itself seemed to stick in his throat as he went on and saw +how feeble an impression he was making on us--"my conscience began +to trouble me. I determined to see Vera, tell her all, and find +out whether it was she who wanted this statement. I saw her. When +at last I told her, she scorned me. I can confirm that, for as I +left a man entered. I now knew how grossly I had sinned, in +listening to Mose Kimmel. I fled. I disappeared in Maine. I +travelled. Every day my money grew less. At last I was overtaken, +captured, and brought back here." + +He stopped and sank wretchedly down in a chair and covered his +face with his hands. + +"A likely story," muttered Leland in my ear. + +Kennedy was working quickly. Motioning the officers to be seated +by Thurston, he uncovered a jar which he had placed on the table. +The colour had now appeared in Alma's cheeks, as if hope had again +sprung in her heart, and I fancied that Halsey Post saw his claim +on her favour declining correspondingly. + +"I want you to examine the letters in this case with me," +continued Kennedy. "Take the letter which I read from Miss Lytton, +which was found following the strange disappearance of the note +from Thurston." + +He dipped a pen into a little bottle, and wrote on a piece of +paper: + +What is your opinion about Cross's Headache Cure? Would you +recommend it for a nervous headache? +BURGESS THURSTON, c/o MRS. S. BONCOUR. + +Craig held up the writing so that we could all see that he had +written what Dixon declared Thurston wrote in the note that had +disappeared. Then he dipped another pen into a second bottle, and +for some time he scrawled on another sheet of paper. He held it +up, but it was still perfectly blank. + +"Now," he added, "I am going to give a little demonstration which +I expect to be successful only in a measure. Here in the open +sunshine by this window I am going to place these two sheets of +paper side by side. It will take longer than I care to wait to +make my demonstration complete, but I can do enough to convince +you." + +For a quarter of an hour we sat in silence, wondering what he +would do next. At last he beckoned us over to the window. As we +approached he said, "On sheet number one I have written with +quinoline; on sheet number two I wrote with a solution of nitrate +of silver." + +We bent over. The writing signed "Thurston" on sheet number one +was faint, almost imperceptible, but on paper number two, in black +letters, appeared what Kennedy had written: "Dear Harris: Since we +agreed to disagree we have at least been good friends." + +"It is like the start of the substituted letter, and the other is +like the missing note," gasped Leland in a daze. + +"Yes," said Kennedy quickly. "Leland, no one entered your office. +No one stole the Thurston note. No one substituted the Lytton +letter. According to your own story, you took them out of the safe +and left them in the sunlight all day. The process that had been +started earlier in ordinary light, slowly, was now quickly +completed. In other words, there was writing which would soon fade +away on one side of the paper and writing which was invisible but +would soon appear on the other. + +"For instance, quinoline rapidly disappears in sunlight. Starch +with a slight trace of iodine writes a light blue, which +disappears in air. It was something like that used in the Thurston +letter. Then, too, silver nitrate dissolved in ammonia gradually +turns black as it is acted on by light and air. Or magenta treated +with a bleaching-agent in just sufficient quantity to decolourise +it is invisible when used for writing. But the original colour +reappears as the oxygen of the air acts upon the pigment. I +haven't a doubt but that my analyses of the inks are correct and +on one side quinoline was used and on the other nitrate of silver. +This explains the inexplicable disappearance of evidence +incriminating one person, Thurston, and the sudden appearance of +evidence incriminating another, Dr. Dixon. Sympathetic ink also +accounts for the curious circumstance that the Lytton letter was +folded up with the writing apparently outside. It was outside and +unseen until the sunlight brought it out and destroyed the other, +inside, writing--a change, I suspect, that was intended for the +police to see after it was completed, not for the defence to +witness as it was taking place." + +We looked at each other aghast. Thurston was nervously opening and +shutting his lips and moistening them as if he wanted to say +something but could not find the words. + +"Lastly," went on Craig, utterly regardless of Thurston's frantic +efforts to speak, "we come to the note that was discovered so +queerly crumpled up in the jar of ammonia on Vera Lytton's +dressing-table. I have here a cylindrical glass jar in which I +place some sal-ammoniac and quicklime. I will wet it and heat it a +little. That produces the pungent gas of ammonia. + +"On one side of this third piece of paper I myself write with this +mercurous nitrate solution. You see, I leave no mark on the paper +as I write. I fold it up and drop it into the jar-and in a few +seconds withdraw it. Here is a very quick way of producing +something like the slow result of sunlight with silver nitrate. +The fumes of ammonia have formed the precipitate of black +mercurous nitrate, a very distinct black writing which is almost +indelible. That is what is technically called invisible rather +than sympathetic ink." + +We leaned over to read what he had written. It was the same as the +note incriminating Dixon: + + This will cure your headache. + + DR. DIXON. + +A servant entered with a telegram from New York. Scarcely stopping +in his exposure, Kennedy tore it open, read it hastily, stuffed it +into his pocket, and went on. + +"Here in this fourth bottle I have an acid solution of iron +chloride, diluted until the writing is invisible when dry," he +hurried on. "I will just make a few scratches on this fourth sheet +of paper--so. It leaves no mark. But it has the remarkable +property of becoming red in vapour of sulpho-cyanide. Here is a +long-necked flask of the gas, made by sulphuric acid acting on +potassium sulpho-cyanide. Keep back, Dr. Waterworth, for it would +be very dangerous for you to get even a whiff of this in your +condition. Ah! See--the scratches I made on the paper are red." + +Then hardly giving us more than a moment to let the fact impress +itself on our minds, he seized the piece of paper and dashed it +into the jar of ammonia. When he withdrew it, it was just a plain +sheet of white paper again. The red marks which the gas in the +flask had brought out of nothingness had been effaced by the +ammonia. They had gone and left no trace. + +"In this way I can alternately make the marks appear and disappear +by using the sulpho-cyanide and the ammonia. Whoever wrote this +note with Dr. Dixon's name on it must have had the doctor's reply +to the Thurston letter containing the words, 'This will not cure +your headache.' He carefully traced the words, holding the genuine +note up to the light with a piece of paper over it, leaving out +the word 'not' and using only such words as he needed. This note +was then destroyed. + +"But he forgot that after he had brought out the red writing by +the use of the sulpho-cyanide, and though he could count on Vera +Lytton's placing the note in the jar of ammonia and hence +obliterating the writing, while at the same time the invisible +writing in the mercurous nitrate involving Dr. Dixon's name would +be brought out by the ammonia indelibly on the other side of the +note--he forgot"--Kennedy was now speaking eagerly and loudly-- +"that the sulpho-cyanide vapours could always be made to bring +back to accuse him the words that the ammonia had blotted out." + +Before the prosecutor could interfere, Kennedy had picked up the +note found in the ammonia-jar beside the dying girl and had jammed +the state's evidence into the long-necked flask of sulpho-cyanide +vapour. + +"Don't fear," he said, trying to pacify the now furious +prosecutor, "it will do nothing to the Dixon writing. That is +permanent now, even if it is only a tracing." + +When he withdrew the note, there was writing on both sides, the +black of the original note and something in red on the other side. + +We crowded around, and Craig read it with as much interest as any +of us: + +"Before taking the headache-powder, be sure to place the contents +of this paper in a jar with a little warm water." + +"Hum," commented Craig, "this was apparently written on the +outside wrapper of a paper folded about some sal-ammoniac and +quicklime. It goes on: + +"'Just drop the whole thing in, PAPER AND ALL. Then if you feel a +faintness from the medicine the ammonia will quickly restore you. +One spoonful of the headache-powder swallowed quickly is enough.'" + +No name was signed to the directions, but they were plainly +written, and "PAPER AND ALL" was underscored heavily. + +Craig pulled out some letters. "I have here specimens of writing +of many persons connected with this case, but I can see at a +glance which one corresponds to the writing on this red death- +warrant by an almost inhuman fiend. I shall, however, leave that +part of it to the handwriting experts to determine at the trial. +Thurston, who was the man whom you saw enter the Boncour bungalow +as you left--the constant visitor?" + +Thurston had not yet regained his self-control, but with trembling +forefinger he turned and pointed to Halsey Post. + +"Yes, ladies and gentlemen," cried Kennedy as he slapped the +telegram that had just come from New York down on the table +decisively, "yes, the real client of Kerr & Kimmel, who bent +Thurston to his purposes, was Halsey Post, once secret lover of +Vera Lytton till threatened by scandal in Danbridge--Halsey Post, +graduate in technology, student of sympathetic inks, forger of the +Vera Lytton letter and the other notes, and dealer in cyanides in +the silver-smithing business, fortune-hunter for the Willard +millions with which to recoup the Post & Vance losses, and hence +rival of Dr. Dixon for the love of Alma Willard. That is the man +who wielded the poisoned pen. Dr. Dixon is innocent." + + + + +II + +THE YEGGMAN + + +"Hello! Yes, this is Professor Kennedy. I didn't catch the name-- +oh, yes--President Blake of the Standard Burglary Insurance +Company. What--really? The Branford pearls--stolen? Maid +chloroformed? Yes, I'll take the case. You'll be up in half an +hour? All right, I'll be here. Goodbye." + +It was through this brief and businesslike conversation over the +telephone that Kennedy became involved in what proved to be one of +the most dangerous cases he had ever handled. + +At the mention of the Branford pearls I involuntarily stopped +reading, and listened, not because I wanted to pry into Craig's +affairs, but because I simply couldn't help it. This was news that +had not yet been given out to the papers, and my instinct told me +that there must be something more to it than the bare statement of +the robbery. + +"Some one has made a rich haul," I commented. "It was reported, I +remember, when the Branford pearls were bought in Paris last year +that Mrs. Branford paid upward of a million francs for the +collection." + +"Blake is bringing up his shrewdest detective to co-operate with +me in the case," added Kennedy. "Blake, I understand, is the head +of the Burglary Insurance Underwriters' Association, too. This +will be a big thing, Walter, if we can carry it through." + +It was the longest half-hour that I ever put in, waiting for Blake +to arrive. When he did come, it was quite evident that my surmise +had been correct. + +Blake was one of those young old men who are increasingly common +in business today. There was an air of dignity and keenness about +his manner that showed clearly how important he regarded the case. +So anxious was he to get down to business that he barely +introduced himself and his companion, Special Officer Maloney, a +typical private detective. + +"Of course you haven't heard anything except what I have told you +over the wire," he began, going right to the point. "We were +notified of it only this noon ourselves, and we haven't given it +out to the papers yet, though the local police in Jersey are now +on the scene. The New York police must be notified tonight, so +that whatever we do must be done before they muss things up. We've +got a clue that we want to follow up secretly. These are the +facts." + +In the terse, straightforward language of the up-to-date man of +efficiency, he sketched the situation for us. + +"The Branford estate, you know, consists of several acres on the +mountain back of Montclair, overlooking the valley, and surrounded +by even larger estates. Branford, I understand, is in the West +with a party of capitalists, inspecting a reported find of potash +salts. Mrs. Branford closed up the house a few days ago and left +for a short stay at Palm Beach. Of course they ought to have put +their valuables in a safe deposit vault. But they didn't. They +relied on a safe that was really one of the best in the market--a +splendid safe, I may say. Well, it seems that while the master and +mistress were both away the servants decided on having a good time +in New York. They locked up the house securely--there's no doubt +of that--and just went. That is, they all went except Mrs. +Branford's maid, who refused to go for some reason or other. We've +got all the servants, but there's not a clue to be had from any of +them. They just went off on a bust, that's clear. They admit it. + +"Now, when they got back early this morning they found the maid in +bed--dead. There was still a strong odor of chloroform about the +room. The bed was disarranged as if there had been a struggle. A +towel had been wrapped up in a sort of cone, saturated with +chloroform, and forcibly held over the girl's nose. The next thing +they discovered was the safe--blown open in a most peculiar +manner. I won't dwell on that. We're going to take you out there +and show it to you after I've told you the whole story. + +"Here's the real point. It looks all right, so far. The local +police say that the thief or thieves, whoever they were, +apparently gained access by breaking a back window. That's mistake +number one. Tell Mr. Kennedy about the window, Maloney." + +"It's just simply this," responded the detective. "When I came to +look at the broken window I found that the glass had fallen +outside in such a way as it could not have fallen if the window +had been broken from the outside. The thing was a blind. Whoever +did it got into the house in some other way and then broke the +glass later to give a false clue." + +"And," concluded Blake, taking his cigar between his thumb and +forefinger and shaking it to give all possible emphasis to his +words, "we have had our agent at Palm Beach on long-distance +'phone twice this afternoon. Mrs. Branford did NOT go to Palm +Beach. She did NOT engage rooms in any hotel there. And +furthermore she never had any intention of going there. By a +fortunate circumstance Maloney picked up a hint from one of the +servants, and he has located her at the Grattan Inn in this city. +In other words, Mrs. Branford has stolen her own jewels from +herself in order to collect the burglary insurance--a common- +enough thing in itself, but never to my knowledge done on such a +large scale before." + +The insurance man sank back in his chair and surveyed us sharply. + +"But," interrupted Kennedy slowly, "how about--" + +"I know--the maid," continued Blake. "I do not mean that Mrs. +Branford did the actual stealing. Oh, no. That was done by a +yeggman of experience. He must have been above the average, but +everything points to the work of a yeggman. She hired him. But he +overstepped the mark when he chloroformed the maid." + +For a moment Kennedy said nothing. Then he remarked: "Let us go +out and see the safe. There must be some clue. After that I want +to have a talk with Mrs. Branford. By the way," he added, as we +all rose to go down to Blake's car, "I once handled a life +insurance case for the Great Eastern. I made the condition that I +was to handle it in my own way, whether it went for or against the +company. That's understood, is it, before I undertake the case?" + +"Yes, yes," agreed Blake. "Get at the truth. We're not seeking to +squirm out of meeting an honest liability. Only we want to make a +signal example if it is as we have every reason to believe. There +has been altogether too much of this sort of fake burglary to +collect insurance, and as president of the underwriters it is my +duty and intention to put a stop to it. Come on." + +Maloney nodded his head vigorously in assent with his chief. +"Never fear," he murmured. "The truth is what will benefit the +company, all right. She did it." + +The Branford estate lay some distance back from the railroad +station, so that, although it took longer to go by automobile than +by train, the car made us independent of the rather fitful night +train service and the local cabmen. + +We found the house not deserted by the servants, but subdued. The +body of the maid had been removed to a local morgue, and a police +officer was patrolling the grounds, though of what use that could +be I was at a loss to understand. + +Kennedy was chiefly interested in the safe. It was of the so- +called "burglar-proof" variety, spherical in shape, and looking +for all the world like a miniature piece of electrical machinery. + +"I doubt if anything could have withstood such savage treatment as +has been given to this safe," remarked Craig as he concluded a +cursory examination of it. "It shows great resistance to high +explosives, chiefly, I believe, as a result of its rounded shape. +But nothing could stand up against such continued assaults." + +He continued to examine the safe while we stood idly by. "I like +to reconstruct my cases in my own mind," explained Kennedy, as he +took his time in the examination. "Now, this fellow must have +stripped the safe of all the outer trimmings. His next move was to +make a dent in the manganese surface across the joint where the +door fits the body. That must have taken a good many minutes of +husky work. In fact, I don't see how he could have done it without +a sledge-hammer and a hot chisel. Still, he did it and then--" + +"But the maid," interposed Maloney. "She was in the house. She +would have heard and given an alarm." + +For answer, Craig simply went to a bay-window and raised the +curtain. Pointing to the lights of the next house, far down the +road, he said, "I'll buy the best cigars in the state if you can +make them hear you on a blustery night like last night. No, she +probably did scream. Either at this point, or at the very start, +the burglar must have chloroformed her. I don't see any other way +to explain it. I doubt if he expected such a tough proposition as +he found in this safe, but he was evidently prepared to carry it +through, now that he was here and had such an unexpectedly clear +field, except for the maid. He simply got her out of the way, or +his confederates did--in the easiest possible way, poor girl." + +Returning to the safe, he continued: "Well, anyhow, he made a +furrow perhaps an inch and a half long and a quarter of an inch +wide and, I should say, not over an eighth of an inch deep. Then +he commenced to burgle in earnest. Under the dent he made a sort +of little cup of red clay and poured in the 'soup'--the +nitroglycerin--so that it would run into the depression. Then he +exploded it in the regular way with a battery and a fulminate cap. +I doubt if it did much more than discolour the metal at first. +Still, with the true persistency of his kind, he probably repeated +the dose, using more and more of the 'soup' until the joint was +stretched a little, and more of an opening made so that the 'soup' +could run in. + +"Again and again he must have repeated and increased the charges. +Perhaps he used two or three cups at a time. By this time the +outer door must have been stretched so as to make it easy to +introduce the explosive. No doubt he was able to use ten or twelve +ounces of the stuff at a charge. It must have been more like +target-practice than safe-blowing. But the chance doesn't often +come--an empty house and plenty of time. Finally the door must +have bulged a fraction of an inch or so, and then a good big +charge and the outer portion was ripped off and the safe turned +over. There was still two or three inches of manganese steel +protecting the contents, wedged in so tight that it must have +seemed that nothing could budge it. But he must have kept at it +until we have the wreck that we see here," and Kennedy kicked the +safe with his foot as he finished. + +Blake was all attention by this time, while Maloney gasped, "If I +was in the safe-cracking business, I'd make you the head of the +firm." + +"And now," said Craig, "let us go back to New York and see if we +can find Mrs. Branford." + +"Of course you understand," explained Blake as we were speeding +back, "that most of these cases of fake robberies are among small +people, many of them on the East Side among little jewellers or +other tradesmen. Still, they are not limited to any one class. +Indeed, it is easier to foil the insurance companies when you sit +in the midst of finery and wealth, protected by a self-assuring +halo of moral rectitude, than under less fortunate circumstances. +Too often, I'm afraid, we have good-naturedly admitted the +unsolved burglary and paid the insurance claim. That has got to +stop. Here's a case where we considered the moral hazard a safe +one, and we are mistaken. It's the last straw." + +Our interview with Mrs. Branford was about as awkward an +undertaking as I have ever been concerned with. Imagine yourself +forced to question a perfectly stunning woman, who was suspected +of plotting so daring a deed and knew that you suspected her. +Resentment was no name for her feelings. She scorned us, loathed +us. It was only by what must have been the utmost exercise of her +remarkable will-power that she restrained herself from calling the +hotel porters and having us thrown out bodily. That would have put +a bad face on it, so she tolerated our presence. Then, of course, +the insurance company had reserved the right to examine everybody +in the household, under oath if necessary, before passing on the +claim. + +"This is an outrage," she exclaimed, her eyes flashing and her +breast rising and falling with suppressed emotion, "an outrage. +When my husband returns I intend to have him place the whole +matter in the hands of the best attorney in the city. Not only +will I have the full amount of the insurance, but I will have +damages and costs and everything the law allows. Spying on my +every movement in this way--it is an outrage! One would think we +were in St. Petersburg instead of New York." + +"One moment, Mrs. Branford," put in Kennedy, as politely as he +could. "Suppose--" + +"Suppose nothing," she cried angrily. "I shall explain nothing, +say nothing. What if I do choose to close up that lonely big house +in the suburbs and come to the city to live for a few days--is it +anybody's business except mine?" + +"And your husband's?" added Kennedy, nettled at her treatment of +him. + +She shot him a scornful glance. "I suppose Mr. Branford went out +to Arizona for the express purpose of collecting insurance on my +jewels," she added sarcastically with eyes that snapped fire. + +"I was about to say," remarked Kennedy as imperturbably as if he +were an automaton, "that supposing some one took advantage of your +absence to rob your safe, don't you think the wisest course would +be to be perfectly frank about it?" + +"And give just one plausible reason why you wished so much to have +it known that you were going to Palm Beach when in reality you +were in New York?" pursued Maloney, while Kennedy frowned at his +tactless attempt at a third degree. + +If she had resented Kennedy, she positively flew up in the air and +commenced to aviate at Maloney's questioning. Tossing her head, +she said icily: "I do not know that you have been appointed my +guardian, sir. Let us consider this interview at an end. Good- +night," and with that she swept out of the room, ignoring Maloney +and bestowing one biting glance on Blake, who actually winced, so +little relish did he have for this ticklish part of the +proceedings. + +I think we all felt like schoolboys who had been detected robbing +a melon-patch or in some other heinous offence, as we slowly filed +down the hall to the elevator. A woman of Mrs. Branford's stamp so +readily and successfully puts one in the wrong that I could easily +comprehend why Blake wanted to call on Kennedy for help in what +otherwise seemed a plain case. + +Blake and Maloney were some distance ahead of us, as Craig leaned +over to me and whispered. "That Maloney is impossible. I'll have +to shake him loose in some way. Either we handle this case alone +or we quit." + +"Right-o," I agreed emphatically. "He's put his foot in it badly +at the very start. Only, be decent about it, Craig. The case is +too big for you to let it slip by." + +"Trust me, Walter. I'll do it tactfully," he whispered, then to +Blake he added as we overtook them: "Maloney is right. The case is +simple enough, after all. But we must find out some way to fasten +the thing more closely on Mrs. Branford. Let me think out a scheme +to-night. I'll see you tomorrow." + +As Blake and Maloney disappeared down the street in the car, +Kennedy wheeled about and walked deliberately back into the +Grattan Inn again. It was quite late. People were coming in from +the theatres, laughing and chatting gaily. Kennedy selected a +table that commanded a view of the parlour as well as of the +dining-room itself. + +"She was dressed to receive some one--did you notice?" he remarked +as we sat down and cast our eyes over the dizzy array of inedibles +on the card before us. "I think it is worth waiting a while to see +who it is." + +Having ordered what I did not want, I glanced about until my eye +rested on a large pier-glass at the other end of the dining-room. + +"Craig," I whispered excitedly, "Mrs. B. is in the writing-room--I +can see her in that glass at the end of the room, behind you." + +"Get up and change places with me as quietly as you can, Walter," +he said quickly. "I want to see her when she can't see me." + +Kennedy was staring in rapt attention at the mirror. "There's a +man with her, Walter," he said under his breath. "He came in while +we were changing places--a fine-looking chap. By Jove, I've seen +him before somewhere. His face and his manner are familiar to me. +But I simply can't place him. Did you see her wraps in the chair? +No? Well, he's helping her on with them. They're going out. +GARCON, L'ADDITION--VITE" + +We were too late, however, for just as we reached the door we +caught a fleeting glimpse of a huge new limousine. + +"Who was that man who just went out with the lady?" asked Craig of +the negro who turned the revolving-door at the carriage entrance. + +"Jack Delarue, sah--in 'The Grass Widower,' sah," replied the +doorman. "Yes, sah, he stays here once in a while. Thank you, +sah," as Kennedy dropped a quarter into the man's hand. + +"That complicates things considerably," he mused as we walked +slowly down to the subway station. "Jack Delarue--I wonder if he +is mixed up in this thing also." + +"I've heard that 'The Grass Widower' isn't such a howling success +as a money-maker," I volunteered. "Delarue has a host of +creditors, no doubt. By the way, Craig," I exclaimed, "don't you +think it would be a good plan to drop down and see O'Connor? The +police will have to be informed in a few hours now, anyhow. Maybe +Delarue has a criminal record." + +"A good idea, Walter," agreed Craig, turning into a drug-store +which had a telephone booth. "I'll just call O'Connor up, and +we'll see if he does know anything about it." + +O'Connor was not at headquarters, but we finally found him at his +home, and it was well into the small hours when we arrived there. +Trusting to the first deputy's honour, which had stood many a +test, Craig began to unfold the story. He had scarcely got as far +as describing the work of the suspected hired yeggman, when +O'Connor raised both hands and brought them down hard on the arms +of his chair. + +"Say," he ejaculated, "that explains it!" + +"What?" we asked in chorus. + +"Why, one of my best stool-pigeons told me to-day that there was +something doing at a house in the Chatham Square district that we +have been watching for a long time. It's full of crooks, and to- +day they've all been as drunk as lords, a sure sign some one has +made a haul and been generous with the rest, And one or two of the +professional 'fences' have been acting suspiciously, too. Oh, that +explains it all right." + +I looked at Craig as much as to say, "I told you so," but he was +engrossed in what O'Connor was saying. + +"You know," continued the police officer, "there is one particular +'fence' who runs his business under the guise of a loan-shark's +office. He probably has a wider acquaintance among the big +criminals than any other man in the city. From him crooks can +obtain anything from a jimmy to a safe-cracking outfit. I know +that this man has been trying to dispose of some unmounted pearls +to-day among jewellers in Maiden Lane. I'll bet he has been +disposing of some of the Branford pearls, one by one. I'll follow +that up. I'll arrest this 'fence' and hold him till he tells me +what yeggman came to him with the pearls." + +"And if you find out, will you go with me to that house near +Chatham Square, providing it was some one in that gang?" asked +Craig eagerly. + +O'Connor shook his head. "I'd better keep out of it. They know me +too well. Go alone. I'll get that stool-pigeon--the Gay Cat is his +name--to go with you. I'll help you in any way. I'll have any +number of plain-clothes men you want ready to raid the place the +moment you get the evidence. But you'll never get any evidence if +they know I'm in the neighbourhood." + +The next morning Craig scarcely ate any breakfast himself and made +me bolt my food most unceremoniously. We were out in Montclair +again before the commuters had started to go to New York, and that +in spite of the fact that we had stopped at his laboratory on the +way and had got a package which he carried carefully. + +Kennedy instituted a most thorough search of the house from cellar +to attic in daylight. What he expected to find, I did not know, +but I am quite sure nothing escaped him. + +"Now, Walter," he said after he had ransacked the house, "there +remains just one place. Here is this little wall safe in Mrs. +Branford's room. We must open it." + +For an hour if not longer he worked over the combination, +listening to the fall of the tumblers in the lock. It was a simple +little thing and one of the old-timers in the industry would no +doubt have opened it in short order. The perspiration stood out on +his forehead, so intent was he in working the thing. At last it +yielded. Except for some of the family silver, the safe was empty. + +Carefully noting how the light shone on the wall safe, Craig +unwrapped the package he had brought and disclosed a camera. He +placed it on a writing-desk opposite the safe, in such a way that +it was not at all conspicuous, and focused it on the safe. + +"This is a camera with a newly-invented between-lens shutter of +great illumination and efficiency," he explained. "It has always +been practically impossible to get such pictures, but this new +shutter has so much greater speed than anything ever invented +before that it is possible to use it in detective work. I'll just +run these fine wires like a burglar alarm, only instead of having +an alarm I'll attach them to the camera so that we can get a +picture. I've proved its speed up to one two-thousandth of a +second. It may or it may not work. If it does we'll catch +somebody, right in the act." + +About noon we went down to Liberty Street, home of burglary +insurance. I don't think Blake liked it very much because Kennedy +insisted on playing the lone hand, but he said nothing, for it was +part of the agreement. Maloney seemed rather glad than otherwise. +He had been combing out some tangled clues of his own about Mrs. +Branford. Still, Kennedy smoothed things over by complimenting the +detective on his activity, and indeed he had shown remarkable +ability in the first place in locating Mrs. Branford. + +"I started out with the assumption that the Branfords must have +needed money for some reason or other," said Maloney. "So I went +to the commercial agencies to-day and looked up Branford. I can't +say he has been prosperous; nobody has been in Wall Street these +days, and that's just the thing that causes an increase in fake +burglaries. Then there is another possibility," he continued +triumphantly. "I had a man up at the Grattan Inn, and he reports +to me that Mrs. Stanford was seen with the actor Jack Delarue last +night, I imagine they quarrelled, for she returned alone, much +agitated, in a taxi-cab. Any way you look at it, the clues are +promising--whether she needed money for Branford's speculations or +for the financing of that rake Delarue." + +Maloney regarded Craig with the air of an expert who could afford +to patronise a good amateur--but after all an amateur. Kennedy +said nothing, and of course I took the cue. + +"Yes," agreed Blake, "you see, our original hypothesis was a +pretty good one. Meanwhile, of course, the police are floundering +around in a bog of false scents." + +"It would make our case a good deal stronger," remarked Kennedy +quietly, "if we could discover some of the stolen jewellery hidden +somewhere by Mrs. Branford herself." He said nothing of his own +unsuccessful search through the house, but continued: "What do you +suppose she has done with the jewels? She must have put them +somewhere before she got the yeggman to break the safe. She'd +hardly trust them in his hands. But she might have been foolish +enough for that. Of course it's another possibility that he really +got away with them. I doubt if she has them at Grattan Inn, or +even if she would personally put them in a safe deposit vault. +Perhaps Delarue figures in that end of it. We must let no stone go +unturned." + +"That's right," meditated Maloney, apparently turning something +over in his mind as if it were a new idea. "If we only had some +evidence, even part of the jewels that she had hidden, it would +clinch the case. That's a good idea, Kennedy." + +Craig said nothing, but I could see, or fancied I saw, that he was +gratified at the thought that he had started Maloney off on +another trail, leaving us to follow ours unhampered. The interview +with Blake was soon over, and as we left I looked inquiringly at +Craig. + +"I want to see Mrs. Branford again," he said. "I think we can do +better alone today than we did last night." + +I must say I half expected that she would refuse to see us and was +quite surprised when the page returned with the request that we go +up to her suite. It was evident that her attitude toward us was +very different from that of the first interview. Whether she was +ruffled by the official presence of Blake or the officious +presence of Maloney, she was at least politely tolerant of us. Or +was it that she at last began to realise that the toils were +closing about her and that things began to look unmistakably +black? + +Kennedy was quick to see his advantage. "Mrs. Branford," he began, +"since last night I have come into the possession of some facts +that are very important. I have heard that several loose pearls +which may or may not be yours have been offered for sale by a man +on the Bowery who is what the yeggmen call a 'fence.'" + +"Yeggmen--'fence'?" she repeated. "Mr. Kennedy, really I do not +care to discuss the pearls any longer. It is immaterial to me what +becomes of them. My first desire is to collect the insurance. If +anything is recovered I am quite willing to deduct that amount +from the total. But I must insist on the full insurance or the +return of the pearls. As soon as Mr. Branford arrives I shall take +other steps to secure redress." + +A boy rapped at the door and brought in a telegram which she tore +open nervously. "He will be here in four days," she said, tearing +the telegram petulantly, and not at all as if she were glad to +receive it. "Is there anything else that you wish to say?" + +She was tapping her foot on the rug as if anxious to conclude the +interview. Kennedy leaned forward earnestly and played his trump +card boldly. + +"Do you remember that scene in 'The Grass Widower,'" he said +slowly, "where Jack Delarue meets his runaway wife at the +masquerade ball?" + +She coloured slightly, but instantly regained her composure. +"Vaguely," she murmured, toying with the flowers in her dress. + +"In real life," said Kennedy, his voice purposely betraying that +he meant it to have a personal application, "husbands do not +forgive even rumours of--ah--shall we say affinities?--much less +the fact." + +"In real life," she replied, "wives do not have affinities as +often as some newspapers and plays would have us believe." "I saw +Delarue after the performance last night," went on Kennedy +inexorably. "I was not seen, but I saw, and he was with----" + +She was pacing the room now in unsuppressed excitement. "Will you +never stop spying on me?" she cried. "Must my every act be watched +and misrepresented? I suppose a distorted version of the facts +will be given to my husband. Have you no chivalry, or justice, or- +-or mercy?" she pleaded, stopping in front of Kennedy. + +"Mrs. Branford," he replied coldly, "I cannot promise what I shall +do. My duty is simply to get at the truth about the pearls. If it +involves some other person, it is still my duty to get at the +truth. Why not tell me all that you really know about the pearls +and trust me to bring it out all right?" + +She faced him, pale and haggard. "I have told," she repeated +steadily. "I cannot tell any more--I know nothing more." + +Was she lying? I was not expert enough in feminine psychology to +judge, but down in my heart I knew that the woman was hiding +something behind that forced steadiness. What was it she was +battling for? We had reached an impasse. + +It was after dinner when I met Craig at the laboratory. He had +made a trip to Montclair again, where his stay had been protracted +because Maloney was there and he wished to avoid him. He had +brought back the camera, and had had another talk with O'Connor, +at which he had mapped out a plan of battle. + +"We are to meet the Gay Cat at the City Hall at nine o'clock," +explained Craig laconically. "We are going to visit a haunt of +yeggmen, Walter, that few outsiders have ever seen. Are you game? +O'Connor and his men will be close by--hiding, of course." + +"I suppose so," I replied slowly. "But what excuse are you going +to have for getting into this yegg-resort?" + +"Simply that we are two newspaper men looking for an article, +without names, dates, or places--just a good story of yeggmen and +tramps. I've got a little--well, we'll call it a little camera +outfit that I'm going to sling over my shoulder. You are the +reporter, remember, and I'm the newspaper photographer. They won't +pose for us, of course, but that will be all right. Speaking about +photographs, I got one out at Montclair that is interesting. I'll +show it to you later in the evening--and in case anything should +happen to me, Walter, you'll find the original plate locked here +in the top drawer of my desk. I guess we'd better be getting +downtown." + +The house to which we were guided by the Gay Cat was on a cross +street within a block or two of Chatham Square. If we had passed +it casually in the daytime there would have been nothing to +distinguish it above the other ramshackle buildings on the street, +except that the other houses were cluttered with children and +baby-carriages, while this one was vacant, the front door closed, +and the blinds tightly drawn. As we approached, a furtive figure +shambled from the basement areaway and slunk off into the crowd +for the night's business of pocket-picking or second-story work. + +I had had misgivings as to whether we would be admitted at all--I +might almost say hopes--but the Gay Cat succeeded in getting a +ready response at the basement door. The house itself was the +dilapidated ruin of what had once been a fashionable residence in +the days when society lived in the then suburban Bowery. The iron +handrail on the steps was still graceful, though rusted and +insecure. The stones of the steps were decayed and eaten away by +time, and the front door was never opened. + +As we entered the low basement door, I felt that those who entered +here did indeed abandon hope. Inside, the evidences of the past +grandeur were still more striking. What had once been a drawing- +room was now the general assembly room of the resort. Broken-down +chairs lined the walls, and the floor was generously sprinkled +with sawdust. A huge pot-bellied stove occupied the centre of the +room, and by it stood a box of sawdust plentifully discoloured +with tobacco-juice. + +Three or four of the "guests"--there was no "register" in this +yeggman's hotel--were seated about the stove discussing something +in a language that was English, to be sure, but of a variation +that only a yegg could understand. I noted the once handsome white +marble mantel, now stained by age, standing above the unused +grate. Double folding-doors led to what, I imagine, was once a +library. Dirt and grime indescribable were everywhere. There was +the smell of old clothes and old cooking, the race odours of every +nationality known to the metropolis. I recalled a night I once +spent in a Bowery lodging-house for "local colour." Only this was +infinitely worse. No law regulated this house. There was an +atmosphere of cheerlessness that a half-blackened Welsbach mantle +turned into positive ghastliness. + +Our guide introduced us. There was a dead silence as eight eyes +were craftily fixed on us, sizing us up. What should I say? Craig +came to the rescue. To him the adventure was a lark. It was novel, +and that was merit enough. + +"Ask about the slang," he suggested. "That makes a picturesque +story." + +It seemed to me innocuous enough, so I engaged in conversation +with a man whom the Gay Cat had introduced as the proprietor. Much +of the slang I already knew by hearsay, such as "bulls" for +policemen, a "mouthpiece" for a lawyer to defend one when he is +"ditched" or arrested; in fact, as I busily scribbled away I must +have collected a lexicon of a hundred words or so for future +reference. + +"And names?" I queried. "You have some queer nicknames." + +"Oh, yes," replied the man. "Now here's the Gay Cat--that's what +we call a fellow who is the finder, who enters a town ahead of the +gang. Then there's Chi Fat--that means he's from Chicago and fat. +And Pitts Slim--he's from Pittsburgh and--" + +"Aw, cut it," broke in one of the others. "Pitts Slim'll be here +to-night. He'll give you the devil if he hears you talking to +reporters about him." + +The proprietor began to talk of less dangerous subjects. Craig +succeeded in drawing out from him the yegg recipe for making +"soup." "It's here in this cipher," said the man, drawing out a +dirty piece of paper. "It's well known, and you can have this. +Here's the key. It was written by 'Deafy' Smith, and the police +pinched it." + +Craig busily translated the curious document: + +Take ten or a dozen sticks of dynamite, crumble it up fine, and +put it in a pan or washbowl, then pour over it enough alcohol, +wood or pure, to cover it well. Stir it up well with your hands, +being careful to break all the lumps. Leave it set for a few +minutes. Then get a few yards of cheesecloth and tear it up in +pieces and strain the mixture through the cloth into another +vessel. Wring the sawdust dry and throw it away. The remains will +be the soup and alcohol mixed. Next take the same amount of water +as you used of alcohol and pour it in. Leave the whole set for a +few minutes. + +"Very interesting," commented Craig. "Safeblowing in one lesson by +correspondence school. The rest of this tells how to attack +various makes, doesn't it?" + +Just then a thin man in a huge, worn ulster came stamping upstairs +from the basement, his collar up and his hat down over his eyes. +There was something indefinably familiar about him, but as his +face and figure were so well concealed, I could not tell just why +I thought so. + +Catching a glimpse of us, he beat a retreat across the opposite +end of the room, beckoning to the proprietor, who joined him +outside the door. I thought I heard him ask: "Who are those men? +Who let them in?" but I could not catch the reply. + +One by one the other occupants of the room rose and sidled out, +leaving us alone with the Gay Cat. Kennedy reached over to get a +cigarette from my case and light it from one that I was smoking. + +"That's our man, I think," he whispered--"Pitts Slim." + +I said nothing, but I would have been willing to part with a large +section of my bank-account to be up on the Chatham Square station +of the Elevated just then. + +There was a rush from the half-open door behind us. Suddenly +everything turned black before me; my eyes swam; I felt a stinging +sensation on my head and a weak feeling about the stomach; I sank +half-conscious to the floor. All was blank, but, dimly, I seemed +to be dragged and dropped down hard. + +How long I lay there I don't know. Kennedy says it was not over +five minutes. It may have been so, but to me it seemed an age. +When I opened my eyes I was lying on my back on a very dirty sofa +in another room. Kennedy was bending over me with blood streaming +from a long deep gash on his head. Another figure was groaning in +the semi-darkness opposite; it was the Gay Cat. + +"They blackjacked us," whispered Kennedy to me as I staggered to +my feet. "Then they dragged us through a secret passage into +another house. How do you feel?" + +"All right," I answered, bracing myself against a chair, for I was +weak from the loss of blood, and dizzy. I was sore in every joint +and muscle. I looked about, only half comprehending. Then my +recollection flooded back with a rush. We had been locked in +another room after the attack, and left to be dealt with later. I +felt in my pocket. I had left my watch at the laboratory, but even +the dollar watch I had taken and the small sum of money in my +pocketbook were gone. + +Kennedy still had his camera slung over his shoulder, where he had +fastened it securely. + +Here we were, imprisoned, while Pitts Slim, the man we had come +after, whoever he was, was making his escape. Somewhere across the +street was O'Connor, waiting in a room as we had agreed. There was +only one window in our room, and it opened on a miserable little +dumbwaiter air-shaft. It would be hours yet before his suspicions +would be aroused and he would discover which of the houses we were +held in. Meanwhile what might not happen to us? + +Kennedy calmly set up his tripod. One leg had been broken in the +rough-house, but he tied it together with his handkerchief, now +wet with blood. I wondered how he could think of taking a picture. +His very deliberation set me fretting and fuming, and I swore at +him under my breath. Still, he worked calmly ahead. I saw him take +the black box and set it on the tripod. It was indistinct in the +darkness. It looked like a camera, and yet it had some attachment +at the side that was queer, including a little lamp. Craig bent +and attached some wires about the box. + +At last he seemed ready. "Walter," he whispered, "roll that sofa +quietly over against the door. There, now the table and that +bureau, and wedge the chairs in. Keep that door shut at any cost. +It's now or never--here goes." + +He stopped a moment and tinkered with the box on the tripod. +"Hello! Hello! Hello! Is that you, O'Connor?" he shouted. + +I watched him in amazement. Was the man crazy? Had the blow +affected his brain? Here he was, trying to talk into a camera. A +little signalling-bell in the box commenced to ring, as if by +spirit hands. + +"Shut up in that room," growled a voice from outside the door. "By +God, they've barricaded the door. Come on, pals, we'll kill the +spies." + +A smile of triumph lighted up Kennedy's pale face. "It works, it +works," he cried as the little bell continued to buzz. "This is a +wireless telephone you perhaps have seen announced recently--good +for several hundred feet--through walls and everything. The +inventor placed it in a box easily carried by a man, including a +battery, and mounted on an ordinary camera tripod so that the user +might well be taken for a travelling photographer. It is good in +one direction only, but I have a signalling-bell here that can be +rung from the other end by Hertzian waves. Thank Heaven, it's +compact and simple. + +"O'Connor," he went on, "it is as I told you. It was Pitts Slim. +He left here ten or fifteen minutes ago--I don't know by what +exit, but I heard them say they would meet at the Central +freightyards at midnight. Start your plain-clothes men out and +send some one here, quick, to release us. We are locked in a room +in the fourth or fifth house from the corner. There's a secret +passage to the yegg-house. The Gay Cat is still unconscious, +Jameson is groggy, and I have a bad scalp wound. They are trying +to beat in our barricade. Hurry." + +I think I shall never get straight in my mind the fearful five +minutes that followed, the battering at the door, the oaths, the +scuffle outside, the crash as the sofa, bureau, table, and chairs +all yielded at once--and my relief when I saw the square-set, +honest face of O'Connor and half a dozen plainclothes men holding +the yeggs who would certainly have murdered us this time to +protect their pal in his getaway. The fact is I didn't think +straight until we were halfway uptown, speeding toward the +railroad freight-yards in O'Connor's car. The fresh air at last +revived me, and I began to forget my cute and bruises in the +renewed excitement. + +We entered the yards carefully, accompanied by several of the +railroad's detectives, who met us with a couple of police dogs. +Skulking in the shadow under the high embankment that separated +the yards with their interminable lines of full and empty cars on +one side and the San Juan Hill district of New York up on the +bluff on the other side, we came upon a party of three men who +were waiting to catch the midnight "side-door Pullman"--the fast +freight out of New York. + +The fight was brief, for we outnumbered them more than three to +one. O'Connor himself snapped a pair of steel bracelets on the +thin man, who seemed to be leader of the party. + +"It's all up, Pitts Slim," he ground out from his set teeth. + +One of our men flashed his bull's-eye on the three prisoners. I +caught myself as in a dream. + +Pitts Slim was Maloney, the detective. + +An hour later, at headquarters, after the pedigrees had been +taken, the "mugging" done, and the jewels found on the three yeggs +checked off from the list of the Branford pearls, leaving a few +thousand dollars' worth unaccounted for, O'Connor led the way into +his private office. There were Mrs. Branford and Blake, waiting. + +Maloney sullenly refused to look at his former employer, as Blake +rushed over and grasped Kennedy's hand, asking eagerly: "How did +you do it, Kennedy? This is the last thing I expected." + +Craig said nothing, but slowly opened a now crumpled envelope, +which contained an untoned print of a photograph. He laid it on +the desk. "There is your yeggman--at work," he said. + +We bent over to look. It was a photograph of Maloney in the act of +putting something in the little wall safe in Mrs. Branford's room. +In a flash it dawned on me--the quick-shutter camera, the wire +connected with the wall safe, Craig's hint to Maloney that if some +of the jewels were found hidden in a likely place in the house, it +would furnish the last link in the chain against her, Maloney's +eager acceptance of the suggestion, and his visit to Montclair +during which Craig had had hard work to avoid him. + +"Pitts Slim, alias Maloney," added Kennedy, turning to Blake, +"your shrewdest private detective, was posing in two characters at +once very successfully. He was your trusted agent in possession of +the most valuable secrets of your clients, at the same time +engineering all the robberies that you thought were fakes, and +then working up the evidence incriminating the victims themselves. +He got into the Branford house with a skeleton key, and killed the +maid. The picture shows him putting this shield-shaped brooch in +the safe this afternoon--here's the brooch. And all this time he +was the leader of the most dangerous band of yeggmen in the +country." + +"Mrs. Branford," exclaimed Blake, advancing and bowing most +profoundly, "I trust that you understand my awkward position? My +apologies cannot be too humble. It will give me great pleasure to +hand you a certified check for the missing gems the first thing in +the morning." + +Mrs. Branford bit her lip nervously. The return of the pearls did +not seem to interest her in the least. + +"And I, too, must apologise for the false suspicion I had of you +and--and--depend on me, it is already forgotten," said Kennedy, +emphasising the "false" and looking her straight in the eyes. + +She read his meaning and a look of relief crossed her face. "Thank +you," she murmured simply, then dropping her eyes she added in a +lower tone which no one heard except Craig: "Mr. Kennedy, how can +I ever thank you? Another night, and it would have been too late +to save me from myself." + + + + +III + +THE GERM OF DEATH + + +By this time I was becoming used to Kennedy's strange visitors +and, in fact, had begun to enjoy keenly the uncertainty of not +knowing just what to expect from them next. Still, I was hardly +prepared one evening to see a tall, nervous foreigner stalk +noiselessly and unannounced into our apartment and hand his card +to Kennedy without saying a word. + +"Dr. Nicholas Kharkoff--hum--er, Jameson, you must have forgotten +to latch the door. Well, Dr. Kharkoff, what can I do for you? It +is evident something has upset you." + +The tall Russian put his forefinger to his lips and, taking one of +our good chairs, placed it by the door. Then he stood on it and +peered cautiously through the transom into the hallway. "I think I +eluded him this time," he exclaimed, as he nervously took a seat. +"Professor Kennedy, I am being followed. Every step that I take +somebody shadows me, from the moment I leave my office until I +return. It is enough to drive me mad. But that is only one reason +why I have come here to-night. I believe that I can trust you as a +friend of justice--a friend of Russian freedom?" + +He had included me in his earnest but somewhat vague query, so +that I did not withdraw. Somehow. apparently, he had heard of +Kennedy's rather liberal political views. + +"It is about Vassili Saratovsky, the father of the Russian +revolution, as we call him, that I have come to consult you," he +continued quickly. "Just two weeks ago he was taken ill. It came +on suddenly, a violent fever which continued for a week. Then he +seemed to grow better, after the crisis had passed, and even +attended a meeting of our central committee the other night. But +in the meantime Olga Samarova, the little Russian dancer, whom yon +have perhaps seen, fell ill in the same way. Samarova is an ardent +revolutionist, you know. This morning the servant at my own home +on East Broadway was also stricken, and--who knows?--perhaps it +will be my turn next. For to-night Saratovsky had an even more +violent return of the fever, with intense shivering, excruciating +pains in the limbs, and delirious headache. It is not like +anything I ever saw before. Can you look into the case before it +grows any worse, Professor?" + +Again the Russian got on the chair and looked over the transom to +be sure that he was not being overheard. + +"I shall be only too glad to help you in any way I can," returned +Kennedy, his manner expressing the genuine interest that he never +feigned over a particularly knotty problem in science and crime. +"I had the pleasure of meeting Saratovsky once in London. I shall +try to see him the first thing in the morning." + +Dr. Kharkov's face fell. "I had hoped you would see him to-night. +If anything should happen----" + +"Is it as urgent as that?" + +"I believe it is," whispered Kharkoff, leaning forward earnestly. +"We can call a taxicab--it will not take long, sir. Consider, +there are many lives possibly at stake," he pleaded. + +"Very well, I will go," consented Kennedy. + +At the street door Kharkoff stopped short and drew Kennedy back. +"Look--across the street in the shadow. There is the man. If I +start toward him he will disappear; he is very clever. He followed +me from Saratovsky's here, and has been waiting for me to come +out." + +"There are two taxicabs waiting at the stand," suggested Kennedy. +"Doctor, you jump in the first, and Jameson and I will take the +second. Then he can't follow us." + +It was done in a moment, and we were whisked away, to the chagrin +of the figure, which glided impotently out of the shadow in vain +pursuit, too late even to catch the number of the cab. + +"A promising adventure," commented Kennedy, as we bumped along +over New York's uneven asphalt. "Have you ever met Saratovsky?" + +"No," I replied dubiously. "Will you guarantee that he will not +blow us up with a bomb?" + +"Grandmother!" replied Craig. "Why, Walter, he is the most gentle, +engaging old philosopher----" + +"That ever cut a throat or scuttled a ship?" I interrupted. + +"On the contrary," insisted Kennedy, somewhat nettled, "he is a +patriarch, respected by every faction of the revolutionists, from +the fighting organisation to the believers in non-resistance and +Tolstoy. I tell you, Walter, the nation that can produce a man +such as Saratovsky deserves and some day will win political +freedom. I have heard of this Dr. Kharkoff before, too. His life +would be a short one if he were in Russia. A remarkable man, who +fled after those unfortunate uprisings in 1905. Ah, we are on +Fifth Avenue. I suspect that he is taking us to a club on the +lower part of the avenue, where a number of the Russian reformers +live, patiently waiting and planning for the great 'awakening' in +their native land." + +Kharkoff's cab had stopped. Our quest had indeed brought us almost +to Washington Square. Here we entered an old house of the past +generation. As we passed through the wide hall, I noted the high +ceilings, the old-fashioned marble mantels stained by time, the +long, narrow rooms and dirty-white woodwork, and the threadbare +furniture of black walnut and horsehair. + +Upstairs in a small back room we found the venerable Saratovsky, +tossing, half-delirious with the fever, on a disordered bed. His +was a striking figure in this sordid setting, with a high +intellectual forehead and deep-set, glowing coals of eyes which +gave a hint at the things which had made his life one of the +strangest among all the revolutionists of Russia and the works he +had done among the most daring. The brown dye was scarcely yet out +of his flowing white beard--a relic of his last trip back to his +fatherland, where he had eluded the secret police in the disguise +of a German gymnasium professor. + +Saratovsky extended a thin, hot, emaciated hand to us, and we +remained standing. Kennedy said nothing for the moment. The sick +man motioned feebly to us to come closer. + +"Professor Kennedy," he whispered, "there is some deviltry afoot. +The Russian autocracy would stop at nothing. Kharkoff has probably +told you of it. I am so weak----" + +He groaned and sank back, overcome by a chill that seemed to rack +his poor gaunt form. + +"Kazanovitch can tell Professor Kennedy something, Doctor. I am +too weak to talk, even at this critical time. Take him to see +Boris and Ekaterina." + +Almost reverently we withdrew, and Kharkoff led us down the hall +to another room. The door was ajar, and a light disclosed a man in +a Russian peasant's blouse, bending laboriously over a writing- +desk. So absorbed was he that not until Kharkoff spoke did he look +up. His figure was somewhat slight and his face pointed and of an +ascetic mould. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed. "You have recalled me from a dream. I fancied +I was on the old mir with Ivan, one of my characters. Welcome, +comrades." + +It flashed over me at once that this was the famous Russian +novelist, Boris Kazanovitch. I had not at first connected the name +with that of the author of those gloomy tales of peasant life. +Kazanovitch stood with his hands tucked under his blouse. + +"Night is my favourite time for writing," he explained. "It is +then that the imagination works at its best." + +I gazed curiously about the room. There seemed to be a marked +touch of a woman's hand here and there; it was unmistakable. At +last my eye rested on a careless heap of dainty wearing apparel on +a chair in the corner. "Where is Nevsky?" asked Dr. Kharkoff, +apparently missing the person who owned the garments. + +"Ekaterina has gone to a rehearsal of the little play of +Gershuni's escape from Siberia and betrayal by Rosenberg. She will +stay with friends on East Broadway to-night. She has deserted me, +and here I am all alone, finishing a story for one of the American +magazines." + +"Ah, Professor Kennedy, that is unfortunate," commented Kharkoff. +"A brilliant woman is Mademoiselle Nevsky--devoted to the cause. I +know only one who equals her, and that is my patient downstairs, +the little dancer, Samarova." + +"Samarova is faithful--Nevsky is a genius," put in Kazanovitch. +Kharkoff said nothing for a time, though it was easy to see he +regarded the actress highly. + +"Samarova," he said at length to us, "was arrested for her part in +the assassination of Grand Duke Sergius and thrown into solitary +confinement in the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. They +tortured her, the beasts--burned her body with their cigarettes. +It was unspeakable. But she would not confess, and finally they +had to let her go. Nevsky, who was a student of biology at the +University of St. Petersburg when Von Plehve was assassinated, was +arrested, but her relatives had sufficient influence to secure her +release. They met in Paris, and Nevsky persuaded Olga to go on the +stage and come to New York." + +"Next to Ekaterina's devotion to the cause is her devotion to +science," said Kazanovitch, opening a door to a little room. Then +he added: "If she were not a woman, or if your universities were +less prejudiced, she would be welcome anywhere as a professor. +See, here is her laboratory. It is the best we--she can afford. +Organic chemistry, as you call it in English, interests me too, +but of course I am not a trained scientist--I am a novelist." + +The laboratory was simple, almost bare. Photographs of Koch, +Ehrlich, Metchnikoff, and a number of other scientists adorned the +walls. The deeply stained deal table was littered with beakers and +test-tubes. + +"How is Saratovsky?" asked the writer of the doctor, aside, as we +gazed curiously about. + +Kharkoff shook his head gravely. "We have just come from his room. +He was too weak to talk, but he asked that you tell Mr. Kennedy +anything that it is necessary he should know about our +suspicions." + +"It is that we are living with the sword of Damocles constantly +dangling over our heads, gentlemen," cried Kazanovitch +passionately, turning toward us. "You will excuse me if I get some +cigarettes downstairs? Over them I will tell you what we fear." + +A call from Saratovsky took the doctor away also at the same +moment, and we were left alone. + +"A queer situation, Craig," I remarked, glancing involuntarily at +the heap of feminine finery on the chair, as I sat down before +Kazanovitch's desk. + +"Queer for New York; not for St. Petersburg," was his laconic +reply, as he looked around for another chair. Everything was +littered with books, and papers, and at last he leaned over and +lifted the dress from the chair to place it on the bed, as the +easiest way of securing a seat in the scantily furnished room. + +A pocketbook and a letter fell to the floor from the folds of the +dress. He stooped to pick them up, and I saw a strange look of +surprise on his face. Without a moment's hesitation he shoved the +letter into his pocket and replaced the other things as he had +found them. + +A moment later Kazanovitch returned with a large box of Russian +cigarettes. "Be seated, sir," he said to Kennedy, sweeping a mass +of books and papers off a large divan. "When Nevsky is not here +the room gets sadly disarranged. I have no genius for order." + +Amid the clouds of fragrant light smoke we waited for Kazanovitch +to break the silence. + +"Perhaps you think that the iron hand of the Russian prime +minister has broken the backbone of revolution in Russia," he +began at length. "But because the Duma is subservient, it does not +mean that all is over. Not at all. We are not asleep. Revolution +is smouldering, ready to break forth at any moment. The agents of +the government know it. They are desperate. There is no means they +would not use to crush us. Their long arm reaches even to New +York, in this land of freedom." + +He rose and excitedly paced the room. Somehow or other, this man +did not prepossess me. Was it that I was prejudiced by a +puritanical disapproval of the things that pass current in Old +World morality? Or was it merely that I found the great writer of +fiction seeking the dramatic effect always at the cost of +sincerity? + +"Just what is it that you suspect?" asked Craig, anxious to +dispense with the rhetoric and to get down to facts. "Surely, when +three persons are stricken, you must suspect something." + +"Poison," replied Kazanovitch quickly. "Poison, and of a kind that +even the poison doctors of St. Petersburg have never employed. Dr. +Kharkoff is completely baffled. Your American doctors--two were +called in to see Saratovsky--say it is the typhus fever. But +Kharkoff knows better. There is no typhus rash. Besides"--and he +leaned forward to emphasise his words--"one does not get over +typhus in a week and have it again as Saratovsky has." + +I could see that Kennedy was growing impatient. An idea had +occurred to him, and only politeness kept him listening to +Kazanovitch longer. + +"Doctor," he said, as Kharkoff entered the room again, "do you +suppose you could get some perfectly clean test-tubes and sterile +bouillon from Miss Nevsky's laboratory? I think I saw a rack of +tubes on the table." + +"Surely," answered Kharkoff. + +"You will excuse us, Mr. Kazanovitch," apologised Kennedy briskly, +"but I feel that I am going to have a hard day to-morrow and--by +the way, would you be so kind as to come up to my laboratory some +time during the day, and continue your story." + +On the way out Craig took the doctor aside for a moment, and they +talked earnestly. At last Craig motioned to me. + +"Walter," he explained, "Dr. Kharkoff is going to prepare some +cultures in the test-tubes to-night so that I can make a +microscopic examination of the blood of Saratovsky, Samarova, and +later of his servant. The tubes will be ready early in the +morning, and I have arranged with the doctor for you to call and +get them if you have no objection." + +I assented, and we started downstairs. As we passed a door on the +second floor, a woman's voice called out, "Is that you, Boris?" + +"No, Olga, this is Nicholas," replied the doctor. "It is +Samarova," he said to us as he entered. + +In a few moments he rejoined us. "She is no better," he continued, +as we again started away. "I may as well tell you, Professor +Kennedy, just how matters stand here. Samarova is head over heels +in love with Kazanovitch--you heard her call for him just now? +Before they left Paris, Kazanovitch showed some partiality for +Olga, but now Nevsky has captured him. She is indeed a fascinating +woman, but as for me, if Olga would consent to become Madame +Kharkoff, it should be done tomorrow, and she need worry no longer +over her broken contract with the American theatre managers. But +women are not that way. She prefers the hopeless love. Ah, well, I +shall let you know if anything new happens. Good-night, and a +thou-sand thanks for your help, gentlemen." + +Nothing was said by either of us on our journey uptown, for it was +late and I, at least, was tired. + +But Kennedy had no intention of going to bed, I found. Instead, he +sat down in his easy chair and shaded his eyes, apparently in deep +thought. As I stood by the table to fill my pipe for a last smoke, +I saw that he was carefully regarding the letter he had picked up, +turning it over and over, and apparently debating with himself +what to do with it. + +"Some kinds of paper can be steamed open without leaving any +trace," he remarked in answer to my unspoken question, laying the +letter down before me. + +I read the address: "M. Alexander Alexandrovitch Orloff,--Rue de-- +--, Paris, France." + +"Letter-opening has been raised to a fine art by the secret +service agents of foreign countries," he continued. "Why not take +a chance? The simple operation of steaming a letter open is +followed by reburnishing the flap with a bone instrument, and no +trace is left. I can't do that, for this letter is sealed with +wax. One way would be to take a matrix of the seal before breaking +the wax and then replace a duplicate of it. No, I won't risk it. +I'll try a scientific way." + +Between two pieces of smooth wood, Craig laid the letter flat, so +that the edges projected about a thirty-second of an inch. He +flattened the projecting edge of the envelope, then roughened it, +and finally slit it open. + +"You see, Walter, later I will place the letter back, apply a hair +line of strong white gum, and unite the edges of the envelope +under pressure. Let us see what we have here." + +He drew out what seemed to be a manuscript on very thin paper, and +spread it out flat on the table before us. Apparently it was a +scientific paper on a rather unusual subject, "Spontaneous +Generation of Life." It was in longhand and read: + +Many thanks for the copy of the paper by Prof. Betaillon of Dijon +on the artificial fertilization of the eggs of frogs. I consider +it a most important advance in the artificial generation of life. + +I will not attempt to reproduce in facsimile the entire +manuscript, for it is unnecessary, and, in fact, I merely set down +part of its contents here because it seemed so utterly valueless +to me at the time. It went on to say: + +While Betaillon punctured the eggs with a platinum needle and +developed them by means of electric discharges, Loeb in America +placed eggs of the sea-urchin in a strong solution of sea water, +then in a bath where they were subjected to the action of butyric +acid. Finally they were placed in ordinary sea water again, where +they developed in the natural manner. Delage at Roscorf used a +liquid containing salts of magnesia and tannate of ammonia to +produce the same result. + +In his latest book on the Origin of Life Dr. Charlton Bastian +tells of using two solutions. One consisted of two or three drops +of dilute sodium silicate with eight drops of liquor ferri +pernitratis to one ounce of distilled water. The other was +composed of the same amount of the silicate with six drops of +dilute phosphoric acid and six grains of ammonium phosphate. He +filled sterilised tubes, sealed them hermetically, and heated them +to 125 or 145 degrees, Centigrade, although 60 or 70 degrees would +have killed any bacteria remaining in them. + +Next he exposed them to sunlight in a south window for from two to +four months. When the tubes were opened Dr. Bastian found +organisms in them which differed in no way from real bacteria. +They grew and multiplied. He contends that he has proved the +possibility of spontaneous generation of life. + +Then there were the experiments of John Butler Burke of Cambridge, +who claimed that he had developed "radiobes" in tubes of +sterilised bouillon by means of radium emanations. Daniel +Berthelot in France last year announced that he had used the +ultra-violet rays to duplicate nature's own process of chlorophyll +assimilation. He has broken up carbon dioxide and water-vapour in +the air in precisely the same way that the green cells of plants +do it. + +Leduc at Nantes has made crystals grow from an artificial "egg" +composed of certain chemicals. These crystals show all the +apparent vital phenomena without being actually alive. His work is +interesting, for it shows the physical forces that probably +control minute life cells, once they are created. + +"What do you make of it?" asked Kennedy, noting the puzzled look +on my face as I finished reading. + +"Well, recent research in the problem of the origin of life may be +very interesting," I replied. "There are a good many chemicals +mentioned here--I wonder if any of them is poisonous? But I am of +the opinion that there is something more to this manuscript than a +mere scientific paper." + +"Exactly, Walter," said Kennedy in half raillery. "What I wanted +to know was how you would suggest getting at that something." + +Study as I might, I could make nothing out of it. Meanwhile Craig +was busily figuring with a piece of paper and a pencil. + +"I give it up, Craig," I said at last. "It is late. Perhaps we had +better both turn in, and we may have some ideas on it in the +morning." + +For answer he merely shook his head and continued to scribble and +figure on the paper. With a reluctant good-night I shut my door, +determined to be up early in the morning and go for the tubes that +Kharkoff was to prepare. + +But in the morning Kennedy was gone. I dressed hastily, and was +just about to go out when he hurried in, showing plainly the +effects of having spent a sleepless night. He flung an early +edition of a newspaper on the table. + +"Too late," he exclaimed. "I tried to reach Kharkoff, but it was +too late." + +"Another East Side Bomb Outrage," I read. "While returning at a +late hour last night from a patient, Dr. Nicholas Kharkoff, of-- +East Broadway, was severely injured by a bomb which had been +placed in his hallway earlier in the evening. Dr. Kharkoff, who is +a well-known physician on the East Side, states that he has been +constantly shadowed by some one unknown for the past week or two. +He attributes his escape with his life to the fact that since he +was shadowed he has observed extreme caution. Yesterday his cook +was poisoned and is now dangerously ill. Dr. Kharkoff stands high +in the Russian community, and it is thought by the police that the +bomb was placed by a Russian political agent, as Kharkoff has been +active in the ranks of the revolutionists." + +"But what made you anticipate it?" I asked of Kennedy, +considerably mystified. + +"The manuscript," he replied. + +"The manuscript? How? Where is it?" + +"After I found that it was too late to save Kharkoff and that he +was well cared for at the hospital, I hurried to Saratovsky's. +Kharkoff had fortunately left the tubes there, and I got them. +Here they are. As for the manuscript in the letter, I was going to +ask you to slip upstairs by some strategy and return it where I +found it, when you went for the tubes this morning. Kazanovitch +was out, and I have returned it myself, so you need not go, now." + +"He's coming to see you today, isn't he?" + +"I hope so. I left a note asking him to bring Miss Nevsky, if +possible, too. Come, let us breakfast and go over to the +laboratory. They may arrive at any moment. Besides, I'm interested +to see what the tubes disclose." + +Instead of Kazanovitch awaiting us at the laboratory, however, we +found Miss Nevsky, haggard and worn. She was a tall, striking girl +with more of the Gaul than the Slav in her appearance. There was a +slightly sensuous curve to her mouth, but on the whole her face +was striking and intellectual. I felt that if she chose she could +fascinate a man so that he would dare anything. I never before +understood why the Russian police feared the women revolutionists +so much. It was because they were themselves, plus every man they +could influence. + +Nevsky appeared very excited. She talked rapidly, and fire flashed +from her grey eyes. "They tell me at the club," she began, "that +you are investigating the terrible things that are happening to +us. Oh, Professor Kennedy, it is awful! Last night I was staying +with some friends on East Broadway. Suddenly we heard a terrific +explosion up the street. It was in front of Dr. Kharkoff's house. +Thank Heaven, he is still alive I But I was so unnerved I could +not sleep. I fancied I might be the next to go. + +"Early this morning I hastened to return to Fifth Avenue. As I +entered the door of my room I could not help thinking of the +horrible fate of Dr. Kharkoff. For some unknown reason, just as I +was about to push the door farther open, I hesitated and looked--I +almost fainted. There stood another bomb just inside. If I had +moved the door a fraction of an inch it would have exploded. I +screamed, and Olga, sick as she was, ran to my assistance--or +perhaps she thought something had happened to Boris. It is +standing there yet. None of us dares touch it. Oh, Professor +Kennedy, it is dreadful, dreadful. And I cannot find Boris--Mr. +Kazanovitch, I mean. Saratovsky, who is like a father to us all, +is scarcely able to speak. Dr. Kharkoff is helpless in the +hospital. Oh, what are we to do, what are we to do?" + +She stood trembling before us, imploring. + +"Calm yourself, Miss Nevsky," said Kennedy in a reassuring tone. +"Sit down and let us plan. I take it that it was a chemical bomb +and not one with a fuse, or you would have a different story to +tell. First of all, we must remove it. That is easily done." + +He called up a near-by garage and ordered an automobile. "I will +drive it myself," he ordered, "only send a man around with it +immediately." + +"No, no, no," she cried, running toward him, "you must not risk +it. It is bad enough that we should risk our lives. But strangers +must not. Think, Professor Kennedy. Suppose the bomb should +explode at a touch! Had we not better call the police and let them +take the risk, even if it does get into the papers?" + +"No," replied Kennedy firmly. "Miss Nevsky, I am quite willing to +take the risk. Besides, here comes the automobile." + +"You are too kind," she exclaimed. "Kazanovitch himself could do +no more. How am I ever to thank you?" + +On the back of the automobile Kennedy placed a peculiar oblong +box, swung on two concentric rings balanced on pivots, like a most +delicate compass. + +We rode quickly downtown, and Kennedy hurried into the house, +bidding us stand back. With a long pair of tongs he seized the +bomb firmly. It was a tense moment. Suppose his hand should +unnecessarily tremble, or he should tip it just a bit--it might +explode and blow him to atoms. Keeping it perfectly horizontal he +carried it carefully out to the waiting automobile and placed it +gingerly in the box. + +"Wouldn't it be a good thing to fill the box with water?" I +suggested, having read somewhere that that was the usual way of +opening a bomb, under water. + +"No," he replied, as he closed the lid, "that wouldn't do any good +with a bomb of this sort. It would explode under water just as +well as in air. This is a safety bomb-carrier. It is known as the +Cardan suspension. It was invented by Professor Cardono, an +Italian. You see, it is always held in a perfectly horizontal +position, no matter how you jar it. I am now going to take the +bomb to some safe and convenient place where I can examine it at +my leisure. Meanwhile, Miss Nevsky, I will leave you in charge of +Mr. Jameson." + +"Thank you so much," she said. "I feel better now. I didn't dare +go into my own room with that bomb at the door. If Mr. Jameson can +only find out what has become of Mr. Kazanovitch, that is all I +want. What do you suppose has happened to him? Is he, too, hurt or +ill?" + +"Very well, then," Craig replied. "I will commission you, Walter, +to find Kazanovitch. I shall be back again shortly before noon to +examine the wreck of Kharkoff's office. Meet me there. Goodbye, +Miss Nevsky." + +It was not the first time that I had had a roving commission to +find some one who had disappeared in New York. I started by +inquiring for every possible place that he might be found. No one +at the Fifth Avenue house could tell me anything definite, though +they were able to give me a number of places where he was known. I +consumed practically the whole morning going from one place to +another on the East Side. Some of the picturesque haunts of the +revolutionists would have furnished material for a story in +themselves. But nowhere had they any word of Kazanovitch, until I +visited a Polish artist who was illustrating his stories. He had +been there, looking very worn and tired, and had talked vacantly +about the sketches which the artist had showed him. After that I +lost all trace of him again. It was nearly noon as I hurried to +meet Craig at Kharkoff's. + +Imagine my surprise to see Kazanovitch already there, seated in +the wrecked office, furiously smoking cigarettes and showing +evident signs of having something very disturbing on his mind. The +moment he caught sight of me, he hurried forward. + +"Is Professor Kennedy coming soon?" he inquired eagerly. "I was +going up to his laboratory, but I called up Nevsky, and she said +he would be here at noon." Then he put his hand up to my ear and +whispered, "I have found out who it was who shadowed Kharkoff." + +"Who?" I asked, saying nothing of my long search of the morning. + +"His name is Revalenko--Feodor Revalenko. I saw him standing +across the street in front of the house last night after you had +gone. When Kharkoff left, he followed him. I hurried out quietly +and followed both of them. Then the explosion came. This man +slipped down a narrow street as soon as he saw Kharkoff fall. As +people were running to Kharkoff's assistance, I did the same. He +saw me following him and ran, and I ran, too, and overtook him. +Mr. Jameson, when I looked into his face I could not believe it. +Revalenko--he is one of the most ardent members of our +organisation. He would not tell me why he had followed Kharkoff. I +could make him confess nothing. But I am sure he is an agent +provocateur of the Russian government, that he is secretly giving +away the plans that we are making, everything. We have a plot on +now--perhaps he has informed them of that. Of course he denied +setting the bomb or trying to poison any of us, but he was very +frightened. I shall denounce him at the first opportunity." + +I said nothing. Kazanovitch regarded me keenly to see what +impression the story made on me, but I did not let my looks betray +anything, except proper surprise, and he seemed satisfied. + +It might be true, after all, I reasoned, the more I thought of it. +I had heard that the Russian consul-general had a very extensive +spy system in the city. In fact, even that morning I had had +pointed out to me some spies at work in the public libraries, +watching what young Russians were reading. I did not doubt that +there were spies in the very inner circle of the revolutionists +themselves. + +At last Kennedy appeared. While Kazanovitch poured forth his +story, with here and there, I fancied, an elaboration of a +particularly dramatic point, Kennedy quickly examined the walls +and floor of the wrecked office with his magnifying-glass. When he +had concluded his search, he turned to Kazanovitch. + +"Would it be possible," he asked, "to let this Revalenko believe +that he could trust you, that it would be safe for him to visit +you to-night at Saratovsky's? Surely you can find some way of +reassuring him." + +"Yes, I think that can be arranged," said Kazanovitch. "I will go +to him, will make him think I have misunderstood him, that I have +not lost faith in him, provided he can explain all. He will come. +Trust me." + +"Very well, then. To-night at eight I shall be there," promised +Kennedy, as the novelist and he shook hands. + +"What do you think of the Revalenko story?" I asked of Craig, as +we started uptown again. + +"Anything is possible in this case," he answered sententiously. + +"Well," I exclaimed, "this all is truly Russian. For intrigue they +are certainly the leaders of the world to-day. There is only one +person that I have any real confidence in, and that is old +Saratovsky himself. Somebody is playing traitor, Craig. Who is +it?" + +"That is what science will tell us to-night," was his brief reply. +There was no getting anything out of Craig until he was absolutely +sure that his proofs had piled up irresistibly. + +Promptly at eight we met at the old house on Fifth Avenue. +Kharkoff's wounds had proved less severe than had at first been +suspected, and, having recovered from the shock, he insisted on +being transferred from the hospital in a private ambulance so that +he could be near his friends. Saratovsky, in spite of his high +fever, ordered that the door to his room be left open and his bed +moved so that he could hear and see what passed in the room down +the hall. Nevsky was there and Kazanovitch, and even brave Olga +Samarova, her pretty face burning with the fever, would not be +content until she was carried upstairs, although Dr. Kharkoff +protested vigorously that it might have fatal consequences. +Revalenko, an enigma of a man, sat stolidly. The only thing I +noticed about him was an occasional look of malignity at Nevsky +and Kazanovitch when he thought he was unobserved. + +It was indeed a strange gathering, the like of which the old house +had never before harboured in all its varied history. Every one +was on the qui vive, as Kennedy placed on the table a small wire +basket containing some test-tubes, each tube corked with a small +wadding of cotton. There was also a receptacle holding a dozen +glass-handled platinum wires, a microscope, and a number of +slides. The bomb, now rendered innocuous by having been crushed in +a huge hydraulic press, lay in fragments in the box. + +"First, I want you to consider the evidence of the bomb," began +Kennedy." No crime, I firmly believe, is ever perpetrated without +leaving some clue. The slightest trace, even a drop of blood no +larger than a pin-head, may suffice to convict a murderer. The +impression made on a cartridge by the hammer of a pistol, or a +single hair found on the clothing of a suspected person, may serve +as valid proof of crime. + +"Until lately, however, science was powerless against the bomb- +thrower. A bomb explodes into a thousand parts, and its contents +suddenly become gaseous. You can't collect and investigate the +gases. Still, the bomb-thrower is sadly deceived if he believes +the bomb leaves no trace for the scientific detective. It is +difficult for the chemist to find out the secrets of a shattered +bomb. But it can be done. + +"I examined the walls of Dr. Kharkoff's house, and fortunately was +able to pick out a few small fragments of the contents of the bomb +which had been thrown out before the flame ignited them. I have +analysed them, and find them to be a peculiar species of blasting- +gelatine. It is made at only one factory in this country, and I +have a list of purchasers for some time back. One name, or rather +the description of an assumed name, in the list agrees with other +evidence I have been able to collect. Moreover, the explosive was +placed in a lead tube. Lead tubes are common enough. However, +there is no need of further evidence." + +He paused, and the revolutionists stared fixedly at the fragments +of the now harmless bomb before them. + +"The exploded bomb," concluded Craig, "was composed of the same +materials as this, which I found unexploded at the door of Miss +Nevsky's room--the same sort of lead tube, the same blasting- +gelatine. The fuse, a long cord saturated in sulphur, was merely a +blind. The real method of explosion was by means of a chemical +contained in a glass tube which was inserted after the bomb was +put in place. The least jar, such as opening a door, which would +tip the bomb ever so little out of the horizontal, was all that +was necessary to explode it. The exploded bomb and the unexploded +were in all respects identical--the same hand set both." + +A gasp of astonishment ran through the circle. Could it be that +one of their own number was playing false? In at least this +instance in the warfare of the chemist and the dynamiter the +chemist had come out ahead. + +"But," Kennedy hurried along, "the thing that interests me most +about this case is not the evidence of the bombs. Bombs are common +enough weapons, after all. It is the evidence of almost diabolical +cunning that has been shown in the effort to get rid of the father +of the revolution, as you like to call him." + +Craig cleared his throat and played with our feelings as a cat +does with a mouse. "Strange to say, the most deadly, the most +insidious, the most elusive agency for committing murder is one +that can be obtained and distributed with practically no legal +restrictions. Any doctor can purchase disease germs in quantities +sufficient to cause thousands and thousands of deaths without +giving any adequate explanation for what purpose he requires them. +More than that, any person claiming to be a scientist or having +some acquaintance with science and scientists can usually obtain +germs without difficulty. Every pathological laboratory contains +stores of disease germs, neatly sealed up in test-tubes, +sufficient to depopulate whole cities and even nations. With +almost no effort, I myself have actually cultivated enough germs +to kill every person within a radius of a mile of the Washington +Arch down the street. They are here in these test-tubes." + +We scarcely breathed. Suppose Kennedy should let loose this deadly +foe, these germs of death, whatever they were? Yet that was +precisely what some fiend incarnate had done, and that fiend was +sitting in the room with us. + +"Here I have one of the most modern dark-field microscopes," he +resumed. "On this slide I have placed a little pin-point of a +culture made from the blood of Saratovsky. I will stain the +culture. Now--er--Walter, look through the microscope under this +powerful light and tell us what you see on the slide." + +I bent over. "In the darkened field I see a number of germs like +dancing points of coloured light," I said. "They are wriggling +about with a peculiar twisting motion." + +"Like a corkscrew," interrupted Kennedy, impatient to go on. "They +are of the species known as Spirilla. Here is another slide, a +culture from the blood of Samarova." + +"I see them there, too," I exclaimed. + +Every one was now crowding about for a glimpse, as I raised my +head. + +"What is this germ?" asked a hollow voice from the doorway. + +We looked, startled. There stood Saratovsky, more like a ghost +than a living being. Kennedy sprang forward and caught him as he +swayed, and I moved up an armchair for him. + +"It is the spirillum Obermeieri," said Kennedy, "the germ of the +relapsing fever, but of the most virulent Asiatic strain. +Obermeyer, who discovered it, caught the disease and died of it, a +martyr to science." + +A shriek of consternation rang forth from Samarova. The rest of us +paled, but repressed our feelings. + +"One moment," added Kennedy hastily. "Don't be unnecessarily +alarmed. I have something more to say. Be calm for a moment +longer." + +He unrolled a blue-print and placed it on the table. + +"This," he continued, "is the photographic copy of a message +which, I suppose, is now on its way to the Russian minister to +France in Paris. Some one in this room besides Mr. Jameson and +myself has seen this letter before. I will hold it up as I pass +around and let each one see it." + +In intense silence Kennedy passed before each of us, holding up +the blue-print and searchingly scanning the faces. No one betrayed +by any sign that he recognised it. At last it came to Revalenko +himself. + +"The checkerboard, the checkerboard!" he cried, his eyes half +starting from their sockets as he gazed at it. + +"Yes," said Kennedy in a low tone, "the checkerboard. It took me +some time to figure it out. It is a cipher that would have baffled +Poe. In fact, there is no means of deciphering it unless you +chance to know its secret. I happened to have heard of it a long +time ago abroad, yet my recollection was vague, and I had to +reconstruct it with much difficulty. It took me all night to do +it. It is a cipher, however, that is well known among the official +classes of Russia. + +"Fortunately I remember the crucial point, without which I should +still be puzzling over it. It is that a perfectly innocent +message, on its face, may be used to carry a secret, hidden +message. The letters which compose the words, instead of being +written continuously along, as we ordinarily write, have, as you +will observe if you look twice, breaks, here and there. These +breaks in the letters stand for numbers. + +"Thus the first words are 'Many thanks.' The first break is at the +end of the letter 'n,' between it and the 'y.' There are three +letters before this break. That stands for the number 3. + +"When you come to the end of a word, if the stroke is down at the +end of the last letter, that means no break; if it is up, it means +a break. The stroke at the end of the 'y' is plainly down. +Therefore there is no break until after the 't.' That gives us the +number 2. So we get 1 next, and again 1, and still again 1; then +5; then 5; then 1; and so on. + +"Now, take these numbers in pairs, thus 3-2; 1-1; 1-5; 5-1. By +consulting this table you can arrive at the hidden message." + +He held up a cardboard bearing the following arrangement of the +letters of the alphabet: + + 1 2 3 4 5 + 1 A B C D E + 2 F G H IJ K + 3 L M N O P + 4 Q R S T U + 5 V W X Y Z + +"Thus," he continued, "3-2 means the third column and second line. +That is 'H.' Then 1-1 is 'A '; 1-5 is 'V '; 5-1 is 'E'--and we get +the word 'Have.'" + +Not a soul stirred as Kennedy unfolded the cipher. What was the +terrible secret in that scientific essay I had puzzled so +unsuccessfully over, the night before? + +"Even this can be complicated by choosing a series of fixed +numbers to be added to the real numbers over and over again. Or +the order of the alphabet can be changed. However, we have the +straight cipher only to deal with here." + +"And what for Heaven's sake does it reveal?" asked Saratovsky, +leaning forward, forgetful of the fever that was consuming him. + +Kennedy pulled out a piece of paper on which he had written the +hidden message and read: + +"Have successfully inoculated S. with fever. Public opinion +America would condemn violence. Think best death should appear +natural. Samarova infected also. Cook unfortunately took dose in +food intended Kharkoff. Now have three cases. Shall stop there at +present. Dangerous excite further suspicion health authorities." + +Rapidly I eliminated in my mind the persons mentioned, as Craig +read. Saratovsky of course was not guilty, for the plot had +centred about him. Nor was little Samarova, nor Dr. Kharkoff. I +noted Revalenko and Kazanovitch glaring at each other and hastily +tried to decide which I more strongly suspected. + +"Will get K.," continued Kennedy. "Think bomb perhaps all right. +K. case different from S. No public sentiment." + +"So Kharkoff had been marked for slaughter," I thought. Or was +"K." Kazanovitch? I regarded Revalenko more closely. He was +suspiciously sullen. + +"Must have more money. Cable ten thousand rubles at once Russian +consul-general. Will advise you plot against Czar as details +perfected here. Expect break up New York band with death of S." + +If Kennedy himself had thrown a bomb or scattered broadcast the +contents of the test-tubes, the effect could not have been more +startling than his last quiet sentence--and sentence it was in two +senses. + +"Signed," he said, folding the paper up deliberately, "Ekaterina +Nevsky." + +It was as if a cable had snapped and a weight had fallen. +Revalenko sprang up and grasped Kazanovitch by the hand. "Forgive +me, comrade, for ever suspecting you," he cried. + +"And forgive me for suspecting you," replied Kazanovitch, "but how +did you come to shadow Kharkoff?" + +"I ordered him to follow Kharkoff secretly and protect him," +explained Saratovsky. + +Olga and Ekaterina faced each other fiercely. Olga was trembling +with emotion. Nevsky stood coldly, defiantly. If ever there was a +consummate actress it was she, who had put the bomb at her own +door and had rushed off to start Kennedy on a blind trail. + +"You traitress," cried Olga passionately, forgetting all in her +outraged love. "You won his affections from me by your false +beauty--yet all the time you would have killed him like a dog for +the Czar's gold. At last you are unmasked--you Azeff in skirts. +False friend--you would have killed us all--Saratovsky, Kharkoff-- +" + +"Be still, little fool," exclaimed Nevsky contemptuously. "The +spirilla fever has affected your brains. Bah! I will not stay with +those who are so ready to suspect an old comrade on the mere word +of a charlatan. Boris Kazanovitch, do you stand there SILENT and +let this insult be heaped upon me?" + +For answer, Kazanovitch deliberately turned his back on his lover +of a moment ago and crossed the room. "Olga," he pleaded, "I have +been a fool. Some day I may be worthy of your love. Fever or not, +I must beg your forgiveness." + +With a cry of delight the actress flung her arms about Boris, as +he imprinted a penitent kiss on her warm lips. + +"Simpleton," hissed Nevsky with curling lips. "Now you, too, will +die." + +"One moment, Ekaterina Nevsky," interposed Kennedy, as he picked +up some vacuum tubes full of a golden-yellow powder, that lay on +the table. "The spirilla, as scientists now know, belong to the +same family as those which cause what we call, euphemistically, +the 'black plague.' It is the same species as that of the African +sleeping sickness and the Philippine yaws. Last year a famous +doctor whose photograph I see in the next room, Dr. Ehrlich of +Frankfort, discovered a cure for all these diseases. It will rid +the blood of your victims of the Asiatic relapsing fever germs in +forty-eight hours. In these tubes I have the now famous +salvarsan." + +With a piercing shriek of rage at seeing her deadly work so +quickly and completely undone, Nevsky flung herself into the +little laboratory behind her and bolted the door. + +Her face still wore the same cold, contemptuous smile, as Kennedy +gently withdrew a sharp scalpel from her breast. + +"Perhaps it is best this way, after all," he said simply. + + + + +IV + +THE FIREBUG + + +A big, powerful, red touring-car, with a shining brass bell on the +front of it, was standing at the curb before our apartment late +one afternoon as I entered. It was such a machine as one +frequently sees threading its reckless course in and out among the +trucks and street-cars, breaking all rules and regulations, +stopping at nothing, the bell clanging with excitement, policemen +holding back traffic instead of trying to arrest the driver--in +other words, a Fire Department automobile. + +I regarded it curiously for a moment, for everything connected +with modern fire-fighting is interesting. Then I forgot about it +as I was whisked up in the elevator, only to have it recalled +sharply by the sight of a strongly built, grizzled man in a blue +uniform with red lining. He was leaning forward, earnestly pouring +forth a story into Kennedy's ear. + +"And back of the whole thing, sir," I heard him say as he brought +his large fist down on the table, "is a firebug--mark my words." + +Before I could close the door, Craig caught my eye, and I read in +his look that he had a new case--one that interested him greatly. +"Walter," he cried, "this is Fire Marshal McCormick. It's all +right, McCormick. Mr. Jameson is an accessory both before and +after the fact in my detective cases." + +A firebug!--one of the most dangerous of criminals. The word +excited my imagination at once, for the newspapers had lately been +making much of the strange and appalling succession of apparently +incendiary fires that had terrorised the business section of the +city. + +"Just what makes you think that there is a firebug--one firebug, I +mean--back of this curious epidemic of fires?" asked Kennedy, +leaning back in his morrischair with his finger-tips together and +his eyes half closed as if expecting a revelation from some +subconscious train of thought while the fire marshal presented his +case. + +"Well, usually there is no rhyme or reason about the firebug," +replied McCormick, measuring his words, "but this time I think +there is some method in his madness. You know the Stacey +department-stores and their allied dry-goods and garment-trade +interests?" + +Craig nodded. Of course we knew of the gigantic dry-goods +combination. It had been the talk of the press at the time of its +formation, a few months ago, especially as it included among its +organisers one very clever business woman, Miss Rebecca Wend. +There had been considerable opposition to the combination in the +trade, but Stacey had shattered it by the sheer force of his +personality. + +McCormick leaned forward and, shaking his forefinger to emphasise +his point, replied slowly, "Practically every one of these fires +has been directed against a Stacey subsidiary or a corporation +controlled by them." + +"But if it has gone as far as that," put in Kennedy, "surely the +regular police ought to be of more assistance to you than I." + +"I have called in the police," answered McCormick wearily, "but +they haven't even made up their minds whether it is a single +firebug or a gang. And in the meantime, my God, Kennedy, the +firebug may start a fire that will get beyond control!" + +"You say the police haven't a single clue to any one who might be +responsible for the fires?" I asked, hoping that perhaps the +marshal might talk more freely of his suspicions to us than he had +already expressed himself in the newspaper interviews I had read. + +"Absolutely not a clue--except such as are ridiculous," replied +McCormick, twisting his cap viciously. + +No one spoke. We were waiting for McCormick to go on. + +"The first fire," he began, repeating his story for my benefit, +although Craig listened quite as attentively as if he had not +heard it already, "was at the big store of Jones, Green leaders +have been arrested, but I can't say we have anything against any +of them. Still, Max Bloom, the manager of this company, insists +that the fire was set for revenge, and indeed it looks as much +like a fire for revenge as the Jones-Green fire does"--here he +lowered his voice confidentially--"for the purpose of collecting +insurance. + +"Then came the fire in the Slawson Building, a new loft-building +that had been erected just off Fourth Avenue. Other than the fact +that the Stacey interests put up the money for financing this +building there seemed to be no reason for that fire at all. The +building was reputed to be earning a good return on the +investment, and I was at a loss to account for the fire. I have +made no arrests for it--just set it down as the work of a pure +pyromaniac, a man who burns buildings for fun, a man with an +inordinate desire to hear the fire-engines screech through the +streets and perhaps get a chance to show a little heroism in +'rescuing' tenants. However, the adjuster for the insurance +company, Lazard, and the adjuster for the insured, Hartstein, have +reached an agreement, and I believe the insurance is to be paid." + +"But," interposed Kennedy, "I see no evidence of organised arson +so far." + +"Wait," replied the fire marshal. "That was only the beginning, +you understand. A little later came a fire that looked quite like +an attempt to mask a robbery by burning the building afterward. +That was in a silk-house near Spring Street. But after a +controversy the adjusters have reached an agreement on that case. +I mention these fires because they show practically all the types +of work of the various kinds of firebug--insurance, revenge, +robbery, and plain insanity. But since the Spring Street fire, the +character of the fires has been more uniform. They have all been +in business places, or nearly all." + +Here the fire marshal launched forth into a catalogue of fires of +suspected incendiary origin, at least eight in all. I took them +down hastily, intending to use the list some time in a box head +with an article in the Star. When he had finished his list I +hastily counted up the number of killed. There were six, two of +them firemen, and four employees. The money loss ranged into the +millions. + +McCormick passed his hand over his forehead to brush off the +perspiration. "I guess this thing has got on my nerves," he +muttered hoarsely. "Everywhere I go they talk about nothing else. +If I drop into the restaurant for lunch, my waiter talks of it. If +I meet a newspaper man, he talks of it. My barber talks of it-- +everybody. Sometimes I dream of it; other times I lie awake +thinking about it. I tell you, gentlemen, I've sweated blood over +this problem." + +"But," insisted Kennedy, "I still can't see why you link all these +fires as due to one firebug. I admit there is an epidemic of +fires. But what makes you so positive that it is all the work of +one man?" + +"I was coming to that. For one thing, he isn't like the usual +firebug at all. Ordinarily they start their fires with excelsior +and petroleum, or they smear the wood with paraffin or they use +gasoline, benzine, or something of that sort. This fellow +apparently scorns such crude methods. I can't say how he starts +his fires, but in every case I have mentioned we have found the +remains of a wire. It has something to do with electricity--but +what, I don't know. That's one reason why I think these fires are +all connected. Here's another." + +McCormick pulled a dirty note out of his pocket and laid it on the +table. We read it eagerly: + +Hello, Chief! Haven't found the firebug yet, have you? You will +know who he is only when I am dead and the fires stop. I don't +suppose you even realise that the firebug talks with you almost +every day about catching the firebug. That's me. I am the real +firebug, that is writing this letter. I am going to tell you why I +am starting these fires. There's money in it--an easy living. They +never caught me in Chicago or anywhere, so you might as well quit +looking for me and take your medicine. + A. SPARK. + +"Humph!" ejaculated Kennedy, "he has a sense of humour, anyhow--A. +Spark!" + +"Queer sense of humour," growled McCormick, gritting his teeth. +"Here's another I got to-day: + +Say, Chief: We are going to get busy again and fire a big +department-store next. How does that suit Your Majesty? Wait till +the fun begins when the firebug gets to work again. + A. SPARK. + +"Well, sir, when I got that letter," cried McCormick, "I was +almost ready to ring in a double-nine alarm at once--they have me +that bluffed out. But I said to myself, 'There's only one thing to +do--see this man Kennedy.' So here I am. You see what I am driving +at? I believe that firebug is an artist at the thing, does it for +the mere fun of it and the ready money in it. But more than that, +there must be some one back of him. Who is the man higher up--we +must catch him. See?" + +"A big department-store," mused Kennedy. "That's definite--there +are only a score or so of them, and the Stacey interests control +several. Mac, I'll tell you what I'll do. Let me sit up with you +to-night at headquarters until we get an alarm. By George, I'll +see this case through to a finish!" + +The fire marshal leaped to his feet and bounded over to where +Kennedy was seated. With one hand on Craig's shoulder and the +other grasping Craig's hand, he started to speak, but his voice +choked. + +"Thanks," he blurted out huskily at last. "My reputation in the +department is at stake, my promotion, my position itself, my--my +family--er--er--" + +"Not a word, sir," said Kennedy, his features working +sympathetically. "To-night at eight I will go on watch with you. +By the way, leave me those A. Spark notes." + +McCormick had so far regained his composure as to say a hearty +farewell. He left the room as if ten years had been lifted off his +shoulders. A moment later he stuck his head in the door again. +"I'll have one of the Department machines call for you, +gentlemen," he said. + +After the marshal had gone, we sat for several minutes in silence. +Kennedy was reading and rereading the notes, scowling to himself +as if they presented a particularly perplexing problem. I said +nothing, though my mind was teeming with speculations. At length +he placed the notes very decisively on the table and snapped out +the remark, + +"Yes, it must be so." + +"What?" I queried, still drumming away at my typewriter, copying +the list of incendiary fires against the moment when the case +should be complete and the story "released for publication," as it +were. + +"This note," he explained, picking up the first one and speaking +slowly, "was written by a woman." + +I swung around in my chair quickly. "Get out!" I exclaimed +sceptically. "No woman ever used such phrases." + +"I didn't say composed by a woman--I said written by a woman," he +replied. + +"Oh," I said, rather chagrined. + +"It is possible to determine sex from handwriting in perhaps +eighty cases out of a hundred," Kennedy went on, enjoying my +discomfiture. "Once I examined several hundred specimens of +writing to decide that point to my satisfaction. Just to test my +conclusions I submitted the specimens to two professional +graphologists. I found that our results were slightly different, +but I averaged the thing up to four cases out of five correct. The +so-called sex signs are found to be largely influenced by the +amount of writing done, by age, and to a certain extent by +practice and professional requirements, as in the conventional +writing of teachers and the rapid hand of bookkeepers. Now in this +case the person who wrote the first note was only an indifferent +writer. Therefore the sex signs are pretty likely to be accurate. +Yes, I'm ready to go on the stand and swear that this note was +written by a woman and the second by a man." + +"Then there's a woman in the case, and she wrote the first note +for the firebug--is that what you mean?" I asked. + +"Exactly. There nearly always is a woman in the case, somehow or +other. This woman is closely connected with the firebug. As for +the firebug, whoever it may be, he performs his crimes with cold +premeditation and, as De Quincey said, in a spirit of pure +artistry. The lust of fire propels him, and he uses his art to +secure wealth. The man may be a tool in the hands of others, +however. It's unsafe to generalise on the meagre facts we now +have. Oh, well, there is nothing we can do just yet. Let's take a +walk, get an early dinner, and be back here before the automobile +arrives." + +Not a word more did Kennedy say about the case during our stroll +or even on the way downtown to fire headquarters. + +We found McCormick anxiously waiting for us. High up in the +sandstone tower at headquarters, we sat with him in the maze of +delicate machinery with which the fire game is played in New York. +In great glass cases were glistening brass and nickel machines +with discs and levers and bells, tickers, sheets of paper, and +annunciators without number. This was the fire-alarm telegraph, +the "roulettewheel of the fire demon," as some one has aptly +called it. + +"All the alarms for fire from all the boroughs, both from the +regular alarm-boxes and the auxiliary systems, come here first +over the network of three thousand miles or more of wire nerves +that stretch out through the city," McCormick was explaining to +us. + +A buzzer hissed. + +"Here's an alarm now," he exclaimed, all attention. + +"Three," "six," "seven," the numbers appeared on the annunciator. +The clerks in the office moved as if they were part of the +mechanism. Twice the alarm was repeated, being sent out all over +the city. McCormick relapsed from his air of attention. + +"That alarm was not in the shopping district," he explained, much +relieved. "Now the fire-houses in the particular district where +that fire is have received the alarm instantly. Four engines, two +hook-and-ladders, a water-tower, the battalion chief, and a deputy +are hurrying to that fire. Hello, here comes another." + +Again the buzzer sounded. "One," "four," "five" showed in the +annunciator. + +Even before the clerks could respond, McCormick had dragged us to +the door. In another instant we were wildly speeding uptown, the +bell on the front of the automobile clanging like a fire-engine, +the siren horn going continuously, the engine of the machine +throbbing with energy until the water boiled in the radiator. + +"Let her out, Frank," called McCormick to his chauffeur, as we +rounded into a broad and now almost deserted thoroughfare. + +Like a red streak in the night we flew up that avenue, turned into +Fourteenth Street on two wheels, and at last were on Sixth Avenue. +With a jerk and a skid we stopped. There were the engines, the +hose-carts, the hook-and-ladders, the salvage corps, the police +establishing fire lines--everything. But where was the fire? + +The crowd indicated where it ought to be--it was Stacey's. Firemen +and policemen were entering the huge building. McCormick +shouldered in after them, and we followed. + +"Who turned in the alarm?" he asked as we mounted the stairs with +the others. + +"I did," replied a night watchman on the third landing. "Saw a +light in the office on the third floor back--something blazing. +But it seems to be out now." + +We had at last come to the office. It was dark and deserted, yet +with the lanterns we could see the floor of the largest room +littered with torn books and ledgers. + +Kennedy caught his foot in something. It was a loose wire on the +floor. He followed it. It led to an electric-light socket, where +it was attached. + +"Can't you turn on the lights?" shouted McCormick to the watchman. + +"Not here. They're turned on from downstairs, and they're off for +the night. I'll go down if you want me to and--" + +"No," roared Kennedy. "Stay where you are until I follow the wire +to the other end." + +At last we came to a little office partitioned off from the main +room. Kennedy carefully opened the door. One whiff of the air from +it was sufficient. He banged the door shut again. + +"Stand back with those lanterns, boys," he ordered. + +I sniffed, expecting to smell illuminating-gas. Instead, a +peculiar, sweetish odour pervaded the air. For a moment it made me +think of a hospital operating-room. + +"Ether," exclaimed Kennedy. "Stand back farther with those lights +and hold them up from the floor." + +For a moment he seemed to hesitate as if at loss what to do next. +Should he open the door and let this highly inflammable gas out or +should he wait patiently until the natural ventilation of the +little office had dispelled it? + +While he was debating he happened to glance out of the window and +catch sight of a drug-store across the street. + +"Walter," he said to me, "hurry across there and get all the +saltpeter and sulphur the man has in the shop." + +I lost no time in doing so. Kennedy dumped the two chemicals into +a pan in the middle of the main office, about three-fifths +saltpeter and two-fifths sulphur, I should say. Then he lighted +it. The mass burned with a bright flame but without explosion. We +could smell the suffocating fumes from it, and we retreated. For a +moment or two we watched it curiously at a distance. + +"That's very good extinguishing-powder," explained Craig as we +sniffed at the odour. "It yields a large amount of carbon dioxide +and sulphur dioxide. Now--before it gets any worse--I guess it's +safe to open the door and let the ether out. You see this is as +good a way as any to render safe a room full of inflammable +vapour. Come, we'll wait outside the main office for a few minutes +until the gases mix." + +It seemed hours before Kennedy deemed it safe to enter the office +again with a light. When we did so, we made a rush for the little +cubby-hole of an office at the other end. On the floor was a +little can of ether, evaporated of course, and beside it a small +apparatus apparently used for producing electric sparks. + +"So, that's how he does it," mused Kennedy, fingering the can +contemplatively. "He lets the ether evaporate in a room for a +while and then causes an explosion from a safe distance with this +little electric spark. There's where your wire comes in, +McCormick. Say, my man, you can switch on the lights from +downstairs, now." + +As we waited for the watchman to turn on the lights I exclaimed, +"He failed this time because the electricity was shut off." + +"Precisely, Walter," assented Kennedy. + +"But the flames which the night watchman saw, what of them?" put +in McCormick, considerably mystified." He must have seen +something." + +Just then the lights winked up. + +"Oh, that was before the fellow tried to touch off the ether +vapour," explained Kennedy. "He had to make sure of his work of +destruction first--and, judging by the charred papers about, he +did it well. See, he tore leaves from the ledgers and lighted them +on the floor. There was an object in all that. What was it? Hello! +Look at this mass of charred paper in the corner." + +He bent down and examined it carefully. + +"Memoranda of some kind, I guess. I'll save this burnt paper and +look it over later. Don't disturb it. I'll take it away myself." + +Search as we might, we could find no other trace of the firebug, +and at last we left. Kennedy carried the charred paper carefully +in a large hat-box. + +"There'll be no more fires to-night, McCormick," he said. "But +I'll watch with you every night until we get this incendiary. +Meanwhile I'll see what I can decipher, if anything, in this burnt +paper." + +Next day McCormick dropped in to see us again. This time he had +another note, a disguised scrawl which read: + +Chief: I'm not through. Watch me get another store yet. I won't +fall down this time. + A. SPARK. + +Craig scowled as he read the note and handed it to me. "The man's +writing this time--like the second note," was all he said. +"McCormick, since we know where the lightning is going to strike, +don't you think it would be wiser to make our headquarters in one +of the engine-houses in that district?" + +The fire marshal agreed, and that night saw us watching at the +fire-house nearest the department-store region. + +Kennedy and I were assigned to places on the hose-cart and engine, +respectively, Kennedy being in the hose-cart so that he could be +with McCormick. We were taught to descend one of the four brass +poles hand under elbow, from the dormitory on the second floor. +They showed us how to jump into the "turn-outs"--a pair of +trousers opened out over the high top boots. We were given helmets +which we placed in regulation fashion on our rubber coats, turned +inside out with the right armhole up. Thus it came about that +Craig and I joined the Fire Department temporarily. It was a novel +experience for us both. + +"Now, Walter," said Kennedy, "as long as we have gone so far, +we'll 'roll' to every fire, just like the regulars. We won't take +any chances of missing the firebug at any time of night or day." + +It proved to be a remarkably quiet evening with only one little +blaze in a candy-shop on Seventh Avenue. Most of the time we sat +around trying to draw the men out about their thrilling +experiences at fires. But if there is one thing the fireman +doesn't know it is the English language when talking about +himself. It was quite late when we turned into the neat white cots +upstairs. + +We had scarcely fallen into a half doze in our strange +surroundings when the gong downstairs sounded. It was our signal. + +We could hear the rapid clatter of the horses' hoofs as they were +automatically released from their stalls and the collars and +harness mechanically locked about them. All was stir, and motion, +and shouts. Craig and I had bounded awkwardly into our +paraphernalia at the first sound. We slid ungracefully down the +pole and were pushed and shoved into our places, for scientific +management in a New York fire-house has reached one hundred per +cent. efficiency, and we were not to be allowed to delay the game. + +The oil-torch had been applied to the engine, and it rolled forth, +belching flames. I was hanging on for dear life, now and then +catching sight of the driver urging his plunging horses onward +like a charioteer in a modern Ben Hur race. The tender with Craig +and McCormick was lost in the clouds of smoke and sparks that +trailed behind us. On we dashed until we turned into Sixth Avenue. +The glare of the sky told us that this time the firebug had made +good. + +"I'll be hanged if it isn't the Stacey store again," shouted the +man next me on the engine as the horses lunged up the avenue and +stopped at the allotted hydrant. It was like a war game. Every +move had been planned out by the fire-strategists, even down to +the hydrants that the engines should take at a given fire. + +Already several floors were aflame, the windows glowing like open- +hearth furnaces, the glass bulging and cracking and the flames +licking upward and shooting out in long streamers. The hose was +coupled up in an instant, the water turned on, and the limp rubber +and canvas became as rigid as a post with the high pressure of the +water being forced through it. Company after company dashed into +the blazing "fireproof" building, urged by the hoarse profanity of +the chief. + +Twenty or thirty men must have disappeared into the stifle from +which the police retreated. There was no haste, no hesitation. +Everything moved as smoothly as if by clockwork. Yet we could not +see one of the men who had disappeared into the burning building. +They had been swallowed up, as it were. For that is the way with +the New York firemen. They go straight to the heart of the fire. +Now and then a stream of a hose spat out of a window, showing that +the men were still alive and working. About the ground floors the +red-helmeted salvage corps were busy covering up what they could +of the goods with rubber sheets to protect them from water. +Doctors with black bags and white trousers were working over the +injured. Kennedy and I were busy about the engine, and there was +plenty for us to do. + +Above the shrill whistle for more coal I heard a voice shout, +"Began with an explosion--it's the firebug, all right." I looked +up. It was McCormick, dripping and grimy, in a high state of +excitement, talking to Kennedy. + +I had been so busy trying to make myself believe that I was really +of some assistance about the engine that I had not taken time to +watch the fire itself. It was now under control. The sharp and +scientific attack had nipped what might have been one of New +York's historic conflagrations. + +"Are you game to go inside?" I heard McCormick ask. + +For answer Kennedy simply nodded. As for me, where Craig went I +went. + +The three of us drove through the scorching door, past twisted +masses of iron still glowing dull red in the smoke and steam, +while the water hissed and spattered and slopped. The smoke was +still suffocating, and every once in a while we were forced to +find air close to the floor and near the wall. My hands and arms +and legs felt like lead, yet on we drove. + +Coughing and choking, we followed McCormick to what had been the +heart of the fire, the office. Men with picks and axes and all +manner of cunningly devised instruments were hacking and tearing +at the walls and woodwork, putting out the last smouldering sparks +while a thousand gallons of water were pouring in at various parts +of the building where the fire still showed spirit. + +There on the floor of the office lay a charred, shapeless, +unrecognisable mass. What was that gruesome odour in the room? +Burned human flesh? I recoiled from what had once been the form of +a woman. + +McCormick uttered a cry, and as I turned my eyes away, I saw him +holding a wire with the insulation burned off. He had picked it up +from the wreckage of the floor. It led to a bent and blackened +can--that had once been a can of ether. + +My mind worked rapidly, but McCormick blurted out the words before +I could form them, "Caught in her own trap at last!" + +Kennedy said nothing, but as one of the firemen roughly but +reverently covered the remains with a rubber sheet, he stooped +down and withdrew from the breast of the woman a long letter-file. +"Come, let us go," he said. + +Back in our apartment again we bathed our racking heads, gargled +our parched throats, and washed out our bloodshot eyes, in +silence. The whole adventure, though still fresh and vivid in my +mind, seemed unreal, like a dream. The choking air, the hissing +steam, the ghastly object under the tarpaulin--what did it all +mean? Who was she? I strove to reason it out, but could find no +answer. + +It was nearly dawn when the door opened and McCormick came in and +dropped wearily into a chair. "Do you know who that woman was?" he +gasped. "It was Miss Wend herself." + +"Who identified her?" asked Kennedy calmly. + +"Oh, several people. Stacey recognised her at once. Then +Hartstein, the adjuster for the insured, and Lazard, the adjuster +for the company, both of whom had had more or less to do with her +in connection with settling up for other fires, recognised her. +She was a very clever woman, was Miss Wend, and a very important +cog in the Stacey enterprises. And to think she was the firebug, +after all. I can hardly believe it." + +"Why believe it?" asked Kennedy quietly. + +"Why believe it?" echoed McCormick. "Stacey has found shortages in +his books due to the operation of her departments. The bookkeeper +who had charge of the accounts in her department, a man named +Douglas, is missing. She must have tried to cover up her +operations by fires and juggling the accounts. Failing in that she +tried to destroy Stacey's store itself, twice. She was one of the +few that could get into the office unobserved. Oh, it's a clear +case now. To my mind, the heavy vapours of ether--they are heavier +than air, you know--must have escaped along the surface of the +floor last night and become ignited at a considerable distance +from where she expected. She was caught in a back-draught, or +something of the sort. Well, thank God, we've seen the last of +this firebug business. What's that?" + +Kennedy had laid the letter-file on the table. "Nothing. Only I +found this embedded in Miss Wend's breast right over her heart." + +"Then she was murdered?" exclaimed McCormick. + +"We haven't come to the end of this case yet," replied Craig +evasively. "On the contrary, we have just got our first good clue. +No, McCormick, your theory will not hold water. The real point is +to find this missing bookkeeper at any cost. You must persuade him +to confess what he knows. Offer him immunity--he was only a pawn +in the hands of those higher up." + +McCormick was not hard to convince. Tired as he was, he grabbed up +his hat and started off to put the final machinery in motion to +wind up the long chase for the firebug. + +"I must get a couple of hours' sleep," he yawned as he left us, +"but first I want to start something toward finding Douglas. I +shall try to see you about noon." + +I was too exhausted to go to the office. In fact, I doubt if I +could have written a line. But I telephoned in a story of personal +experiences at the Stacey fire and told them they could fix it up +as they chose and even sign my name to it. + +About noon McCormick came in again, looking as fresh as if nothing +had happened. He was used to it. + +"I know where Douglas is," he announced breathlessly. + +"Fine," said Kennedy, "and can you produce him at any time when it +is necessary?" + +"Let me tell you what I have done. I went down to the district +attorney from here--routed him out of bed. He has promised to turn +loose his accountants to audit the reports of the adjusters, +Hartstein and Lazard, as well as to make a cursory examination of +what Stacey books there are left. He says he will have a +preliminary report ready to-night, but the detailed report will +take days, of course. + +"It's the Douglas problem that is difficult, though. I haven't +seen him, but one of the central-office men, by shadowing his +wife, has found that he is in hiding down on the East Side. He's +safe there; he can't make a move to get away without being +arrested. The trouble is that if I arrest him, the people higher +up will know it and will escape before I can get his confession +and the warrants. I'd much rather have the whole thing done at +once. Isn't there some way we can get the whole Stacey crowd +together, make the arrest of Douglas and nab the guilty ones in +the case, all together without giving them a chance to escape or +to shield the real firebug?" + +Kennedy thought a moment. "Yes," he answered slowly. "There is. If +you can get them all together at my laboratory to-night at, say, +eight o'clock, I'll give you two clear hours to make the arrest of +Douglas, get the confession, and swear out the warrants. All that +you'll need to do is to let me talk a few minutes this afternoon +with the judge who will sit in the night court to-night. I shall +install a little machine on his desk in the court, and we'll catch +the real criminal--he'll never get a chance to cross the state +line or disappear in any way. You see, my laboratory will be +neutral ground. I think you can get them to come, inasmuch as they +know the bookkeeper is safe and that dead women tell no tales." + +When next I saw Kennedy it was late in the afternoon, in the +laboratory. He was arranging something in the top drawer of a +flat-top desk. It seemed to be two instruments composed of many +levers and discs and magnets, each instrument with a roll of paper +about five inches wide. On one was a sort of stylus with two silk +cords attached at right angles to each other near the point. On +the other was a capillary glass tube at the junction of two +aluminum arms, also at right angles to each other. + +It was quite like old times to see Kennedy at work in his +laboratory preparing for a "seance." He said nothing as I watched +him curiously, and I asked nothing. Two sets of wires were +attached to each of the instruments, and these he carefully +concealed and led out the window. Then he arranged the chairs on +the opposite side of the desk from his own. + +"Walter," he said, "when our guests begin to arrive I want you to +be master of ceremonies. Simply keep them on the opposite side of +the desk from me. Don't let them move their chairs around to the +right or left. And, above all, leave the doors open. I don't want +any one to be suspicious or to feel that he is shut in in any way. +Create the impression that they are free to go and come when they +please." + +Stacey arrived first in a limousine which he left standing at the +door of the Chemistry Building. Bloom and Warren came together in +the latter's car. Lazard came in a taxicab which he dismissed, and +Hartstein came up by the subway, being the last to arrive. Every +one seemed to be in good humour. + +I seated them as Kennedy had directed. Kennedy pulled out the +extension on the left of his desk and leaned his elbow on it as he +began to apologise for taking up their time at such a critical +moment. As near as I could make out, he had quietly pulled out the +top drawer of his desk on the right, the drawer in which I had +seen him place the complicated apparatus. But as nothing further +happened I almost forgot about it in listening to him. He began by +referring to the burned papers he had found in the office. + +"It is sometimes possible," he continued, "to decipher writing on +burned papers if one is careful. The processes of colour +photography have recently been applied to obtain a legible +photograph of the writing on burned manuscripts which are +unreadable by any other known means. As long as the sheet has not +been entirely disintegrated positive results can be obtained every +time. The charred manuscript is carefully arranged in as near its +original shape as possible, on a sheet of glass and covered with a +drying varnish, after which it is backed by another sheet of +glass. + +"By using carefully selected colour screens and orthochromatic +plates a perfectly legible photograph of the writing may be taken, +although there may be no marks on the charred remains that are +visible to the eye. This is the only known method in many cases. I +have here some burned fragments of paper which I gathered up after +the first attempt to fire your store, Mr. Stacey." + +Stacey coughed in acknowledgment. As for Craig, he did not mince +matters in telling what he had found. + +"Some were notes given in favour of Rebecca Wend and signed by +Joseph Stacey," he said quietly. "They represent a large sum of +money in the aggregate. Others were memoranda of Miss Wend's, and +still others were autograph letters to Miss Wend of a very +incriminating nature in connection with the fires by another +person." + +Here he laid the "A. Spark" letters on the desk before him. "Now," +he added "some one, in a spirit of bravado, sent these notes to +the fire marshal at various times. Curiously enough, I find that +the handwriting of the first one bears a peculiar resemblance to +that of Miss Wend, while the second and third, though disguised +also, greatly suggest the handwriting of Miss Wend's +correspondent." + +No one moved. But I sat aghast. She had been a part of the +conspiracy, after all, not a pawn. Had they played fair? + +"Taking up next the remarkable succession of fires," resumed +Kennedy, "this case presents some unique features. In short, it is +a clear case of what is known as a 'firebug trust.' Now just what +is a firebug trust? Well, it is, as near as I can make out, a +combination of dishonest merchants and insurance adjusters engaged +in the business of deliberately setting fires for profit. These +arson trusts are not the ordinary kind of firebugs whom the +firemen plentifully damn in the fixed belief that one-fourth of +all fires are kindled by incendiaries. Such 'trusts' exist all +over the country. They have operated in Chicago, where they are +said to have made seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars in one +year. Another group is said to have its headquarters in Kansas +City. Others have worked in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and +Buffalo. The fire marshals of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and +Ohio have investigated their work. But until recently New York has +been singularly free from the organised work of this sort. Of +course we have plenty of firebugs and pyromaniacs in a small way, +but the big conspiracy has never come to my personal attention +before. + +"Now, the Jones-Green fire, the Quadrangle fire, the Slawson +Building fire, and the rest, have all been set for one purpose--to +collect insurance. I may as well say right here that some people +are in bad in this case, but that others are in worse. Miss Wend +was originally a party to the scheme. Only the trouble with Miss +Wend was that she was too shrewd to be fooled. She insisted that +she have her full share of the pickings. In that case it seems to +have been the whole field against Miss Wend, not a very gallant +thing, nor yet according to the adage about honour among thieves. + +"A certain person whose name I am frank to say I do not know--yet- +-conceived the idea of destroying the obligations of the Stacey +companies to Miss Wend as well as the incriminating evidence which +she held of the 'firebug trust,' of which she was a member up to +this time. The plan only partly succeeded. The chief coup, which +was to destroy the Stacey store into the bargain, miscarried. + +"What was the result? Miss Wend, who had been hand in glove with +the 'trust,' was now a bitter enemy, perhaps would turn state's +evidence. What more natural than to complete the conspiracy by +carrying out the coup and at the same time get rid of the +dangerous enemy of the conspirators? I believe that Miss Wend was +lured under some pretext or other to the Stacey store on the night +of the big fire. The person who wrote the second and third 'A. +Spark' letters did it. She was murdered with this deadly +instrument"--Craig laid the letter-file on the table--"and it was +planned to throw the entire burden of suspicion on her by +asserting that there was a shortage in the books of her +department." + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Stacey, smoking complacently at his cigar. "We +have been victimised in those fires by people who have grudges +against us, labour unions and others. This talk of an arson trust +is bosh--yellow journalism. More than that, we have been +systematically robbed by a trusted head of a department, and the +fire at Stacey's was the way the thief took to cover--er--her +stealings. At the proper time we shall produce the bookkeeper +Douglas and prove it." + +Kennedy fumbled in the drawer of the desk, then drew forth a long +strip of paper covered with figures. "All the Stacey companies," +he said, "have been suffering from the depression that exists in +the trade at present. They are insolvent. Glance over that, +Stacey. It is a summary of the preliminary report of the +accountants of the district attorney who have been going over your +books to-day." + +Stacey gasped. "How did you get it? The report was not to be ready +until nine o'clock, and it is scarcely a quarter past now." + +"Never mind how I got it. Go over it with the adjusters, anybody. +I think you will find that there was no shortage in Miss Wend's +department, that you were losing money, that you were in debt to +Miss Wend, and that she would have received the lion's share of +the proceeds of the insurance if the firebug scheme had turned out +as planned." + +"We absolutely repudiate these figures as fiction," said Stacey, +angrily turning toward Kennedy after a hurried consultation. + +"Perhaps, then, you'll appreciate this," replied Craig, pulling +another piece of paper from the desk. "I'll read it. 'Henry +Douglas, being duly sworn, deposes and says that one'--we'll call +him 'Blank' for the present--'with force and arms did feloniously, +wilfully, and intentionally kill Rebecca Wend whilst said Blank +was wilfully burning and setting on fire--'" + +"One moment," interrupted Stacey. "Let me see that paper." + +Kennedy laid it down so that only the signature showed. The name +was signed in a full round hand, "Henry Douglas." + +"It's a forgery," cried Stacey in rage. "Not an hour before I came +into this place I saw Henry Douglas. He had signed no such paper +then. He could not have signed it since, and you could not have +received it. I brand that document as a forgery." + +Kennedy stood up and reached down into the open drawer on the +right of his desk. From it he lifted the two machines I had seen +him place there early in the evening. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "this is the last scene of the play you are +enacting. You see here on the desk an instrument that was invented +many years ago, but has only recently become really practical. It +is the telautograph--the long-distance writer. In this new form it +can be introduced into the drawer of a desk for the use of any one +who may wish to make inquiries, say, of clerks without the +knowledge of a caller. It makes it possible to write a message +under these conditions and receive an answer concerning the +personality or business of the individual seated at one's elbow +without leaving the desk or seeming to make inquiries. + +"With an ordinary pencil I have written on the paper of the +transmitter. The silk cord attached to the pencil regulates the +current which controls a pencil at the other end of the line. The +receiving pencil moves simultaneously with my pencil. It is the +principle of the pantagraph cut in half, one half here, the other +half at the end of the line, two telephone wires in this case +connecting the halves. + +"While we have been sitting here I have had my right hand in the +half-open drawer of my desk writing with this pencil notes of what +has transpired in this room. These notes, with other evidence, +have been simultaneously placed before Magistrate Brenner in the +night court. At the same time, on this other, the receiving, +instrument the figures of the accountants written in court have +been reproduced here. You have seen them. Meanwhile, Douglas was +arrested, taken before the magistrate, and the information for a +charge of murder in the first degree perpetrated in committing +arson has been obtained. You have seen it. It came in while you +were reading the figures." + +The conspirators seemed dazed. + +"And now," continued Kennedy, "I see that the pencil of the +receiving instrument is writing again. Let us see what it is." + +We bent over. The writing started: "County of New York. In the +name of the People of the State of New York--" + +Kennedy did not wait for us to finish reading. He tore the writing +from the telautograph and waved it over his head. + +"It is a warrant. You are all under arrest for arson. But you, +Samuel Lazard, are also under arrest for the murder of Rebecca +Wend and six other persons in fires which you have set. You are +the real firebug, the tool of Joseph Stacey, perhaps, but that +will all come out in the trial. McCormick, McCormick," called +Craig, "it's all right. I have the warrant. Are the police there?" + +There was no answer. + +Lazard and Stacey made a sudden dash for the door, and in an +instant they were in Stacey's waiting car. The chauffeur took off +the brake and pulled the lever. Suddenly Craig's pistol flashed, +and the chauffeur's arms hung limp and useless on the steering- +wheel. + +As McCormick with the police loomed up, a moment late, out of the +darkness and after a short struggle clapped the irons on Stacey +and Lazard in Stacey's own magnificently upholstered car, I +remarked reproachfully to Kennedy: "But, Craig, you have shot the +innocent chauffeur. Aren't you going to attend to him?" + +"Oh," replied Kennedy nonchalantly, "don't worry about that. They +were only rock-salt bullets. They didn't penetrate far. They'll +sting for some time, but they're antiseptic, and they'll dissolve +and absorb quickly." + + + + +V + +THE CONFIDENCE KING + + +"Shake hands with Mr. Burke of the secret service, Professor +Kennedy." + +It was our old friend First Deputy O'Connor who thus in his bluff +way introduced a well-groomed and prosperous-looking man whom he +brought up to our apartment one evening. + +The formalities were quickly over. "Mr. Burke and I are old +friends," explained O'Connor. "We try to work together when we +can, and very often the city department can give the government +service a lift, and then again it's the other way--as it was in +the trunk-murder mystery. Show Professor Kennedy the 'queer,' +Tom." + +Burke drew a wallet out of his pocket, and from it slowly and +deliberately selected a crisp, yellow-backed hundred-dollar bill. +He laid it flat on the table before us. Diagonally across its face +from the upper left-to the lower right-hand corner extended two +parallel scorings in indelible ink. + +Not being initiated into the secrets of the gentle art of "shoving +the queer," otherwise known as passing counterfeit money, I +suppose my questioning look betrayed me. + +"A counterfeit, Walter," explained Kennedy. "That's what they do +with bills when they wish to preserve them as records in the +secret service and yet render them valueless." + +Without a word Burke handed Kennedy a pocket magnifying-glass, and +Kennedy carefully studied the bill. He was about to say something +when Burke opened his capacious wallet again and laid down a Bank +of England five-pound note which had been similarly treated. + +Again Kennedy looked through the glass with growing amazement +written on his face, but before he could say anything, Burke laid +down an express money-order on the International Express Company. + +"I say," exclaimed Kennedy, putting down the glass, "stop! How +many more of these are there?" + +Burke smiled. "That's all," he replied, "but it's not the worst." + +"Not the worst? Good heavens, man, next you'll tell me that the +government is counterfeiting its own notes! How much of this stuff +do you suppose has been put into circulation?" + +Burke chewed a pencil thoughtfully, jotted down some figures on a +piece of paper, and thought some more. "Of course I can't say +exactly, but from hints I have received here and there I should +think that a safe bet would be that some one has cashed in upward +of half a million dollars already." + +"Whew," whistled Kennedy, "that's going some. And I suppose it is +all salted away in some portable form. What an inventory it must +be--good bills, gold, diamonds, and jewellery. This is a stake +worth playing for." + +"Yes," broke in O'Connor, "but from my standpoint, professionally, +I mean, the case is even worse than that. It's not the +counterfeits that bother us. We understand that, all right. But," +and he leaned forward earnestly and brought his fist down hard on +the table with a resounding Irish oath, "the finger-print system, +the infallible finger-print system, has gone to pieces. We've just +imported this new 'portrait parle' fresh from Paris and London, +invented by Bertillon and all that sort of thing--it has gone to +pieces, too. It's a fine case, this is, with nothing left of +either scientific or unscientific criminal-catching to rely on. +There--what do you know about that?" + +"You'll have to tell me the facts first," said Kennedy. "I can't +diagnose your disease until I know the symptoms." + +"It's like this," explained Burke, the detective in him showing +now with no effort at concealment. "A man, an Englishman, +apparently, went into a downtown banker's office about three +months ago and asked to have some English bank-notes exchanged for +American money. After he had gone away, the cashier began to get +suspicious. He thought there was something phoney in the feel of +the notes. Under the glass he noticed that the little curl on the +'e' of the 'Five' was missing. It's the protective mark. The +water-mark was quite equal to that of the genuine--maybe better. +Hold that note up to the light and see for yourself. + +"Well, the next day, down to the Custom House, where my office is, +a man came who runs a swell gambling-house uptown. He laid ten +brand-new bills on my desk. An Englishman had been betting on the +wheel. He didn't seem to care about winning, and he cashed in each +time with a new one-hundred-dollar bill. Of course he didn't care +about winning. He cared about the change--that was his winning. +The bill on the table is one of the original ten, though since +then scores have been put into circulation. I made up my mind that +it was the same Englishman in both cases. + +"Then within a week, in walked the manager of the Mozambique +Hotel--he had been stung with the fake International Express +money-order--same Englishman, too, I believe." + +"And you have no trace of him?" asked Kennedy eagerly. + +"We had him under arrest once--we thought. A general alarm was +sent out, of course, to all the banks and banking-houses. But the +man was too clever to turn up in that way again. In one gambling- +joint which women frequent a good deal, a classy dame who might +have been a duchess or a--well, she was a pretty good loser and +always paid with hundred-dollar bills. Now, you know women are NOT +good losers. Besides, the hundred-dollar-bill story had got around +among the gambling-houses. This joint thought it worth taking a +chance, so they called me up on the 'phone, extracted a promise +that I'd play fair and keep O'Connor from raiding them, but +wouldn't I please come up and look over the dame of the yellow +bills? Of course I made a jump at it. Sure enough, they were the +same counterfeits. I could tell because the silk threads were +drawn in with coloured ink. But instead of making an arrest I +decided to trail the lady. + +"Now, here comes the strange part of it. Let me see, this must +have been over two months ago. I followed her out to a suburban +town, Riverwood along the Hudson, and to a swell country house +overlooking the river, private drive, stone gate, hedges, old +trees, and all that sort of thing. A sporty-looking Englishman met +her at the gate with one of those big imported touring-cars, and +they took a spin. + +"I waited a day or so, but nothing more happened, and I began to +get anxious. Perhaps I was a bit hasty. Anyhow I watched my chance +and made an arrest of both of them when they came to New York on a +shopping expedition. You should have heard that Englishman swear. +I didn't know such language was possible. But in his pocket we +found twenty more of those hundred-dollar bills--that was all. Do +you think he owned up? Not a bit of it. He swore he had picked the +notes up in a pocketbook on the pier as he left the steamer. I +laughed. But when he was arraigned in court he told the magistrate +the same story and that he had advertised his find at the time. +Sure enough, in the files of the papers we discovered in the lost- +and-found column the ad., just as he claimed. We couldn't even +prove that he had passed the bills. So the magistrate refused to +hold them, and they were both released. But we had had them in our +power long enough to take their finger-prints and get descriptions +and measurements of them, particularly by this new 'portrait +parle' system. We felt we could send out a strange detective and +have him pick them out of a crowd--you know the system, I +presume?" + +Kennedy nodded, and I made a mental note of finding out more about +the "portrait parle" later. + +Burke paused, and O'Connor prompted, "Tell them about Scotland +Yard, Tom." + +"Oh, yes," resumed Burke. "Of course I sent copies of the finger- +prints to Scotland Yard. Within two weeks they replied that one +set belonged to William Forbes, a noted counterfeiter, who, they +understood, had sailed for South Africa but had never arrived +there. They were glad to learn that he was in America, and advised +me to look after him sharply. The woman was also a noted +character--Harriet Wollstone, an adventuress." + +"I suppose you have shadowed them ever since?" Kennedy asked. + +"Yes, a few days after they were arrested the man had an accident +with his car. It was said he was cranking the engine and that it +kicked back and splintered the bone in his forearm. Anyhow, he +went about with his hand and arm in a sling." + +"And then?" + +"They gave my man the slip that night in their fast touring-car. +You know automobiles have about made shadowing impossible in these +days. The house was closed up, and it was said by the neighbours +that Williams and Mrs. Williams--as they called themselves--had +gone to visit a specialist in Philadelphia. Still, as they had a +year's lease on the house, I detailed a man to watch it more or +less all the time. They went to Philadelphia all right; some of +the bills turned up there. But we saw nothing of them. + +"A short time ago, word came to me that the house was open again. +It wasn't two hours later that the telephone rang like mad. A +Fifth Avenue jeweller had just sold a rope of pearls to an +Englishwoman who paid for it herself in crisp new one-hundred- +dollar bills. The bank had returned them to him that very +afternoon--counterfeits. I didn't lose any time making a second +arrest up at the house of mystery at Riverwood. I had the county +authorities hold them--and, now, O'Connor, tell the rest of it. +You took the finger-prints up there." + +O'Connor cleared his throat as if something stuck in it, in the +telling. "The Riverwood authorities refused to hold them," he said +with evident chagrin. "As soon as I heard of the arrest I started +up myself with the finger-print records to help Burke. It was the +same man, all right--I'll swear to that on a stack of Bibles. So +will Burke. I'll never forget that snub nose--the concave nose, +the nose being the first point of identification in the 'portrait +parle.' And the ears, too--oh, it was the same man, all right. But +when we produced the London finger-prints which tallied with the +New York fingerprints which we had made--believe it or not, but it +is a fact, the Riverwood finger-prints did not tally at all." + +He laid the prints on the table. Kennedy examined them closely. +His face clouded. It was quite evident that he was stumped, and he +said so. "There are some points of agreement," he remarked, "but +more points of difference. Any points of difference are usually +considered fatal to the finger-print theory." + +"We had to let the man go," concluded Burke. "We could have held +the woman, but we let her go, too, because she was not the +principal in the case. My men are shadowing the house now and have +been ever since then. But the next day after the last arrest, a +man from New York, who looked like a doctor, made a visit. The +secret-service man on the job didn't dare leave the house to +follow him, but as he never came again perhaps it doesn't matter. +Since then the house has been closed." + +The telephone rang. It was Burke's office calling him. As he +talked we could gather that something tragic must have happened at +Riverwood, and we could hardly wait until he had finished. + +"There has been an accident up there," he remarked as he hung up +the receiver rather petulantly. "They returned in the car this +afternoon with a large package in the back of the tonneau. But +they didn't stay long. After dark they started out again in the +car. The accident was at the bad railroad crossing just above +Riverwood. It SEEMS Williams's car got stalled on the track just +as the Buffalo express was due. No one saw it, but a man in a +buggy around the bend in the road heard a woman scream. He hurried +down. The train had smashed the car to bits. How the woman escaped +was a miracle, but they found the man's body up the tracks, +horribly mangled. It was Williams, they say. They identified him +by the clothes and by letters in his pockets. But my man tells me +he found a watch on him with 'W. F.' engraved on it. His hands and +arms and head must have been right under the locomotive when it +struck him, I judge." + +"I guess that winds the case up, eh?" exclaimed O'Connor with +evident chagrin. "Where's the woman?" + +"They said she was in the little local hospital, but not much +hurt. Just the shock and a few bruises." + +O'Connor's question seemed to suggest an idea to Burke, and he +reached for the telephone again. "Riverwood 297," he ordered; then +to us as he waited he said: "We must hold the woman. Hello, 297? +The hospital? This is Burke of the secret service. Will you tell +my man, who must be somewhere about, that I would like to have him +hold that woman who was in the auto smash until I can--what? Gone? +The deuce!" + +He hung up the receiver angrily. "She left with a man who called +for her about half an hour ago," he said. "There must be a gang of +them. Forbes is dead, but we must get the rest. Mr. Kennedy, I'm +sorry to have bothered you, but I guess we can handle this alone, +after all. It was the finger-prints that fooled us, but now that +Forbes is out of the way it's just a straight case of detective +work of the old style which won't interest you." + +"On the contrary," answered Kennedy, "I'm just beginning to be +interested. Does it occur to you that, after all, Forbes may not +be dead?" + +"Not dead?" echoed Burke and O'Connor together. + +"Exactly; that's just what I said--not dead. Now stop and think a +moment. Would the great Forbes be so foolish as to go about with a +watch marked 'W. F.' if he knew, as he must have known, that you +would communicate with London and by means of the prints find out +all about him?" + +"Yes," agreed Burke, "all we have to go by is his watch found on +Williams. I suppose there is some possibility that Forbes may +still be alive." + +"Who is this third man who comes in and with whom Harriet +Wollstone goes away so willingly?" put in O'Connor. "You said the +house had been closed--absolutely closed?" + +Burke nodded. "Been closed ever since the last arrest. There's a +servant who goes in now and then, but the car hasn't been there +before to-night, wherever it has been." + +"I should like to watch that house myself for a while," mused +Kennedy. "I suppose you have no objections to my doing so?" + +"Of course not. Go ahead," said Burke. "I will go along with you +if you wish, or my man can go with you." + +"No," said Kennedy, "too many of us might spoil the broth. I'll +watch alone to-night and will see you in the morning. You needn't +even say anything to your man there about us." + +"Walter, what's on for to-night?" he asked when they had gone. +"How are you fixed for a little trip out to Riverwood?" + +"To tell the truth, I had an engagement at the College Club with +some of the fellows." + +"Oh, cut it." + +"That's what I intend to do," I replied. + +It was a raw night, and we bundled ourselves up in old football +sweaters under our overcoats. Half an hour later we were on our +way up to Riverwood. + +"By the way, Craig," I asked, "I didn't like to say anything +before those fellows. They'd think I was a dub. But I don't mind +asking you. What is this 'portrait parle' they talk about, +anyway?" + +"Why, it's a word-picture--a 'spoken picture,' to be literal. I +took some lessons in it at Bertillon's school when I was in Paris. +It's a method of scientific apprehension of criminals, a sort of +necessary addition and completion to the methods of scientific +identification of them after they are arrested. For instance, in +trying to pick out a given criminal from his mere description you +begin with the nose. Now, noses are all concave, straight, or +convex. This Forbes had a nose that was concave, Burke says. +Suppose you were sent out to find him. Of all the people you met, +we'll say, roughly, two-thirds wouldn't interest you. You'd pass +up all with straight or convex noses. Now the next point to +observe is the ear. There are four general kinds of ears- +triangular, square, oval, and round, besides a number of other +differences which are clear enough after you study ears. This +fellow is a pale man with square ears and a peculiar lobe to his +ear. So you wouldn't give a second glance to, say, three-fourths +of the square-eared people. So by a process of elimination of +various features, the eyes, the mouth, the hair, wrinkles, and so +forth, you would be able to pick your man out of a thousand--that +is, if you were trained." + +"And it works?" I asked rather doubtfully. + +"Oh, yes. That's why I'm taking up this case. I believe science +can really be used to detect crime, any crime, and in the present +instance I've just pride enough to stick to this thing until-- +until they begin to cut ice on the Styx. Whew, but it will be cold +out in the country to-night, Walter--speaking about ice." + +It was quite late when we reached Riverwood, and Kennedy hurried +along the dimly lighted streets, avoiding the main street lest +some one might be watching or following us. He pushed on, +following the directions Burke had given him. The house in +question was a large, newly built affair of concrete, surrounded +by trees and a hedge, directly overlooking the river. A bitter +wind swept in from the west, but in the shadow of an evergreen +tree and of the hedge Kennedy established our watch. + +Of all fruitless errands this seemed to me to be the acme. The +house was deserted; that was apparent, I thought, and I said so. +Hardly had I said it when I heard the baying of a dog. It did not +come from the house, however, and I concluded that it must have +come from the next estate. + +"It's in the garage," whispered Kennedy. "I can hardly think they +would go away and leave a dog locked up in it. They would at least +turn him loose." + +Hour after hour we waited. Midnight passed, and still nothing +happened. At last when the moon had disappeared under the clouds, +Kennedy pulled me along. We had seen not a sign of life in the +house, yet he observed all the caution he would have if it had +been well guarded. Quickly we advanced over the open space to the +house, approaching in the shadow as much as possible, on the side +farthest from the river. + +Tiptoeing over the porch, Kennedy tried a window. It was fastened. +Without hesitation he pulled out some instruments. One of them was +a rubber suction-cup, which he fastened to the window-pane. Then +with a very fine diamond-cutter he proceeded to cut out a large +section. It soon fell and was prevented from smashing on the floor +by the string and the suction-cup. Kennedy put his hand in and +unlatched the window, and we stepped in. + +All was silent. Apparently the house was deserted. + +Cautiously Kennedy pressed the button of his pocket storage- +battery lamp and flashed it slowly about the room. It was a sort +of library, handsomely furnished. At last the beam of light rested +on a huge desk at the opposite end. It seemed to interest Kennedy, +and we tiptoed over to it. One after another he opened the +drawers. One was locked, and he saved that until the last. + +Quietly as he could, he jimmied it open, muffling the jimmy in a +felt cloth that was on a table. Most people do not realise the +disruptive force that there is in a simple jimmy. I didn't until I +saw the solid drawer with its heavy lock yield with just the trace +of a noise. Kennedy waited an instant and listened. Nothing +happened. + +Inside the drawer was a most nondescript collection of useless +articles. There were a number of pieces of fine sponge, some of +them very thin and cut in a flat oval shape, smelling of lysol +strongly; several bottles, a set of sharp little knives, some +paraffin, bandages, antiseptic gauze, cotton--in fact, it looked +like a first-aid kit. As soon as he saw it Kennedy seemed +astonished but not at a loss to account for it. + +"I thought he left that sort of thing to the doctors, but I guess +he took a hand in it himself," he muttered, continuing to fumble +with the knives in the drawer. It was no time to ask questions, +and I did not. Kennedy rapidly stowed away the things in his +pockets. One bottle he opened and held to his nose. I could +distinguish immediately the volatile smell of ether. He closed it +quickly, and it, too, went into his pocket with the remark, +"Somebody must have known how to administer an anaesthetic-- +probably the Wollstone woman." + +A suppressed exclamation from Kennedy caused me to look. The +drawer had a false back. Safely tucked away in it reposed a tin +box, one of those so-called strong-boxes which are so handy in +that they save a burglar much time and trouble in hunting all over +for the valuables he has come after. Kennedy drew it forth and +laid it on the desk. It was locked. + +Even that did not seem to satisfy Kennedy, who continued to +scrutinise the walls and corners of the room as if looking for a +safe or something of that sort. + +"Let's look in the room across the hall," he whispered. + +Suddenly a piercing scream of a woman rang out upstairs. "Help! +Help! There's some one in the house! Billy, help!" + +I felt an arm grasp me tightly, and for a moment a chill ran over +me at being caught in the nefarious work of breaking and entering +a dwelling-house at night. But it was only Kennedy, who had +already tucked the precious little tin box under his arm. + +With a leap he dragged me to the open window, cleared it, vaulted +over the porch, and we were running for the clump of woods that +adjoined the estate on one side. Lights flashed in all the windows +of the house at once. There must have been some sort of electric- +light system that could be lighted instantly as a "burglar- +expeller." Anyhow, we had made good our escape. + +As we lost ourselves in the woods I gave a last glance back and +saw a lantern carried from the house to the garage. As the door +was unlocked I could see, in the moonlight, a huge dog leap out +and lick the hands and face of a man. + +Quickly we now crashed through the frozen underbrush. Evidently +Kennedy was making for the station by a direct route across +country instead of the circuitous way by the road and town. Behind +us we could hear a deep baying. + +"By the Lord, Walter," cried Kennedy, for once in his life +thoroughly alarmed, "it's a bloodhound, and our trail is fresh." + +Closer it came. Press forward as we might, we could never expect +to beat that dog. + +"Oh, for a stream," groaned Kennedy, "but they are all frozen-- +even the river." + +He stopped short, fumbled in his pocket, and drew out the bottle +of ether. + +"Raise your foot, Walter," he ordered. + +I did so and he smeared first mine and then his with the ether. +Then we doubled on our trail once or twice and ran again. + +"The dog will never be able to pick up the ether as our trail," +panted Kennedy; "that is, if he is any good and trained not to go +off on wild-goose chases." + +On we hurried from the woods to the now dark and silent town. It +was indeed fortunate that the dog had been thrown off our scent, +for the station was closed, and, indeed, if it had been open I am +sure the station agent would have felt more like locking the door +against two such tramps as we were, carrying a tin box and pursued +by a dog, than opening it for us. The best we could do was to +huddle into a corner until we succeeded in jumping a milk-train +that luckily slowed down as it passed Riverwood station. + +Neither of us could wait to open the tin box in our apartment, and +instead of going uptown Kennedy decided it would be best to go to +a hotel near the station. Somehow we succeeded in getting a room +without exciting suspicion. Hardly had the bellboy's footsteps +ceased echoing in the corridor than Kennedy was at work wrenching +off the lid of the box with such leverage as the scanty +furnishings of the room afforded. + +At last it yielded, and we looked in curiously, expecting to find +fabulous wealth in some form. A few hundred dollars and a rope of +pearls lay in it. It was a good "haul," but where was the vast +spoil the counterfeiters had accumulated? We had missed it. So far +we were completely baffled. + +"Perhaps we had better snatch a couple of hours' sleep," was all +that Craig said, stifling his chagrin. + +Over and over in my mind I was turning the problem of where they +had hidden the spoil. I dozed off, still thinking about it and +thinking that, even should they be captured, they might have +stowed away perhaps a million dollars to which they could go back +after their sentences were served. + +It was still early for New York when Kennedy roused me by talking +over the telephone in the room. In fact, I doubt if he had slept +at all. + +Burke was at the other end of the wire. His man had just reported +that something had happened during the night at Riverwood, but he +couldn't give a very clear account. Craig seemed to enjoy the joke +immensely as he told his story to Burke. + +The last words I heard were: "All right. Send a man up here to the +station--one who knows all the descriptions of these people. I'm +sure they will have to come into town to-day, and they will have +to come by train, for their car is wrecked. Better watch at the +uptown stations, also." + +After a hasty breakfast we met Burke's man and took our places at +the exit from the train platforms. Evidently Kennedy had figured +out that the counterfeiters would have to come into town for some +reason or other. The incoming passengers were passing us in a +steady stream, for a new station was then being built, and there +was only a temporary structure with one large exit. + +"Here is where the 'portrait parle' ought to come in, if ever," +commented Kennedy as he watched eagerly. + +And yet neither man nor woman passed us who fitted the +description. Train after train emptied its human freight, yet the +pale man with the concave nose and the peculiar ear, accompanied +perhaps by a lady, did not pass us. + +At last the incoming stream began to dwindle down. It was long +past the time when the counterfeiters should have arrived if they +had started on any reasonable train. + +"Perhaps they have gone up to Montreal, instead," I ventured. + +Kennedy shook his head. "No," he answered. "I have an idea that I +was mistaken about the money being kept at Riverwood. It would +have been too risky. I thought it out on the way back this +morning. They probably kept it in a safe deposit vault here. I had +figured that they would come down and get it and leave New York +after last night's events. We have failed--they have got by us. +Neither the 'portrait parle' nor the ordinary photography nor any +other system will suffice alone against the arch-criminal back of +this, I'm afraid. Walter, I am sore and disgusted. What I should +have done was to accept Burke's offer--surround the house with a +posse if necessary, last night, and catch the counterfeiters by +sheer force. I was too confident. I thought I could do it with +finesse, and I have failed. I'd give anything to know what safe +deposit vault they kept the fake money in." + +I said nothing as we strolled away, leaving Burke's man still to +watch, hoping against hope. Kennedy walked disconsolately through +the station, and I followed. In a secluded part of the waiting- +room he sat down, his face drawn up in a scowl such as I had never +seen. Plainly he was disgusted with himself--with only himself. +This was no bungling of Burke or any one else. Again the +counterfeiters had escaped from the hand of the law. + +As he moved his fingers restlessly in the pockets of his coat, he +absently pulled out the little pieces of sponge and the ether +bottle. He regarded them without much interest. + +"I know what they were for," he said, diving back into his pocket +for the other things and bringing out the sharp little knives in +their case. I said nothing, for Kennedy was in a deep study. At +last he put the things back into his pocket. As he did so his hand +encountered something which he drew forth with a puzzled air. It +was the piece of paraffin. + +"Now, what do you suppose that was for?" he asked, half to +himself. "I had forgotten that. What was the use of a piece of +paraffin? Phew, smell the antiseptic worked into it." + +"I don't know," I replied, rather testily. "If you would tell me +what the other things were for I might enlighten you, but--" + +"By George, Walter, what a chump I am!" cried Kennedy, leaping to +his feet, all energy again. "Why did I forget that lump of +paraffin? Why, of course--I think I can guess what they have been +doing--of course. Why, man alive, he walked right past us, and we +never knew it. Boy, boy," he shouted to a newsboy who passed, +"what's the latest sporting edition you have?" + +Eagerly he almost tore a paper open and scanned the sporting +pages. "Racing at Lexington begins to-morrow," he read. "Yes, I'll +bet that's it. We don't have to know the safe deposit vault, after +all. It would be too late, anyhow. Quick, let us look up the train +to Lexington." + +As we hurried over to the information booth, I gasped, in a whirl: +"Now, look here, Kennedy, what's all this lightning calculation? +What possible connection is there between a lump of paraffin and +one of the few places in the country where they still race +horses?" + +"None," he replied, not stopping an instant. "None. The paraffin +suggested to me the possible way in which our man managed to elude +us under our very eyes. That set my mind at work again. Like a +flash it occurred to me: Where would they be most likely to go +next to work off some of the bills? The banks are on, the +jewellery-houses are on, the gambling-joints are on. Why, to the +racetracks, of course. That's it. Counterfeiters all use the +bookmakers, only since racing has been killed in New York they +have had to resort to other means here. If New York has suddenly +become too hot, what more natural than to leave it? Here, let me +see--there's a train that gets there early to-morrow, the best +train, too. Say, is No. 144 made up yet?" he inquired at the +desk. + +"No. 144 will be ready in fifteen minutes. Track 8." + +Kennedy thanked the man, turned abruptly, and started for the +still closed gate at Track 8. + +"Beg pardon--why, hulloa--it's Burke," he exclaimed as we ran +plump into a man staring vacantly about. + +It was not the gentleman farmer of the night before, nor yet the +supposed college graduate. This man was a Western rancher; his +broad-brimmed hat, long moustache, frock coat, and flowing tie +proclaimed it. Yet there was something indefinably familiar about +him, too. It was Burke in another disguise. + +"Pretty good work, Kennedy," nodded Burke, shifting his tobacco +from one side of his jaws to the other. "Now, tell me how your man +escaped you this morning, when you can recognise me instantly in +this rig." + +"You haven't altered your features," explained Kennedy simply. +"Our pale-faced, snub-nosed peculiar-eared friend has. What do you +think of the possibility of his going to the Lexington track, now +that he finds it too dangerous to remain in New York?" + +Burke looked at Kennedy rather sharply. "Say, do you add telepathy +to your other accomplishments?" + +"No," laughed Craig, "but I'm glad to see that two of us working +independently have arrived at the same conclusion. Come, let us +saunter over to Track 8--I guess the train is made up." + +The gate was just opened, and the crowd filed through. No one who +seemed to satisfy either Burke or Kennedy appeared. The train- +announcer made his last call. Just then a taxicab pulled up at the +street-end of the platform, not far from Track 8. A man jumped out +and assisted a heavily veiled lady, paid the driver, picked up the +grips, and turned toward us. + +We waited expectantly. As he turned I saw a dark-skinned, hook- +nosed man, and I exclaimed disgustedly to Burke: "Well, if they +are going to Lexington they can't make this train. Those are the +last people who have a chance." + +Kennedy, however, continued to regard the couple steadily. The man +saw that he was being watched and faced us defiantly, "Such +impertinence!" Then to his wife, "Come, my dear, we'll just make +it." + +"I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to show us what's in that +grip," said Kennedy, calmly laying his hand on the man's arm. + +"Well, now, did you ever hear of such blasted impudence? Get out +of my way, sir, this instant, or I'll have you arrested." + +"Come, come, Kennedy," interrupted Burke. "Surely you are getting +in wrong here. This can't be the man." + +Craig shook his head decidedly. "You can make the arrest or not, +Burke, as you choose. If not, I am through. If so--I'll take all +the responsibility." + +Reluctantly Burke yielded. The man protested; the woman cried; a +crowd collected. + +The train-gate shut with a bang. As it did so the man's demeanour +changed instantly. "There," he shouted angrily, "you have made us +miss our train. I'll have you in jail for this. Come on now to the +nearest magistrate's court. I'll have my rights as an American +citizen. You have carried your little joke too far. Knight is my +name--John Knight, of Omaha, pork-packer. Come on now. I'll see +that somebody suffers for this if I have to stay in New York a +year. It's an outrage--an outrage." + +Burke was now apparently alarmed--more at the possibility of the +humorous publicity that would follow such a mistake by the secret +service than at anything else. However, Kennedy did not weaken, +and on general principles I stuck to Kennedy. + +"Now," said the man surlily while he placed "Mrs. Knight" in as +easy a chair as he could find in the judge's chambers, "what is +the occasion of all this row? Tell the judge what a bad man from +Bloody Gulch I am." + +O'Connor had arrived, having broken all speed laws and perhaps +some records on the way up from headquarters. Kennedy laid the +Scotland Yard finger-prints on the table. Beside them he placed +those taken by O'Connor and Burke in New York. + +"Here," he began, "we have the finger-prints of a man who was one +of the most noted counterfeiters in Great Britain. Beside them are +those of a man who succeeded in passing counterfeits of several +kinds recently in New York. Some weeks later this third set of +prints was taken from a man who was believed to be the same +person." + +The magistrate was examining the three sets of prints. As he came +to the third, he raised his head as if about to make a remark, +when Kennedy quickly interrupted. + +"One moment, sir. You were about to say that finger-prints never +change, never show such variations as these. That is true. There +are fingerprints of people taken fifty years ago that are exactly +the same as their finger-prints of to-day. They don't change--they +are permanent. The fingerprints of mummies can be deciphered even +after thousands of years. But," he added slowly, "you can change +fingers." + +The idea was so startling that I could scarcely realise what he +meant at first. I had read of the wonderful work of the surgeons +of the Rockefeller Institute in transplanting tissues and even +whole organs, in grafting skin and in keeping muscles artificially +alive for days under proper conditions. Could it be that a man had +deliberately amputated his fingers and grafted on new ones? Was +the stake sufficient for such a game? Surely there must be some +scars left after such grafting. I picked up the various sets of +prints. It was true that the third set was not very clear, but +there certainly were no scars there. + +"Though there is no natural changeability of finger-prints," +pursued Kennedy, "such changes can be induced, as Dr. Paul Prager +of Vienna has shown, by acids and other reagents, by grafting and +by injuries. Now, is there any method by which lost finger-tips +can be restored? I know of one case where the end of a finger was +taken off and only one-sixteenth inch of the nail was left. The +doctor incised the edges of the granulating surface and then led +the granulations on by what is known in the medical profession as +the 'sponge graft.' He grew a new finger-tip. + +"The sponge graft consists in using portions of a fine Turkish +surgical sponge, such I have here. I found these pieces in a desk +at Riverwood. The patient is anaesthetised. An incision is made +from side to side in the stump of the finger and flaps of skin are +sliced off and turned up for the new end of the finger to develop +in--a sort of shell of living skin. Inside this, the sponge is +placed, not a large piece, but a very thin piece sliced off and +cut to the shape of the finger-stump. It is perfectly sterilised +in water and washed in green soap after all the stony particles +are removed by hydrochloric acid. Then the finger is bound up and +kept moist with normal salt solution. + +"The result is that the end of the finger, instead of healing +over, grows into the fine meshes of the pieces of sponge, by +capillary attraction. Of course even this would heal in a few +days, but the doctor does not let it heal. In three days he pulls +the sponge off gently. The end of the finger has grown up just a +fraction of an inch. Then a new thin layer of sponge is added. Day +after day this process is repeated, each time the finger growing a +little more. A new nail develops if any of the matrix is left, and +I suppose a clever surgeon by grafting up pieces of epidermis +could produce on such a stump very passable finger-prints." + +No one of us said anything, but Kennedy seemed to realise the +thought in our minds and proceeded to elaborate the method. + +"It is known as the 'education sponge method,' and was first +described by Dr. D. J. Hamilton, of Edinburgh, in 1881. It has +frequently been used in America since then. The sponge really acts +in a mechanical manner to support the new finger-tissue that is +developed. The meshes are filled in by growing tissue, and as it +grows the tissue absorbs part of the sponge, which is itself an +animal tissue and acts like catgut. Part of it is also thrown off. +In fact, the sponge imitates what happens naturally in the porous +network of a regular blood-clot. It educates the tissue to grow, +stimulates it--new blood-vessels and nerves as well as flesh. + +"In another case I know of, almost the whole of the first joint of +a finger was crushed off, and the doctor was asked to amputate the +stump of bone that protruded. Instead, he decided to educate the +tissue to grow out to cover it and appear like a normal finger. In +these cases the doctors succeeded admirably in giving the patients +entire new finger-tips, without scars, and, except for the initial +injury and operation, with comparatively little inconvenience +except that absolute rest of the hands was required. + +"That is what happened, gentlemen," concluded Kennedy. "That is +why Mr. Forbes, alias Williams, made a trip to Philadelphia to be +treated--for crushed finger-tips, not for the kick of an +automobile engine. He may have paid the doctors in counterfeits. +In reality this man was playing a game in which there was indeed a +heavy stake at issue. He was a counterfeiter sought by two +governments with the net closing about him. What are the tips of a +few fingers compared with life, liberty, wealth, and a beautiful +woman? The first two sets of prints are different from the third +because they are made by different finger-tips--on the same man. +The very core of the prints was changed. But the finger-print +system is vindicated by the very ingenuity of the man who so +cleverly has contrived to beat it." + +"Very interesting--to one who is interested," remarked the +stranger, "but what has that to do with detaining my wife and +myself, making us miss our train, and insulting us?" + +"Just this," replied Craig. "If you will kindly oblige us by +laying your fingers on this inking-pad and then lightly on this +sheet of paper, I think I can show you an answer." + +Knight demurred, and his wife grew hysterical at the idea, but +there was nothing, to do but comply. Kennedy glanced at the fourth +set of prints, then at the third set taken a week ago, and smiled. +No one said a word. Knight or Williams, which was it? He +nonchalantly lit a cigarette. + +"So you say I am this Williams, the counterfeiter?" he asked +superciliously. + +"I do," reiterated Kennedy. "You are also Forbes." + +"I don't suppose Scotland Yard has neglected to furnish you with +photographs and a description of this Forbes?" + +Burke reluctantly pulled out a Bertillon card from his pocket and +laid it on the table. It bore the front face and profile of the +famous counterfeiter, as well as his measurements. + +The man picked it up as if indeed it was a curious thing. His +coolness nearly convinced me. Surely he should have hesitated in +actually demanding this last piece of evidence. I had heard, +however, that the Bertillon system of measurements often depended +on the personal equation of the measurer as well as on the +measured. Was he relying on that, or on his difference in +features? + +I looked over Kennedy's shoulder at the card on the table. There +was the concave nose of the "portrait parle" of Forbes, as it had +first been described to us. Without looking further I +involuntarily glanced at the man, although I had no need to do so. +I knew that his nose was the exact opposite of that of Forbes. + +"Ingenious at argument as you are," he remarked quietly, "you will +hardly deny that Knight, of Omaha, is the exact opposite of +Forbes, of London. My nose is almost Jewish--my complexion is dark +as an Arab's. Still, I suppose I am the sallow, snub-nosed Forbes +described here, inasmuch as I have stolen Forbes's fingers and +lost them again by a most preposterous method." + +"The colour of the face is easily altered," said Kennedy. "A +little picric acid will do that. The ingenious rogue Sarcey in +Paris eluded the police very successfully until Dr. Charcot +exposed him and showed how he changed the arch of his eyebrows and +the wrinkles of his face. Much is possible to-day that would make +Frankenstein and Dr. Moreau look clumsy and antiquated." + +A sharp feminine voice interrupted. It was the woman, who had kept +silent up to this time. "But I have read in one of the papers this +morning that a Mr. Williams was found dead in an automobile +accident up the Hudson yesterday. I remember reading it, because I +am afraid of accidents myself." + +All eyes were now fixed on Kennedy. "That body," he answered +quickly, "was a body purchased by you at a medical school, brought +in your car to Riverwood, dressed in Williams's clothes with a +watch that would show he was Forbes, placed on the track in front +of the auto, while you two watched the Buffalo express run it +down, and screamed. It was a clever scheme that you concocted, but +these facts do not agree." + +He laid the measurements of the corpse obtained by Burke and those +from the London police card side by side. Only in the roughest way +did they approximate each other. + +"Your honour, I appeal to your sense of justice," cried our +prisoner impatiently. "Hasn't this farce been allowed to go far +enough? Is there any reason why this fake detective should make +fools out of us all and keep my wife longer in this court? I'm not +disposed to let the matter drop. I wish to enter a charge against +him of false arrest and malicious prosecution. I shall turn the +whole thing over to my attorney this afternoon. The deuce with the +races--I'll have justice." + +The man had by this time raised himself to a high pitch of +apparently righteous wrath. He advanced menacingly toward Kennedy, +who stood with his shoulders thrown back, and his hands deep in +his pockets, and a half amused look on his face. + +"As for you, Mr. Detective," added the man, "for eleven cents I'd +lick you to within an inch of your life. 'Portrait parle,' indeed! +It's a fine scientific system that has to deny its own main +principles in order to vindicate itself. Bah! Take that, you +scoundrel!" + +Harriet Wollstone threw her arms about him, but he broke away. His +fist shot out straight. Kennedy was too quick for him, however. I +had seen Craig do it dozens of times with the best boxers in the +"gym." He simply jerked his head to one side, and the blow passed +just a fraction of an inch from his jaw, but passed it as cleanly +as if it had been a yard away. + +The man lost his balance, and as he fell forward and caught +himself, Kennedy calmly and deliberately slapped him on the nose. + +It was an intensely serious instant, yet I actually laughed. The +man's nose was quite out of joint, even from such a slight blow. +It was twisted over on his face in the most ludicrous position +imaginable. + +"The next time you try that, Forbes," remarked Kennedy, as he +pulled the piece of paraffin from his pocket and laid it on the +table with the other exhibits, "don't forget that a concave nose +built out to hook-nose convexity by injections of paraffin, such +as the beauty-doctors everywhere advertise, is a poor thing for a +White Hope." + +Both Burke and O'Connor had seized Forbes, but Kennedy had turned +his attention to the larger of Forbes's grips, which the Wollstone +woman vociferously claimed as her own. Quickly he wrenched it +open. + +As he turned it up on the table my eyes fairly bulged at the +sight. Forbes' suit-case might have been that of a travelling +salesman for the Kimberley, the Klondike, and the Bureau of +Engraving, all in one. Craig dumped the wealth out on the table-- +stacks of genuine bills, gold coins of two realms, diamonds, +pearls, everything portable and tangible all heaped up and topped +off with piles of counterfeits awaiting the magic touch of this +Midas to turn them into real gold. + +"Forbes, you have failed in your get-away," said Craig +triumphantly. "Gentlemen, you have here a master counterfeiter, +surely--a master counterfeiter of features and fingers as well as +of currency." + + + + +VI + +THE SAND-HOG + + +"Interesting story, this fight between the Five-Borough and the +Inter-River Transit," I remarked to Kennedy as I sketched out the +draft of an expose of high finance for the Sunday Star. + +"Then that will interest you, also," said he, throwing a letter +down on my desk. He had just come in and was looking over his +mail. + +The letterhead bore the name of the Five-Borough Company. It was +from Jack Orton, one of our intimates at college, who was in +charge of the construction of a new tunnel under the river. It was +brief, as Jack's letters always were. "I have a case here at the +tunnel that I am sure will appeal to you, my own case, too," it +read. "You can go as far as you like with it, but get to the +bottom of the thing, no matter whom it hits. There is some +deviltry afoot, and apparently no one is safe. Don't say a word to +anybody about it, but drop over to see me as soon as you possibly +can." + +"Yes," I agreed, "that does interest me. When are you going over?" + +"Now," replied Kennedy, who had not taken off his hat. "Can you +come along?" + +As we sped across the city in a taxicab, Craig remarked: "I wonder +what is the trouble? Did you see in the society news this morning +the announcement of Jack's engagement to Vivian Taylor, the +daughter of the president of the Five-Borough?" + +I had seen it, but could not connect it with the trouble, whatever +it was, at the tunnel, though I did try to connect the tunnel +mystery with my expose. + +We pulled up at the construction works, and a strapping Irishman +met us. "Is this Professor Kennedy?" he asked of Craig. + +"It is. Where is Mr. Orton's office?" + +"I'm afraid, sir, it will be a long time before Mr. Orton is in +his office again, sir. The doctor have just took him out of the +medical lock, an' he said if you was to come before they took him +to the 'orspital I was to bring you right up to the lock." + +"Good heavens, man, what has happened?" exclaimed Kennedy. "Take +us up to him quick." + +Without waiting to answer, the Irishman led the way up and across +a rough board platform until at last we came to what looked like a +huge steel cylinder, lying horizontally, in which was a floor with +a cot and some strange paraphernalia. On the cot lay Jack Orton, +drawn and contorted, so changed that even his own mother would +scarcely have recognised him. A doctor was bending over him, +massaging the joints of his legs and his side. + +"Thank you, Doctor, I feel a little better," he groaned. "No, I +don't want to go back into the lock again, not unless the pain +gets worse." + +His eyes were closed, but hearing us he opened them and nodded. + +"Yes, Craig," he murmured with difficulty, "this is Jack Orton. +What do you think of me? I'm a pretty sight. How are you? And how +are you, Walter? Not too vigorous with the hand-shakes, fellows. +Sorry you couldn't get over before this happened." + +"What's the matter?" we asked, glancing blankly from Orton to the +doctor. + +Orton forced a half smile. "Just a touch of the 'bends' from +working in compressed air," he explained. + +We looked at him, but could say nothing. I, at least, was thinking +of his engagement. + +"Yes," he added bitterly, "I know what you are thinking about, +fellows. Look at me! Do you think such a wreck as I am now has any +right to be engaged to the dearest girl in the world?" + +"Mr. Orton," interposed the doctor, "I think you'll feel better if +you'll keep quiet. You can see your friends in the hospital to- +night, but for a few hours I think you had better rest. Gentlemen, +if you will be so good as to postpone your conversation with Mr. +Orton until later it would be much better." + +"Then I'll see you to-night," said Orton to us feebly. Turning to +a tall, spare, wiry chap, of just the build for tunnel work, where +fat is fatal, he added: "This is Mr. Capps, my first assistant. He +will show you the way down to the street again." + +"Confound it!" exclaimed Craig, after we had left Capps. "What do +you think of this? Even before we can get to him something has +happened. The plot thickens before we are well into it. I think +I'll not take a cab, or a car either. How are you for a walk until +we can see Orton again?" + +I could see that Craig was very much affected by the sudden +accident that had happened to our friend, so I fell into his mood, +and we walked block after block scarcely exchanging a word. His +only remark, I recall, was, "Walter, I can't think it was an +accident, coming so close after that letter." As for me, I +scarcely knew what to think. + +At last our walk brought us around to the private hospital where +Orton was. As we were about to enter, a very handsome girl was +leaving. Evidently she had been visiting some one of whom she +thought a great deal. Her long fur coat was flying carelessly, +unfastened in the cold night air; her features were pale, and her +eyes had the fixed look of one who saw nothing but grief. + +"It's terrible, Miss Taylor," I heard the man with her say +soothingly, "and you must know that I sympathise with you a great +deal." + +Looking up quickly, I caught sight of Capps and bowed. He returned +our bows and handed her gently into an automobile that was +waiting. + +"He might at least have introduced us," muttered Kennedy, as we +went on into the hospital. + +Orton was lying in bed, white and worn, propped up by pillows +which the nurse kept arranging and rearranging to ease his pain. +The Irishman whom we had seen at the tunnel was standing +deferentially near the foot of the bed. + +"Quite a number of visitors, nurse, for a new patient," said +Orton, as he welcomed us. "First Capps and Paddy from the tunnel, +then Vivian"--he was fingering some beautiful roses in a vase on a +table near him--"and now, you fellows. I sent her home with Capps. +She oughtn't to be out alone at this hour, and Capps is a good +fellow. She's known him a long time. No, Paddy, put down your hat. +I want you to stay. Paddy, by the way, fellows, is my right-hand +man in managing the 'sandhogs' as we call the tunnel-workers. He +has been a sand-hog on every tunnel job about the city since the +first successful tunnel was completed. His real name is Flanagan, +but we all know him best as Paddy." + +Paddy nodded. "If I ever get over this and back to the tunnel," +Orton went on, "Paddy will stick to me, and we will show Taylor, +my prospective father-in-law and the president of the railroad +company from which I took this contract, that I am not to blame +for all the troubles we are having on the tunnel. Heaven knows +that--" + +"Oh, Mr. Orton, you ain't so bad," put in Paddy without the +faintest touch of undue familiarity. "Look what I was when ye come +to see me when I had the bends, sir." + +"You old rascal," returned Orton, brightening up. "Craig, do you +know how I found him? Crawling over the floor to the sink to pour +the doctor's medicine down." + +"Think I'd take that medicine," explained Paddy, hastily. "Not +much. Don't I know that the only cure for the bends is bein' put +back in the 'air' in the medical lock, same as they did with you, +and bein' brought out slowly? That's the cure, that, an' grit, an' +patience, an' time. Mark me wurds, gintlemen, he'll finish that +tunnel an' beggin' yer pardon, Mr. Orton, marry that gurl, too. +Didn't I see her with tears in her eyes right in this room when he +wasn't lookin', and a smile when he was? Sure, ye'll be all +right," continued Paddy, slapping his side and thigh. "We all get +the bends more or less--all us sand-hogs. I was that doubled up +meself that I felt like a big jack-knife. Had it in the arm, the +side, and the leg all at once, that time he was just speakin' of. +He'll be all right in a couple more weeks, sure, an' down in the +air again, too, with the rest of his men. It's somethin' else he +has on his moind." + +"Then the case has nothing to do with your trouble, nothing to do +with the bends?" asked Kennedy, keenly showing his anxiety to help +our old friend. + +"Well, it may and it may not," replied Orton thoughtfully. "I +begin to think it has. We have had a great many cases of the bends +among the men, and lots of the poor fellows have died, too. You +know, of course, how the newspapers are roasting us. We are being +called inhuman; they are going to investigate us; perhaps indict +me. Oh, it's an awful mess; and now some one is trying to make +Taylor believe it is my fault. + +"Of course," he continued, "we are working under a high air- +pressure just now, some days as high as forty pounds. You see, we +have struck the very worst part of the job, a stretch of quicksand +in the river-bed, and if we can get through this we'll strike +pebbles and rock pretty soon, and then we'll be all right again." + +He paused. Paddy quietly put in: "Beggin' yer pardon again, Mr. +Orton, but we had intirely too many cases of the bends even when +we were wurkin' at low pressure, in the rock, before we sthruck +this sand. There's somethin' wrong, sir, or ye wouldn't be here +yerself like this. The bends don't sthrike the ingineers, them as +don't do the hard work, sir, and is careful, as ye know--not +often." + +"It's this way, Craig," resumed Orton. "When I took this contract +for the Five-Borough Transit Company, they agreed to pay me +liberally for it, with a big bonus if I finished ahead of time, +and a big penalty if I exceeded the time. You may or may not know +it, but there is some doubt about the validity of their franchise +after a certain date, provided the tunnel is not ready for +operation. Well, to make a long story short, you know there are +rival companies that would like to see the work fail and the +franchise revert to the city, or at least get tied up in the +courts. I took it with the understanding that it was every man for +himself and the devil take the hindmost." + +"Have you yourself seen any evidences of rival influences +hindering the work?" asked Kennedy. + +Orton carefully weighed his reply. "To begin with," he answered at +length, "while I was pushing the construction end, the Five- +Borough was working with the state legislature to get a bill +extending the time-limit of the franchise another year. Of course, +if it had gone through it would have been fine for us. But some +unseen influence blocked the company at every turn. It was subtle; +it never came into the open. They played on public opinion as only +demagogues of high finance can, very plausibly of course, but from +the most selfish and ulterior motives. The bill was defeated." + +I nodded. I knew all about that part of it, for it was in the +article which I had been writing for the Star. + +"But I had not counted on the extra year, anyhow," continued +Orton, "so I wasn't disappointed. My plans were laid for the +shorter time from the start. I built an island in the river so +that we could work from each shore to it, as well as from the +island to each shore, really from four points at once. And then, +when everything was going ahead fine, and we were actually +doubling the speed in this way, these confounded accidents"--he +was leaning excitedly forward--"and lawsuits and delays and deaths +began to happen." + +Orton sank back as a paroxysm of the bends seized him, following +his excitement. + +"I should like very much to go down into the tunnel," said Kennedy +simply. + +"No sooner said than done," replied Orton, almost cheerfully, at +seeing Kennedy so interested. + +"We can arrange that easily. Paddy will be glad to do the honours +of the place in my absence." + +"Indade I will do that same, sor," responded the faithful Paddy, +"an' it's a shmall return for all ye've done for me." + +"Very well, then," agreed Kennedy. "Tomorrow morning we shall be +on hand. Jack, depend on us. We will do our level best to get you +out of this scrape." + +"I knew you would, Craig," he replied. "I've read of some of your +and Walter's exploits. You're a pair of bricks, you are. Good-bye, +fellows," and his hands mechanically sought the vase of flowers +which reminded him of their giver. + +At home we sat for a long time in silence. "By George, Craig," I +exclaimed at length, my mind reverting through the whirl of events +to the glimpse of pain I had caught on the delicate face of the +girl leaving the hospital, "Vivian Taylor is a beauty, though, +isn't she?" + +"And Capps thinks so, too," he returned, sinking again into his +shell of silence. Then he suddenly rose and put on his hat and +coat. I could see the old restless fever for work which came into +his eyes whenever he had a case which interested him more than +usual. I knew there would be no rest for Kennedy until he had +finished it. Moreover, I knew it was useless for me to remonstrate +with him, so I kept silent. + +"Don't wait up for me," he said. "I don't know when I'll be back. +I'm going to the laboratory and the university library. Be ready +early in the morning to help me delve into this tunnel mystery." + +I awoke to find Kennedy dozing in a chair, partly dressed, but +just as fresh as I was after my sleep. I think he had been +dreaming out his course of action. At any rate, breakfast was a +mere incident m his scheme, and we were over at the tunnel works +when the night shift were going off. + +Kennedy carried with him a moderate-sized box of the contents of +which he seemed very careful. Paddy was waiting for us, and after +a hasty whispered conversation, Craig stowed the box away behind +the switchboard of the telephone central, after attaching it to +the various wires. Paddy stood guard while this was going on so +that no one would know about it, not even the telephone girl, whom +he sent off on an errand. + +Our first inspection was of that part of the works which was above +ground. Paddy, who conducted us, introduced us first to the +engineer in charge of this part of the work, a man named Shelton, +who had knocked about the world a great deal, but had acquired a +taciturnity that was Sphinx-like. If it had not been for Paddy, I +fear we should have seen very little, for Shelton was not only +secretive, but his explanations were such that even the editor of +a technical journal would have had to blue pencil them +considerably. However, we gained a pretty good idea of the tunnel +works above ground--at least Kennedy did. He seemed very much +interested in how the air was conveyed below ground, the tank for +storing compressed air for emergencies, and other features. It +quite won Paddy, although Shelton seemed to resent his interest +even more than he despised my ignorance. + +Next Paddy conducted us to the dressing-rooms. There we put on old +clothes and oilskins, and the tunnel doctor examined us and +extracted a written statement that we went down at our own risk +and released the company from all liability--much to the disgust +of Paddy. + +"We're ready now, Mr. Capps," called Paddy, opening an office door +on the way out. + +"Very well, Flanagan," answered Capps, barely nodding to us. We +heard him telephone some one, but could not catch the message, and +in a minute he joined us. By this time I had formed the opinion, +which I have since found to be correct, that tunnel men are not as +a rule loquacious. + +It was a new kind of thrill to me to go under the "air," as the +men called it. With an instinctive last look at the skyline of New +York and the waves playing in the glad sunlight, we entered a rude +construction elevator and dropped from the surface to the bottom +of a deep shaft. It was like going down into a mine. There was the +air-lock, studded with bolts, and looking just like a huge boiler, +turned horizontally. + +The heavy iron door swung shut with a bang as Paddy and Capps, +followed by Kennedy and myself, crept into the air-lock. Paddy +turned on a valve, and compressed air from the tunnel began to +rush in with a hiss as of escaping steam. Pound after pound to the +square inch the pressure slowly rose until I felt sure the drums +of my ears would burst. Then the hissing noise began to dwindle +down to a wheeze, and then it stopped all of a sudden. That meant +that the air-pressure in the lock was the same as that in the +tunnel. Paddy pushed open the door in the other end of the lock +from that by which we had entered. + +Along the bottom of the completed tube we followed Paddy and +Capps. On we trudged, fanned by the moist breath of the tunnel. +Every few feet an incandescent light gleamed in the misty +darkness. After perhaps a hundred paces we had to duck down under +a semicircular partition covering the upper half of the tube. + +"What is that?" I shouted at Paddy, the nasal ring of my own voice +startling me. + +"Emergency curtain," he shouted back. + +Words were economised. Later, I learned that should the tunnel +start to flood, the other half of the emergency curtain could be +dropped so as to cut off the inrushing water. + +Men passed, pushing little cars full of "muck" or sand taken out +from before the "shield"--which is the head by which this +mechanical mole advances under the river-bed. These men and others +who do the shovelling are the "muckers." + +Pipes laid along the side of the tunnel conducted compressed air +and fresh water, while electric light and telephone wires were +strung all about. These and the tools and other things strewn +along the tunnel obstructed the narrow passage to such an extent +that we had to be careful in picking our way. + +At last we reached the shield, and on hands and knees we crawled +out into one of its compartments. Here we experienced for the +first time the weird realisation that only the "air" stood between +us and destruction from the tons and tons of sand and water +overhead. At some points in the sand we could feel the air +escaping, which appeared at the surface of the river overhead in +bubbles, indicating to those passing in the river boats just how +far each tunnel heading below had proceeded. When the loss of air +became too great, I learned, scows would dump hundreds of tons of +clay overhead to make an artificial river bed for the shield to +stick its nose safely through, for if the river bed became too +thin overhead the "air" would blow a hole in it. + +Capps, it seemed to me, was unusually anxious to have the visit +over. At any rate, while Kennedy and Paddy were still crawling +about the shield, he stood aside, now and then giving the men an +order and apparently forgetful of us. + +My own curiosity was quickly satisfied, and I sat down on a pile +of the segments out of which the successive rings of the tunnel +were made. As I sat there waiting for Kennedy, I absently reached +into my pocket and pulled out a cigarette and lighted it. It +burned amazingly fast, as if it were made of tinder, the reason +being the excess of oxygen in the compressed air. I was looking at +it in astonishment, when suddenly I felt a blow on my hand. It was +Capps. + +"You chump!" he shouted as he ground the cigarette under his boot. +"Don't you know it is dangerous to smoke in compressed air?" + +"Why, no," I replied, smothering my anger at his manner. "No one +said anything about it." + +"Well, it is dangerous, and Orton's a fool to let greenhorns come +in here." + +"And to whom may it be dangerous?" I heard a voice inquire over my +shoulder. It was Kennedy. "To Mr. Jameson or the rest of us?" + +"Well," answered Capps, "I supposed everybody knew it was +reckless, and that he would hurt himself more by one smoke in the +air than by a hundred up above. That's all." + +He turned on Kennedy sullenly, and started to walk back up the +tunnel. But I could not help thinking that his manner was anything +but solicitude for my own health. I could just barely catch his +words over the tunnel telephone some feet away. I thought he said +that everything was going along all right and that he was about to +start back again. Then he disappeared in the mist of the tube +without even nodding a farewell. + +Kennedy and I remained standing, not far from the outlet of the +pipe by which the compressed air was being supplied in the tunnel +from the compressors above, in order to keep the pressure up to +the constant level necessary. I saw Kennedy give a hurried glance +about, as if to note whether any one were looking at us. No one +was. With a quick motion he reached down. In his hand was a stout +little glass flask with a tight-fitting metal top. For a second he +held it near the outlet of the pipe; then he snapped the top shut +and slipped it back into his pocket as quickly as he had produced +it. + +Slowly we commenced to retrace our steps to the air-lock, our +curiosity satisfied by this glimpse of one of the most remarkable +developments of modern engineering. + +"Where's Paddy?" asked Kennedy, stopping suddenly. "We've +forgotten him." + +"Back there at the shield, I suppose," said I. "Let's whistle and +attract his attention." + +I pursed up my lips, but if I had been whistling for a million +dollars I couldn't have done it. + +Craig laughed. "Walter, you are indeed learning many strange +things. You can't whistle in compressed air." + +I was too chagrined to answer. First it was Capps; now it was my +own friend Kennedy chaffing me for my ignorance. I was glad to see +Paddy's huge form looming in the semi-darkness. He had seen that +we were gone and hurried after us. + +"Won't ye stay down an' see some more, gintlemen?" he asked. "Or +have ye had enough of the air? It seems very smelly to me this +mornin'--I don't blame ye. I guess them as doesn't have to stay +here is satisfied with a few minutes of it." + +"No, thanks, I guess we needn't stay down any longer," replied +Craig. "I think I have seen all that is necessary--at least for +the present. Capps has gone out ahead of us. I think you can take +us out now, Paddy. I would much rather have you do it than to go +with anybody else." + +Coming out, I found, was really more dangerous than going in, for +it is while coming out of the "air" that men are liable to get the +bends. Roughly, half a minute should be consumed in coming out +from each pound of pressure, though for such high pressures as we +had been under, considerably more time was required in order to do +it safely. We spent about half an hour in the air-lock, I should +judge. + +Paddy let the air out of the lock by turning on a valve leading to +the outside, normal atmosphere. Thus he let the air out rapidly at +first until we had got down to half the pressure of the tunnel. +The second half he did slowly, and it was indeed tedious, but it +was safe. There was at first a hissing sound when he opened the +valve, and it grew colder in the lock, since air absorbs heat from +surrounding objects when it expands. We were glad to draw sweaters +on over our heads. It also grew as misty as a London fog as the +water-vapour in the air was condensed. + +At last the hiss of escaping air ceased. The door to the modern +dungeon of science grated open. We walked out of the lock to the +elevator shaft and were hoisted up to God's air again. We gazed +out across the river with its waves dancing in the sunlight. +There, out in the middle, was a wreath of bubbles on the water. +That marked the end of the tunnel, over the shield. Down beneath +those bubbles the sand-hogs were rooting. But what was the mystery +that the tunnel held in its dark, dank bosom? Had Kennedy a clue? + +"I think we had better wait around a bit," remarked Kennedy, as we +sipped our hot coffee in the dressing-room and warmed ourselves +from the chill of coming out of the lock. "In case anything should +happen to us and we should get the bends, this is the place for +us, near the medical lock, as it is called--that big steel +cylinder over there, where we found Orton. The best cure for the +bends is to go back under the air--recompression they call it. The +renewed pressure causes the gas in the blood to contract again, +and thus it is eliminated--sometimes. At any rate, it is the best- +known cure and considerably reduces the pain in the worst cases. +When you have a bad case like Orton's it means that the damage is +done; the gas has ruptured some veins. Paddy was right. Only time +will cure that." + +Nothing happened to us, however, and in a couple of hours we +dropped in on Orton at the hospital where he was slowly +convalescing. + +"What do you think of the case?" he asked anxiously. + +"Nothing as yet," replied Craig, "but I have set certain things in +motion which will give us a pretty good line on what is taking +place in a day or so." + +Orton's face fell, but he said nothing. He bit his lip nervously +and looked out of the sun-parlour at the roofs of New York around +him. + +"What has happened since last night to increase your anxiety, +Jack?" asked Craig sympathetically. + +Orton wheeled his chair about slowly, faced us, and drew a letter +from his pocket. Laying it flat on the table he covered the lower +part with the envelope. + +"Read that," he said. + +"Dear Jack," it began. I saw at once that it was from Miss Taylor. +"Just a line," she wrote, "to let you know that I am thinking +about you always and hoping that you are better than when I saw +you this evening. Papa had the chairman of the board of directors +of the Five-Borough here late to-night, and they were in the +library for over an hour. For your sake, Jack, I played the +eavesdropper, but they talked so low that I could hear nothing, +though I know they were talking about you and the tunnel. When +they came out, I had no time to escape, so I slipped behind a +portiere. I heard father say: 'Yes, I guess you are right, Morris. +The thing has gone on long enough. If there is one more big +accident we shall have to compromise with the Inter-River and +carry on the work jointly. We have given Orton his chance, and if +they demand that this other fellow shall be put in, I suppose we +shall have to concede it.' Mr. Morris seemed pleased that father +agreed with him and said so. Oh, Jack, can't you DO something to +show them they are wrong, and do it quickly? I never miss an +opportunity of telling papa it is not your fault that all these +delays take place." + +The rest of the letter was covered by the envelope, and Orton +would not have shown it for worlds. + +"Orton," said Kennedy, after a few moments' reflection, "I will +take a chance for your sake--a long chance, but I think a good +one. If you can pull yourself together by this afternoon, be over +at your office at four. Be sure to have Shelton and Capps there, +and you can tell Mr. Taylor that you have something very important +to set before him. Now, I must hurry if I am to fulfil my part of +the contract. Good-bye, Jack. Keep a stiff upper lip, old man. +I'll have something that will surprise you this afternoon." + +Outside, as he hurried uptown, Craig was silent, but I could see +his features working nervously, and as we parted he merely said: +"Of course, you'll be there, Walter. I'll put the finishing +touches on your story of high finance." + +Slowly enough the few hours passed before I found myself again in +Orton's office. He was there already, despite the orders of his +physician, who was disgusted at this excursion from the hospital. +Kennedy was there, too, grim and silent. We sat watching the two +indicators beside Orton's desk, which showed the air pressure in +the two tubes. The needles were vibrating ever so little and +tracing a red-ink line on the ruled paper that unwound from the +drum. From the moment the tunnels were started, here was preserved +a faithful record of every slightest variation of air pressure. + +"Telephone down into the tube and have Capps come up," said Craig +at length, glancing at Orton's desk clock. "Taylor will be here +pretty soon, and I want Capps to be out of the tunnel by the time +he comes. Then get Shelton, too." + +In response to Orton's summons Capps and Shelton came into the +office, just as a large town car pulled up outside the tunnel +works. A tall, distinguished-looking man stepped out and turned +again toward the door of the car. + +"There's Taylor," I remarked, for I had seen him often at +investigations before the Public Service Commission. + +"And Vivian, too," exclaimed Orton excitedly. "Say, fellows, clear +off these desks. Quick, before she gets up here. In the closet +with these blueprints, Walter. There, that's a little better. If I +had known she was coming I would at least have had the place swept +out. Puff! look at the dust on this desk of mine. Well, there's no +help for it. There they are at the door now. Why, ivian, what a +surprise." + +"Jack!" she exclaimed, almost ignoring the rest of us and quickly +crossing to his chair to lay a restraining hand on his shoulder as +he vainly tried to stand up to welcome her. + +"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" he asked eagerly. "I +would have had the place fixed up a bit." + +"I prefer it this way," she said, looking curiously around at the +samples of tunnel paraphernalia and the charts and diagrams on the +walls. + +"Yes, Orton," said President Taylor, "she would come--dropped in +at the office and when I tried to excuse myself for a business +appointment, demanded which way I was going. When I said I was +coming here, she insisted on coming, too." + +Orton smiled. He knew that she had taken this simple and direct +means of being there, but he said nothing, and merely introduced +us to the president and Miss Taylor. + +An awkward silence followed. Orton cleared his throat. "I think +you all know why we are here," he began. "We have been and are +having altogether too many accidents in the tunnel, too many cases +of the bends, too many deaths, too many delays to the work. Well-- +er--I--er--Mr. Kennedy has something to say about them, I +believe." + +No sound was heard save the vibration of the air-compressors and +an occasional shout of a workman at the shaft leading down to the +air-locks. + +"There is no need for me to say anything about caisson disease to +you, gentlemen, or to you, Miss Taylor," began Kennedy. "I think +you all know how it is caused and a good deal about it already. +But, to be perfectly clear, I will say that there are five things +that must, above all others, be looked after in tunnel work: the +air pressure, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, the length +of the shifts which the men work, the state of health of the men +as near as physical examination can determine it, and the rapidity +with which the men come out of the 'air,' so as to prevent +carelessness which may cause the bends. + +"I find," he continued, "that the air pressure is not too high for +safety. Proper examinations for carbon dioxide are made, and the +amount in the air is not excessive. The shifts are not even as +long as those prescribed by the law. The medical inspection is +quite adequate and as for the time taken in coming out through the +locks the rules are stringent." + +A look of relief crossed the face of Orton at this commendation of +his work, followed by a puzzled expression that plainly indicated +that he would like to know what was the matter, if all the crucial +things were all right. + +"But," resumed Kennedy, "the bends are still hitting the men, and +there is no telling when a fire or a blow-out may occur in any of +the eight headings that are now being pushed under the river. +Quite often the work has been delayed and the tunnel partly or +wholly flooded. Now, you know the theory of the bends. It is that +air--mostly the nitrogen in the air--is absorbed by the blood +under the pressure. In coming out of the 'air' if the nitrogen is +not all eliminated, it stays in the blood and, as the pressure is +reduced, it expands. It is just as if you take a bottle of charged +water and pull the cork suddenly. The gas rises in big bubbles. +Cork it again and the gas bubbles cease to rise and finally +disappear. If you make a pin-hole in the cork the gas will escape +slowly, without a bubble. You must decompress the human body +slowly, by stages, to let the super-saturated blood give up its +nitrogen to the lungs, which can eliminate it. Otherwise these +bubbles catch in the veins, and the result is severe pains, +paralysis, and even death. Gentlemen, I see that I am just wasting +time telling you this, for you know it all well. But consider." + +Kennedy placed an empty corked flask on the table. The others +regarded it curiously, but I recalled having seen it in the +tunnel. + +"In this bottle," explained Kennedy, "I collected some of the air +from the tunnel when I was down there this morning. I have since +analysed it. The quantity of carbon dioxide is approximately what +it should be--not high enough of itself to cause trouble. But," he +spoke slowly to emphasise his words, "I found something else in +that air beside carbon dioxide." + +"Nitrogen?" broke in Orton quickly, leaning forward. + +"Of course; it is a constituent of air. But that is not what I +mean." + +"Then, for Heaven's sake, what did you find?" asked Orton. + +"I found in this air," replied Kennedy, "a very peculiar mixture-- +an explosive mixture." + +"An explosive mixture?" echoed Orton. + +"Yes, Jack, the blow-outs that you have had at the end of the +tunnel were not blow-outs at all, properly speaking. They were +explosions." + +We sat aghast at this revelation. + +"And, furthermore," added Kennedy, "I should, if I were you, call +back all the men from the tunnel until the cause for the presence +of this explosive mixture is discovered and remedied." + +Orton reached mechanically for the telephone to give the order, +but Taylor laid his hand on his arm. "One moment, Orton," he said. +"Let's hear Professor Kennedy out. He may be mistaken, and there +is no use frightening the men, until we are certain." + +"Shelton," asked Kennedy, "what sort of flash oil is used to +lubricate the machinery?" + +"It is three-hundred-and-sixty-degree Fahrenheit flash test," he +answered tersely. + +"And are the pipes leading air down into the tunnel perfectly +straight?" + +"Straight?" + +"Yes, straight--no joints, no pockets where oil, moisture, and +gases can collect." + +"Straight as lines, Kennedy," he said with a sort of contemptuous +defiance. + +They were facing each other coldly, sizing each other up. Like a +skilful lawyer, Kennedy dropped that point for a moment, to take +up a new line of attack. + +"Capps," he demanded, turning suddenly, "why do you always call up +on the telephone and let some one know when you are going down in +the tunnel and when you are coming out?" + +"I don't," replied Capps, quickly recovering his composure. + +"Walter," said Craig to me quietly, "go out in the outer office. +Behind the telephone switchboard you will find a small box which +you saw me carry in there this morning and connect with the +switchboard. Detach the wires, as you saw me attach them, and +bring it here." + +No one moved, as I placed the box on a drafting-table before them. +Craig opened it. Inside he disclosed a large disc of thin steel, +like those used by some mechanical music-boxes, only without any +perforations. He connected the wires from the box to a sort of +megaphone. Then he started the disc revolving. + +Out of the little megaphone horn, sticking up like a miniature +talking-machine, came a voice: "Number please. Four four three o, +Yorkville. Busy, I'll call you. Try them again, Central. Hello, +hello, Central--" + +Kennedy stopped the machine. "It must be further along on the +disc," he remarked. "This, by the way, is an instrument known as +the telegraphone, invented by a Dane named Poulsen. It records +conversations over a telephone on this plain metal disc by means +of localised, minute electric charges." + +Having adjusted the needle to another place on the disc he tried +again. "We have here a record of the entire day's conversations +over the telephone, preserved on this disc. I could wipe out the +whole thing by pulling a magnet across it, but, needless to say, I +wouldn't do that--yet. Listen." + +This time it was Capps speaking. "Give me Mr. Shelton. Oh, +Shelton, I'm going down in the south tube with those men Orton has +sent nosing around here. I'll let you know when I start up again. +Meanwhile--you know--don't let anything happen while I am there. +Good-bye." + +Capps sat looking defiantly at Kennedy, as he stopped the +telegraphone. + +"Now," continued Kennedy suavely, "what COULD happen? I'll answer +my own question by telling what actually did happen. Oil that was +smoky at a lower point than its flash was being used in the +machinery--not really three-hundred-and-sixty-degree oil. The +water-jacket had been tampered with, too. More than that, there is +a joint in the pipe leading down into the tunnel, where explosive +gases can collect. It is a well-known fact in the use of +compressed air that such a condition is the best possible way to +secure an explosion. + +"It would all seem so natural, even if discovered," explained +Kennedy rapidly. "The smoking oil--smoking just as an automobile +often does--is passed into the compressed-air pipe. Condensed oil, +moisture, and gases collect in the joint, and perhaps they line +the whole distance of the pipe. A spark from the low-grade oil-- +and they are ignited. What takes place is the same thing that +occurs in the cylinder of an automobile where the air is +compressed with gasoline vapour. Only here we have compressed air +charged with vapour of oil. The flame proceeds down the pipe-- +exploding through the pipe, if it happens to be not strong enough. +This pipe, however, is strong. Therefore, the flame in this case +shoots out at the open end of the pipe, down near the shield, and +if the air in the tunnel happens also to be surcharged with oil- +vapour, an explosion takes place in the tunnel--the river bottom +is blown out--then God help the sand-hogs! + +"That's how your accidents took place, Orton," concluded Kennedy +in triumph, "and that impure air--not impure from carbon dioxide, +but from this oil-vapour mixture--increased the liability of the +men for the bends. Capps knew about it. He was careful while he +was there to see that the air was made as pure as possible under +the circumstances. He was so careful that he wouldn't even let Mr. +Jameson smoke in the tunnel. But as soon as he went to the +surface, the same deadly mixture was pumped down again--I caught +some of it in this flask, and--" + +"My God, Paddy's down there now," cried Orton, suddenly seizing +his telephone. "Operator, give me the south tube--quick--what-- +they don't answer?" + +Out in the river above the end of the heading, where a short time +before there had been only a few bubbles on the surface of the +water, I could see what looked like a huge geyser of water +spouting up. I pulled Craig over to me and pointed. + +"A blow-out," cried Kennedy, as he rushed to the door, only to be +met by a group of blanched-faced workers who had come breathless +to the office to deliver the news. + +Craig acted quickly. "Hold these men," he ordered, pointing to +Capps and Shelton, "until we come back. Orton, while we are gone, +go over the entire day's record on the telegraphone. I suspect you +and Miss Taylor will find something there that will interest you." + +He sprang down the ladder to the tunnel air-lock, not waiting for +the elevator. In front of the closed door of the lock, an excited +group of men was gathered. One of them was peering through the +dim, thick, glass porthole in the door. + +"There he is, standin' by the door with a club, an' the men's +crowdin' so fast that they're all wedged so's none can get in at +all. He's beatin' 'em back with the stick. Now, he's got the door +clear and has dragged one poor fellow in. It's Jimmy Rourke, him +with the eight childer. Now he's dragged in a Polack. Now he's +fightin' back a big Jamaica nigger who's tryin' to shove ahead of +a little Italian." + +"It's Paddy," cried Craig. "If he can bring them all out safely +without the loss of a life he'll save the day yet for Orton. And +he'll do it, too, Walter." + +Instantly I reconstructed in my mind the scene in the tunnel--the +explosion of the oil-vapour, the mad race up the tube, perhaps the +failure of the emergency curtain to work, the frantic efforts of +the men, in panic, all to crowd through the narrow little door at +once; the rapidly rising water--and above all the heroic Paddy, +cool to the last, standing at the door and single-handed beating +the men back with a club, so that they could go through one at a +time. + +Only when the water had reached the level of the door of the lock, +did Paddy bang it shut as he dragged the last man in. Then +followed an interminable wait for the air in the lock to be +exhausted. When, at last, the door at our end of the lock swung +open, the men with a cheer seized Paddy and, in spite of his +struggles, hoisted him on to their shoulders, and carried him off, +still struggling, in triumph up the construction elevator to the +open air above. + +The scene in Orton's office was dramatic as the men entered with +Paddy. Vivian Taylor was standing defiantly, with burning eyes, +facing Capps, who stared sullenly at the floor before him. Shelton +was plainly abashed. + +"Kennedy," cried Orton, vainly trying to rise, "listen. Have you +still that place on the telegraphone record, Vivian?" + +Miss Taylor started the telegraphone, while we all crowded around +leaning forward eagerly. + +"Hello. Inter-River? Is this the president's office? Oh, hello. +This is Capps talking. How are you? Oh, you've heard about Orton, +have you? Not so bad, eh? Well, I'm arranging with my man Shelton +here for the final act this afternoon. After that you can +compromise with the Five-Borough on your own terms. I think I have +argued Taylor and Morris into the right frame of mind for it, if +we have one more big accident. What's that? How is my love affair? +Well, Orton's in the way yet, but you know why I went into this +deal. When you put me into his place after the compromise, I think +I will pull strong with her. Saw her last night. She feels pretty +bad about Orton, but she'll get over it. Besides, the pater will +never let her marry a man who's down and out. By the way, you've +got to do something handsome for Shelton. All right. I'll see you +to-night and tell you some more. Watch the papers in the meantime +for the grand finale. Good-bye." + +An angry growl rose from one or two of the more quick-witted men. +Kennedy reached over and pulled me with him quickly through the +crowd. + +"Hurry, Walter," he whispered hoarsely, "hustle Shelton and Capps +out quick before the rest of the men wake up to what it's all +about, or we shall have a lynching instead of an arrest." + +As we shoved and pushed them out, I saw the rough and grimy sand- +hogs in the rear move quickly aside, and off came their muddy, +frayed hats. A dainty figure flitted among them toward Orton. It +was Vivian Taylor. + +"Papa," she cried, grasping Jack by both hands and turning to +Taylor, who followed her closely, "Papa, I told you not to be too +hasty with Jack," + + + + +VII + +THE WHITE SLAVE + + +Kennedy and I had just tossed a coin to decide whether it should +be a comic opera or a good walk in the mellow spring night air and +the opera had won, but we had scarcely begun to argue the vital +point as to where to go, when the door buzzer sounded--a sure sign +that some box-office had lost four dollars. + +It was a much agitated middle-aged couple who entered as Craig +threw open the door. Of our two visitors, the woman attracted my +attention first, for on her pale face the lines of sorrow were +almost visibly deepening. Her nervous manner interested me +greatly, though I took pains to conceal the fact that I noticed +it. It was quickly accounted for, however, by the card which the +man presented, bearing the name "Mr. George Gilbert" and a short +scribble from First Deputy O'Connor: + + Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert desire to consult you with regard to the + mysterious disappearance of their daughter, Georgette. I am + sure I need say nothing further to interest you than that the + M. P. Squad is completely baffled. + + O'CONNOR. + +"H-m," remarked Kennedy; "not strange for the Missing Persons +Squad to be baffled--at least, at this case." + +"Then you know of our daughter's strange--er--departure?" asked +Mr. Gilbert, eagerly scanning Kennedy's face and using a euphemism +that would fall less harshly on his wife's ears than the truth. + +"Indeed, yes," nodded Craig with marked sympathy: "that is, I have +read most of what the papers have said. Let me introduce my +friend, Mr. Jameson. You recall we were discussing the Georgette +Gilbert case this morning, Walter?" + +I did, and perhaps before I proceed further with the story I +should quote at least the important parts of the article in the +morning Star which had occasioned the discussion. The article had +been headed, "When Personalities Are Lost," and with the Gilbert +case as a text many instances had been cited which had later been +solved by the return of the memory of the sufferer. In part the +article had said: + +Mysterious disappearances, such as that of Georgette Gilbert, have +alarmed the public and baffled the police before this, +disappearances that in their suddenness, apparent lack of purpose, +and inexplicability, have had much in common with the case of Miss +Gilbert. + +Leaving out of account the class of disappearances such as +embezzlers, blackmailers, and other criminals, there is still a +large number of recorded cases where the subjects have dropped out +of sight without apparent cause or reason and have left behind +them untarnished reputations. Of these a small percentage are +found to have met with violence; others have been victims of a +suicidal mania; and sooner or later a clue has come to light, for +the dead are often easier to find than the living. Of the +remaining small proportion there are on record a number of +carefully authenticated cases where the subjects have been the +victims of a sudden and complete loss of memory. + +This dislocation of memory is a variety of aphasia known as +amnesia, and when the memory is recurrently lost and restored it +is an "alternating personality." The psychical researchers and +psychologists have reported many cases of alternating personality. +Studious efforts are being made to understand and to explain the +strange type of mental phenomena exhibited in these cases, but no +one has as yet given a final, clear, and comprehensive explanation +of them. Such cases are by no means always connected with +disappearances, but the variety known as the ambulatory type, +where the patient suddenly loses all knowledge of his own identity +and of his past and takes himself off, leaving no trace or clue, +is the variety which the present case calls to popular attention. + +Then followed a list of a dozen or so interesting cases of persons +who had vanished completely and had, some several days and some +even years later, suddenly "awakened" to their first personality, +returned, and taken up the thread of that personality where it had +been broken. + +To Kennedy's inquiry I was about to reply that I recalled the +conversation distinctly, when Mr. Gilbert shot an inquiring glance +from beneath his bushy eyebrows, quickly shifting from my face to +Kennedy's, and asked, "And what was your conclusion--what do you +think of the case? Is it aphasia or amnesia, or whatever the +doctors call it, and do you think she is wandering about somewhere +unable to recover her real personality?" + +"I should like to have all the facts at first hand before +venturing an opinion," Craig replied with precisely that shade of +hesitancy that might reassure the anxious father and mother, +without raising a false hope. + +Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert exchanged glances, the purport of which was +that she desired him to tell the story. + +"It was day before yesterday," began Mr. Gilbert, gently touching +his wife's trembling hand that sought his arm as he began +rehearsing the tragedy that had cast its shadow across their +lives, "Thursday, that Georgette--er--since we have heard of +Georgette." His voice faltered a bit, but he proceeded: "As you +know, she was last seen walking on Fifth Avenue. The police have +traced her since she left home that morning. It is known that she +went first to the public library, then that she stopped at a +department store on the avenue, where she made a small purchase +which she had charged to our family account, and finally that she +went to a large book-store. Then--that is the last." + +Mrs. Gilbert sighed, and buried her face in a lace handkerchief as +her shoulders shook convulsively. + +"Yes, I have read that," repeated Kennedy gently, though with +manifest eagerness to get down to facts that might prove more +illuminating. "I think I need hardly impress upon you the +advantage of complete frankness, the fact that anything you may +tell me is of a much more confidential nature than if it were told +to the police. Er--r, had Miss Gilbert any--love affair, any +trouble of such a nature that it might have preyed on her mind?" + +Kennedy's tactful manner seemed to reassure both the father and +the mother, who exchanged another glance. + +"Although we have said no to the reporters," Mrs. Gilbert replied +bravely in answer to the nod of approval from her husband, and +much as if she herself were making a confession for them both, "I +fear that Georgette had had a love affair. No doubt you have heard +hints of Dudley Lawton's name in connection with the case? I can't +imagine how they could have leaked out, for I should have said +that that old affair had long since been forgotten even by the +society gossips. The fact is that shortly after Georgette 'came +out,' Dudley Lawton, who is quite on the road to becoming one of +the rather notorious members of the younger set, began to pay her +marked attentions. He is a fascinating, romantic sort of fellow, +one that, I imagine, possesses much attraction for a girl who has +been brought up as simply as Georgette was, and who has absorbed a +surreptitious diet of modern literature such as we now know +Georgette did. I suppose you have seen portraits of Georgette in +the newspapers and know what a dreamy and artistic nature her face +indicates?" + +Kennedy nodded. It is, of course, one of the cardinal tenets of +journalism that all women are beautiful, but even the coarse +screen of the ordinary newspaper half-tone had not been able to +conceal the rather exceptional beauty of Miss Georgette Gilbert. +If it had, all the shortcomings of the newspaper photographic art +would have been quickly glossed over by the almost ardent +descriptions by those ladies of the press who come along about the +second day after an event of this kind with signed articles +analysing the character and motives, the life and gowns of the +latest actors in the front-page stories. + +"Naturally both my husband and myself opposed his attentions from +the first. It was a hard struggle, for Georgette, of course, +assumed the much-injured air of some of the heroines of her +favourite novels. But I, at least, believed that we had won and +that Georgette finally was brought to respect and, I hoped, +understand our wishes in the matter. I believe so yet. Mr. Gilbert +in a roundabout way came to an understanding with old Mr. Dudley +Lawton, who possesses a great influence over his son, and--well, +Dudley Lawton seemed to have passed out of Georgette's life. I +believed so then, at least, and I see no reason for not believing +so yet. I feel that you ought to know this, but really I don't +think it is right to say that Georgette had a love affair. I +should rather say that she had HAD a love affair, but that it had +been forgotten, perhaps a year ago." + +Mrs. Gilbert paused again, and it was evident that though she was +concealing nothing she was measuring her words carefully in order +not to give a false impression. + +"What does Dudley Lawton say about the newspapers bringing his +name into the case?" asked Kennedy, addressing Mr. Gilbert. + +"Nothing," replied he. "He denies that he has even spoken to her +for nearly a year. Apparently he has no interest in the case. And +yet I cannot quite believe that Lawton is as uninterested as he +seems. I know that he has often spoken about her to members of the +Cosmos Club where he lives, and that he reads practically +everything that the newspapers print about the case." + +"But you have no reason to think that there has ever been any +secret communication between them? Miss Georgette left no letters +or anything that would indicate that her former infatuation +survived?" + +"None whatever," repeated Mr. Gilbert emphatically. "We have gone +over her personal effects very carefully, and I can't say they +furnish a clue. In fact, there were very few letters. She rarely +kept a letter. Whether it was merely from habit or for some +purpose, I can't say." + +"Besides her liking for Dudley Lawton and her rather romantic +nature, there are no other things in her life that would cause a +desire for freedom?" asked Kennedy, much as a doctor might test +the nerves of a patient. "She had no hobbies?" + +"Beyond the reading of some books which her mother and I did not +altogether approve of, I should say no--no hobbies." + +"So far, I suppose, it is true that neither you nor the police +have received even a hint as to where she went after leaving the +book-store?" + +"Not a hint. She dropped out as completely as if the earth had +swallowed her." + +"Mrs. Gilbert," said Kennedy, as our visitors rose to go, "you may +rest assured that if it is humanly possible to find your daughter +I shall leave no stone unturned until I have probed to the bottom +of this mystery. I have seldom had a case that hung on more +slender threads, yet if I can weave other threads to support it I +feel that we shall soon find that the mystery is not so baffling +as the Missing Persons Squad has found it so far." + +Scarcely had the Gilberts left when Kennedy put on his hat, +remarking: "We'll at least get our walk, if not the show. Let's +stroll around to the Cosmos Club. Perhaps we may catch Lawton in." + +Luckily we chanced to find him there in the reading-room. Lawton +was, as Mrs. Gilbert had said, a type that is common enough in New +York and is very fascinating to many girls. In fact, he was one of +those fellows whose sins are readily forgiven because they are +always interesting. Not a few men secretly admire though publicly +execrate the Lawton type. + +I say we chanced to find him in. That was about all we found. Our +interview was most unsatisfactory. For my part, I could not +determine whether he was merely anxious to avoid any notoriety in +connection with the case or whether he was concealing something +that might compromise himself. + +"Really, gentlemen," he drawled, puffing languidly on a cigarette +and turning slowly toward the window to watch the passing throng +under the lights of the avenue, "really I don't see how I can be +of any assistance. You see, except for a mere passing acquaintance +Miss Gilbert and I had drifted entirely apart--entirely apart-- +owing to circumstances over which I, at least, had no control." + +"I thought perhaps you might have heard from her or about her, +through some mutual friend," remarked Kennedy, carefully +concealing under his nonchalance what I knew was working in his +mind--a belief that, after all, the old attachment had not been so +dead as the Gilberts had fancied. + +"No, not a breath, either before this sad occurrence or, of +course, after. Believe me, if I could add one fact that would +simplify the search for Georgette--ah, Miss Gilbert--ah--I would +do so in a moment," replied Lawton quickly, as if desirous of +getting rid of us as soon as possible. Then perhaps as if +regretting the brusqueness with which he had tried to end the +interview, he added, "Don't misunderstand me. The moment you have +discovered anything that points to her whereabouts, let me know +immediately. You can count on me--provided you don't get me into +the papers. Good-night, gentlemen. I wish you the best of +success." + +"Do you think he could have kept up the acquaintance secretly?" I +asked Craig as we walked up the avenue after this baffling +interview. "Could he have cast her off when he found that in spite +of her parents' protests she was still in his power?" + +"It's impossible to say what a man of Dudley Lawton's type could +do," mused Kennedy, "for the simple reason that he himself doesn't +know until he has to do it. Until we have more facts, anything is +both possible and probable." + +There was nothing more that could be done that night, though after +our walk we sat up for an hour or two discussing probabilities. It +did not take me long to reach the end of my imagination and give +up the case, but Kennedy continued to revolve the matter in his +mind, looking at it from every angle and calling upon all the vast +store of information that he had treasured up in that marvellous +brain of his, ready to be called on almost as if his mind were +card-indexed. + +"Murders, suicides, robberies, and burglaries are, after all, +pretty easily explained," he remarked, after a long period of +silence on my part, "but the sudden disappearance of people out of +the crowded city into nowhere is something that is much harder to +explain. And it isn't so difficult to disappear as some people +imagine, either. You remember the case of the celebrated Arctic +explorer whose picture had been published scores of times in every +illustrated paper. He had no trouble in disappearing and then +reappearing later, when he got ready. + +"Yet experience has taught me that there is always a reason for +disappearances. It is our next duty to discover that reason. +Still, it won't do to say that disappearances are not mysterious. +Disappearances except for money troubles are all mysterious. The +first thing in such a case is to discover whether the person has +any hobbies or habits or fads. That is what I tried to find out +from the Gilberts. I can't tell yet whether I succeeded." + +Kennedy took a pencil and hastily jotted down something on a piece +of paper which he tossed over to me. It read: + +1. Love, family trouble. + +2. A romantic disposition. + +3. Temporary insanity, self-destruction. + +4. Criminal assault. + +5. Aphasia. + +6. Kidnapping. + +"Those are the reasons why people disappear, eliminating criminals +and those who have financial difficulties. Dream on that and see +if you can work out the answer in your subliminal consciousness. +Good-night." + +Needless to say, I was no further advanced in the morning than at +midnight, but Kennedy seemed to have evolved at least a tentative +programme. It started with a visit to the public library, where he +carefully went over the ground already gone over by the police. +Finding nothing, he concluded that Miss Gilbert had not found what +she wanted at the library and had continued the quest, even as he +was continuing the quest of herself. + +His next step was to visit the department-store. The purchase had +been an inconsequential affair of half a dozen handkerchiefs, to +be sent home. This certainly did not look like a premeditated +disappearance; but Craig was proceeding on the assumption that +this purchase indicated nothing except that there had been a sale +of handkerchiefs which had caught her eye. Having stopped at the +library first and a book-shop afterward, he assumed that she had +also visited the book-department of the store. But here again +nobody seemed to recall her or that she had asked for anything in +particular. + +Our last hope was the book-shop. We paused for a moment to look at +the display in the window, but only for a moment, for Craig +quickly pulled me along inside. In the window was a display of +books bearing the sign: + +BOOKS ON NEW THOUGHT, OCCULTISM, CLAIRVOYANCE, MESMERISM + +Instead of attempting to go over the ground already traversed by +the police, who had interrogated the numerous clerks without +discovering which one, if any, had waited on Miss Gilbert, Kennedy +asked at once to see the record of sales of the morning on which +she had disappeared. Running his eye quickly down the record, he +picked out a work on clairvoyance and asked to see the young woman +who had made the sale. The clerk was, however, unable to recall to +whom she had sold the book, though she finally admitted that she +thought it might have been a young woman who had some difficulty +in making up her mind just which one of the numerous volumes she +wanted. She could not say whether the picture Kennedy showed her +of Miss Gilbert was that of her customer, nor was she sure that +the customer was not escorted by some one. Altogether it was +nearly as hazy as our interview with Lawton. + +"Still," remarked Kennedy cheerfully, "it may furnish a clue, +after all. The clerk at least was not positive that it was NOT +Miss Gilbert to whom she sold the book. Since we are down in this +neighbourhood, let us drop in and see Mr. Gilbert again. Perhaps +something may have happened since last night." + +Mr. Gilbert was in the dry-goods business in a loft building in +the new dry-goods section on Fourth Avenue. One could almost feel +that a tragedy had invaded even his place of business. As we +entered, we could see groups of clerks, evidently discussing the +case. It was no wonder, I felt, for the head of the firm was +almost frantic, and beside the loss of his only daughter the loss +of his business would count as nothing, at least until the keen +edge of his grief was worn off. + +"Mr. Gilbert is out," replied his secretary, in answer to our +inquiry. "Haven't you heard? They have just discovered the body of +his daughter in a lonely spot in the Croton Aqueduct. The report +came in from the police just a few minutes ago. It is thought that +she was murdered in the city and carried there in an automobile." + +The news came with a stinging shock. I felt that, after all, we +were too late. In another hour the extras would be out, and the +news would be spread broadcast. The affair would be in the hands +of the amateur detectives, and there was no telling how many +promising clues might be lost. + +"Dead!" exclaimed Kennedy, as he jammed his hat on his head and +bolted for the door. "Hurry, Walter. We must get there before the +coroner makes his examination." + +I don't know how we managed to do it, but by dint of subway, +elevated, and taxicab we arrived on the scene of the tragedy not +very long after the coroner. Mr. Gilbert was there, silent, and +looking as if he had aged many years since the night before; his +hand shook and he could merely nod recognition to us. + +Already the body had been carried to a rough shanty in the +neighbourhood, and the coroner was questioning those who had made +the discovery, a party of Italian labourers on the water +improvement near by. They were a vicious looking crew, but they +could tell nothing beyond the fact that one of them had discovered +the body in a thicket where it could not possibly have lain longer +than overnight. There was no reason, as yet, to suspect any of +them, and indeed, as a much travelled automobile road ran within a +few feet of the thicket, there was every reason to believe that +the murder, if murder it was, had been committed elsewhere and +that the perpetrator had taken this means of getting rid of his +unfortunate victim. + +Drawn and contorted were the features of the poor girl, as if she +had died in great physical agony or after a terrific struggle. +Indeed, marks of violence on her delicate throat and neck showed +only too plainly that she had been choked. + +As Kennedy bent over the form of the once lovely Georgette, he +noted the clenched hands. Then he looked at them more closely. I +was standing a little behind him, for though Craig and I had been +through many thrilling adventures, the death of a human being, +especially of a girl like Miss Gilbert, filled me with horror and +revulsion. I could see, however, that he had noted something +unusual. He pulled out a little pocket magnifying glass and made +an even more minute examination of the hands. At last he rose and +faced us, almost as if in triumph. I could not see what he had +discovered--at least it did not seem to be anything tangible, like +a weapon. + +Quickly he opened the pocketbook which she had carried. It seemed +to be empty, and he was about to shut it when something white, +sticking in one corner, caught his eye. Craig pulled out a +clipping from a newspaper, and we crowded about him to look at it. +It was a large clipping from the section of one of the +metropolitan journals which carries a host of such advertisements +as "spirit medium," "psychic palmist," "yogi mediator," "magnetic +influences," "crystal gazer," "astrologer," "trance medium," and +the like. At once I thought of the sallow, somewhat mystic +countenance of Dudley, and the idea flashed, half-formed, in my +mind that somehow this clue, together with the purchase of the +book on clairvoyance, might prove the final link necessary. + +But the first problem in Kennedy's mind was to keep in touch with +what the authorities were doing. That kept us busy for several +hours, during which Craig was in close consultation with the +coroner's physician. The physician was of the opinion that Miss +Gilbert had been drugged as well as strangled, and for many hours, +down in his laboratory, his chemists were engaged in trying to +discover from tests of her blood whether the theory was true. One +after another the ordinary poisons were eliminated, until it began +to look hopeless. + +So far Kennedy had been only an interested spectator, but as the +different tests failed, he had become more and more keenly alive. +At last it seemed as if he could wait no longer. + +"Might I try one or two reactions with that sample?" he asked of +the physician who handed him the test tube in silence. + +For a moment or two Craig thoughtfully regarded it, while with one +hand he fingered the bottles of ether, alcohol, distilled water, +and the many reagents standing before him. He picked up one and +poured a little liquid into the test tube. Then, removing the +precipitate that was formed, he tried to dissolve it in water. Not +succeeding, he tried the ether and then the alcohol. Both were +successful. + +"What is it?" we asked as he held the tube up critically to the +light. + +"I can't be sure yet," he answered slowly. "I thought at first +that it was some alkaloid. I'll have to make further tests before +I can be positive just what it is. If I may retain this sample I +think that with other clues that I have discovered I may be able +to tell you something definite soon." + +The coroner's physician willingly assented, and Craig quickly +dispatched the tube, carefully sealed, to his laboratory. + +"That part of our investigation will keep," he remarked as we left +the coroner's office. "To-night I think we had better resume the +search which was so unexpectedly interrupted this morning. I +suppose you have concluded, Walter, that we can be reasonably sure +that the trail leads back through the fortune-tellers and +soothsayers of New York,--which one, it would be difficult to say. +The obvious thing, therefore, is to consult them all. I think you +will enjoy that part of it, with your newspaperman's liking for +the bizarre." + +The fact was that it did appeal to me, though at the moment I was +endeavouring to formulate a theory in which Dudley Lawton and an +accomplice would account for the facts. + +It was early in the evening as we started out on our tour of the +clairvoyants of New York. The first whom Kennedy selected from the +advertisements in the clipping described himself as "Hata, the +Veiled Prophet, born with a double veil, educated in occult +mysteries and Hindu philosophy in Egypt and India." Like all of +them his advertisement dwelt much on love and money: + + The great questions of life are quickly solved, failure + turned to success, sorrow to joy, the separated are brought + together, foes made friends. Truths are laid bare to his + mysterious mind. He gives you power to attract and control + those whom you may desire, tells you of living or dead, your + secret troubles, the cause and remedy. Advice on all affairs + of life, love, courtship, marriage, business, speculations, + investments. Overcomes rivals, enemies, and all evil influences. + Will tell you how to attract, control, and change the + thought, intentions, actions, or character of any one you + desire. + +Hata was a modest adept who professed to be able to explain the +whole ten stages of Yoga. He had established himself on a street +near Times Square, just off Broadway, and there we found several +automobiles and taxicabs standing at the curb, a mute testimony to +the wealth of at least some of his clientele. + +A solemn-faced coloured man ushered us into a front parlour and +asked if we had come to see the professor. Kennedy answered that +we had. + +"Will you please write your names and addresses on the outside +sheet of this pad, then tear it off and keep it?" asked the +attendant. "We ask all visitors to do that simply as a guarantee +of good faith. Then if you will write under it what you wish to +find out from the professor I think it will help you concentrate. +But don't write while I am in the room, and don't let me see the +writing." + +"A pretty cheap trick," exclaimed Craig when the attendant had +gone. "That's how he tells the gullible their names before they +tell him. I've a good notion to tear off two sheets. The second is +chemically prepared, with paraffin, I think. By dusting it over +with powdered charcoal you can bring out what was written on the +first sheet over it. Oh, well, let's let him get something across, +anyway. Here goes, our names and addresses, and underneath I'll +write, 'What has become of Georgette Gilbert?'" + +Perhaps five minutes later the negro took the pad, the top sheet +having been torn off and placed in Kennedy's pocket. He also took +a small fee of two dollars. A few minutes later we were ushered +into the awful presence of the "Veiled Prophet," a tall, ferret- +eyed man in a robe that looked suspiciously like a brocaded +dressing-gown much too large for him. + +Sure enough, he addressed us solemnly by name and proceeded +directly to tell us why we had come. + +"Let us look into the crystal of the past, present, and future and +read what it has to reveal," he added solemnly, darkening the +room, which was already only dimly lighted. Then Hata, the +crystal-gazer, solemnly seated himself in a chair. Before him, in +his hands, reposing on a bag of satin, lay a huge oval piece of +glass. He threw forward his head and riveted his eyes on the milky +depths of the crystal. In a moment he began to talk, first +ramblingly, then coherently. + +"I see a man, a dark man," he began. "He is talking earnestly to a +young girl. She is trying to avoid him. Ah--he seizes her by both +arms. They struggle. He has his hand at her throat. He is choking +her." + +I was thinking of the newspaper descriptions of Lawton, which the +fakir had undoubtedly read, but Kennedy was leaning forward over +the crystal-gazer, not watching the crystal at all, nor with his +eyes on the clairvoyant's face. + +"Her tongue is protruding from her mouth, her eyes are bulging---" + +"Yes, yes," urged Kennedy. "Go on." "She falls. He strikes her. He +flees. He goes to---" + +Kennedy laid his hand ever so lightly on the arm of the +clairvoyant, then quickly withdrew it. + +"I cannot see where he goes. It is dark, dark. You will have to +come back to-morrow when the vision is stronger." + +The thing stung me by its crudity. Kennedy, however, seemed elated +by our experience as we gained the street. + +"Craig," I remonstrated, "you don't mean to say you attach any +importance to vapourings like that? Why, there wasn't a thing the +fellow couldn't have imagined from the newspapers, even the clumsy +description of Dudley Lawton." + +"We'll see," he replied cheerfully, as we stopped under a light to +read the address of the next seer, who happened to be in the same +block. + +It proved to be the psychic palmist who called himself "the +Pandit." He also was "born with a strange and remarkable power-- +not meant to gratify the idle curious, but to direct, advise, and +help men and women"--at the usual low fee. He said in print that +he gave instant relief to those who had trouble in love, and also +positively guaranteed to tell your name and the object of your +visit. He added: + + Love, courtship, marriage. What is more beautiful than + the true unblemished love of one person for another? What + is sweeter, better, or more to be desired than perfect harmony + and happiness? If you want to win the esteem, love, and + everlasting affection of another, see the Pandit, the greatest + living master of the occult science. + +Inasmuch as this seer fell into a passion at the other incompetent +soothsayers in the next column (and almost next door) it seemed as +if we must surely get something for our money from the Pandit. + +Like Hata, the Pandit lived in a large brownstone house. The man +who admitted us led us into a parlour where several people were +seated about as if waiting for some one. The pad and writing +process was repeated with little variation. Since we were the +latest comers we had to wait some time before we were ushered into +the presence of the Pandit, who was clad in a green silk robe. + +The room was large and had very small windows of stained glass. At +one end of the room was an altar on which burned several candles +which gave out an incense. The atmosphere of the room was heavy +with a fragrance that seemed to combine cologne with chloroform. + +The Pandit waved a wand, muttering strange sounds as he did so, +for in addition to his palmistry, which he seemed not disposed to +exhibit that night, he dealt in mysteries beyond human ken. A +voice, quite evidently from a phonograph buried in the depths of +the altar, answered in an unknown language which sounded much like +"Al-ya wa-aa haal-ya waa-ha." Across the dim room flashed a pale +blue light with a crackling noise, the visible rays from a Crookes +tube, I verily believe. The Pandit, however, said it was the soul +of a saint passing through. Then he produced two silken robes, one +red, which he placed on Kennedy's shoulders, and one violet, which +he threw over me. + +From the air proceeded strange sounds of weird music and words. +The Pandit seemed to fall asleep, muttering. Apparently, however, +Kennedy and I were bad subjects, for after some minutes of this he +gave it up, saying that the spirits had no revelation to make to- +night in the matter in which we had called. Inasmuch as we had not +written on the pad just what that matter was, I was not surprised. +Nor was I surprised when the Pandit laid off his robe and said +unctuously, "But if you will call to-morrow and concentrate, I am +sure that I can secure a message that will be helpful about your +little matter." + +Kennedy promised to call, but still he lingered. The Pandit, +anxious to get rid of us, moved toward the door. Kennedy sidled +over toward the green robe which the Pandit had laid on a chair. + +"Might I have some of your writings to look over in the meantime?" +asked Craig as if to gain time. + +"Yes, but they will cost you three dollars a copy--the price I +charge all my students," answered the Pandit with just a trace of +a gleam of satisfaction at having at last made an impression. + +He turned and entered a cabinet to secure the mystic literature. +The moment he had disappeared Kennedy seized the opportunity he +had been waiting for. He picked up the green robe and examined the +collar and neck very carefully under the least dim of the lights +in the room. He seemed to find what he wished, yet he continued to +examine the robe until the sound of returning footsteps warned him +to lay it down again. He had not been quite quick enough. The +Pandit eyed us suspiciously, then he rang a bell. The attendant +appeared instantly, noiselessly. + +"Show these men into the library," he commanded with just the +faintest shade of trepidation. "My servant will give you the +book," he said to Craig. "Pay him." + +It seemed that we had suddenly been looked upon with disfavour, +and I half suspected he thought we were spies of the police, who +had recently received numerous complaints of the financial +activities of the fortune tellers, who worked in close harmony +with certain bucket-shop operators in fleecing the credulous of +their money by inspired investment advice. At any rate, the +attendant quickly opened a door into the darkness. Treading +cautiously I followed Craig. The door closed behind us. I clenched +my fists, not knowing what to expect. + +"The deuce!" exclaimed Kennedy. "He passed us out into an alley. +There is the street not twenty feet away. The Pandit is a clever +one, all right." + +It was now too late to see any of the other clairvoyants on our +list, so that with this unceremonious dismissal we decided to +conclude our investigations for the night. + +The next morning we wended our way up into the Bronx, where one of +the mystics had ensconced himself rather out of the beaten track of +police protection, or persecution, one could not say which. I was +wondering what sort of vagary would come next. It proved to be +"Swami, the greatest clairvoyant, psychic palmist, and Yogi +mediator of them all." He also stood alone in his power, for he +asserted: + + Names friends, enemies, rivals, tells whom and when you + will marry, advises you upon love, courtship, marriage, + business, speculation, transactions of every nature. If you are + worried, perplexed, or in trouble come to this wonderful + man. He reads your life like an open book; he overcomes + evil influences, reunites the separated, causes speedy and + happy marriage with the one of your choice, tells how to + influence any one you desire, tells whether wife or sweetheart + is true or false. Love, friendship, and influence of + others obtained and a greater share of happiness in life + secured. The key to success is that marvellous, subtle, + unseen power that opens to your vision the greatest secrets + of life. It gives you power which enables you to control + the minds of men and women. + +The Swami engaged to explain the "wonderful Karmic law," and by +his method one could develop a wonderful magnetic personality by +which he could win anything the human heart desired. It was +therefore with great anticipation that we sought out the wonderful +Swami and, falling into the spirit of his advertisement, posed as +"come-ons" and pleaded to obtain this wonderful magnetism and a +knowledge of the Karmic law--at a ridiculously low figure, +considering its inestimable advantages to one engaged in the +pursuit of criminal science. Naturally the Swami was pleased at +two such early callers, and his narrow, half-bald head, long slim +nose, sharp grey eyes, and sallow, unwholesome complexion showed +his pleasure in every line and feature. + +Rubbing his hands together as he motioned us into the next room, +the Swami seated us on a circular divan with piles of cushions +upon it. There were clusters of flowers in vases about the room, +which gave it the odour of the renewed vitality of the year. + +A lackey entered with a silver tray of cups of coffee and a silver +jar in the centre. Talking slowly and earnestly about the "great +Karmic law," the Swami bade us drink the coffee, which was of a +vile, muddy, Turkish variety. Then from the jar he took a box of +rock crystal containing a sort of greenish compound which he +kneaded into a little gum--gum tragacanth, I afterward learned,-- +and bade us taste. It was not at all unpleasant to the taste, and +as nothing happened, except the suave droning of the mystic before +us, we ate several of the gum pellets. + +I am at a loss to describe adequately just the sensations that I +soon experienced. It was as if puffs of hot and cold air were +alternately blown on my spine, and I felt a twitching of my neck, +legs, and arms. Then came a subtle warmth. The whole thing seemed +droll; the noise of the Swami's voice was most harmonious. His and +Kennedy's faces seemed transformed. They were human faces, but +each had a sort of animal likeness back of it, as Lavater has +said. The Swami seemed to me to be the fox, Kennedy the owl. I +looked in the glass, and I was the eagle. I laughed outright. + +It was sensuous in the extreme. The beautiful paintings on the +walls at once became clothed in flesh and blood. A picture of a +lady hanging near me caught my eye. The countenance really smiled +and laughed and varied from moment to moment. Her figure became +rounded and living and seemed to stir in the frame. The face was +beautiful but ghastly. I seemed to be borne along on a sea of +pleasure by currents of voluptuous happiness. + +The Swami was affected by a profound politeness. As he rose and +walked about the room, still talking, he salaamed and bowed. When +I spoke it sounded like a gun, with an echo long afterward +rumbling in my brain. Thoughts came to me like fury, bewildering, +sometimes as points of light in the most exquisite fireworks. +Objects were clothed in most fantastic garbs. I looked at my two +animal companions. I seemed to read their thoughts. I felt strange +affinities with them, even with the Swami. Yet it was all by the +psychological law of the association of ideas, though I was no +longer master but the servant of those ideas. + +As for Kennedy, the stuff seemed to affect him much differently +than it did myself. Indeed, it seemed to rouse in him something +vicious. The more I smiled and the more the Swami salaamed, the +more violent I could see Craig getting, whereas I was lost in a +maze of dreams that I would not have stopped if I could. Seconds +seemed to be years; minutes ages. Things at only a short distance +looked much as they do when looked at through the inverted end of +a telescope. Yet it all carried with it an agreeable exhilaration +which I can only describe as the heightened sense one feels on the +first spring day of the year. + +At last the continued plying of the drug seemed to be too much for +Kennedy. The Swami had made a profound salaam. In an instant +Kennedy had seized with both hands the long flowing hair at the +back of the Swami's bald forehead, and he tugged until the mystic +yelled with pain and the tears stood in his eyes. + +With a leap I roused myself from the train of dreams and flung +myself between them. At the sound of my voice and the pressure of +my grasp, Craig sullenly and slowly relaxed his grip. A vacant +look seemed to steal into his face, and seizing his hat, which lay +on a near-by stool, he stalked out in silence, and I followed. + +Neither of us spoke for a moment after we had reached the street, +but out of the corner of my eye I could see that Kennedy's body +was convulsed as if with suppressed emotion. + +"Do you feel better in the air?" I asked anxiously, yet somewhat +vexed and feeling a sort of lassitude and half regret at the +reality of life and not of the dreams. + +It seemed as if he could restrain himself no longer. He burst out +into a hearty laugh. "I was just watching the look of disgust on +your face," he said as he opened his hand and showed me three or +four of the gum lozenges that he had palmed instead of swallowing. +"Ha, ha! I wonder what the Swami thinks of his earnest effort to +expound the Karmic law." + +It was beyond me. With the Swami's concoction still shooting +thoughts like sky rockets through my brain I gave it up and +allowed Kennedy to engineer our next excursion into the occult. + +One more seer remained to be visited. This one professed to "hold +your life mirror" and by his "magnetic monochrome," whatever that +might be, he would "impart to you an attractive personality, +mastery of being, for creation and control of life conditions." + +He described himself as the "Guru," and, among other things, he +professed to be a sun-worshipper. At any rate, the room into which +we were admitted was decorated with the four-spoked wheel, or +wheel and cross, the winged circle, and the winged orb. The Guru +himself was a swarthy individual with a purple turban wound around +his head. In his inner room were many statuettes, photographs of +other Gurus of the faith, and on each of the four walls were +mysterious symbols in plaster representing a snake curved in a +circle, swallowing his tail, a five-pointed star, and in the +centre another winged sphere. + +Craig asked the Guru to explain the symbols, to which he replied +with a smile: "The snake represents eternity, the star involution +and evolution of the soul, while the winged sphere--eh, well, that +represents something else. Do you come to learn of the faith?" + +At this gentle hint Craig replied that he did, and the utmost +amicability was restored by the purchase of the Green Book of the +Guru, which seemed to deal with everything under the sun, and +particularly the revival of ancient Asiatic fire-worship with many +forms and ceremonies, together with posturing and breathing that +rivalled the "turkey trot," the "bunny hug," and the "grizzly +bear." The book, as we turned over its pages, gave directions for +preparing everything from food to love-philtres and the elixir of +life. One very interesting chapter was devoted to "electric +marriage," which seemed to come to those only who, after searching +patiently, at last found perfect mates. Another of the Guru's +tenets seemed to be purification by eliminating all false modesty, +bathing in the sun, and while bathing engaging in any occupation +which kept the mind agreeably occupied. On the first page was the +satisfying legend, "There is nothing in the world that a disciple +can give to pay the debt to the Guru who has taught him one +truth." + +As we talked, it seemed quite possible to me that the Guru might +exert a very powerful hypnotic influence over his disciples or +those who came to seek his advice. Besides this indefinable +hypnotic influence, I also noted the more material lock on the +door to the inner sanctuary. + +"Yes," the Guru was saying to Kennedy, "I can secure you one of +the love-pills from India, but it will cost you--er--ten dollars." +I think he hesitated, to see how much the traffic would bear, from +one to one hundred, and compromised with only one zero after the +unit. Kennedy appeared satisfied, and the Guru departed with +alacrity to secure the specially imported pellet. + +In a corner was a sort of dressing-table on which lay a comb and +brush. Kennedy seemed much interested in the table and was +examining it when the Guru returned. Just as the door opened he +managed to slip the brush into his pocket and appear interested in +the mystic symbols on the wall opposite. + +"If that doesn't work," remarked the Guru in remarkably good +English, "let me know, and you must try one of my charm bottles. +But the love-pills are fine. Good-day." + +Outside Craig looked at me quizzically. "You wouldn't believe it, +Walter, would you?" he said. "Here in this twentieth century in +New York, and in fact in every large city of the world--love- +philtres, love-pills, and all the rest of it. And it is not among +the ignorant that these things are found, either. You remember we +saw automobiles waiting before some of the places." + +"I suspect that all who visit the fakirs are not so gullible, +after all," I replied sententiously. + +"Perhaps not. I think I shall have something interesting to say +to-night as a result of our visits, at least." + +During the remainder of the day Kennedy was closely confined in +his laboratory with his microscopes, slides, chemicals, test- +tubes, and other apparatus. As for myself, I put in the time +speculating which of the fakirs had been in some mysterious way +connected with the case and in what manner. Many were the theories +which I had formed and the situations I conjured up, and in nearly +all I had one central figure, the young man whose escapades had +been the talk of even the fast set of a fast society. + +That night Kennedy, with the assistance of First Deputy O'Connor, +who was not averse to taking any action within the law toward the +soothsayers, assembled a curiously cosmopolitan crowd in his +laboratory. Besides the Gilberts were Dudley Lawton and his +father, Hata, the Pandit, the Swami, and the Guru--the latter four +persons in high dudgeon at being deprived of the lucrative profits +of a Sunday night. + +Kennedy began slowly, leading gradually up to his point: "A new +means of bringing criminals to justice has been lately studied by +one of the greatest scientific detectives of crime in the world, +the man to whom we are indebted for our most complete systems of +identification and apprehension." Craig paused and fingered the +microscope before him thoughtfully. "Human hair," he resumed, "has +recently been the study of that untiring criminal scientist, M. +Bertillon. He has drawn up a full, classified, and graduated table +of all the known colours of the human hair, a complete palette, so +to speak, of samples gathered in every quarter of the globe. +Henceforth burglars, who already wear gloves or paint their +fingers with a rubber composition for fear of leaving finger- +prints, will have to wear close-fitting caps or keep their heads +shaved. Thus he has hit upon a new method of identification of +those sought by the police. For instance, from time to time the +question arises whether hair is human or animal. In such cases the +microscope tells the answer truthfully. + +"For a long time I have been studying hair, taking advantage of +those excellent researches by M. Bertillon. Human hair is fairly +uniform, tapering gradually. Under the microscope it is +practically always possible to distinguish human hair from animal. +I shall not go into the distinctions, but I may add that it is +also possible to determine very quickly the difference between all +hair, human or animal, and cotton with its corkscrew-like twists, +linen with its jointed structure, and silk, which is long, smooth, +and cylindrical." + +Again Kennedy paused as if to emphasise this preface. "I have +here," he continued, "a sample of hair." He had picked up a +microscope slide that was lying on the table. It certainly did not +look very thrilling--a mere piece of glass, that was all. But on +the glass was what appeared to be merely a faint line. "This +slide," he said, holding it up, "has what must prove an +unescapable clue to the identity of the man responsible for the +disappearance of Miss Gilbert. I shall not tell you yet who he is, +for the simple reason that, though I could make a shrewd guess, I +do not yet know what the verdict of science is, and in science we +do not guess where we can prove. + +"You will undoubtedly remember that when Miss Gilbert's body was +discovered, it bore no evidence of suicide, but on the contrary +the marks of violence. Her fists were clenched, as if she had +struggled with all her power against a force that had been too +much for her. I examined her hands, expecting to find some +evidence of a weapon she had used to defend herself. Instead, I +found what was more valuable. Here on this slide are several hairs +that I found tightly grasped in her rigid hands." + +I could not help recalling Kennedy's remark earlier in the case-- +that it hung on slender threads. Yet how strong might not those +threads prove! + +"There was also in her pocketbook a newspaper clipping bearing the +advertisements of several clairvoyants," he went on. "Mr. Jameson +and myself had already discovered what the police had failed to +find, that on the morning of the day on which she disappeared Miss +Gilbert had made three distinct efforts, probably, to secure books +on clairvoyance. Accordingly, Mr. Jameson and myself have visited +several of the fortune-tellers and practitioners of the occult +sciences in which we had reason to believe Miss Gilbert was +interested. They all, by the way, make a specialty of giving +advice in money matters and solving the problems of lovers. I +suspect that at times Mr. Jameson has thought that I was demented, +but I had to resort to many and various expedients to collect the +specimens of hair which I wanted. From the police, who used Mr. +Lawton's valet, I received some hair from his head. Here is +another specimen from each of the advertisers, Hata, the Swami, +the Pandit, and the Guru. There is just one of these specimens +which corresponds in every particular of colour, thickness, and +texture with the hair found so tightly grasped in Miss Gilbert's +hand." + +As Craig said this I could feel a sort of gasp of astonishment +from our little audience. Still he was not quite ready to make his +disclosure. + +"Lest I should be prejudiced," he pursued evenly, "by my own +rather strong convictions, and in order that I might examine the +samples without fear or favour, I had one of my students at the +laboratory take the marked hairs, mount them, number them, and put +in numbered envelopes the names of the persons who furnished them. +But before I open the envelope numbered the same as the slide +which contains the hair which corresponds precisely with that hair +found in Miss Gilbert's hand--and it is slide No. 2---" said +Kennedy, picking out the slide with his finger and moving it on +the table with as much coolness as if he were moving a chessman on +a board instead of playing in the terrible game of human life, +"before I read the name I have still one more damning fact to +disclose." + +Craig now had us on edge with excitement, a situation which I +sometimes thought he enjoyed more keenly than any other in his +relentless tracing down of a criminal. + +"What was it that caused Miss Gilbert's death?" asked Kennedy. +"The coroner's physician did not seem to be thoroughly satisfied +with the theory of physical violence alone. Nor did I. Some one, I +believe, exerted a peculiar force in order to get her into his +power. What was that force? At first I thought it might have been +the hackneyed knockout drops, but tests by the coroner's physician +eliminated that. Then I thought it might be one of the alkaloids, +such as morphine, cocaine, and others. But it was not any of the +usual things that was used to entice her away from her family and +friends. From tests that I have made I have discovered the one +fact necessary to complete my case, the drug used to lure her and +against which she fought in deadly struggle." + +He placed a test tube in a rack before us. "This tube," he +continued, "contains one of the most singular and, among us, least +known of the five common narcotics of the world--tobacco, opium, +coca, betel nut, and hemp. It can be smoked, chewed, used as a +drink, or taken as a confection. In the form of a powder it is +used by the narghile smoker. As a liquid it can be taken as an +oily fluid or in alcohol. Taken in any of these forms, it +literally makes the nerves walk, dance, and run. It heightens the +feelings and sensibilities to distraction, producing what is +really hysteria. If the weather is clear, this drug will make life +gorgeous; if it rains, tragic. Slight vexation becomes deadly +revenge; courage becomes rashness; fear, abject terror; and gentle +affection or even a passing liking is transformed into passionate +love. It is the drug derived from the Indian hemp, scientifically +named Cannabis Indica, better known as hashish, or bhang, or a +dozen other names in the East. Its chief characteristic is that it +has a profound effect on the passions. Thus, under its influence, +natives of the East become greatly exhilarated, then debased, and +finally violent, rushing forth on the streets with the cry, 'Amok, +amok,'--'Kill, kill'--as we say, 'running amuck.' An overdose of +this drug often causes insanity, while in small quantities our +doctors use it as a medicine. Any one who has read the brilliant +Theophile Gautier's 'Club des Hachichens' or Bayard Taylor's +experience at Damascus knows something of the effect of hashish, +however. + +"In reconstructing the story of Georgette Gilbert, as best I can, +I believe that she was lured to the den of one of the numerous +cults practised in New York, lured by advertisements offering +advice in hidden love affairs. Led on by her love for a man whom +she could not and would not put out of her life, and by her +affection for her parents, she was frantic. This place offered +hope, and to it she went in all innocence, not knowing that it was +only the open door to a life such as the most lurid disorderly +resorts of the metropolis could scarcely match. There her +credulity was preyed upon, and she was tricked into taking this +drug, which itself has such marked and perverting effect. But, +though she must have been given a great deal of the drug, she did +not yield, as many of the sophisticated do. She struggled +frantically, futilely. Will and reason were not conquered, though +they sat unsteadily on their thrones. The wisp of hair so tightly +clasped in her dead hand shows that she fought bitterly to the +end." + +Kennedy was leaning forward earnestly, glaring at each of us in +turn. Lawton was twisting uneasily in his chair, and I could see +that his fists were doubled up and that he was holding himself in +leash as if waiting for something, eyeing us all keenly. The Swami +was seized with a violent fit of trembling, and the other fakirs +were staring in amazement. + +Quickly I stepped between Dudley Lawton and Kennedy, but as I did +so, he leaped behind me, and before I could turn he was grappling +wildly with some one on the floor. + +"It's all right, Walter," cried Kennedy, tearing open the envelope +on the table. "Lawton has guessed right. The hair was the Swami's. +Georgette Gilbert was one victim who fought and rescued herself +from a slavery worse than death. And there is one mystic who could +not foresee arrest and the death house at Sing Sing in his +horoscope." + + + + +VIII + +THE FORGER + + +We were lunching with Stevenson Williams, a friend of Kennedy's, +at the Insurance Club, one of the many new downtown luncheon +clubs, where the noon hour is so conveniently combined with +business. + +"There isn't much that you can't insure against nowadays," +remarked Williams when the luncheon had progressed far enough to +warrant a tentative reference to the obvious fact that he had had +a purpose in inviting us to the club. "Take my own company, for +example, the Continental Surety. We have lately undertaken to +write forgery insurance." + +"Forgery insurance?" repeated Kennedy. "Well, I should think you'd +be doing a ripping business--putting up the premium rate about +every day in this epidemic of forgery that seems to be sweeping +over the country." + +Williams, who was one of the officers of the company, smiled +somewhat wearily, I thought. "We are," he replied drily. "That was +precisely what I wanted to see you about." + +"What? The premiums or the epidemic?" + +"Well--er--both, perhaps. I needn't say much about the epidemic, +as you call it. To you I can admit it; to the newspapers, never. +Still, I suppose you know that it is variously estimated that the +forgers of the country are getting away with from ten to fifteen +million dollars a year. It is just one case that I was thinking +about--one on which the regular detective agencies we employ seem +to have failed utterly so far. It involves pretty nearly one of +those fifteen millions." + +"What? One case? A million dollars?" gasped Kennedy, gazing +fixedly at Williams as if he found it difficult to believe. + +"Exactly," replied Williams imperturbably, "though it was not done +all at one fell swoop, of course, but gradually, covering a period +of some months. You have doubtless heard of the By-Products +Company of Chicago?" + +Craig nodded. + +"Well, it is their case," pursued Williams, losing his quiet +manner and now hurrying ahead almost breathlessly. "You know they +own a bank out there also, called the By-Products Bank. That's how +we come to figure in the case, by having insured their bank +against forgery. Of course our liability runs up only to $50,000. +But the loss to the company as well as to its bank through this +affair will reach the figure I have named. They will have to stand +the balance beyond our liability and, well, fifty thousand is not +a small sum for us to lose, either. We can't afford to lose it +without a fight." + +"Of course not. But you must have some suspicions, some clues. You +must have taken some action in tracing the thing out, whatever is +back of it." + +"Surely. For instance, only the other day we had the cashier of +the bank, Bolton Brown, arrested, though he is out on bail now. We +haven't anything directly against him, but he is suspected of +complicity on the inside, and I may say that the thing is so +gigantic that there must have been some one on the inside +concerned with it. Among other things we have found that Bolton +Brown has been leading a rather fast life, quite unknown to his +fellow-officials. We know that he has been speculating secretly in +the wheat corner that went to pieces, but the most significant +thing is that he has been altogether too intimate with an +adventuress, Adele De-Mott, who has had some success as a woman of +high finance in various cities here and in Europe and even in +South America. It looks bad for him from the commonsense +standpoint, though of course I'm not competent to speak of the +legal side of the matter. But, at any rate, we know that the +insider must have been some one pretty close to the head of the +By-Products Company or the By-Products Bank." + +"What was the character of the forgeries?" asked Kennedy. + +"They seem to have been of two kinds. As far as we are concerned +it is the check forgeries only that interest the Surety Company. +For some time, apparently, checks have been coming into the bank +for sums all the way from a hundred dollars to five thousand. They +have been so well executed that some of them have been certified +by the bank, all of them have been accepted when they came back +from other banks, and even the officers of the company don't seem +to be able to pick any flaws in them except as to the payee and +the amounts for which they were drawn. They have the correct +safety tint on the paper and are stamped with rubber stamps that +are almost precisely like those used by the By-Products Company. + +"You know that banking customs often make some kinds of fraud +comparatively easy. For instance no bank will pay out a hundred +dollars or often even a dollar without identification, but they +will certify a check for almost any office boy who comes in with +it. The common method of forgers lately has been to take such a +certified forged check, deposit it in another bank, then gradually +withdraw it in a few days before there is time to discover the +forgery. In this case they must have had the additional advantage +that the insider in the company or bank could give information and +tip the forger off if the forgery happened to be discovered." + +"Who is the treasurer of the company?" asked Craig quickly. + +"John Carroll--merely a figurehead, I understand. He's in New York +now, working with us, as I shall tell you presently. If there is +any one else besides Brown in it, it might be Michael Dawson, the +nominal assistant but really the active treasurer. There you have +another man whom we suspect, and, strangely enough, can't find. +Dawson was the assistant treasurer of the company, you understand, +not of the bank." + +"You can't find him? Why?" asked Kennedy, considerably puzzled. + +"No, we can't find him. He was married a few days ago, married a +pretty prominent society girl in the city, Miss Sibyl Sanderson. +It seems they kept the itinerary of their honeymoon secret, more +as a joke on their friends than anything else, they said, for Miss +Sanderson was a well-known beauty and the newspapers bothered the +couple a good deal with publicity that was distasteful. At least +that was his story. No one knows where they are or whether they'll +ever turn up again. + +"You see, this getting married had something to do with the +exposure in the first place. For the major part of the forgeries +consists not so much in the checks, which interest my company, but +in fraudulently issued stock certificates of the By-Products +Company. About a million of the common stock was held as treasury +stock--was never issued. + +"Some one has issued a large amount of it, all properly signed and +sealed. Whoever it was had a little office in Chicago from which +the stock was sold quietly by a confederate, probably a woman, for +women seem to rope in the suckers best in these get-rich-quick +schemes. And, well, if it was Dawson the honeymoon has given him a +splendid chance to make his get-away, though it also resulted in +the exposure of the forgeries. Carroll had to take up more or less +active duty, with the result that a new man unearthed the--but, +say, are you really interested in this case?" + +Williams was leaning forward, looking anxiously at Kennedy and it +would not have taken a clairvoyant to guess what answer he wanted +to his abrupt question. + +"Indeed I am," replied Craig, "especially as there seems to be a +doubt about the guilty person on the inside." + +"There is doubt enough, all right," rejoined Williams, "at least I +think so, though our detectives in Chicago who have gone over the +thing pretty thoroughly have been sure of fixing something on +Bolton Brown, the cashier. You see the blank stock certificates +were kept in the company's vault in the bank to which, of course, +Brown had access. But then, as Carroll argues, Dawson had access +to them, too, which is very true--more so for Dawson than for +Brown, who was in the bank and not in the company. I'm all at sea. +Perhaps if you're interested you'd better see Carroll. He's here +in the city and I'm sure I could get you a good fee out of the +case if you cared to take it up. Shall I see if I can get him on +the wire?" + +We had finished luncheon and, as Craig nodded, Williams dived into +a telephone booth outside the dining-room and in a few moments +emerged, perspiring from the closeness. He announced that Carroll +requested that we call on him at an office in Wall Street, a few +blocks away, where he made his headquarters when he was in New +York. The whole thing was done with such despatch that I could not +help feeling that Carroll had been waiting to hear from his friend +in the insurance company. The look of relief on Williams's face +when Kennedy said he would go immediately showed plainly that the +insurance man considered the cost of the luncheon, which had been +no slight affair, in the light of a good investment in the +interest of his company, which was "in bad" for the largest +forgery insurance loss since they had begun to write that sort of +business. + +As we hurried down to Wall Street, Kennedy took occasion to +remark, "Science seems to have safeguarded banks and other +institutions pretty well against outside robbery. But protection +against employees who can manipulate books and records does not +seem to have advanced as rapidly. Sometimes I think it may have +lessened. Greater temptations assail the cashier or clerk with +greater opportunity for speculation, and the banks, as many +authorities will agree, have not made enough use of the machinery +available to put a stop to embezzlement. This case is evidently +one of the results. The careless fellows at the top, like this man +Carroll whom we are going to see, generally put forward as excuse +the statement that the science of banking and of business is so +complex that a rascal with ingenuity enough to falsify the books +is almost impossible of detection. Yet when the cat is out of the +bag as in several recent cases the methods used are often of the +baldest and most transparent sort, fictitious names, dummies, and +all sorts of juggling and kiting of checks. But I hardly think +this is going to prove one of those simple cases." + +John Carroll was a haggard and unkempt sort of man. He looked to +me as if the defalcations had preyed on his mind until they had +become a veritable obsession. It was literally true that they were +all that he could talk about, all that he was thinking about. He +was paying now a heavy penalty for having been a dummy and +honorary officer. + +"This thing has become a matter of life and death with me," he +began eagerly, scarcely waiting for us to introduce ourselves, as +he fixed his unnaturally bright eyes on us anxiously. "I've simply +got to find the man who has so nearly wrecked the By-Products Bank +and Company. Find him or not, I suppose I am a ruined man, myself, +but I hope I may still prove myself honest." + +He sighed and his eyes wandered vacantly out of the window as if +he were seeking rest and could not find it. + +"I understand that the cashier, Bolton Brown, has been arrested," +prompted Kennedy. + +"Yes, Bolton Brown, arrested," he repeated slowly, "and since he +has been out on bail he, too, seems to have disappeared. Now let +me tell you about what I think of that, Kennedy. I know it looks +bad for Brown. Perhaps he's the man. The Surety Company says so, +anyway. But we must look at this thing calmly." + +He was himself quite excited, as he went on, "You understand, I +suppose, just how much Brown must have been reasonably responsible +for passing the checks through the bank? He saw personally about +as many of them as--as I did, which was none until the exposure +came. They were deposited in other banks by people whom we can't +identify but who must have opened accounts for the purpose of +finally putting through a few bad checks. Then they came back to +our bank in the regular channels and were accepted. By various +kinds of juggling they were covered up. Why, some of them looked +so good that they were even certified by our bank before they were +deposited in the other banks. Now, as Brown claims, he never saw +checks unless there was something special about them and there +seemed at the time to be nothing wrong about these. + +"But in the public mind I know there is prejudice against any bank +official who speculates or leads a fast life, and of course it is +warranted. Still, if Brown should clear himself finally the thing +will come back to Dawson and even if he is guilty, it will make me +the--er--the ultimate goat. The upshot of it all will be that I +shall have to stand the blame, if not the guilt, and the only way +I can atone for my laxity in the past is by activity in catching +the real offender and perhaps by restoring to the company and the +bank whatever can yet be recovered." + +"But," asked Kennedy sympathetically, "what makes you think that +you will find your man, whoever he proves to be, in New York?" + +"I admit that it is only a very slight clue that I have," he +replied confidentially. "It is just a hint Dawson dropped once to +one of the men with whom he was confidential in the company. This +clerk told me that a long time ago Dawson said he had always +wanted to go to South America and that perhaps on his honeymoon he +might get a chance. This is the way I figured it out. You see, he +is clever and some of these South American countries have no +extradition treaties with us by which we could reach him, once he +got there." + +"Perhaps he has already arrived in one of them with his wife. What +makes you think he hasn't sailed yet?" + +"No, I don't think he has. You see, she wanted to spend a part of +the honeymoon at Atlantic City. I learned that indirectly from her +folks, who profess to know no better than we do where the couple +are. That was an additional reason why I wanted to see if by +coming to New York I might not pick up some trace of them, either +here or in Atlantic City." + +"And have you?" + +"Yes, I think I have." He handed us a letter-gram which he had +just received from Chicago. It read: "Two more checks have come in +to-day from Atlantic City and New York. They seem to be in payment +of bills, as they are for odd amounts. One is from the Lorraine at +Atlantic City and the other from the Hotel Amsterdam of New York. +They were dated the 19th and 20th." + +"You see," he resumed as we finished reading, "it is now the 23rd, +so that there is a difference of three days. He was here on the +20th. Now the next ship that he could take after the 20th sails +from Brooklyn on the 25th. If he's clever he won't board that ship +except in a disguise, for he will know that by that time some one +must be watching. Now I want you to help me penetrate that +disguise. Of course we can't arrest the whole shipload of +passengers, but if you, with your scientific knowledge, could pick +him out, then we could hold him and have breathing space to find +out whether he is guilty alone or has been working with Bolton +Brown." + +Carroll was now pacing the office with excitement as he unfolded +his scheme which meant so much for himself. + +"H--m," mused Kennedy. "I suppose Dawson was a man of exemplary +habits? They almost always are. No speculating or fast living with +him as with Brown?" + +Carroll paused in his nervous tread. "That's another thing I've +discovered. On the contrary, I think Dawson was a secret drug +fiend. I found that out after he left. In his desk at the By- +Products office we discovered hypodermic needles and a whole +outfit--morphine, I think it was. You know how cunningly a real +morphine fiend can cover up his tracks." + +Kennedy was now all attention. As the case unrolled it was +assuming one new and surprising aspect after another. + +"The lettergram would indicate that he had been stopping at the +Lorraine in Atlantic City," remarked Kennedy. + +"So I would infer, and at the Amsterdam in New York. But you can +depend on it that he has not been going under his own name nor, I +believe as far as I can find out, even under his own face. I think +the fellow has already assumed a disguise, for nowhere can I find +any description that even I could recognise." + +"Strange," murmured Kennedy. "I'll have to look into it. And only +two days in which to do it, too. You will pardon me if I excuse +myself now? There are certain aspects of the case that I hope I +shall be able to shed some light on by going at them at once." + +"You'll find Dawson clever, clever as he can be," said Carroll, +not anxious to have Kennedy go as long as he would listen to the +story which was bursting from his overwrought mind. "He was able +to cover up the checks by juggling the accounts. But that didn't +satisfy him. He was after something big. So he started in to issue +the treasury stock, forging the signatures of the president and +the treasurer, that is, my signature. Of course that sort of game +couldn't last forever. Some one was going to demand dividends on +his stock, or transfer it, or ask to have it recorded on the +books, or something that would give the whole scheme away. From +each person to whom he sold stock I believe he demanded some kind +of promise not to sell it within a certain period, and in that way +we figure that he gave himself plenty of time to realise several +hundred thousand dollars quietly. It may be that some of the +forged checks represented fake interest payments. Anyhow, he's at +the end of his rope now. We've had an exciting chase. I had +followed down several false clues before the real significance of +the hint about South America dawned on me. Now I have gone as far +as I dare with it without calling in outside assistance. I think +now We are up with him at last--with your help." + +Kennedy was anxious to go, but he paused long enough to ask +another question. "And the girl?" he broke in. "She must be in the +game or her letters to some of her friends would have betrayed +their whereabouts. What was she like?" + +"Miss Sanderson was very popular in a certain rather flashy set in +Chicago. But her folks were bounders. They lived right up to the +limit, just as Dawson did, in my opinion. Oh, you can be sure that +if a proposition like this were put up to her she'd take a chance +to get away with it. She runs no risks. She didn't do it anyhow, +and as for her part, after the fact, why, a woman is always pretty +safe--more sinned against than sinning, and all that. It's a queer +sort of honeymoon, hey?" + +"Have you any copies of the forged certificates?" asked Craig. + +"Yes, plenty of them. Since the story has been told in print they +have been pouring in. Here are several." + +He pulled several finely engraved certificates from his pocket and +Kennedy scrutinised them minutely. + +"I may keep these to study at my leisure?" he asked. + +"Certainly," replied Carroll, "and if you want any more I can wire +to Chicago for them." + +"No, these will be sufficient for the present, thank you," said +Craig. "I shall keep in touch with you and let you know the moment +anything develops." + +Our ride uptown to the laboratory was completed in silence which I +did not interrupt, for I could see that Kennedy was thinking out a +course of action. The quick pace at which he crossed the campus to +the Chemistry Building told me that he had decided on something. + +In the laboratory Craig hastily wrote a note, opened a drawer of +his desk, and selected one from a bunch of special envelopes which +he seemed to be saving for some purpose. He sealed it with some +care, and gave it to me to post immediately. It was addressed to +Dawson at the Hotel Amsterdam. + +On my return I found him deeply engrossed in the examination of +the forged shares of stock. Having talked with him more or less in +the past about handwriting I did not have to be told that he was +using a microscope to discover any erasures and that photography +both direct and by transmitted light might show something. + +"I can't see anything wrong with these documents," he remarked at +length. "They show no erasures or alterations. On their face they +look as good as the real article. Even if they are tracings they +are remarkably fine work. It certainly is a fact, however, that +they superimpose. They might all have been made from the same pair +of signatures of the president and treasurer. + +"I need hardly to say to you, Walter, that the microscope in its +various forms and with its various attachments is of great +assistance to the document examiner. Even a low magnification +frequently reveals a drawing, hesitating method of production, or +patched and reinforced strokes as well as erasures by chemicals or +by abrasion. The stereoscopic microscope, which is of value in +studying abrasions and alterations since it gives depth, in this +case tells me that there has been nothing of that sort practised. +My colour comparison microscope, which permits the comparison of +the ink on two different documents or two places on one document +at the same time, tells me something. This instrument with new and +accurately coloured glasses enables me to measure the tints of the +ink of these signatures with the greatest accuracy and I can do +what was hitherto impossible--determine how long the writing has +been on the paper. I should say it was all very recent, +approximately within the last two months or six weeks, and I +believe that whenever the stock may have been issued it at least +was all forged at the same time. + +"There isn't time now to go into the thing more deeply, but if it +becomes necessary I can go back to it with the aid of the camera +lucida and the microscopic enlarger, as well as this specially +constructed document camera with lenses certified by the +government. If it comes to a show-down I suppose I shall have to +prove my point with the micrometer measurements down to the fifty- +thousandth part of an inch. + +"There is certainly something very curious about these +signatures," he concluded. "I don't know what measurements would +show, but they are really too good. You know a forged signature +may be of two kinds--too bad or too good. These are, I believe, +tracings. If they were your signature and mine, Walter, I +shouldn't hesitate to pronounce them tracings. But there is always +some slight room for doubt in these special cases where a man sits +down and is in the habit of writing his signature over and over +again on one stock or bond after another. He may get so used to it +that he does it automatically and his signatures may come pretty +close to superimposing. If I had time, though, I think I could +demonstrate that there are altogether too many points of +similarity for these to be genuine signatures. But we've got to +act quickly in this case or not at all, and I see that if I am to +get to Atlantic City to-night I can't waste much more time here. I +wish you would keep an eye on the Hotel Amsterdam while I am gone, +Walter, and meet me here, to-morrow. I'll wire when I'll be back. +Good-bye." + +It was well along in the afternoon when Kennedy took a train for +the famous seaside resort, leaving me in New York with a roving +commission to do nothing. All that I was able to learn at the +Hotel Amsterdam was that a man with a Van Dyke beard had stung the +office with a bogus check, although he had seemed to come well +recommended. The description of the woman with him who seemed to +be his wife might have fitted either Mrs. Dawson or Adele DeMott. +The only person who had called had been a man who said he +represented the By-Products Company and was the treasurer. He had +questioned the hotel people rather closely about the whereabouts +of the couple who had paid their expenses with the worthless slip +of paper. It was not difficult to infer that this man was Carroll +who had been hot on the trail, especially as he said that he +personally would see the check paid if the hotel people would keep +a sharp watch for the return of the man who had swindled them. + +Kennedy wired as he promised and returned by an early train the +next day. + +He seemed bursting with news. "I think I'm on the trail," he +cried, throwing his grip into a corner and not waiting for me to +ask him what success he had had. "I went directly to the Lorraine +and began frankly by telling them that I represented the By- +Products Company in New York and was authorised to investigate the +bad check which they had received. They couldn't describe Dawson +very well--at least their description would have fitted almost any +one. One thing I think I did learn and that was that his disguise +must include a Van Dyke beard. He would scarcely have had time to +grow one of his own and I believe when he was last seen in Chicago +he was clean-shaven." + +"But," I objected, "men with Van Dyke beards are common enough." +Then I related my experience at the Amsterdam. + +"The same fellow," ejaculated Kennedy. "The beard seems to have +covered a multitude of sins, for while every one could recall +that, no one had a word to say about his features. However, +Walter, there's just one chance of making his identification sure, +and a peculiar coincidence it is, too. It seems that one night +this man and a lady who may have been the former Miss Sanderson, +though the description of her like most amateur descriptions +wasn't very accurate, were dining at the Lorraine. The Lorraine is +getting up a new booklet about its accommodations and a +photographer had been engaged to take a flashlight of the dining- +room for the booklet. + +"No sooner had the flash been lighted and the picture taken than a +man with a Van Dyke beard--your friend of the Amsterdam, no doubt, +Walter,--rushed up to the photographer and offered him fifty +dollars for the plate. The photographer thought at first it was +some sport who had reasons for not wishing to appear in print in +Atlantic City, as many have. The man seemed to notice that the +photographer was a little suspicious and he hastened to make some +kind of excuse about 'wanting the home folks to see how swell he +and his wife were dining in evening dress.' It was a rather lame +excuse, but the fifty dollars looked good to the photographer and +he agreed to develop the plate and turn it over with some prints +all ready for mailing the next day. The man seemed satisfied and +the photographer took another flashlight, this time with one of +the tables vacant. + +"Sure enough, the next day the man with a beard turned up for the +plate. The photographer tells me that he had it all wrapped up +ready to mail, just to call the fellow's bluff. The man was equal +to the occasion, paid the money, wrote an address on the package +which the photographer did not see, and as there was a box for +mailing packages right at the door on the boardwalk there was no +excuse for not mailing it directly. Now if I could get hold of +that plate or a print from it I could identify Dawson in his +disguise in a moment. I've started the post-office trying to trace +that package both at Atlantic City and in Chicago, where I think +it must have been mailed. I may hear from them at any moment--at +least, I hope." + +The rest of the afternoon we spent in canvassing the drug stores +in the vicinity of the Amsterdam, Kennedy's idea being that if +Dawson was a habitual morphine fiend he must have replenished his +supply of the drug in New York, particularly if he was +contemplating a long journey where it might be difficult to +obtain. + +After many disappointments we finally succeeded in finding a shop +where a man posing as a doctor had made a rather large purchase. +The name he gave was of course of no importance. What did interest +us was that again we crossed the trail of a man with a Van Dyke +beard. He had been accompanied by a woman whom the druggist +described as rather flashily dressed, though her face was hidden +under a huge hat and a veil. "Looked very attractive," as the +druggist put it, "but she might have been a negress for all I +could tell you of her face." + +"Humph," grunted Kennedy, as we were leaving the store. "You +wouldn't believe it, but it is the hardest thing in the world to +get an accurate description of any one. The psychologists have +said enough about it, but you don't realise it until you are up +against it. Why, that might have been the DeMott woman just as +well as the former Miss Sanderson, and the man might have been +Bolton Brown as well as Dawson, for all we know. They've both +disappeared now. I wish we could get some word about that +photograph. That would settle it." + +In the last mail that night Kennedy received back the letter which +he had addressed to Michael Dawson. On it was stamped "Returned to +sender. Owner not found." + +Kennedy turned the letter over slowly and looked at the back of it +carefully. + +"On the contrary," he remarked, half to himself, "the owner was +found. Only he returned the letter back to the postman after he +had opened it and found that it was just a note of no importance +which I scribbled just to see if he was keeping in touch with +things from his hiding-place, wherever it is." + +"How do you know he opened it?" I asked. + +"Do you see those blots on the back? I had several of these +envelopes prepared ready for use when I needed them. I had some +tannin placed on the flap and then covered thickly with gum. On +the envelope itself was some iron sulphate under more gum. I +carefully sealed the letter, using very little moisture. The gum +then separated the two prepared parts. Now if that letter were +steamed open the tannin and the sulphate would come together, run, +and leave a smudge. You see the blots? The inference is obvious." + +Clearly, then, our chase was getting warmer. Dawson had been in +Atlantic City at least within a few days. The fruit company +steamer to South America on which Carroll believed he was booked +to sail under an assumed name and with an assumed face was to sail +the following noon. And still we had no word from Chicago as to +the destination of the photograph, or the identity of the man in +the Van Dyke beard who had been so particular to disarm suspicion +in the purchase of the plate from the photographer a few days +before. + +The mail also contained a message from Williams of the Surety +Company with the interesting information that Bolton Brown's +attorney had refused to say where his client had gone since he had +been released on bail, but that he would be produced when wanted. +Adele DeMott had not been seen for several days in Chicago and the +police there were of the opinion that she had gone to New York, +where it would be pretty easy for her to pass unnoticed. These +facts further complicated the case and made the finding of the +photograph even more imperative. + +If we were going to do anything it must be done quickly. There was +no time to lose. The last of the fast trains for the day had left +and the photograph, even though it were found, could not possibly +reach us in time to be of use before the steamer sailed from +Brooklyn. It was an emergency such as Kennedy had never yet faced, +apparently physically insuperable. + +But, as usual, Craig was not without some resource, though it +looked impossible to me to do anything but make a hit or miss +arrest at the boat. It was late in the evening when he returned +from a conference with an officer of the Telegraph and Telephone +Company to whom Williams had given him a card of introduction. The +upshot had been that he had called up Chicago and talked for a +long time with Professor Clark, a former classmate of ours who was +now in the technology school of the university out there. Kennedy +and Clark had been in correspondence for some time, I knew, about +some technical matters, though I had no idea what it was they +concerned. + +"There's one thing we can always do," I remarked as we walked +slowly over to the laboratory from our apartment. + +"What's that?" he asked absent-mindedly, more from politeness than +anything else. + +"Arrest every one with a Van Dyke beard who goes on the boat to- +morrow," I replied. + +Kennedy smiled. "I don't feel prepared to stand a suit for false +arrest," he said simply, "especially as the victim would feel +pretty hot if we caused him to miss his boat. Men with beards are +not so uncommon, after all." + +We had reached the laboratory. Linemen were stringing wires under +the electric lights of the campus from the street to the Chemistry +Building and into Kennedy's sanctum. + +That night and far into the morning Kennedy was working in the +laboratory on a peculiarly complicated piece of mechanism +consisting of electromagnets, rolls, and a stylus and numerous +other contrivances which did not suggest to my mind anything he +had ever used before in our adventures. I killed time as best I +could watching him adjust the thing with the most minute care and +precision. Finally I came to the conclusion that as I was not +likely to be of the least assistance, even if I had been initiated +into what was afoot, I had as well retire. + +"There is one thing you can do for me in the morning, Walter," +said Kennedy, continuing to work over a delicate piece of +clockwork which formed a part of the apparatus. "In case I do not +see you then, get in touch with Williams and Carroll and have them +come here about ten o'clock with an automobile. If I am not ready +for them then I'm afraid I never shall be, and we shall have to +finish the job with the lack of finesse you suggested by arresting +all the bearded men." + +Kennedy could not have slept much during the night, for though his +bed had been slept in he was up and away before I could see him +again. I made a hurried trip downtown to catch Carroll and +Williams and then returned to the laboratory, where Craig had +evidently just finished a satisfactory preliminary test of his +machine. + +"Still no message," he began in reply to my unspoken question. He +was plainly growing restless with the inaction, though frequent +talks over long-distance with Chicago seemed to reassure him. +Thanks to the influence of Williams he had at least a direct wire +from his laboratory to the city which was now the scene of action. + +As nearly as I could gather from the one-sided conversations I +heard and the remarks which Kennedy dropped, the Chicago post- +office inspectors were still searching for a trace of the package +from Atlantic City which was to reveal the identity of the man who +had passed the bogus checks and sold the forged certificates of +stock. Somewhere in that great city was a photograph of the +promoter and of the woman who was aiding him to escape, taken in +Atlantic City and sent by mail to Chicago. Who had received it? +Would it be found in time to be of use? What would it reveal? It +was like hunting for a needle in a haystack, and yet the latest +reports seemed to encourage Kennedy with the hope that the +authorities were at last on the trail of the secret office from +which the stock had been sold. He was fuming and wishing that he +could be at both ends of the line at once. + +"Any word from Chicago yet?" appealed an anxious voice from the +doorway. + +We turned. There were Carroll and Williams who had come for us +with an automobile to go over to watch at the wharf in Brooklyn +for our man. It was Carroll who spoke. The strain of the suspense +was telling on him and I could readily imagine that he, like so +many others who had never seen Kennedy in action, had not the +faith in Craig's ability which I had seen tested so many times. + +"Not yet," replied Kennedy, still busy about his apparatus on the +table. "I suppose you have heard nothing?" + +"Nothing since my note of last night," returned Williams +impatiently. "Our detectives still insist that Bolton Brown is the +man to watch, and the disappearance of Adele DeMott at this time +certainly looks bad for him." + +"It does, I admit," said Carroll reluctantly. "What's all this +stuff on the table?" he asked, indicating the magnets, rolls, and +clockwork. + +Kennedy did not have time to reply, for the telephone bell was +tinkling insistently. + +"I've got Chicago on the wire," Craig informed us, placing his +hand over the transmitter as he waited for long-distance to make +the final connection. '"I'll try to repeat as much of the +conversation as I can so that you can follow it. Hello--yes--this +is Kennedy. Is that you, Clark? It's all arranged at this end. +How's your end of the line? Have you a good connection? Yes? My +synchroniser is working fine here, too. All right. Suppose we try +it. Go ahead." + +As Kennedy gave a few final touches to the peculiar apparatus on +the table, the cylindrical drum before us began slowly to revolve +and the stylus or needle pressed down on the sensitised paper with +which the drum was covered, apparently with varying intensity as +it turned. Round and round the cylinder revolved like a +graphophone. + +"This," exclaimed Kennedy proudly, "is the 'electric eye,' the +telelectrograph invented by Thorne Baker in England. Clark and I +have been intending to try it out for a long time. It at last +makes possible the electric transmission of photographs, using the +telephone wires because they are much better for such a purpose +than the telegraph wires." + +Slowly the needle was tracing out a picture on the paper. It was +only a thin band yet, but gradually it was widening, though we +could not guess what it was about to reveal as the ceaseless +revolutions widened the photographic print. + +"I may say," explained Kennedy as we waited breathlessly, "that +another system known as the Korn system of telegraphing pictures +has also been in use in London, Paris, Berlin, and other cities at +various times for some years. Korn's apparatus depends 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. A new field has +been opened by these inventions which are now becoming more and +more numerous, since the Korn system did the pioneering. + +"The various steps in sending a photograph by the Baker +telelectrograph are not so difficult to understand, after all. +First an ordinary photograph is taken and a negative made. Then a +print is made and a wet plate negative is printed on a sheet of +sensitised tinfoil which has been treated with a single-line +screen. You know a halftone consists of a photograph through a +screen composed of lines running perpendicular to each other--a +coarse screen for newspaper work, and a fine screen for better +work, such as in magazines. Well, in this case the screen is +composed of lines running parallel in one direction only, not +crossing at right angles. A halftone is composed of minute points, +some light, some dark. This print is composed of long shaded +lines, some parts light, others dark, giving the effect of a +picture, you understand?" + +"Yes, yes," I exclaimed, thoroughly excited. "Go on." + +"Well," he resumed as the print widened visibly, "this tinfoil +negative is wrapped around a cylinder at the other end of the line +and a stylus with a very delicate, sensitive point begins passing +over it, crossing the parallel lines at right angles, like the +other lines of a regular halftone. Whenever the point of the +stylus passes over one of the lighter spots on the photographic +print it sends on a longer electrical vibration, over the darker +spots a shorter vibration. The ever changing electrical current +passes up through the stylus, vibrates with ever varying degrees +of intensity over the thousand miles of telephone wire between +Chicago and this instrument here at the other end of the line. + +"In this receiving apparatus the current causes another stylus to +pass over a sheet of sensitised chemical paper such as we have +here. The receiving stylus passes over the paper here +synchronously with the transmitting stylus in Chicago. The +impression which each stroke of the receiving stylus makes on the +paper is black or light, according to the length of the very +quickly changing vibrations of the electric current. White spots +on the photographic print come out as black spots here on the +sensitised paper over which this stylus is passing, and vice +versa. In that way you can see the positive print growing here +before your very eyes as the picture is transmitted from the +negative which Clark has prepared and is sending from Chicago." + +As we bent over eagerly we could indeed now see what the thing was +doing. It was reproducing faithfully in New York what could be +seen by the mortal eye only in Chicago. + +"What is it?" asked Williams, still half incredulous in spite of +the testimony of his eyes. + +"It is a photograph which I think may aid us in deciding whether +it is Dawson or Brown who is responsible for the forgeries," +answered Kennedy, "and it may help us to penetrate the man's +disguise yet, before he escapes to South America or wherever he +plans to go." + +"You'll have to hurry," interposed Carroll, nervously looking at +his watch. "She sails in an hour and a half and it is a long ride +over to the pier even with a fast car." + +"The print is almost ready," repeated Kennedy calmly. "By the way, +it is a photograph which was taken at Atlantic City a few days ago +for a booklet which the Lorraine was getting out. The By-Products +forger happened to get in it and he bribed the photographer to +give him the plate and take another picture for the booklet which +would leave him out. The plate was sent to a little office in +Chicago, discovered by the post-office inspectors, where the +forged stock certificates were sold. I understood from what Clark +told me over the telephone before he started to transmit the +picture that the woman in it looked very much like Adele DeMott. +Let us see." + +The machine had ceased to revolve. Craig stripped a still wet +photograph off the telelectrograph instrument and stood regarding +it with intense satisfaction. Outside, the car which had been +engaged to hurry us over to Brooklyn waited. "Morphine fiends," +said Kennedy as he fanned the print to dry it, "are the most +unreliable sort of people. They cover their tracks with almost +diabolical cunning. In fact they seem to enjoy it. For instance, +the crimes committed by morphinists are usually against property +and character and based upon selfishness, not brutal crimes such +as alcohol and other drugs induce. Kleptomania, forgery, +swindling, are among the most common. + +"Then, too, one of the most marked phases of morphinism is the +pleasure its victims take in concealing their motives and conduct. +They have a mania for leading a double life, and enjoy the +deception and mask which they draw about themselves. Persons under +the influence of the drug have less power to resist physical and +mental impressions and they easily succumb to temptations and +suggestions from others. Morphine stands unequalled as a perverter +of the moral sense. It creates a person whom the father of lies +must recognise as kindred to himself. I know of a case where a +judge charged a jury that the prisoner, a morphine addict, was +mentally irresponsible for that reason. The judge knew what he was +talking about. It subsequently developed that he had been a secret +morphine fiend himself for years." + +"Come, come," broke in Carroll impatiently, "we're wasting time. +The ship sails in an hour and unless you want to go down the bay +on a tug you've got to catch Dawson now or never. The morphine +business explains, but it does not excuse. Come on, the car is +waiting. How long do you think it will take us to get over to---" + +"Police headquarters?" interrupted Craig. "About fifteen minutes. +This photograph shows, as I had hoped, the real forger. John +Carroll, this is a peculiar case. You have forged the name of the +president of your company, but you have also traced your own name +very cleverly to look like a forgery. It is what is technically +known as auto-forgery, forging one's own handwriting. At your +convenience we'll ride down to Centre Street directly." + +Carroll was sputtering and almost frothing at the mouth with rage +which he made no effort to suppress. Williams was hesitating, +nonplussed, until Kennedy reached over unexpectedly and grasped +Carroll by the arm. As he shoved up Carroll's sleeve he disclosed +the forearm literally covered with little punctures made by the +hypodermic needle. + +"It may interest you," remarked Kennedy, still holding Carroll in +his vise-like grip, while the drug fiend's shattered nerves caused +him to cower and tremble, "to know that a special detective +working for me has located Mr. and Mrs. Dawson at Bar Harbor, +where they are enjoying a quiet honeymoon. Brown is safely in the +custody of his counsel, ready to appear and clear himself as soon +as the public opinion which has been falsely inflamed against him +subsides. Your plan to give us the slip at the last moment at the +wharf and board the steamer for South America has miscarried. It +is now too late to catch it, but I shall send a wireless that will +cause the arrest of Miss DeMott the moment the ship touches an +American port at Colon, even if she succeeds in eluding the +British authorities at Kingston. The fact is, I don't much care +about her, anyway. Thanks to the telelectrograph here we have the +real criminal." + +Kennedy slapped down the now dry print that had come in over his +"seeing over a wire" machine. Barring the false Van Dyke beard, it +was the face of John Carroll, forger and morphine fiend. Next him +in the picture in the brilliant and fashionable dining-room of the +Lorraine was sitting Adele DeMott who had used her victim, Bolton +Brown, to shield her employer, Carroll. + + + + +IX + +THE UNOFFICIAL SPY + + +"Craig, do you see that fellow over by the desk, talking to the +night clerk?" I asked Kennedy as we lounged into the lobby of the +new Hotel Vanderveer one evening after reclaiming our hats from +the plutocrat who had acquired the checking privilege. We had +dined on the roof garden of the Vanderveer apropos of nothing at +all except our desire to become acquainted with a new hotel. + +"Yes," replied Kennedy, "what of him?" + +"He's the house detective, McBride. Would you like to meet him? +He's full of good stories, an interesting chap. I met him at a +dinner given to the President not long ago and he told me a great +yarn about how the secret service, the police, and the hotel +combined to guard the President during the dinner. You know, a big +hotel is the stamping ground for all sorts of cranks and crooks." + +The house detective had turned and had caught my eye. Much to my +surprise, he advanced to meet me. + +"Say,--er--er--Jameson," he began, at last recalling my name, +though he had seen me only once and then for only a short time. +"You're on the Star, I believe?" + +"Yes," I replied, wondering what he could want. + +"Well--er--do you suppose you could do the house a little--er-- +favour?" he asked, hesitating and dropping his voice. + +"What is it?" I queried, not feeling certain but that it was a +veiled attempt to secure a little free advertising for the +Vanderveer. "By the way, let me introduce you to my friend +Kennedy, McBride." + +"Craig Kennedy?" he whispered aside, turning quickly to me. I +nodded. + +"Mr. Kennedy," exclaimed the house man deferentially, "are you +very busy just now?" + +"Not especially so," replied Craig. "My friend Jameson was telling +me that you knew some interesting yarns about hotel detective +life. I should like to hear you tell some of them, if you are not +yourself too---" + +"Perhaps you'd rather see one instead?" interrupted the house +detective, eagerly scanning Craig's face. + +"Indeed, nothing could please me more. What is it--a 'con' man or +a hotel 'beat'?" + +McBride looked about to make sure that no one was listening. +"Neither," he whispered. "It's either a suicide or a murder. Come +upstairs with me. There isn't a man in the world I would rather +have met at this very instant, Mr. Kennedy, than yourself." + +We followed McBride into an elevator which he stopped at the +fifteenth floor. With a nod to the young woman who was the floor +clerk, the house detective led the way down the thickly carpeted +hall, stopping at a room which, we could see through the transom, +was lighted. He drew a bunch of keys from his pocket and inserted +a pass key into the lock. + +The door swung open into a sumptuously fitted sitting-room. I +looked in, half fearfully, but, although all the lights were +turned on, the room was empty. McBride crossed the room quickly, +opened a door to a bedroom, and jerked his head back with a quick +motion, signifying his desire for us to follow. + +Stretched lifeless on the white linen of the immaculate bed lay +the form of a woman, a beautiful woman she had been, too, though +not with the freshness which makes American women so attractive. +There was something artificial about her beauty, the artificiality +which hinted at a hidden story of a woman with a past. + +She was a foreigner, apparently of one of the Latin races, +although at the moment in the horror of the tragedy before us I +could not guess her nationality. It was enough for me that here +lay this cold, stony, rigid beauty, robed in the latest creations +of Paris, alone in an elegantly furnished room of an exclusive +hotel where hundreds of gay guests were dining and chatting and +laughing without a suspicion of the terrible secret only a few +feet distant from them. + +We stood awestruck for the moment. + +"The coroner ought to be here any moment," remarked McBride and +even the callousness of the regular detective was not sufficient +to hide the real feelings of the man. His practical sense soon +returned, however, and he continued, "Now, Jameson, don't you +think you could use a little influence with the newspaper men to +keep this thing off the front pages? Of course something has to be +printed about it. But we don't want to hoodoo the hotel right at +the start. We had a suicide the other day who left an apologetic +note that was played up by some of the papers. Now comes this +affair. The management are just as anxious to have the crime +cleared up as any one--if it is a crime. But can't it be done with +the soft pedal? We will stop at nothing in the way of expense-- +just so long as the name of the Vanderveer is kept in the +background. Only, I'm afraid the coroner will try to rub it in and +make the thing sensational." + +"What was her name?" asked Kennedy. "At least, under what name was +she registered?" + +"She was registered as Madame de Nevers. It is not quite a week +now since she came here, came directly from the steamer +Tripolitania. See, there are her trunks and things, all pasted +over with foreign labels, not an American label among them. I +haven't the slightest doubt that her name was fictitious, for as +far as I can see all the ordinary marks of identification have +been obliterated. It will take time to identify her at the best, +and in the meantime, if a crime has been committed, the guilty +person may escape. What I want now, right away, is action." + +"Has nothing in her actions about the hotel offered any clue, no +matter how slight?" asked Kennedy. + +"Plenty of things, replied McBride quickly. "For one thing, she +didn't speak very much English and her maid seemed to do all the +talking for her, even to ordering her meals, which were always +served here. I did notice Madame a few times about the hotel, +though she spent most of her time in her rooms. She was attractive +as the deuce, and the men all looked at her whenever she stirred +out. She never even noticed them. But she was evidently expecting +some one, for her maid had left word at the desk that if a Mr. +Gonzales called, she was at home; if any one else, she was out. +For the first day or two she kept herself closely confined, except +that at the end of the second day she took a short spin through +the park in a taxicab--closed, even in this hot weather. Where she +went I cannot say, but when they returned the maid seemed rather +agitated. At least she was a few minutes later when she came all +the way downstairs to telephone from a booth, instead of using the +room telephone. At various times the maid was sent out to execute +certain errands, but always returned promptly. Madame de Nevers +was a genuine woman of mystery, but as long as she was a quiet +mystery, I thought it no business of ours to pry into the affairs +of Madame." + +"Did she have any visitors? Did this Mr. Gonzales call?" asked +Kennedy at length. + +"She had one visitor, a woman who called and asked if a Madame de +Nevers was stopping at the hotel," answered McBride. "That was +what the clerk was telling me when I happened to catch sight of +you. He says that, obedient to the orders from the maid, he told +the visitor that Madame was not at home." + +"Who was this visitor, do you suppose?" asked Craig. "Did she +leave any card or message? Is there any clue to her?" + +The detective looked at him earnestly for a time as if he +hesitated to retail what might be merely pure gossip. + +"The clerk does not know this absolutely, but from his +acquaintance with society news and the illustrated papers he is +sure that he recognised her. He says that he feels positive that +it was Miss Catharine Lovelace." + +"The Southern heiress," exclaimed Kennedy. "Why, the papers say +that she is engaged---" + +"Exactly," cut in McBride, "the heiress who is rumoured to be +engaged to the Duc de Chateaurouge." + +Kennedy and I exchanged glances. "Yes," I added, recollecting a +remark I had heard a few days before from our society reporter on +the Star, "I believe it has been said that Chateaurouge is in this +country, incognito." + +"A pretty slender thread on which to hang an identification," +McBride hastened to remark. "Newspaper photographs are not the +best means of recognising anybody. Whatever there may be in it, +the fact remains that Madame de Nevers, supposing that to be her +real name, has been dead for at least a day or two. The first +thing to be determined is whether this is a death from natural +causes, a suicide, or a murder. After we have determined that we +shall be in a position to run down this Lovelace clue." + +Kennedy said nothing and I could not gather whether he placed +greater or less value on the suspicion of the hotel clerk. He had +been making a casual examination of the body on the bed, and +finding nothing he looked intently about the room as if seeking +some evidence of how the crime had been committed. + +To me the thing seemed incomprehensible, that without an outcry +being overheard by any of the guests a murder could have been done +in a crowded hotel in which the rooms on every side had been +occupied and people had been passing through the halls at all +hours. Had it indeed been a suicide, in spite of McBride's evident +conviction to the contrary? + +A low exclamation from Kennedy attracted our attention. Caught in +the filmy lace folds of the woman's dress he had found a few small +and thin pieces of glass. He was regarding them with an interest +that was oblivious to everything else. As he turned them over and +over and tried to fit them together they seemed to form at least a +part of what had once been a hollow globe of very thin glass, +perhaps a quarter of an inch or so in diameter. + +"How was the body discovered?" asked Craig at length, looking up +at McBride quickly. + +"Day before yesterday Madame's maid went to the cashier," repeated +the detective slowly as if rehearsing the case as much for his own +information as ours, "and said that Madame had asked her to say to +him that she was going away for a few days and that under no +circumstances was her room to be disturbed in her absence. The +maid was commissioned to pay the bill, not only for the time they +had been here, but also for the remainder of the week, when Madame +would most likely return, if not earlier. The bill was made out +and paid. + +"Since then only the chambermaid has entered this suite. The key +to that closet over in the corner was gone, and it might have +hidden its secret until the end of the week or perhaps a day or +two longer, if the chambermaid hadn't been a bit curious. She +hunted till she found another key that fitted, and opened the +closet door, apparently to see what Madame had been so particular +to lock up in her absence. There lay the body of Madame, fully +dressed, wedged into the narrow space and huddled up in a corner. +The chambermaid screamed and the secret was out." + +"And Madame de Nevers's maid? What has become of her?" asked +Kennedy eagerly. + +"She has disappeared," replied McBride. "From the moment when the +bill was paid no one about the hotel has seen her." + +"But you have a pretty good description of her, one that you could +send out in order to find her if necessary?" + +"Yes, I think I could give a pretty good description." + +Kennedy's eye encountered the curious gaze of McBride. "This may +prove to be a most unusual case," he remarked in answer to the +implied inquiry of the detective. "I suppose you have heard of the +'endormeurs' of Paris?" + +McBride shook his head in the negative. + +"It is a French word signifying a person who puts another to +sleep, the sleep makers," explained Kennedy. "They are the latest +scientific school of criminals who use the most potent, quickest- +acting stupefying drugs. Some of their exploits surpass anything +hitherto even imagined by the European police. The American police +have been officially warned of the existence of the endormeurs and +full descriptions of their methods and photographs of their +paraphernalia have been sent over here. + +"There is nothing in their repertoire so crude as chloral or +knock-out drops. All the derivatives of opium such as morphine, +codeine, heroine, dionine, narceine, and narcotine, to say nothing +of bromure d'etyle, bromoform, nitrite d'amyle, and amyline are +known to be utilised by the endormeurs to put their victims to +sleep, and the skill which they have acquired in the use of these +powerful drugs establishes them as one of the most dangerous +groups of criminals in existence. The men are all of superior +intelligence and daring; the chief requisite of the women is +extreme beauty as well as unscrupulousness. + +"They will take a little thin glass ball of one of these liquids, +for instance, hold it in a pocket handkerchief, crush it, shove it +under the nose of their victim, and--whiff!--the victim is +unconscious. But ordinarily the endormeur does not kill. He is +usually satisfied to stupefy, rob, and then leave his victim. +There is something more to this case than a mere suicide or +murder, McBride. Of course she may have committed suicide with the +drugs of the endormeurs; then again she may merely have been +rendered unconscious by those drugs and some other poison may have +been administered. Depend on it, there is something more back of +this affair than appears on the surface. Even as far as I have +gone I do not hesitate to say that we have run across the work of +one or perhaps a band of the most up-to-date and scientific +criminals." + +Kennedy had scarcely finished when McBride brought his right fist +down with a resounding smack into the palm of his left hand. + +"Say," he cried in great excitement, "here's another thing which +may or may not have some connection with the case. The evening +after Madame arrived, I happened to be walking through the cafe, +where I saw a face that looked familiar to me. It was that of a +dark-haired, olive-skinned man, a fascinating face, but a face to +be afraid of. I remembered him, I thought, from my police +experience, as a notorious crook who had not been seen in New York +for years, a man who in the old days used to gamble with death in +South American revolutions, a soldier of fortune. + +"Well, I gave the waiter, Charley, the wink and he met me in the +rear of the cafe, around a corner. You know we have a regular +system in the hotel by which I can turn all the help into amateur +sleuths. I told him to be very careful about the dark-faced man +and the younger man who was with him, to be particular to wait on +them well, and to pick up any scraps of conversation he could. + +"Charley knows his business, and the barest perceptible sign from +me makes him an obsequious waiter. Of course the dark man didn't +notice it at the time, but if he had been more observant he would +have seen that three times during his chat with his companion +Charley had wiped off his table with lingering hand. Twice he had +put fresh seltzer in his drink. Like a good waiter always working +for a big tip he had hovered near, his face blank and his eyes +unobservant. But that waiter was an important link in my chain of +protection of the hotel against crooks. He was there to listen and +to tip me off, which he did between orders. + +"There wasn't much that he overheard, but what there was of it was +so suspicious that I did not hesitate to conclude that the fellow +was an undesirable guest. It was something about the Panama Canal, +and a coaling station of a steamship and fruit concern on the +shore of one of the Latin American countries. It was, he said, in +reality to be the coaling station of a certain European power +which he did not name but which the younger man seemed to +understand. They talked of wharves and tracts of land, of +sovereignty and blue prints, the Monroe Doctrine, value in case of +war, and a lot of other things. Then they talked of money, and +though Charley was most assiduous at the time all he overheard was +something about 'ten thousand francs' and 'buying her off,' and +finally a whispered confidence of which he caught the words, 'just +a blind to get her over here, away from Paris.' Finally the dark +man in an apparent burst of confidence said something about 'the +other plans being the real thing after all,' and that the whole +affair would bring him in fifty thousand francs, with which he +could afford to be liberal. Charley could get no inkling about +what that other thing was. + +"But I felt sure that he had heard enough to warrant the belief +that some kind of confidence game was being discussed. To tell the +truth I didn't care much what it was, at the time. It might have +been an attempt of the dark-visaged fellow to sell the Canal to a +come-on. What I wanted was to have it known that the Vanderveer +was not to be a resort of such gentry as this. But I'm afraid it +was much more serious than I thought at the time. + +"Well, the dark man finally excused himself and sauntered into the +lobby and up to the desk, with me after him around the opposite +way. He was looking over the day's arrivals on the register when I +concluded that it was about time to do something. I was standing +directly beside him lighting a cigar. I turned quickly on him and +deliberately trod on the man's patent leather shoe. He faced me +furiously at not getting any apology. 'Sacre,' he exclaimed, 'what +the--' But before he could finish I moved still closer and pinched +his elbow. A dull red glow of suppressed anger spread over his +face, but he cut his words short. He knew and I knew he knew. That +is the sign in the continental hotels when they find a crook and +quietly ask him to move on. The man turned on his heel and stalked +out of the hotel. By and by the young man in the cafe, +considerably annoyed at the sudden inattention of the waiter who +acted as if he wasn't satisfied with his tip, strolled through the +lobby and not seeing his dark-skinned friend, also disappeared. I +wish to heaven I had had them shadowed. The young fellow wasn't a +come-on at all. There was something afoot between these two, mark +my words." + +"But why do you connect that incident with this case of Madame de +Nevers?" asked Kennedy, a little puzzled. + +"Because the next day, and the day that Madame's maid disappeared, +I happened to see a man bidding good-bye to a woman at the rear +carriage entrance of the hotel. The woman was Madame's maid and +the man was the dark man who had been seated in the cafe." + +"You said a moment ago that you had a good description of the maid +or could write one. Do you think you could locate her?" + +The hotel detective thought a minute or two. "If she has gone to +any of the other hotels in this city, I could," he answered +slowly. "You know we have recently formed a sort of clearing +house, we hotel detectives, and we are working together now very +well, though secretly. It is barely possible that she has gone to +another hotel. The very brazenness of that would be its safeguard, +she might think." + +"Then I can leave that part of it to you, McBride?" asked Kennedy +thoughtfully as if laying out a programme of action in his mind. +"You will set the hotel detectives on the trail as well as the +police of the city, and of other cities, will make the inquiries +at the steamships and railroads, and all that sort of thing? Try +to find some trace of the two men whom you saw in the cafe at the +same time. But for the present I should say spare no effort to +locate that girl." + +"Trust it to me," agreed McBride confidently. + +A heavy tap sounded at the door and McBride opened it. It was the +coroner. + +I shall not go into the lengthy investigation which the coroner +conducted, questioning one servant and employee after another +without eliciting any more real information than we had already +obtained so concisely from the house man. The coroner was, of +course, angry at the removal of the body from the closet to the +bed because he wanted to view it in the position in which it had +been found, but as that had been done by the servants before +McBride could stop them, there was nothing to do about it but +accept the facts. + +"A very peculiar case," remarked the coroner at the conclusion of +his examination, with the air of a man who could shed much light +on it from his wide experience if he chose. "There is just one +point that we shall have to clear up, however. What was the cause +of the death of the deceased? There is no gas in the room. It +couldn't have been illuminating gas, then. No, it must have been a +poison of some kind. Then as to the motive," he added, trying to +look confident but really shooting a tentative remark at Craig and +the house detective, who said nothing. "It looks a good deal like +that other suicide--at least a suicide which some one has +endeavoured to conceal," he added, hastily recollecting the manner +in which the body had been found and his criticisms of the removal +from the closet. "Didn't I tell you?" rejoined McBride dolefully +after we had left the coroner downstairs a few minutes later. "I +knew he would think the hotel was hiding something from him." + +"We can't help what he thinks--yet," remarked Craig. "All we can +do is to run down the clues which we have. I will leave the maid +to be found by your organisation, McBride. Let me see, the +theatres and roof gardens must be letting out by this time. I will +see if I can get any information from Miss Lovelace. Find her +address, Walter, and call a cab." + +The Southern heiress, who had attracted more attention by her +beauty than by her fortune which was only moderate as American +fortunes go nowadays, lived in an apartment facing the park, with +her mother, a woman whose social ambitions it was commonly known +had no bounds and were often sadly imposed upon. + +Fortunately we arrived at the apartment not very many minutes +after the mother and daughter, and although it was late, Kennedy +sent up his card with an urgent message to see them. They received +us in a large drawing-room and were plainly annoyed by our visit, +though that of course was susceptible of a natural interpretation. + +"What is it that you wished to see me about?" began Mrs. Lovelace +in a tone which was intended to close the interview almost before +it was begun. + +Kennedy had not wished to see her about anything, but of course he +did not even hint as much in his reply which was made to her but +directed at Miss Lovelace. + +"Could you tell me anything about a Madame de Nevers who was +staying at the Vanderveer?" asked Craig, turning quickly to the +daughter so as to catch the full effect of his question, and then +waiting as if expecting the answer from her. + +The young lady's face blanched slightly and she seemed to catch +her breath for an instant, but she kept her composure admirably in +spite of the evident shock of Craig's purposely abrupt question. + +"I have heard of her," Miss Lovelace replied with forced calmness +as he continued to look to her for an answer. "Why do you ask?" + +"Because a woman who is supposed to be Madame de Nevers has +committed suicide at the Vanderveer and it was thought that +perhaps you could identify her." + +By this time she had become perfect mistress of herself again, +from which I argued that whatever knowledge she had of Madame was +limited to the time before the tragedy. + +"I, identify her? Why, I never saw her. I simply know that such a +creature exists." + +She said it defiantly and with an iciness which showed more +plainly than in mere words that she scorned even an acquaintance +with a demi-mondaine. + +"Do you suppose the Duc de Chateaurouge would be able to identify +her? "asked Kennedy mercilessly. "One moment, please," he added, +anticipating the blank look of amazement on her face. "I have +reason to believe that the duke is in this country incognito--is +he not?" + +Instead of speaking she merely raised her shoulders a fraction of +an inch. + +"Either in New York or in Washington," pursued Kennedy. + +"Why do you ask me?" she said at length. "Isn't it enough that +some of the newspapers have said so? If you see it in the +newspapers, it's so--perhaps--isn't it?" + +We were getting nowhere in this interview, at least so I thought. +Kennedy cut it short, especially as he noted the evident +restlessness of Mrs. Lovelace. However, he had gained his point. +Whether or not the duke was in New York or Washington or +Spitzbergen, he now felt sure that Miss Lovelace knew of, and +perhaps something about, Madame de Nevers. In some way the dead +woman had communicated with her and Miss Lovelace had been the +woman whom the hotel clerk had seen at the Vanderveer. We withdrew +as gracefully as our awkward position permitted. + +As there was nothing else to be done at that late hour, Craig +decided to sleep soundly over the case, his infallible method of +taking a fresh start after he had run up a cul-de-sac. + +Imagine our surprise in the morning at being waited on by the +coroner himself, who in a few words explained that he was far from +satisfied with the progress his own office was making with the +case. + +"You understand," he concluded after a lengthy statement of +confession and avoidance, "we have no very good laboratory +facilities of our own to carry out the necessary chemical, +pathological, and bacteriological investigations in cases of +homicide and suicide. We are often forced to resort to private +laboratories, as you know in the past when I have had to appeal to +you. Now, Professor Kennedy, if we might turn over that research +part of the case to you, sir, I will engage to see that a +reasonable bill for your professional services goes through the +office of my friend the city comptroller promptly." + +Craig snapped at the opportunity, though he did not allow the +coroner to gain that impression. + +"Very well," agreed that official, "I shall see that all the +necessary organs for a thorough test as to the cause of the death +of this woman are sent up to the Chemistry Building right away." + +The coroner was as good as his word, and we had scarcely +breakfasted and arrived at Craig's scientific workshop before that +official appeared, accompanied by a man who carried in uncanny +jars the necessary materials for an investigation following an +autopsy. + +Kennedy was now in his element. The case had taken an unexpected +turn which made him a leading factor in its solution. Whatever +suspicions he may have entertained unofficially the night before +he could now openly and quickly verify. + +He took a little piece of lung tissue and with a sharp sterilised +knife cut it up. Then he made it slightly alkaline with a little +sodium carbonate, talking half to us and half to himself as he +worked. The next step was to place the matter in a glass flask in +a water bath where it was heated. From the flask a Bohemian glass +tube led into a cool jar and on a part of the tube a flame was +playing which heated it to redness for two or three inches. + +Several minutes we waited in silence. Finally when the process had +gone far enough, Kennedy took a piece of paper which had been +treated with iodised starch, as he later explained. He plunged the +paper into the cool jar. Slowly it turned a strong blue tint. + +Craig said nothing, but it was evident that he was more than +gratified by what had happened. He quickly reached for a bottle on +the shelves before him, and I could see from the label on the +brown glass that it was nitrate of silver. As he plunged a little +in a test-tube into the jar a strong precipitate was gradually +formed. + +"It is the decided reaction for chloroform," he exclaimed simply +in reply to our unspoken questions. + +"Chloroform," repeated the coroner, rather doubtfully, and it was +evident that he had expected a poison and had not anticipated any +result whatever from an examination of the lungs instead of the +stomach to which he had confined his own work so far. "Could +chloroform be discovered in the lungs or viscera after so many +days? There was one famous chloroform case for which a man is now +serving a life term in Sing Sing which I have understood there was +grave doubt in the minds of the experts. Mind, I am not trying to +question the results of your work except as they might naturally +be questioned in court. It seems to me that the volatility of +chloroform might very possibly preclude its discovery after a +short time. Then again, might not other substances be generated in +a dead body which would give a reaction very much like chloroform? +We must consider all these questions before we abandon the poison +theory, sir. Remember, this is the summer time too, and chloroform +would evaporate very much more rapidly now than in winter." + +Kennedy smiled, but his confidence remained unshaken. + +"I am in a position to meet all of your objections," he explained +simply. "I think I could lay it down as a rule that by proper +methods chloroform may be discovered in the viscera much longer +after death than is commonly supposed--in summer from six days to +three weeks, with a practical working range of say twelve days, +while in winter it may be found even after several months--by the +right method. Certainly this case comes within the average length +of time. More than that, no substance is generated by the process +of decomposition which will vitiate the test for chloroform which +I have just made. Chloroform has an affinity for water and is also +a preservative, and hence from all these facts I think it safe to +conclude that sometimes traces of it may be found for two weeks +after its administration, certainly for a few days." + +"And Madame de Nevers?" queried the coroner, as if the turn of +events was necessitating a complete reconstruction of his theory +of the case. + +"Was murdered," completed Kennedy in a tone that left nothing more +to be said on the subject. + +"But," persisted the coroner, "if she was murdered by the use of +chloroform, how do you account for the fact that it was done +without a struggle? There were no marks of violence and I, for +one, do not believe that under ordinary circumstances any one will +passively submit to such an administration without a hard fight." + +From his pocket Kennedy drew a small pasteboard box filled with +tiny globes, some bonbons and lozenges, a small hypodermic +syringe, and a few cigars and cigarettes. He held it out in the +palm of his hand so that we could see it. + +"This," he remarked, "is the standard equipment of the endormeur. +Whoever obtained admittance to Madame's rooms, either as a matter +of course or secretly, must have engaged her in conversation, +disarmed suspicion, and then suddenly she must have found a pocket +handkerchief under her nose. The criminal crushed a globe of +liquid in the handkerchief, the victim lost consciousness, the +chloroform was administered without a struggle, all marks of +identification were obliterated, the body was placed in the +closet, and the maid--either as principal or accessory--took the +most likely means of postponing discovery by paying the bill in +advance at the office, and then disappeared." + +Kennedy slipped the box back into his pocket. The coroner had, I +think, been expecting Craig's verdict, although he was loath to +abandon his own suicide theory and had held it to the last +possible moment. At any rate, so far he had said little, +apparently preferring to keep his own counsel as to his course of +action and to set his own machinery in motion. + +He drew a note from his pocket, however. "I suppose," he began +tentatively, shaking the note as he glanced doubtfully from it to +us, "that you have heard that among the callers on this +unfortunate woman was a lady of high social position in this +city?" + +"I have heard a rumour to that effect," replied Kennedy as he +busied himself cleaning up the apparatus he had just used. There +was nothing in his manner even to hint at the fact that we had +gone further and interviewed the young lady in question. + +"Well," resumed the coroner, "in view of what you have just +discovered I don't mind telling you that I believe it was more +than a rumour. I have had a man watching the woman and this is a +report I received just before I came up here." + +We read the note which he now handed to us. It was just a hasty +line: "Miss Lovelace left hurriedly for Washington this morning." + +What was the meaning of it? Clearly, as we probed deeper into the +case, its ramifications grew wider than anything we had yet +expected. Why had Miss Lovelace gone to Washington, of all places, +at this torrid season of the year? + +The coroner had scarcely left us, more mystified than ever, when a +telephone message came from McBride saying that he had some +important news for us if we would meet him at the St. Cenis Hotel +within an hour. He would say nothing about it over the wire. + +As Kennedy hung up the receiver he quietly took a pistol from a +drawer of his desk, broke it quickly, and looked thoughtfully at +the cartridges in the cylinder. Then he snapped it shut and stuck +it into his pocket. + +"There's no telling what we may run up against before we get back +to the laboratory," he remarked and we rode down to meet McBride. + +The description which the house man had sent out to the other +hotel detectives the night before had already produced a result. +Within the past two days a man answering the description of the +younger man whom McBride had seen in the cafe and a woman who +might very possibly have been Madame's maid had come to the St. +Cenis as M. and Mme. Duval. Their baggage was light, but they had +been at pains to impress upon the hotel that they were persons of +some position and that it was going direct from the railroad to +the steamer, after their tour of America. They had, as a matter of +fact, done nothing to excite suspicion until the general request +for information had been received. + +The house man of the St. Cenis welcomed us cordially upon +McBride's introduction and agreed to take us up to the rooms of +the strange couple if they were not in. As it happened it was the +lunch hour and they were not in the room. Still, Kennedy dared not +be too particular in his search of their effects, for he did not +wish to arouse suspicion upon their return, at least not yet. + +"It seems to me, Craig," I suggested after we had nosed about for +a few minutes, finding nothing, "that this is pre-eminently a case +in which to use the dictograph as you did in that Black Hand +case." + +He shook his head doubtfully, although I could see that the idea +appealed to him. "The dictograph has been getting too much +publicity lately," he said. "I'm afraid they would discover it, +that is, if they are at all the clever people I think them. +Besides, I would have to send up to the laboratory to get one and +by the time the messenger returned they might be back from lunch. +No, we've got to do something else, and do it quickly." + +He was looking about the room in an apparently aimless manner. On +the side wall hung a cheap etching of a woodland scene. Kennedy +seemed engrossed in it while the rest of us fidgeted at the delay. + +"Can you get me a couple of old telephone instruments?" he asked +at length, turning to us and addressing the St. Cenis detective. + +The detective nodded and disappeared down the hall. A few minutes +later he deposited the instruments on a table. Where he got them I +do not know, but I suspect he simply lifted them from vacant +rooms. + +"Now some Number 30 copper wire and a couple of dry cells," +ordered Kennedy, falling to work immediately on the telephones. +The detective despatched a bellboy down to the basement to get the +wire from the house electrician. + +Kennedy removed the transmitters of the telephones, and taking the +carbon capsules from them placed the capsules on the table +carefully. Then he lifted down the etching from the wall and laid +it flat on its face before us. Quickly he removed the back of the +picture. + +Pressing the transmitter fronts with the carbon capsules against +the paper and the glass on the picture he mounted them so that the +paper and glass acted as a large diaphragm to collect all the +sounds in the room. + +"The size of this glass diaphragm," he explained as we gathered +around in intense interest at what he was doing, "will produce a +strikingly sensitive microphone action and the merest whisper will +be reproduced with startling distinctness." + +The boy brought the wire up and also the news that the couple in +whose room we were had very nearly finished luncheon and might be +expected back in a few minutes. + +Kennedy took the tiny wires, and after connecting them hung up the +picture again and ran them up alongside the picture wires leading +from the huge transmitter up to the picture moulding. Along the +top of the moulding and out through the transom it was easy enough +to run the wires and so down the hall to a vacant room, where +Craig attached them quickly to one of the old telephone receivers. + +Then we sat down in this room to await developments from our +hastily improvised picture frame microphone detective. + +At last we could hear the elevator door close on our floor. A +moment later it was evident from the expression of Kennedy's face +that some one had entered the room which we had just left. He had +finished not a moment too soon. + +"It's a good thing that I didn't wait to put a dictograph there," +he remarked to us. "I thought I wasn't reckoning without reason. +The couple, whoever they are, are talking in undertones and +looking about the room to see if anything has been disturbed in +their absence." + +Kennedy alone, of course, could follow over his end of the +telephone what they said. The rest of us could do nothing but +wait, but from notes which Craig jotted down as he listened to the +conversation I shall reproduce it as if we had all heard it. There +were some anxious moments until at last they had satisfied +themselves that no one was listening and that no dictograph or +other mechanical eavesdropper, such as they had heard of, was +concealed in the furniture or back of it. + +"Why are you so particular, Henri?" a woman's voice was saying. + +"Louise, I've been thinking for a long time that we are surrounded +by spies in these hotels. You remember I told you what happened at +the Vanderveer the night you and Madame arrived? I'm sure that +waiter overheard what Gonzales and I were talking about." + +"Well, we are safe now anyhow. What was it that you would not tell +me just now at luncheon?" asked the woman, whom Kennedy recognised +as Madame de Nevers's maid. + +"I have a cipher from Washington. Wait until I translate it." + +There was a pause. "What does it say?" asked the woman +impatiently. + +"It says," repeated the man slowly, "that Miss Lovelace has gone +to Washington. She insists on knowing whether the death of Marie +was a suicide or not. Worse than that the Secret Service must have +wind of some part of our scheme, for they are acting suspiciously. +I must go down there or the whole affair may be exposed and fall +through. Things could hardly be worse, especially this sudden move +on her part." + +"Who was that detective who forced his way to see her the night +they discovered Marie's body?" asked the woman. "I hope that that +wasn't the Secret Service also. Do you think they could have +suspected anything?" + +"I hardly think so," the man replied. "Beyond the death of Madame +they suspect nothing here in New York, I am convinced. You are +sure that all her letters were secured, that all clues to connect +her with the business in hand were destroyed, and particularly +that the package she was to deliver is safe?" + +"The package? You mean the plans for the coaling station on the +Pacific near the Canal? You see, Henri, I know." + +"Ha, ha,--yes," replied the man. "Louise, shall I tell you a +secret? Can you keep it?" + +"You know I can, Henri." + +"Well, Louise, the scheme is deeper than even you think. We are +playing one country against another, America against--you know the +government our friend Schmidt works for in Paris. Now, listen. +Those plans of the coaling station are a fake--a fake. It is just +a commercial venture. No nation would be foolish enough to attempt +such a thing, yet. We know that they are a fake. But we are going +to sell them through that friend of ours in the United States War +Department. But that is only part of the coup, the part that will +give us the money to turn the much larger coups we have in the +future. You can understand why it has all to be done so secretly +and how vexatious it is that as soon as one obstacle is overcome a +dozen new ones appear. Louise, here is the big secret. By using +those fake plans as a bait we are going to obtain something which +when we all return to Paris we can convert into thousands of +francs. There, I can say no more. But I have told you so much to +impress upon you the extreme need of caution." + +"And how much does Miss Lovelace know?" + +"Very little--I hope. That is why I must go to Washington myself. +She must know nothing of this coup nor of the real de Nevers, or +the whole scheme may fall through. It would have fallen through +before, Louise, if you had failed us and had let any of de +Nevers's letters slip through to Miss Lovelace. She richly +deserved her fate for that act of treachery. The affair would have +been so simple, otherwise. Luck was with us until her insane +jealousy led her to visit Miss Lovelace. It was fortunate the +young lady was out when Madame called on her or all would have +been lost. Ah, we owe you a great deal, Louise, and we shall not +forget it, never. You will be very careful while I am gone?" + +"Absolutely. When will you return to me, Henri?" + +"To-morrow morning at the latest. This afternoon the false coaling +station plans are to be turned over to our accomplice in the War +Department and in exchange he is to give us something else--the +secret of which I spoke. You see the trail leads up into high +circles. It is very much more important than you suppose and +discovery might lead to a dangerous international complication +just now." + +"Then you are to meet your friend in Washington to-night? When do +you start, Henri? Don't let the time slip by. There must be no +mistake this time as there was when we were working for Japan and +almost had the blue prints of Corregidor at Manila only to lose +them on the streets of Calcutta." + +"Trust me. We are to meet about nine o'clock and therefore I leave +on the limited at three-thirty, in about an hour. From the station +I am going straight to the house on Z Street--let me see, the +cipher says the number is 101--and ask for a man named Gonzales. I +shall use the name Montez. He is to appear, hand over the package- +-that thing I have told you about--then I am to return here by one +of the midnight trains. At any cost we must allow nothing to +happen which will reach the ears of Miss Lovelace. I'll see you +early to-morrow morning, ma cherie, and remember, be ready, for +the Aquitania sails at ten. The division of the money is to be +made in Paris. Then we shall all go our separate ways." + +Kennedy was telephoning frantically through the regular hotel +service to find out how the trains ran for Washington. The only +one that would get there before nine was the three-thirty; the +next, leaving an hour later, did not arrive until nearly eleven. +He had evidently had some idea of causing some delay that would +result in our friend down the hall missing the limited, but +abandoned it. Any such scheme would simply result in a message to +the gang in Washington putting them on their guard and defeating +his purpose. + +"At all costs we must beat this fellow to it," exclaimed Craig, +waiting to hear no more over his improvised dictograph. "Come, +Walter, we must catch the limited for Washington immediately. +McBride, I leave you and the regular house man to shadow this +woman. Don't let her get out of your sight for a moment." + +As we rode across the city to the new railroad terminus Craig +hastily informed me of what he had overheard. We took up our post +so that we could see the outgoing travellers, and a few minutes +later Craig spotted our man from McBride's description, and +succeeded in securing chairs in the same car in which he was to +ride. + +Taken altogether it was an uneventful journey. For five mortal +hours we sat in the Pullman or toyed with food in the dining-car, +never letting the man escape our sight, yet never letting him know +that we were watching him. Nevertheless I could not help asking +myself what good it did. Why did not Kennedy hire a special if the +affair was so important as it appeared? How were we to get ahead +of him in Washington better than in New York? I knew that some +plan lurked behind the calm and inscrutable face of Kennedy as I +tried to read and could not. + +The train had come to a stop in the Union Station. Our man was +walking rapidly up the platform in the direction of the cab stand. +Suddenly Kennedy darted ahead and for a moment we were walking +abreast of him. + +"I beg your pardon," began Craig as we came to a turn in the +shadow of the arc lights, "but have you a match?" + +The man halted and fumbled for his match-box. Instantly Kennedy's +pocket handkerchief was at his nose. + +"Some of the medicine of your own gang of endormeurs," ground out +Kennedy, crushing several of the little glass globes under his +handkerchief to make doubly sure of their effect. + +The man reeled and would have fallen if we had not caught him +between us. Up the platform we led him in a daze. + +"Here," shouted Craig to a cabman, "my friend is ill. Drive us +around a bit. It will sober him up. Come on, Walter, jump in, the +air will do us all good." + +Those who were in Washington during that summer will remember the +suppressed activity in the State, War, and Navy Departments on a +certain very humid night. Nothing leaked out at the time as to the +cause, but it was understood later that a crisis was narrowly +averted at a very inopportune season, for the heads of the +departments were all away, the President was at his summer home in +the North, and even some of the under-secretaries were out of +town. Hasty messages had been sizzling over the wires in cipher +and code for hours. + +I recall that as we rode a little out of our way past the Army +Building, merely to see if there was any excitement, we found it a +blaze of lights. Something was plainly afoot even at this usually +dull period of the year. There was treachery of some kind and some +trusted employee was involved, I felt instinctively. As for Craig +he merely glanced at the insensible figure between us and remarked +sententiously that to his knowledge there was only one nation that +made a practice of carrying out its diplomatic and other coups in +the hot weather, a remark which I understood to mean that our +mission was more than commonly important. + +The man had not recovered when we arrived within several blocks of +our destination, nor did he show signs of recovery from his +profound stupor. Kennedy stopped the cab in a side street, pressed +a bill into the cabman's hand, and bade him wait until we +returned. + +We had turned the corner of Z Street and were approaching the +house when a man walking in the opposite direction eyed us +suspiciously, turned, and followed us a step or two. + +"Kennedy!" he exclaimed. + +If a fourteen-inch gun had exploded behind us I could not have +been more startled. Here, in spite of all our haste and secrecy we +were followed, watched, and beaten. + +Craig wheeled about suddenly. Then he took the man by the arm. +"Come," he said quickly, and we three dove into the shadow of an +alley. + +As we paused, Kennedy was the first to speak. "By Jove, Walter, +it's Burke of the Secret Service," he exclaimed. + +"Good," repeated the man with some satisfaction. "I see that you +still have that memory for faces." He was evidently referring to +our experiences together some months before with the portrait +parle and identification in the counterfeiting case which Craig +cleared up for him. + +For a moment or two Burke and Kennedy spoke in whispers. Under the +dim light from the street I could see Kennedy's face intent and +working with excitement. + +"No wonder the War Department is a blaze of lights," he exclaimed +as we moved out of the shadow again, leaving the Secret Service +man. "Burke, I had no idea when I took up this case that I should +be doing my country a service also. We must succeed at any hazard. +The moment you hear a pistol shot, Burke, we shall need you. Force +the door if it is not already open. You were right as to the +street but not the number. It is that house over there. Come on, +Walter." + +We mounted the low steps of the house and a negress answered the +bell. "Is Mr. Gonzales in?" asked Kennedy. + +The hallway into which we were admitted was dark but it opened +into a sitting-room, where a dim light was burning behind the +thick portieres. Without a word the negress ushered us into this +room, which was otherwise empty. + +"Tell him Mr. Montez is here," added Craig as we sat down. + +The negress disappeared upstairs, and in a few minutes returned +with the message that he would be down directly. + +No sooner had the shuffle of her footsteps died away than Kennedy +was on his feet, listening intently at the door. There was no +sound. He took a chair and tiptoed out into the dark hall with it. +Turning it upside down he placed it at the foot of the stairs with +the four legs pointing obliquely up. Then he drew me into a corner +with him. + +How long we waited I cannot say. The next I knew was a muffled +step on the landing above, then the tread on the stairs. + +A crash and a deep volley of oaths in French followed as the man +pitched headlong over the chair on the dark steps. + +Kennedy whipped out his revolver and fired pointblank at the +prostrate figure. I do not know what the ethics are of firing on a +man when he is down, nor did I have time to stop to think. + +Craig grasped my arm and pulled me toward the door. A sickening +odour seemed to pervade the air. Upstairs there was shouting and +banging of doors. + +"Closer, Walter," he muttered, "closer to the door, and open it a +little, or we shall both be suffocated. It was the Secret Service +gun I shot off--the pistol that shoots stupefying gas from its +vapour-filled cartridges and enables you to put a criminal out of +commission without killing him. A pull of the trigger, the cap +explodes, the gunpowder and the force of the explosion unite some +capsicum and lycopodium, producing the blinding, suffocating +vapour whose terrible effect you see. Here, you upstairs," he +shouted, "advance an inch or so much as show your heads over the +rail and I pump a shot at you, too. Walter, take the gun yourself. +Fire at a move from them. I think the gases have cleared away +enough now. I must get him before he recovers consciousness." + +A tap at the door came, and without taking my eyes off the stairs +I opened it. Burke slid in and gulped at the nauseous atmosphere. + +"What's up?" he gasped. "I heard a shot. Where's Kennedy?" + +I motioned in the darkness. Kennedy's electric bull's-eye flashed +up at that instant and we saw him deftly slip a bright pair of +manacles on the wrists of the man on the floor, who was breathing +heavily, while blood flowed from a few slight cuts due to his +fall. + +Dexterously as a pickpocket Craig reached into the man's coat, +pulled out a packet of papers, and gazed eagerly at one after +another. From among them he unfolded one written in French to +Madame Marie de Nevers some weeks before. I translate: + +DEAR MARIE: Herr Schmidt informs me that his agent in the War +Department at Washington, U. S. A., has secured some important +information which will interest the Government for which Herr +Schmidt is the agent--of course you know who that is. + +It is necessary that you should carry the packet which will be +handed to you (if you agree to my proposal) to New York by the +steamer Tripolitania. Go to the Vandeveer Hotel and in a few days, +as soon as a certain exchange can be made, either our friend in +Washington or myself will call on you, using the name Gonzales. In +return for the package which you carry he will hand you another. +Lose no time in bringing the second package back to Paris. + +I have arranged that you will receive ten thousand francs and your +expenses for your services in this matter. Under no conditions +betray your connection with Herr Schmidt. I was to have carried +the packet to America myself and make the exchange but knowing +your need of money I have secured the work for you. You had better +take your maid, as it is much better to travel with distinction in +this case. If, however, you accept this commission I shall +consider you in honour bound to surrender your claim upon my name +for which I agree to pay you fifty thousand francs upon my +marriage with the American heiress of whom you know. Please let me +know immediately through our mutual friend Henri Duval whether +this proposal is satisfactory. Henri will tell you that fifty +thousand is my ultimatum, + +CHATEAUROUGE. + +"The scoundrel," ground out Kennedy. "He lured his wife from Paris +to New York, thinking the Paris police too acute for him, I +suppose. Then by means of the treachery of the maid Louise and his +friend Duval, a crook who would even descend to play the part of +valet for him and fall in love with the maid, he has succeeded in +removing the woman who stood between him and an American fortune." + +"Marie," rambled Chateaurouge as he came blinking, sneezing, and +choking out of his stupor, "Marie, you are clever, but not too +clever for me. This blackmailing must stop. Miss Lovelace knows +something, thanks to you, but she shall never know all--never-- +never. You--you--ugh!--Stop. Do you think you can hold me back now +with those little white hands on my wrists? I wrench them loose-- +so--and--ugh!--What's this? Where am I?" + +The man gazed dazedly at the manacles that held his wrists instead +of the delicate hands he had been dreaming of as he lived over the +terrible scene of his struggle with the woman who was his wife in +the Vanderveer. + +"Chateaurouge," almost hissed Kennedy in his righteous wrath, +"fake nobleman, real swindler of five continents. Marie de Nevers +alive stood in the way of your marriage to the heiress Miss +Lovelace. Dead, she prevents it absolutely." + +Craig continued to turn over the papers in his hand, as he spoke. +At last he came to a smaller packet in oiled silk. As he broke the +seal he glanced at it in surprise, then hurriedly exclaimed, +"There, Burke. Take these to the War Department and tell them they +can turn out their lights and stop their telegrams. This seems to +be a copy of our government's plans for the fortification of the +Panama Canal, heights of guns, location of searchlights, fire +control stations, everything from painstaking search of official +and confidential records. That is what this fellow obtained in +exchange for his false blue prints of the supposed coaling station +on the Pacific. + +"I leave the Secret Service to find the leak in the War +Department. What I am interested in is not the man who played spy +for two nations and betrayed one of them. To me this adventurer +who calls himself Chateaurouge is merely the murderer of Madame de +Nevers." + + + + +X + +THE SMUGGLER + + +It was a rather sultry afternoon in the late summer when people +who had calculated by the calendar rather than by the weather were +returning to the city from the seashore, the mountains, and +abroad. + +Except for the week-ends, Kennedy and I had been pretty busy, +though on this particular day there was a lull in the succession +of cases which had demanded our urgent attention during the +summer. + +We had met at the Public Library, where Craig was doing some +special research at odd moments in criminology. Fifth Avenue was +still half deserted, though the few pedestrians who had returned +or remained in town like ourselves were, as usual, to be found +mostly on the west side of the street. Nearly everybody, I have +noticed, walks on the one side of Fifth Avenue, winter or summer. + +As we stood on the corner waiting for the traffic man's whistle to +halt the crush of automobiles, a man on the top of a 'bus waved to +Kennedy. + +I looked up and caught a glimpse of Jack Herndon, an old college +mate, who had had some political aspirations and had recently been +appointed to a position in the customs house of New York. Herndon, +I may add, represented the younger and clean-cut generation which +is entering official life with great advantage to both themselves +and politics. + +The 'bus pulled up to the curb, and Jack tore down the breakneck +steps hurriedly. + +"I was just thinking of you, Craig," he beamed as we all shook +hands, "and wondering whether you and Walter were in town. I think +I should have come up to see you to-night, anyhow." + +"Why, what's the matter--more sugar frauds?" laughed Kennedy. "Or +perhaps you have caught another art dealer red-handed?" + +"No, not exactly," replied Herndon, growing graver for the moment. +"We're having a big shake-up down at the office, none of your 'new +broom' business, either. Real reform it is, this time." + +"And you--are you going or coming?" inquired Craig with an +interested twinkle. + +"Coming, Craig, coming," answered Jack enthusiastically. "They've +put me in charge of a sort of detective force as a special deputy +surveyor to rout out some smuggling that we know is going on. If I +make good it will go a long way for me--with all this talk of +efficiency and economy down in Washington these days." + +"What's on your mind now?" asked Kennedy observantly. "Can I help +you in any way?" + +Herndon had taken each of us by an arm and walked us over to a +stone bench in the shade of the library building. + +"You have read the accounts in the afternoon papers of the +peculiar death of Mademoiselle Violette, the little French +modiste, up here on Forty-sixth Street?" he inquired. + +"Yes," answered Kennedy. "What has that to do with customs +reform?" + +"A good deal, I fear," Herndon continued. "It's part of a case +that has been bothering us all summer. It's the first really big +thing I've been up against and it's as ticklish a bit of business +as even a veteran treasury agent could wish." + +Herndon looked thoughtfully at the passing crowd on the other side +of the balustrade and continued. "It started, like many of our +cases, with the anonymous letter writer. Early in the summer the +letters began to come in to the deputy surveyor's office, all +unsigned, though quite evidently written in a woman's hand, +disguised of course, and on rather dainty notepaper. They warned +us of a big plot to smuggle gowns and jewellery from Paris. +Smuggling jewellery is pretty common because jewels take up little +space and are very valuable. Perhaps it doesn't sound to you like +a big thing to smuggle dresses, but when you realise that one of +those filmy lacy creations may often be worth several hundred, if +not thousand, dollars, and that it needs only a few of them on +each ship that comes in to run up into the thousands, perhaps +hundreds of thousands in a season, you will see how essential it +is to break up that sort of thing. We've been getting after the +individual private smugglers pretty sharply this summer and we've +had lots of criticism. If we could land a big fellow and make an +object-lesson of the extent of the thing I believe it would leave +our critics of the press without a leg to stand on. + +"At least that was why I was interested in the letters. But it was +not until a few days ago that we got a tip that gave us a real +working clue, for the anonymous letters had been very vague as to +names, dates, and places, though bold enough as to general +charges, as if the writer were fearful of incriminating herself-- +or himself. Strange to say, this new clue came from the wife of +one of the customs men. She happened to be in a Broadway manicure +shop one day when she heard a woman talking with the manicurist +about fall styles, and she was all attention when she heard the +customer say, 'You remember Mademoiselle Violette's--that place +that had the exquisite things straight from Paris, and so cheaply, +too? Well, Violette says she'll have to raise her prices so that +they will be nearly as high as the regular stores. She says the +tariff has gone up, or something, but it hasn't, has it?' + +"The manicurist laughed knowingly, and the next remark caught the +woman's attention. 'No, indeed. But then, I guess she meant that +she had to pay the duty now. You know they are getting much +stricter. To tell the truth, I imagine most of Violette's goods +were--well--' + +"'Smuggled?' supplied the customer in an undertone. + +"The manicurist gave a slight shrug of the shoulders and a bright +little yes of a laugh. + +"That was all. But it was enough. I set a special customs officer +to watch Mademoiselle, a clever fellow. He didn't have time to +find out much, but on the other hand I am sure he didn't do +anything to alarm Mademoiselle. That would have been a bad game. +His case was progressing favourably and he had become acquainted +with one of the girls who worked in the shop. We might have got +some evidence, but suddenly this morning he walked up to my desk +and handed me an early edition of an afternoon paper. Mademoiselle +Violette had been discovered dead in her shop by the girls when +they came to work this morning. Apparently she had been there all +night, but the report was quite indefinite and I am on my way up +there now to meet the coroner, who has agreed to wait for me." + +"You think there is some connection between her death and the +letters?" put in Craig. + +"Of course I can't say, yet," answered Herndon dubiously. "The +papers seem to think it was a suicide. But then why should she +commit suicide? My man found out that among the girls it was +common gossip that she was to marry Jean Pierre, the Fifth Avenue +jeweller, of the firm of Lang goods by Americans abroad. Well, the +chief of our men in Paris cables me that Pierre is known to have +made extraordinarily heavy purchases of made-up jewellery this +season. For one thing, we believe he has acquired from a syndicate +a rather famous diamond necklace which it has taken years to +assemble and match up, worth about three hundred thousand. You +know the duty on made-up jewellery is sixty per cent., and even if +he brought the stones in loose it would be ten per cent., which on +a valuation of, say, two hundred thousand, means twenty thousand +dollars duty alone. Then he has a splendid 'dog collar' of pearls, +and, oh, a lot of other stuff. I know because we get our tips from +all sorts of sources and they are usually pretty straight. Some +come from dealers who are sore about not making sales themselves. +So you see there is a good deal at stake in this case and it may +be that in following it out we shall kill more than one bird. I +wish you'd come along with me up to Mademoiselle Violette's and +give me an opinion." + +Craig had already risen from the bench and we were walking up the +Avenue. + +The establishment of Mademoiselle Violette consisted of a three- +story and basement brownstone house in which the basement and +first floor had been remodelled for business purposes. +Mademoiselle's place, which was on the first floor, was announced +to the world by a neat little oval gilt sign on the handrailing of +the steps. + +We ascended and rang the bell. As we waited I noticed that there +were several other modistes on the same street, while almost +directly across was a sign which proclaimed that on September 15 +Mademoiselle Gabrielle would open with a high class exhibition of +imported gowns from Paris. + +We entered. The coroner and an undertaker were already there, and +the former was expecting Herndon. Kennedy and I had already met +him and he shook hands cordially. + +Mademoiselle Violette, it seemed, had rented the entire house and +then had sublet the basement to a milliner, using the first floor +herself, the second as a workroom for the girls whom she employed, +while she lived on the top floor, which had been fitted for light +housekeeping with a kitchenette. It was in the back room of the +shop itself on the first floor that her body had been discovered, +lying on a davenport. + +"The newspaper reports were very indefinite," began Herndon, +endeavouring to take in the situation. "I suppose they told nearly +all the story, but what caused her death? Have you found that out +yet? Was it poison or violence?" + +The coroner said nothing, but with a significant glance at Kennedy +he drew a peculiar contrivance from his pocket. It had four round +holes in it and through each hole he slipped a finger, then closed +his hand, and exhibited his clenched fist. It looked as if he wore +a series of four metal rings on his fingers. + +"Brass knuckles?" suggested Herndon, looking hastily at the body, +which showed not a sign of violence on the stony face. + +The coroner shook his head knowingly. Suddenly he raised his fist. +I saw him press hard with his thumb on the upper end of the metal +contrivance. From the other end, just concealed under his little +finger, there shot out as if released by a magic spring a thin +keen little blade of the brightest and toughest steel. He was +holding, instead of a meaningless contrivance of four rings, a +most dangerous kind of stiletto or dagger upraised. He lifted his +thumb and the blade sprang back into its sheath like an +extinguished spark of light. + +"An Apache dagger, such as is used in the underworld of Paris," +broke out Kennedy, his eyes gleaming with interest. + +The coroner nodded. "We found it," he said, "clasped loosely in +her hand. But it is only by expert medical testimony that we can +determine whether it was placed on her fingers before or after +this happened. We have photographed it, and the prints are being +developed." + +He had now uncovered the slight figure of the little French +modiste. On the dress, instead of the profuse flow of blood which +we had expected to see, there was a single round spot. And in the +white marble skin of her breast was a little, nearly microscopic +puncture, directly over the heart. + +"She must have died almost instantly," commented Kennedy, glancing +from the Apache weapon to the dead woman and back again. "Internal +hemorrhage. I suppose you have searched her effects. Have you +found anything that gives a hint among them?" + +"No," replied the coroner doubtfully, "I can't say we have--unless +it is the bundle of letters from Pierre, the jeweller. They seem +to have been engaged, and yet the letters stopped abruptly, and, +well, from the tone of the last one from him I should say there +was a quarrel brewing." + +An exclamation from Herndon followed. "The same notepaper and the +same handwriting as the anonymous letters," he cried. + +But that was all. Go over the ground as Kennedy might he could +find nothing further than the coroner and Herndon had already +revealed. + +"About these people, Lang & Pierre," asked Craig thoughtfully when +we had left Mademoiselle's and were riding downtown to the customs +house with Herndon. "What do you know about them? I presume that +Lang is in America, if his partner is abroad." + +"Yes, he is here in New York. I believe the firm has a rather +unsavoury reputation; they have to be watched, I am told. Then, +too, one or the other of the partners makes frequent trips abroad, +mostly Pierre. Pierre, as you see, was very intimate with +Mademoiselle, and the letters simply confirm what the girls told +my detective. He was believed to be engaged to her and I see no +reason now to doubt that. The fact is, Kennedy, it wouldn't +surprise me in the least to learn that it was he who engineered +the smuggling for her as well as himself." + +"What about the partner? What role does he play in your +suspicions?" + +"That's another curious feature. Lang doesn't seem to bother much +with the business. He is a sort of silent partner, although +nominally the head of the firm. Still, they both seem always to be +plentifully supplied with money and to have a good trade. Lang +lives most of the time up on the west shore of the Hudson, and +seems to be more interested in his position as commodore of the +Riverledge Yacht Club than in his business down here. He is quite +a sport, a great motor-boat enthusiast, and has lately taken to +hydroplanes." + +"I meant," repeated Kennedy, "what about Lang and Mademoiselle +Violette. Were they--ah--friendly?" + +"Oh," replied Herndon, seeming to catch the idea. "I see. Of +course--Pierre abroad and Lang here. I see what you mean. Why, the +girl told my man that Mademoiselle Violette used to go motor- +boating with Lang, but only when her fiance, Pierre, was along. +No, I don't think she ever had anything to do with Lang, if that's +what you are driving at. He may have paid attentions to her, but +Pierre was her lover, and I haven't a doubt but that if Lang made +any advances she repelled them. She seems to have thought +everything of Pierre." + +We had reached Herndon's office by this time. Leaving word with +his stenographer to get the very latest reports from La Montaigne, +he continued talking to us about his work. + +"Dressmakers, milliners, and jewellers are our worst offenders +now," he remarked as we stood gazing out of the window at the +panorama of the bay off the sea-wall of the Battery. "Why, time +and again we unearth what looks for all the world like a +'dressmakers' syndicate,' though this case is the first I've had +that involved a death. Really, I've come to look on smuggling as +one of the fine arts among crimes. Once the smuggler, like the +pirate and the highwayman, was a sort of gentleman-rogue. But now +it has become a very ladylike art. The extent of it is almost +beyond belief, too. It begins with the steerage and runs right up +to the absolute unblushing cynicism of the first cabin. I suppose +you know that women, particularly a certain brand of society +women, are the worst and most persistent offenders. Why, they even +boast of it. Smuggling isn't merely popular--it's aristocratic. +But we're going to take some of the flavour out of it before we +finish." + +He tore open a cable message which a boy had brought in. "Now, +take this, for instance," he continued. "You remember the sign +across the street from Mademoiselle Violette's, announcing that a +Mademoiselle Gabrielle was going to open a salon or whatever they +call it? Well, here's another cable from our Paris Secret Service +with a belated tip. They tell us to look out for a Mademoiselle +Gabrielle--on La Montaigne, too. That's another interesting thing. +You know the various lines are all ranked, at least in our +estimation, according to the likelihood of such offences being +perpetrated by their passengers. We watch ships from London, +Liverpool, and Paris most carefully. Scandinavian ships are the +least likely to need watching. Well, Miss Roberts?" + +"We have just had a wireless about La Montaigne" reported his +stenographer, who had entered while he was speaking, "and she is +three hundred miles east of Sandy Hook. She won't dock until to- +morrow." + +"Thank you. Well, fellows, it is getting late and that means +nothing more doing to-night. Can you be here early in the morning? +We'll go down the bay and 'bring in the ship,' as our men call it +when the deputy surveyor and his acting deputies go down to meet +it at Quarantine. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your +kindness in helping me. If my men get anything connecting Lang +with Mademoiselle Violette's case I'll let you know immediately." + +It was a bright clear snappy morning, in contrast with the heat of +the day before, when we boarded the revenue tug at the Barge +Office. The waters of the harbour never looked more blue as they +danced in the early sunlight, flecked here and there by a foaming +whitecap as the conflicting tides eddied about. The shores of +Staten Island were almost as green as in the spring, and even the +haze over the Brooklyn factories had lifted. It looked almost like +a stage scene, clear and sharp, new and brightly coloured. + +Perhaps the least known and certainly one of the least recognised +of the government services is that which includes the vigilant +ships of the revenue service. It was not a revenue cutter, +however, on which we were ploughing down the bay. The cutter lay, +white and gleaming in the morning sun, at anchor off Stapleton, +like a miniature warship, saluting as we passed. The revenue boats +which steam down to Quarantine and make fast to the incoming ocean +greyhounds are revenue tugs. + +Down the bay we puffed and buffeted for about forty minutes before +we arrived at the little speck of an island that is Quarantine. +Long before we were there we sighted the great La Montaigne near +the group of buildings on the island, where she had been waiting +since early morning for the tide and the customs officials. The +tug steamed alongside, and quickly up the high ladders swarmed the +boarding officer and the deputy collectors. We followed Herndon +straight to the main saloon, where the collectors began to receive +the declarations which had been made out on blanks furnished to +the passengers on the voyage over. They had had several days to +write them out--the less excuse for omissions. + +Glancing at each hastily the collector detached from it the slip +with the number at the bottom and handed the number back, to be +presented at the inspector's desk at the pier, where customs +inspectors were assigned in turn. + +"Number 140 is the one we want to watch," I heard Herndon whisper +to Kennedy. "That tall dark fellow over there." + +I followed his direction cautiously and saw a sparely built, +striking looking man who had just filed his declaration and was +chatting vivaciously with a lady who was just about to file hers. +She was a clinging looking little thing with that sort of doll- +like innocence that deceives nobody. + +"No, you don't have to swear to it," he said. "You used to do +that, but now you simply sign your name--and take a chance," he +added, smiling and showing a row of perfect teeth. + +"Number 156," Herndon noted as the collector detached the stub and +handed it to her. "That was Mademoiselle Gabrielle." + +The couple passed out to the deck, still chatting gaily. + +"In the old days, before they got to be so beastly particular," I +heard him say, "I always used to get the courtesy of the port, an +official expedite. But that is over now." + +The ship was now under way, her flags snapping in the brisk +coolish breeze that told of approaching autumn. We had passed up +the lower bay and the Narrows, and the passengers were crowded +forward to catch the first glimpse of the skyscrapers of New York. + +On up the bay we ploughed, throwing the spray proudly as we went +Herndon employed the time in keeping a sharp watch on the tall, +thin man. Incidentally he sought out the wireless operator and +from him learned that a code wireless message had been received +for Pierre, apparently from his partner, Lang. + +"There is no mention of anything dutiable in this declaration by +140 which corresponds with any of the goods mentioned in the first +cable from Paris," a collector remarked unobtrusively to Herndon, +"nor in 156 corresponding to the second cable." + +"I didn't suppose there would be," was his laconic reply. "That's +our job--to find the stuff." + +At last La Montaigne was warped into the dock. The piles of first- +class baggage on the ship were raucously deposited on the wharf +and slowly the passengers filed down the plank to meet the line of +white-capped uniformed inspectors and plain-clothes appraisers. +The comedy and tragedy of the customs inspection had begun. + +We were among the first to land. Herndon took up a position from +which he could see without being seen. In the semi-light of the +little windows in the enclosed sides of the pier, under the steel +girders of the arched roof like a vast hall, there was a panorama +of a huge mass of open luggage. + +At last Number 140 came down, alone, to the roped-off dock. He +walked nonchalantly over to the little deputy surveyor's desk, and +an inspector was quickly assigned to him. It was all done neatly +in the regular course of business apparently. He did not know that +in the orderly rush the sharpest of Herndon's men had been picked +out, much as a trick card player will force a card on his victim. + +Already the customs inspection was well along. One inspector had +been assigned to about each five passengers, and big piles of +finery were being remorselessly tumbled out in shapeless heaps and +exposed to the gaze of that part of the public which was not too +much concerned over the same thing as to its own goods and +chattels. Reticules and purses were being inspected. Every trunk +was presumed to have a false bottom, and things wrapped up in +paper were viewed suspiciously and unrolled. Clothes were being +shaken and pawed. There did not seem to be much opportunity for +concealment. + +Herndon now had donned the regulation straw hat of the appraiser, +and accompanied by us, posing as visitors, was sauntering about. +At last we came within earshot of the spot where the inspector was +going through the effects of 140. + +Out of the corner of my eyes I could see that a dispute was in +progress over some trifling matter. The man was cool and calm. +"Call the appraiser," he said at last, with the air of a man +standing on his rights. "I object to this frisking of passengers. +Uncle Sam is little better than a pickpocket. Besides, I can't +wait here all day. My partner is waiting for me uptown." + +Herndon immediately took notice. But it was quite evidently, after +all, only an altercation for the benefit of those who were +watching. I am sure he knew he was being watched, but as the +dispute proceeded he assumed the look of a man keenly amused. The +matter, involving only a few dollars, was finally adjusted by his +yielding gracefully and with an air of resignation. Still Herndon +did not go and I am sure it annoyed him. + +Suddenly he turned and faced Herndon. I could not help thinking, +in spite of all that he must be so expert, that, if he really were +a smuggler, he had all the poise and skill at evasion that would +entitle him to be called a cast master of the art. + +"You see that woman over there?" he whispered. "She says she is +just coming home after studying music in Paris." + +We looked. It was the guileless ingenue, Mademoiselle Gabrielle. + +"She has dutiable goods, all right. I saw her declaration. She is +trying to bring in as personal effects of a foreign resident gowns +which, I believe, she intends to wear on the stage. She's an +actress." + +There was nothing for Herndon to do but to act on the tip. The man +had got rid of us temporarily, but we knew the inspector would be, +if anything, more vigilant. I think he took even longer than +usual. + +Mademoiselle Gabrielle and her maid pouted and fussed over the +renewed examination which Herndon ordered. According to the +inspector everything was new and expensive; according to her, old, +shabby, and cheap. She denied everything, raged and threatened. +But when, instead of ordering the stamp "Passed" to be placed on +her half dozen trunks and bags which contained in reality only a +few dutiable articles, Herndon threatened to order them to the +appraiser's stores and herself to go to the Law Division if she +did not admit the points in dispute, there was a real scene. + +"Generally, madame," he remonstrated, though I could see he was +baffled at finding nothing of the goods he had really expected to +find, "generally even for a first offence the goods are +confiscated and the court or district attorney is content to let +the person off with a fine. If this happens again we'll be more +severe. So you had better pay the duty on these few little +matters, without that." + +If he had been expecting to "throw a scare" into her, it did not +succeed. "Well, I suppose if I must, I must," she said, and the +only result of the diversion was that she paid a few dollars more +than had been expected and went off in a high state of mind. + +Herndon had disappeared for a moment, after a whisper from +Kennedy, to instruct two of his men to shadow Mademoiselle +Gabrielle and, later, Pierre. He soon rejoined us and we casually +returned to the vicinity of our tall friend, Number 140, for whom +I felt even less respect than ever after his apparently ungallant +action toward the lady he had been talking with. He seemed to +notice my attitude and he remarked defensively for my benefit, +"Only a patriotic act." + +His inspector by this time had finished a most minute examination. +There was nothing that could be discovered, not a false book with +a secret spring that might disclose instead of reading matter a +heap of almost priceless jewels, not a suspicious bulging of any +garment or of the lining of a trunk or grip. Some of the goods +might have been on his person, but not much, and certainly there +was no excuse for ordering a personal examination, for he could +not have hidden a tenth part of what we knew he had, even under +the proverbial porous plaster. He was impeccable. Accordingly +there was nothing for the inspector to do but to declare a polite +armistice. + +"So you didn't find 'Mona Lisa' in a false bottom, and my trunks +were not lined with smuggled cigars after all," he rasped savagely +as the stamp "Passed" was at last affixed and he paid in cash at +the little window with its sign, "Pay Duty Here: U. S. Custom +House," some hundred dollars instead of the thousands Herndon had +been hoping to collect, if not to seize. + +All through the inspection, an extra close scrutiny had been kept +on the other passengers as well, to prevent any of them from being +in league with the smugglers, though there was no direct or +indirect evidence to show that any of the others were. + +We were about to leave the wharf, also, when Craig's attention was +called to a stack of trunks still remaining. + +"Whose are those?" he asked as he lifted one. It felt suspiciously +light. + +"Some of them belong to a Mr. Pierre and the rest to a Miss +Gabrielle," answered an inspector. "Bonded for Troy and waiting to +be transferred by the express company." + +Here, perhaps, at last was an explanation, and Craig took +advantage of it. Could it be that the real seat of trouble was not +here but at some other place, that some exchange was to be made en +route or perhaps an attempt at bribery? + +Herndon, too, was willing to run a risk. He ordered the trunks +opened immediately. But to our disappointment they were almost +empty. There was scarcely a thing of value in them. Most of the +contents consisted of clothes that had plainly been made in +America and were being brought back here. It was another false +scent. We had been played with and baffled at every turn. Perhaps +this had been the method originally agreed on. At any rate it had +been changed. + +"Could they have left the goods in Paris, after all?" I queried. + +"With the fall and winter trade just coming on?" Kennedy replied, +with an air of finality that set at rest any doubts about his +opinion on that score. "I thought perhaps we had a case of--what +do you call it, Herndon, when they leave trunks that are to be +secretly removed by dishonest expressmen from the wharf at night?" + +"'Sleepers.' Oh, we've broken that up, too. No expressman would +dare try it now. I must confess this thing is beyond me, Craig." + +Kennedy made no answer. Evidently there was nothing to do but to +await developments and see what Herndon's men reported. We had +been beaten at every turn in the game. Herndon seemed to feel that +there was a bitter sting in the defeat, particularly because the +smuggler or smugglers had actually been in our grasp so long to do +with as we pleased, and had so cleverly slipped out again, leaving +us holding the bag. + +Kennedy was especially thoughtful as he told over the facts of the +case in his mind. "Of course," he remarked, "Mademoiselle +Gabrielle wasn't an actress. But we can't deny that she had very +little that would justify Herndon in holding her, unless he simply +wants a newspaper row." + +"But I thought Pierre was quite intimate with her at first," I +ventured. "That was a dirty trick of his." + +Craig laughed. "You mean an old one. That was simply a blind, to +divert attention from himself. I suspect they talked that over +between themselves for days before." + +It was plainly more perplexing than ever. What had happened? Had +Pierre been a prestidigitator and had he merely said presto! when +our backs were turned and whisked the goods invisibly into the +country? I could find no explanation for the little drama on the +pier. If Herndon's men had any genius in detecting smuggling, +their professional opponent certainly had greater genius in +perpetrating it. + +We did not see Herndon again until after a hasty luncheon. He was +in his office and inclined to take a pessimistic view of the whole +affair. He brightened up when a telephone message came in from one +of his shadows. The men trailing Pierre and Mademoiselle Gabrielle +had crossed trails and run together at a little French restaurant +on the lower West Side, where Pierre, Lang, and Mademoiselle +Gabrielle had met and were dining in a most friendly spirit. +Kennedy was right. She had been merely a cog in the machinery of +the plot. + +The man reported that even when a newsboy had been sent in by him +with the afternoon papers displaying in big headlines the mystery +of the death of Mademoiselle Violette, they had paid no attention. +It seemed evident that whatever the fate of the modiste, +Mademoiselle Gabrielle had quite replaced her in the affections of +Pierre. There was nothing for us to do but to separate and await +developments. + +It was late in the afternoon when Craig and I received a hurried +message from Herndon. One of his men had just called him up over +long distance from Riverledge. The party had left the restaurant +hurriedly, and though they had taken the only taxicab in sight he +had been able to follow them in time to find out that they were +going up to Riverledge. They were now preparing to go out for a +sail in one of Lang's motor-boats and he would be unable, of +course, to follow them further. + +For the remainder of the afternoon Kennedy remained pondering the +case. At last an idea seemed to dawn on him. He found Herndon +still at his office and made an appointment to meet on the +waterfront near La Montaigne's pier, after dinner. The change in +Kennedy's spirits was obvious, though it did not in the least +enlighten my curiosity. Even after a dinner which was lengthened +out considerably, I thought, I did not get appreciably nearer a +solution, for we strolled over to the laboratory, where Craig +loaded me down with a huge package which was wrapped up in heavy +paper. + +We arrived on the corner opposite the wharf just as it was growing +dusk. The neighbourhood did not appeal to me at night, and even +though there were two of us I was rather glad when we met Herndon, +who was waiting in the shadow of a fruit stall. + +But instead of proceeding across to the pier by the side of which +La Montaigne was moored, we cut across the wide street and turned +down the next pier, where a couple of freighters were lying. The +odour of salt water, sewage, rotting wood, and the night air was +not inspiring. Nevertheless I was now carried away with the +strangeness of our adventure. + +Halfway down the pier Kennedy paused before one of the gangways +that was shrouded in darkness. The door was opened and we followed +gingerly across the dirty deck of the freight ship. Below we could +hear the water lapping the piles of the pier. Across a dark abyss +lay the grim monster La Montaigne with here and there a light +gleaming on one of her decks. The sounds of the city seemed miles +away. + +"What a fine place for a murder," laughed Kennedy coolly. He was +unwrapping the package which he had taken from me. It proved to be +a huge reflector in front of which was placed a little arrangement +which, under the light of a shaded lantern carried by Herndon, +looked like a coil of wire of some kind. + +To the back of the reflector Craig attached two other flexible +wires which led to a couple of dry cells and a cylinder with a +broadened end, made of vulcanised rubber. It might have been a +telephone receiver, for all I could tell in the darkness. + +While I was still speculating on the possible use of the enormous +parabolic reflector, a slight commotion on the opposite side of +the pier distracted my attention. A ship was coming in and was +being carefully and quietly berthed alongside the other big iron +freighter on that side. Herndon had left us. + +"The Mohican is here," he remarked as he rejoined us. To my look +of inquiry he added, "The revenue cutter." + +Kennedy had now finished and had pointed the reflector full at La +Montaigne. With a whispered hasty word of caution and advice to +Herndon, he drew me along with him down the wharf again. + +At the little door which was cut in the barrier guarding the shore +end of La Montaigne's wharf Kennedy stopped. The customs service +night watchman--there is always a watchman of some kind aboard +every ship, passenger or freighter, all the time she is in port-- +seemed to understand, for he admitted us after a word with +Kennedy. + +Threading our way carefully among the boxes, and bales, and crates +which were piled high, we proceeded down the wharf. Under the +electric lights the longshoremen were working feverishly, for the +unloading and loading of a giant trans-Atlantic vessel in the rush +season is a long and tedious process at best, requiring night work +and overtime, for every moment, like every cubic foot of space, +counts. + +Once within the door, however, no one paid much attention to us. +They seemed to take it for granted that we had some right there. +We boarded the ship by one of the many entrances and then +proceeded down to a deck where apparently no one was working. It +was more like a great house than a ship, I felt, and I wondered +whether Kennedy's search was not more of a hunt for a needle in a +haystack than anything else. Yet he seemed to know what he was +after. + +We had descended to what I imagined must be the quarters of the +steward. About us were many large cases and chests, stacked up and +marked as belonging to the ship. Kennedy's attention was attracted +to them immediately. All at once it flashed on me what his purpose +was. In some of those cases were the smuggled goods! + +Before I could say a word and before Kennedy had a chance even to +try to verify his suspicions, a sudden approach of footsteps +startled us. He drew me into a cabin or room full of shelves with +ship's stores. + +"Why didn't you bring Herndon over and break into the boxes, if +you think the stuff is hidden in one of them?" I whispered. + +"And let those higher up escape while their tools take all the +blame?" he answered. "Sh-h." + +The men who had come into the compartment looked about as if +expecting to see some one. + +"Two of them came down," a gruff voice said. "Where are they?" + +From the noise I inferred that there must be four or five men, and +from the ease with which they shifted the cases about some of them +must have been pretty husky stevedores. + +"I don't know," a more polished but unfamiliar voice answered. + +The door to our hiding-place was opened roughly and then banged +shut before we realised it. With a taunting laugh, some one turned +a key in the lock and before we could move a quick shift of +packing cases against the door made escape impossible. + +Here we were marooned, shanghaied, as it were, within sight if not +call of Herndon and our friends. We had run up against +professional smugglers, of whom I had vaguely read, disguised as +stewards, deckhands, stokers, and other workers. + +The only other opening to the cabin was a sort of porthole, more +for ventilation than anything else. Kennedy stuck his head through +it, but it was impossible for a man to squeeze out. There was one +of the lower decks directly before us while a bright arc light +gleamed tantalisingly over it, throwing a round circle of light +into our prison. I reflected bitterly on our shipwreck within +sight of port. + +Kennedy remained silent, and I did not know what was working in +his mind. Together we made out the outline of the freighter at the +next wharf and speculated as to the location where we had left +Herndon with the huge reflector. There was no moon and it was as +black as ink in that direction, but if we could have got out I +would have trusted to luck to reach it by swimming. + +Below us, from the restless water lapping on the sides of the hulk +of La Montaigne, we could now hear muffled sounds. It was a motor- +boat which had come crawling up the river front, with lights +extinguished, and had pushed a cautious nose into the slip where +our ship lay at the quay. None of your romantic low-lying, rakish +craft of the old smuggling yarns was this, ready for deeds of +desperation in the dark hours of midnight. It was just a modern +little motor-boat, up-to-date, and swift. + +"Perhaps we'll get out of this finally," I grumbled as I +understood now what was afoot, "but not in time to be of any use." + +A smothered sound as of something going over the vessel's side +followed. It was one of the boxes which we had seen outside in the +storeroom. Another followed, and a third and a fourth. + +Then came a subdued parley. "We have two customs detectives locked +in a cabin here. We can't stay now. You'll have to take us and our +things off, too." + +"Can't do it," called up another muffled voice. "Make your things +into a little bundle. We'll take that, but you'll have to get past +the nightwatchman yourselves and meet us at Riverledge." + +A moment later something else went over the side, and from the +sound we could infer that the engine of the motor-boat was being +started. + +A voice sounded mockingly outside our door. "Bon soir, you fellows +in there. We're going up the dock. Sorry to leave you here till +morning, but they'll let you out then. Au revoir." + +Below I could hear just the faintest well-muffled chug-chug. +Kennedy in the meantime had been coolly craning his neck out of +our porthole under the rays of the arc light overhead. He was +holding something in his hand. It seemed like a little silver- +backed piece of thin glass with a flaring funnel-like thing back +of it, which he held most particularly. Though he heard the +parting taunt outside he paid no attention. + +"You go to the deuce, whoever you are," I cried, beating on the +door, to which only a coarse laugh echoed back down the +passageway. + +"Be quiet, Walter," ordered Kennedy. "We have located the smuggled +goods in the storeroom of the steward, four wooden cases of them. +I think the stuff must have been brought on the ship in the trunks +and then transferred to the cases, perhaps after the code wireless +message was received. But we have been overpowered and locked in a +cabin with a port too small to crawl through. The cases have been +lowered over the side of the ship to a motor-boat that was waiting +below. The lights on the boat are out, but if you hurry you can +get it. The accomplices who locked us in are going to disappear up +the wharf. If you could only get the night watchman quickly enough +you could catch them, too, before they reach the street." + +I had turned, half expecting to see Kennedy talking to a ship's +officer who might have chanced on the deck outside. There was no +one. The only thing of life was the still sputtering arc light. +Had the man gone crazy? + +"What of it?" I growled. "Don't you suppose I know all that? +What's the use of repeating it now? The thing to do is to get out +of this hole. Come, help me at this door. Maybe we can batter it +down." + +Kennedy paid no attention to me, however, but kept his eyes glued +on the Cimmerian blackness outside the porthole. + +He had done nothing apparently, yet a long finger of light seemed +to shoot out into the sky from the pier across from us and begin +waving back and forth as it was lowered to the dark waters of the +river. It was a searchlight. At once I thought of the huge +reflector which I had seen set up. But that had been on our side +of the next pier and this light came from the far side where the +Mohican lay. + +"What is it?" I asked eagerly. "What has happened?" + +It was as if a prayer had been answered from our dungeon on La +Montaigne. + +"I knew we should need some means to communicate with Herndon," he +explained simply, "and the wireless telephone wasn't practicable. +So I have used Dr. Alexander Graham Bell's photophone. Any of the +lights on this side of La Montaigne, I knew, would serve. What I +did, Walter, was merely to talk into the mouthpiece back of this +little silvered mirror which reflects light. The vibrations of the +voice caused a diaphragm in it to vibrate and thus the beam of +reflected light was made to pulsate. In other words, this little +thing is just a simple apparatus to transform the air vibrations +of the voice into light vibrations. + +"The parabolic reflector over there catches these light vibrations +and focuses them on the cell of selenium which you perhaps noticed +in the centre of the reflector. You remember doubtless that the +element selenium varies its electrical resistance under light? +Thus there are reproduced similar variations in the cell to those +vibrations here in this transmitter. The cell is connected with a +telephone receiver and batteries over there--and there you are. It +is very simple. In the ordinary carbon telephone transmitter a +variable electrical resistance is produced by pressure, since +carbon is not so good a conductor under pressure. Then these +variations are transmitted along two wires. This photophone is +wireless. Selenium even emits notes under a vibratory beam of +light, the pitch depending on the frequency. Changes in the +intensity of the light focused by the reflector on the cell alter +its electrical resistance and vary the current from the dry +batteries. Hence the telephone receiver over there is affected. +Bell used the photophone or radiophone over several hundred feet, +Ruhmer over several miles. When you thought I was talking to +myself I was really telling Herndon what had happened and what to +do--talking to him literally over a beam of light." + +I could scarcely believe it, but an exclamation from Kennedy as he +drew his head in quickly recalled my attention. "Look out on the +river, Walter," he cried. "The Mohican has her searchlight +sweeping up and down. What do you see?" + +The long finger of light had now come to rest. In its pathway I +saw a lightless motor-boat bobbing up and down, crowding on all +speed, yet followed relentlessly by the accusing finger. The river +front was now alive with shouting. + +Suddenly the Mohican shot out from behind the pier where she had +been hidden. In spite of Lang's expertness it was an unequal race. +Nor would it have made much difference if it had been otherwise, +for a shot rang out from the Mohican which commanded instant +respect. The powerful revenue cutter rapidly overhauled the little +craft. + +A hurried tread down the passageway followed. Cases were being +shoved aside and a key in the door of our compartment turned +quickly. I waited with clenched fists, prepared for an attack. + +"You're all right?" Herndon's voice inquired anxiously. "We've got +that steward and the other fellows all right." + +"Yes, come on," shouted Craig. "The cutter has made a capture." + +We had reached the stern of the ship, and far out in the river the +Mohican was now headed toward us. She came alongside, and Herndon +quickly seized a rope, fastened it to the rail, and let himself +down to the deck of the cutter. Kennedy and I followed. + +"This is a high-handed proceeding," I heard a voice that must have +been Lang's protesting. "By what right do you stop me? You shall +suffer for this." + +"The Mohican," broke in Herndon, "has the right to appear anywhere +from Southshoal Lightship off Nantucket to the capes of the +Delaware, demand an inspection of any vessel's manifest and +papers, board anything from La Montaigne to your little motor- +boat, inspect it, seize it, if necessary put a crew on it." He +slapped the little cannon. + +"That commands respect. Besides, you were violating the +regulations--no lights." + +On the deck of the cutter now lay four cases. A man broke one of +them open, then another. Inside he disclosed thousands of dollars' +worth of finery, while from a tray he drew several large chamois +bags of glittering diamonds and pearls. + +Pierre looked on, crushed, all his jauntiness gone. + +"So," exclaimed Kennedy, facing him, "you have your jilted +fiancee, Mademoiselle Violette, to thank for this--her letters and +her suicide. It wasn't as easy as you thought to throw her over +for a new soul mate, this Mademoiselle Gabrielle whom you were +going to set up as a rival in business to Violette. Violette has +her revenge for making a plaything of her heart, and if the dead +can take any satisfaction she--" + +With a quick movement Kennedy anticipated a motion of Pierre's. +The ruined smuggler had contemplated either an attack on himself +or his captor, but Craig had seized him by the wrist and ground +his knuckles into the back of Pierre's clenched fist until he +winced with pain. An Apache dagger similar to that which the +little modiste had used to end her life tragedy clattered to the +deck of the ship, a mute testimonial to the high class of society +Pierre and his associates must have cultivated. + +"None of that, Pierre," Craig muttered, releasing him. "You can't +cheat the government out of its just dues even in the matter of +punishment." + + + + +XI + +THE INVISIBLE RAY + + +"I won't deny that I had some expectations from the old man +myself." + +Kennedy's client was speaking in a low, full-chested, vibrating +voice, with some emotion, so low that I had entered the room +without being aware that any one was there until it was too late +to retreat. + +"As his physician for over twelve years," the man pursued, "I +certainly had been led to hope to be remembered in his will. But, +Professor Kennedy, I can't put it too strongly when I say that +there is no selfish motive in my coming to you about the case. +There is something wrong--depend on that." + +Craig had glanced up at me and, as I hesitated, I could see in an +instant that the speaker was a practitioner of a type that is +rapidly passing away, the old-fashioned family doctor. + +"Dr. Burnham, I should like to have you know Mr. Jameson," +introduced Craig. "You can talk as freely before him as you have +to me alone. We always work together." + +I shook hands with the visitor. + +"The doctor has succeeded in interesting me greatly in a case +which has some unique features," Kennedy explained. "It has to do +with Stephen Haswell, the eccentric old millionaire of Brooklyn. +Have you ever heard of him?" + +"Yes, indeed," I replied, recalling an occasional article which +had appeared in the newspapers regarding a dusty and dirty old +house in that part of the Heights in Brooklyn whence all that is +fashionable had not yet taken flight, a house of mystery, yet not +more mysterious than its owner in his secretive comings and goings +in the affairs of men of a generation beyond his time. Further +than the facts that he was reputed to be very wealthy and led, in +the heart of a great city, what was as nearly like the life of a +hermit as possible, I knew little or nothing. "What has he been +doing now?" I asked. + +"About a week ago," repeated the doctor, in answer to a nod of +encouragement from Kennedy, "I was summoned in the middle of the +night to attend Mr. Haswell, who, as I have been telling Professor +Kennedy, had been a patient of mine for over twelve years. He had +been suddenly stricken with total blindness. Since then he appears +to be failing fast, that is, he appeared so the last time I saw +him, a few days ago, after I had been superseded by a younger man. +It is a curious case and I have thought about it a great deal. But +I didn't like to speak to the authorities; there wasn't enough to +warrant that, and I should have been laughed out of court for my +pains. The more I have thought about it, however, the more I have +felt it my duty to say something to somebody, and so, having heard +of Professor Kennedy, I decided to consult him. The fact of the +matter is, I very much fear that there are circumstances which +will bear sharp looking into, perhaps a scheme to get control of +the old man's fortune." + +The doctor paused, and Craig inclined his head, as much as to +signify his appreciation of the delicate position in which Burnham +stood in the case. Before the doctor could proceed further, +Kennedy handed me a letter which had been lying before him on the +table. It had evidently been torn into small pieces and then +carefully pasted together. + +The superscription gave a small town in Ohio and a date about a +fortnight previous. + +Dear Father [it read]: I hope you will pardon me for writing, but +I cannot let the occasion of your seventy-fifth birthday pass +without a word of affection and congratulation. I am alive and +well--Time has dealt leniently with me in that respect, if not in +money matters. I do not say this in the hope of reconciling you to +me. I know that is impossible after all these cruel years. But I +do wish that I could see you again. Remember, I am your only child +and even if you still think I have been a foolish one, please let +me come to see you once before it is too late. We are constantly +travelling from place to place, but shall be here for a few days. + +Your loving daughter, + +GRACE HASWELL MARTIN. + +"Some fourteen or fifteen years ago," explained the doctor as I +looked up from reading the note, "Mr. Haswell's only daughter +eloped with an artist named Martin. He had been engaged to paint a +portrait of the late Mrs. Haswell from a photograph. It was the +first time that Grace Haswell had ever been able to find +expression for the artistic yearning which had always been +repressed by the cold, practical sense of her father. She +remembered her mother perfectly since the sad bereavement of her +girlhood and naturally she watched and helped the artist eagerly. +The result was a portrait which might well have been painted from +the subject herself rather than from a cold photograph. + +"Haswell saw the growing intimacy of his daughter and the artist. +His bent of mind was solely toward money and material things, and +he at once conceived a bitter and unreasoning hatred for Martin, +who, he believed, had 'schemed' to capture his daughter and an +easy living. Art was as foreign to his nature as possible. +Nevertheless they went ahead and married, and, well, it resulted +in the old man disinheriting the girl. The young couple +disappeared bravely to make their way by their chosen profession +and, as far as I know, have never been heard from since until now. +Haswell made a new will and I have always understood that +practically all of his fortune is to be devoted to founding the +technology department in a projected university of Brooklyn." + +"You have never seen this Mrs. Martin or her husband?" asked +Kennedy. + +"No, never. But in some way she must have learned that I had some +influence with her father, for she wrote to me not long ago, +enclosing a note for him and asking me to intercede for her. I did +so. I took the letter to him as diplomatically as I could. The old +man flew into a towering rage, refused even to look at the letter, +tore it up into bits, and ordered me never to mention the subject +to him again. That is her note, which I saved. However, it is the +sequel about which I wish your help." + +The physician folded up the patched letter carefully before he +continued. "Mr. Haswell, as you perhaps know, has for many years +been a prominent figure in various curious speculations, or rather +in loaning money to many curious speculators. It is not necessary +to go into the different schemes which he has helped to finance. +Even though most of them have been unknown to the public they have +certainly given him such a reputation that he is much sought after +by inventors. + +"Not long ago Haswell became interested in the work of an obscure +chemist over in Brooklyn, Morgan Prescott. Prescott claims, as I +understand, to be able to transmute copper into gold. Whatever you +think of it offhand, you should visit his laboratory yourselves, +gentlemen. I am told it is wonderful, though I have never seen it +and can't explain it. I have met Prescott several times while he +was trying to persuade Mr. Haswell to back him in his scheme, but +he was never disposed to talk to me, for I had no money to invest. +So far as I know about it the thing sounds scientific and +plausible enough. I leave you to judge of that. It is only an +incident in my story and I will pass over it quickly. Prescott, +then, believes that the elements are merely progressive variations +of an original substance or base called 'protyle,' from which +everything is derived. But this fellow Prescott goes much further +than any of the former theorists. He does not stop with matter. He +believes that he has the secret of life also, that he can make the +transition from the inorganic to the organic, from inert matter to +living protoplasm, and thence from living protoplasm to mind and +what we call soul, whatever that may be." + +"And here is where the weird and uncanny part of it comes in," +commented Craig, turning from the doctor to me to call my +attention particularly to what was about to follow. + +"Having arrived at the point where he asserts that he can create +and destroy matter, life, and mind," continued the doctor, as if +himself fascinated by the idea, "Prescott very naturally does not +have to go far before he also claims a control over telepathy and +even a communication with the dead. He even calls the messages +which he receives by a word which he has coined himself, +'telepagrams.' Thus he says he has unified the physical, the +physiological, and the psychical--a system of absolute scientific +monism." + +The doctor paused again, then resumed. "One afternoon, about a +week ago, apparently, as far as I am able to piece together the +story, Prescott was demonstrating his marvellous discovery of the +unity of nature. Suddenly he faced Mr. Haswell. + +"'Shall I tell you a fact, sir, about yourself?' he asked quickly. +'The truth as I see it by means of my wonderful invention? If it +is the truth, will you believe in me? Will you put money into my +invention? Will you share in becoming fabulously rich?' + +"Haswell made some noncommittal answer. But Prescott seemed to +look into the machine through a very thick plate-glass window, +with Haswell placed directly before it. He gave a cry. 'Mr. +Haswell,' he exclaimed, 'I regret to tell you what I see. You have +disinherited your daughter; she has passed out of your life and at +the present moment you do not know where she is.' + +"'That's true,' replied the old man bitterly, 'and more than that +I don't care. Is that all you see? That's nothing new.' + +"'No, unfortunately, that is not all I see. Can you bear something +further? I think you ought to know it. I have here a most +mysterious telepagram.' + +"'Yes. What is it? Is she dead?' + +"'No, it is not about her. It is about yourself. To-night at +midnight or perhaps a little later,' repeated Prescott solemnly, +'you will lose your sight as a punishment for your action.' + +"'Pouf!' exclaimed the old man in a dudgeon, 'if that is all your +invention can tell me, good-bye. You told me you were able to make +gold. Instead, you make foolish prophecies. I'll put no money into +such tomfoolery. I'm a practical man,' and with that he stamped +out of the laboratory. + +"Well, that night, about one o'clock, in the silence of the lonely +old house, the aged caretaker, Jane, whom he had hired after he +banished his daughter from his life, heard a wild shout of 'Help! +Help!' Haswell, alone in his room on the second floor, was groping +about in the dark. + +"'Jane,' he ordered, 'a light--a light.' + +"'I have lighted the gas, Mr. Haswell,' she cried. + +"A groan followed. He had himself found a match, had struck it, +had even burnt his fingers with it, yet he saw nothing. + +"The blow had fallen. At almost the very hour which Prescott, by +means of his weird telepagram had predicted, old Haswell was +stricken. + +"'I'm blind,' he gasped. 'Send for Dr. Burnham.' + +"I went to him immediately when the maid roused me, but there was +nothing I could do except prescribe perfect rest for his eyes and +keeping in a dark room in the hope that his sight might be +restored as suddenly and miraculously as it had been taken away. + +"The next morning, with his own hand, trembling and scrawling in +his blindness, he wrote the following on a piece of paper: + +"'MRS. GRACE MARTIN.--Information wanted about the present +whereabouts of Mrs. Grace Martin, formerly Grace Haswell of +Brooklyn." + +STEPHEN HASWELL,----Pierrepont St., Brooklyn. + +"This advertisement he caused to be placed in all the New York +papers and to be wired to the leading Western papers. Haswell +himself was a changed man after his experience. He spoke bitterly +of Prescott, yet his attitude toward his daughter was completely +reversed. Whether he admitted to himself a belief in the +prediction of the inventor, I do not know. Certainly he scouted +such an idea in telling me about it. + +"A day or two after the advertisements appeared a telegram came to +the old man from a little town in Indiana. It read simply: 'Dear +Father: Am starting for Brooklyn to-day. Grace.' + +"The upshot was that Grace Haswell, or rather Grace Martin, +appeared the next day, forgave and was forgiven with much weeping, +although the old man still refused resolutely to be reconciled +with and receive her husband. Mrs. Martin started in to clean up +the old house. A vacuum cleaner sucked a ton or two of dust from +it. Everything was changed. Jane grumbled a great deal, but there +was no doubt a great improvement. Meals were served regularly. The +old man was taken care of as never before. Nothing was too good +for him. Everywhere the touch of a woman was evident in the house. +The change was complete. It even extended to me. Some friend had +told her of an eye and ear specialist, a Dr. Scott, who was +engaged. Since then, I understand, a new will has been made, much +to the chagrin of the trustees of the projected school. Of course +I am cut out of the new will, and that with the knowledge at least +of the woman who once appealed to me, but it does not influence me +in coming to you." + +"But what has happened since to arouse suspicion?" asked Kennedy, +watching the doctor furtively. + +"Why, the fact is that, in spite of all this added care, the old +man is failing more rapidly than ever. He never goes out except +attended and not much even then. The other day I happened to meet +Jane on the street. The faithful old soul poured forth a long +story about his growing dependence on others and ended by +mentioning a curious red discoloration that seems to have broken +out over his face and hands. More from the way she said it than +from what she said I gained the impression that something was +going on which should be looked into." + +"Then you perhaps think that Prescott and Mrs. Martin are in some +way connected in this case?" I hazarded. + +I had scarcely framed the question before he replied in an +emphatic negative. "On the contrary, it seems to me that if they +know each other at all it is with hostility. With the exception of +the first stroke of blindness"--here he lowered his voice +earnestly--"practically every misfortune that has overtaken Mr. +Haswell has been since the advent of this new Dr. Scott. Mind, I +do not wish even to breathe that Mrs. Martin has done anything +except what a daughter should do. I think she has shown herself a +model of forgiveness and devotion. Nevertheless the turn of events +under the new treatment has been so strange that almost it makes +one believe that there might be something occult about it--or +wrong with the new doctor." + +"Would it be possible, do you think, for us to see Mr. Haswell?" +asked Kennedy, when Dr. Burnham had come to a full stop after +pouring forth his suspicions. "I should like to see this Dr. +Scott. But first I should like to get into the old house without +exciting hostility." + +The doctor was thoughtful. "You'll have to arrange that yourself," +he answered. "Can't you think up a scheme? For instance, go to him +with a proposal like the old schemes he used to finance. He is +very much interested in electrical inventions. He made his money +by speculation in telegraphs and telephones in the early days when +they were more or less dreams. I should think a wireless system of +television might at least interest him and furnish an excuse for +getting in, although I am told his daughter discourages all +tangible investment in the schemes that used to interest his +active mind." + +"An excellent idea," exclaimed Kennedy. "It is worth trying +anyway. It is still early. Suppose we ride over to Brooklyn with +you. You can direct us to the house and we'll try to see him." + +It was still light when we mounted the high steps of the house of +mystery across the bridge. Mrs. Martin, who met us in the parlour, +proved to be a stunning looking woman with brown hair and +beautiful dark eyes. As far as we could see the old house plainly +showed the change. The furniture and ornaments were of a period +long past, but everything was scrupulously neat. Hanging over the +old marble mantel was a painting which quite evidently was that of +the long since deceased Mrs. Haswell, the mother of Grace. In +spite of the hideous style of dress of the period after the war, +she had evidently been a very beautiful woman with large masses of +light chestnut hair and blue eyes which the painter had succeeded +in catching with almost life-likeness for a portrait. + +It took only a few minutes for Kennedy, in his most engaging and +plausible manner, to state the hypothetical reason of our call. +Though it was perfectly self-evident from the start that Mrs. +Martin would throw cold water on anything requiring an outlay of +money Craig accomplished his full purpose of securing an interview +with Mr. Haswell. The invalid lay propped up in bed, and as we +entered he heard us and turned his sightless eyes in our direction +almost as if he saw. + +Kennedy had hardly begun to repeat and elaborate the story which +he had already told regarding his mythical friend who had at last +a commercial wireless "televue," as he called it on the spur of +the moment, when Jane, the aged caretaker, announced Dr. Scott. +The new doctor was a youthfully dressed man, clean-shaven, but +with an undefinable air of being much older than his smooth face +led one to suppose. As he had a large practice, he said, he would +beg our pardon for interrupting but would not take long. + +It needed no great powers of observation to see that the old man +placed great reliance on his new doctor and that the visit partook +of a social as well as a professional nature. Although they talked +low we could catch now and then a word or phrase. Dr. Scott bent +down and examined the eyes of his patient casually. It was +difficult to believe that they saw nothing, so bright was the blue +of the iris. + +"Perfect rest for the present," the doctor directed, talking more +to Mrs. Martin than to the old man. "Perfect rest, and then when +his health is good, we shall see what can be done with that +cataract." + +He was about to leave, when the old man reached up and restrained +him, taking hold of the doctor's wrist tightly, as if to pull him +nearer in order to whisper to him without being overheard. Kennedy +was sitting in a chair near the head of the bed, some feet away, +as the doctor leaned down. Haswell, still holding his wrist, +pulled him closer. I could not hear what was said, though somehow +I had an impression that they were talking about Prescott, for it +would not have been at all strange if the old man had been greatly +impressed by the alchemist. + +Kennedy, I noticed, had pulled an old envelope from his pocket and +was apparently engaged in jotting down some notes, glancing now +and then from his writing to the doctor and then to Mr. Haswell. + +The doctor stood erect in a few moments and rubbed his wrist +thoughtfully with the other hand, as if it hurt. At the same time +he smiled on Mrs. Martin. "Your father has a good deal of strength +yet, Mrs. Martin," he remarked. "He has a wonderful constitution. +I feel sure that we can pull him out of this and that he has many, +many years to live." + +Mr. Haswell, who caught the words eagerly, brightened visibly, and +the doctor passed out. Kennedy resumed his description of the +supposed wireless picture apparatus which was to revolutionise the +newspaper, the theatre, and daily life in general. The old man did +not seem enthusiastic and turned to his daughter with some remark. + +"Just at present," commented the daughter, with an air of +finality, "the only thing my father is much interested in is a way +in which to recover his sight without an operation. He has just +had a rather unpleasant experience with one inventor. I think it +will be some time before he cares to embark in any other such +schemes." + +Kennedy and I excused ourselves with appropriate remarks of +disappointment. From his preoccupied manner it was impossible for +me to guess whether Craig had accomplished his purpose or not. + +"Let us drop in on Dr. Burnham since we are over here," he said +when we had reached the street. "I have some questions to ask +him." + +The former physician of Mr. Haswell lived not very far from the +house we had just left. He appeared a little surprised to see us +so soon, but very interested in what had taken place. + +"Who is this Dr. Scott?" asked Craig when we were seated in the +comfortable leather chairs of the old-fashioned consulting-room. + +"Really, I know no more about him than you do," replied Burnham. I +thought I detected a little of professional jealousy in his tone, +though he went on frankly enough, "I have made inquiries and I can +find out nothing except that he is supposed to be a graduate of +some Western medical school and came to this city only a short +time ago. He has hired a small office in a new building devoted +entirely to doctors and they tell me that he is an eye and ear +specialist, though I cannot see that he has any practice. Beyond +that I know nothing about him." + +"Your friend Prescott interests me, too," remarked Kennedy, +changing the subject quickly. + +"Oh, he is no friend of mine," returned the doctor, fumbling in a +drawer of his desk. "But I think I have one of his cards here +which he gave me when we were introduced some time ago at Mr. +Haswell's. I should think it would be worth while to see him. +Although he has no use for me because I have neither money nor +influence, still you might take this card. Tell him you are from +the university, that I have interested you in him, that you know a +trustee with money to invest--anything you like that is plausible. +When are you going to see him?" + +"The first thing in the morning," replied Kennedy. "After I have +seen him I shall drop in for another chat with you. Will you be +here?" + +The doctor promised, and we took our departure. + +Prescott's laboratory, which we found the next day from the +address on the card, proved to be situated in one of the streets +near the waterfront under the bridge approach, where the factories +and warehouses clustered thickly. It was with a great deal of +anticipation of seeing something happen that we threaded our way +through the maze of streets with the cobweb structure of the +bridge carrying its endless succession of cars arching high over +our heads. We had nearly reached the place when Kennedy paused and +pulled out two pairs of glasses, those huge round tortoiseshell +affairs. + +"You needn't mind these, Walter," he explained. "They are only +plain glass, that is, not ground. You can see through them as well +as through air. We must be careful not to excite suspicion. +Perhaps a disguise might have been better, but I think this will +do. There--they add at least a decade to your age. If you could +see yourself you wouldn't speak to your reflection. You look as +scholarly as a Chinese mandarin. Remember, let me do the talking +and do just as I do." + +We had now entered the shop, stumbled up the dark stairs, and +presented Dr. Burnham's card with a word of explanation along the +lines which he had suggested. Prescott, surrounded by his retorts, +crucibles, burettes, and condensers, received us much more +graciously than I had had any reason to anticipate. He was a man +in the late forties, his face covered with a thick beard, and his +eyes, which seemed a little weak, were helped out with glasses +almost as scholarly as ours. + +I could not help thinking that we three bespectacled figures +lacked only the flowing robes to be taken for a group of mediaeval +alchemists set down a few centuries out of our time in the murky +light of Prescott's sanctum. Yet, though he accepted us at our +face value, and began to talk of his strange discoveries there was +none of the old familiar prating about matrix and flux, elixir, +magisterium, magnum opus, the mastery and the quintessence, those +alternate names for the philosopher's stone which Paracelsus, +Simon Forman, Jerome Cardan, and the other mediaeval worthies +indulged in. This experience at least was as up-to-date as the +Curies, Becquerel, Ramsay, and the rest. + +"Transmutation," remarked Prescott, "was, as you know, finally +declared to be a scientific absurdity in the eighteenth century. +But I may say that it is no longer so regarded. I do not ask you +to believe anything until you have seen; all I ask is that you +maintain the same open mind which the most progressive scientists +of to-day exhibit in regard to the subject." + +Kennedy had seated himself some distance from a curious piece or +rather collection of apparatus over which Prescott was working. It +consisted of numerous coils and tubes. + +"It may seem strange to you, gentlemen," Prescott proceeded, "that +a man who is able to produce gold from, say, copper should be +seeking capital from other people. My best answer to that old +objection is that I am not seeking capital, as such. The situation +with me is simply this. Twice I have applied to the patent office +for a patent on my invention. They not only refuse to grant it, +but they refuse to consider the application or even to give me a +chance to demonstrate my process to them. On the other hand, +suppose I try this thing secretly. How can I prevent any one from +learning my trade secret, leaving me, and making gold on his own +account? Men will desert as fast as I educate them. Think of the +economic result of that; it would turn the world topsy-turvy. I am +looking for some one who can be trusted to the last limit to join +with me, furnish the influence and standing while I furnish the +brains and the invention. Either we must get the government +interested and sell the invention to it, or we must get government +protection and special legislation. I am not seeking capital; I am +seeking protection. First let me show you something." + +He turned a switch, and a part of the collection of apparatus +began to vibrate. + +"You are undoubtedly acquainted with the modern theories of +matter," he began, plunging into the explanation of his process. +"Starting with the atom, we believe no longer that it is +indivisible. Atoms are composed of thousands of ions, as they are +called,--really little electric charges. Again, you know that we +have found that all the elements fall into groups. Each group has +certain related atomic weights and properties which can be and +have been predicted in advance of the discovery of missing +elements in the group. I started with the reasonable assumption +that the atom of one element in a group could be modified so as to +become the atom of another element in the group, that one group +could perhaps be transformed into another, and so on, if only I +knew the force that would change the number or modify the +vibrations of these ions composing the various atoms. + +"Now for years I have been seeking that force or combination of +forces that would enable me to produce this change in the +elements--raising or lowering them in the scale, so to speak. I +have found it. I am not going to tell you or any other man whom +you may interest the secret of how it is done until I find some +one I can trust as I trust myself. But I am none the less willing +that you should see the results. If they are not convincing, then +nothing can be." + +He appeared to be debating whether to explain further, and finally +resumed: "Matter thus being in reality a manifestation of force or +ether in motion, it is necessary to change and control that force +and motion. This assemblage of machines here is for that purpose. +Now a few words as to my theory." + +He took a pencil and struck a sharp blow on the table. "There you +have a single blow," he said, "just one isolated noise. Now if I +strike this tuning fork you have a vibrating note. In other words, +a succession of blows or wave vibrations of a certain kind affects +the ear and we call it sound, just as a succession of other wave +vibrations affects the retina and we have sight. If a moving +picture moves slower than a certain number of pictures a minute +you see the separate pictures; faster it is one moving picture. + +"Now as we increase the rapidity of wave vibration and decrease +the wave length we pass from sound waves to heat waves or what are +known as the infra-red waves, those which lie below the red in the +spectrum of light. Next we come to light, which is composed of the +seven colours as you know from seeing them resolved in a prism. +After that are what are known as the ultra-violet rays, which lie +beyond the violet of white light. We also have electric waves, the +waves of the alternating current, and shorter still we find the +Hertzian waves, which are used in wireless. We have only begun to +know of X-rays and the alpha, beta, and gamma rays from them, of +radium, radioactivity, and finally of this new force which I have +discovered and call 'protodyne,' the original force. + +"In short, we find in the universe Matter, Force, and Ether. +Matter is simply ether in motion, is composed of corpuscles, +electrically charged ions, or electrons, moving units of negative +electricity about one one-thousandth part of the hydrogen atom. +Matter is made up of electricity and nothing but electricity. Let +us see what that leads to. You are acquainted with Mendeleeff's +periodic table?" + +He drew forth a huge chart on which all the eighty or so elements +were arranged in eight groups or octaves and twelve series. +Selecting one, he placed his finger on the letters "Au," under +which was written the number, 197.2. I wondered what the mystic +letters and figures meant. + +"That," he explained, "is the scientific name for the element gold +and the figure is its atomic weight. You will see," he added, +pointing down the second vertical column on the chart, "that gold +belongs to the hydrogen group--hydrogen, lithium, sodium, +potassium, copper, rubidium, silver, caesium, then two blank +spaces for elements yet to be discovered to science, then gold, +and finally another unknown element." + +Running his finger along the eleventh, horizontal series, he, +continued: "The gold series--not the group--reads gold, mercury, +thallium, lead, bismuth, and other elements known only to myself. +For the known elements, however, these groups and series are now +perfectly recognised by all scientists; they are determined by the +fixed weight of the atom, and there is a close approximation to +regularity. + +"This twelfth series is interesting. So far only radium, thorium, +and uranium are generally known. We know that the radioactive +elements are constantly breaking down, and one often hears +uranium, for instance, called the 'parent' of radium. Radium also +gives off an emanation, and among its products is helium, quite +another element. Thus the transmutation of matter is well known +within certain bounds to all scientists to-day like yourself, +Professor Kennedy. It has even been rumoured but never proved that +copper has been transformed into lithium--both members of the +hydrogen-gold group, you will observe. Copper to lithium is going +backward, so to speak. It has remained for me to devise this +protodyne apparatus by which I can reverse that process of decay +and go forward in the table, so to put it--can change lithium into +copper and copper into gold. I can create and destroy matter by +protodyne." + +He had been fingering a switch as he spoke. Now he turned it on +triumphantly. A curious snapping and crackling noise followed, +becoming more rapid, and as it mounted in intensity I could smell +a pungent odour of ozone which told of an electric discharge. On +went the machine until we could feel heat radiating from it. Then +came a piercing burst of greenish-blue light from a long tube +which looked like a curious mercury vapour lamp. + +After a few minutes of this Prescott took a small crucible of +black lead. "Now we are ready to try it," he cried in great +excitement. "Here I have a crucible containing some copper. Any +substance in the group would do, even hydrogen if there was any +way I could handle the gas. I place it in the machine--so. Now if +you could watch inside you would see it change; it is now +rubidium, now silver, now caesium. Now it is a hitherto unknown +element which I have named after myself, presium, now a second +unknown element, cottium--ah!--there we have gold." + +He drew forth the crucible, and there glowed in it a little bead +or globule of molten gold. + +"I could have taken lead or mercury and by varying the process +done the same thing with the gold series as well as the gold +group," he said, regarding the globule with obvious pride. "And I +can put this gold back and bring it out copper or hydrogen, or +better yet, can advance it instead of cause it to decay, and can +get a radioactive element which I have named morganium--after my +first name, Morgan Prescott. Morganium is a radioactive element +next in the series to radium and much more active. Come closer and +examine the gold." + +Kennedy shook his head as if perfectly satisfied to accept the +result. As for me I knew not what to think. It was all so +plausible and there was the bead of gold, too, that I turned to +Craig for enlightenment. Was he convinced? His face was +inscrutable. + +But as I looked I could see that Kennedy had been holding +concealed in the palm of his hand a bit of what might be a +mineral. From my position I could see the bit of mineral glowing, +but Prescott could not. + +"Might I ask," interrupted Kennedy, "what that curious greenish or +bluish light from the tube is composed of?" + +Prescott eyed him keenly for an instant through his thick glasses. +Craig had shifted his gaze from the bit of mineral in his own +hand, but was not looking at the light. He seemed to be +indifferently contemplating Prescott's hand as it rested on the +switch. + +"That, sir," replied Prescott slowly, "is an emanation due to this +new force, protodyne, which I use. It is a manifestation of +energy, sir, that may run changes not only through the whole gamut +of the elements, but is capable of transforming the ether itself +into matter, matter into life, and life into mind. It is the +outward sign of the unity of nature, the--" + +"The means by which you secure the curious telepagrams I have +heard of?" inquired Kennedy eagerly. + +Prescott looked at him sharply, and for a moment I thought his +face seemed to change from a livid white to an apoplectic red, +although it may have been only the play of the weird light. When +he spoke it was with no show of even suppressed surprise. + +"Yes," he answered calmly. "I see that you have heard something of +them. I had a curious case a few days ago. I had hoped to interest +a certain capitalist of high standing in this city. I had showed +him just what I have showed you, and I think he was impressed by +it. Then I thought to clinch the matter by a telepagram, but for +some reason or other I failed to consult the forces I control as +to the wisdom of doing so. Had I, I should have known better. But +I went ahead in self-confidence and enthusiasm. I told him of a +long banished daughter with whom, in his heart, he was really +wishing to become reconciled but was too proud to say the word. He +resented it. He started to stamp out of this room, but not before +I had another telepagram which told of a misfortune that was soon +to overtake the old man himself. If he had given me a chance I +might have saved him, at least have flashed a telepagram to that +daughter myself, but he gave me no chance. He was gone. + +"I do not know precisely what happened after that, but in some way +this man found his daughter, and to-day she is living with him. As +for my hopes of getting assistance from him, I lost them from the +moment when I made my initial mistake of telling him something +distasteful. The daughter hates me and I hate her. I have learned +that she never ceases advising the old man against all schemes for +investment except those bearing moderate interest and readily +realised on. Dr. Burnham--I see you know him--has been superseded +by another doctor, I believe. Well, well, I am through with that +incident. I must get assistance from other sources. The old man, I +think, would have tricked me out of the fruits of my discovery +anyhow. Perhaps I am fortunate. Who knows?" + +A knock at the door cut him short. Prescott opened it, and a +messenger boy stood there. "Is Professor Kennedy here?" he +inquired. + +Craig motioned to the boy, signed for the message, and tore it +open. "It is from Dr. Burnham," he exclaimed, handing the message +to me. + +"Mr. Haswell is dead," I read. "Looks to me like asphyxiation by +gas or some other poison. Come immediately to his house. Burnham." + +"You will pardon me," broke in Craig to Prescott, who was +regarding us without the slightest trace of emotion, "but Mr. +Haswell, the old man to whom I know you referred, is dead, and Dr. +Burnham wishes to see me immediately. It was only yesterday that I +saw Mr. Haswell and he seemed in pretty good health and spirits. +Prescott, though there was no love lost between you and the old +man, I would esteem it a great favour if you would accompany me to +the house. You need not take any responsibility unless you +desire." + +His words were courteous enough, but Craig spoke in a tone of +quiet authority which Prescott found it impossible to deny. +Kennedy had already started to telephone to his own laboratory, +describing a certain suitcase to one of his students and giving +his directions. It was only a moment later that we were panting up +the sloping street that led from the river front. In the +excitement I scarcely noticed where we were going until we hurried +up the steps to the Haswell house. + +The aged caretaker met us at the door. She was in tears. Upstairs +in the front room where we had first met the old man we found Dr. +Burnham working frantically over him. It took only a minute to +learn what had happened. The faithful Jane had noticed an odour of +gas in the hall, had traced it to Mr. Haswell's room, had found +him unconscious, and instinctively, forgetting the new Dr. Scott, +had rushed forth for Dr. Burnham. Near the bed stood Grace Martin, +pale but anxiously watching the efforts of the doctor to +resuscitate the blue-faced man who was stretched cold and +motionless on the bed. + +Dr. Burnham paused in his efforts as we entered. "He is dead, all +right," he whispered, aside. "I have tried everything I know to +bring him back, but he is beyond help." + +There was still a sickening odour of illuminating gas in the room, +although the windows were now all open. + +Kennedy, with provoking calmness in the excitement, turned from +and ignored Dr. Burnham. "Have you summoned Dr. Scott?" he asked +Mrs. Martin. + +"No," she replied, surprised. "Should I have done so?" + +"Yes. Send Jame immediately. Mr. Prescott, will you kindly be +seated for a few moments." + +Taking off his coat, Kennedy advanced to the bed where the +emaciated figure lay, cold and motionless. Craig knelt down at Mr. +Haswell's head and took the inert arms, raising them up until they +were extended straight. Then he brought them down, folded upward +at the elbow at the side. Again and again he tried this Sylvester +method of inducing respiration, but with no more result than Dr. +Burnham had secured. He turned the body over on its face and tried +the new Schaefer method. There seemed to be not a spark of life +left. + +"Dr. Scott is out," reported the maid breathlessly, "but they are +trying to locate him from his office, and if they do they will +send him around immediately." + +A ring at the doorbell caused us to think that he had been found, +but it proved to be the student to whom Kennedy had telephoned at +his own laboratory. He was carrying a heavy suitcase and a small +tank. + +Kennedy opened the suitcase hastily and disclosed a little motor, +some long tubes of rubber fitting into a small rubber cap, +forceps, and other paraphernalia. The student quickly attached one +tube to the little tank, while Kennedy grasped the tongue of the +dead man with the forceps, pulled it up off the soft palate, and +fitted the rubber cap snugly over his mouth and nose. + +"This is the Draeger pulmotor," he explained as he worked, +"devised to resuscitate persons who have died of electric shock, +but actually found to be of more value in cases of asphyxiation. +Start the motor." + +The pulmotor began to pump. One could see the dead man's chest +rise as it was inflated with oxygen forced by the accordion +bellows from the tank through one of the tubes into the lungs. +Then it fell as the oxygen and the poisonous gas were slowly +sucked out through the other tube. Again and again the process was +repeated, about ten times a minute. + +Dr. Burnham looked on in undisguised amazement. He had long since +given up all hope. The man was dead, medically dead, as dead as +ever was any gas victim at this stage on whom all the usual +methods of resuscitation had been tried and had failed. + +Still, minute after minute, Kennedy worked faithfully on, trying +to discover some spark of life and to fan it into flame. At last, +after what seemed to be a half-hour of unremitting effort, when +the oxygen had long since been exhausted and only fresh air was +being pumped into the lungs and out of them, there was a first +faint glimmer of life in the heart and a touch of colour in the +cheeks. Haswell was coming to. Another half-hour found him +muttering and rambling weakly. + +"The letter--the letter," he moaned, rolling his glazed eyes +about. "Where is the letter? Send for Grace." + +The moan was so audible that it was startling. It was like a voice +from the grave. What did it all mean? Mrs. Martin was at his side +in a moment. + +"Father, father,--here I am--Grace. What do you want?" + +The old man moved restlessly, feverishly, and pressed his +trembling hand to his forehead as if trying to collect his +thoughts. He was weak, but it was evident that he had been saved. + +The pulmotor had been stopped. Craig threw the cap to his student +to be packed up, and as he did so he remarked quietly, "I could +wish that Dr. Scott had been found. There are some matters here +that might interest him." + +He paused and looked slowly from the rescued man lying dazed on +the bed toward Mrs. Martin. It was quite apparent even to me that +she did not share the desire to see Dr. Scott, at least not just +then. She was flushed and trembling with emotion. Crossing the +room hurriedly she flung open the door into the hall. + +"I am sure," she cried, controlling herself with difficulty and +catching at a straw, as it were, "that you gentlemen, even if you +have saved my father, are no friends of either his or mine. You +have merely come here in response to Dr. Burnham, and he came +because Jane lost her head in the excitement and forgot that Dr. +Scott is now our physician." + +"But Dr. Scott could not have been found in time, madame," +interposed Dr. Burnham with evident triumph. + +She ignored the remark and continued to hold the door open. + +"Now leave us," she implored, "you, Dr. Burnham, you, Mr. +Prescott, you, Professor Kennedy, and your friend Mr. Jameson, +whoever you may be." + +She was now cold and calm. In the bewildering change of events we +had forgotten the wan figure on the bed still gasping for the +breath of life. I could not help wondering at the woman's apparent +lack of gratitude, and a thought flashed over my mind. Had the +affair come to a contest between various parties fighting by fair +means or foul for the old man's money--Scott and Mrs. Martin +perhaps against Prescott and Dr. Burnham? No one moved. We seemed +to be waiting on Kennedy. Prescott and Mrs. Martin were now +glaring at each other implacably. + +The old man moved restlessly on the bed, and over my shoulder I +could hear him gasp faintly, "Where's Grace? Send for Grace." + +Mrs. Martin paid no attention, seemed not to hear, but stood +facing us imperiously as if waiting for us to obey her orders and +leave the house. Burnham moved toward the door, but Prescott stood +his ground with a peculiar air of defiance. Then he took my arm +and started rather precipitately, I thought, to leave. + +"Come, come," said somebody behind us, "enough of the dramatics." + +It was Kennedy, who had been bending down, listening to the +muttering of the old man. + +"Look at those eyes of Mr. Haswell," he said. "What colour are +they?" + +We looked. They were blue. + +"Down in the parlour," continued Kennedy leisurely, "you will find +a portrait of the long deceased Mrs. Haswell. If you will examine +that painting you will see that her eyes are also a peculiarly +limpid blue. No couple with blue eyes ever had a black-eyed child. +At least, if this is such a case, the Carnegie Institution +investigators would be glad to hear of it, for it is contrary to +all that they have discovered on the subject after years of study +of eugenics. Dark-eyed couples may have light-eyed children, but +the reverse, never. What do you say to that, madame?" + +"You lie," screamed the woman, rushing frantically past us. "I AM +his daughter. No interlopers shall separate us. Father!" + +The old man moved feebly away from her. + +"Send for Dr. Scott again," she demanded. "See if he cannot be +found. He must be found. You are all enemies, villains." + +She addressed Kennedy, but included the whole room in her +denunciation. + +"Not all," broke in Kennedy remorselessly. "Yes, madame, send for +Dr. Scott. Why is he not here?" + +Prescott, with one hand on my arm and the other on Dr. Burnham's, +was moving toward the door. + +"One moment, Prescott," interrupted Kennedy, detaining him with a +look. "There was something I was about to say when Dr. Burnham's +urgent message prevented it. I did not take the trouble even to +find out how you obtained that little globule of molten gold from +the crucible of alleged copper. There are so many tricks by which +the gold could have been 'salted' and brought forth at the right +moment that it was hardly worth while. Besides, I had satisfied +myself that my first suspicions were correct. See that?" + +He held out the little piece of mineral I had already seen in his +hand in the alchemist's laboratory. + +"That is a piece of willemite. It has the property of glowing or +fluorescing under a certain kind of rays which are themselves +invisible to the human eye. Prescott, your story of the +transmutation of elements is very clever, but not more clever than +your real story. Let us piece it together. I had already heard +from Dr. Burnham how Mr. Haswell was induced by his desire for +gain to visit you and how you had most mysteriously predicted his +blindness. Now, there is no such thing as telepathy, at least in +this case. How then was I to explain it? What could cause such a +catastrophe naturally? Why, only those rays invisible to the human +eye, but which make this piece of willemite glow--the ultraviolet +rays." + +Kennedy was speaking rapidly and was careful not to pause long +enough to give Prescott an opportunity to interrupt him. + +"These ultra-violet rays," he continued, "are always present in an +electric arc light though not to a great degree unless the carbons +have metal cores. They extend for two octaves above the violet of +the spectrum and are too short to affect the eye as light, +although they affect photographic plates. They are the friend of +man when he uses them in moderation as Finsen did in the famous +blue light treatment. But they tolerate no familiarity. To let +them--particularly the shorter of the rays--enter the eye is to +invite trouble. There is no warning sense of discomfort, but from +six to eighteen hours after exposure to them the victim +experiences violent pains in the eyes and headache. Sight may be +seriously impaired, and it may take years to recover. Often +prolonged exposure results in blindness, though a moderate +exposure acts like a tonic. The rays may be compared in this +double effect to drugs, such as strychnine. Too much of them may +be destructive even to life itself." + +Prescott had now paused and was regarding Kennedy contemptuously. +Kennedy paid no attention, but continued: "Perhaps these +mysterious rays may shed some light on our minds, however. Now, +for one thing, ultra-violet light passes readily through quartz, +but is cut off by ordinary glass, especially if it is coated with +chromium. Old Mr. Haswell did not wear glasses. Therefore he was +subject to the rays--the more so as he is a blond, and I think it +has been demonstrated by investigators that blonds are more +affected by them than are brunettes. + +"You have, as a part of your machine, a peculiarly shaped quartz +mercury vapour lamp, and the mercury vapour lamp of a design such +as that I saw has been invented for the especial purpose of +producing ultra-violet rays in large quantity. There are also in +your machine induction coils for the purpose of making an +impressive noise, and a small electric furnace to heat the salted +gold. I don't know what other ingenious fakes you have added. The +visible bluish light from the tube is designed, I suppose, to +hoodwink the credulous, but the dangerous thing about it is the +invisible ray that accompanies that light. Mr. Haswell sat under +those invisible rays, Prescott, never knowing how deadly they +might be to him, an old man. + +"You knew that they would not take effect for hours, and hence you +ventured the prediction that he would be stricken at about +midnight. Even if it was partial or temporary, still you would be +safe in your prophecy. You succeeded better than you hoped in that +part of your scheme. You had already prepared the way by means of +a letter sent to Mr. Haswell through Dr. Burnham. But Mr. +Haswell's credulity and fear worked the wrong way. Instead of +appealing to you he hated you. In his predicament he thought only +of his banished daughter and turned instinctively to her for help. +That made necessary a quick change of plans." + +Prescott, far from losing his nerve, turned on us bitterly. "I +knew you two were spies the moment I saw you," he shouted. "It +seemed as if in some way I knew you for what you were, as if I +knew you had seen Mr. Haswell before you came to me. You, too, +would have robbed an inventor as I am sure he would. But have a +care, both of you. You may be punished also by blindness for your +duplicity. Who knows?" + +A shudder passed over me at the horrible thought contained in his +mocking laugh. Were we doomed to blindness, too? I looked at the +sightless man on the bed in alarm. + +"I knew that you would know us," retorted Kennedy calmly. +"Therefore we came provided with spectacles of Euphos glass, +precisely like those you wear. No, Prescott, we are safe, though +perhaps we may have some burns like those red blotches on Mr. +Haswell, light burns." + +Prescott had fallen back a step and Mrs. Martin was making an +effort to appear stately and end the interview. "No," continued +Craig, suddenly wheeling, and startling us by the abruptness of +his next exposure, "it is you and your wife here--Mrs. Prescott, +not Mrs. Martin--who must have a care. Stop glaring at each other. +It is no use playing at enemies longer and trying to get rid of +us. You overdo it. The game is up." + +Prescott made a rush at Kennedy, who seized him by the wrist and +held him tightly in a grasp of steel that caused the veins on the +back of his hands to stand out like whipcords. + +"This is a deep-laid plot," he went on calmly, still holding +Prescott, while I backed up against the door and cut off his wife; +"but it is not so difficult to see it after all. Your part was to +destroy the eyesight of the old man, to make it necessary for him +to call on his daughter. Your wife's part was to play the role of +Mrs. Martin, whom he had not seen for years and could not see now. +She was to persuade him, with her filial affection, to make her +the beneficiary of his will, to see that his money was kept +readily convertible into cash. + +"Then, when the old man was at last out of the way, you two could +decamp with what you could realise before the real daughter, cut +off somewhere across the continent, could hear of the death of her +father. It was an excellent scheme. But Haswell's plain, material +newspaper advertisement was not so effective for your purposes, +Prescott, as the more artistic 'telepagram,' as you call it. +Although you two got in first in answering the advertisement, it +finally reached the right person after all. You didn't get away +quickly enough. + +"You were not expecting that the real daughter would see it and +turn up so soon. But she has. She lives in California. Mr. Haswell +in his delirium has just told of receiving a telegram which I +suppose you, Mrs. Prescott, read, destroyed, and acted upon. It +hurried your plans, but you were equal to the emergency. Besides, +possession is nine points in the law. You tried the gas, making it +look like a suicide. Jane, in her excitement, spoiled that, and +Dr. Burnham, knowing where I was, as it happened, was able to +summon me immediately. Circumstances have been against you from +the first, Prescott." + +Craig was slowly twisting up the hand of the inventor, which he +still held. With his other hand he pulled a paper from his pocket. +It was the old envelope on which he had written upon the occasion +of our first visit to Mr. Haswell when we had been so +unceremoniously interrupted by the visit of Dr. Scott. + +"I sat here yesterday by this bed," continued Craig, motioning +toward the chair he had occupied, as I remembered. "Mr. Haswell +was telling Dr. Scott something in an undertone. I could not hear +it. But the old man grasped the doctor by the wrist to pull him +closer to whisper to him. The doctor's hand was toward me and I +noticed the peculiar markings of the veins. + +"You perhaps are not acquainted with the fact, but the markings of +the veins in the back of the hand are peculiar to each individual- +-as infallible, indestructible, and ineffaceable as finger prints +or the shape of the ear. It is a system invented and developed by +Professor Tamassia of the University of Padua, Italy. A +superficial observer would say that all vein patterns were +essentially similar, and many have said so, but Tamassia has found +each to be characteristic and all subject to almost incredible +diversities. There are six general classes--in this case before +us, two large veins crossed by a few secondary veins forming a V +with its base near the wrist. + +"Already my suspicions had been aroused. I sketched the +arrangement of the veins standing out on that hand. I noted the +same thing just now on the hand that manipulated the fake +apparatus in the laboratory. Despite the difference in make-up +Scott and Prescott are the same. + +"The invisible rays of the ultra-violet light may have blinded Mr. +Haswell, even to the recognition of his own daughter, but you can +rest assured, Prescott, that the very cleverness of your scheme +will penetrate the eyes of the blindfolded goddess of justice. +Burnham, if you will have the kindness to summon the police, I +will take all the responsibility for the arrest of these people." + + + + +XII + +THE CAMPAIGN GRAFTER + + +"What a relief it will be when this election is over and the +newspapers print news again," I growled as I turned the first page +of the Star with a mere glance at the headlines. + +"Yes," observed Kennedy, who was puzzling over a note which he had +received in the morning mail. "This is the bitterest campaign in +years. Now, do you suppose that they are after me in a +professional way or are they trying to round me up as an +independent voter?" + +The letter which had called forth this remark was headed, "The +Travis Campaign Committee of the Reform League," and, as Kennedy +evidently intended me to pass an opinion on it, I picked it up. It +was only a few lines, requesting him to call during the morning, +if convenient, on Wesley Travis, the candidate for governor and +the treasurer of his campaign committee, Dean Bennett. It had +evidently been written in great haste in longhand the night +before. + +"Professional," I hazarded. "There must be some scandal in the +campaign for which they require your services." + +"I suppose so," agreed Craig. "Well, if it is business instead of +politics it has at least this merit--it is current business. I +suppose you have no objection to going with me?" + +Thus it came about that not very much later in the morning we +found ourselves at the campaign headquarters, in the presence of +two nervous and high-keyed gentlemen in frock coats and silk hats. +It would have taken no great astuteness, even without seeing the +surroundings, to deduce instantly that they were engaged in the +annual struggle of seeking the votes of their fellow-citizens for +something or other, and were nearly worn out by the arduous nature +of that process. + +Their headquarters were in a tower of a skyscraper, whence poured +forth a torrent of appeal to the moral sense of the electorate, +both in printed and oral form. Yet there was a different tone to +the place from that which I had ordinarily associated with +political headquarters in previous campaigns. There was an absence +of the old-fashioned politicians and of the air of intrigue laden +with tobacco. Rather, there was an air of earnestness and +efficiency which was decidedly prepossessing. Maps of the state +were hanging on the walls, some stuck full of various coloured +pins denoting the condition of the canvass. A map of the city in +colours, divided into all sorts of districts, told how fared the +battle in the stronghold of the boss, Billy McLoughlin. Huge +systems of card indexes, loose leaf devices, labour-saving +appliances for getting out a vast mass of campaign "literature" in +a hurry, in short a perfect system, such as a great, well-managed +business might have been proud of, were in evidence everywhere. + +Wesley Travis was a comparatively young man, a lawyer who had +early made a mark in politics and had been astute enough to shake +off the thraldom of the bosses before the popular uprising against +them. Now he was the candidate of the Reform League for governor +and a good stiff campaign he was putting up. + +His campaign manager, Dean Bennett, was a business man whose +financial interests were opposed to those usually understood to be +behind Billy McLoughlin, of the regular party to which both Travis +and Bennett might naturally have been supposed to belong in the +old days. Indeed the Reform League owed its existence to a +fortunate conjunction of both moral and economic conditions +demanding progress. + +"Things have been going our way up to the present," began Travis +confidentially, when we were seated democratically with our +campaign cigars lighted. "Of course we haven't such a big 'barrel' +as our opponents, for we are not frying the fat out of the +corporations. But the people have supported us nobly, and I think +the opposition of the vested interests has been a great help. We +seem to be winning, and I say 'seem' only because one can never be +certain how anything is going in this political game nowadays. + +"You recall, Mr. Kennedy, reading in the papers that my country +house out on Long Island was robbed the other day? Some of the +reporters made much of it. To tell the truth, I think they had +become so satiated with sensations that they were sure that the +thing was put up by some muckrakers and that there would be an +expose of some kind. For the thief, whoever he was, seems to have +taken nothing from my library but a sort of scrap-book or album of +photographs. It was a peculiar robbery, but as I had nothing to +conceal it didn't worry me. Well, I had all but forgotten it when +a fellow came into Bennett's office here yesterday and demanded-- +tell us what it was, Bennett. You saw him." + +Bennett cleared his throat. "You see, it was this way. He gave his +name as Harris Hanford and described himself as a photographer. I +think he has done work for Billy McLoughlin. At any rate, his +offer was to sell us several photographs, and his story about them +was very circumstantial. He hinted that they had been evidently +among those stolen from Mr. Travis and that in a roundabout way +they had come into the possession of a friend of his without his +knowing who the thief was. He said that he had not made the +photographs himself, but had an idea by whom they were made, that +the original plates had been destroyed, but that the person who +made them was ready to swear that the pictures were taken after +the nominating convention this fall which had named Travis. At any +rate the photographs were out and the price for them was $25,000." + +"What are they that he should set such a price on them?" asked +Kennedy, keenly looking from Bennett quickly to Travis. + +Travis met his look without flinching. "They are supposed to be +photographs of myself," he replied slowly. "One purports to +represent me in a group on McLoughlin's porch at his farm on the +south shore of the island, about twenty miles from my place. As +Hanford described it, I am standing between McLoughlin and J. +Cadwalader Brown, the trust promoter who is backing McLoughlin to +save his investments. Brown's hand is on my shoulder and we are +talking familiarly. Another is a picture of Brown, McLoughlin, and +myself riding in Brown's car, and in it Brown and I are evidently +on the best of terms. Oh, there are several of them, all in the +same vein. Now," he added, and his voice rose with emotion as if +he were addressing a cart-tail meeting which must be convinced +that there was nothing criminal in riding in a motor-car, "I don't +hesitate to admit that a year or so ago I was not on terms of +intimacy with these men, but at least acquainted with them. At +various times, even as late as last spring, I was present at +conferences over the presidential outlook in this state, and once +I think I did ride back to the city with them. But I know that +there were no pictures taken, and even if there had been I would +not care if they told the truth about them. I have frankly +admitted in my speeches that I knew these men, that my knowledge +of them and breaking from them is my chief qualification for +waging an effective war on them if I am elected. They hate me +cordially. You know that. What I do care about is the sworn +allegation that now accompanies these--these fakes. They were not, +could not have been taken after the independent convention that +nominated me. If the photographs were true I would be a fine +traitor. But I haven't even seen McLoughlin or Brown since last +spring. The whole thing is a--" + +"Lie from start to finish," put in Bennett emphatically. "Yes, +Travis, we all know that. I'd quit right now if I didn't believe +in you. But let us face the facts. Here is this story, sworn to as +Hanford says and apparently acquiesced in by Billy McLoughlin and +Cad. Brown. What do they care anyhow as long as it is against you? +And there, too, are the pictures themselves--at least they will be +in print or suppressed, according as we act. Now, you know that +nothing could hurt the reform ticket worse than to have an issue +like this raised at this time. We were supposed at least to be on +the level, with nothing to explain away. There may be just enough +people to believe that there is some basis for this suspicion to +turn the tide against us. If it were earlier in the campaign I'd +say accept the issue, fight it out to a finish, and in the turn of +events we should really have the best campaign material. But it is +too late now to expose such a knavish trick of theirs on the +Friday before election. Frankly, I believe discretion is the +better part of valour in this case and without abating a jot of my +faith in you, Travis, well, I'd pay first and expose the fraud +afterward, after the election, at leisure." + +"No, I won't," persisted Travis, shutting his square jaw doggedly. +"I won't be held up." + +The door had opened and a young lady in a very stunning street +dress, with a huge hat and a tantalising veil, stood in it for a +moment, hesitated, and then was about to shut it with an apology +for intruding on a conference. + +"I'll fight it if it takes my last dollar," declared Travis, "but +I won't be blackmailed out of a cent. Good-morning, Miss Ashton. +I'll be free in a moment. I'll see you in your office directly." + +The girl, with a portfolio of papers in her hand, smiled, and +Travis quickly crossed the room and held the door deferentially +open as he whispered a word or two. When she had disappeared he +returned and remarked, "I suppose you have heard of Miss Margaret +Ashton, the suffragette leader, Mr. Kennedy? She is the head of +our press bureau." Then a heightened look of determination set his +fine face in hard lines, and he brought his fist down on the desk. +"No, not a cent," he thundered. + +Bennett shrugged his shoulders hopelessly and looked at Kennedy in +mock resignation as if to say, "What can you do with such a +fellow?" Travis was excitedly pacing the floor and waving his arms +as if he were addressing a meeting in the enemy's country. +"Hanford comes at us in this way," he continued, growing more +excited as he paced up and down. "He says plainly that the +pictures will of course be accepted as among those stolen from me, +and in that, I suppose, he is right. The public will swallow it. +When Bennett told him I would prosecute he laughed and said, 'Go +ahead. I didn't steal the pictures. That would be a great joke for +Travis to seek redress from the courts he is criticising. I guess +he'd want to recall the decision if it went against him--hey?' +Hanford says that a hundred copies have been made of each of the +photographs and that this person, whom we do not know, has them +ready to drop into the mail to the one hundred leading papers of +the state in time for them to appear in the Monday editions just +before Election Day. He says no amount of denying on our part can +destroy the effect--or at least he went further and said 'shake +their validity.' + +"But I repeat. They are false. For all I know, it is a plot of +McLoughlin's, the last fight of a boss for his life, driven into a +corner. And it is meaner than if he had attempted to forge a +letter. Pictures appeal to the eye and mind much more than +letters. That's what makes the thing so dangerous. Billy +McLoughlin knows how to make the best use of such a roorback on +the eve of an election, and even if I not only deny but prove that +they are a fake, I'm afraid the harm will be done. I can't reach +all the voters in time. Ten see such a charge to one who sees the +denial." + +"Just so," persisted Bennett coolly. "You admit that we are +practically helpless. That's what I have been saying all along. +Get control of the prints first, Travis, for God's sake. Then +raise any kind of a howl you want--before election or after. As I +say, if we had a week or two it might be all right to fight. But +we can make no move without making fools of ourselves until they +are published Monday as the last big thing of the campaign. The +rest of Monday and the Tuesday morning papers do NOT give us time +to reply. Even if they were published to-day we should hardly have +time to expose the plot, hammer it in, and make the issue an asset +instead of a liability. No, you must admit it yourself. There +isn't time. We must carry out the work we have so carefully +planned to cap the campaign, and if we are diverted by this it +means a let-up in our final efforts, and that is as good as +McLoughlin wants anyhow. Now, Kennedy, don't you agree with me? +Squelch the pictures now at any cost, then follow the thing up +and, if we can, prosecute after election?" + +Kennedy and I, who had been so far little more than interested +spectators, had not presumed to interrupt. Finally Craig asked, +"You have copies of the pictures?" + +"No," replied Bennett. "This Hanford is a brazen fellow, but he +was too astute to leave them. I saw them for an instant. They look +bad. And the affidavits with them look worse." + +"H'm," considered Kennedy, turning the crisis over in his mind. +"We've had alleged stolen and forged letters before, but alleged +stolen and forged photographs are new. I'm not surprised that you +are alarmed, Bennett,--nor that you want to fight, Travis." + +"Then you will take up the case?" urged the latter eagerly, +forgetting both his campaign manager and his campaign manners, and +leaning forward almost like a prisoner in the dock to catch the +words of the foreman of the jury. "You will trace down the forger +of those pictures before it is too late?" + +"I haven't said I'll do that--yet," answered Craig measuredly. "I +haven't even said I'd take up the case. Politics is a new game to +me, Mr. Travis. If I go into this thing I want to go into it and +stay in it--well, you know how you lawyers put it, with clean +hands. On one condition I'll take the matter up, and on only one." + +"Name it," cried Travis anxiously, + +"Of course, having been retained by you," continued Craig with +provoking slowness, "it is not reasonable to suppose that if I +find--how shall I put it--bluntly, yes?--if I find that the story +of Hanford has some--er--foundation, it is not reasonable to +suppose that I should desert you and go over to the other side. +Neither is it to be supposed that I will continue and carry such a +thing through for you regardless of truth. What I ask is to have a +free hand, to be able to drop the case the moment I cannot proceed +further in justice to myself, drop it, and keep my mouth shut. You +understand? These are my conditions and no less." + +"And you think you can make good?" questioned Bennett rather +sceptically. "You are willing to risk it? You don't think it would +be better to wait until after the election is won?" + +"You have heard my conditions," reiterated Craig. + +"Done," broke in Travis. "I'm going to fight it out, Bennett. If +we get in wrong by dickering with them at the start it may be +worse for us in the end. Paying amounts to confession." + +Bennett shook his head dubiously. "I'm afraid this will suit +McLoughlin's purpose just as well. Photographs are like +statistics. They don't lie unless the people who make them do. But +it's hard to tell what a liar can accomplish with either in an +election." + +"Say, Dean, you're not going to desert me?" reproached Travis. +"You're not offended at my kicking over the traces, are you?" + +Bennett rose, placed a hand on Travis's shoulder, and grasped his +other. "Wesley," he said earnestly, "I wouldn't desert you even if +the pictures were true." + +"I knew it," responded Travis heartily. "Then let Mr. Kennedy have +one day to see what he can do. Then if we make no progress we'll +take your advice, Dean. We'll pay, I suppose, and ask Mr. Kennedy +to continue the case after next Tuesday." + +"With the proviso," put in Craig. + +"With the proviso, Kennedy," repeated Travis. "Your hand on that. +Say, I think I've shaken hands with half the male population of +this state since I was nominated, but this means more to me than +any of them. Call on us, either Bennett or myself, the moment you +need aid. Spare no reasonable expense, and--and get the goods, no +matter whom it hits higher up, even if it is Cadwalader Brown +himself. Good-bye and a thousand thanks--oh, by the way, wait. Let +me take you around and introduce you to Miss Ashton. She may be +able to help you." + +The office of Bennett and Travis was in the centre of the suite. +On one side were the cashier and clerical force as well as the +speakers' bureau, where spellbinders of all degrees were getting +instruction, tours were being laid out, and reports received from +meetings already held. + +On the other side was the press bureau with a large and active +force in charge of Miss Ashton, who was supporting Travis because +he had most emphatically declared for "Votes for Women" and had +insisted that his party put this plank in its platform. Miss +Ashton was a clever girl, a graduate of a famous woman's college, +and had had several years of newspaper experience before she +became a leader in the suffrage cause. I recalled having read and +heard a great deal about her, though I had never met her. The +Ashtons were well known in New York society, and it was a sore +trial to some of her conservative friends that she should reject +what they considered the proper "sphere" for women. Among those +friends, I understood, was Cadwalader Brown himself. + +Travis had scarcely more than introduced us, yet already I scented +a romance behind the ordinarily prosaic conduct of a campaign +press bureau. It is far from my intention to minimise the work or +the ability of the head of the press bureau, but it struck me, +both then and later, that the candidate had an extraordinary +interest in the newspaper campaign, much more than in the +speakers' bureau, and I am sure that it was not solely accounted +for by the fact that publicity is playing a more and more +important part in political campaigning. + +Nevertheless such innovations as her card index system by election +districts all over the state, showing the attitude of the various +newspaper editors, of local political leaders, and changes of +sentiment, were very full and valuable. Kennedy, who had a regular +pigeon-hole mind for facts, was visibly impressed by this huge +mechanical memory built up by Miss Ashton. Though he said nothing +to me I knew he had also observed the state of affairs between the +reform candidate and the suffrage leader. + +It was at a moment when Travis had been called back to his office +that Kennedy, who had been eyeing Miss Ashton with marked +approval, leaned over and said in a low voice. "Miss Ashton, I +think I can trust you. Do you want to do a great favour for Mr. +Travis?" + +She did not betray even by a fleeting look on her face what the +true state of her feelings was, although I fancied that the +readiness of her assent had perhaps more meaning than she would +have placed in a simple "Yes" otherwise. + +"I suppose you know that an attempt is being made to blackmail Mr. +Travis?" added Kennedy quickly. + +"I know something about it," she replied in a tone which left it +for granted that Travis had told her before even we were called +in. I felt that not unlikely Travis's set determination to fight +might be traceable to her advice or at least to her opinion of +him. + +"I suppose in a large force like this it is not impossible that +your political enemies may have a spy or two," observed Kennedy, +glancing about at the score or more clerks busily engaged in +getting out "literature." + +"I have sometimes thought that myself," she agreed. "But of course +I don't know. Still, I have to be pretty careful. Some one is +always over here by my desk or looking over here. There isn't much +secrecy in a big room like this. I never leave important stuff +lying about where any of them could see it." + +"Yes," mused Kennedy. "What time does the office close?" + +"We shall finish to-night about nine, I think. To-morrow it may be +later." + +"Well, then, if I should call here to-night at, say, half-past +nine, Could you be here? I need hardly say that your doing so may +be of inestimable value to--to the campaign." + +"I shall be here," she promised, giving her hand with a peculiar +straight arm shake and looking him frankly in the face with those +eyes which even the old guard in the legislature admitted were +vote-winners. + +Kennedy was not quite ready to leave yet, but sought out Travis +and obtained permission to glance over the financial end of the +campaign. There were few large contributors to Travis's fund, but +a host of small sums ranging from ten and twenty-five dollars down +to dimes and nickels. Truly it showed the depth of the popular +uprising. Kennedy also glanced hastily over the items of expense-- +rent, salaries, stenographer and office force, advertising, +printing and stationery, postage, telephone, telegraph, automobile +and travelling expenses, and miscellaneous matters. + +As Kennedy expressed it afterwards, as against the small driblets +of money coming in, large sums were going out for expenses in +lumps. Campaigning in these days costs money even when done +honestly. The miscellaneous account showed some large indefinite +items, and after a hasty calculation Kennedy made out that if all +the obligations had to be met immediately the committee would be +in the hole for several thousand dollars. + +"In short," I argued as we were leaving, "this will either break +Travis privately or put his fund in hopeless shape. Or does it +mean that he foresees defeat and is taking this way to recoup +himself under cover of being held up?" + +Kennedy said nothing in response to my suspicions, though I could +see that in his mind he was leaving no possible clue unnoted. + +It was only a few blocks to the studio of Harris Hanford, whom +Kennedy was now bent on seeing. We found him in an old building on +one of the side streets in the thirties which business had +captured. His was a little place on the top floor, up three +flights of stairs, and I noticed as we climbed up that the room +next to his was vacant. + +Our interview with Hanford was short and unsatisfactory. He either +was or at least posed as representing a third party in the affair, +and absolutely refused to permit us to have even a glance at the +photographs. + +"My dealings," he asserted airily, "must all be with Mr. Bennett, +or with Mr. Travis, direct, not with emissaries. I don't make any +secret about it. The prints are not here. They are safe and ready +to be produced at the right time, either to be handed over for the +money or to be published in the newspapers. We have found out all +about them; we are satisfied, although the negatives have been +destroyed. As for their having been stolen from Travis, you can +put two and two together. They are out and copies have been made +of them, good copies. If Mr. Travis wishes to repudiate them, let +him start proceedings. I told Bennett all about that. To-morrow is +the last day, and I must have Bennett's answer then, without any +interlopers coming into it. If it is yes, well and good; if not, +then they know what to expect. Good-bye." + +It was still early in the forenoon, and Kennedy's next move was to +go out on Long Island to examine the library at Travis's from +which the pictures were said to have been stolen. At the +laboratory Kennedy and I loaded ourselves with a large oblong +black case containing a camera and a tripod. + +His examination of the looted library was minute, taking in the +window through which the thief had apparently entered, the cabinet +he had forced, and the situation in general. Finally Craig set up +his camera with most particular care and took several photographs +of the window, the cabinet, the doors, including the room from +every angle. Outside he snapped the two sides of the corner of the +house in which the library was situated. Partly by trolley and +partly by carriage we crossed the island to the south shore, and +finally found McLoughlin's farm where we had no trouble in getting +half a dozen photographs of the porch and house. Altogether the +proceedings seemed tame to me, yet I knew from previous experience +that Kennedy had a deep laid purpose. + +We parted in the city, to meet just before it was time to visit +Miss Ashton. Kennedy had evidently employed the interval in +developing his plates, for he now had ten or a dozen prints, all +of exactly the same size, mounted on stiff cardboard in a space +with scales and figures on all four sides. He saw me puzzling over +them. + +"Those are metric photographs such as Bertillon of Paris takes," +he explained. "By means of the scales and tables and other methods +that have been worked out we can determine from those pictures +distances and many other things almost as well as if we were on +the spot itself. Bertillon has cleared up many crimes with this +help, such as the mystery of the shooting in the Hotel Quai +d'Orsay and other cases. The metric photograph, I believe, will in +time rank with the portrait parle, finger prints, and the rest. + +"For instance, in order to solve the riddle of a crime the +detective's first task is to study the scene topographically. +Plans and elevations of a room or house are made. The position of +each object is painstakingly noted. In addition, the all-seeing +eye of the camera is called into requisition. The plundered room +is photographed, as in this case. I might have done it by placing +a foot rule on a table and taking that in the picture, but a more +scientific and accurate method has been devised by Bertillon. His +camera lens is always used at a fixed height from the ground and +forms its image on the plate at an exact focus. The print made +from the negative is mounted on a card in a space of definite +size, along the edges of which a metric scale is printed. In the +way he has worked it out the distance between any two points in +the picture can be determined. With a topographical plan and a +metric photograph one can study a crime as a general studies the +map of a strange country. There were several peculiar things that +I observed to-day, and I have here an indelible record of the +scene of the crime. Preserved in this way it cannot be questioned. + +"Now the photographs were in this cabinet. There are other +cabinets, but none of them has been disturbed. Therefore the thief +must have known just what he was after. The marks made in breaking +the lock were not those of a jimmy but of a screwdriver. No +amazing command of the resources of science is needed so far. All +that is necessary is a little scientific common sense, Walter. + +"Now, how did the robber get in? All the windows and doors were +supposedly locked. It is alleged that a pane was cut from this +window at the side. It was, and the pieces were there to show it. +But take a glance at this outside photograph. To reach that window +even a tall man must have stood on a ladder or something. There +are no marks of a ladder or of any person in the soft soil under +the window. What is more, that window was cut from the inside. The +marks of the diamond which cut it plainly show that. Scientific +common sense again." + +"Then it must have been some one in the house or at least some one +familiar with it?" I exclaimed. + +Kennedy nodded. "One thing we have which the police greatly +neglect," he pursued, "a record. We have made some progress in +reconstructing the crime, as Bertillon calls it. If we only had +those Hanford pictures we should be all right." + +We were now on our way to see Miss Ashton at headquarters, and as +we rode downtown I tried to reason out the case. Had it really +been a put-up job? Was Travis himself faking, and was the robbery +a "plant" by which he might forestall exposure of what had become +public property in the hands of another, no longer disposed to +conceal it? Or was it after all the last desperate blow of the +Boss? + +The whole thing began to assume a suspicious look in my mind. +Although Kennedy seemed to have made little real progress, I felt +that, far from aiding Travis, it made things darker. There was +nothing but his unsupported word that he had not visited the Boss +subsequent to the nominating convention. He admitted having done +so before the Reform League came into existence. Besides it seemed +tacitly understood that both the Boss and Cadwalader Brown +acquiesced in the sworn statement of the man who said he had made +the pictures. Added to that the mere existence of the actual +pictures themselves was a graphic clincher to the story. +Personally, if I had been in Kennedy's place I think I should have +taken advantage of the proviso in the compact with Travis to back +out gracefully. Kennedy, however, now started on the case, hung to +it tenaciously. + +Miss Ashton was waiting for us at the press bureau. Her desk was +at the middle of one end of the room in which, if she could keep +an eye on her office force, the office force also could keep an +eye on her. + +Kennedy had apparently taken in the arrangement during our morning +visit, for he set to work immediately. The side of the room toward +the office of Travis and Bennett presented an expanse of blank +wall. With a mallet he quickly knocked a hole in the rough +plaster, just above the baseboard about the room. The hole did not +penetrate quite through to the other side. In it he placed a round +disc of vulcanised rubber, with insulated wires leading down back +of the baseboard, then out underneath it, and under the carpet. +Some plaster quickly closed up the cavity in the wall, and he left +it to dry. + +Next he led the wires under the carpet to Miss Ashton's desk. +There they ended, under the carpet and a rug, eighteen or twenty +huge coils several feet in diameter disposed in such a way as to +attract no attention by a curious foot on the carpet which covered +them. + +"That is all, Miss Ashton," he said as we watched for his next +move. "I shall want to see you early to-morrow, and,--might I ask +you to be sure to wear that hat which you have on?" + +It was a very becoming hat, but Kennedy's tone clearly indicated +that it was not his taste in inverted basket millinery that +prompted the request. She promised, smiling, for even a +suffragette may like pretty hats. + +Craig had still to see Travis and report on his work. The +candidate was waiting anxiously at his hotel after a big political +mass meeting on the East Side, at which capitalism and the bosses +had been hissed to the echo, if that is possible. + +"What success?" inquired Travis eagerly. + +"I'm afraid," replied Kennedy, and the candidate's face fell at +the tone, "I'm afraid you will have to meet them, for the present. +The time limit will expire to-morrow, and I understand Hanford is +coming up for a final answer. We must have copies of those +photographs, even if we have to pay for them. There seems to be no +other way." + +Travis sank back in his chair and regarded Kennedy hopelessly. He +was actually pale. "You--you don't mean to say that there is no +other way, that I'll have to admit even before Bennett--and others +that I'm in bad?" + +"I wouldn't put it that way," said Kennedy mercilessly, I thought. + +"It is that way," Travis asserted almost fiercely. "Why, we could +have done that anyhow. No, no,--I don't mean that. Pardon me. I'm +upset by this. Go ahead," he sighed. + +"You will direct Bennett to make the best terms he can with +Hanford when he comes up to-morrow. Have him arrange the details +of payment and then rush the best copies of the photographs to +me." + +Travis seemed crushed. + +We met Miss Ashton the following morning entering her office. +Kennedy handed her a package, and in a few words, which I did not +hear, explained what he wanted, promising to call again later. + +When we called, the girls and other clerks had arrived, and the +office was a hive of industry in the rush of winding up the +campaign. Typewriters were clicking, clippings were being snipped +out of a huge stack of newspapers and pasted into large scrap- +books, circulars were being folded and made ready to mail for the +final appeal. The room was indeed crowded, and I felt that there +was no doubt, as Kennedy had said, that nothing much could go on +there unobserved by any one to whose interest it was to see it. + +Miss Ashton was sitting at her desk with her hat on directing the +work. "It works," she remarked enigmatically to Kennedy. + +"Good," he replied. "I merely dropped in to be sure. Now if +anything of interest happens, Miss Ashton, I wish you would let me +know immediately. I must not be seen up here, but I shall be +waiting downstairs in the corridor of the building. My next move +depends entirely on what you have to report." + +Downstairs Craig waited with growing impatience. We stood in an +angle in which we could see without being readily seen, and our +impatience was not diminished by seeing Hanford enter the +elevator. + +I think that Miss Ashton would have made an excellent woman +detective, that is, on a case in which her personal feelings were +not involved as they were here. She was pale and agitated as she +appeared in the corridor, and Kennedy hurried toward her. + +"I can't believe it. I won't believe it," she managed to say. + +"Tell me, what happened?" urged Kennedy soothingly. + +"Oh, Mr. Kennedy, why did you ask me to do this?" she reproached. +"I would almost rather not have known it at all." + +"Believe me, Miss Ashton," said Kennedy, "you ought to know. It is +on you that I depend most. We saw Hanford go up. What occurred?" + +She was still pale, and replied nervously, "Mr. Bennett came in +about quarter to ten. He stopped to talk to me and looked about +the room curiously. Do you know, I felt very uncomfortable for a +time. Then he locked the door leading from the press bureau to his +office, and left word that he was not to be disturbed. A few +minutes later a man called." + +"Yes, yes," prompted Kennedy. "Hanford, no doubt." + +She was racing on breathlessly, scarcely giving one a chance to +inquire how she had learned so much. + +"Why," she cried with a sort of defiant ring in her tone, "Mr. +Travis is going to buy those pictures after all. And the worst of +it is that I met him in the hall coming in as I was coming down +here, and he tried to act toward me in the same old way--and that +after all I know now about him. They have fixed it all up, Mr. +Bennett acting for Mr. Travis, and this Mr. Hanford. They are even +going to ask me to carry the money in a sealed envelope to the +studio of this fellow Hanford, to be given to a third person who +will be there at two o'clock this afternoon." + +"You, Miss Ashton?" inquired Kennedy, a light breaking on his face +as if at last he saw something. + +"Yes, I," she repeated. "Hanford insisted that it was part of the +compact. They--they haven't asked me openly yet to be the means of +carrying out their dirty deals, but when they do, I--I won't----" + +"Miss Ashton," remonstrated Kennedy, "I beg you to be calm. I had +no idea you would take it like this, no idea. Please, please. +Walter, you will excuse us if we take a turn down the corridor and +out in the air. This is most extraordinary." + +For five or ten minutes Kennedy and Miss Ashton appeared to be +discussing the new turn of events earnestly, while I waited +impatiently. As they approached again she seemed calmer, but I +heard her say, "I hope you're right. I'm all broken up by it. I'm +ready to resign. My faith in human nature is shaken. No, I won't +expose Wesley Travis for his sake. It cuts me to have to admit it, +but Cadwalader used always to say that every man has his price. I +am afraid this will do great harm to the cause of reform and +through it to the woman suffrage cause which cast its lot with +this party. I--I can hardly believe----" + +Kennedy was still looking earnestly at her. "Miss Ashton," he +implored, "believe nothing. Remember one of the first rules of +politics is loyalty. Wait until----" + +"Wait?" she echoed. "How can I? I hate Wesley Travis for giving +in--more than I hate Cadwalader Brown for his cynical disregard of +honesty in others." + +She bit her lip at thus betraying her feelings, but what she had +heard had evidently affected her deeply. It was as though the feet +of her idol had turned to clay. Nevertheless it was evident that +she was coming to look on it more as she would if she were an +outsider. + +"Just think it over," urged Kennedy. "They won't ask you right +away. Don't do anything rash. Suspend judgment. You won't regret +it." + +Craig's next problem seemed to be to transfer the scene of his +operations to Hanford's studio. He was apparently doing some rapid +thinking as we walked uptown after leaving Miss Ashton, and I did +not venture to question him on what had occurred when it was so +evident that everything depended on being prepared for what was +still to occur. + +Hanford was out. That seemed to please Kennedy, for with a +brightening face, which told more surely than words that he saw +his way more and more clearly, he asked me to visit the agent and +hire the vacant office next to the studio while he went uptown to +complete his arrangements for the final step. + +I had completed my part and was waiting in the empty room when he +returned. He lost no time in getting to work, and it seemed to me +as I watched him curiously in silence that he was repeating what +he had already done at the Travis headquarters. He was boring into +the wall, only this time he did it much more carefully, and it was +evident that if he intended putting anything into this cavity it +must be pretty large. The hole was square, and as I bent over I +could see that he had cut through the plaster and laths all the +way to the wallpaper on the other side, though he was careful to +leave that intact. Then he set up a square black box in the +cavity, carefully poising it and making measurements that told of +the exact location of its centre with reference to the partitions +and walls. + +A skeleton key took us into Hanford's well-lighted but now empty +studio. For Miss Ashton's sake I wished that the photographs had +been there. I am sure Kennedy would have found slight compunction +in a larceny of them, if they had been. It was something entirely +different that he had in mind now, however, and he was working +quickly for fear of discovery. By his measurements I guessed that +he was calculating as nearly as possible the centre of the box +which he had placed in the hole in the wall on the other side of +the dark wallpaper. When he had quite satisfied himself he took a +fine pencil from his pocket and made a light cross on the paper to +indicate it. The dot fell to the left of a large calendar hanging +on the wall. + +Kennedy's appeal to Margaret Ashton had evidently had its effect, +for when we saw her a few moments after these mysterious +preparations she had overcome her emotion. + +"They have asked me to carry a note to Mr. Hanford's studio," she +said quietly, "and without letting them know that I know anything +about it I have agreed to do so." + +"Miss Ashton," said Kennedy, greatly relieved, "you're a trump." + +"No," she replied, smiling faintly, "I'm just feminine enough to +be curious." + +Craig shook his head, but did not dispute the point. "After you +have handed the envelope to the person, whoever it may be, in +Hanford's studio, wait until he does something--er,--suspicious. +Meanwhile look at the wall on the side toward the next vacant +office. To the left of the big calendar you will see a light +pencil mark, a cross. Somehow you must contrive to get near it, +but don't stand in front of it. Then if anything happens stick +this little number 10 needle in the wall right at the intersection +of the cross. Withdraw it quickly, count fifteen, then put this +little sticker over the cross, and get out as best you can, though +we shan't be far away if you should need us. That's all." + +We did not accompany her to the studio for fear of being observed, +but waited impatiently in the next office. We could hear nothing +of what was said, but when a door shut and it was evident that she +had gone, Kennedy quickly removed something from the box in the +wall covered with a black cloth. + +As soon as it was safe Kennedy had sent me posting after her to +secure copies of the incriminating photographs which were to be +carried by her from the studio, while he remained to see who came +out. I thought a change had come over her as she handed me the +package with the request that I carry it to Mr. Bennett and get +them from him. + +The first inkling I had that Kennedy had at last been able to +trace back something in the mysterious doings of the past two days +came the following evening, when Craig remarked casually that he +would like to have me call on Billy McLoughlin if I had no +engagement. I replied that I had none--and managed to squirm out +of the one I really had. + +The Boss's office was full of politicians, for it was the eve of +"dough day," when the purse strings were loosed and a flood of +potent argument poured forth to turn the tide of election. Hanford +was there with the other ward heelers. + +"Mr. McLoughlin," began Kennedy quietly, when we were seated alone +with Hanford in the little sanctum of the Boss, "you will pardon +me if I seem a little slow in coming to the business that has +brought me here to-night. First of all, I may say, and you, +Hanford, being a photographer will appreciate it, that ever since +the days of Daguerre photography has been regarded as the one +infallible means of portraying faithfully any object, scene, or +action. Indeed a photograph is admitted in court as irrefutable +evidence. For when everything else fails, a picture made through +the photographic lens almost invariably turns the tide. However, +such a picture upon which the fate of an important case may rest +should be subjected to critical examination for it is an +established fact that a photograph may be made as untruthful as it +may be reliable. Combination photographs change entirely the +character of the initial negative and have been made for the past +fifty years. The earliest, simplest, and most harmless +photographic deception is the printing of clouds into a bare sky. +But the retoucher with his pencil and etching tool to-day is very +skilful. A workman of ordinary skill can introduce a person taken +in a studio into an open-air scene well blended and in complete +harmony without a visible trace of falsity. + +"I need say nothing of how one head can be put on another body in +a picture, nor need I say what a double exposure will do. There is +almost no limit to the changes that may be wrought in form and +feature. It is possible to represent a person crossing Broadway or +walking on Riverside Drive, places he may never have visited. Thus +a person charged with an offence may be able to prove an alibi by +the aid of a skilfully prepared combination photograph. + +"Where, then, can photography be considered as irrefutable +evidence? The realism may convince all, will convince all, except +the expert and the initiated after careful study. A shrewd judge +will insist that in every case the negative be submitted and +examined for possible alterations by a clever manipulator." + +Kennedy bent his gaze on McLoughlin. "Now, I do not accuse you, +sir, of anything. But a photograph has come into the possession of +Mr. Travis in which he is represented as standing on the steps of +your house with yourself and Mr. Cadwalader Brown. He and Mr. +Brown are in poses that show the utmost friendliness. I do not +hesitate to say that that was originally a photograph of yourself, +Mr. Brown, and your own candidate. It is a pretty raw deal, a fake +in which Travis has been substituted by very excellent +photographic forgery." + +McLoughlin motioned to Hanford to reply. "A fake?" repeated the +latter contemptuously. "How about the affidavits? There's no +negative. You've got to prove that the original print stolen from +Travis, we'll say, is a fake. You can't do it." + +"September 19th was the date alleged, I believe?" asked Kennedy +quietly, laying down the bundle of metric photographs and the +alleged photographs of Travis. He was pointing to a shadow of a +gable on the house as it showed in the metric photographs and the +others. + +"You see that shadow of the gable? Perhaps you never heard of it, +Hanford, but it is possible to tell the exact time at which a +photograph was taken from a study of the shadows. It is possible +in principle and practice and can be trusted. Almost any scientist +may be called on to bear testimony in court nowadays, but you +would say the astronomer is one of the least likely. Well, the +shadow in this picture will prove an alibi for some one. + +"Notice. It is seen very prominently to the right, and its exact +location on the house is an easy matter. You could almost use the +metric photograph for that. The identification of the gable +casting the shadow is easy. To be exact it is 19.62 feet high. The +shadow is 14.23 feet down, 13.10 feet east, and 3.43 feet north. +You see I am exact. I have to be. In one minute it moved 0.080 +feet upward, 0.053 feet to the right and 0.096 feet in its +apparent path. It passes the width of a weatherboard, 0.37 foot, +in four minutes and thirty-seven seconds." + +Kennedy was talking rapidly of data which he had derived from his +metric photograph, from plumb line, level, compass, and tape, +astronomical triangle, vertices, zenith, pole and sun, +declination, azimuth, solar time, parallactic angles, refraction, +and a dozen bewildering terms. + +"In spherical trigonometry," he concluded, "to solve the problem +three elements must be known. I knew four. Therefore I could take +each of the known, treat it as unknown, and have four ways to +check my result. I find that the time might have been either three +o'clock, twenty-one minutes and twelve seconds, in the afternoon, +or 3:21:31, or 3:21:29, or 3:21:33. The average is 3:21:26, and +there can therefore be no appreciable error except for a few +seconds. For that date must have been one of two days, either May +22 or July 22. Between these two dates we must decide on evidence +other than the shadow. It must have been in May, as the immature +condition of the foliage shows. But even if it had been in July, +that is far from being September. The matter of the year I have +also settled. Weather conditions, I find, were favourable on all +these dates except that in September. I can really answer, with an +assurance and accuracy superior to that of the photographer +himself--even if he were honest--as to the real date. The real +picture, aside from being doctored, was actually taken last May. +Science is not fallible, but exact in this matter." + +Kennedy had scored a palpable hit. McLoughlin and Hanford were +speechless. Still Craig hurried on. + +"But, you may ask, how about the automobile picture? That also is +an unblushing fake. Of course I must prove that. In the first +place, you know that the general public has come to recognise the +distortion of a photograph as denoting speed. A picture of a car +in a race that doesn't lean is rejected--people demand to see +speed, speed, more speed even in pictures. Distortion does indeed +show speed, but that, too, can be faked. + +"Hanford knows that the image is projected upside down by the lens +on the plate, and that the bottom of the picture is taken before +the top. The camera mechanism admits light, which makes the +picture, in the manner of a roller blind curtain. The slit travels +from the top to the bottom and the image on the plate being +projected upside down, the bottom of the object appears on the top +of the plate. For instance, the wheels are taken before the head +of the driver. If the car is moving quickly the image moves on the +plate and each successive part is taken a little in advance of the +last. The whole leans forward. By widening the slit and slowing +the speed of the shutter, there is more distortion. + +"Now, this is what happened. A picture was taken of Cadwalader +Brown's automobile, probably at rest, with Brown in it. The matter +of faking Travis or any one else by his side is simple. If with an +enlarging lantern the image of this faked picture is thrown on the +paper like a lantern slide, and if the right hand side is a little +further away than the left, the top further away than the bottom, +you can print a fraudulent high speed ahead picture. True, +everything else in, the picture, even if motionless, is distorted, +and the difference between this faking and the distortion of the +shutter can be seen by an expert. But it will pass. In this case, +however, the faker was so sure of that that he was careless. +Instead of getting the plate further from the paper on the right +he did so on the left. It was further away on the bottom than on +the top. He got distortion all right, enough still to satisfy the +uninitiated. But it was distortion in the wrong way! The top of +the wheel, which goes fastest and ought to be most indistinct, is, +in the fake, as sharp as any other part. It is a small mistake, +but fatal. That picture is really at high speed--backwards! It is +too raw, too raw." + +"You don't think people are going to swallow all that stuff, do +you?" asked Hanford coolly, in spite of the exposures. + +Kennedy paid no attention. He was looking at McLoughlin. The Boss +was regarding him surlily. "Well," he said at length, "what of all +this? I had nothing to do with it. Why do you come to me? Take it +to the proper parties." + +"Shall I?" asked Kennedy quietly. + +He had uncovered another picture carefully. We could not see it, +but as he looked at it McLoughlin fairly staggered. + +"Wh--where did you get that?" he gasped. + +"I got it where I got it, and it is no fake," replied Kennedy +enigmatically. Then he appeared to think better of it. "This," he +explained, "is what is known as a pinhole photograph. Three +hundred years ago della Porta knew the camera obscura, and but for +the lack of a sensitive plate would have made photographs. A box, +thoroughly light-tight, slotted inside to receive plates, covered +with black, and glued tight, a needle hole made by a number 10 +needle in a thin sheet of paper--and you have the apparatus for +lensless photography. It has a correctness such as no image- +forming means by lenses can have. It is literally rectigraphic, +rectilinear, it needs no focussing, and it takes a wide angle with +equal effect. Even pinhole snapshots are possible where the light +is abundant, with a ten to fifteen second exposure. + +"That picture, McLoughlin, was taken yesterday at Hanford's. After +Miss Ashton left I saw who came out, but this picture shows what +happened before. At a critical moment Miss Ashton stuck a needle +in the wall of the studio, counted fifteen, closed the needle- +hole, and there is the record. Walter, Hanford,--leave us alone an +instant." + +When Kennedy passed out of the Boss's office there was a look of +quiet satisfaction on his face which I could not fathom. Not a +word could I extract from him either that night or on the +following day, which was the last before the election. + +I must say that I was keenly disappointed by the lack of +developments, however. The whole thing seemed to me to be a mess. +Everybody was involved. What had Miss Ashton overheard and what +had Kennedy said to McLoughlin? Above all, what was his game? Was +he playing to spare the girl's feelings by allowing the election +to go on without a scandal for Travis? + +At last election night arrived. We were all at the Travis +headquarters, Kennedy, Travis, Bennett, and myself. Miss Ashton +was not present, but the first returns had scarcely begun to +trickle in when Craig whispered to me to go out and find her, +either at her home or club. I found her at home. She had +apparently lost interest in the election, and it was with +difficulty that I persuaded her to accompany me. The excitement of +any other night in the year paled to insignificance before this. +Distracted crowds everywhere were cheering and blowing horns. Now +a series of wild shouts broke forth from the dense mass of people +before a newspaper bulletin board. Now came sullen groans, hisses, +and catcalls, or all together with cheers as the returns swung in +another direction. Not even baseball could call out such a crowd +as this. Lights blazed everywhere. Automobiles honked and ground +their gears. The lobster palaces were thronged. Police were +everywhere. People with horns and bells and all manner of noise- +making devices pushed up one side of the thoroughfares and down +the other. Hungrily, ravenously they were feeding on the meagre +bulletins of news. + +Yet back of all the noise and human energy I could only think of +the silent, systematic gathering and editing of the news. High up +in the League headquarters, when we returned, a corps of clerks +was tabulating returns, comparing official and semi-official +reports. As first the state swung one way, then another, our hopes +rose and fell. Miss Ashton seemed cold and ill at ease, while +Travis looked more worried and paid less attention to the returns +than would have seemed natural. She avoided him and he seemed to +hesitate to seek her out. + +Would the up-state returns, I had wondered at first, be large +enough to overcome the hostile city vote? I was amazed now to see +how strongly the city was turning to Travis. + +"McLoughlin has kept his word," ejaculated Kennedy as district +after district showed that the Boss's pluralities were being +seriously cut into. + +"His word? What do you mean?" we asked almost together. + +"I mean that he has kept his word given to me at a conference +which Mr. Jameson saw but did not hear. I told him I would publish +the whole thing, not caring whom or where or when it hit if he did +not let up on Travis. I advised him to read his Revised Statutes +again about money in elections, and I ended up with the threat, +'There will be no dough day, McLoughlin, or this will be +prosecuted to the limit.' There was no dough day. You see the +effect in the returns." + +"But how did you do it?" I asked, not comprehending. "The faked +photographs did not move him, that I could see." + +The words, "faked photographs," caused Miss Ashton to glance up +quickly. I saw that Kennedy had not told her or any one yet, until +the Boss had made good. He had simply arranged one of his little +dramas. + +"Shall I tell, Miss Ashton?" he asked, adding, "Before I complete +my part of the compact and blot out the whole affair?" + +"I have no right to say no," she answered tremulously, but with a +look of happiness that I had not seen since our first +introduction. + +Kennedy laid down a print on a table. It was the pinhole +photograph, a little blurry, but quite convincing. On a desk in +the picture was a pile of bills. McLoughlin was shoving them away +from him toward Bennett. A man who was facing forward in the +picture was talking earnestly to some one who did not appear. I +felt intuitively, even before Kennedy said so, that the person was +Miss Ashton herself as she stuck the needle into the wall. The man +was Cadwalader Brown. + +"Travis," demanded Kennedy, "bring the account books of your +campaign. I want the miscellaneous account particularly." + +The books were brought, and he continued, turning the leaves, "It +seemed to me to show a shortage of nearly twenty thousand dollars +the other day. Why, it has been made up. How was that, Bennett?" + +Bennett was speechless. "I will tell you," Craig proceeded +inexorably. "Bennett, you embezzled that money for your business. +Rather than be found out, you went to Billy McLoughlin and offered +to sell out the Reform campaign for money to replace it. With the +aid of the crook, Hanford, McLoughlin's tool, you worked out the +scheme to extort money from Travis by forged photographs. You knew +enough about Travis's house and library to frame up a robbery one +night when you were staying there with him. It was inside work, I +found, at a glance. Travis, I am sorry to have to tell you that +your confidence was misplaced. It was Bennett who robbed you--and +worse. + +"But Cadwalader Brown, always close to his creature, Billy +McLoughlin, heard of it. To him it presented another idea. To him +it offered a chance to overthrow a political enemy and a hated +rival for Miss Ashton's hand. Perhaps into the bargain it would +disgust her with politics, disillusion her, and shake her faith in +what he believed to be some of her 'radical' notions. All could be +gained at one blow. They say that a check-book knows no politics, +but Bennett has learned some, I venture to say, and to save his +reputation he will pay back what he has tried to graft." + +Travis could scarcely believe it yet. "How did you get your first +hint?" he gasped. + +Kennedy was digging into the wall with a bill file at the place +where he had buried the little vulcanised disc. I had already +guessed that it was a dictograph, though I could not tell how it +was used or who used it. There it was, set squarely in the +plaster. There also were the wires running under the carpet. As he +lifted the rug under Miss Ashton's desk there also lay the huge +circles of wire. That was all. + +At this moment Miss Ashton stepped forward. "Last Friday," she +said in a low tone, "I wore a belt which concealed a coil of wire +about my waist. From it a wire ran under my coat, connecting with +a small dry battery in a pocket. Over my head I had an arrangement +such as the telephone girls wear with a receiver at one ear +connected with the battery. No one saw it, for I wore a large hat +which completely hid it. If any one had known, and there were +plenty of eyes watching, the whole thing would have fallen +through. I could walk around; no one could suspect anything; but +when I stood or sat at my desk I could hear everything that was +said in Mr. Bennett's office." + +"By induction," explained Kennedy. "The impulses set up in the +concealed dictograph set up currents in these coils of wire +concealed under the carpet. They were wirelessly duplicated by +induction in the coil about Miss Ashton's waist and so affected +the receiver under her very becoming hat. Tell the rest, Miss +Ashton." + +"I heard the deal arranged with this Hanford," she added, almost +as if she were confessing something, "but not understanding it as +Mr. Kennedy did, I very hastily condemned Mr. Travis. I heard talk +of putting back twenty thousand into the campaign accounts, of +five thousand given to Hanford for his photographic work, and of +the way Mr. Travis was to be defeated whether he paid or not. I +heard them say that one condition was that I should carry the +purchase money. I heard much that must have confirmed Mr. +Kennedy's suspicion in one way, and my own in an opposite way, +which I know now was wrong. And then Cadwalader Brown in the +studio taunted me cynically and-and it cut me, for he seemed +right. I hope that Mr. Travis will forgive me for thinking that +Mr. Bennett's treachery was his----" + +A terrific cheer broke out among the clerks in the outer office. A +boy rushed in with a still unblotted report. Kennedy seized it and +read: "McLoughlin concedes the city by a small majority to Travis, +fifteen election districts estimated. This clinches the Reform +League victory in the state." + +I turned to Travis. He was paying no attention except to the +pretty apology of Margaret Ashton. + +Kennedy drew me to the door. "We might as well concede Miss Ashton +to Travis," he said, adding gaily, "by induction of an arm about +the waist. Let's go out and watch the crowd." + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poisoned Pen, by Arthur B. 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