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diff --git a/old/goldg10.txt b/old/goldg10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b83d50 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/goldg10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9257 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gold of the Gods, by Arthur B. Reeve +(#7 in our series by Arthur B. Reeve) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. 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 Gold of the Gods + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5149] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 15, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE GOLD OF THE GODS *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + +THE GOLD OF THE GODS + +BY + +ARTHUR B. REEVE + + +FRONTISPIECE BY WILL FOSTER + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE PERUVIAN DAGGER + + II THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE + + III THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL DETECTIVE + + IV THE TREASURE HUNTERS + + V THE WALL STREET PROMOTER + + VI THE CURSE OF MANSICHE + + VII THE ARROW POISON + + VIII THE ANONYMOUS LETTER + + IX THE PAPER FIBRES + + X THE X-RAY READER + + XI THE SHOE-PRINTS + + XII THE EVIL EYE + + XIII THE POISONED CIGARETTE + + XIV THE INTERFEROMETER + + XV THE WEED OF MADNESS + + XVI THE EAR IN THE WALL + + XVII THE VOICE FROM THE AIR + +XVIII THE ANTIDOTE + + XIX THE BURGLAR POWDER + + XX THE PULMOTOR + + XXI THE TELESCRIBE + + XXII THE VANISHER + +XXIII THE ACETYLENE TORCH + + XXIV THE POLICE DOG + + XXV THE GOLD OF THE GODS + + + + + + +I + +THE PERUVIAN DAGGER + + +"There's something weird and mysterious about the robbery, +Kennedy. They took the very thing I treasure most of all, an +ancient Peruvian dagger." + +Professor Allan Norton was very much excited as he dropped into +Craig's laboratory early that forenoon. + +Norton, I may say, was one of the younger members of the faculty, +like Kennedy. Already, however, he had made for himself a place as +one of the foremost of South American explorers and +archaeologists. + +"How they got into the South American section of the Museum, +though, I don't understand," he hurried on. "But, once in, that +they should take the most valuable relic I brought back with me on +this last expedition, I think certainly shows that it was a +robbery with a deep-laid, premeditated purpose." + +"Nothing else is gone?" queried Kennedy. + +"Nothing," returned the professor. "That's the strangest part of +it--to me. It was a peculiar dagger, too," he continued +reminiscently. "I say that it was valuable, for on the blade were +engraved some curious Inca characters. I wasn't able to take the +time to decipher them, down there, for the age of the metal made +them almost illegible. But now that I have all my stuff unpacked +and arranged after my trip, I was just about to try--when along +comes a thief and robs me. We can't have the University Museum +broken into that way, you know, Kennedy." + +"I should say not," readily assented Craig. "I'd like to look the +place over." + +"Just what I wanted," exclaimed Norton, heartily delighted, and +leading the way. + +We walked across the campus with him to the Museum, still +chatting. Norton was a tall, spare man, wiry, precisely the type +one would pick to make an explorer in a tropical climate. His +features were sharp, suggesting a clear and penetrating mind and a +disposition to make the most of everything, no matter how slight. +Indeed that had been his history, I knew. He had come to college a +couple of years before Kennedy and myself, almost penniless, and +had worked his way through by doing everything from waiting on +table to tutoring. To-day he stood forth as a shining example of +self-made intellectual man, as cultured as if he had sprung from a +race of scholars, as practical as if he had taken to mills rather +than museums. + +We entered a handsome white-marble building in the shape of a +rectangle, facing the University Library, a building, by the way, +which Norton had persuaded several wealthy trustees and other +donors to erect. Kennedy at once began examining the section +devoted to Latin America, going over everything very carefully. + +I looked about, too. There were treasures from Mexico and Peru, +from every romantic bit of the wonderful countries south of us-- +blocks of porphyry with quaint grecques and hieroglyphic painting +from Mitla, copper axes and pottery from Cuzco, sculptured stones +and mosaics, jugs, cups, vases, little gods and great, sacrificial +stones, a treasure house of Aztec and Inca lore--enough to keep +one occupied for hours merely to look at. + +Yet, I reflected, following Norton, in all this mass of material, +the thief seemed to have selected one, apparently insignificant, +dagger, the thing which Norton prized because, somehow, it bore on +its blade something which he had not, as yet, been able to fathom. + +Though Kennedy looked thoroughly and patiently, it seemed as +though there was nothing there to tell any story of the robbery, +and he turned his attention at last to other parts of the Museum. +As he made his way about slowly, I noted that he was looking +particularly into corners, behind cabinets, around angles. What he +expected to find I could not even guess. + +Further along and on the same side of the building we came to the +section devoted to Egyptology. Kennedy paused. Standing there, +upright against the wall, was a mummy case. To me, even now, the +thing had a creepy look. Craig pushed aside the stone lid +irreverently and gazed keenly into the uncanny depths of the stone +sarcophagus. An instant later he was down on his hands and knees, +carefully examining the interior by means of a pocket lens. + +"I think I have made a start," he remarked, rising to his feet and +facing us with an air of satisfaction. + +We said nothing, and he pointed to some almost undiscernible marks +in a thin layer of dust that had collected in the sarcophagus. + +"If I'm not mistaken," he went on, "your thief got into the Museum +during the daytime, and, when no one was looking, hid here. He +must have stayed until the place was locked up at night. Then he +could rob at his leisure, only taking care to confine his +operations to the time between the rather infrequent rounds of the +night watchman." + +Kennedy bent down again. "Look," he indicated. "There are the +marks of shoes in the dust, shoes with nails in the heels, of +course. I shall have to compare the marks that I have found here +with those I have collected, following out the method of the +immortal Bertillon. Every make of shoes has its own peculiarities, +both in the number and the arrangement of the nails. Offhand, +however, I should say that these shoes were American-made--though +that, of course, does not necessarily mean that an American wore +them. I may even be able to determine which of a number of +individual pairs of shoes made the marks. I cannot tell that yet, +until I study them. Walter, I wish you'd go over to my laboratory. +In the second right-hand drawer of my desk you'll find a package +of paper. I'd like to have it." + +"Don't you think you ought to preserve the marks?" I heard Norton +hint, as I left. He had been watching Kennedy in open-eyed +amazement and interest. + +"Exactly what I am sending Walter to do," he returned. "I have +some specially prepared paper that will take those dust marks up +and give me a perfect replica." + +I hurried back as fast as I could, and Kennedy bent to the task of +preserving the marks. + +"Have you any idea who might have an object in stealing the +dagger?" Kennedy asked, when he had finished. + +Norton shrugged his shoulders. "I believe some weird superstitions +were connected with it," he replied. "It had a three-sided blade, +and, as I told you, both the blade and the hilt were covered with +peculiar markings." + +There seemed to be nothing more that could be discovered from a +further examination of the Museum. It was plain enough that the +thief must have let himself out of a side door which had a spring +lock on it and closed itself. Not a mark or scratch was to be +found on any of the window or door locks; nothing else seemed to +have been disturbed. + +Evidently the thief had been after that one, to him priceless, +object. Having got it, he was content to get away, leaving +untouched the other treasures, some of which were even +intrinsically valuable for the metal and precious stones in them. +The whole affair seemed so strange to me, however, that, somehow, +I could not help wondering whether Norton had told us the whole or +only half the story as he knew it about the dagger and its +history. + +Still talking with the archaeologist, Kennedy and I returned to +his laboratory. + +We had scarcely reached the door when we heard the telephone +ringing insistently. I answered, and it happened to be a call for +me. It was the editor of the Star endeavouring to catch me, before +I started downtown to the office, in order to give me an +assignment. + +"That's strange," I exclaimed, hanging up the receiver and turning +to Craig. "I've got to go out on a murder case--" + +"An interesting case?" asked Craig, interrupting his own train of +investigation with a flash of professional interest. + +"Why, a man has been murdered in his apartment on Central Park, +West, I believe. Luis de Mendoza is the name, and it seems--" + +"Don Luis de Mendoza?" repeated Norton, with a startled +exclamation. "Why, he was an influential Peruvian, a man of +affairs in his country, and an accomplished scholar. I--I--if you +don't mind, I'd like to go over with you. I know the Mendozas." + +Kennedy was watching Norton's face keenly. "I think I'll go, too, +Walter," he decided. "You won't lack assistants on this story, +apparently." + +"Perhaps you can be of some assistance to them, also," put in +Norton to Kennedy, as we left. + +It was only a short ride downtown, and our cab soon pulled up +before a rather ornate entrance of a large apartment in one of the +most exclusive sections of the city. We jumped out and entered, +succeeding in making our way to the sixth floor, where Mendoza +lived, without interference from the hallboy, who had been +completely swamped by the rush that followed the excitement of +finding one of the tenants murdered. + +There was no missing the place. The hall had been taken over by +the reporters, who had established themselves there, terrible as +an army with concealed pads and pencils. From one of the morning +men already there I learned that our old friend Dr. Leslie, the +coroner, was already in charge. + +Somehow, whether it was through Kennedy's acquaintance with Dr. +Leslie or Norton's acquaintance with the Mendozas and the Spanish +tongue, we found ourselves beyond the barrier of the door which +shut out my rivals. + +As we stood for a moment in a handsome and tastefully furnished +living room a young lady passed through hurriedly. She paused in +the middle of the room as she saw us and eyed us tremulously, as +though to ask us why we had intruded. It was a rather awkward +situation. + +Quickly Norton came to the rescue. "I hope you will pardon me, +Senorita," he bowed in perfect Spanish, "but--" + +"Oh, Professor Norton, it is you!" she cried in English, +recognizing him. "I'm so nervous that I didn't see you at first." + +She glanced from him to us, inquiringly. I recollected that my +editor had mentioned a daughter who might prove to be an +interesting and important figure in the mystery. She spoke in an +overwrought, agitated tone. I studied her furtively. + +Inez de Mendoza was unmistakably beautiful, of the dark Spanish +type, with soft brown eyes that appealed to one when she talked, +and a figure which at any less tragic moment one might have been +pardoned for admiring. Her soft olive skin, masses of dark hair, +and lustrous, almost voluptuous, eyes contrasted wonderfully with +the finely chiselled lines of her nose, the firm chin, and +graceful throat and neck. Here one recognized a girl of character +and family in the depths of whose soul smouldered all the passion +of a fiery race. + +"I hope you will pardon me for intruding," Norton repeated. +"Believe me, it is not with mere idle curiosity. Let me introduce +my friend, Professor Kennedy, the scientific detective, of whom +you have heard, no doubt. This is his assistant, Mr. Jameson, of +the Star. I thought perhaps they might stand between you and that +crowd in the hall," he added, motioning toward the reporters on +the other side of the door. "You can trust them absolutely. I'm +sure that if there is anything any of us can do to aid you in--in +your trouble, you may be sure that we are at your service." + +She looked about a moment in the presence of three strangers who +had invaded the quietness of what had been, at least temporarily, +home. She seemed to be seeking some one on whom to lean, as though +some support had suddenly been knocked from under her, leaving her +dazed at the change. + +"Oh, madre de Dios!" she cried. "What shall I do? Oh, my father-- +my poor father!" + +Inez Mendoza was really a pathetic and appealing figure as she +stood there in the room, alone. + +Quickly she looked us over, as if, by same sort of occult +intuition of woman, she were reading our souls. Then, +instinctively almost, she turned to Kennedy. Kennedy seemed to +recognize her need. Norton and I retired, somewhat more than +figuratively. + +"You--you are a detective?" she queried. "You can read mystery-- +like a book?" + +Kennedy smiled encouragingly. "Hardly as my friend Walter here +often paints me," he returned. "Still, now and then, we are able +to use the vast knowledge of wise men the world over to help those +in trouble. Tell me--everything," he soothed, as though knowing +that to talk would prove a safety-valve for her pent-up emotions. +"Perhaps I can help you." + +For a moment she did not know what to do. Then, almost before she +knew it, apparently, she began to talk to him, forgetting that we +were in the room. + +"Tell me how the thing happened, all that you know, how you found +it out," prompted Craig. + +"Oh, it was midnight, last night; yes, late," she returned wildly. +"I was sleeping when my maid, Juanita, wakened me and told me that +Mr. Lockwood was in the living room and wanted to see me, must see +me. I dressed hurriedly, for it came to me that something must be +the matter. I think I must have come out sooner than they +expected, for before they knew it I had run across the living room +and looked through the door into the den, you call it, over +there." + +She pointed at a heavy door, but did not, evidently could not, let +her eyes rest on it. + +"There was my father, huddled in a chair, and blood had run out +from an ugly wound in his side. I screamed and fell on my knees +beside him. But," she shuddered, "it was too late. He was cold. He +did not answer." + +Kennedy said nothing, but let her weep into her dainty lace +handkerchief, though the impulse was strong to do anything to calm +her grief. + +"Mr. Lockwood had come in to visit him on business, had found the +door into the hall open, and entered. No one seemed to be about; +but the lights were burning. He went on into the den. There was my +father--" + +She stopped, and could not go on at all for several minutes. + +"And Mr. Lockwood, who is he?" asked Craig gently. + +"My father and I, we have been in this country only a short time," +she replied, trying to speak in good English in spite of her +emotion, "with his partner in a--a mining venture--Mr. Lockwood." + +She paused again and hesitated, as though in this strange land of +the north she had no idea of which way to turn for help. But once +started, now, she did not stop again. + +"Oh," she went on passionately, "I don't know what it was that +came over my father. But lately he had been a changed man. +Sometimes I thought he was--what you call--mad. I should have gone +to see a doctor about him," she added wildly, her feelings getting +the better of her. "But it is no longer a case for a doctor. It is +a case for a detective--for some one who is more than a detective. +You cannot bring him back, but--" + +She could not go on. Yet her broken sentence spoke volumes, in her +pleading, soft, musical voice, which was far more pleasing to the +ear than that of the usual Latin-American. + +I had heard that the women of Lima were famed for their beauty and +melodious voices. Senorita Inez surely upheld their reputation. + +There was an appealing look now in her soft deep-brown eyes, and +her thin, delicate lips trembled as she hurried on with her +strange story. + +"I never saw my father in such a state before," she murmured. "For +days all he had talked about was the 'big fish,' the peje grande, +whatever that might mean--and the curse of Mansiche." + +The recollection of the past few days seemed to be too much for +her. Almost before we knew it, before Norton, who had started to +ask her a question, could speak, she excused herself and fled from +the room, leaving only the indelible impression of loveliness and +the appeal for help that was irresistible. + +Kennedy turned to Norton. But just then the door to the den opened +and we saw our friend Dr. Leslie. He saw us, too, and took a few +steps in our direction. + +"What--you here, Kennedy?" he greeted in surprise as Craig shook +hands and introduced Norton. "And Jameson, too? Well, I think +you've found a case at last that will baffle you." + +As we talked he led the way across the living room and into the +den from which he had just come. + +"It is very strange," he said, telling at once all that he had +been able to discover. "Senor Mendoza was discovered here about +midnight last night by his partner, Mr. Lockwood. There seem to be +no clues to how or by whom he was murdered. No locks had been +broken. I have examined the hall-boy who was here last night. He +seems to be off his post a good deal when it is late. He saw Mr. +Lockwood come in, and took him in the elevator up to the sixth +floor. After that we can find nothing but the open door into the +apartment. It is not at all impossible that some one might have +come in when the boy was off his post, have walked up, even have +walked down, the stairs again. In fact, it must have been that +way. No windows, not even on the fire-escape, have been tampered +with. In fact, the murder must have been done by some one admitted +to the apartment late by Mendoza himself." + +We walked over to the couch on which lay the body covered by a +sheet. Dr. Leslie drew down the sheet. + +On the face was a most awful look, a terrible stare and contortion +of the features, and a deep, almost purple, discoloration. The +muscles were all tense and rigid. I shall never forget that face +and its look, half of pain, half of fear, as if of something +nameless. + +Mendoza had been a heavy-set man, whose piercing black eyes +beetled forth, in life, from under bushy brows. Even in death, +barring that horrible look, he was rather distinguished-looking, +and his close-cropped hair and moustache set him off as a man of +affairs and consequence in his own country. + +"Most peculiar, Kennedy," reiterated Dr. Leslie, pointing to the +breast. "You see that wound? I can't quite determine whether that +was the real cause of death or not. Of course, it's a bad wound, +it's true. But there seems to be something else here, too. Look at +the pupils of his eyes, how contracted they are. The lungs seem +congested, too. He has all the marks of having been asphyxiated. +Yet there are no indications on his throat of violence such as +would be necessary if that were the case. There could have been no +such thing as illuminating gas, nor have we found any trace of any +receptacles which might have held poison. I can't seem to make it +out." + +Kennedy bent over the body and looked at it attentively for +several minutes, while we stood back of him, scarcely uttering a +word in the presence of this terrible thing. + +Deftly Kennedy managed to extract a few drops of blood from about +the wound and transfer them to a very small test-tube which he +carried in a little emergency pocket-case in order to preserve +material for future study. + +"You say the dagger was triangular, Norton?" he asked finally, +without looking up from his minute examination. + +"Yes, with another blade that shot out automatically when you knew +the secret of pressing the hilt in a certain way. The outside +triangular blade separated into three to allow an inner blade to +shoot out." + +Kennedy had risen and, as Norton described the Inca dagger, looked +from one to the other of us keenly. + +"That blade was poisoned," he concluded quietly. "We have a clue +to your missing dagger. Mendoza was murdered by it!" + + + + +II + +THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE + + +"I should like to have another talk with Senorita Inez," remarked +Kennedy, a few minutes later, as with Dr. Leslie and Professor +Norton we turned into the living room and closed the door to the +den. + +While Norton volunteered to send one of the servants in to see +whether the young lady was able to stand the strain of another +interview, Dr. Leslie received a hurry call to another case. + +"You'll let me know, Kennedy, if you discover anything?" he asked, +shaking hands with us. "I shall keep you informed, also, from my +end. That poison completely baffles me--so far. You know, we might +as well work together." + +"Assuredly," agreed Craig, as the coroner left. "That," he added +to me, as the door closed, "was one word for me and two for +himself. I can do the work; he wants to save his official face. He +never will know what that poison was--until I tell him." + +Inez had by this time so far recovered her composure that she was +able to meet us again in the living room. + +"I'm very sorry to have to trouble you again," apologized Kennedy, +"but if I am to get anywhere in this case I must have the facts." + +She looked at him, half-puzzled, and, I fancied, half-frightened, +too. "Anything I can tell you--of course, ask me," she said. + +"Had your father any enemies who might desire his death?" shot out +Kennedy, almost without warning. + +"No," she answered slowly, still watching him carefully, then +adding hastily: "Of course, you know, no one who tries to do +anything is absolutely without enemies, though." + +"I mean," repeated Craig, carefully noting a certain hesitation in +her tone, "was there any one who, for reasons best known to +himself, might have murdered him in a way peculiarly likely under +the circumstances, say, with a dagger?" + +Inez flashed a quick glance at Kennedy, as if to inquire just how +much or how little he really knew. I got the impression from it, +at least, that she was holding back some suspicion for a reason +that perhaps she would not even have admitted to herself. + +I saw that Norton was also following the line of Kennedy's +questioning keenly, though he said nothing. + +Before Kennedy could take up the lead again, her maid, Juanita, a +very pretty girl of Spanish and Indian descent, entered softly. + +"Mr. Lockwood," she whispered, but not so low that we could not +hear. + +"Won't you ask him to come in, Nita?" she replied. + +A moment later a young man pushed open the door--a tall, clean-cut +young fellow, whose face bore the tan of a sun much stronger than +any about New York. As I took his appraisal, I found him +unmistakably of the type of American soldier of fortune who has +been carried by the wander-spirit down among the romantic +republics to the south of our own. + +"Professor Kennedy," began Senorita Mendoza, presenting us all in +turn, "let me introduce Mr. Lockwood, my father's partner in +several ventures which brought us to New York." + +As we shook hands I could not help feeling that the young mining +engineer, for such he proved to be by ostensible profession, was +something more to her than a mere partner in her father's schemes. + +"I believe I've met Professor Norton," he remarked, as they shook +hands. "Perhaps he remembers when we were in Lima." + +"Perfectly," replied Norton, returning the penetrating glance in +kind. "Also in New York," he added. + +Lockwood turned abruptly. "Are you quite sure you are able to +stand the strain of this interview?" he asked Inez in a low tone. + +Norton glanced at Kennedy and raised his eyebrows just the +fraction of an inch, as if to call attention to the neat manner in +which Lockwood had turned the subject. + +Inez smiled sadly. "I must," she said, in a forced tone. + +I fancied that Lockwood noted and did not relish an air of +restraint in her words. + +"It was you, I believe, Mr. Lockwood, who found Senor Mendoza last +night?" queried Kennedy, as if to read the answer into the record, +although he already knew it. + +"Yes," replied Lockwood, without hesitation, though with a glance +at the averted head of Inez, and choosing his words very +carefully, as if trying hard not to say more than she could bear. +"Yes. I came up here to report on some financial matters which +interested both of us, very late, perhaps after midnight. I was +about to press the buzzer on the door when I saw that the door was +slightly ajar. I opened it and found lights still burning. The +rest I think you must already know." + +Even that tactful reference to the tragedy was too much for Inez. +She suppressed a little convulsive sob, but did not, this time, +try to flee from the room. + +"You saw nothing about the den that aroused any suspicions?" +pursued Kennedy. "No bottle, no glass? There wasn't the odour of +any gas or drug?" + +Lockwood shook his head slowly, fixing his eyes on Kennedy's face, +but not looking at him. "No," he answered; "I have told Dr. Leslie +just what I found. If there had been anything else I'm sure I +would have noticed it while I was waiting for Miss Inez to come +in." + +His answers seemed perfectly frank and straight-forward. Yet +somehow I could not get over the feeling that he, as well as Inez, +was not telling quite all he knew--perhaps not about the murder, +but about matters that might be related to it. + +Norton evidently felt the same way. "You saw no weapon--a dagger?" +he interrupted suddenly. + +The young man faced Norton squarely. To me it seemed as if he had +been expecting the question. "Not a thing," he said deliberately. +"I looked about carefully, too. Whatever weapon was used must have +been taken away by the murderer," he added. + +Juanita entered again, and Inez excused herself to answer the +telephone, while we stood in the living room chatting for a few +minutes. + +"What is this 'curse of Mansiche' which the Senorita has +mentioned?" asked Kennedy, seeing a chance to open a new line of +inquiry with Lockwood. + +"Oh, I don't know," he returned, impatiently flicking the ashes of +a cigarette which he had lighted the moment Inez left the room, as +though such stories had no interest for the practical mind of an +engineer. "Some old superstition, I suppose." + +Lockwood seemed to regard Norton with a sort of aversion, if not +hostility, and I fancied that Norton, on his part, neglected no +opportunity to let the other know that he was watching him. + +"I don't know much about the story," resumed Lockwood a moment +later as no one said anything. "But I do know that there is +treasure in that great old Chimu mound near Truxillo. Don Luis has +the government concession to bore into the mound, too, and we are +raising the capital to carry the scheme through to success." + +He had come to the end of a sentence. Yet the inflection of his +voice showed plainly that it was not the end of the idea that had +been in his mind. + +"If you knew where to dig," suddenly supplied Norton, gazing +keenly into the eyes of the soldier of fortune. + +Lockwood did not answer, though it was evident that that had been +the thought unexpressed in his remarks. + +The return of the Senorita to the room seemed to break the +tension. + +"It was the house telephone," she said, in a quiet voice. "The +hall-boy didn't know whether to admit a visitor who comes with his +sympathy." Then she turned from us to Lockwood. "You must know +him," she said, somewhat embarrassed. "Senor Alfonso de Moche." + +Lockwood suppressed a frown, but said nothing, for, a moment +later, a young man came in. Almost in silence he advanced to Inez +and took her hand in a manner that plainly showed his sympathy in +her bereavement. + +"I have just heard," he said simply, "and I hastened around to +tell you how much I feel your loss. If there is anything I can do- +-" + +He stopped, and did not finish the sentence. It was unnecessary. +His eyes finished it for him. + +Alfonso de Moche was, I thought, a very handsome fellow, though +not of the Spanish type at all. His forehead was high, with a +shock of straight black hair, his skin rather copper-coloured, +nose slightly aquiline, chin and mouth firm; in fact, the whole +face was refined and intellectual, though tinged with melancholy. + +"Thank you," she murmured, then turned to us. "I believe you are +acquainted with Mr. de Moche, Professor Norton?" she asked. "You +know he is taking post-graduate work at the University." + +"Slightly," returned Norton, gazing at the young man in a manner +that plainly disconcerted him. "I believe I have met his mother in +Peru." + +Senorita Mendoza seemed to colour at the mention of Senora de +Moche. It flashed over me that, in his greeting Alfonso had said +nothing of his mother. I wondered if there might be a reason for +it. Could it be that Senorita Mendoza had some antipathy which did +not include the son? Though we did not seem to be making much +progress in this way in solving the mystery, still I felt that +before we could go ahead we must know the little group about which +it centred. There seemed to be currents and cross-currents here +which we did not understand, but which must be charted if we were +to steer a straight course. + +"And Professor Kennedy?" she added, turning to us. + +"I think I have seen Mr. de Moche about the campus," said Craig, +as I, too, shook hands with him, "although you are not in any of +my classes." + +"No, Professor," concurred the young man, who was, however, +considerably older than the average student taking courses like +his. + +I found it quite enough to watch the faces of those about me just +then. Between Lockwood and de Moche it seemed that there existed a +latent hostility. The two eyed each other with decided disfavour. +As for Norton, he seemed to be alternately watching each of them. + +An awkward silence followed, and de Moche seemed to take the cue, +for after a few more remarks to Inez he withdrew as gracefully as +he could, with a parting interchange of frigid formalities with +Lockwood. It did not take much of a detective to deduce that both +of the young men might have agreed on one thing, though that +caused the most serious of differences between them--their +estimation of Inez de Mendoza. + +Inez, on her part, seemed also to be visibly relieved at his +departure, though she had been cordial enough to him. I wondered +what it all meant. + +Lockwood, too, seemed to be ill at ease still. But it was a +different uneasiness, rather directed at Norton than at us. Once +before I had thought he was on the point of excusing himself, but +the entrance of de Moche seemed to have decided him to stay at +least as long as his rival. + +"I beg your pardon, Senorita," he now apologized, "but I really +must go. There are still some affairs which I must attend to in +order to protect the interests we represent." He turned to us. +"You will excuse me, I know," he added, "but I have a very +important appointment. You know Don Luis and I were assisting in +organizing the campaign of Stuart Whitney to interest American +manufacturers, and particularly bankers, in the chances in South +America which lie at hand, if we are only awake to take advantage +of them. I shall be at your service, Senorita, as soon as the +meeting is over. I presume I shall see you again?" he nodded to +Kennedy. + +"Quite likely," returned Kennedy drily. + +"If there is any assistance I can render in clearing up this +dreadful thing," went on Lockwood, in a lower tone to us, "you may +count on me absolutely." + +"Thank you," returned Craig, with a significant glance. "I may +have to take up that offer." + +"Do so, by all means," he reiterated, bowing to Norton and backing +out of the door. + +Alone again with Inez Mendoza, Kennedy turned suddenly. "Who is +this Senor de Moche?" he asked. "I gather that you must have known +him in Peru." + +"Yes," she agreed. "I knew him in Lima"; then adding, as if by way +of confession, "when he was a student at the University." + +There was something in both her tone and manner that would lead +one to believe that she had only the kindliest feelings toward de +Moche, whatever might be the case, as it seemed, with his mother. + +For a moment Kennedy now advanced and took Senorita Inez by the +hand. "I must go now," he said simply. "If there is anything which +you have not told me, I should like to know." + +"No--nothing," she answered. + +He did not take his eyes from hers. "If you should recall anything +else," he persisted, "don't hesitate to tell me. I will come here, +or you may come to the laboratory, whichever is more convenient." + +"I shall do so," she replied. "And thank you a thousand times for +the trouble you are going to in my behalf. You may be sure that I +appreciate it." + +Norton also bade her farewell, and she thanked him for having +brought us over. I noticed also that Norton, though considerably +older than any of us, had apparently succumbed to the spell of her +wonderful eyes and face. + +"I also would be glad to help you," he promised. "You can usually +find me at the Museum." + +"Thank you all," she murmured. "You are all so kind to me. An hour +ago I felt that I had not a friend in all this big city--except +Mr. Lockwood. Now I feel that I am not quite all alone." + +She said it to Norton, but it was really meant for Kennedy. I know +Craig shared my own feelings. It was a rare pleasure to work for +her. She seemed most appreciative of anything that was done for +her in her defenceless position. + +As we passed out of the apartment house and sought our cab again, +Kennedy was the first to speak, and to Norton. + +"Do you know anything more about these men, Lockwood and de +Moche?" he queried, as we sped uptown. + +"I don't know a thing," he replied cautiously. "I--I'd much prefer +not to talk of suspicions." + +"But the dagger," insisted Kennedy. "Have you no suspicions of +what became of it and who took it?" + +"I'd prefer not to talk of mere suspicions," he repeated. + +Little was said as we turned in at the campus and at last drew up +before Norton's wing of the Museum. + +"You will let me know of any development, no matter how trivial?" +asked Kennedy, as we parted. "Your dagger seems to have stirred up +more trouble than there was any reason to suppose when you came to +me first." + +"I should say so," he agreed. "I don't know how to repay the +interest you have shown in its recovery. If anything else +materializes, I shall surely get word to you immediately." + +As we turned to leave, I could not help thinking of the manner of +Lockwood and Norton toward each other. The name Stuart Whitney ran +through my head. Stuart Whitney was a trustee of the University +who had contributed heavily, among other things, to Norton's +various expeditions to South America. Was it that Norton felt a +peculiar loyalty to Whitney, or was he jealous that any one else +should succeed in interesting his patron in things South American? + +The actions of the two young men, Lockwood and de Moche, recurred +to me. "Well," I remarked, as we walked along, "what do you think +it is--a romance or a simple crime-hunt?" "Both, I suspect," +replied Craig abstractedly. "Only not simple." + + + + +III + +THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL DETECTIVE + + +"I think I'll go into the University Library," Craig remarked, as +we left Norton before his building. "I want to refresh my mind on +some of those old Peruvian antiquities and traditions. What the +Senorita hinted at may prove to be very important. I suppose you +will have to turn in a story to the Star soon?" + +"Yes," I agreed, "I'll have to turn in something, although I'd +prefer to wait." + +"Try to get an assignment to follow the case to the end," +suggested Craig. "I think you'll find it worth while. Anyhow, this +will give you a chance for a breathing space, and, if I have this +thing doped out right, you won't get another for some time. I'll +meet you over in the laboratory in a couple of hours." + +Craig hurried up the long flight of white-marble steps to the +library and disappeared, while I jumped on the subway and ran +downtown to the office. + +It took me, as I knew it would, considerably over a couple of +hours to clear things up at the Star, so that I could take +advantage of a special arrangement which I had made, so that I +could, when a case warranted it, co-operate with Kennedy. My story +was necessarily brief, but that was what I wanted just now. I did +not propose to have the whole field of special-feature writers +camping on my preserve. + +Uptown I hurried again, afraid that Kennedy had finished and might +have been called away. But when I reached the laboratory he was +not there, and I found that he had not been. Up and down I paced +restlessly. There was nothing else to do but wait. If he was +unable to keep his appointment here with me, I knew that he would +soon telephone. What was it, I wondered, that kept him delving +into the archaeological lore of the library? + +I had about given him up, when he hurried into the laboratory in a +high state of excitement. + +"What did you find?" I queried. "Has anything happened?" + +"Let me tell you first what I found in the library," he replied, +tilting his hat back on his head and alternately thrusting and +withdrawing his fingers in his waistcoat pockets, as if in some +way that might help him to piece together some scattered fragments +of a story which he had just picked up. + +"I've been looking up that hint that the Senorita dropped when she +used those words peje grande, which mean, literally, 'big fish,'" +he resumed. "Walter, it fires the imagination. You have read of +the wealth that Pizarro found in Peru, of course." Visions of +Prescott flashed through my mind as he spoke. + +"Well, where are the gold and silver of the conquistadores? Gone +to the melting-pot, centuries ago. But is there none left? The +Indians in Peru believe so, at any rate. And, Walter, there are +persons who would stop at nothing to get at the secret. + +"It is a matter of history that soon after the conquest a vast +fortune was unearthed of which the King of Spain's fifth amounted +to five million dollars. That treasure was known as the peje +chica--the little fish. One version of the story tells that an +Inca ruler, the great Cacique Mansiche, had observed with +particular attention the kindness of a young Spaniard toward the +people of the conquered race. Also, he had observed that the man +was comparatively poor. At any rate, he revealed the secret of the +hiding-place of the peje chica, on condition that a part of the +wealth should be used to advance the interests of the Indians. + +"The most valuable article discovered was in the form of a fish of +solid gold and so large that the Spaniards considered it a rare +prize. But the Cacique assured his young friend that it was only +the little fish, that a much greater treasure existed, worth many +times the value of this one. + +"The sequel of the story is that the Spaniard forgot his promise, +went off to Spain, and spent all his gold. He was returning for +the peje grande, of which he had made great boasts, but before he +could get it he was killed. Prescott, I believe, gives another +version, in which he says that the Spaniard devoted a large part +of his wealth to the relief of the Indians and gave large sums to +the Peruvian churches. Other stories deny that it was Mansiche who +told the first secret, but that it was another Indian. One may, I +suppose, pay his money and take his choice. But the point, as far +as we are concerned in this case, is that there is still believed +to be the great fish, which no one has found. Who knows? Perhaps, +somehow, Mendoza had the secret of the peje grande?" + +Kennedy paused, and I could feel the tense interest with which his +delving into the crumbling past had now endowed this already +fascinating case. + +"And the curse?" I put in. + +"About that we do not know," he replied. "Except that we do know +that Mansiche was the great Cacique or ruler of northern Peru. The +natives are believed to have buried a far greater treasure than +even that which the Spaniards carried off. Mansiche is said to +have left a curse on any native who ever divulged the whereabouts +of the treasure, and the curse was also to fall on any Spaniard +who might discover it. That is all we know--yet. Gold was used +lavishly in the temples. That great hoard is really the Gold of +the Gods. Surely, as we have seen it so far in this case, it must +be cursed." + +There was a knock on the laboratory door, and I sprang to open it, +expecting to find that it was something for Kennedy. Instead there +stood one of the office boys of the Star. + +"Why, hello, Tommy," I greeted him. "What seems to be the matter +now?" + +"A letter for you, Mr. Jameson," he replied, handing over a plain +envelope. "It came just after you left. The Boss thought it might +be important--something about that story, I guess. Anyhow, he told +me to take it up to you on my way home, sir." + +I looked at it again. It bore simply my name and the address of +the Star, not written, but, strange to say, printed in ungainly, +rough characters, as though some one were either not familiar with +writing English or desired to conceal his handwriting. + +"Where did it come from--and how?" I asked, as I tore the envelope +open. + +"I don't know where, sir," replied Tommy. "A boy brought it. Said +a man uptown gave him a quarter to deliver it to you." + +I looked at the contents in blank amazement. There was nothing in +the letter except a quarter sheet of ordinary size note paper such +as that used in typewritten correspondence. + +Printed on it, in characters exactly like those on the outside of +the envelope, were the startling words: + +"BEWARE THE CURSE OF MANSICHE ON THE GOLD OF THE GODS." + +Underneath this inscription appeared the rude drawing of a dagger +in which some effort had evidently been made to make it appear +three-sided. + +"Well, of all things, what do you think of that?" I cried, tossing +the thing over to Kennedy. + +He took it and read it; his face puckered deeply. "I'm not +surprised," he said, a moment later, looking up. "Do you know, I +was just about to tell you what happened at the library. I had a +feeling all the time I was there of being watched. I don't know +why or how, but, somehow, I felt that some one was interested in +the books I was reading. It made me uncomfortable. I was late, +anyhow, and I decided not to give them the satisfaction of seeing +me any more--at least in the library. So I have had a number of +the books on Peru which I wanted reserved, and they'll be sent +over later, here. No, I'm not surprised that you received this. +Would you remember the boy?" he asked of Tommy. + +"I think so," replied Tommy. "He didn't have on a uniform, though. +It wasn't a messenger." + +There was no use to question him further. He had evidently told +all that he knew, and finally we had to let him go, with a parting +injunction to keep his eyes open and his mouth shut. + +Kennedy continued to study the note on the quarter sheet of paper +long after the boy had gone. + +"You know," he remarked thoughtfully, after a while, "as nearly as +I can make the thing out with the slender information that we have +so far, the weirdest superstitions seem to cluster about that +dagger which Norton lost. I wouldn't be surprised if it took us +far back into the dim past of the barbaric splendour of the lost +Inca civilization of Peru." + +He waved the sheet of paper for emphasis. "You see, some one has +used it here as a sign of terror. Perhaps somehow it bore the +secret of the big fish--who knows? None of the writers and +explorers have ever found it. The most they can say is that it may +be handed down from father to son through a long line. At any +rate, the secret of the hiding-place seems to have been safely +kept. No one has ever found the treasure. It would be strange, +wouldn't it, if it remained for some twentieth-century civilized +man to unearth the thing and start again the curse that historians +say was uttered and seems always to have followed the thing?" + +"Kennedy, this affair is getting on my nerves already." + +While Craig was speaking the door of the laboratory had opened +without our hearing it, and there stood Norton again. He had +waited until Craig had finished before he had spoken. + +We looked at him, startled, ourselves. + +"I had some work to do after I left you," went on Norton, without +stopping. "In my letter-box were several letters, but I forgot to +look at them until just now, when I was leaving. Then I picked +them up--and--look at this thing that was among them." + +Norton laid down on the laboratory table a plain envelope and a +quarter sheet of paper on which were printed, except for his own +name instead of mine, an almost exact replica of the note which I +had received. + +"BEWARE THE CURSE OF MANSICHE ON THE GOLD OF THE GODS." + +Kennedy and I looked at him. Already, evidently, he had seen that +Kennedy held in his hand the note that had come to me. + +"I can't make anything out of it," went on Norton, evidently much +worried. "First I lose the dagger. Next you say it was used to +murder Mendoza. Then I get this. Now, if any one can get into the +Museum to steal the dagger, they could get in to carry out any +threat of revenge, real or fancied." + +Looked at in that respect, I felt that it was indeed a real cause +of worry for Norton. But, then, it flashed over me, was not my own +case worse? I was to be responsible for telling the story. Might +not some unseen hand strike at me, perhaps sooner than at him? + +Kennedy had taken the two notes and was scanning them eagerly. + +Just then an automobile drew up outside, and a moment later we +heard a tap at the door which Kennedy had closed after the +entrance of Norton. I opened it. + +"Is Professor Kennedy here?" I heard a voice inquire. "I'm one of +the orderlies at the City Hospital, next to the Morgue, where Dr. +Leslie has his laboratory. I've a message for Profesor Kennedy, if +he's in." + +Kennedy took the envelope, which bore the stamp of Dr. Leslie's +department, and tore it open. + +"My dear Kennedy," he read, in an undertone. "I've been engaged in +investigating that poison which probably surrounds the wound in +the Mendoza case, but as yet have nothing to report. It is +certainly none of the things which we ordinarily run up against. +Enclosed you will find a slip of paper and the envelope which it +came in--something, I take it, that has been sent me by a crank. +Would you treat it seriously or disregard it? Leslie." + +As Kennedy had unfolded Leslie's own letter a piece of paper had +fluttered to the floor. I picked it up mechanically, and only now +looked at it, as Craig finished reading. + +On it was another copy of the threat that had been sent to both +Norton and myself! + +The hospital orderly had scarcely gone when another tap came at +the door. + +"Your books from the library, Professor," announced a student who +was employed in the library as part payment of his tuition. "I've +signed the slip for them, sir." + +He deposited the books on a desk, a huge pile of them, which +reached from his outstretched arms to his chin. As he did so the +pressure of his arms released the pile of books and the column +collapsed. + +From a book entitled "New and Old Peru," which fell with the pile, +slipped a plain white envelope. Kennedy saw it before either of +us, and seized it. + +"Here's one for me," he said, tearing it open. + +Sure enough, in the same rude printing on a quarter sheet were the +words: + +"BEWARE THE CURSE OF MANSICHE ON THE GOLD OF THE GODS." + +We could only stare at each other and at that tell-tale sign of +the Inca dagger underneath. + +What did it mean? Who had sent the warnings? + +Kennedy alone seemed to regard the affair as if with purely +scientific interest. He took the four pieces of paper and laid +them down before him on the table. Then he looked up suddenly. + +"They match perfectly," he said quietly, gathering them up and +placing them in a wallet which he carried. "All the indentures of +the tearing correspond. Four warnings seem to have been sent to +those who are likely to find out something of the secret." + +Norton seemed to have gained somewhat of his composure now that he +had been able to talk to some one. + +"What are you going to do--give it up?" he asked tensely. + +"Nothing could have insured my sticking to it harder," answered +Craig grimly. + +"Then we'll all have to stick together," said Norton slowly. "We +all seem to be in the same boat." + +As he rose to go he extended a hand to each of us. + +"I'll stick," repeated Kennedy, with that peculiar bulldog look of +intensity on his face which I had come to know so well. + + + + +IV + +THE TREASURE HUNTERS + + +Norton had scarcely gone, and Kennedy was still studying the four +pieces of paper on which the warning had been given, when our +laboratory door was softly pushed open again. + +It was Senorita Mendoza, looking more beautiful than ever in her +plain black mourning dress, the unnatural pallor of her face +heightening the wonderful lustrous eyes that looked about as +though half frightened at what she was doing. + +"I hope nothing has happened," greeted Kennedy, placing an easy- +chair for her. "But I'm glad to see that you have confidence +enough to trust me." + +She looked about doubtfully at the vast amount of paraphernalia +which Craig had collected in his scientific warfare on crime. +Though she did not understand it, it seemed to impress her. + +"No," she murmured, "nothing new has happened. You told me to call +on you if I should think of anything else." + +She said it with an air as if confessing something. It was +apparent that, whatever it was, she had known it all the time and +only after a struggle had brought herself to telling it. + +"Then you have thought of something?" prompted Craig. + +"Yes," she replied in a low tone. Then with an effort she went on: +"I don't know whether you know it or not, but my family is an old +one, one of the oldest in Peru." + +Kennedy nodded encouragingly. + +"Back in the old days, after Pizarro," she hurried on, no longer +able to choose her words, but blurting the thing out directly, "an +ancestor of mine was murdered by an Inca dagger." + +She stopped again and looked about, actually frightened at her own +temerity, evidently. Kennedy and his twentieth-century +surroundings seemed again to reassure her. + +"I can't tell you the story," she resumed. "I don't know it. My +father knew it. But it was some kind of family secret, for he +never told me. Once when I asked him he put me off; told me to +wait until I was a little older." + +"And you think that may have something to do with the case?" asked +Kennedy, trying to draw out anything more that she knew. + +"I don't know," she answered frankly. "But don't you think that it +is strange--an ancestor of mine murdered and now, hundreds of +years afterward, my father, the last of his line in direct +descent, murdered in the same way, by an Inca dagger that has +disappeared?" + +"Then you were listening while I was talking to Professor Norton?" +shot out Kennedy, not unkindly, but rather as a surprise test to +see what she would say. + +"You cannot blame me for that," she returned simply. + +"Hardly," smiled Kennedy. "And I appreciate your reticence--as +well as your coming here finally to tell me. Indeed, it is +strange. Surely you must have some other suspicions," he +persisted, "something that you feel, even though you do not know?" + +Kennedy was leaning forward, looking deeply into her eyes, as if +he would read what was passing in her mind. She met his gaze for a +moment, then looked away. + +"You heard Mr. Lockwood say that he had become associated with a +Mr. Whitney, Mr. Stuart Whitney, down in Wall Street?" she +ventured. + +Kennedy did not take his eyes from her face as he sought to +extract the reluctant words from her. + +"Mr. Whitney has been largely interested in Peru, in business and +in mining," she went on slowly. "He has given large sums to +scholars down there, to Professor Norton's expeditions from New +York. I--I'm afraid of that Mr. Whitney!" + +Her quiet tone had risen to a pitch of tremulous excitement. Her +face, which had been pale from the strain of the tragedy, was now +full of colour, and her breast rose and fell with suppressed +emotion. + +"Afraid of him--why?" asked Kennedy. + +There was no more reticence. Once having said so much, she seemed +to feel that she must go on and tell her fears. + +"Because," she went on, "he--he knows a woman--whom my father +knew." A sudden flash of fire seemed to light up her dark eyes. "A +woman of Truxillo," she continued, "Senora de Moche." + +"De Moche," repeated Kennedy, recalling the name and a still +unexplained incident of our first interview. "Who is this Senora +de Moche?" he asked, studying her as if she had been under a lens. + +"A Peruvian of an old Indian family," she replied, in a low tone, +as if the words were forced from her. "She has come to New York +with her son, Alfonso. You remember--you met him. He is studying +here at the University." + +Again I noted the different manner in which she spoke the two +names of mother and son. Evidently there was some feud, some +barrier between her and the elder woman, which did not extend to +Alfonso. + +Kennedy reached for the University catalogue and found the name, +"Alfonso de Moche." He was, as he had told us, a post-graduate +student in the engineering school and, therefore, not in any of +Kennedy's own classes. + +"You say your father knew the Senora?" asked Kennedy. + +"Yes," she replied, in a low voice, "he had had some dealings with +her. I cannot say just what they were; I do not know. Socially, of +course, it was different. They did not belong to the same circle +as ours in Lima." + +From her tone I gathered that there existed a race prejudice +between those of old Spanish descent and the descendants of the +Indians. That, however, could not account for her attitude. At +least with her the prejudice did not extend to Alfonso. + +"Senora de Moche is a friend of Mr. Whitney?" queried Kennedy. + +"Yes, I believe she has placed some of her affairs in his hands. +The de Moches live at the Prince Edward Albert Hotel, and Mr. +Whitney lives there, too. I suppose they see more or less of each +other." + +"H-m," mused Kennedy. "You know Mr. Whitney, I suppose?" + +"Not very well," she answered. "Of course, I have met him. He has +been to visit my father, and my father has been down at his +office, with Mr. Lockwood. But I do not know much about him, +except that he is what you Americans call a promoter." + +Apparently, Inez was endeavouring to be frank in telling her +suspicions, much more so even than Norton had been. But I could +not help feeling that she was trying to shield some one, though +not to the extent of consciously putting us on a wrong scent. + +"I shall try to see Mr. Whitney as soon as possible," said +Kennedy, as she rose to go. "And Senora de Moche, too." + +I fancied that Senorita Inez, although she had not told us much, +felt relieved. + +Again she murmured her thanks as she left and again Kennedy +repeated his injunction to tell everything that happened that +could possibly have any bearing on the case. + +"That's a rather peculiar phase," he considered, when we were +alone, "this de Moche affair." + +"Yes," I agreed. "Do you suppose that woman could be using Whitney +for some purpose?" + +"Or Whitney using her," suggested Kennedy. "There's so much to be +done at once that I hardly know where to begin. We must see both +of them as soon as possible. Meanwhile, that message from Dr. +Leslie about the poison interests me. I must at least start my +tests of the blood samples that I extracted. Walter, may I ask you +to leave me here in the laboratory undisturbed?" + +I had some writing on my news story to do, and went into the room +next to the laboratory, where I was soon busily engaged tapping my +typewriter. Suddenly I became conscious of that feeling, which +Kennedy had hinted at, of being watched. Perhaps I had heard a +footstep outside and was not consciously aware of it. But, at any +rate, I had the feeling. + +I stopped tapping the keys and wheeled unexpectedly about in my +chair. I am sure that I caught just a fleeting glimpse of a face +dodging back from the window, which was on the first floor. + +Whose face it was I am not prepared to assert exactly. But there +was a face, and the fleeting glimpse of the eyes and forehead was +just enough to give me the impression that they were familiar, +without enabling me to identify them. At any rate, the occurrence +made me feel decidedly uncomfortable, especially after the warning +letters that we had all received. + +I sprang to my feet and ran to the door. But it was too late. The +intruder had disappeared. Still, the more I thought about it, the +more determined I was to try to verify an indistinct suspicion, if +possible. I put on my hat and walked hurriedly over to the office +of the registrar. + +Sure enough, I found that Alfonso de Moche had been at the +University that day, must have attended a lecture an hour or so +before. Having nothing else to do, I hunted up some of his +professors and tried to quiz them about him. + +As I had expected, they told me that he was an excellent student, +though very quiet and reserved. His mind seemed to run along the +line of engineering, and particularly mining. I could not help +coming to the conclusion that undoubtedly he, too, was infected by +the furore for treasure hunting, in spite of his Indian ancestry. + +Yet there seemed to be surprisingly little known about him outside +of the lecture room and laboratory. The profesors knew that he +lived with his mother at a hotel downtown. He seemed to have +little or nothing to do with the other students outside of class +work. Altogether he was an enigma, as far as the social life of +the University went. It looked very much as though he had come to +New York quietly to prepare himself for the search for the buried +treasure. Had the Gold of the Gods lured him into its net, too? + +Reflecting on the tangle of events, the strange actions of +Lockwood and the ambitions of Whitney, I retraced my steps in the +direction of the laboratory, convinced that de Moche had employed +at least a part of his time lately in spying on us. Perhaps he had +seen Inez going in and out. Suddenly it flashed over me that the +interchange of glances between de Moche and Lockwood indicated +that she was more to him than a mere acquaintance. Perhaps it had +been jealousy as well as treasure hunting that had prompted his +eavesdropping. + +Still reflecting, I decided to turn in at the Museum and have a +chat with Norton. I found him nervously pacing up and down the +little office that had been accorded him in his section of the +building. + +"I can't rid my mind of that warning," he remarked anxiously, +pausing in his measured tread. "It seems inconceivable to me that +any one would take the trouble to send four such warnings unless +he meant it." + +"Quite so," I agreed, relating to him what had just happened. + +"I thought of something like that," he acquiesced, "and I have +already taken some precautions." + +Norton waved his hand at the windows, which I had not noticed +before. Though they were some distance above the ground, I saw now +that he had closed and barred them at the expense of ventilation. +The warnings seemed to have made more of an impression on him than +on any of the rest of us. + +"One never can tell where or when a blow will fall with these +people," he explained. "You see, I've lived among them. They are a +hot-blooded race. Besides, as you perhaps have read, they have +some queer poisons down in South America. I mean to run no +unnecessary chances." + +"I suppose you suspected all along that the dagger had something +to do with the Gold of the Gods, did you not?" I hinted. + +Norton paused before answering, as though to weigh his words. +"Suspected--yes," he replied. "But, as I told you, I have had no +chance to read the inscription on it. I can't say that I took it +very seriously--until now." + +"It's not possible that Stuart Whitney, who, I understand, is +deeply interested in South America, may have had some inkling of +the value of the dagger, is it?" I asked thoughtfully. + +For a full minute Norton gazed at me. "I hadn't thought of that," +he admitted at length. "That's a new idea to me." + +Yet somehow I knew that Norton had thought of it, though he had +not yet spoken about it. Was it through loyalty to the man who had +contributed to financing his expeditions to South America? + +"Do you know Senora de Moche well?" I ventured, a moment later. + +"Fairly well," he replied. "Why?" + +"What do you think of her?" + +"Rather a clever woman," he replied noncommittally. + +"I suppose all the people in New York who were interested in Peru +knew her," I pursued, adding, "Mr. Whitney, Mendoza, Lockwood." + +Norton hesitated, as though he was afraid of saying too much. +While I could not help admiring his caution, I found that it was +most exasperating. Still, I was determined to get at his point of +view, if possible. + +"Alfonso seems to be a worthy son, then," I remarked. "I can't +quite make out, though, why the Senorita should have such an +obvious prejudice against her. It doesn't seem to extend to him." + +"I believe," replied Norton reluctantly, "that Mendoza had been on +rather intimate terms with her. At least, I think you'll find the +woman very ambitious for her son. I don't think she would have +stopped at much to advance his interests. You must have noticed +how much Alfonso thinks of the Senorita. But I don't think there +was anything that could have overcome the old Castilian's +prejudice. You know they pride themselves on never intermarrying. +With Lockwood it would have been different." + +I thought I began to get some glimmering of how things were. + +"Whitney knows her pretty well now, doesn't he?" I shot out. + +Norton shrugged his shoulders. But he could not have acquiesced +better than by his very manner. + +"Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Whitney know best what they are doing," he +remarked, at length. "Why don't you and Kennedy try to see Senora +de Moche? I'm a scientist, you know. I dislike talking about +speculations. I'd prefer only to express opinions about things +that are certainties." + +Perhaps Norton wished to convey the impression that the subjects I +had broached were worth looking into. At least it was the +impression I derived. + +"Still," he continued slowly, "I think I am justified in saying +this much: I myself have been interested in watching both Alfonso +de Moche and Lockwood when it comes to the case of the Senorita. +All's fair, they say, in love and war. If I am any judge, there +are both in this case, somewhere. I think you had better see the +Senora and judge for yourself. She's a clever woman, I know. But +I'm sure that Kennedy could make her out, even if the rest of us +can't." + +I thanked Norton for the hint that he had given, and after +chatting a few moments more left him alone in his office. + +In my room again, I went back to finish my writing. Nothing +further occurred, however, to excite my suspicions, and at last I +managed to finish it. + +I was correcting what I had written when the door opened from the +laboratory and Craig entered. He had thrown off his old, acid- +stained laboratory smock and was now dressed to venture forth. + +"Have you found out anything about the poison?" I asked. + +"Nothing definite yet," he replied. "That will take some time now. +It's a strange poison--an alkaloid, I'm sure, but not one that one +ordinarily encounters. Still, I've made a good beginning. It won't +take long to determine it now." + +Craig listened with deep interest, though without comment, when I +related what had happened, both Norton's conversation and about +the strange visitor whom we had had peering into our windows. + +"Some one seems to be very much interested in what we are doing, +Walter," he concluded simply. "I think we'd better do a little +more outside work now, while we have a chance. If you are ready, +so am I. I want to see what sort of treasure hunter this Stuart +Whitney is. I'd like to know whether he is in on this secret of +the Gold of the Gods, too." + + + + +V + +THE WALL STREET PROMOTER + + +Lockwood, as we now knew, had become allied in some way with a +group of Wall Street capitalists, headed by Stuart Whitney. + +Already I had heard something of Whitney. In the Street he was +well known as an intensely practical man, though far above the +average exploiter both in cleverness and education. + +As a matter of fact, Whitney had been far-sighted enough to see +that scholarship could be capitalized, not only as an +advertisement, but in more direct manners. Just at present one of +his pet schemes was promoting trade through the canal between the +east coast of North America and the west coast of South America. +He had spent a good deal of money promoting friendship between men +of affairs and wealth in both New York and Lima. It was a good +chance, he figured, for his investments down in Peru were large, +and anything that popularized the country in New York could not +but make them more valuable. + +"Norton seemed rather averse to talking about Whitney," I ventured +to Craig, as we rode downtown. + +"That may be part of Whitney's cleverness," he returned +thoughtfully. "As a patron of art and letters, you know, a man can +carry through a good many things that otherwise would be more +critically examined." + +Kennedy did not say it in a way that implied that he knew anything +very bad about Whitney. Still, I reflected, it was astute in the +man to insure the cooperation of such people as Norton. A few +thousand dollars judiciously spent on archaeology might cover up a +multitude of sins of high finance. + +Nothing more was said by either of us, and at last we reached the +financial district. We entered a tall skyscraper on Wall Street +just around the corner from Broadway and shot up in the elevator +to the floor where Whitney and his associates had a really +palatial suite of offices. + +As we opened the door we saw that Lockwood was still there. He +greeted us with a rather stiff bow. + +"Professor Kennedy and Mr. Jameson," he said simply, introducing +us to Whitney, "friends of Professor Norton, I believe. I met them +to-day up at Mendoza's." + +"That is a most incomprehensible affair," returned Whitney, +shaking hands with us. "What do you make out of it?" + +Kennedy shrugged his shoulders and turned the remark aside without +committing himself. + +Stuart Whitney was a typical promoter, a large, full-blooded man, +with a face red and inclined to be puffy from the congested veins. +His voice alone commanded respect, whether he said anything worth +while or not. In fact, he had but to say that it was a warm day +and you felt that he had scored a telling point in the +conversation. + +"Professor Norton has asked me to look into the loss of an old +Peruvian dagger which he brought back from his last expedition," +explained Kennedy, endeavouring to lead the conversation in +channels which might arrive somewhere. + +"Yes, yes," remarked Whitney, with a nod of interest. "He has told +me of it. Very strange, very strange. When he came back he told me +that he had it, along with a lot of other important finds. But I +had no idea he set such a value on it--or, rather, that any one +else might do so. It would have been easy to have safeguarded it +here, if we had known," he added, with a wave of his hand in the +direction of a huge chrome steel safe of latest design in the +outer office. + +Lockwood, I noted, was listening intently, quite in contrast with +his former cavalier manner of dismissing all consideration of +ancient Inca lore as academic or unpractical. Did he know +something of the dagger? + +"I'm very much interested in old Peruvian antiquities myself," +remarked Kennedy, a few minutes later, "though not, of course, a +scholar like our friend Norton." + +"Indeed?" returned Whitney; and I noticed for the first time that +his eyes seemed fairly to glitter with excitement. + +They were prominent eyes, a trifle staring, and I could not help +studying them. + +"Then," he exclaimed, rising, "you must know of the ruins of Chan- +Chan, of Chima--those wonderful places?" + +Kennedy nodded. "And of Truxillo and the legend of the great fish +and the little fish," he put in. + +Whitney seemed extraordinarily pleased that any one should be +willing to discuss his hobby with him. His eyes by this time were +apparently starting from their sockets, and I noticed that the +pupils were dilated almost to the size of the iris. + +"We must sit down and talk about Peru," he continued, reaching for +a large box of cigarettes in the top drawer of his big desk. + +Lockwood seemed to sense a long discussion of archaeology. He rose +and mumbled an excuse about having something to do in the outer +office. + +"Oh, it is a wonderful country, Professor Kennedy," went on +Whitney, throwing himself back in his chair. "I am deeply +interested in it--its mines, its railroads, as well as its +history. Let me show you a map of our interests down there." + +He rose and passed into the next room to get the map. The moment +his back was turned, Kennedy reached over to a typewriter desk +that stood in a corner of the office, left open by the +stenographer, who had gone. He took two thin second sheets of +paper and a new carbon sheet. A hasty dab or two of the library +paste completed his work. + +Carefully Craig laid the prepared paper on the floor just a few +inches from the door into the outer office and scattered a few +other sheets about, as though the wind had blown them off the +desk. + +As Whitney returned, a big map unrolled in his hands, I saw his +foot fall on the double sheet that Craig had laid by the door. + +Kennedy bent down and began picking up the papers. + +"Oh, that's all right," remarked Whitney brusquely. "Never mind +that. Here's where some of our interests lie, in the north." + +I don't think I paid much more attention to the map than did +Kennedy as we three bent over it. His real attention was on the +paper which he had placed on the floor, as though fixing in his +mind the exact spot on which Whitney had stepped. + +As Whitney talked rapidly about the country, we lighted the +cigarettes. They seemed to be of a special brand. I puffed mine +for a moment. There was a peculiar taste about it, however, which +I did not exactly like. In fact, I think that the Latin-American +cigarettes do not seem to appeal to most Americans very much, +anyhow. + +While we talked, I noticed that Kennedy evidently shared my own +tastes, for he allowed his cigarette to go out, and, after a puff +or two, I did the same. For the sake of my own comfort, I drew one +of my own from my case as soon as I could do so politely, and laid +the stub of the other in an ash-tray on Whitney's desk. + +"Mr. Lockwood and Senor Mendoza had some joint interests in the +country, too, didn't they?" queried Kennedy, his eye still on the +pieces of paper near the door. + +"Yes," returned Whitney. "Lockwood!" + +"What is it?" came Lockwood's voice from outside. + +"Show Professor Kennedy where you and Mendoza have those +concessions." + +The young engineer strode into the room, and I saw a smile of +gratification cross Kennedy's face as his foot, also, fell on the +paper by the door. + +Unlike Whitney, however, Lockwood bent over to gather up the +sheets. But before he could actually do so Kennedy reached down +and swept them just out of his reach. + +"Quite breezy," Kennedy covered up his action, turning to restore +the paper to the desk. + +Craig had his back to them, but not to me, and I saw him fumble +for an instant with the papers. Quickly he pressed his thumb-nail +on one side, as though making a rough "W," while on the other side +he made what might be an "L." Then he shoved the two sheets and +the carbon into his pocket. + +I glanced up hastily. Fortunately, neither Whitney nor Lockwood +had noted his action. + +For the first time, now, I noticed as I watched him that +Lockwood's eyes, too, were a trifle stary, though not so +noticeable as Whitney's. + +"Let me see," continued Whitney, "your concessions are all about +here, in the north, aren't they?" + +Lockwood drew a pencil from his pocket and made several cross- +marks over the names of some towns on the large map. + +"Those are the points that we had proposed to work," he said +simply, "before this terrible tragedy to Mendoza." + +"Mining, you understand," explained Whitney. Then, after a pause, +he resumed quickly. "Of course, you know that much has been said +about the chances for mining investments and about the +opportunities for fortunes for persons in South America. Peru has +been the Mecca for fortune hunters since the days of Pizarro. But +where one person has been successful thousands have failed because +they don't know the game. Why, I know of one investment of +hundreds of thousands that hasn't yielded a cent of profit just +because of that." + +Lockwood said nothing, evidently not caring to waste time or +breath on any one who was not a possible investor. But Whitney had +the true promoter's instinct of booming his scheme on the chance +that the interest inspired might be carried to some third party. + +"American financiers, it is true," he went on excitedly, taking +out a beautifully chased gold cigarette case, "have lost millions +in mining in Peru. But that is not the scheme that our group, +including Mr. Lockwood now, has. We are going to make more +millions than they ever dreamed of--because we are simply going to +mine for the products of centuries of labour already done--for the +great treasure of Truxillo." + +One could not help becoming infected by Whitney's enthusiasm. + +Kennedy was following him closely, while a frown of disapproval +spread over Lockwood's face. + +"Then you know the secret of the hiding-place of the treasure?" +queried Kennedy abruptly. + +Whitney shook his head in the negative. "It is my idea that we +don't have to know it," he answered. "With the hints that we have +collected from the natives, I think we can locate it with the +expenditure of comparatively little time and money. Senor Mendoza +has obtained the concession from the government to hunt for it on +a large scale in the big mounds about Truxillo. We know it is +there. Is not that enough?" + +If it had been any one less than Whitney, we should probably have +said it was not. But it took more than that to deny anything he +asserted. Lockwood's face was a study. I cannot say that it +betrayed anything except disapproval of the mere discussion of the +subject. In fact, it left me in doubt as to whether Whitney +himself might not have been bluffing, in the certainty of finding +the treasure--perhaps had already the secret he denied having and +was preparing to cover it up by stumbling on it, apparently, in +some other way. I recognized in Stuart Whitney as smooth an +individual as ever we had encountered. His was all the sincerity +of a crook. Yet he contrived to leave the whole matter in doubt. +Perhaps in this case he actually knew what he was talking about. + +The telephone rang and Lockwood answered it. Though he did not +mention her name, I knew from his very tone and manner that it was +Senorita de Mendoza who was calling up. Evidently his continued +absence had worried her. + +"There's absolutely nothing to worry about," we heard him say. +"Nothing has changed. I shall be up to see you as soon as I can +get away from the office." + +There was an air of restraint about Lockwood's remarks, not as +though he were keeping anything from the Senorita, but as though +he were reluctant for us to overhear anything about his affairs. + +Lockwood had been smoking, too, and he added the stubs of his +cigarettes to the pile in the ash-tray on Whitney's desk. Once I +saw Craig cast a quick glance at the tray, and I understood that +in some way he was anxious to have a chance to investigate those +cigarettes. + +"You saw the dagger which Norton brought back, did you not?" asked +Kennedy of Whitney. + +"Only as I saw the rest of the stuff after it was unpacked," he +replied easily. "He brought back a great many interesting objects +on this last trip." + +It was apparent that whether he actually knew anything about the +secret of the Inca dagger or not, Whitney was not to be trapped +into betraying it. I had an idea that Lockwood was interested in +knowing that fact, too. At any rate, one could not be sure whether +these two were perfectly frank with each other, or were playing a +game for high stakes between themselves. + +Lockwood seemed eager to get away and, with a hasty glance at his +watch, rose. + +"If you wish to find me, I shall be with Senorita de Mendoza," he +said, taking his hat and stick, and bowing to us. + +Whitney rose and accompanied him to the door in the outer office, +his arm on his shoulder, conversing in a low tone that was +inaudible to us. + +No sooner, however, had the two passed through the door, with +their backs toward us, than Kennedy reached over quickly and swept +the contents of the ash-tray, cigarette stubs, ashes, and all, +into an empty envelope which was lying with some papers. Then he +sealed it and shoved it into his pocket, with a sidelong glance of +satisfaction at me. + +"Evidently Mr. Lockwood and the Senorita are on intimate terms," +hazarded Kennedy, as Whitney rejoined us. + +"Poor little girl," soliloquized the promoter. "Yes, indeed. And +Lockwood is a lucky dog, too. Such eyes, such a figure--did you +ever see a more beautiful woman?" + +One could not help recognizing that whatever else Whitney might +have said that did not ring true his admiration for the +unfortunate girl was genuine. That was not so remarkable, however. +It could hardly have been otherwise. + +"You are acquainted, I suppose, with a Senora de Moche?" ventured +Kennedy again, taking a chance shot. + +Whitney looked at him keenly. "Yes," he agreed, "I have had some +dealings with her. She was an acquaintance of old Mendoza's--a +woman of the world, clever, shrewd. I think she has but one +ambition--her son. You have met her?" + +"Not the Senora," admitted Craig, "but her son is a student at the +University." + +"Oh, yes, to be sure," said Whitney. "A fine fellow--but not of +the type of Lockwood." + +Why he should have coupled the names was not clear for the moment. +But he had risen, and was moving deliberately up and down the +office, his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets, as though he were +thinking of something very perplexing. + +"If I were younger," he remarked finally, of a sudden, "I would +give both of them a race for that girl. She is the greatest +treasure that has ever come out of the country. Ah, well--as it +is, I would not place my money on young de Moche!" + +Kennedy had risen to go. + +"I trust you will be able to unearth some clue regarding that +dagger," said Whitney, as we moved toward the door. "It seems to +have worried Norton considerably, especially since you told him +that Mendoza was undoubtedly murdered with it." + +Evidently Norton kept in close touch with his patron, but Kennedy +did not appear to be surprised at it. + +"I am doing my best," he returned. "I suppose I may count on your +help as the case develops?" + +"Absolutely," replied Whitney, accompanying us out into the hall +to the elevator. "I shall back Norton in anything he wants to keep +the Peruvian collection intact and protected." + +Our questions were as yet unanswered. Not only had we no inkling +as to the whereabouts of the dagger, but the source of the four +warnings that had been sent us was still as much shrouded in +mystery. + +Kennedy beckoned to a passing taxicab. + +"The Prince Edward Albert," he directed briefly. + + + + +VI + +THE CURSE OF MANSICHE + + +We entered the Prince Edward Albert a few minutes later, one of +the new and beautiful family hotels uptown. + +Before making any inquiries, Craig gave a hasty look about the +lobby. Suddenly I felt him take my arm and draw me over to a +little alcove on one side. I followed the direction of his eyes. +There I could see young Alfonso de Moche talking to a woman much +older than himself. + +"That must be his mother," whispered Craig. "You can see the +resemblance. Let's sit here awhile behind these palms and watch." + +They seemed to be engaged in an earnest conversation about +something. Even as they talked, though we could not guess what it +was about, it was evident that Alfonso was dearer than life to the +woman and that the young man was a model son. Though I felt that I +must admire them each for it, still, I reflected, that was no +reason why we should not suspect them--perhaps rather a reason for +suspecting. + +Senora de Moche was a woman of well-preserved middle age, a large +woman, with dark hair and contrasting full, red lips. Her face, in +marked contradiction to her Parisian costume and refined manners, +had a slight copper swarthiness about it which spoke eloquently of +her ancestry. + +But it was her eyes that arrested and held one's attention most. +Whether it was in the eyes themselves or in the way that she used +them, there could be no mistake about the almost hypnotic power +that their owner possessed. I could not help wondering whether she +might not have exercised it on Don Luis, perhaps was using it in +some way to influence Whitney. Was that the reason why the +Senorita so evidently feared her? + +Fortunately, from our vantage point, we could see without being in +any danger of being seen. + +"There's Whitney," I heard Craig mutter under his breath. + +I looked up and saw the promoter enter from his car. At almost the +same instant the roving eyes of the Senora seemed to catch sight +of him. He came over and spoke to the de Moches, standing with +them several minutes. I fancied that not for an instant did she +allow the gaze of any one else to distract her in the projection +of whatever weird ocular power nature had endowed her with. If it +were a battle of eyes, I recollected the strange look that I had +noted about those of both Whitney and Lockwood. That, however, was +different from the impression one got of the Senora's. I felt that +she would have to be pretty clever to match the subtlety of +Whitney. + +Whatever it was they were talking about, one could see that +Whitney and Senora de Moche were on very familiar terms. At the +same time, young de Moche appeared to be ill at ease. Perhaps he +did not approve of the intimacy with Whitney. At any rate, he +seemed visibly relieved when the promoter excused himself and +walked over to the desk to get his mail and then out into the +cafe. + +"I'd like to get a better view of her," remarked Kennedy, rising. +"Let us take a turn or two along the corridor and pass them." + +We sauntered forth from our alcove and strolled down among the +various knots of people chatting and laughing. As we passed the +woman and her son, I was conscious again of that strange feeling, +which psychologists tell us, however, has no real foundation, of +being stared at from behind. + +At the lower end of the lobby Kennedy turned suddenly and we +started to retrace our steps. Alfonso's back was toward us now. +Again we passed them, just in time to catch the words, in a low +tone, from the young man, "Yes, I have seen him at the University. +Every one there knows that he is--" + +The rest of the sentence was lost. But it was not difficult to +reconstruct. It referred undoubtedly to the activities of Kennedy +in unravelling mysteries. + +"It's quite evident," I suggested, "that they know that we are +interested in them now." + +"Yes," he agreed. "There wasn't any use of watching them further +from under cover. I wanted them to see me, just to find out what +they would do." + +Kennedy was right. Indeed, even before we turned again, we found +that the Senora and Alfonso had risen and were making their way +slowly to the elevators, still talking earnestly. The lifts were +around an angle, and before we could place ourselves so that we +could observe them again they were gone. + +"I wish there was some way of adding Alfonso's shoe-prints to my +collection," observed Craig. "The marks that I found in the dust +of the sarcophagus in the Museum were those of a man's shoes. +However, I suppose I must wait to get them." + +He walked over to the desk and made inquiries about the de Moches +and Whitney. Each had a suite on the eighth floor, though on +opposite sides and at opposite ends of the hall. + +"There's no use wasting time trying to conceal our identity now," +remarked Kennedy finally, drawing a card from his case. "Besides, +we came here to see them, anyhow." He handed the card to the +clerk. "Senora de Moche, please," he said. + +The clerk took the card and telephoned up to the de Moche suite. I +must say that it was somewhat to my surprise that the Senora +telephoned down to say that she would receive us in her own +sitting room. + +"That's very kind," commented Craig, as I followed him into the +elevator. "It saves planning some roundabout way of meeting her +and comes directly to the point." + +The elevator whisked us up directly to the eighth floor and we +stepped out into the heavily carpeted hallway, passing down to +Room 810, which was the number of her suite. Further on, in 825, +was Whitney's. + +Alfonso was not there. Evidently he had not ridden up with his +mother, after all, but had gone out through another entrance on +the ground floor. The Senora was alone. + +"I hope that you will pardon me for intruding," began Craig, with +as plausible an explanation as he could muster, "but I have become +interested in an opportunity to invest in a Peruvian venture, and +I have heard that you are a Peruvian. Your son, Alfonso, I have +already met, once. I thought that perhaps you might be able to +give me some advice." She looked at us keenly, but said nothing. I +fancied that she detected the subterfuge. Yet she had not tried, +and did not try now to avoid us. Either she had no connection with +the case we were investigating or she was an adept actress. + +On closer view, her eyes were really even more remarkable than I +had imagined at a distance. They were those of a woman endowed +with an abundance of health and energy, eyes that were full of +what the old character readers used to call "amativeness," +denoting a nature capable of intense passion, whether of love or +hate. Yet I confess that I could not find anything especially +abnormal about them, as I had about the eyes of Lockwood and +Whitney. + +It was some time before she replied, and I gave a hasty glance +about the apartment. Of course, it had been rented furnished, but +she had rearranged it, adding some touches of her own which gave +it quite a Peruvian appearance, due perhaps more to the pictures +and the ornaments which she had introduced rather than anything +else. + +"I suppose," she replied, at length, slowly, and looking at us as +if she would bore right through into our minds, "I suppose you +mean the schemes of Mr. Lockwood--and Mr. Whitney." + +Kennedy was not to be taken by surprise. "I have heard of their +schemes, too," he replied noncommittally. "Peru seems to be a +veritable storehouse of tales of buried treasure." + +"Let me tell you about it," she hastened, nodding at the very +words "buried treasure." "I suppose you know that the old Chimu +tribes in the north were the wealthiest at the time of the coming +of the Spaniards?" + +Craig nodded, and a moment later she resumed, as if trying to +marshal her thoughts in a logical order. "They had a custom then +of burying with their dead all their movable property. Graves were +not dug separately. Therefore, you see, sometimes a common grave, +or huaca, as it is called, would be given to many. That huaca +would become a cache of treasure in time. It was sacred to the +dead, and hence it was wicked to touch it." + +The Senora's face betrayed the fact that, whatever modern +civilization had done for her, it had not yet quite succeeded in +eliminating the old ideas. + +"Back in the early part of the seventeenth century," she +continued, leaning forward in her chair eagerly as she talked, "a +Spaniard opened a Chimu huaca and found gold that is said to have +been worth more than a million dollars. An Indian told him about +it. Who the Indian was does not matter. But the Spaniard was an +ancestor of Don Luis de Mendoza, who was found murdered to-day." + +She stopped short, seeming to enjoy the surprised look on our +faces at finding that she was willing to discuss the matter so +intimately. + +"After the Indian had shown the Spaniard the treasure in the +mound," she pursued, "the Indian told the Spaniard that he had +given him only the little fish, the peje chica, but that some day +he would give him the big fish, the peje grande. I see that you +already know at least a part of the story, anyhow." "Yes," +admitted Kennedy, "I do know something of it. But I should rather +get it more accurately from your lips than from the hearsay of any +one else." + +She smiled quietly to herself. "I don't believe," she added, "that +you know that the _peje grande_ was not ordinary treasure. It was +the temple gold. Why, some of the temples were literally plated +over heavily with pure gold. That gold, as well as what had been +buried in the huacas, was sacred. Mansiche, the supreme ruler, +laid a curse on it, on any Indian who would tell of it, on any +Spaniard who might learn of it. A curse lies on the finding--yes, +even on the searching for the sacred Gold of the Gods. It is one +of the most awful curses that have ever been uttered, that curse +of Mansiche." + +Even as she spoke of it she lowered her voice. I felt that no +matter how much education she had, there lurked back in her brain +some of the primitive impulses, as well as beliefs. Either the +curse of Mansiche on the treasure was as real to her as if its +mere touch were poisonous, or else she was going out of her way to +create that impression with us. + +"Somehow," she continued, in a low tone, "that Spaniard, the +ancestor of Don Luis Mendoza, obtained some idea of the secret. He +died," she said solemnly, flashing a glance at Craig from her +wonderful eyes to stamp the idea indelibly. "He was stabbed by one +of the members of the tribe. On the dagger, so I have heard, was +marked the secret of the treasure." + +I felt that in a bygone age she might have made a great priestess +of the heathen gods. Now, was she more than a clever actress? + +She paused, then added, "That is my tribe--my family." + +Again she paused. "For centuries the big fish was a secret, is +still a secret--or, at least, was until some one got it from my +brother down in Peru. The tradition and the dagger had been +intrusted to him. I don't know how it happened. Somehow he seemed +to grow crazy--until he talked. The dagger was stolen from him. +How it happened, how it came into Professor Norton's hands, I do +not know. + +"But, at any rate," she continued, in the same solemn tone, "the +curse has followed it. After my brother had told the secret of the +dagger and lost it, his mind left him. He threw himself one day +into Lake Titicaca." + +Her voice broke dramatically in her passionate outpouring of the +tragedies that had followed the hidden treasure and the Inca +dagger. + +"Now, here in New York, comes this awful death of Senor Mendoza," +she cried. "I don't know, no one knows, whether he had obtained +the secret of the gold or not. At any rate, he must have thought +he had it. He has been killed suddenly, in his own home. That is +my answer to your inquiry about the treasure-hunting company you +mentioned, whatever it may be. I need say no more of the curse of +Mansiche. Is the Gold of the Gods worth it?" + +There could be no denying that it was real to her, whatever we +might think of the story. I recollected the roughly printed +warnings that had been sent to Norton, Leslie, Kennedy, and +myself. Had they, then, some significance? I had not been able to +convince myself that they were the work of a crank, alone. There +must be some one to whom the execution of vengeance of the gods +was an imperative duty. Unsuperstitious as I was, I saw here a +real danger. If some one, either to preserve the secret for +himself or else called by divine mandate to revenge, should take a +notion to carry out the threats in the four notes, what might not +happen? + +"I cannot tell you much more of fact than you probably already +know," she remarked, watching our faces intently and noting the +effect of every word. "You know, I suppose, that the treasure has +always been believed to be in a large mound, a tumulus I think you +call it, visible from our town of Truxillo. Many people have tried +to open it, but the mass of sand pours down on them and they have +been discouraged." + +"No one has ever stumbled on the secret?" queried Kennedy. + +She shook her head. "There have been those who have sought, there +are even those who are seeking, the point just where to bore into +the mounds. If they could find it, they plan to construct a well- +timbered tunnel to keep back the sand and to drive it at the right +point to obtain this fabulous wealth." + +She vouchsafed the last information with a sort of quiet assurance +that conveyed the idea, without her saying it directly, that any +such venture was somehow doomed to failure, that desecrators were +merely toying with fate. + +All through her story one could see that she felt deeply the +downfall and betrayal of her brother, followed by the tragedy to +him after the age-old secret had slipped from his grasp. Was there +still to be vengeance for his downfall? Surely, I thought to +myself, Don Luis de Mendoza could not have been in possession of +the secret, unless he had arrived at it, with Lockwood, in some +other way than by deciphering the almost illegible marks of the +dagger. I thought of Whitney. Had he perhaps had something to do +with the nasty business? + +I happened to glance at a huge pile of works on mining engineering +on the table, the property of Alfonso. She saw me looking at them, +and her eyes assumed a far-away, dreamy impression as she murmured +something. + +"You must know that we real Peruvians have been so educated that +we never explore ruins for hidden treasure, not even if we have +the knowledge of engineering to do so. It is a sort of sacrilege +to us to do that. The gold was not our gold, you see. Some of it +belongs to the spirits of the departed. But the big treasure +belonged to the gods themselves. It was the gold which lay in +sheets over the temple walls, sacred. No, we would not touch it." + +I wondered cynically what would happen if some one at that moment +had appeared with the authenticated secret. She continued to gaze +at the books. "There are plenty of rare chances for a young mining +engineer in Peru without that." + +Apparently she was thinking of her son and his studies at the +University as they affected his future career. + +One could follow her thoughts, even, as they flitted from the +treasure, to the books, to her son, and, finally, to the pretty +girl for whom both he and Lockwood were struggling. + +"We are a peculiar race," she ruminated. "We seldom intermarry +with other races. We are as proud as Senor Mendoza was of his +Castilian descent, as proud of our unmixed lineage as any +descendant of a 'belted earl.'" + +Senora de Moche made the remarks with a quiet dignity which left +no doubt in my mind that the race feeling cut deeply. + +She had risen now, and in place of the awesome fear of the curse +and tragedy of the treasure her face was burning and her eyes +flashed. + +"Old Don Luis thought I was good enough to amuse his idle hours," +she cried. "But when he saw that Alfonso was in love with his +daughter, that she might return that love, then I found out +bitterly that he placed us in another class, another caste." + +Kennedy had been following her closely, and I could see now that +the cross-currents of superstition, avarice, and race hatred in +the case presented a tangle that challenged him. + +There was nothing more that we could extract from her just then. +She had remained standing, as a gentle reminder that the interview +had already been long. + +Kennedy took the hint. "I wish to thank you for the trouble you +have gone to," he bowed, after we, too, had risen. "You have told +me quite enough to make me think seriously before I join in any +such undertaking." + +She smiled enigmatically. Whether it was that she had enjoyed +penetrating our rather clumsy excuse for seeing her, or that she +felt that the horror of the curse had impressed us, she seemed +well content. + +We bowed ourselves out, and, after waiting a few moments about the +hotel without seeing Whitney anywhere, Craig called a car. + +"They were right," was his only comment. "A most baffling woman, +indeed." + + + + +VII + +THE ARROW POISON + + +Back again in the laboratory, Kennedy threw off his coat and +plunged again into his investigation of the blood sample he had +taken from the wound in Mendoza's body. + +We had scarcely been back half an hour before the door opened and +Dr. Leslie's perplexed face looked in on us. He was carrying a +large jar, in which he had taken away the materials which he +wished to examine. + +"Well," asked Kennedy, pausing with a test-tube poised over a +Bunsen burner, "have you found anything yet? I haven't had time to +get very far with my own tests yet." + +"Not a blessed thing," returned the coroner. "I'm desperate. One +of the chemists suggested cyanide, another carbon monoxide. But +there is no trace of either. Then he suggested nux vomica. It +wasn't nux vomica; but my tests show that it must have been +something very much like it. I've looked for all the ordinary +known poisons and some of the little-known alkaloids, but, +Kennedy, I always get back to the same point. There must have been +a poison there. He did not die primarily of the wound. It was +asphyxia due to a poison that really killed him, though the wound +might have done so, but not quite so quickly." + +I could tell by the look that crossed Kennedy's face that at last +a ray of light had pierced the darkness. He reached for a bottle +on the shelf labelled spirits of turpentine. + +Then he poured a little of the blood sample from the jar which the +coroner had brought into a clean tube and added a few drops of the +spirits of turpentine. A cloudy, dark precipitate formed. He +smiled quietly, and said, half to himself, "I thought so." + +"What is it?" asked the coroner eagerly, "nux vomica?" + +Craig shook his head as he stared at the black precipitate. "You +were perfectly right about the asphyxiation, Doctor," he remarked +slowly, "but wrong as to the cause. It was a poison--one you would +never dream of." + +"What is it?" Leslie and I asked simultaneously. + +"Let me take all these samples and make some further tests," he +said. "I am quite sure of it, but it is new to me. By the way, may +I trouble you and Leslie to go over to the Museum of Natural +History with a letter?" + +It was evident that he wanted to work uninterrupted, and we agreed +readily, especially because by going we might also be of some use +in solving the mystery of the poison. + +He sat down and wrote a hasty note to the director of the Museum, +and a few moments later we were speeding over in Leslie's car. + +At the big building we had no trouble in finding the director and +presenting the note. He was a close friend of Kennedy's and more +than willing to aid him in any way. + +"You will excuse me a moment?" he apologized. "I will get from the +South American exhibit just what he wants." + +We waited several minutes in the office until finally he returned +carrying a gourd, incrusted on its hollow inside surface with a +kind of blackish substance. + +"That is what he wants, I think," the director remarked, wrapping +it up carefully in a box. "I don't need to ask you to tell +Professor Kennedy to watch out how he handles the thing. He +understands all about it." + +We thanked the director and hurried out into the car again, +carrying the package, after his warning, as though it were so much +dynamite. + +Altogether, I don't suppose that we could have been gone more than +an hour. + +We burst into the laboratory, but, to my surprise, I did not see +Kennedy at his table. I stopped short and looked around. + +There he was over in the corner, sprawled out in a chair, a tank +of oxygen beside him, from which he was inhaling laboriously +copious draughts. He rose as he saw us and walked unsteadily +toward the table. + +"Why--what's the matter?" I cried, certain that m our absence an +attempt had been made on his life, perhaps to carry out the threat +of the curse. + +"N-nothing," he gasped, with an attempt at a smile. "Only I--think +I was right--about the poison." + +I did not like the way he looked. His hand was unsteady and his +eyes looked badly. But he seemed quite put out when I suggested +that he was working too hard over the case and had better take a +turn outdoors with us and have a bite to eat. + +"You--you got it?" he asked, seizing the package that contained +the gourd and unwrapping it nervously. + +He laid the gourd on the table, on which were also several jars of +various liquids and a number of other chemicals. At the end of the +table was a large, square package, from which sounds issued, as if +it contained something alive. + +"Tell me," I persisted, "what has happened. Has any one been here +since we have been gone?" + +"Not a soul," he answered, working his arms and shoulders as if to +get rid of some heavy weight that oppressed his chest. + +"Then what has happened that makes you use the oxygen?" I +repeated, determined to get some kind of answer from him. + +He turned to Leslie. "It was no ordinary asphyxiation, Doctor," he +said quickly. + +Leslie nodded. "I could see that," he admitted. + +"We have to deal in this case," continued Kennedy, his will-power +overcoming his weakness, "with a poison which is apparently among +the most subtle known. A particle of matter so minute as to be +hardly distinguishable by the naked eye, on the point of a lancet +or needle, a prick of the skin not anything like that wound of +Mendoza's, were necessary. But, fortunately, more of the poison +was used, making it just that much easier to trace, though for the +time the wound, which might itself easily have been fatal, threw +us off the scent. But given these things, not all the power in the +world--unless one was fully prepared--could save the life of the +person in whose flesh the wound was made." + +Craig paused a moment, and we listened breathlessly. + +"This poison, I find, acts on the so-called endplates of the +muscles and nerves. It produces complete paralysis, but not loss +of consciousness, sensation, circulation, or respiration until the +end approaches. It seems to be one of the most powerful agents of +which I have ever heard. When introduced in even a minute quantity +it produces death finally by asphyxiation--by paralyzing the +muscles of respiration. This asphyxia is what puzzled you, +Leslie." + +He reached over and took a white mouse from the huge box on the +corner of the table. + +"Let me show you what I have found," he said. "I am now going to +inject a little of the blood serum of the murdered man into this +white mouse." + +He took a needle and injected some of a liquid which he had +isolated. The mouse did not even wince, so lightly did he touch +it. But as we watched, its life seemed gently to ebb away, without +pain, without struggle. Its breath simply seemed to stop. + +Next he took the gourd which we had brought and with a knife +scraped off just the minutest particle of the black, licorice-like +stuff that incrusted it. He dissolved the particle in some +alcohol, and with a sterilized needle repeated his experiment on a +second mouse. The effect was precisely similar to that produced by +the blood on the first. + +I was intent on what Craig was doing when Dr. Leslie broke in with +a question. "May I ask," he queried, "whether, admitting that the +first mouse died at least apparently in the same manner as the +second, you have proved that the poison is the same in both cases? +And if it is the same, can you show that it affects human beings +in the same way, that enough of it has been discovered in the +blood of Mendoza to have caused his death? In other words, I want +the last doubt set aside." + +If ever Craig startled me, it was by his quiet reply: + +"I've isolated it in his blood, extracted it, sterilized it, and +I've tried it on myself." + +In breathless amazement, with eyes riveted on him, we listened. +"Then that was what was the matter?" I blurted out. "You had been +trying the poison on YOURSELF?" + +He nodded unconcernedly. "Altogether," he explained, as Leslie and +I listened, speechless, "I was able to recover from both blood +samples six centigrams of the poison. It is almost unknown. I +could only be sure of what I discovered by testing the +physiological effects. I was very careful. What else was there to +do? I couldn't ask you fellows to try it, if I was afraid." + +"Good heavens!" gasped Leslie, "and alone, too." + +"You wouldn't have let me do it, if I hadn't got rid of you," he +smiled quietly. + +Leslie shook his head. "Tried it on the dog and made himself the +dog!" exclaimed Leslie. "I need the credit of a successful case-- +but I'll not take this one." + +Kennedy laughed. + +"Starting with two centigrams of the stuff as a moderate dose," he +pursued, while I listened, stunned at his daring, "I injected it +into my right arm subcutaneously. Then I slowly worked my way up +to three and then four centigrams. You see what I had recovered +was far from the real thing. They did not seem at first to produce +any very appreciable results other than to cause some dizziness, +slight vertigo, a considerable degree of lassitude, and an +extremely painful headache of rather unusual duration." + +"Good night!" I exclaimed. "Didn't that satisfy you?" + +"Five centigrams considerably improved on it," he continued, +paying no attention to me. "It caused a degree of lassitude and +vertigo that was most distressing, and six centigrams, the whole +amount which I had recovered from the samples of blood, gave me +the fright of my life right here in this laboratory a few minutes +before you came in." + +Leslie and I looked at each other and shook our heads. + +"Perhaps I was not wise in giving myself so large an injection on +a day when I was overheated and below par otherwise, because of +the strain I have been under in handling this case, as well as +other work. However that may be, the added centigram produced so +much more on top of the five centigrams I had previously taken +that for a time I had reason to fear that that additional +centigram was just the amount needed to bring my experiments to a +permanent close. + +"Within three minutes of the time of injection the dizziness and +vertigo had become so great as to make walking seem impossible. In +another minute the lassitude rapidly crept over me, and the +serious disturbance of my breathing made it apparent to me that +walking, waving my arms, anything, was imperative. My lungs felt +glued up, and the muscles of my chest refused to work. Everything +swam before my eyes, and I was soon reduced to walking up and down +the laboratory floor with halting steps, only preventing falling +on the floor by holding fast to the edge of the table. + +"I thought of the tank of oxygen, and managed to crawl over and +turn it on. I gulped at it. It seemed to me that I spent hours +gasping for breath. It reminded me of what I once experienced in +the Cave of the Winds of Niagara, where water is more abundant in +the atmosphere than air. Yet my watch afterward indicated only +about twenty minutes of extreme distress. But that twenty minutes +is one period I shall never forget. I advise you, Leslie, if you +are ever so foolish as to try the experiment, to remain below the +five-centigram limit." + +"Believe me, I'd rather lose my job," returned Leslie. + +"How much of the stuff was administered to Mendoza," went on +Kennedy, "I cannot say. But it must have been a good deal more +than I took. Six centigrams which I recovered from these small +samples are only nine-tenths of a grain. You see what effect that +much had. I trust that answers your question?" + +Dr. Leslie was too overwhelmed to reply. + +"What is this deadly poison that was used on Mendoza?" I managed +to ask. + +"You have been fortunate enough to obtain a sample of it from the +Museum of Natural History," returned Craig. "It comes in a little +gourd, or often a calabash. This is in a gourd. It is a blackish, +brittle stuff, incrusting the sides of the gourd just as if it was +poured in in the liquid state and left to dry. Indeed, that is +just what has been done by those who manufacture it after a +lengthy and somewhat secret process." + +He placed the gourd on the edge of the table, where we could see +it closely. I was almost afraid even to look at it. + +"The famous traveller, Sir Robert Schomburgk, first brought it +into Europe, and Darwin has described it. It is now an article of +commerce, and is to be found in the United States Pharmacoepia as +a medicine, though, of course, it is used in only very minute +quantities, as a heart stimulant." + +Craig opened a book to a place he had marked. "Here's an account +of it," he said. "Two natives were one day hunting. They were +armed with blow-pipes and quivers full of poisoned darts made of +thin, charred pieces of bamboo, tipped with this stuff. One of +them aimed a dart. It missed the object overhead, glanced off the +tree, and fell down on the hunter himself. This is how the other +native reported the result: + +"'Quacca takes the dart out of his shoulder. Never a word. Puts it +in his quiver and throws it in the stream. Gives me his blow-pipe +for his little son. Says to me good-bye for his wife and the +village. Then he lies down. His tongue talks no longer. No sight +in his eyes. He folds his arms. He rolls over slowly. His mouth +moves without sound. I feel his heart. It goes fast and then slow. +It stops. Quacca has shot his last woorali dart.'" + +Leslie and I looked at Kennedy, and the horror of the thing sank +deep into our minds. Woorali. What was it? + +"Woorali, or curare," explained Craig slowly, "is the well-known +poison with which the South American Indians of the upper Orinoco +tip their arrows. Its principal ingredient is derived from the +Strychnos toxifera tree, which yields also the drug nux vomica, +which you, Dr. Leslie, have mentioned. On the tip of that Inca +dagger must have been a large dose of the dread curare, this fatal +South American Indian arrow poison." + +"Say," ejaculated Leslie, "this thing begins to look eerie to me. +How about that piece of paper that I sent to you with the warning +about the curse of Mansiche and the Gold of the Gods. What if +there should be something in it? I'd rather not be a victim of +this curare, if it's all the same to you, Kennedy." + +Kennedy was thinking deeply. Who could have sent the messages to +us all? Who was likely to have known of curare? I confess that I +had not even an idea. All of them, any of them, might have known. + +The deeper we got into it, the more dastardly the crime against +Mendoza seemed. Involuntarily, I thought of the beautiful little +Senorita, about whom these terrible events centred. Though I had +no reason for it, I could not forget the fear that she had for +Senora de Moche, and the woman as she had been revealed to us in +our late interview. + +"I suppose a Peruvian of average intelligence might know of the +arrow poison of Indians of another country," I ventured to Craig. + +"Quite possible," he returned, catching immediately the drift of +my thoughts. "But the shoe-prints indicated that it was a man who +stole the dagger from the Museum. It may be that it was already +poisoned, too. In that case the thief would not have had to know +anything of curare, would not have needed to stab so deeply if he +had known." + +I must confess that I was little further along in the solution of +the mystery than I had been when I first saw Mendoza's body. +Kennedy, however, did not seem to be worried. Leslie had long +since given up trying to form an opinion and, now that the nature +of the poison was finally established, was glad to leave the case +in our hands. + +As for me, I was inclined to agree with Dr. Leslie, and, long +after he had left, there kept recurring to my mind those words: + +BEWARE THE CURSE OF MANSICHE ON THE GOLD OF THE GODS. + + + + +VIII + +THE ANONYMOUS LETTER + + +"I think I will drop in to see Senorita Mendoza," considered +Kennedy, as he cleared up the materials which he had been using in +his investigation of the arrow poison. "She is a study to me--in +fact, the reticence of all these people is hard to combat." + +As we entered the apartment where the Mendozas lived, it was +difficult to realize that only a few hours had elapsed since we +had first been introduced to this strange affair. In the hall, +however, were still some reporters waiting in the vain hope that +some fragment of a story might turn up. + +"Let's have a talk with the boys," suggested Craig, before we +entered the Mendoza suite. "After all, the newspaper men are the +best detectives I know. If it wasn't for them, half our murder +cases wouldn't ever be solved. As a matter of fact, 'yellow +journals' are more useful to a city than half the detective +force." + +Most of the newspaper men knew Craig intimately, and liked him, +possibly because he was one of the few people to-day who realized +the very important part these young men played in modern life. +They crowded about, eager to interview him. But Craig was clever. +In the rapid fire of conversation it was really he who interviewed +them. + +"Lockwood has been here a long time," volunteered one of the men. +"He seems to have constituted himself the guardian of Inez. No one +gets a look at her while he's around." + +"Well, you can hardly blame him for that," smiled Craig. "Jealousy +isn't a crime in that case." + +"Say," put in another, "there'd be an interesting quarter of an +hour if he were here now. That other fellow--de Mooch--whatever +his name is, is here." + +"De Moche--with her, now?" queried Kennedy, wheeling suddenly. + +The reporter smiled. "He's a queer duck. I was coming up to +relieve our other man, when I saw him down on the street, hanging +about the corner, his eyes riveted on the entrance to the +apartment. I suppose that was his way of making love. He's daffy +over her, all right. I stopped to watch him. Of course, he didn't +know me. Just then Lockwood left. The Spaniard dived into the drug +store on the corner as though the devil was after him. You should +have seen his eyes. If looks were bullets, I wouldn't give much +for Lockwood's life. With two such fellows about, you wouldn't +catch me making goo-goo eyes at that chicken--not on your life." + +Kennedy passed over the flippant manner in view of the importance +of the observation. + +"What do you think of Lockwood?" he asked. + +"Pretty slick," replied another of the men. "He's the goods, all +right." + +"Why, what has he done?" asked Kennedy. + +"Nothing in particular. But he came out to see us once. You can't +blame him for being a bit sore at us fellows hanging about. But he +didn't show it. Instead he almost begged us to be careful of how +we asked questions of the girl. Of course, all of us could see how +completely broken up she is. We haven't bothered her. In fact, +we'd do anything we could for her. But Lockwood talks straight +from the shoulder. You can see he's used to handling all kinds of +situations." + +"But did he say anything, has he done anything?" persisted +Kennedy. + +"N-no," admitted the reporter. "I can't say he has." + +Craig frowned a bit. "I thought not," he remarked. "These people +aren't giving away any hints, if they can help it." + +"It's my idea," ventured another of the men, "that when this case +breaks, it will break all of a sudden. I shouldn't wonder if we +are in for one of the sensations of the year, when it comes." + +Kennedy looked at him inquiringly. "Why?" he asked simply. + +"No particular reason," confessed the man. "Only the regular +detectives act so chesty. They haven't got a thing, and they know +it, only they won't admit it to us. O'Connor was here." + +"What did he say?" + +"Nothing. He went through all the motions--'Now, pens lifted, +boys,' and all that--talked a lot--and after it was all over he +might have been sure no one would publish a line of his +confidences. There wasn't a stick of copy in the whole thing." + +Kennedy laughed. "O'Connor's all right," he replied. "We may need +him sorely before we get through. After all, nothing can take the +place of the organization the police have built up. You say de +Moche is in there yet?" + +"Yes. He seemed very anxious to see her. We never get a word out +of him. I've been thinking what would happen if we tried to get +him mad. Maybe he'd talk." + +"More likely he'd pull a gun," cautioned another. "Excuse ME." + +Kennedy said nothing, evidently content to let the newspaper men +go their own sweet way. + +He nodded to them, and pressed the buzzer at the Mendoza door. + +"Tell Senorita Mendoza that it is Professor Kennedy," he said to +Juanita, who opened the door, keeping it on the chain, to be sure +it was no unwelcome intruder. + +Evidently she had had orders to admit us, for a second later we +found ourselves again in the little reception room. + +We sat down, and I saw that Craig's attention had at once been +fixed on something. I listened intently, too. On the other side of +the heavy portieres that cut us off from the living room I could +distinguish low voices. It was de Moche and Inez. + +Whatever the ethics of it, we could not help listening. Besides +there was more at stake than ethics. + +Evidently the young man was urging her to do something that she +did not agree with. + +"No," we heard her say finally, in a quiet tone, "I cannot believe +it, Alfonso. Mr. Whitney is Mr. Lockwood's associate now. My +father and Mr. Lockwood approved of him. Why should I do +otherwise?" + +De Moche was talking earnestly but in a very muffled voice. We +could not make out anything except a few scattered phrases which +told us nothing. Once I fancied he mentioned his mother. Whatever +it was that he was urging, Inez was firm. + +"No, Alfonso," she repeated, her voice a little higher and +excited. "It cannot be. You must be mistaken." + +She had risen, and now moved toward the hall door, evidently +forgetting that the folding doors behind the portieres were open. +"Professor Kennedy and Mr. Jameson are here," she said. "Would you +care to meet them?" + +He replied in the negative. Yet as he passed the reception room he +could not help seeing us. + +As Inez greeted us, I saw that Alfonso was making a desperate +effort to control his expression. He seemed to be concealing a +bitter disappointment. Seeing us, he bowed stiffly, and, with just +the murmur of a greeting, excused himself. + +He had no sooner closed the door to run the gauntlet of the sharp +eyes in the hall than the Senorita faced us fully. She was pale +and nervous. Evidently something that he had said to her had +greatly agitated her. Yet with all her woman's skill she managed +to hide all outward traces of emotion that might indicate what it +was that racked her mind. + +"You have something to report?" she asked, a trifle anxiously. + +"Nothing of any great importance," admitted Craig. + +Was it actually a look of relief that crossed her face? Try as I +could, it seemed to me to be an anomalous situation. She wanted +the murderer of her father caught, naturally. Yet she did not seem +to be offering us the natural assistance that was to be expected. +Could it be that she suspected some one perhaps near and dear to +her of having some knowledge, which, now that the deed was done, +would do more harm than good if revealed? It was the only +conclusion to which I could come. I was surprised at Kennedy's +next question. Was the same idea in his mind, also? + +"We have seen Mr. Whitney," he ventured. "Just what are Mr. +Lockwood's relations with him--and yours?" + +"Merely that Mr. Lockwood and my father were partners," she +answered hastily. "They had decided that their interests would be +more valuable by some arrangement with Mr. Whitney, who controls +so much down in Peru." + +"Do you think that Senora de Moche exercises a very great +influence on Mr. Whitney?" asked Craig, purposely introducing the +name of the Indian woman to see what effect it might have on her. + +"Oh," she cried, with a little exclamation of alarm, "I hope not." + +Yet it was evident that she feared so. + +"Why is it that you fear it?" insisted Kennedy. "What has she done +to make you fear it?" + +"I don't like her," returned Inez, with a frown. "My father knew +her--too well. She is a schemer, an adventuress. Once she has a +hold on a man, one cannot say--" She paused, then went on in a +different tone. "But I would rather not talk about the woman. I am +afraid of her. Never does she talk to me that she does not get +something out of me that I do not wish to tell her. She is +uncanny." + +Personally, I could not blame Inez for her opinion. I could +understand it. Those often baleful eyes had a penetrating power +that one might easily fall a victim to. + +"But you can trust Mr. Lockwood," he returned. "Surely he is proof +against her, against any woman." + +Inez flushed. It was evident that of all the men who were +interested in the little beauty, Lockwood was first in her mind. +Yet when Kennedy put the question thus she hesitated. "Yes," she +replied, "of course, I trust him. It is not that woman whom I fear +with him." + +She said it with an air almost of defiance. There was some kind of +struggle going on in her mind, and she was too proud to let us +into the secret. + +Kennedy rose and bowed. For the present he had come to the +conclusion that if she would not let us help her openly the only +thing to do was to help her blindly. + +Half an hour later we were at Norton's apartment, not far from the +University campus. He listened intently as Kennedy told such parts +of what we had done as he chose. At the mention of the arrow +poison, he seemed startled beyond measure. + +"You are sure of it?" he asked anxiously. + +"Positive, now," reiterated Kennedy. + +Norton's face was drawn in deep lines. "If some one has the +secret," he cried hastily, "who knows when and on whom next he may +employ it?" + +Coming from him so soon after the same idea had been hinted at by +the coroner, I could not but be impressed by it. + +"The very novelty of the thing is our best protection," asserted +Kennedy confidently. "Once having discovered it, if Walter gives +the thing its proper value in the Star, I think the criminal will +be unlikely to try it again. If you had had as much experience in +crime as I have had, you would see that it is not necessarily the +unusual that is baffling. That may be the surest way to trace it. +Often it is because a thing is so natural that it may be +attributed to any person among several, equally well." + +Norton eyed us keenly, and shook his head. "You may be right," he +said doubtfully. "Only I had rather that this person, whoever he +may be, had fewer weapons." + +"Speaking of weapons," broke in Kennedy, "you have had no further +idea of why the dagger might have been taken?" + +"There seems to have been so much about it that I did not know," +he returned, "that I am almost afraid to have an opinion. I knew +that its three-sided sheath inclosed a sharp blade, yet who would +have dreamed that that blade was poisoned?" + +"You are lucky not to have scratched yourself with it by accident +while you were studying it." + +"Possibly I might have done it, if I had had it in my possession +longer. It was only lately that I had leisure to study it." + +"You knew that it might offer some clue to the hidden treasure of +Truxillo?" suggested Kennedy. "Have you any recollection of what +the inscriptions on it said?" + +"Yes," returned Norton, "I had heard the rumours about it. But +Peru is a land of tales of buried treasure. No, I can't say that I +paid much more attention to it than you might have done if some +one asserted that he had another story of the treasure of Captain +Kidd. I must confess that only when the thing was stolen did I +begin to wonder whether, after all, there might not be something +in it. Now it is too late to find out. From the moment when I +found that it was missing from my collection I have heard no more +about it than you have found out. It is all like a dream to me. I +cannot believe even yet that a mere bit of archaeological and +ethnological specimen could have played so important a part in the +practical events of real life." + +"It does seem impossible," agreed Kennedy. "But it is even more +remarkable than that. It has disappeared without leaving a trace, +after having played its part." + +"If it had been a mere robbery," considered Norton, "one might +look for its reappearance, I suppose, in the curio shops. For to- +day thieves have a keen appreciation of the value of such objects. +But, now that you have unearthed its use against Mendoza--and in +such a terrible way--it is not likely that that will be what will +happen to it. No, we must look elsewhere." + +"I thought I would tell you," concluded Kennedy, rising to go. +"Perhaps after you have considered it over night some idea may +occur to you." + +"Perhaps," said Norton doubtfully. "But I haven't your brilliant +faculty of scientific analysis, Kennedy. No, I shall have to lean +on you, in that, not you on me." + +We left Norton, apparently now more at sea than ever. At the +laboratory Kennedy plunged into some microphotographic work that +the case had suggested to him, while I dashed off, under his +supervision, an account of the discovery of curare, and telephoned +it down to the Star in time to catch the first morning edition, in +the hope that it might have some effect in apprising the criminal +that we were hard on his trail, which he had considered covered. + +I scanned the other papers eagerly in the morning for Kennedy, +hoping to glean at least some hints that others who were working +on the case might have gathered. But there was nothing, and, after +a hasty bite of breakfast, we hurried back to take up the thread +of the investigation where we had laid it down. + +To our surprise, on the steps of the Chemistry Building, as we +approached, we saw Inez Mendoza already waiting for us in a high +state of agitation. Her face was pale, and her voice trembled as +she greeted us. + +"Such a dreadful thing has come to me," she cried, even before +Kennedy could ask her what the trouble was. + +From her handbag she drew out a crumpled, dirty piece of paper in +an envelope. + +"It came in the first mail," she explained. "I could not wait to +send it to you. I brought it myself. What can it mean?" + +Kennedy unfolded the paper. Printed in large characters, in every +way similar to the four warnings that had been sent to us, was +just one ominous line. We read: + +"Beware the man who professes to be a friend of your father." + +I glanced from the note to Kennedy, then to Inez. One name was in +my mind, and before I knew it I had spoken it. + +"Lockwood?" I queried inadvertently. + +Her eyes met mine in sharp defiance. "Impossible," she exclaimed. +"It is some one trying to injure him with me. Beware of Mr. +Lockwood? How absurd!" + +Yet it must have meant Lockwood. No one else could have been +meant. It was he, most of all, who might be called a friend of her +father. She seemed to see the implication without a word from us. + +I could not help sympathizing with the brave girl in her struggle +between the attack against Lockwood and her love and confidence in +him. It did not need words to tell me that evidence must be +overwhelming to convince her that her lover might be involved in +any manner. + + + + +IX + +THE PAPER FIBRES + + +Kennedy examined the anonymous letter carefully for several +minutes, while we watched him in silence. + +"Too clever to use a typewriter," he remarked, still regarding the +note through the lens of a hand-glass. "Almost any one would have +used a machine. That would have been due to the erroneous idea +that typewriting cannot be detected. The fact is that the +typewriter is perhaps a worse means of concealing identity than is +disguised handwriting, especially printing like this. It doesn't +afford the effective protection to the criminal that one supposes. +On the contrary, the typewriting of such a note may be the direct +means by which it can be traced to its source. We can determine +what kind of machine it was done with, then what particular +machine was used can be identified." + +He paused and indicated a number of little instruments which he +had taken from a drawer and laid on the table, as he tore off a +bit of the corner of the sheet of paper and examined it. + +"There is one thing I can do now, though," he continued. "I can +study the quality of the paper in this sheet. If it were only torn +like those warnings we have already received, it might perhaps be +mated with another piece as accurately as if the act had been +performed before our eyes." + +He picked up a little instrument with a small curved arm and a +finely threaded screw that brought the two flat surfaces of the +arm and the end of the screw together. + +"There is no such good fortune in this case, however," he resumed, +placing the paper between the two small arms. "But by measurements +made by this vernier micrometer caliper I can find the precise +thickness of the paper as compared to the other samples." + +He turned to a microscope and placed the corner of the paper under +it. Then he drew from the drawer the four scraps of paper which +had already been sent to us, as well as a pile of photographs. + +"Under ordinary circumstances," he explained, "I should think that +what I am doing would be utterly valueless as a clue to anything. +But we are reduced to the minutiae in this affair. And to-day +science is not ready to let anything pass as valueless." + +He continued to look at the various pieces of paper under the +microscope. "I find under microscopic examination," he went on, +addressing Inez, but not looking up from the eye-piece as he +shifted the papers, "that the note you have received, Senorita +Mendoza, is written on a rather uncommon linen bond paper. Later I +shall take a number of microphotographs of it. I have here, also, +about a hundred microphotographs of the fibres in other kinds of +paper, many of them bonds. These I have accumulated from time to +time in my study of the subject. None of them, as you can see, +shows fibres resembling this one in question, so that we may +conclude that it is of uncommon quality. + +"Here I have the fibres, also, of four pieces of paper that have +already figured in the case. These four correspond, as well as the +indentures of the torn edges. As for the fibres, lest you should +question the accuracy of the method, I may say that I know of a +case where a man in Germany was arrested, charged with stealing a +government bond. He was not searched until later. There was no +evidence, save that after the arrest a large number of spitballs +were found around the courtyard under his cell window. This method +of comparing the fibres of the regular government paper was used, +and by it the man was convicted of stealing the bond. I think it +is unnecessary to add that in the present case I can see +definitely that not only the four pieces of paper that bore +warnings to us were the same kind, but that this whole sheet, with +its anonymous warning to you, is also the same." + +Inez Mendoza looked at Kennedy as though he possessed some weird +power. Her face, which had already been startled into an +expression of fear at his mention of Lockwood, now was pale. + +"Other warnings?" she repeated tremulously. + +Quickly Kennedy explained what had already happened to us, +watching the effect on her as he read of the curse of Mansiche and +the Gold of the Gods. + +"Oh," she cried, mastering her emotion with a heroic effort, "I +wish my father had never become mixed up in the business. Ever +since I was a little girl I have heard these vague stories of the +big fish and the little fish, the treasure, and the curse. But I +never thought they were anything but fairy tales. You remember, +when I first saw you, I did not even tell them to you." + +"Yes," returned Kennedy. "I remember. But had you no other reason? +Did you, down in your heart, think them really fairy tales?" + +She shuddered. "Perhaps not," she murmured. "But I have heard +enough of you detectives to know that you do not think a woman's +fears exactly evidence." + +"Still they might lead to evidence," suggested Kennedy. + +She looked at him, more startled than ever, for already he had +given her a slight exhibition of his powers. + +"Mr. Kennedy," she exclaimed, "I am positively afraid of you, +afraid that every little thing I do may lead to something I don't +intend." + +There was a frankness about the remark that would have been +flattering from a man, but from her excited sympathy. + +"No," she went on, "I have nothing tangible--only my feelings. I +fear I must admit that my father had enemies, though who they are +I cannot tell you. No, it is all in my heart--not in my head. +There are those whom I dislike--and there are those whom I like +and trust. You may call me foolish, but I cannot help trusting-- +Mr. Lockwood." + +She had not meant to say his name, and Kennedy and I looked at her +in surprise. + +"You see?" she continued. "Every time I talk I say something, +convey some impression that is the opposite of what I wish. Oh-- +what shall I do? Have I no one to trust?" + +She was crying. + +"You may trust me, Senorita," said Kennedy, in a low tone, pausing +before her. "At least I have no other interest than finding the +truth and helping you. There--there. We have had enough to-day. I +cannot ask you to try to forget what has happened. That would be +impossible. But I can ask you, Senorita, to have faith--faith that +it will all turn out better, if you will only trust me. When you +feel stronger--then come to me. Tell me your fears--or not-- +whichever does you the most good. Only keep your mind from +brooding. Face it all as you know your father would have you do." + +Kennedy's words were soothing. He seemed to know that tears were +the safety-valve she needed. + +"Mr. Jameson will see that you get home safely in a taxicab," he +continued. "You can trust him as you would myself." + +I can imagine circumstances under which I would have enjoyed +escorting Inez to her home, but today was not one of the times. +Yet she seemed so helpless, so grateful for everything we did for +her that I did not need even the pressure of her little hand as +she hurried into the apartment from the car with a hasty word of +thanks. + +"You will tell Mr. Kennedy--you will both be--so careful?" she +hesitated before leaving me. + +I assured her that we would, wondering what she might fear for us, +as I drove away again. There did not happen to be any of the +newspaper men about at the time, and I did not stop. + +Back in the laboratory, I found Kennedy arranging something under +the rug at the door as I came up the hall. + +"Don't step there, Walter," he cautioned. "Step over the rug. I'm +expecting visitors. How was she when she arrived home?" + +I told him of her parting injunction. + +"Not bad advice," he remarked. "I think there's a surprise back of +those warnings. They weren't sent just for effect." + +He had closed the door, and we were standing by the table, looking +at the letters, when we heard a noise at the door. + +It was Norton again. + +"I've been thinking of what you told me last night," he explained, +before Kennedy had a chance to tell him to step over the rug. "Has +anything else happened?" + +Kennedy tossed over the anonymous letter, and Norton read it +eagerly. + +"Whom does it mean?" he asked, quickly glancing up, then adding, +"It might mean any of us who are trying to help her." + +"Exactly," returned Kennedy. "Or it might be Lockwood, or even de +Moche. By the way, you know the young man pretty well, don't you? +I wonder if you could find him anywhere about the University this +morning and persuade him to visit me?" + +"I will try," agreed Norton. "But these people are so very +suspicious just now that I can't promise." + +Norton went out a few minutes later to see what he could do to +locate Alfonso, and Kennedy replaced another blank sheet of paper +for that under the rug on which Norton had stepped before we could +warn him. + +No sooner had he gone than Kennedy reached for the telephone and +called Whitney's office. Lockwood was there, as he had hoped, and, +after a short talk, promised to drop in on us later in the +morning. + +It was fully half an hour before Norton returned, having finally +found Alfonso. De Moche entered the laboratory with a suspicious +glance about, as though he thought something might have been +planted there for him. + +"I had a most interesting talk with your mother yesterday," began +Kennedy, endeavouring by frankness to put the young man at ease. +"And this morning, already, Senorita Mendoza has called on me." + +De Moche was all attention at the words. But before he could say +anything Kennedy handed him the anonymous letter. He read it, and +his face clouded as he handed it back. + +"You have no idea who could have sent such a note?" queried Craig, +"or to whom it might refer?" + +He glanced at Norton, then at us. It was clear that some sort of +suspicion had flashed over him. "No," he said quickly, "I know no +one who could have sent it." + +"But whom does it mean?" asked Kennedy, holding him to the part +that he avoided. + +The young man shrugged his shoulders. "She has many friends," he +answered simply. + +"Yes," persisted Kennedy, "but few against whom she might be +warned in this way. You do not think it is Professor Norton, for +instance--or myself?" + +"Oh, no, no--hardly," he replied, then stopped, realizing that he +had eliminated all but Lockwood, Whitney, and himself. + +"It could not be Mr. Lockwood?" demanded Craig. + +"Who sent it?" he asked, looking up. + +"No--whom it warns against." + +De Moche had known what Kennedy meant, but had preferred to +postpone the answer. It was native never to come to the point +unless he was forced to do so. He met our eyes squarely. He had +not the penetrating power that his mother possessed, yet his was a +sharp faculty of observation. + +"Mr. Lockwood is very friendly with her," he admitted, then seemed +to think something else necessary to round out the idea. "Mr. +Kennedy, I might have told her the same myself. Senorita Mendoza +has been a very dear friend--for a long time." + +I had been so used to having him evasive that now I did not +exactly know what to make of such a burst of confidence. It was +susceptible of at least two interpretations. Was he implying that +it was sent to cast suspicion on him, because he felt that way +himself or because he himself was her friend? + +"There have been other warnings," pursued Kennedy, "both to myself +and Mr. Jameson, as well as Professor Norton and Dr. Leslie. +Surely you must have some idea of the source." + +De Moche shook his head. "None that I can think of," he replied. +"Have you asked my mother?" + +"Not yet," admitted Kennedy. + +De Moche glanced at his watch. "I have a lecture at this hour," he +remarked, evidently glad of an excuse to terminate the interview. + +As he left, Kennedy accompanied him to the door, careful himself +to step over the mat. + +"Hello, what's new?" we heard a voice in the hall. + +It was Lockwood, who had come up from downtown. Catching sight of +de Moche, however, he stopped short. The two young men met face to +face. Between them passed a glance of unconcealed hostility, then +each nodded stiffly. + +De Moche turned to Kennedy as he passed down the hall. "Perhaps it +may have been sent to divert suspicion--who can tell?" he +whispered. + +Kennedy nodded appreciatively, noting the change. + +At the sound of Lockwood's voice both Norton and I had taken a +step further after them out into the hall, Norton somewhat in +advance. As de Moche disappeared for his lecture, Kennedy turned +to me from Lockwood and caught my eye. I read in his glance that +fell from me to the mat that he wished me quietly to abstract the +piece of paper which he had placed under it. I bent down and did +so without Lockwood seeing me. + +"Why was he here?" demanded Lockwood, with just a trace of +defiance in his voice, as though he fancied the meeting had been +framed. + +"I have been showing this to every one who might help me," +returned Kennedy, going back into the laboratory after giving me +an opportunity to dispose of the shoe-prints. + +He handed the anonymous letter and the other warnings to the young +soldier of fortune, with a brief explanation. + +"Why don't they come out into the open, whoever they are?" +commented Lockwood, laying the papers down carelessly again on the +table. "I'll meet them--if they mean me." + +"Who?" asked Kennedy. + +Lockwood faced Norton and ourselves. + +"I'm not a mind reader," he said significantly. "But it doesn't +take much to see that some one wants to throw a brick at me. When +I have anything to say I say it openly. Inez Mendoza without +friends just now would be a mark, wouldn't she?" + +His strong face and powerful jaw were set in a menacing scowl. He +would be a bold man who would have come between Lockwood and the +lady under the circumstances. + +"You are confident of Mr. Whitney?" inquired Kennedy. + +"Ask Norton," replied Lockwood briefly. "He knew him long before I +did." + +Norton smiled quietly. "Mr. Kennedy should know what my opinion of +Mr. Whitney is, I think," replied Norton confidently. + +"I trust that you will succeed in running these blackmailers +down," pursued Lockwood, still standing. "If I did not have more +than I can attend to already since the murder of Mendoza I'd like +to take a hand myself. It begins to look to me, after reading that +letter, as though there was nothing too low for them to attempt. I +shall keep this latest matter in mind. If either Mr. Whitney or +myself get any hint, we'll turn it over to you." + +Norton left shortly after Lockwood, and Kennedy again picked up +the letter and scanned it. "I could learn something, I suppose, if +I analyzed this printing," he considered, "but it is a tedious +process. Let me see that envelope again. H-m, postmarked by the +uptown sub-station, mailed late last night. Whoever sent it must +have done so not very far from us here. Lockwood seemed to take it +as though it applied to himself very readily, didn't he? Much more +so than de Moche. Only for the fact that the fibres show it to be +on paper similar to the first warnings, I might have been inclined +to doubt whether this was bona fide. At least, the sender must +realize now that it has produced no appreciable effect--if any was +intended." + +Kennedy's last remark set me thinking. Could some one have sent +the letter not to produce the effect apparently intended, but with +the ultimate object of diverting suspicion from himself? Lockwood, +at least, had not seemed to take the letter very seriously. + + + + +X + +THE X-RAY READER + + +"I think I'll pay another visit to Whitney, in spite of all that +Norton and Lockwood say about him," remarked Kennedy, considering +the next step he would take in his investigation. + +Accordingly, half an hour later we entered his Wall Street office, +where we were met by a clerk, who seemed to remember us. + +"Mr. Whitney is out just at present," he said, "but if you will be +seated I think I can reach him by telephone." + +As we sat in the outer office while the clerk telephoned from +Whitney's own room the door opened and the postman entered and +laid some letters on a table near us. Kennedy could not help +seeing the letter on top of the pile, and noticed that it bore a +stamp from Peru. He picked it up and read the postmark, "Lima," +and the date some weeks previous. In the lower corner, +underscored, were the words "Personal--Urgent." + +"I'd like to know what is in that," remarked Craig, turning it +over and over. + +He appeared to be considering something, for he rose suddenly, and +with a nod of his head to himself, as though settling some qualm +of conscience, shoved the letter into his pocket. + +A moment later the clerk returned. "I've just had Mr. Whitney on +the wire," he reported. "I don't think he'll be back at least for +an hour." + +"Is he at the Prince Edward Albert?" asked Craig. + +"I don't know," returned the clerk, oblivious to the fact that we +must have seen that in order to know the telephone number he must +have known whether Mr. Whitney was there or elsewhere. + +"I shall come in again," rejoined Kennedy, as we bowed ourselves +out. Then to me he added, "If he is with Senora de Moche and they +are at the Edward Albert, I think I can beat him back with this +letter if we hurry." + +A few minutes later, in his laboratory, Kennedy set to work +quickly over an X-ray apparatus. As I watched him, I saw that he +had placed the letter in it. + +"These are what are known as 'low tubes,'" he explained. "They +give out 'soft rays.'" + +He continued to work for several minutes, then took the letter out +and handed it to me. + +"Now, Walter," he said brusquely, "if you will just hurry back +down there to Whitney's office and replace that letter, I think I +will have something that will astonish you--though whether it will +have any bearing on the case remains to be seen. At least I can +postpone seeing Whitney himself for a while." + +I made the trip down again as rapidly as I could. Whitney was not +back when I arrived, but the clerk was there, and I could not very +well just leave the letter on the table again. + +"Mr. Kennedy would like to know when he can see Mr. Whitney," I +said, on the spur of the moment. "Can't you call him up again?" + +The clerk, as I had anticipated, went into Whitney's office to +telephone. Instead of laying the letter on the table, which might +have excited suspicion, I stuck it in the letter slot of the door, +thinking that perhaps they might imagine that it had caught there +when the postman made his rounds. + +A moment later the clerk returned. "Mr. Whitney is on his way down +now," he reported. + +I thanked him, and said that Kennedy would call him up when he +arrived, congratulating myself on the good luck I had had in +returning the letter. + +"What is it?" I asked, a few minutes later, when I had rejoined +Craig in the laboratory. + +He was poring intently over what looked like a negative. + +"The possibility of reading the contents of documents inclosed in +a sealed envelope," he replied, still studying the shadowgraph +closely, "has already been established by the well-known English +scientist, Dr. Hall Edwards. He has been experimenting with the +method of using X-rays recently discovered by a German scientist, +by which radiographs of very thin substances, such as a sheet of +paper, a leaf, an insect's body, may be obtained. These thin +substances, through which the rays used formerly to pass without +leaving an impression, can now be easily radiographed." + +I looked carefully as he traced out something on the queer +negative. On it, it was easily possible, following his guidance, +to read the words inscribed on the sheet of paper inside. So +admirably defined were all the details that even the gum on the +envelope and the edges of the sheet of paper inside the envelope +could be distinguished. + +"It seems incredible," I exclaimed, scarcely believing what I +actually saw. "It is almost like second sight." + +Kennedy smiled. "Any letter written with ink having a mineral base +can be radiographed," he added. "Even when the sheet is folded in +the usual way, it is possible, by taking a radiograph, as I have +done, stereoscopically. Then every detail can be seen standing out +in relief. Besides, it can be greatly magnified, which aids in +deciphering it if it is indistinct or jumbled up. Some of it looks +like mirror-writing. Ah," he continued, "here's something +interesting." + +Together we managed to trace out the contents of several +paragraphs laboriously, the gist of which I give here: + +"LIMA, PERU. + +"DEAR WHITNEY: + +"Matters are progressing very favorably here, considering the +stoppage of business due to the war. I am doing everything in my +power to conserve our interests, and now and then, owing to the +scarcity of money, am able to pick up a concession cheaply, which +will be of immense value to us later. + +"However, it is not so much of business that I wish to write you +at the present time. You know that my friend Senora de Moche, with +her son, Alfonso, is at present in New York. Doubtless she has +already called on you and tried to interest you in her own +properties here. I need not advise you to be very careful in +dealing with her. + +"The other day I heard a rumour that may prove interesting to you, +regarding Norton and his work here on his last trip. As we know, +he has succeeded in finding and getting out of the country an Inca +dagger which, I believe, bears a very important inscription. I do +not know anything definite about it, as these people are very +reticent. But no doubt he has told you all about it by this time. +If it should prove of value, I depend on you to let me know, so +that I may act at this end accordingly. + +"What I am getting at is this: I understand that from rumours and +remarks of the Senora she believes that Norton took an unfair +advantage during her absence. What the inscription is I don't +know, but from the way these people down here act one would think +that they all had a proprietary interest in the relic. What it is +all about I don't know. But you will find the Senora both a keen +business woman and an accomplished antiquarian, if you have not +already discovered it. + +"In regard to Lockwood and Mendoza, if we can get them in on our +side, it ought to prove a winning combination. There are stories +here of how de Moche has been playing on Mendoza's passions--she's +thoroughly unscrupulous and Don Luis is somewhat of a Don Juan. I +write this to put you on guard. Her son, Alfonso, whom you perhaps +have met also, is of another type, though I have heard it said +that he laid siege to Inez Mendoza in the hope of becoming allied +with one of the oldest families. + +"Such, at least, is the gossip down here. I cannot presume to keep +you posted at such a distance, but thought I had better write what +is in every one's mouth. As for the inscribed dagger which Norton +has taken with him, I rely on you to inform me. There seems to be +a great deal of mystery connected with it, and I am unable even to +hazard a guess as to its nature. Fortunately, you are on the spot + +"Very sincerely yours, + +"HAGGERTY." + +"So," remarked Kennedy, as he read over the translation of the +skiagraph which he had jotted down as we picked out the letters +and words, "that's how the land lies. Everybody seems to have +appreciated the importance of the dagger." + +"Except Norton," I could not help putting in in disgust. + +"And now it's gone," he continued, "just as though some one had +dropped it overboard. I believe I will keep that appointment you +made for me with Whitney, after all." + +Thus it happened that I found myself a third time entering +Whitney's building. I was about to step into the elevator, when +Kennedy tugged at my arm and pulled me back. + +"Hello, Norton," I heard him say, as I turned and caught sight of +the archaeologist just leaving an elevator that had come down. + +Norton's face plainly showed that he was worried. + +"What the matter?" asked Kennedy, putting the circumstances +together. "What has Whitney been doing?" + +Norton seemed reluctant to talk, but having no alternative +motioned to us to step aside in the corridor. + +"It's the first time I've talked with him since the dagger was +stolen--that is, about the loss," he said nervously. "He called me +up half an hour ago and asked me to come down." + +I looked at Kennedy significantly. Evidently it must have been +just after his return to the office and receipt of the letter +which I had stuck in the letter slot. + +"He was very angry over something," continued Norton. "I'm sure it +was not my fault if the dagger was stolen, and I'm sure that +managing an expedition in that God-forsaken country doesn't give +you time to read every inscription, especially when it is almost +illegible, right on the spot. There was work enough for months +that I brought back, along with that. Sometimes Whitney's +unreasonable." + +"You don't think he could have known something about the dagger +all along?" ventured Craig. + +Norton puckered his eyes. "He never said anything," he replied. +"If he had asked me to drop other things for that, why, of course, +I would have done so. We can't afford to lose him as a contributor +to the exploration fund. Confound it--I'm afraid I've put my foot +in it this time." + +Kennedy said nothing, and Norton continued, growing more excited: +"Everybody's been talking to Whitney, telling him all kinds of +things--Lockwood, the de Moches, heaven knows who else. Why don't +they come out and face me? I've a notion to try to carry on my +work independently. Nothing plays hob with scholarship like money. +You'd think he owned me body and soul, and the collection, too, if +you heard him talk. Why, he accused me of carelessness in running +the Museum, and heaven knows I'm not the curator--I'm not even the +janitor!" + +Norton was excited, but I could not help feeling that he was also +relieved. "I've been preparing for the time when I'd have to cut +loose," he went on finally. "Now, I suppose it is coming. Ah, +well, perhaps it will be better--who can tell? I may not do so +much, but it will all be mine, with no strings attached. Perhaps, +after all, it is for the best." + +Talking over his troubles seemed to do Norton some good, for I am +sure that he left us in a better frame of mind than we had found +him. + +Kennedy wished him good-luck, and we again entered the lift. + +We found Whitney in an even greater state of excitement than +Norton had been. I am sure that if it had been any one else than +Kennedy he would have thrown him out, but he seemed to feel that +he must control himself in our presence. + +"What do you know about that fellow Norton, up at your place?" he +demanded, almost before we had seated ourselves. + +"A very hard-working, ambitious man his colleagues tell me," +returned Kennedy, purposely I thought, as if it had been a red rag +flaunted before a bull. + +"Hard-working--yes," bellowed Whitney. "He has worked me hard. I +send him down to Peru--yes, I put up most of the money. Then what +does he do? Just kids me along, makes me think he's accomplishing +a whole lot--when he's actually so careless as to let himself be +robbed of what he gets with my money. I tell you, you can't trust +anybody. They all double-cross you. I swear, I think Lockwood and +I ought to go it alone. I'm glad I found that fellow out. Let +himself be robbed--a fine piece of work! Why, that fellow couldn't +see through a barn door--after the horse was stolen," he +concluded, mixing his metaphors in his anger. + +"Evidently some one has been telling you something," remarked +Kennedy. "We tried to see you twice this morning, but couldn't +find you." + +His tone was one calculated to impress Whitney with the fact that +he had been watching and had some idea of where he really was. +Whitney shot a sharp glance at Craig, whose face betrayed nothing. + +"Ambitious--I should say so," repeated Whitney, reverting to +Norton to cover up this new change of the subject. "Well--let him +be ambitious. We can get along without him. I tell you, Kennedy, +no one is indispensable. There is always some way to get along--if +you can't get over an obstacle, you can get around it. I'll +dispense with Mr. Norton. He's an expensive luxury, anyhow. I'm +just as well satisfied." + +There was real vexation in Whitney's voice, yet as he talked he, +too, seemed to cool down. I could not help thinking that both +Norton and Whitney were perhaps just a bit glad at the break. Had +both of them got out of each other all that they wanted--Norton +his reputation and Whitney--what? + +He cooled down so rapidly now that almost I began to wonder +whether his anger had been genuine. Did he know more about the +dagger than appeared? Was this his cover--to disown Norton? + +"It seems to me that Senora de Moche is ambitious for her son, +too," remarked Kennedy, tenaciously trying to force the +conversation into the channel he chose. + +"How's that?" demanded Whitney, narrowing his eyes down into a +squint at Kennedy's face, a proceeding that served by contrast to +emphasize the abnormal condition of the pupils which I had already +noticed both in his eyes and Lockwood's. + +"I don't think she'd object to having him marry into one of the +leading families in Peru," ventured Kennedy, paraphrasing what we +had already read in the letter. + +"Perhaps Senorita Mendoza herself can be trusted to see to that," +Whitney replied with a quick laugh. + +"To say nothing of Mr. Lockwood," suggested Craig. + +Whitney looked at him quizzically, as though in doubt just how +much this man knew. + +"Senora de Moche puzzles me," went on Kennedy. "I often wonder +whether superstition or greed would rule her if it came to the +point in this matter of the Gold of the Gods, as they all seem to +call the buried treasure at Truxillo. She's a fascinating woman, +but I can't help feeling that with her one is always playing with +fire." + +Whitney eyed us knowingly. I had long ago taken his measure as a +man quite susceptible to a pretty face, especially if accompanied +by a well-turned ankle. + +"I never discuss politics during business hours," he laughed, with +a self-satisfied air. "You will excuse me? I have some rather +important letters that I must get off." + +Kennedy rose, and Whitney walked to the door with us, to call his +stenographer. + +We had scarcely said good-bye and were about to open the outer +door when it was pushed open from outside, and Lockwood bustled +in. + +"No more anonymous letters, I hope?" he queried, in a tone which I +could not determine whether serious or sarcastic. + +Kennedy answered in the negative. "Not unless you have one." + +"I? I rather think the ready letter-writers know better than to +waste time on me. That little billet doux seems to have quite +upset the Senorita, though. I don't know how many times she has +called me up to see if I was all right. I begin to think that +whoever wrote it has done me a good turn, after all." + +Lockwood did not say it in a boastful way, but one could see that +he was greatly pleased at the solicitude of Inez. + +"She thinks it referred to you, then?" asked Kennedy. + +"Evidently," he replied; then added, "I won't say but that I have +taken it seriously, too." + +He slapped his hip pocket. Under the tail of his coat bulged a +blue-steel automatic. + +"You still have no idea who could have sent it, or why?" + +Lockwood shook his head. "Whoever he is, I'm ready," he replied +grimly, bowing us out. + + + + +XI + +THE SHOE-PRINTS + + +"I'm afraid we've neglected the Senorita a bit, in our efforts to +follow up what clues we have in the case," remarked Kennedy, as we +rode uptown again. "She needs all the protection we can give her. +I think we'd better drop around there, now that she is pretty +likely to be left alone." + +Accordingly, instead of going back to the laboratory, we dropped +off near the apartment of the Mendozas and walked over from the +subway. + +As we turned the corner, far down the long block I could see the +entrance to the apartment. + +"There she is now," I said to Kennedy, catching sight of her +familiar figure, clad in sombre black, as she came down the steps. +"I wonder where she can be going." + +She turned at the foot of the steps and, as chance would have it, +started in the opposite direction from us. + +"Let us see," answered Kennedy, quickening his pace. + +She had not gone very far before a man seemed to spring up from +nowhere and meet her. He bowed, and walked along beside her. + +"De Moche," recognized Kennedy. + +Alfonso had evidently been waiting in the shadow of an entrance +down the street, perhaps hoping to see her, perhaps as our +newspaper friend had seen before, to watch whether Lockwood was +among her callers. As we walked along, we could see the little +drama with practically no fear of being seen, so earnestly were +they talking. + +Even during the few minutes that the Senorita was talking with him +no one would have needed to be told that she really had a great +deal of regard for him, whatever might be her feelings toward +Lockwood. + +"I should say that she wants to see him, yet does not want to see +him," observed Kennedy, as we came closer. + +She seemed now to have become restive and impatient, eager to cut +the conversation short. + +It was quite evident at the same time that Alfonso was deeply in +love with her, that though she tried to put him off he was +persistent. I wondered whether, after all, some of the trouble had +not been that during his lifetime the proud old Castilian Don Luis +could never have consented to the marriage of his daughter to one +of Indian blood. Had he left a legacy of fear of a love forbidden +by race prejudice? + +In any event, the manner of Alfonso's actions about the Mendoza +apartment was such that one could easily imagine his feelings +toward Lockwood, whom he saw carrying off the prize under his very +eyes. + +As for his mother, the Senora, we had already seen that Peruvians +of her caste were also a proud old race. Her son was the apple of +her eye. Might not some of her feelings be readily accounted for? +Who were these to scorn her race, her family? + +We had walked along at a pace that finally brought us up with +them. As Kennedy and I bowed, Alfonso seemed at first to resent +our intrusion, while Inez seemed rather to welcome it as a +diversion. + +"Can we not expect you?" the young man repeated. "It will be only +for a few minutes this afternoon, and my mother has something of +very great importance to tell." + +He was half pleading, half apologizing. Inez glanced hastily +around at Kennedy, uncertain what to say, and hoping that he might +indicate some course. Surreptitiously, Kennedy nodded an +affirmative. + +"Very well, then," she replied reluctantly, not to seem to change +what had been her past refusal too suddenly. "I may ask Professor +Kennedy, too?" + +He could scarcely refuse before us. "Of course," he agreed, +quickly turning to us. "We were speaking about meeting this +afternoon at four in the tea room of the Prince Edward. You can +come?" + +Though the invitation was not over-gracious, Kennedy replied, "We +should be delighted to accompany Miss Inez, I am sure. We happened +to be passing this way and thought we would stop in to see if +anything new had happened. Just as we turned the corner we saw you +disappearing down the street, and followed. I trust everything is +all right?" + +"Nothing more has happened since this morning," she returned, with +a look that indicated she understood that Kennedy referred to the +anonymous letter. "I had a little shopping to do. If you will +excuse me, I think I will take a car. This afternoon--at four." + +She nodded brightly as we assisted her into a taxicab and left us +three standing there on the curb. For a moment it was rather +awkward. To Alfonso her leaving was somewhat as though the sun had +passed under a cloud. + +"Are you going up toward the University?" inquired Kennedy. + +"Yes," responded the young man reluctantly. + +"Then suppose we walk. It would take only a few more minutes," +suggested Kennedy. + +Alfonso could not very well refuse, but started off at a brisk +pace. + +"I suppose these troubles interfere seriously with your work," +pursued Craig, as we fell into his stride. + +"Yes," he admitted, "although much of my work just now is only +polishing off what I have already learned--getting your American +point of view and methods. You see, I have had an idea that the +canal will bring both countries into much closer relations than +before. And if you will not learn of us, we must learn of you." + +"It is too bad we Americans don't take more interest in the +countries south of us," admitted Craig. "I think you have the +right idea, though. Such men as Mr. Whitney are doing their best +to bring the two nations closer together." + +I watched the effect of the mention of Whitney's name. It seemed +distasteful, only in a lesser degree than Lockwood's. + +"We do not need to be exploited," he ventured. "My belief is that +we should not attract capital in order to take things out of the +country. If we might keep our own earnings and transform them into +capital, it would be better. That is why I am doing what I am at +the University." + +I could not believe that it explained the whole reason for his +presence in New York. Without a doubt the girl who had just left +us weighed largely in his mind, as well as his and his mother's +ambitions, both personal and for Peru. + +"Quite reasonable," accepted Kennedy. "Peru for the Peruvians. Yet +there seems to be such untold wealth in the country that taking +out even quite large sums would not begin to exhaust the natural +resources." + +"But they are ours, they belong to us," hastened de Moche, then +caught the drift of Kennedy's remarks, and was on his guard. + +"Buried treasure, like that which you call the Gold of the Gods, +is always fascinating," continued Kennedy. "The trouble with such +easy money, however, is that it tends to corrupt. In the early +days history records its taint. And I doubt whether human nature +has changed much under the veneer of modern civilization. The +treasure seems to leave its trail even as far away as New York. It +has at least one murder to its credit already." + +"There has been nothing but murder and robbery from the time that +the peje chica was discovered," asserted the young man sadly. "You +are quite right." + +"Truly it would seem to have been cursed," added Craig. "The +spirit of Mansiche must, indeed, watch over it. I suppose you know +of the loss of the old Inca dagger from the University Museum and +that it was that with which Don Luis was murdered?" + +It was the first time Kennedy had broached the subject to de +Moche, and I watched closely to see what was its effect. + +"Perhaps it was a warning," commented Alfonso, in a solemn tone, +that left me in doubt whether it was purely superstitious dread or +in the nature of a prophecy of what might be expected from some +quarter of which we were ignorant. + +"You have known of the existence of the dagger always, I presume," +continued Kennedy. "Have you or any one you know ever sought to +discover its secret and search it out?" + +"I think my mother told you we never dig for treasure," he +answered. "It would be sacrilegious. Besides, there is more +treasure buried by nature than that dedicated to the gods. There +is only one trouble that may hurt our natural resources--the get- +rich-quick promoter. I would advise looking out for him. He +flourishes in a newly opened country like Peru. That curse, I +suppose, is much better understood by Americans than the curse of +Mansiche. But as for me, you must remember that the curse is part +of my religion, as it were." + +We had reached the campus by this time, and parted at the gate, +each to go his way. + +"You will drop in on me if you hear anything?" invited Craig. + +"Yes," promised Alfonso. "We shall see you at four." + +With this parting reminder he turned toward the School of Mines +while we debouched off toward the Chemistry Building. + +"The de Moches are nobody's tools," I remarked. "That young man +seems to have a pretty definite idea of what he wants to do." + +"At least he puts it so before us," was all that Kennedy would +grant. "He seems to be as well informed of what passed at that +visit to the Senora as though he had been there too." + +We had scarcely opened the laboratory door when the ringing of the +telephone told us that some one had been trying to get in touch +for some time. + +"It was Norton," said Kennedy, hanging up the receiver. "I imagine +he wants to know what happened after we left him and went up to +see Whitney." + +That was, in fact, just what Norton wanted, as well as to make +clear to us how he felt on the subject. + +"Really, Kennedy," he remarked, "it must be fine to feel that your +chair in the University is endowed rather than subsidized. You saw +how Whitney acted, you say. Why, he makes me feel as if I were his +hired man, instead of head of the University's expedition. I'm +glad it's over. Still, if you could find that dagger and have it +returned it might look better for me. You have no clue, I +suppose?" + +"I'm getting closer to one," replied Craig confidently, though on +what he could base any optimism I could not see. + +The same idea seemed to be in Norton's mind. "You think you will +have something tangible soon?" he asked eagerly. + +"I've had more slender threads than these to work on," reassured +Kennedy. "Besides, I'm getting very little help from any of you. +You yourself, Norton, at the start left me a good deal in the dark +over the history of the dagger." + +"I couldn't do otherwise," he defended. "You understand now, I +guess, how I have always been tied, hand and foot, by the Whitney +influence. You'll find that I can be of more service, now." + +"Just how did you get possession of the dagger?" asked Kennedy, +and there flashed over me the recollection of the story told by +the Senora, as well as the letter which we had purloined. + +"Just picked it up from an Indian who had an abnormal dislike to +work. They said he was crazy, and I guess perhaps he was. At any +rate, he later drowned himself in the lake, I have heard." + +"Could he have been made insane, do you think?" ruminated Craig. +"It's possible that he was the victim of somebody, I understand. +The insanity might have been real enough without the cause being +natural." + +"That's an interesting story," returned Norton. "Offhand, I can't +seem to recall much about the fellow, although some one else might +have known him very well." + +Evidently he either did not know the tale as well as the Senora, +or was not prepared to take us entirely into his confidence. + +"Who is Haggerty?" asked Craig, thinking of the name signed to the +letter we had read. + +"An agent of Whitney and his associates, who manages things in +Lima," explained Norton. "Why?" + +"Nothing--only I have heard the name and wondered what his +connection might be. I understand better now." + +Kennedy seemed to be anxious to get to work on something, and, +after a few minutes, Norton left us. + +No sooner had the door closed than he took the glass-bell jar off +his microscope and drew from a table drawer several scraps of +paper on which I recognized the marks left by the carbon sheets. +He set to work on another of those painstaking tasks of +examination, and I retired to my typewriter, which I had moved +into the next room, in order to leave Kennedy without anything +that might distract attention from his work. + +One after another he examined the sheets which he had marked, +starting with a hand-lens and then using one more powerful. At the +top of the table lay the specially prepared paper on which he had +caught and preserved the marks in the dust of the Egyptian +sarcophagus in the Museum. + +Besides these things, I noticed that he had innumerable +photographs, many of which were labelled with the stamp of the +bureau in the Paris Palais de Justice, over which Bertillon had +presided. + +One after another he looked at the carbon prints, comparing them +point by point with the specially prepared copy of the shoe-prints +in the sarcophagus. It was, after all, a comparatively simple job. +We had the prints of de Moche and Lockwood, as well as Whitney, +all of them crossed by steps from Norton. + +"Well, what do you think of that?" I heard him mutter. + +I quit my typewriter, with a piece of paper still in it, and +hurried into the main room. + +"Have you found anything?" + +"I should say I had," he replied, in a tone that betrayed his own +astonishment at the find. "Look at that," he indicated to me, +handing over one of the sheets. "Compare it with this Museum foot- +print." + +With his pencil Kennedy rapidly indicated the tell-tale points of +similarity on the two shoe-prints. + +I looked up at him, convinced now of some one's identity. + +"Who was it?" I asked, unable to restrain myself longer. + +Kennedy paused a minute, to let the importance of the surprise be +understood. + +"The man who entered the Museum and concealed himself in the +sarcophagus in the Egyptian section adjoining Norton's treasures," +replied Kennedy slowly, "was Lockwood himself!" + + + + +XII + +THE EVIL EYE + + +Completely at sea as a result of the unexpected revelation of the +shoe-prints we had found in the Museum, and with suspicions now +thoroughly aroused against Lockwood, I accompanied Kennedy to keep +our appointment with the Senorita at the Prince Edward Albert. + +We were purposely a bit early, in order to meet Inez, so that she +would not have to be alone with the Senora, and we sat down in the +lobby in a little angle from which we could look into the tea +room. + +We had not been sitting there very long when Kennedy called my +attention to Whitney, who had just come in. Almost at the same +time he caught sight of us, and walked over. + +"I've been thinking a good deal of your visit to me just now," he +began, seating himself beside us. "Perhaps I should not have said +what I did about your friend Norton. But I couldn't help it. I +guess you know something about that dagger he lost, don't you?" + +"I have heard of the 'great fish' and the 'little fish' and the +'curse of Mansiche,'" replied Kennedy, "if that is what you mean. +Somehow the Inca dagger seems to have been mixed up with them." + +"Yes--with the peje grande, I believe," went on Whitney. + +Beneath his exterior of studied calm I could see that he was very +much excited. If I had not already noted a peculiar physical +condition in him, I might have thought he had stopped in the cafe +with some friends too long. But his eyes were not those of a man +who has had too much to drink. + +Just then Senorita Mendoza entered, and Kennedy rose and went +forward to greet her. She saw Whitney, and flashed an inquiring +glance at us. + +"We were waiting for Senorita Mendoza," explained Kennedy to both +Whitney and her, "when Mr. Whitney happened along. I don't see +Senora de Moche in the tea room. Perhaps we may as well sit out +here in the corridor until she comes." + +It was evidently his desire to see how Whitney and Inez would act, +for this was the first time we had ever seen them together. + +"We were talking of the treasure," resumed Whitney, omitting to +mention the dagger. "Kennedy, we are not the only ones who have +sought the peje grande, or rather are seeking it. But we are, I +believe, the only ones who are seeking it in the right place, +and," he added, leaning over confidentially, "your father, +Senorita, was the only one who could have got the concession, the +monopoly, from the government to seek in what I am convinced will +be the right place. Others have found the 'little fish.' We shall +find the 'big fish.'" + +He had raised his voice from the whisper, and I caught Inez +looking anxiously at Kennedy, as much as to say, "You see? He is +like the rest. His mind is full of only one subject." + +"We shall find it, too," he continued, still speaking in a high- +pitched key, "no matter what obstacles man or devil put in our +way. It shall be ours--for a simple piece of engineering--ours! +The curse of Mansiche--pouf!" + +He snapped his fingers defiantly as he said it. There was an air +of bravado about his manner. I could not help feeling that perhaps +in his heart he was not so sure of himself as he would have others +think. + +I watched him closely, and could see that he had suddenly become +even more excited than before. It was as though some diabolical +force had taken possession of his brain, and he fought it off, but +was unable to conquer. + +Kennedy followed the staring glance of Whitney's eyes, which +seemed almost to pop out of his head, as though he were suffering +from the disease exophthalmic goitre. I looked also. Senora de +Moche had come from the elevator, accompanied by Alfonso, and was +walking slowly down the corridor. As she looked to the right and +left, she had caught sight of our little group, all except +Whitney, with our backs toward her. She was now looking fixedly in +our direction, paying no attention to anything else. + +Whitney was a study. I wondered what could be the relations +between these two, the frankly voluptuous woman and the +calculating full-blooded man. Whitney, for his part, seemed almost +fascinated by her gaze. He rose as she bowed, and, for a moment, I +thought that he was going over to speak to her, as if drawn by +that intangible attraction which Poe has so cleverly expressed in +his "Imp of the Perverse." For, clearly, one who talked as Whitney +had just been talking would have to be on his guard with that +woman. Instead, however, he returned her nod and stood still, +while Kennedy bowed at a distance and signalled to her that we +would be in the tea room directly. + +I glanced up in time to see the anxious look on the face of Inez +change momentarily into a flash of hatred toward the Senora. + +At the same moment Alfonso, who was on the other side of his +mother, turned from looking at a newsstand which had attracted his +attention and caught sight of us. There was no mistaking the +ardent glance which he directed at the fair Peruvian at my side. I +fancied, too, that her face softened a bit. It was only for a +moment, and then Inez resumed her normal composure. + +"I won't detain you any longer," remarked Whitney. "Somehow, when +I start to talk about my--our plans down there at Truxillo I could +go on all night. It is marvellous, marvellous. We haven't any idea +of what the future holds in store. No one else in all this big +city has anything like the prospect which is before us. Gradually +we are getting everything into shape. When we are ready to go +ahead, it will be the sensation of Wall Street--and, believe me, +it takes much to arouse the Street." + +He may have been talking wildly, but it was worth while to listen +to him. For, whatever else he was, Whitney was one of the most +persuasive promoters of the day. More than that, I could well +imagine how any one possessed of an imagination susceptible to the +influence of mystery and tradition would succumb to the glittering +charm of the magic words, peje chica, and feel all the gold- +hunter's enthusiasm when Whitney brought him into the atmosphere +of the peje grande. As he talked, visions of hidden treasure +seemed to throw a glamour over everything. One saw golden. + +"You will excuse us?" apologized Kennedy, taking Inez by the arm. +"If you are about, Mr. Whitney, I shall stop to chat with you +again on the way out." + +"Remember--she is a very remarkable woman," said Whitney, as we +left him and started for the tea room. + +His tone was not exactly one of warning, yet it seemed to have +cost him an effort to say it. I could not reconcile it with any +other idea than that he was trying to use her in his own plans, +but was still in doubt of the outcome. + +We parted from him and entered the darkened tea room, with its +wicker tables and chairs, and soft lights, glowing pinkly, to +simulate night in the broad light of afternoon outside. A fountain +splashed soothingly in the centre. Everything was done to lend to +the place an exotic air of romance. + +Alfonso and his mother had chosen a far corner, deeper than the +rest in the shadows, where two wicker settees were drawn up about +a table, effectually cutting off inquisitive eyes and ears. + +Alfonso rose as we approached and bowed deeply. I could not help +watching the two women as they greeted each other. + +"Won't you be seated?" he asked, pulling around one of the wicker +chairs. + +It was then that I saw how he had contrived to sit next to Inez, +while Kennedy manoeuvred to sit on the end, where he could observe +them all best. + +It was a rather delicate situation, and I wondered how Kennedy +would handle it, for, although Alfonso had done the inviting, it +was really Craig who was responsible for allowing Inez to accept. +The Senora seemed to recognize it, also, for, although she talked +to Inez, it was plain she had him in mind. + +"I have heard from Alfonso about the cruel death of your father," +she began, in a softened tone, "and I haven't had a chance to tell +you how deeply I sympathize with you. Of course, I am a much older +woman than you, have seen much more trouble. But I know that never +in life do troubles seem keener than when life is young. And yours +has been so harsh. I could not let it pass without an opportunity +to tell you how deeply I feel." + +She said it with an air of sincerity that was very convincing, so +convincing, in fact, that it shook for the moment the long chain +of suspicion that I had been forging both of her and her son. +Could she be such a heartless woman as to play on the very +heartstrings of one whom she had wronged? I was shaken, moreover, +by the late discovery by Kennedy of the foot-prints. + +The Senorita murmured her thanks for the condolences in a broken +voice. It was evident that whatever enmity she bore against the +Senora it was not that of suspicion that she was the cause of her +father's death. + +"I can sympathize with you the more deeply," she went on, "because +only lately I have lost a very dear brother myself. Already I have +told Professor Kennedy something about it. It was a matter of +which I felt I must speak to you, for it may concern you, in the +venture in which Mr. Lockwood and your father were associated, and +into which now Mr. Whitney has entered." + +Inez said nothing, and Craig bowed, as though he, too, wished her +to go on. + +"It is about the 'big fish' and the concession which your father +has obtained from the government to search for it." + +The Senorita started and grew a bit pale at the reference, but she +seemed to realize that it was something she ought to hear, and +steeled herself to it. + +"Yes," she murmured, "I understand." + +"As you no doubt know," resumed the Senora, "no one has had the +secret of the hiding-place. It has been by mere tradition that +they were going to dig. That secret, you may know or may not know +now, was in reality contained in the inscriptions on an old Inca +dagger." + +Inez shuddered at the mention of the weapon, a shudder that was +not lost on the Senora. + +"I have already told Professor Kennedy that both the tradition and +the dagger were handed down in my own family, coming at last to my +brother. As I said, I don't know how it happened, but somehow he +seemed to be getting crazy, until he talked, and the dagger was +stolen from him. It came finally into Professor Norton's hands, +from whom it was in turn stolen." + +She looked at Inez searchingly, as if to discover just what she +knew. I wondered whether the Senora suspected the presence of +Lockwood's footprints in the sarcophagus in the Museum--what she +would do if she did. + +"After he lost it," she continued reminiscently, "my brother threw +himself one day into Lake Titicaca. Everywhere the trail of that +dagger, of the secret of the Gold of the Gods has been stained by +blood. To-day the world scoffs at curses. But surely that gold +must be cursed. It has been cursed for us and ours." + +She spoke bitterly; yet might she not mean that the loss of the +dagger, the secret, was a curse, too? + +"There is one other thing I wish to say, and then I will be +through. Far back, when your ancestors came into the country of +mine, an ancestor of your father lost his life over the treasure. +It seems as if there were a strange fatality over it, as if the +events of to-day were but living over the events of yesterday. It +is something that we cannot escape--fate." + +She paused a moment, then added, "Yet it might be possible that +the curse could be removed if somehow we, who were against each +other then, might forget and be for each other now." + +"But Senorita Mendoza has not the dagger," put in Kennedy, +watching her face keenly, to read the effect of his remark. "She +has no idea where it may be." + +"Then it is pure tradition on which Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Whitney +depend in their search for the treasure?" flashed back the Senora +quickly. + +Kennedy did not know, but he did not confess it. "Until we know +differently, we must take their word for it," he evaded. + +"It was not that that I meant, however," replied Senora de Moche. +"I meant that we might stop the curse by ceasing to hunt for the +treasure. It has never done any one good; it never will. Why tempt +fate, then? Why not pause before it is too late?" + +I could not quite catch the secondary implication of her plan. Did +it mean that the treasure would then be left for her family? Or +was she hinting at Inez accepting Alfonso's suit? Somehow I could +not take the Senora at her face value. I constantly felt that +there was an ulterior motive back of her actions and words. + +I saw Craig watching the young man's face, and followed his eyes. +There was no doubt of how he took the remark. He was gazing +ardently at Inez. If there had ever been any doubt of his +feelings, which, of course, there had not, this would have settled +it. + +"One thing more," added the Senora, as though she had had an +afterthought, "and that is about Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Whitney. Let +me ask you to think it over. Suppose they have not the dagger. +Then are their chances better than others? And if they have"--she +paused to emphasize it--"what does that mean?" + +Kennedy had turned his attention to the Senorita. It was evident +that the dilemma proposed by de Moche was not without weight. She +had now coloured a flaming red. The woman had struck her in a +vital spot. + +"Mr. Lockwood is not here to defend himself," Inez said quietly. +"I will not have him attacked by innuendo." + +She had risen. Neither the ardour of Alfonso nor the seeds of +doubt of the Senora had shaken her faith. It was a test that +Kennedy evidently was glad to have witnessed. For some day she +might learn the truth about the foot-prints. He understood her +character better. The Senora, too, had learned that if she were to +bring pressure on the girl she might break her, but she would not +bend. + +Without another word Inez, scarcely bowing stiffly, moved out of +the tea room, and we followed, leaving the mother and son there, +baffled. + +"I hope you will pardon me for allowing you to come here," said +Kennedy, in a low voice. "I did it because there are certain +things that you ought to hear. It was in fairness to you. I would +not have you delude yourself about Mr. Whitney, about--Mr. +Lockwood, even. I want you to feel that, no matter what you hear +or see, you can come to me and know that I will tell you the +truth. It may hurt, but it will be best." + +I thought he was preparing the way for a revelation about the +foot-prints, but he said nothing more. + +"Oh, that woman!" she exclaimed, as if to change the subject. "I +do not know, I cannot say, why she affects me so. I saw a change +in my father, when he knew her. I have told you how he was, how +sometimes I thought he was mad. Did you notice a change in Mr. +Whitney, or haven't you known him long enough? And lately I have +fancied that I see the same sort of change beginning in Mr. +Lockwood. At times they become so excited, their eyes seem +staring, as if some fever were wasting them away. Father seemed to +see strange visions, and hear voices, was worse when he was alone +than when he was in a crowd. Oh, what is it? I could think of +nothing else, not even what she was saying, all the time I was +with her." + +"Then you fear that in some way she may be connected with these +strange changes?" asked Kennedy. + +"I don't know," she temporized; but the tone of her answer was +sufficient to convey the impression that in her heart she did +suspect something, she knew not what. + +"Oh, Professor Kennedy," she cried finally, "can't you see it? +Sometimes--when she looks out of those eyes of hers--she almost +makes people do as she pleases." + +We had come to the taxicab stand before the hotel, and Kennedy had +already beckoned to a cab to take her home. + +As he handed her in she turned with a little shiver. + +"Don't please, think me foolish," she added, with bated breath, +"but often I fear that it is, as we call it, the mal de ojo--the +evil eye!" + + + + +XIII + +THE POISONED CIGARETTE + + +There was not a grain of superstition in Kennedy, yet I could see +that he was pondering deeply what Inez Mendoza had just said. Was +it possible that there might be something in it--not objectively, +but subjectively? Might that very fear which the Senorita had of +the Senora engender a feeling that would produce the very result +that she feared? I knew that there were strange things that modern +psychology was discovering. Could there be some scientific +explanation of the evil eye? + +Kennedy turned and went back into the hotel, to keep his +appointment with Whitney, and as he did so I reflected that, +whatever credence might be given the evil-eye theory, there was +something now before us that was a fact--the physical condition +which Inez had observed in her father before his death, saw now in +Whitney, and foresaw in Lockwood. Surely that in itself +constituted enough of a problem. + +We found Whitney in the cafe, sitting alone in a leather-cushioned +booth, and smoking furiously. I observed him narrowly. His eyes +had even more than before that peculiar, staring look. By the +manner in which his veins stood out I could see that his heart +action must be very rapid. + +"Well," he remarked, as we seated ourselves, "how did you come out +in your tete-a-tete?" + +"About as I expected," answered Kennedy nonchalantly. "I let it go +on merely because I wanted Senorita Mendoza to hear certain +things, and I thought that the Senora could tell them best. One of +them related to the history of that dagger." + +I thought Whitney's eyes would pop out of his head. "What about +it?" he asked. + +"Well," replied Kennedy briefly, "there was the story of how her +brother had it and was driven crazy until he gave it up to +somebody, then committed suicide by throwing himself into +Titicaca. The other was the tradition that in the days after +Pizarro a Mendoza was murdered by it, just as her father has now +been murdered." + +Whitney was listening intently, and seemed to be thinking deeply +of something. + +"Do you know," he said finally, with a nod to indicate that he +knew what it was that Kennedy referred to, "I've been thinking of +that de Moche woman a good deal since I left you with her. I've +had some dealings with her." + +He looked at Kennedy shrewdly, as though he would have liked to +ask whether she had said anything about him, but did not because +he knew Kennedy would not tell. He was trying to figure out some +other way of finding out. + +"Sometimes I think she is trying to double-cross me," he said, at +length. "I know that when she talks to others about me she says +many things that aren't so. Yet when she is with me everything is +fine, and she is ready soon to join us, use her influence with +influential Peruvians; in fact, there isn't anything she won't do- +-manana, to-morrow." + +All that Whitney said we now knew to be true. + +"She has one interesting dilemma, however, which I do not mind +telling you," remarked Kennedy at length. "She cannot expect me to +keep secret what she said before all of us. Inez Mendoza would +mention it, anyhow." + +"What was that?" queried Whitney, dissembling his interest. + +"Why," replied Kennedy slowly, "it was that, with the plans for +digging for the treasure which you say you have, suppose you and +Lockwood and your associates have not the dagger--how are you +better off than previous hunters? And supposing you have it--what +does that imply?" + +Whitney thought a moment over the last proposition of the dilemma. +"Imply?" he repeated slowly. Then the significance of it seemed to +dawn on him, the possession of the dagger and its implication in +regard to the murder of Mendoza. "Well," he answered, "we haven't +the dagger. You know that. But, on the other hand, we think our +plans for getting at the treasure are better than any one else has +ever had, more certain of success." + +"Yet the possession of the dagger, with its inscription, is the +only thing that absolutely insures success," observed Kennedy. + +"That's true enough," agreed Whitney. "Confound that man Norton. +How could he be such a boob as to let the chance slip through his +fingers?" + +"He never told you of it?" asked Kennedy. + +"Yes, he told me of the dagger, but hadn't read the inscription, +he said," answered Whitney. "I was so busy at the time with +Lockwood and Mendoza, who had the concession to dig for the +treasure, that I didn't pay much attention to what Norton brought +back. I thought that could wait until Lockwood had been persuaded +to join the interests I represent." + +"Did Lockwood or Mendoza know about the dagger and its +importance?" suggested Craig. + +"If they did, they never said anything about it," returned Whitney +promptly. "Mendoza is dead. Lockwood tells me he knew nothing +about it until very lately--since the murder, I suppose." + +"You suppose?" persisted Kennedy. "Are you sure that he knew +nothing about it before?" + +"No," confessed Whitney, "I'm not sure. Only I say that he told me +nothing of it." + +"Then he might have known?" + +"Might have. But I don't think it very probable." + +Whitney seemed to be turning something over in his mind. Suddenly +he brought his fist down on the little round table before us, +rattling the glasses. + +"Do you know," he exclaimed, "the more I think about it, the more +convinced I am that Norton ought to be held to account for that +loss! He ought to have known. Then the presumption is that he did +know. By heaven, I'm going to have that fellow watched. I'm going +to do it to-day, too. I don't trust him. He shall not double-cross +me--even if that woman does!" + +I wondered whether Whitney was bluffing. If he was, he was making +a lot of fuss over it. He talked more and more wildly, as he grew +more excited over his latest idea. + +"I'll have detectives put on his trail," he blustered. "I'll talk +it over with Lockwood. He never liked the man." + +"What did Lockwood say about Norton?" asked Kennedy casually. + +Whitney eyed us a moment. + +"Say," he ejaculated, "it was Norton brought you into this case, +wasn't it?" + +"I cannot deny that," returned Kennedy quietly, meeting his eyes. +"But it is Inez Mendoza now that keeps me in it." + +"So--you're another rival, are you?" purred Whitney sarcastically. +"Lockwood and de Moche aren't enough. I have a sneaking suspicion +that Norton himself is one of them. Now it's you, too. I suppose +Mr. Jameson is another. Well, if I was ten years younger, I'd cut +you all out, or know the reason why. Oh, YES, I think I will NOT +tell you what Mr. Lockwood suspects." + +With every sentence the veins of Whitney's forehead stood out +further, until now they were like whipcords. His eyes and face +were fairly apoplectic. Slowly the conviction was forced on me. +The man acted for all the world like one affected by a drug. + +"Well," he went on, "you may tell Norton for me that I am going to +have him watched. That will throw a scare into him." + +At least it showed that the breach between Whitney and Norton was +deep. Kennedy listened without saying much, but I knew that he was +gratified. He was playing Lockwood against de Moche, the Senora +against Inez. Now if Whitney would play himself against Norton, +out of the tangle might emerge just the clues he needed. For when +people get fighting among themselves the truth comes out. + +"Very well," remarked Craig, rising, with a hurried glance at +Whitney's apoplectic face, "go as far as you like. I think we +understand each other better, now." + +Whitney said nothing, but, rising also, turned on his heel and +walked deliberately out of the cafe into the corridor of the +Prince Edward Albert, leaving us standing there. + +Kennedy leaned over and swept up the ashes of Whitney's cigarettes +which lay in the ash-tray, placing them, stubs and all, in an +envelope, as he had done before. + +"We have one sample, already," he said. "Another won't hurt. You +can never have too much material to work with. Let us see where he +is going." + +Slowly we followed in the direction which Whitney had taken from +the cafe. There was Whitney standing by the cigar-stand, gazing +intently down the corridor. + +Kennedy and I moved over so that we could see what he was gazing +at. Just then he started to walk hurriedly in the direction in +which he was looking. + +"Senora de Moche!" exclaimed Craig, drawing me toward a palm. + +It was indeed she. She had left the tea room and gone to her own +room. Now she was alighting from the elevator, and had started +toward the main dining-room, when her eyes had rested on Whitney. +In spite of all that he had said to us about her, he had received +the glance as a signal and was fluttering over to her like a moth +to a flame. + +What was the reason back of it all, I asked, as I thought of those +wonderful eyes of hers? Was it a sort of auto-hypnotism? There +was, I knew, a form of illusion known as ophthalmophobia--fear of +the eye. It ranged from mere aversion at being gazed at all the +way to the subjective development of real physical action from an +otherwise trivial objective cause. Perhaps Inez was right about +the eyes. One might fear them, and that fear might cause the +precise thing to happen which the owner of the eyes intended. +Still, as I reflected before, there was a much more important +problem regarding eyes before us, that of the drug that was +evidently being used in the cigarettes. What was it? + +There was no chance of our gleaning anything now from these two +who made such a strange pair. Kennedy turned and went out of the +nearest entrance of the hotel. + +"Central Park, West," he directed a cab driver, as we climbed in +his machine; then to me, after giving the number, "I must see Inez +Mendoza again before I can go ahead." + +Inez was not expecting us so soon after leaving her at the hotel, +yet I think was just a little glad that we had come. + +"Did anything happen after I left?" she asked eagerly. + +"We went back and saw Mr. Whitney," returned Craig. "I believe you +are right. He is acting queerly," + +"Alfonso called me up," she volunteered. + +"Was it about anything I should know?" queried Craig. + +"Well," she hesitated, "he said he hoped that nothing that had +taken place would change our own relations. That was about all. He +was the dutiful son, and made no attempt to explain anything that +was said." + +Kennedy smiled. "You have not seen Mr. Lock, wood since, I +suppose?" he asked. + +"You always make me tell what I hadn't intended," she confessed, +smiling back. "Yes, I couldn't help it. At least, I didn't see +him. I called him up. I wanted to tell him what she had said and +that it hadn't made any difference to me." + +"What did he say?" + +"I can't remember just how he put it, but I think he meant that it +was something very much like that anonymous letter I received. We +both feel that there is some one who wants to make trouble between +us, and we are not going to let it happen." + +If she had known of Kennedy's discovery of the shoe-prints, I feel +sure that, as far as we were concerned, the case would have ended +there. She was in no mood to be convinced by such a thing, would +probably have insisted that some one was wearing a second-hand +pair of his shoes. + +Kennedy's eye had been travelling around the room as though +searching for something. + +"May I have a cigarette out of that case over there?" he asked, +indicating a box of them on a table. + +"Why--that is Mr. Lockwood's," she replied. "He left it here the +last time he was here and I forgot to send it to him. Wait a +minute. Let me get you some of father's." + +She left the room. The moment the door closed Kennedy reached over +and took one from the case. "I have some of Lockwood's already, +but another won't matter, as long as I can get it," he said. "I +thought it was her father's. When she brings them, smoke one with +me, and be careful to save the stub. I want it." + +A moment later she entered with a metal box that must have held +several hundred. Kennedy and I each took one and lighted it, then +for several minutes chatted as an excuse for staying. As for +myself, I was glad enough to leave a pretty large stub, for I did +not like it. These cigarettes, like those Whitney had offered us, +had a peculiar flavour which I had not acquired a liking for. + +"You must let me know whether anything else develops from the +meeting in the tea room," said Kennedy finally, rising. "I shall +be at the laboratory some time, I think." + + + + +XIV + +THE INTERFEROMETER + + +Norton was waiting for us at the laboratory when we returned, +evidently having been there some time. + +"I was on my way to my apartment," he began, "when I thought I'd +drop in to see how things are progressing." + +"Slowly," returned Kennedy, throwing off his street clothes and +getting into his laboratory togs. + +"Have you seen Whitney since I had the break with him?" asked +Norton, a trifle anxiously. + +I wondered whether Kennedy would tell Norton what to expect from +Whitney. He did not, however. + +"Yes," he replied, "just now we had an appointment with Senora de +Moche and some others and ran into him at the hotel for a few +moments." + +"What did he say about me?" queried Norton. + +"He hadn't changed his mind," evaded Kennedy. "Have you heard +anything from him?" + +"Not a syllable. The break is final. Only I was wondering what he +was telling people about me. He'll tell them something--his side +of the case." + +"Well," considered Kennedy, as though racking his brain for some +remark which he remembered, while Norton watched him eagerly, "I +do recall that he was terribly sore about the loss of the dagger, +and seemed to think that it was your fault." + +"I thought so, I knew it," replied Norton bitterly. "I can see it +coming. All the trustees will hear of my gross negligence in +letting the Museum be robbed. I suppose I ought to sit up there +all night. Oh, by the way, there's another thing I wanted to ask +you. Have you ever done anything with those shoe-prints you found +in the dust of the mummy case?" + +I glanced at Kennedy, wondering whether he felt that the time had +come to reveal what he had discovered. He said nothing for a +moment, but reached into a drawer and pulled out the papers, which +I recognized. + +"Here they are," he said, picking out the original impression +which he had taken. + +"Yes," repeated Norton, "but have you been able to do anything +toward identifying them?" + +"I found it rather hard to collect prints of the shoes of all of +those I wished to compare. But I have them at last." + +"And?" demanded Norton, leaning forward tensely. + +"I find that there is one person whose shoe-prints are precisely +the same as those we found in the Museum," went on Kennedy, +tossing over the impression he had taken. + +Norton scanned the two carefully. "I'm not a criminologist," he +said excitedly, "but to my untrained eye it does seem as though +you had here a replica of the first prints, all right." He laid +them down and looked squarely at Kennedy. "Do you mind telling me +whose feet made these prints?" + +"Turn the second over. You will see the name written on it." + +"Lockwood!" exclaimed Norton in a gasp as he read the name. "No-- +you don't mean it." + +"I mean nothing less," repeated Kennedy firmly. "I do not say what +happened afterwards, but Lockwood was in the Museum, hiding in the +mummy case, that night." + +Norton's mind was evidently working rapidly. "I wish I had your +power of deduction, Kennedy," he said, at length. "I suppose you +realize what this means?" + +"What does it mean to you?" asked Kennedy, changing front. + +Norton hesitated. "Well," he replied, "it means to me, I suppose, +what it means to any one who stops to think. If Lockwood was +there, he got the dagger. If he had the dagger--it was he who used +it!" + +The inference was so strong that Craig could not deny it. Whether +it was his opinion or not was another matter. + +"It fits in with other facts, too," continued Norton. "For +instance, it was Lockwood who discovered the body of Mendoza." + +"But the elevator boy took Lockwood up himself," objected Craig, +more for the sake of promoting the discussion than to combat +Norton. + +"Yes--when he 'discovered' the thing. But it must have been done +long before. Who knows? He may have entered. The deed might have +been done. He may have left. No one saw him come or go. What then +more likely to cover himself up than to return when he knew that +his entrance would be known, and find the thing himself?" + +Norton's reasoning was clever and plausible. Yet Kennedy scarcely +nodded his head, one way or the other. + +"You were acquainted with Lockwood?" he asked finally. "I mean to +say, of course, before this affair." + +"Yes, I met him in Lima just as I was starting out on my +expedition. He was preparing to come to New York." + +"What did you think of him then?" + +"Oh, he was all right, I suppose. He wasn't the sort who would +care much for an archaeologist. He cared more for a prospector +going off into the hills than he did for me. And I--I admit that I +am impossible. Archaeology is my life." + +Norton continued to study the prints. "I can hardly believe my +eyes," he murmured; then he looked up suddenly. "Does Whitney know +about this--or Lockwood?" + +Kennedy shook his head negatively. + +"Because," pursued Norton, "an added inference to that I spoke of +would be that the reason why they are so sure that they will find +the treasure is that they are not going on tradition, as they say, +but on the fact itself." + +"A fair conclusion," agreed Craig. + +"I wish the break could have been postponed," continued Norton. +"Then I might have been of some service in my relation to Whitney. +It's too late for me to be able to help you in that direction now, +however." + +"There is something you can do, though," said Craig. + +"I shall be delighted," hastened Norton. "What is it?" + +"You know Senora de Moche and Alfonso?" + +"Yes." + +"I wish that you would cultivate their acquaintance. I feel that +they are very suspicious of me. Perhaps they may not be so with +you." + +"Is there any special thing you want to find out?" + +"Yes--only I have slight hopes of doing so. You know that she is +on most intimate terms with Whitney." + +"I'm afraid I can't do much for you, then. She'll fight shy of me. +He'll tell her his story." + +"That will make no difference. She has already warned me against +him. He has warned against her. It's a most remarkable situation. +He is trying to get her into some kind of deal, yet all the time +he is afraid she is double-crossing him. And at the same time he +obeys her--well, like Alfonso would Inez if she'd only let him." + +Norton frowned. "I don't like the way they hover about Inez +Mendoza," he remarked. "Perhaps the Senora is after Whitney, while +her son is after Inez. Lockwood seems to be impervious to her. +Yes, I'll undertake that commission for you, only I can't promise +what success I'll have." + +Kennedy restored the shoe-prints to the drawer. + +"I think that's gratifying progress," went on Norton. "First we +know who stole the dagger. We know that the dagger killed Mendoza. +You have even determined what the poison on the blade was. It +seems to me that it remains only to determine who struck the +actual blow. I tell you, Kennedy, Whitney will regret the day that +he ever threw me over on so trivial a pretext." + +Norton was pacing up and down excitedly now. + +"My only fear is," he went on, "what the shock of such a thing +will be on that poor little girl. First her father, then Lockwood. +Why--the blow will be terrible. You must be careful, Kennedy." + +"Never fear about that," reassured Craig. "Not a word of this has +been breathed to her yet. We are a long way from fixing the guilt +of the murder; inference is one thing, fact another. We must have +facts. And the facts I want, which you may be able to get, relate +to the strange actions of the de Moches." + +Norton scanned Kennedy's face for some hint of what was back of +the remark. But there was nothing there. + +"They will bear watching, all right," he said, as he rose to go. +"Old Mendoza was never quite the same after he became so intimate +with her. And I think I can see a change in Whitney." + +"What do you attribute it to?" asked Kennedy, without admitting +that it had attracted his attention, too. + +"I haven't the slightest idea," confessed Norton. + +"Inez is as afraid of her as any of the rest," remarked Kennedy +thoughtfully. "She says it is the evil eye." + +"Not an uncommon belief among Latin-Americans," commented Norton. +"In fact, I suppose there are people among us who believe in the +evil eye yet. Still, you can hardly blame that little girl for +believing it is almost anything. Well, I won't keep you any +longer. I shall let you know of anything I find out from the de +Moches. I think you are getting on remarkably." + +Norton left us, his face much brighter than it had been when we +met him at the door. + +Kennedy, alone at last in the laboratory, went over to a cabinet +and took out a peculiar-looking apparatus, which seemed, as nearly +as I can describe it, to consist of a sort of triangular prism, +set with its edge vertically on a rigid platform attached to a +massive stand of brass. + +"Norton seems to have suddenly become quite solicitous of the +welfare of Senorita Mendoza," I hazarded, as he worked over the +adjustment of the thing. + +Kennedy smiled. "Every one seems to be--even Whitney," he +returned, twisting a set-screw until he had the alignment of the +various parts as he wanted it. + +The telephone bell rang. + +"Do you want to answer it?" I asked Craig. + +"No," he replied, not even looking up from his work. "Find out who +it is. Unless it is something very important say I am out on an +investigation and that you have heard from me; that I shall not be +either at the laboratory or the apartment until tomorrow morning. +I must get this done to-night." + +I took down the receiver. + +"Hello, is this Professor Kennedy?" I recognized a voice. + +"No," I replied. "Is there any message I can take?" + +"This is Mr. Lockwood," came back the information I had already +guessed. "When do you expect him?" + +"It's Lockwood," I whispered to Craig, my hand over the +transmitter. + +"See what he wants," returned Craig. "Tell him what I told you." + +I repeated Kennedy's message. + +"Well, that's too bad," replied Lockwood. "I've just seen Mr. +Whitney, and he tells me that Kennedy and you are pretty friendly +with Norton, Of course, I knew that. I saw you at the Mendozas' +together the first time. I'd like to have a talk with him about +that man. I suppose he has told you all his side of the story of +his relations with Whitney." + +I am, if anything, a good listener, and so I said nothing, not +even that he had better tell it to Kennedy in the morning, for it +was such a novelty to have any of these people talk voluntarily +that I really didn't much care whether I believed what they said +or not. + +"I used to know him down in Lima, you know," went on Lockwood. +"What I want to say has to do with that dagger he says was stolen. +I want to tell what I know of how he got it. There was an Indian +mixed up in it who committed suicide--well, you tell Kennedy I'll +see him in the morning." + +Lockwood rang off, and I repeated what he had told me, as Kennedy +continued to adjust the apparatus. + +"Say," I exclaimed, as I finished. "That was a harry's of a +commission you gave Norton just now, watching the de Moches. Why, +they'd eat him alive if they got a chance, and I don't know that +all's like a Sunday school on his part. Lockwood doesn't seem to +think so." + +Kennedy smiled quietly. "That was why I asked him to do it," he +returned. "I thought that he wouldn't let much escape him. They +all seem so down on him, he'll have to watch out. It will keep him +busy, too, and that means a chance for us to work." + +He had finished setting up the machine, and now went over to +another drawer, from which he took the envelope of stubs which we +had taken down at Whitney's office first. Then from the pocket of +his street coat he drew both the second envelope of ashes and +stubs, the whole cigarette from Lockwood's case, and the stubs +which both of us had saved from the cigarettes that had once +belonged to Mendoza. + +Carefully he separated and labelled them all, so that there would +be no chance for them to get mixed up. Then he picked up one of +the stubs and lighted it. The smoke curled up in wreaths between a +powerful light and the peculiar instrument, while Craig peered +through a lens, manipulating the thing with exhaustless patience +and skill. I watched him curiously, but said nothing, for he was +studying something carefully, and I did not want to interrupt his +train of thought. + +Finally he beckoned me over. "Can you make anything out of that?" +he asked. + +I looked through the eye-piece, also. On a sort of fine grating +all I could see was a number of strange lines. + +"If you want an opinion from me," I said, with a laugh, "you'll +have to tell me first what I am looking at." + +"That," he explained, as I continued to gaze, "is one of the +latest forms of the spectroscope, known as the interferometer, +with delicately ruled gratings in which power to resolve the +straight, close lines in the spectrum is carried to the limit of +possibility. A small watch is delicate. But it bears no comparison +to the delicacy of these defraction spectroscopes. + +"Every substance, you know, is, when radiating light, +characterized by what at first appears to be almost haphazard sets +of spectral bands without relation to one another. But they are +related by mathematical laws, and the apparent haphazard character +is only the result of our lack of knowledge of how to interpret +the results." + +He resumed his place at the eye-piece to check over his results. + +"Walter," he said finally, looking up at me with a twinkle in his +eye, "I wish that you'd go out and find me a cat." + +"A cat?" I repeated. + +"Yes, a cat--felis domesticus, if it sounds better that way--a +plain, ordinary cat." + +I jammed on my hat and, late as it was, sallied forth on this +apparently ridiculous mission. + +Several belated passers-by and a policeman watched me as though I +were a house-breaker, and I felt like a fool, but at last, by +perseverance and tact, I managed to capture a fairly good specimen +of the species, and carried it in my arms to the laboratory with +some profanity and many scratches. + + + + +XV + +THE WEED OF MADNESS + + +In my absence Craig had set to work on a peculiar apparatus, as +though he were distilling something from several of the cigarette +stubs which he had been studying by means of the interferometer. + +"Here's your confounded cat," I ejaculated, as I placed the +unhappy feline in a basket and waited patiently until finally he +seemed to be rewarded for his patient labours. It was well along +toward morning when he obtained in a test-tube a few drops of a +colourless, odourless liquid. + +"My interferometer gave me a clue," he remarked, as he held the +tube up with satisfaction. "Without the tell-tale line in the +spectrum which I was able to discover by its use I might have been +hunting yet for it. It is so rare that no one would ever have +thought, offhand, I suppose, to look for it. But here it is, I'm +sure, only I wanted to be able to test it." + +"So you are not going to try it on yourself," I said +sarcastically, referring to his last experiment with a poison. +"This time you are going to make the cat the dog." + +"The cat will be better to test it on than a human being," he +replied, with a glance that made me wince, for, after his +performance with the curare, I felt that once the scientific +furore was on him I might be called upon to become an unwilling +martyr to science. + +It was with an air of relief, both for himself and my own peace +and safety, that I saw him take the cat out of the basket and hold +her in his arms, smoothing her fur gently, to quiet the feelings +that I had severely ruffled. + +Then with a dropper he sucked up a bit of the liquid from the +test-tube. I watched him intently as he let a small drop fall into +the eye of the cat. + +The cat blinked a moment, and I bent over to observe it more +closely. + +"It won't hurt the cat," he explained, "and it may help us." + +As I looked at the cat's eye it seemed to enlarge, even under the +glare of a light, shining forth, as it were, like the proverbial +cat's eye under a bed. + +What did it mean? + +Was there such a thing, I wondered hastily, as the drug of the +evil eye? + +"What have you found?" I queried. + +"Something very much like the so-called 'weed of madness,' I +think," he replied slowly. + +"The weed of madness?" I repeated. + +"Yes. It is similar to the Mexican toloache and the Hindu datura, +which you must have heard about." + +I had heard of these weird drugs, but they had always seemed to be +so far away and to belong rather to the atmosphere of +civilizations different from New York. Yet, I reflected, what was +to prevent the appearance of anything in such a cosmopolitan city, +especially in a case so unusual as that which had so far baffled +even Kennedy's skill? + +"You know the jimson weed--the Jamestown weed, as it is so often +called?" he continued, explaining. "It grows almost everywhere in +the world, but most thrivingly in the tropics. All the poisons +that I have mentioned are related to it in some way, I believe." + +"I've seen the thing in lots and fields," I replied, "but I never +thought it was of much importance." + +"Well," he resumed, "the jimson weed on the Pacific coast, in some +parts of the Andes, has large white flowers which exhale a faint, +repulsive odour. It is a harmless-looking plant, with its thick +tangle of leaves, a coarse green growth, with trumpet-shaped +flowers. But to one who knows its properties it is quite too +dangerously convenient for safety." + +"But what has that to do with the evil eye?" I asked. + +"Nothing; but it has much to do with the cigarettes that Whitney +is smoking," he went on positively. "Those cigarettes have been +doped!" + +"Doped?" I interrogated, in surprise. "With this weed of madness, +as you call it?" + +"No, it isn't toloache that was used," he corrected. "I think it +must be some particularly virulent variety of the jimson weed that +was used, though that same weed in Mexico is, I am sure, what +there they call toloache. Perhaps its virulence in this case lies +in the method of concentration in preparing it. For instance, the +seeds of the stramonium, which is the same thing, contain a much +higher percentage of poison than the leaves and flowers. Perhaps +the seeds were used. I can't say. But, then, that isn't at all +necessary. It is the fact of its use that concerns us most now." + +He took a drop of the liquid which he had isolated and added a +drop of nitric acid. Then he evaporated it by gentle heat and it +left a residue slightly yellow. + +Next he took from the shelf over his table a bottle marked +"Alcoholic Solution--Potassium Hydrate." He opened it and let a +drop fall on the place where the liquid had evaporated. + +Instantly the residue became a beautiful purple, turning rapidly +to violet, then to dark red, and, finally, it disappeared +altogether. + +"Stramonium, all right," he nodded, with satisfaction at the +achievement of his night's labours. "That was known as Vitali's +test. Yes, there was stramonium in those cigarettes--datura +stramonium--perhaps a trace of hyoscyamine." + +I tried to look wise, but all I could think of was that, whatever +his science showed me now, my instinct had been enough to prompt +me not to smoke those cigarettes, though, of course, only +Kennedy's science could tell what it was that caused that +instinctive aversion. + +"They are all like atropine, mydriatic alkaloids," he proceeded, +"so called from the effect they have on the eye. Why, one-one +hundred thousandth of a grain will affect the eye of a cat. You +saw how it acted on our subject. It is more active in that way +than atropine. Better yet, you remember how Whitney's eyes looked, +how Inez said her father stared, and how she feared for Lockwood?" + +"I remember," I said, still not able to detach the evil-eye idea +quite from my mind. "How about the Senora's eyes? What makes them +so--well, effective?" + +"Oh," Craig answered quickly, "her pupils were normal enough. +Didn't you notice that? It was the difference in Whitney's and the +others' that first suggested making some tests." + +"What is the effect?" I asked, wondering whether it might have +contributed to the cause of Mendoza's death. + +"The concentrated poison which has been used in these cigarettes +does not kill--at least not outright. It is worse than that. +Slowly it accumulates in the system. It acts on the brain." + +I was listening, spellbound, as he made his disclosure. No wonder, +I thought, even a scientific criminal stood in awe of Craig. + +"Of all the dangers to be met with in superstitious countries, +these mydratic alkaloids are among the worst. They offer a chance +for crimes of the most fiendish nature--worse than with the gun or +the stiletto. They are worse because there is so little fear of +detection. That crime is the production of insanity!" + +Horrible though the idea, and repulsive, I could not doubt it in +the face of Craig's investigations and what I had already seen +with my own eyes. In fact, it was necessary for me only to recall +the mild sensations I myself had experienced, in order to be +convinced of the possible effect intended by the insidious poison +contained in the many cigarettes which Whitney, for instance, had +smoked. + +"But don't you suppose they know it?" I wondered. "Can't they tell +it?" + +"I suppose they have gradually become accustomed to it," Craig +ventured. "If you have ever smoked one particular brand of +cigarette you must have noticed how the manufacturer can gradually +substitute a cheaper grade of tobacco without any large number of +his patrons knowing anything about it. I imagine it might have +been done in some way like that." + +"But you would think they'd feel the effect and attribute it to +smoking." + +"Perhaps they do feel the effect. But when it comes to tracing +causes, some people are loath to admit that tobacco and liquor can +be the root of the evil. No, some one is slipping these cigarettes +in on them, perhaps substituting the doped brand for those that +are ordered. If you will notice, both Whitney and Lockwood have +cigarettes that are made especially for them. So had Mendoza. It +is a circumstance which some one has turned to account, though how +and by whom the substitution has been made I cannot say yet. I +wish I had time to follow out this one line, to the exclusion of +everything else. But I've got to keep my fingers on every rope at +once, else the thing will pull away from me. It is enough for the +present that we know what the poison is. I shall take up the +tracing of the person who is administering it the moment I get a +hint." + +It was almost daylight before Craig and I left the laboratory +after his discovery of the manner of the cigarette poisoning by +stramonium. But that was the only way in which he was able to make +progress--taking time for each separate point by main force. + +I was thoroughly tired, though not so much so that my dreams were +not haunted by a succession of baleful eyes peering at me from the +darkness. + +I slept late, but was awakened by a knocking on the door. As I +rose to answer it I saw through the open door of Kennedy's room +that he had been about early and must already be at the +laboratory. How he did it I don't know. My own newspaper +experience had made me considerable of a nighthawk. But I always +paid for it by sleeping the next day. With Kennedy, when he was on +a case, even five hours of sleep was more than he seemed able to +stand. + +"Hello, Jameson," greeted a voice, as I opened the door. "Is +Kennedy in--oh, he hasn't come back yet?" + +It was Lockwood, at first eager to see Craig, then naturally +crestfallen because he saw that he was not there. + +"Yes," I replied, rubbing my eyes. "He must be at the laboratory. +If you'll wait a minute while I slip on my clothes, I'll walk over +there with you." + +While I completed my hasty toilet, Lockwood sat in our living +room, gazing about with fascination at the collection of trophies +of the chase of criminals. + +"This is positively a terrifying array of material, Jameson," he +declared, as at last I emerged. "Between what Kennedy has here and +what he has stowed away in that laboratory of his, I wonder that +any one dares be a crook." + +I could not help eying him keenly. Could he have spoken so +heartily if he had known what it was, damning to himself, that +Kennedy had tucked away in the laboratory? If he knew, he must +have been a splendid actor, one of those whom only the minute +blood-pressure test of the sphygmograph could induce to give up a +secret, and then only in spite of himself. + +"It is wonderful," I agreed. "Are you ready?" + +We left the apartment and walked along in the bracing morning air +toward the campus and the Chemistry Building. Sure enough, as I +had expected, Kennedy was in his laboratory. + +As we entered he was verifying his experiments and checking over +his results, carefully endeavouring to isolate any of the other +closely related mydriatic alkaloids that might be contained in the +noxious fumes of the poisoned tobacco. + +Though Craig was already convinced of what was going on, I knew +that he always considered it a matter of considerable medico-legal +importance to be exact, for if the affair ever came to the stage +of securing an indictment the charge could be sustained only by +specific proof. + +As we appeared in the door, however, he laid aside his work, and +greeted us. + +"I suppose Jameson has already told you that I called you up last +night--and what I said?" began Lockwood. + +Kennedy nodded. "It was something about Norton, wasn't it?" + +Lockwood leaned over impressively and almost whispered: "Of +course, you are in no position to know, but there are ugly rumours +current down in Lima among the natives regarding that dagger." + +Kennedy did not appear to be particularly impressed. "Is that so?" +he said merely. "What are they?" + +"Well," resumed Lockwood, "I wasn't in Lima at the time. I was up +here. But they tell me that there was something crooked about the +way that that dagger was got away from an Indian--a brother of +Senora de Moche." "Yes," replied Kennedy, "I know something about +it. He committed suicide. But what has that to do with Norton?" + +Lockwood hesitated, then shrugged his shoulders. "I should think +the inference was plain," he insinuated. Then, looking at Craig +fixedly, as though to take his measure, he added, "We are not out +of touch with what is going on down there, even if we are several +thousand miles away." + +I wondered whether he had any information more than we had already +obtained by X-raying the letter to Whitney signed "Haggerty." If +he had, it was not his purpose, evidently, yet to disclose it. I +felt from his manner that he was not playing a trump-card, but was +just feeling us out by this lead. + +"There was some crooked business about that dagger down there as +well as here," he pursued. "There are many interests connected +with it. Don't you think that it would be worth while watching +Norton?" he paused, then added: "We do--and we're going to do it." + +"Thank you very much," returned Kennedy quietly. "Mr. Whitney has +already told me he intended to do so." + +Lockwood eyed us critically, as though not quite sure what to make +of the cool manner in which Craig took it. + +"I think if I were you," he said at length, "I'd keep a close +watch on the de Moches, both of them, too." + +"Exactly," agreed Craig, without showing undue interest. + +Lockwood had risen. "Well," he snapped, "you may not think much of +what I am telling you now. But just wait until OUR detectives +begin to dig up facts." No sooner had he left than I turned to +Craig. "What was that?" I asked. "A plant?" + +"Perhaps," he returned, clearing up the materials which he had +been using. + +The telephone rang. + +"Hello, Norton," I heard Craig answer. "What's that? You are +shadowed by some one--you think it is by Whitney?" + +I had been expecting something of the sort, and listened +attentively, but it was impossible to gather the drift of the one- +sided conversation. + +As Kennedy hung up the receiver I remarked, "So it was not a +bluff, after all." + +"I think my plan is working," he remarked thoughtfully. "You heard +what he said? He guesses right the first time, that it is Whitney. +The last thing he said was, 'I'll get even! I'll take some +action!' and then he rang off. I think we'll hear something soon." + +Instead of going out, Kennedy pulled out the several unsigned +letters we had collected, and began the laborious process of +studying the printing, analyzing it, in the hope that he might +discover some new clue. + + + + +XVI + +THE EAR IN THE WALL + + +Perhaps an hour later our laboratory door was flung open suddenly, +and both Kennedy and I leaped to our feet. + +There was Inez Mendoza, alone, pale and agitated. + +"Tell me, Professor Kennedy," she cried, her hands clasped before +her in frantic appeal, "tell me--it isn't true--is it? He wasn't +there--no--no--no!" + +She would have fainted if Craig had not sprung forward and caught +her in time to place her in our only easy-chair. + +"Walter," he said, "quick--that bottle of aromatic spirits of +ammonia over there--the second from the left." + +I handed it to him, and threw open the window to allow the fresh +air to blow in. As I did so one of the papers Kennedy had been +studying blew off the table, and, as luck would have it, fell +almost before her. She saw it, and in her hypersensitive condition +recognized it instantly. + +"Oh--that anonymous letter!" she cried. "Tell me--you do not think +that--the friend of my father's that it warned me to beware of-- +was--" + +She did not finish the sentence. She did not need to do so. + +"Please, Senorita," pleaded and soothed Kennedy, "try to be calm. +What has happened? Tell me. What is it?" + +The ammonia and the fresh air seemed to have done their work, for +she managed to brace herself, gripping the arms of the chair +tightly and looking up searchingly into Craig's face. + +"It's about Chester," she managed to gasp; then seemed unable to +go on. + +It was the first time I had ever heard her use Lockwood's first +name, and I knew that something had stirred her emotions more +deeply than at any time since the death of her father. + +"Yes," prompted Kennedy. "Go on." + +"I have heard that you found foot-prints, shoe-prints, in the dust +in the Museum after the dagger was stolen," she said, speaking +rapidly, suppressing her feelings heroically. "Since then you have +been collecting prints of shoes--and I've heard that the shoe- +prints that were found are those of--of Mr. Lockwood. Oh, +Professor Kennedy, it cannot be--there must be some mistake." + +For a moment Kennedy did not say anything. He was evidently +seeking some way in which to lead up to the revelation of the +truth without too much shock. + +"You remember that time in the tea room when we were sitting with +Senora de Moche?" he asked finally. + +"Yes," she said shortly, as though the very recollection were +disagreeable to her. + +Kennedy, however, had a disagreeable task, and he felt that it +must be performed in the kindest manner. + +"You remember then that she said she had one thing more to say, +that it was about Mr. Whitney and Mr. Lockwood." + +She was about to interrupt, but he hurried on, giving her no +chance to do so. "She asked you to think it over. Suppose they did +not have the dagger, she said. Then were their chances of finding +the treasure any better than any one else had? And if they did +have it, she asked what that meant. It is a dilemma, my dear +Senorita, which you must meet some time. Why not meet it now?" + +Her face was set. "You will remember, also, Professor Kennedy," +she said, with a great effort controlling her voice, "that I said +that Mr. Lockwood was not there to defend himself and I would not +have him attacked by innuendo. I meant it to the Senora--I mean it +to you!" + +She had also meant it to defy him; but as she proceeded her voice +broke, and before she knew it her nature had triumphed, and she +was alternately sobbing and pleading. + +For a minute or two Kennedy let her give vent to her emotions. + +"It cannot be. It cannot be," she sobbed over and over. "He could +not have been there. He could not have done it." + +It was a terrible thing to have to disillusion her, but it was +something now that had to be done. Kennedy had not sought to do +so. He had postponed it in the hope of finding some other way. But +now the thing was forced upon him. + +"Who told you?" he asked finally. + +"I was trying to read, to keep my mind occupied, as you asked me, +when Juanita told me that there was some one in the living room +who wanted to see me--a man. I thought it was either you or Mr. +Jameson. But it was--Professor Norton--" + +Kennedy and I exchanged glances. That was the action in revenge to +Lockwood and Whitney which he had contemplated over the telephone. +It was so cruel and harsh that I could have hated him for it, the +more so as I recollected that it was he himself who had cautioned +us against doing the very thing which now he had done in the heat +of passion. + +"Oh," she wailed, "he was very kind and considerate about it. He +said he felt that it was his duty to tell me, that he would be +anything, like an older brother, to me; that he could not see me +blinded any longer to what was going on, and everybody knew, but +had not love enough for me to tell. It was such a shock. I could +not even speak. I simply ran from the room without another word to +him, and Juanita found me lying on the bed. Then--I decided--I +would come to you." + +She paused, and her great, deep eyes looked up pathetically. "And +you," she added bitterly, "you are going to tell me that he was +right, that it is true. You can't prove it. Show me what it is +that you have. I defy you!" + +Somehow, as she rested and relieved her feelings, a new strength +seemed to come to her. It was what Kennedy had been waiting for, +the reaction that would leave her able for him to go on and plan +for the future. + +He reached into a drawer of a cabinet and pulled out the various +shoe-prints which he had already shown Norton, and which he had +studied and restudied so carefully. + +"That is the print of the shoe in the dust of the Egyptian +sarcophagus of the Museum," he said quietly. "Some one got in +during the daytime and hid there until the place was locked. That +is the print of Alfonso de Moche's shoe, that of Mr. Whitney's, +and that of Mr. Lockwood's." + +He said it quickly, as though trying to gloss it over. But she +would not have it that way. She felt stronger, and she was going +to see just what there was there. She took the prints and studied +them, though her hand trembled. Hers was a remarkable mind. It +took only seconds to see what others would have seen only in +minutes. But it was not the reasoning faculty that was aroused by +what she saw. It sank deep into her heart. + +She flung the papers down. + +"I don't believe it!" she defied. "There is some mistake. No--it +cannot be true!" + +It was a noble exhibition of faith. I think I have never seen any +instant more tense than that in Kennedy's laboratory. There stood +the beautiful girl declaring her faith in her lover, rejecting +even the implication that it might have been he who had taken the +dagger, perhaps murdered her father to insure the possession of +her father's share of the treasure as well as the possession of +herself. + +Kennedy did not try to combat it. Instead he treated her very +intuitions with respect. In him there was room for both fact and +feeling. + +"Senorita," he said finally, in a voice that was deep and +thrilling with feeling, "have I ever been other than a friend to +you? Have I ever given you cause to suspect even one little motive +of mine?" + +She faced him, and they looked into each other's eyes an instant. +But it was long enough for the man to understand the woman and she +to understand him. + +"No," she murmured, glancing down again. + +"Then trust me just this once. Do as I ask you." + +For an instant she struggled with herself. What would he ask? + +"What is it?" she questioned, raising her eyes to him again. + +"Have you seen Mr. Lockwood?" + +"No." + +"Then, I want you to see him. Surely you wish to have no secrets +from him any more than you would wish him to have anything secret +from you. See him. Ask him frankly about it all. It is the only +fair thing to him--it is only fair to yourself." + +Senorita Mendoza was no coward. "I--I will," she almost whispered. + +"Splendid!" exclaimed Kennedy in admiration. "I knew that you +would. You are not the woman who could do otherwise. May I see +that you get home safely? Walter, call a taxicab." + +Senorita Mendoza was calmer, though pale and still nervous, when I +returned. Kennedy handed her into the car and then returned to the +laboratory for two rather large packages, which he handed to me. + +"You must come along with us, Walter," he said. "We shall need +you." + +Scarcely a word was spoken as we jolted over the city pavements +and at last reached the apartment. Inez and Craig entered and I +followed, carrying just one of the packages as Craig had indicated +by dumb show, leaving the other in the car, which was to wait. + +"I think you had better write him a note," suggested Craig, as we +entered the living room. "I don't want you to see him until you +feel better--and, by the way, see him here." + +She nodded with a wan smile, as though thinking how unusual it was +for a meeting of lovers to be an ordeal, then excused herself to +write the note. + +She had no sooner disappeared than Kennedy unwrapped the package +which I had brought. From it he took a cedar box, oblong, with a +sort of black disc fixed to an arm on the top. In the face of the +box were two little square holes, with sides of cedar which +converged inward into the box, making a pair of little +quadrangular pyramidal holes which ended in a small black circle +in the interior. + +He looked about the room quickly. Beside a window that opened out +over a house several stories below stood a sectional bookcase. +Into this bookcase, back of the books, in the shadow, he shoved +the little box, to which he had already attached a spool of +twisted wires. Then he opened the window and dropped the spool +out, letting it unwind of its own weight until it fell on the roof +far below. He shut the window and rejoined me without a word. + +A moment later she returned with the dainty note which she had +written. "Shall I send it by a messenger?" she asked. + +"Yes, please," answered Kennedy, rising. As he moved a step to the +door he held out his hand to her. "Senorita Mendoza," he said +simply, in a tone that meant more than words, "you are a wonderful +woman." + +She took his hand without a word, and a moment later we were +whisked down in the elevator. + +"I must get on that roof on some pretext," remarked Kennedy, as we +reached the street and he got his bearings. "Let me see, that +house which backs up to the apartment is around the corner. Have +the man drive us around there." + +We located the house and mounted the steps. On the wall beside the +brownstone door was pasted a little slip of paper, "Furnished +Rooms." + +"Splendid!" exclaimed Kennedy, as he read it. "Dismiss the taxi +and meet me inside with the other package." + +By the time I had paid the man and come up the steps again Kennedy +had made a dicker with the landlady for a double room on the third +floor for both of us, and, by payment of a week's rent, we were to +have immediate possession. + +"Our baggage will follow to-day," he explained, as we mounted the +stairs to the room. + +I thought the landlady would never get through expatiating upon +what a select place she ran, and thus leave us alone in our room, +but at last even her flood of words was stilled by demands from a +servant downstairs who must be instructed if the selectness of the +establishment were to be maintained. + +No sooner were we alone than Kennedy tiptoed into the hall and +made sure that we were not watched. It was then the work of only a +few seconds to mount a ladder to a scuttle, unhook it, and gain +the roof. + +There, dangling down from the dizzy height above, swayed the +twisted wire. He seized it, unrolled it some more, and sent me +downstairs to catch it, as he swung it over the edge of the roof +to one of our own windows. Then he rejoined me. + +The other package, which had been heavier, consisted of another of +those mysterious boxes, as well as several dry cells. Quickly he +attached the wires to the box, placing the dry cells in the +circuit. Then he began adjusting the mechanism of the box. So far +I had only a vague idea of just what he had in mind, but gradually +it began to dawn on me. + +It was perhaps half an hour, perhaps longer, after we had left the +Senorita, before, sure that everything was all right with his line +and the batteries which he had brought, Kennedy turned a little +lever that moved in a semicircle, touching one after another of a +series of buttons on the face of the cedar box, meanwhile holding +a little black disc from the back of the box to his ear as he +adjusted the thing. + +Nothing seemed to happen, but I could tell by the look of +intentness on his face that he was getting along all right and was +not worrying. + +Suddenly the look on his face changed to one of extreme +satisfaction. He dropped the disc he was holding to his ear back +into its compartment and turned to me. + +All at once it seemed as if the room in which we were was peopled +by spirits. There was the sound of voices, loud, clear, distinct. +It was uncanny. + +"He has just come in," remarked Craig. + +"Who?" I asked. + +"Lockwood--can't you recognize his voice? Listen." + +I did listen intently, and the more my ears became adjusted, the +more plainly I could distinguish two voices, that of a man and +that of a woman. It was indeed Lockwood and the Senorita, far +above us. + +I would have uttered an exclamation of amazement, but I could not +miss what they were saying. + +"Then you--you believe what he says?" asked Lockwood earnestly. + +"Professor Kennedy has the prints," replied Inez tremulously. + +"You saw them?" + +"Yes." + +"And you believe what HE says, too?" + +There was a silence. + +"What is it?" I asked, tapping the box lightly. + +"A vocaphone," replied Kennedy. "The little box that hears and +talks." + +"Can they hear us?" I asked, in an awestruck whisper. + +"Not unless I want them to hear," he replied, indicating a switch. +"You remember, of course, the various mechanical and electrical +ears, such as the detectaphone, which we have used for +eavesdropping in other cases?" + +I nodded. + +"Well, this is a new application which has been made of the +detectaphone. When I was using that disc from the compartment +there, I had really a detectaphone. But this is even better. You +see how neat it all is? This is the detective service, and more. +We can 'listen in' and we don't have to use ear-pieces, either, +for this is a regular loud-speaking telephone--it talks right out +in meeting. Those square holes with the converging sides act as a +sort of megaphone to the receivers, those little circles back +there inside magnifying the sound and throwing it out here in the +room, so that we can hear just as well as if we were up there in +the room where they are talking. Listen--I think they are talking +again." + +"I suppose you know that Whitney and I have placed detectives on +the trail of Norton," we could hear Lockwood say. + +"You have?" came back the answer in a voice which for the first +time sounded cold. + +Lockwood must have recognized it. He had made a mistake. It was no +sufficient answer to anything that he had done to assert that some +one else had also done something. + +"Inez," he said, and we could almost hear his feet as he moved +over the floor in her direction in a last desperate appeal, "can't +you trust me, when I tell you that everything is all right, that +they are trying to ruin me--with you?" + +There was a silence, during which we could almost hear her quick +breath come and go. + +"Women--not even Peruvian women are like the women of the past, +Chester," she said at length. "We are not playthings. Perhaps we +have hearts--but we also have heads. We are not to be taken up and +put down as you please. We may love--but we also think. Chester, I +have been to see Professor Kennedy, and--" + +She stopped. It hurt too much to repeat what she had seen. + +"Inez," he implored. + +There was evidently a great struggle of love and suspicion going +on in her, her love of him, her memory of her father, the +recollection of what she had heard and seen. No one could have +been as we were without wishing to help her. Yet no one could help +her. She must work out her own life herself. + +"Yes," she said finally, the struggle ended. "What is it?" + +"Do you want me to tell you the truth?" + +"Yes," she murmured. + +His voice was low and tense. + +"I was there--yes--but the dagger was gone!" + + + + +XVII + +THE VOICE FROM THE AIR + + +"Do you believe it?" I asked Kennedy, as the voices died away, +leaving us with a feeling that some one had gone out of the very +room in which we were. + +He shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. But I cannot say that +he seemed ill pleased at the result of the interview. + +"We'll just keep this vocaphone in," he remarked. "It may come in +handy some time. Now, I think we had better go back to the +laboratory! Things have begun to move." + +On the way back he stopped to telephone Norton to meet us and a +few minutes after we arrived, the archaeologist entered. + +Kennedy lost no time in coming directly to the point, and Norton +could see, in fact seemed to expect and be prepared for what was +coming. + +"Well," exclaimed Kennedy, "you've done it, this time!" + +"I know what you are going to ask," returned Norton. "You are +going to ask me why I did it. And I'm going to tell you. After I +left you, the other day, I thought about it a long time. The more +I thought, the more of a shame it seemed to me that a girl like +that should be made a victim of her feelings. It wasn't so much +what they have done to me that made me do it. I would have acted +the same if it had been de Moche instead of Lockwood who was +playing on her heart. I was afraid, to tell the truth, that you +wouldn't tell her until it was too late. And she's too good to +throw herself away and allow her fortune to be wasted by a couple +of speculators." + +"Very well," said Craig. "For the sake of argument, let us admit +all that. What did you expect to accomplish by it?" + +"Why--put an end to it, of course." + +"But do you think she was going to accept as truth what you told +her? Would that be natural for one so high-strung?" + +"Perhaps not--right away. But I supposed she would come to you--as +I see she has, for you know about it. After that, it was only a +question of time. It may have been a heroic remedy, but the +disease was critical." + +"Suppose," suggested Craig, "that, after all, he told her that he +was there in the Museum, but that he did not get the dagger. And +suppose that she believed it. What then?" + +Norton looked up quickly. "Did he tell her that?" + +"I am supposing that he did," repeated Craig, declining to place +himself in a position which might lead to disclosing how he found +out. + +"Then I should say that he was a great deal cleverer than I gave +him credit for being," returned Norton. + +"Well, it's done now, and can't be undone. Have you found out +anything about the de Moches?" + +"Not very much, I must admit. Of course, you know I'm not on the +best of terms with them, for some reason or other. But I've been +around the Prince Edward Albert a good deal, and I don't think +they've been able to do much that I haven't some kind of line on. +Alfonso seems to be moping. His professors here tell me that he +has been neglecting his work sadly for the past few days. The +Senora and Whitney seem to be as friendly as ever. I should say +that they were going the pace fast, and it shows on him." + +I glanced significantly at Kennedy, but he betrayed nothing that +might lead one to suppose he had discovered the cause. Evidently +he was not ready yet to come out into the open and expected +further developments on the poisoned cigarette clue. + +The telephone rang and Craig took down the receiver. + +"Yes, this is Kennedy," he answered. "Oh, hello, Lockwood. What's +that? You've been trying to get me all day? I just came in. Why, +yes, I can see you in about half an hour." + +"I guess I'd better clear out," said Norton with a bitter laugh, +as Kennedy hung up the receiver. "There have been enough crimes +committed without adding another murder to the list." + +"Keep on watching the de Moches," requested Kennedy as Norton made +his way to the door. + +"Yes," agreed Norton. "They will bear it--particularly Alfonso. +They are hot-blooded. You never know what they are going to do, +and they keep their own counsel. I might hope that Lockwood would +forget; but a de Moche--never." + +I cannot say that I envied him very much, for doubtless what he +said was true, though his danger might be mitigated by the fact +that the dagger was no longer in his Museum. Still, it would never +have left Peru, I reflected, if it had not been for him, and there +is, even in the best of us, a smouldering desire for revenge. + +Lockwood was more than prompt. I had expected that he would burst +into the laboratory prepared to clean things out. Instead he came +in as though nothing at all had happened. + +"There's no use mincing words, Kennedy," he began. "You know that +I know what has happened. That scoundrel, Norton, has told Inez +that you had shoe-prints of some one who was in the Museum the +night of the robbery and that those shoe-prints correspond with +mine. As a matter of fact, Kennedy, I was there. I was there to +get the dagger. But before I could get it, some one else must have +done so. It was gone." + +I wanted to believe Lockwood. As for Craig he said nothing. + +"Then, when I did have a chance to get away that night," he +continued, "I went over to Mendoza's. The rest you know." + +"You have told Inez that?" asked Kennedy in order to seem properly +surprised. + +"Yes--and I think she believes me. I can't say. Things are +strained with her. It will take time. I'm not one of those who can +take a girl by main force and make her do what she won't do. I +wish I could smooth things over. Let me see the prints." + +Kennedy handed them over to him. He looked at them, long and +closely, then handed back the damning evidence against himself. + +"I know it would be no use to destroy these," he remarked. "In the +first place that would really incriminate me. And in the second I +suppose you have copies." + +Craig smiled blandly. + +"But I can tell you," he exclaimed, bringing his fist down on the +laboratory table with a bang, "that before I lose that girl, +somebody will pay for it--and there won't be any mistakes made, +either." + +The scowl on his face and the menacing look in his eye showed that +now, with his back up against the wall, he was not bluffing. + +He seemed to get little satisfaction out of his visit to us, and +in fact I think he made it more in a spirit of bravado than +anything else. + +Lockwood had scarcely gone before Kennedy pulled out the +University schedule, and ran his finger down it. + +"Alfonso ought to be at a lecture in the School of Mines," he said +finally, folding up the paper. "I wish you'd go over and see if he +is there, and, if he is, ask him to step into the laboratory." + +The lecture was in progress all right, but when I peered into the +room it was evident that de Moche was not there. Norton was right. +The young man was neglecting his work. Evidently the repeated +rebuffs of Inez had worked havoc with him. + +Nor was he at the hotel, as we found out by calling up. + +There was only one other place that I could think of where he +would be likely to be and that was at the apartment of Inez. +Apparently the same idea occurred to Kennedy, for he suggested +going back to our observation point in the boarding-house and +finding out. + +All the rest of the day we listened through the vocaphone, but +without finding out a thing of interest. Now and then we would try +the detective instrument, the little black disc in the back, but +with no better success. Then we determined to listen in relays, +one listening, while the other went out for dinner. + +It must have been just a bit after dark that we could hear Inez +talking in a low tone with Juanita. + +A buzzing noise indicated that there was some one at the hall +door. + +"If it's any one for me," we heard Inez say, "tell them that I +will be out directly. I'm not fit to be seen now." + +The door was opened and a voice which we could not place asked for +the senorita. A moment later Juanita returned and asked the +visitor to be seated a few moments. + +It was not long before we were suddenly aware that there was +another person in the room. We could hear whispers. The faithful +little vocaphone even picked them up and shot them down to us. + +"Is everything all right?" whispered one, a new voice which was +somewhat familiar I thought, but disguised beyond recognition. + +"Yes. She'll be out in a minute." + +"Now, remember what I told you. If this thing works you get fifty +dollars more. I'd better put this mask on--damn it!--the slit's +torn. It'll do. I'll hide here as soon as we hear her. That's a +pretty nice private ambulance you have down there. Did you tell +the elevator boy that she had suddenly been taken ill? That's all +fixed, then. I've got the stuff--amyl nitrite--she'll go off like +a shot. But we'll have to work quick. It only keeps her under a +few minutes. I can't wear this mask down and I'm afraid some one +will recognize me. Oh, you brought a beard. Good. I'll give you +the signal. There must be no noise. Yes, I saw the stretcher where +you left it in the hall." + +"All right, Doc," returned the first and unfamiliar voice. + +It all happened so quickly that we were completely bowled over for +the moment. Who was the man addressed as "Doc"? There was no time +to find out, no time to do anything, apparently, so quickly had +the plot been sprung. + +I looked at Kennedy, aghast, not knowing what to do in this +unexpected crisis. + +A moment later we heard a voice, "I'm sorry to have had to keep +you waiting, but what is it that I can do for you?" + +"Good God!" exclaimed Kennedy. "It is Inez herself!" + +It was altogether too late to get over there to warn her, perhaps +even to rescue her. What could we do? If we could only shout for +help. But what good would that do, around a corner and so far +away? + +The vocaphone itself! + +Quickly Kennedy turned another switch, of a rheostat, which +accentuated a whisper to almost a shout. + +"Don't be alarmed, Senorita," he cried. "This is Kennedy talking. +Look under the bookcase by the window. You will find a cedar box. +It is a detective vocaphone through which I can hear you and which +is talking out to you. I have heard something just there just now- +-" + +"Yes, yes. Go on!" + +"You are threatened. Shout! Shout!" + +Just then there came a sound of a scuffle and a muffled cry which +was not much above a whisper, as though a strong hand was clapped +over her mouth. + +What could we do? + +"Juanita--Juanita--help!--police!" shouted Craig himself through +the vocaphone. + +An instant later we could hear other screams as Juanita heard and +spread the alarm, not a second too soon. + +"Come on, Walter," shouted Kennedy dashing out of the room, now +that he was assured the alarm had been given. + +We hurried around the corner, and into the apartment. One of the +elevators was up, and no one was running the other, but we opened +the gates and Kennedy ran it up by himself. + +In the Mendoza apartment all was a babel of voices, every one +talking at once. + +"Did you get them?" Craig asked, looking about. + +"No, sir, replied the elevator boy. "One of them came in from the +ambulance and told me Miss Mendoza was suddenly taken sick. He +rode up with the stretcher. The other one must have walked up." + +"Do you know him? Has he ever been here before?" + +"I can't say, sir. I didn't see him. At least, sir, when I heard +the screams I ran in from the elevator, which the other one told +me to wait with--left the door open. Just as I ran in, they dodged +out past me, jumped into the car and rode down. I guess they must +have had the engine of the ambulance motor running, sir, if they +got away without you seeing them." + +We were too late to head them from speeding off. But, at least, we +had saved the Senorita. She was terribly upset by the attack, much +shaken, but really all right. + +"Have you any idea who it could be?" asked Craig as the faithful +Juanita cared for her. + +"I don't know the man who was waiting and 'Nita never saw him, +either," she replied. "The one who jumped out from behind the +portieres had on a mask and a false beard. But I didn't recognize +anything about him." + +Sudden as the attack had been and serious as might have been the +outcome, we could not but feel happy that it had been frustrated. + +Yet it seemed that some one ought to be delegated to see that such +a thing could not occur again. + +"We must think up some means of protecting you," soothed Kennedy. +"Let me see, Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Whitney seem to be the closest +to you. If you don't mind I'll call them up. I wonder if you'd +object if we had a little luncheon up here, to-morrow? I have a +special reason for asking it. I want to insure your safety and we +may as well meet on common ground." + +"There isn't the slightest objection in the world," she replied, +as Kennedy reached for the telephone. + +We had some little difficulty in locating both Lockwood and +Whitney, but finally after a time managed to find them and arrange +for the conference on the Senorita's safety for the next day. + +Outside Kennedy gave instructions to the officer on the beat to +watch the apartment particularly, and there was no reason now to +fear a repetition of the attempt, at least that night. + + + + +XVIII + +THE ANTIDOTE + + +Early the following morning Kennedy left me alone in the +laboratory and made a trip downtown, where he visited a South +American tobacco dealer and placed a rush order for a couple of +hundred cigarettes exactly similar in shape and quality to those +which Mendoza had smoked and which the others seemed also to +prefer, except, however, that the deadly drug was left out. + +While he was gone, it occurred to me to take up again the hunt for +Alfonso. Norton was not in his little office, nor could I find +Alfonso anywhere about the campus. In fact he seemed to have +almost dropped out of his University work for the time. +Accordingly, I turned my steps toward the Prince Edward Albert +Hotel, in the hope that he might be there. + +Inquiries of the clerk at the desk told me that he had been there, +but was out just at that moment. I did not see Whitney around, nor +the Senora, so I sat down to wait, having nothing better to do +until Kennedy's return. + +I was about to give it up and go, when I heard a cab drive up to +the door and, looking up, I saw Alfonso get out. He saw me about +the same time and we bowed. I do not think he even tried to avoid +me. + +"I haven't seen you for some time," I remarked, searching his +face, which seemed to me to be paler than it had been. + +"No," he replied. "I haven't been feeling very well lately and +I've been running up into the country now and then to a quiet +hotel--a sort of rest cure, I suppose you would call it. How are +you? How is Senorita Inez?" + +"Very well," I replied, wondering whether he had said what he did +in the hope of establishing a complete alibi for the events of the +night before. + +Briefly I told him what had happened, omitting reference to the +vocaphone and our real part in it. + +"That is terrible," he exclaimed. "Oh, if she would only allow me +to take care of her--I would take her back to our own country, +where she would be safe, far away from these people who seek to +prey on all of us." + +He paced up and down nervously, and I could see that my +information had added nothing to his peace of mind, though, at the +same time, he had betrayed nothing on his part. + +"I was just passing through," I said finally, looking at my watch, +"and happened to see you. I hope your mother is well?" + +"As well as is to be expected, surrounded by people who watch +every act," he replied, I thought with a rap at us for having +Norton about and so active, though I could not be sure. + +We separated, and I hastened back to the laboratory to report to +Craig that Alfonso was rusticating for his health. + +Kennedy, on his part, had had an experience, though it was no more +conclusive than my own. After he had left the tobacco district, he +had walked up Wall Street to the subway. In the crowd he had seen +Senora de Moche, although she had not seen him. He had turned and +followed her until she entered the building in which Whitney and +his associates had their offices. Whether it indicated that she +was still leading them a chase, or they her, was impossible to +determine, but it at least showed that they were still on friendly +terms with each other. + +In the laboratory he could always find something to do on the +case, either in perfecting his chemical tests of the various drugs +we had discovered, or in trying to decipher some similarities in +the rough printing of the four warnings and the anonymous letter +with the known handwriting of those connected with the case, many +specimens of which he bad been quietly collecting. That in itself +was a tremendously minute job, entailing not only a vast amount of +expert knowledge such as he had collected in his years of studying +crime scientifically, but the most exact measurements and careful +weighing and balancing of trifles, which to the unscientific +conveyed no meanings at all. Still, he seemed to be forging ahead, +though he never betrayed what direction the evidence seemed to be +taking. + +The package of cigarettes which he had ordered downtown was +delivered about an hour after his return and seemed to be the +signal for him to drop work, for the meeting with Lockwood and +Whitney had been set early. He stowed the package in his pockets +and then went over to a cabinet in which he kept a number of +rather uncommon drugs. From it he took a little vial which he +shoved into his waistcoat pocket. + +"Are you ready, Walter?" he asked. + +"Whenever you are," I said, laying aside my writing. + +Together we made our way down to the Mendoza apartment which had +been the scene of the near-tragedy the night before. Outside, he +paused for several moments to make inquiries about any suspicious +persons that might have been seen lurking about the neighbourhood. +None of the attendants in the apartment remembered having seen +any, and they were now very alert after the two events, the murder +and the attempted abduction. Not a clue seemed to have been left +by the villain who had been called "Doc." + +"How do you feel after your thrilling experience?" greeted Craig +pleasantly, as Juanita admitted us and Inez came forward. + +"Oh, Mr. Kennedy," she answered, with a note of sadness in her +tone. "It makes me feel so alone in the world. If it were not for +'Nita--and you, I don't know what I should do." + +"Doesn't Mr. Lockwood count?" asked Kennedy observantly. + +"Of course--everything," she answered hastily. "But he has to be +away so much on business, and--" + +She paused and sighed. I could not help wondering whether, after +all, his explanation of the dagger episode had been enough to +satisfy her. Had she really accepted it? + +Neither Lockwood nor Whitney had arrived, and Kennedy improved the +opportunity to have a quiet talk aside with her, at which, I +imagine, he was arranging a programme of what was to happen at +this meeting and her part in it to co-operate with him. + +She had left the room for a moment and we were alone. It was +evidently a part of his plan, for no sooner was she gone than he +opened the package of cigarettes which he had ordered and took out +from the box in which Mendoza had kept his cigarettes those that +were there, substituting those he had brought. + +We had not long to wait, now. Lockwood and Whitney came together. +I was interested to see the greeting of Inez and her lover. Was it +pure fancy, or did I detect a trace of coldness as though there +had sprung up something between them? As far as Lockwood was +concerned, I felt sure that he was eager to break down any barrier +that kept them from being as they had been. + +Whitney took her hand and held it, in a playful sort of way. "I +wish I were a young buck," he smiled. "No one would dare look at +you--much less try to carry you off. Yes, we must be more careful +of our little beauty, or we shall lose her." + +They turned to greet us. I felt, as we shook hands, that it was +much the same sort of handshake that one sees in the prize ring-- +to be followed by the clang of a bell, then all going to it, in +battle royal, with the devil after the hindmost. + +There was scarcely a chance for a preliminary bout before luncheon +was announced, and we entered the cozy little dining-room to seat +ourselves at the daintiest of tables. One could feel the hostess +radiating hospitality, even on such a cross-current set of guests +as we were, and for the time, I almost felt that it had been +Kennedy's purpose to promote a love-feast instead of an armed +truce. + +Nothing was said about the main cause of our being together for +some time, and the small talk almost lifted for a time the incubus +that had settled down on all our lives since the tragedy in the +den at the other end of the suite. But the fact could not be +blinked. + +Tacitly every one seemed to wait on Kennedy to sound the gong. +Finally he did so. + +"Of course," he began, clearing his throat, "there is no use +making believe about anything. I think we all understand each +other better now than we have ever done before. As for me, I am in +this case under a promise to stick to it and fight it to the end. +I suppose the rest of you are, also. But that need not prevent us +agreeing on one thing. We can work together to protect Senorita +Mendoza, at least, from such danger as threatened her last night." + +"It's a dastardly shame," Lockwood exclaimed angrily, "that a man +who would attempt a thing like that should go unpunished." "Show +me how to trace him and I'll guarantee the punishment," rejoined +Craig drily. + +"I am not a detective," replied Lockwood. + +Kennedy forebore to reply in kind, though I knew there was a ready +answer on his tongue for the lover. + +Ever since they had arrived, the Senorita had seen that they were +well supplied with cigarettes from the case in which she and they +supposed were the genuine South American brand of her father. +Kennedy and I smoked them, too, although neither of us liked them +very much. The others were smoking furiously. + +"However," resumed Kennedy, "I do not feel that I want to intrude +myself in this matter without being perfectly frank and having the +approval of Senorita Mendoza. She has known both of you longer and +more intimately than she has known me, although she has seen fit +to place certain of her affairs in my hands, for which I trust I +shall render a good account of my stewardship. It seems to me, +though, that if there is, as we now know there is, some one whom +we do not know"--he paused--"who has sunk so low as to wish to +carry her off, apparently where she shall be out of the influence +of her friends, it is only right that precautions should be taken +to prevent it." + +"What is your suggestion?" demanded Whitney, rather contentiously. + +"Would there be any objection," asked Kennedy, "if I should ask my +old friend,--or any of you may do it,--Deputy Commissioner +O'Connor to detail a plainclothesman to watch this house and +neighbourhood, especially at night?" + +We watched the faces of the others. But it was really of no use. + +"I think that is an excellent plan," decided Inez herself. "I +shall feel much safer and surely none of you can be jealous of the +city detectives." + +Kennedy smiled. She had cut the Gordian knot with a blow. Neither +Lockwood nor Whitney could object. The purpose of the luncheon was +accomplished. + +In fact he did not wait for further consideration, but excused +himself from the table for a moment to call up our old friend +O'Connor and tell him how gravely his man was needed. It was a +matter of only a few minutes when he returned from the other room. + +"He will detail Burke for this special service as long as we want +him," reported Craig, sitting down again. + +Inez was delighted, naturally, for the affair had been a terrific +shock to her. I could see how relieved she felt, for I was sitting +directly next to her. + +The maid had, meanwhile brought in the coffee and Inez had been +waiting to pour until Kennedy returned. She did not do so, now, +either, however. It seemed as if she were waiting for some kind of +signal from Kennedy. + +"What a splendid view of the park you get here," remarked Kennedy +turning toward the long, low windows that opened on a balustraded +balcony. "Just look at that stream of automobiles passing on the +west drive." + +Common politeness dictated that all should turn and look, although +there was no novelty in the sight for any of us. + +As I have said, I was sitting next to Inez. To me she was a far +more attractive sight than any view of the park. I barely looked +out of the window. Imagine my surprise, then, at seeing her take +advantage of the diversion to draw from the folds of her dress a +little vial and pour a bit of yellowish, syrupy liquid into the +cup of coffee which she was preparing for Whitney. + +I could not help looking at her quickly. She saw that I had seen +her and raised her other hand with a finger to her lips and an +explanatory glance at Kennedy who was keeping the others +interested. Instantly, I recognized the little vial which Craig +had shoved into his waistcoat pocket. That had been the purpose of +his whispered conference with her when we arrived. I said nothing, +but determined to observe more closely. + +More coffee and more cigarettes followed, always from the same box +which was now on the table. The luncheon developed almost a real +conversation. For the time, under the spell of our hostess, we +nearly forgot that we were in reality bitter enemies. + +My real interest, as time passed, centred in Whitney and I could +not help watching him closely. Was it a fact, or was it merely my +imagination? He seemed quite different. The pupils of his eyes did +not seem to be quite so dilated as they had been at other times, +or even when he arrived. Even his heart action appeared to be more +normal. I think Inez noticed it, too. There was none of the +wildness in his conversation, such as there often had been at +other times. + +Our party was prolonged beyond the time we had expected, but, +although he had much on his mind, Kennedy made no move to break it +up. In fact he did everything to encourage it. + +At last, however, the others did notice the time, and I think it +was with sincere regret that the truce was broken. Even then, no +parting shots were indulged in. + +As we left, Inez thanked Kennedy for his consideration, and I am +sure that that in itself was reward enough. We parted from +Lockwood, who wished to remain a little while, and rode down in +the elevator with Whitney, a changed man. + +"I'll walk over to the elevated with you," he said. "I was going +to my hotel, but I think I'll go down to the office instead." + +Evidently he had got Senora de Moche out of his mind, at least +temporarily, I thought. Then for the first time I recalled that +during the whole luncheon there had been no reference to either +the Senora or Alfonso, though both must have been in our minds +often. + +"What was it you had Inez drop into Whitney's coffee?" I asked +Craig as we parted from him and rode uptown. + +"You saw that?" he smiled. "It was pilocarpine, jaborandi, a plant +found largely in Brazil, one of the antidotes for stramonium +poisoning. It doesn't work with every one. But it seems to have +done so with him. Besides, the caffeine in the coffee probably +aided the pilocarpine. Then, too, I made them smoke cigarettes +without the dope that is being fed them. Lockwood's case, for some +reason, hasn't gone far. But did you notice how the treatment +contracted the pupils of Whitney's eyes almost back to normal +again?" + +I had and said so, adding, "But what was your idea?" + +"I think I've got at the case from a brand-new angle," he replied. +"Unless I am greatly mistaken, when the person who is doing the +doping sees that Whitney is getting better--why, I think you all +noticed it, Inez and Lockwood as well as you--it will mean another +attempt to substitute more cigarettes doped with that drug. I +think it's by substitution that it's being done. We'll see." + +At the laboratory, Kennedy called Norton and described briefly +what had happened, especially to Whitney. + +"Now is your chance, Norton," he added, "to do some real good +work. I want some one to watch the Senora, see if she, too, notes +the difference in him. Understand?" + +"Perfectly," returned Norton. "That is something I think I can do." + + + + +XIX + +THE BURGLAR POWDER + + +It was not until after dinner that we heard again from Norton. He +had evidently spent the time faithfully hanging about the Prince +Edward Albert, but Whitney had not come in, although the Senora +and Alfonso were about. + +"I saw them leaving the dining-room," he reported to us in the +laboratory directly afterward, "just as Whitney came in. They +could not see me. I took good care of that. But, say, there is a +change in Whitney, isn't there? I wonder what caused it?" + +"It's as noticeable as that?" asked Kennedy. "And did she notice +it?" + +"I'm sure of it," replied Norton confidently. "She couldn't help +it. Besides, after he left her and went into the dining-room +himself she and Alfonso seemed to be discussing something. I'm +sure it was that." + +Kennedy said nothing, except to thank Norton and compliment him on +his powers of observation. Norton took the praise with evident +satisfaction, and after a moment excused himself, saying that he +had some work to do over in the Museum. + +He had no sooner gone than Kennedy took from a drawer a little +packet of powder and an atomizer full of liquid, which he dropped +into his pocket. + +"I think the Prince Edward Albert will be the scene of our +operations, to-night, Walter," he announced, reaching for his hat. + +He seemed to be in a hurry and it was not many minutes before we +entered. As he passed the dining-room he glanced in. There was +Whitney, not half through a leisurely dinner. Neither of the de +Moches seemed to be downstairs. + +Kennedy sauntered over to the desk and looked over the register. +We already knew that Whitney and the Senora had suites on the +eighth floor, on opposite sides and at opposite ends of the hall. +The de Moche suite was under the number 810. That of Whitney was +825. + +"Is either 823 or 827 vacant?" asked Kennedy as the clerk came +over to us. + +He turned to look over his list. "Yes, 827 is vacant," he found. + +"I'd like to have it," said Kennedy, making some excuse about our +luggage being delayed, as he paid for it for the night. + +"Front!" called the clerk, and a moment later we found ourselves +in the elevator riding up. + +The halls were deserted at that time in the evening except for a +belated theatre-goer, and in a few minutes there would ensue a +period in which there was likely to be no one about. + +We entered the room next to Whitney's without being observed by +any one of whom we cared. The boy left us, and it was a simple +matter after that to open a rather heavy door that communicated +between the two suites and was not protected by a Yale lock. + +Instead of switching on the lights, Kennedy first looked about +carefully until he was assured that there was no one there. It +seemed to me to be an unnecessary caution, for we knew Whitney was +down-stairs and would probably be there a long time. But he +seemed to think it necessary. Positive that we were alone, he made +a hasty survey of the rooms. Then he seemed to select as a +starting-point a table in one corner of the sitting-room on which +lay a humidor and a heavy metal box for cigarettes. + +Quickly he sprinkled on the floor, from the hall door to the table +on which the case of cigarettes lay, some of the powder which I +had seen him wrap up in the laboratory before we left. Then, with +the atomizer, he sprayed over it something that had a pungent, +familiar odour--walking backwards from the hall door to the table, +as he sprayed. + +"Don't you want more light?" I asked, starting to cross to a +window to let the moonlight stream in. + +"Don't walk on it, Walter," he whispered, pushing me back. "No, I +don't need any more light." + +"What are you doing?" I asked, mystified at his actions. + +"First I sprinkled some powdered iodine on the floor," he replied, +"and then sprayed over just enough ammonia to moisten it. It will +evaporate quickly, leaving what I call my anti-burglar powder." + +"I'm sure I wouldn't be thought one of the fraternity for the +world," I observed, stepping aside to give him all the room he +wanted in which to operate. + +He had finished his work by this time and now the evening wind was +blowing away the slight fumes that had arisen. For a few moments +he left our door into Whitney's room open, in order to insure +clearing away the odour. Then he quietly closed it, but did not +lock it again. + +We waited a few minutes, then Craig leaned over to me. "I wish +you'd go down and see how near Whitney is through dinner," he +said. "If he is through, do something, anything to keep him down +there. Only be as careful as you can not to be seen by any one who +knows us." + +I rode down in an empty elevator and cautiously made my way to the +dining-room. Whitney had finished much sooner than I had expected +and was not there. Much as I wanted not to be seen, I found that +it was necessary to make a tour of the hotel to find him and I did +so, wondering what expedient I would adopt to keep him down there +if I found him. I did not have to adopt any, however. Whitney was +almost alone in the writing-room, and a big pile of letters beside +him showed me that he would be busy for some time. I rode back to +the room to tell Craig, flattering myself that I had not been +seen. + +"Good," he exclaimed. "I don't think we'll have to wait much +longer, if anything at all is going to happen." + +In the darkness we settled ourselves for another vigil that was to +last we knew not how long. Neither of us spoke as we half crouched +in the shadow of our room, listening. + +Slowly the time passed. Would any one take advantage of the +opportunity to tamper with the box of cigarettes on the table? + +I fell to speculating. Who could it possibly have been that had +conceived this devilish plot? What was back of it all? I wondered +whether it were possible that Lockwood, now that Mendoza was out +of the way, could desire to remove Whitney, the sole remaining +impediment to possessing the whole of the treasure as well as +Inez? Then there were the Senora and Alfonso, the one with a deep +race and family grievance, the other a rejected suitor. What might +not they do with some weird South American poison? + +Once or twice we heard the elevator door clang and waited +expectantly, but nothing happened. I began to wonder whether, even +if some one had a pass-key to the suite, we could hear him enter +if he was quiet. The outside hall was thickly carpeted, and +deadened every footfall if one exercised only reasonable care. The +rooms themselves were much the same. + +"Don't you think we might have the door ajar a little?" I +suggested anxiously. + +"Sh!" was Kennedy's only comment in the negative. + +I glanced now and then at my watch and by straining my eyes was +surprised to see how early it was yet. The minutes were surely +leaden-footed. + +In the darkness, I fell again to reviewing the weird succession of +events. I am not by nature superstitious, but in the black silence +I could well imagine a staring succession of eyes, beginning with +the dilated pupils of Whitney and passing on to the corpse-like +expression of Mendoza, but always ending with the remarkable, +piercing, black eyes of the Indian woman with the melancholy- +visaged son, as they had impressed me the first time I saw them +and, in fact, ever since. Was it a freak of my mind, or was there +some reason for it? + +Suddenly I heard in the next room what sounded like a series of +little explosions, as though some one were treading on match +heads. + +"My burglar powder works," muttered Craig to me in a hoarse +whisper. "Every step, even those of a mouse running across, sets +it off!" + +He rose quickly and threw open the door into Whitney's suite. I +sprang after him. + +There, in the shadows, I saw a dark form, starting back in quick +retreat. But we were too late. He was cat-like, too quick for us. + +In the dim light of the little explosions we could catch a glimpse +of the person who had been craftily working with the dread drug to +drive Whitney and others insane. But the face was masked! + +He banged shut the door after him and fled down the hall, making a +turn to a flight of steps. + +We followed, and at the steps paused a moment. "You go up, +Walter," shouted Kennedy. "I'll go down." + +It was fifteen minutes later before we met downstairs, neither of +us with a trace of the intruder. He seemed to have vanished like +smoke. + +"Must have had a room, like ourselves," remarked Craig somewhat +chagrined at the outcome of his scheme. "And if he was clever +enough to have a room, he is clever enough to have a disguise that +would fool the elevator boys for a minute. No, he has gone. But +I'll wager he won't try any more substitutions of stramonium- +poisoned cigarettes for a while. It was too close to be +comfortable." + +We were baffled again, and this time by a mysterious masked man. +Could it be the same whom we heard over the vocaphone addressed as +"Doc"? Perhaps it was, but that gave us no hint as to his +identity. He seemed just as far away as ever. + +We waited around the elevators for some time, but nothing +happened. Kennedy even sought out the manager of the hotel, and +after telling who he was, had a search made of the guests who +might be suspected. The best we could do was to leave word that +the employees might be put on the lookout for anything of a +suspicious nature. + +Whitney, the innocent cause of all this commotion, was still in +the writing-room with his letters. + +"I think I ought to tell him," decided Kennedy as we passed down +the lobby. + +He seemed surprised to see us, as we strolled up to his writing +desk, but pushed aside the few letters which he had not finished +and asked us to sit down. + +"I don't know whether you have noticed it," began Craig, "but I +wonder how you feel?" + +Whitney had expected something else rather than his health as the +subject of a quiz. "Pretty good now," he answered before he knew +it, "although I must admit that for the past few days I have +wondered whether I wasn't slowing up a bit--or rather going too +fast." + +"Would you like to know why you feel that way?" asked Craig. + +Whitney was now genuinely puzzled. It was perfectly evident, as it +had been all the time, that he had not the slightest inkling of +what was going on. + +As Craig briefly unfolded what we had discovered and the reason +for it, Whitney watched him aghast. + +"Poisoned cigarettes," he repeated slowly. "Well, who would ever +have thought it. You can bet your last jitney I'll be careful what +I smoke in the future, if I have to smoke only original packages. +And it was that, partly, that ailed Mendoza?" + +Kennedy nodded. "Don't take any pilocarpine, just because I told +you that was what I used. You have given yourself the best +prescription, just now. Be careful what you smoke. And, don't get +excited if you seem to be stepping on matches up there in your +room for a little while, either. It's nothing." + +Whitney's only known way of thanking anybody was to invite them to +adjourn to the cafe, and accordingly we started across the hall, +after he had gathered up his correspondence. The information had +made more work that night impossible for him. + +As we crossed from the writing-room, we saw Alfonso de Moche +coming in from the street. He saw us and came over to speak. Was +it a coincidence, or was it merely a blind? Was he the one who had +got away and now calculated to come back and throw us off guard? + +Whitney asked him where he had been, but he replied quickly that +his mother had not been feeling very well after dinner and had +gone to bed, while he strolled out and had dropped into a picture +show. That, I felt, was at least clever. The intruder had been a +man. + +De Moche excused himself, and we continued our walk to the cafe, +where Whitney restored his shattered peace of mind somewhat. + +"What's the result of your detective work on Norton?" ventured +Kennedy at last, seeing that Whitney was in a more expansive frame +of mind, and taking a chance. + +"Oh," returned Whitney, "he's scared, all right. Why, he has been +hanging around this hotel--watching me. He thinks I don't know it, +I suppose, but I do." + +Kennedy and I exchanged glances. + +"But he's slippery," went on Whitney. "He knows that he is being +shadowed and the men tell me that they lose him, now and then. To +tell the truth I don't trust most of these private detectives. I +think their little tissue paper reports are half-faked, anyhow." + +He seemed to want to say no more on the subject, from which I took +it that he had discovered nothing of importance. + +"One thing, though," he recollected, after a moment. "He has been +going to see Inez Mendoza, they tell me." + +"Yes?" queried Kennedy. + +"Confound him. He pretty nearly got Lockwood in bad with her, +too," said Whitney, then leaning over confidentially added, "Say, +Kennedy, honestly, now, you don't believe that shoe-print stuff, +do you?" + +"I see no reason to doubt it," returned Kennedy with diplomatic +firmness. "Why?" + +"Well," continued Whitney, still confidential, "we haven't got the +dagger--that's all. There--I never actually asserted that before, +though I've given every one to understand that our plans are based +on something more than hot-air. We haven't got it, and we never +had it." + +"Then who has it?" asked Kennedy colourlessly. + +Whitney shook his head. "I don't know," he said merely. + +"And these attacks on you--this cigarette business--how do you +explain that," asked Craig, "if you haven't the dagger?" + +"Jealousy, pure jealousy," replied Whitney quickly. "They are so +afraid that we will find the treasure. That's my dope." + +"Who is afraid?" + +"That's a serious matter," he evaded. "I wouldn't say anything +that I couldn't back up in a case of that kind. I'd get into +trouble." + +There was nothing to be gained by prolonging the conversation and +Kennedy made a move as though to go. + +"Just give us a square deal," said Whitney as we left. "That's all +we want--a square deal." + +Kennedy and I walked out of the Prince Edward Albert and turned +down the block. + +"Well, have you found out anything more?" asked a voice in the +shadow beside us. + +We turned. It was Norton. + +"I saw you talking to Whitney in the writing-room," he said, with +a laugh, "then in the cafe, and I saw Alfonso come in. He still +has those shadows on me. I wouldn't be surprised if there was one +of them around in a doorway, now." + +"No," returned Kennedy, "he didn't say anything that was +important. They still say they haven't the dagger." + +"Of course," said Norton. + +"You'll wait around a little longer?" asked Kennedy as we came to +a corner and stopped. + +"I think so," returned Norton. "I'll keep you posted." + +Kennedy and I walked on a bit. + +"I'm going around to see how Burke, O'Connor's man, is getting on +watching the Mendoza apartment, Walter," he said at length. "Then +I have two or three other little outside matters to attend to. You +look tired. Why don't you go home and take a rest? I shan't be +working in the laboratory to-night, either." + +"I think I will," I agreed, for the strain of the case was +beginning to tell on me. + + + + +XX + +THE PULMOTOR + + +I went directly to our apartment after Craig left me and for a +little while sat up, speculating on the probabilities of the case. + +Senora de Moche had told us of her ancestor who had been intrusted +with the engraved dagger, of how it had been handed down, of the +death of her brother; she had told us of the murder of the +ancestor of Inez Mendoza, of the curse of Mansiche. Was this, +after all, but a reincarnation of the bloody history of the Gold +of the Gods? + +There were the shoe-prints in the mummy case. They were +Lockwood's. How about them? Was he telling the truth? Now had come +the poisoned cigarettes. All had followed the threats: + +BEWARE THE CURSE OF MANSICHE ON THE GOLD OF THE GODS. + +Several times I had been forced already to revise my theories of +the case. At first I had felt that it pointed straight toward +Lockwood. But did it seem to do so now? + +Suppose Lockwood had stolen the dagger from the Museum, although +he denied even that. Did that mean, necessarily that he committed +the murder with it, that he now had it? Might he not have lost it? +Might not some one else--the Senora, or Alfonso, or both--have +obtained it? Might not Mendoza have been murdered with it by some +other hand to obtain or to hide the secret on its bloody blade? + +I went to bed, still thinking, no nearer a conclusion than before, +prepared to dream over it. + +That is the last I remember. + +When I regained consciousness, I was lying on the bed still, but +Craig was bending over me. He had just taken a rubber cap off my +face, to which was attached a rubber tube that ran to a box +perhaps as large as a suitcase, containing a pump of some kind. + +I was too weak to notice these things right away, too weak to care +much about them, or about anything else. + +"Are you all right now, old man?" he asked, bending over me. + +"Y-Yes," I gasped, clutching at the choking sensation in my +throat. "What has happened?" + +Perhaps I had best tell it as though I were not the chief actor; +for it came to me in such disjointed fragmentary form, that it was +some time before I could piece it together. + +Craig had seen Burke, and had found that everything was all right. +Then he had made the few little investigations that he intended. +But he had not been to the laboratory. There had been no light +there that night. + +At last when he arrived home, he had found a peculiar odour in the +hall, but had thought nothing of it, until he opened our door. +Then there rushed out such a burst of it that he had to retreat, +almost fainting, choking and gasping for breath. + +His first thought was for me; and protecting himself as best he +could he struggled through to my room, to find me lying on the +bed, motionless, almost cold. + +He was by this time too weak to carry me. But he managed to reach +the window and throw it wide open. As the draught cleared the air, +he thought of the telephone and with barely strength enough left +called up one of the gas companies and had a pulmotor sent over. + +Now that the danger was past for me, and he felt all right, his +active mind began at once on the reconstruction of what had +happened. + +What was it--man or devil? Could a human fly have scaled the +walls, or an aeroplane have dropped an intruder at the window +ledge? The lock on the door did not seem to have been tampered +with. Nor was there any way by which entrance could have been +gained from a fire escape. It was not illuminating gas. Every one +agreed on that. No, it was not an accident. It was an attempt at +murder. Some one was getting close to us. Every other weapon +failing, this was desperation. + +I had been made comfortable, and he was engaged in one of his +characteristic searches, with more than ordinary eagerness, +because this was his own apartment, and it was I who had been the +victim. + +I followed him languidly as he went over everything, the +furniture, the walls, the windows, the carpets--there looking for +finger-prints, there for some trace of the poisonous gas that had +filled the room. But he did not have the air of one who was +finding anything. I was too tired to reason. This was but another +of the baffling mysteries that confronted us. + +A low exclamation caused me to open my eyes and try to discover +what was the cause. He was bending over the lock of the door +looking at it intently. + +"Broken?" I managed to say. + +"No--corroded," he replied. "You keep still. Save your energy. +I've got strength enough for two, for a while." + +He came over to the bed and bent over me. "I won't hurt you," he +encouraged, "but just let me get a drop of your blood." + +He took a needle and ran it gently into my thumb beside the nail. +A drop or two of blood oozed out and he soaked it up with a piece +of sterile gauze. + +"Try to sleep," he said finally. + +"And you?" I asked. + +"It's no use. I'm going over to the laboratory. I can't sleep. +There's a cop down in front of the house. You're safe enough. By +George, if this case goes much further we'll have half the force +standing guard. Here--drink that." + +I had made up my mind not to go to sleep, if he wouldn't, but I +slipped up when I obeyed him that time. I thought it was a +stimulant but it turned out to be a sedative. + +I did not wake up until well along in the morning, but when I did +I was surprised to find myself so well. Before any one could stop +me, I was dressed and had reached the door. + +A friend of ours who had volunteered to stay with me was dozing on +a couch as I came out. + +"Too late, Johnson," I called, trying hard to be gay, though I +felt anything but like it. "Thank you, old man, for staying with +me. But I'm afraid to stop. You're stronger than I am this +morning--and besides you can run faster. I'm afraid you'll drag me +back." + +He did try to do it, but with a great effort of will-power I +persuaded him to let me go. Out in the open air, too, it seemed to +do me good. The policeman who had been stationed before the house +gazed at me as though he saw a ghost, then grinned encouragingly. + +Still, I was glad that the laboratory was only a few blocks away, +for I was all in by the time I got there, and hadn't even energy +enough to reply to Kennedy's scolding. + +He was working over a microscope, while by his side stood in +racks, innumerable test-tubes of various liquids. On the table +before him lay the lock of our door which he had cut out after he +gave me the sleeping draught. + +"What was it?" I asked. "I feel as if I had been on a bust, +without the recollection of a thing." + +He shook his head as if to discourage conversation, without taking +his eyes off the microscope through which he was squinting. His +lips were moving as if he were counting. I waited in impatient +silence until he seemed to have finished. + +Then, still without a word, he took up a test-tube and dropped +into it a little liquid from a bottle on a shelf above the table. +His face lighted up, and he regarded the reaction attentively for +some time. Then he turned to me, still holding the tube. + +"You have been on a bust," he said with a smile as if the remark +of a few minutes before were still fresh. "Only it was a laughing +gas jag--nitrous oxide." + +"Nitrous oxide?" I repeated. "How--what do you mean?" + +"I mean simply that a test of your blood shows that you were +poisoned by nitrous oxide gas. You remember the sample of blood +which I squeezed from your thumb? I took it because I knew that a +gas--and it has proved to be nitrous oxide--is absorbed through +the lungs into the circulation and its presence can be told for a +considerable period after administration." + +He paused a moment, then went on: "To be specific in this case I +found by microscopic examination that the number of corpuscles in +your blood was vastly above the normal, something like between +seven and eight million to a drop that should have had somewhat +more than only half that number. You were poisoned by gas that--" + +"Yes," I interrupted, "but how, with all the doors locked?" + +"I was coming to that," he said quietly, picking up the lock and +looking at it thoughtfully. + +He had already placed it in a porcelain basin, and in this basin +he had poured some liquids. Then he passed the liquids through a +fine screen and at last took up a tube containing some of the +resulting liquid. + +"I have already satisfied myself," he explained, "but for your +benefit, seeing that you're the chief sufferer, I'll run over a +part of the test. You saw the reaction which showed the gas a +moment ago. I have proved chemically as well as microscopically +that it is present in your blood. Now if I take this test-tube of +liquid derived from my treatment of the lock and then test it as +you saw me do with the other, isn't that enough for you? See--it +gives the same reaction." + +It did, indeed, but my mind did not react with it. + +"Nitrous oxide," he continued, "in contact with iron, leaves +distinct traces of corrosion, discernible by chemical and +microscopic tests quite as well as the marks it leaves in the +human blood. Manifestly, if no one could have come in by the +windows or doors, the gas must have been administered in some way +without any one coming into the room. I found no traces of an +intruder." + +It was a tough one. Never much good at answering his conundrums +when I was well, I could not even make a guess now. + +"The key-hole, of course!" he explained. "I cut away the entire +lock, and have submitted it to these tests which you see." + +"I don't see it all yet," I said. + +"Some one came to our door in the night, after gaining entrance to +the hall--not a difficult thing to do, we know. That person found +our door locked, knew it would be locked, knew that I always +locked it. Knowing that such was the case, this person came +prepared, bringing perhaps, a tank of compressed nitrous oxide, +certainly the materials for making the gas expeditiously." + +I began to understand how it had been done. + +"Through the keyhole," he resumed, "a stream of the gas was +injected. It soon rendered you unconscious, and that would have +been all, if the person had been satisfied. A little bit would +have been harmless enough. But the person was not satisfied. The +intention was not to overcome, but to kill. The stream of gas was +kept up until the room was full of it. + +"Only my return saved you, for the gas was escaping very slowly. +Even then, you had been under it so long that we had to resort to +the wonderful little pulmotor after trying both the Sylvester and +Schaefer methods and all other manual means to induce respiration. +At any rate we managed to undo the work of this fiend." + +I looked at him in surprise, I, who didn't think I had an enemy in +the world. + +"But who could it have been?" I asked. + +"We are pretty close to that criminal," was the only reply he +would give, "providing we do not spread the net in sight of the +quarry." + +"Why should he have wanted to get me?" I repeated. + +"Don't flatter yourself," replied Craig. "He wanted me, too. There +wasn't any light in the laboratory last night. There was a light +in our apartment. What more natural than to think that we were +both there? You were caught in the trap intended for both of us." + +I looked at him, startled. Surely this was a most desperate +criminal. To cover up one murder--perhaps two--he did not hesitate +to attempt a third, a double murder. The attack had been really +aimed at Kennedy. It had struck me alone. But it had miscarried +and Craig had saved my life. + +As I reflected bitterly, I had but one satisfaction. Wretched as I +felt, I knew that it had spared Craig from slowing up on the case +at just the time when he was needed. + +The news of the attempt spread quickly, for it was a police case +and got into the papers. + +It was not half an hour after I reached the laboratory that the +door was pushed open by Inez Mendoza, followed by a boy spilling +with fruit and flowers like a cornucopia. + +"I drove to the apartment," she cried, greatly excited and +sympathetic, "but they told me you had gone out. Oh, I was glad to +hear it. Then I knew it wasn't so serious. For, somehow, I feel +guilty about it. It never would have happened if you hadn't met +me." + +"I'm sure it's worth more than it cost," I replied gallantly. + +She turned toward Kennedy. "I'm positively frightened," she +exclaimed. "First they direct their attacks against my father-- +then against me--now against you. What will it be next? Oh--it is +that curse--it is that curse!" + +"Never fear," encouraged Kennedy, "we'll get you out--we'll get +all of us out, now, I should say. It's just because they are so +desperate that we have these things. As long as there is nothing +to fear a criminal will lie low. When he gets scared he does +things. And it's when he does things that he begins to betray +himself." + +She shuddered. "I feel as though I was surrounded by enemies," she +murmured. "It is as if an unseen evil power was watching over me +all the time--and mocking me--striking down those I love and +trust. Where will it end?" + +Kennedy tried his best to soothe her, but it was evident that the +attack on us could not have had more effect, if it had been +levelled direct at her. + +"Please, Senorita," he pleaded, "stand firm. We are going to win. +Don't give in. The Mendozas are not the kind to stop defeated." + +She looked at him, her eyes filled with tears. + +"It was my father's way," she choked back her emotion. "How could +you, a stranger, know?" + +"I didn't know," returned Kennedy. "I gathered it from his face. +It is also his daughter's way." + +"Yes," she said, straightening up and the fire flashing from her +eyes, "we are a proud, old, unbending race. Good-bye. I must not +interrupt your work any longer. We are also a race that never +forgets a friend." + +A moment later she was gone. + +"A wonderful woman," repeated Kennedy absently. + +Then he turned again to his table of chemicals. + +The telephone had begun to tinkle almost continuously by this +time, as one after another of our friends called us up to know how +we were getting on and be assured of our safety. In fact I didn't +know that it was possible to resuscitate so many of them with a +pulmotor. + +"By George, I'm glad it wasn't any more serious," came Norton's +voice from the doorway a moment later. "I didn't see a paper this +morning. The curator of the Museum just told me. How did it +happen?" + +Kennedy tried to pass it off lightly, and I did the same, for as I +was up longer I really did feel better. + +Norton shook his head gravely, however. + +"No," he said, "there were four of us got warnings. They are a +desperate, revengeful people." + +I looked at him quickly. Did he mean the de Moches? + + + + +XXI + +THE TELESCRIBE + + +I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and that I +had better go slow that day and regain my strength, a fortunate +decision, as it turned out. + +Kennedy, also, spent most of the time in the laboratory, so that, +after all, I did not feel that I was missing very much. + +It was along in the afternoon that the telephone began acting +strangely, as it will do sometimes when a long distance connection +is being made. Twice Kennedy answered, without getting any +response. + +"Confound that central," he muttered. "What do you suppose is the +matter?" + +Again the bell rang. + +"Hello," shouted Kennedy, exasperated. "Who's this?" + +There was a pause. "Just a minute," he replied. + +Quickly he jammed the receiver down on a little metal base which +he had placed near the instrument. Three prongs reaching upward +from the base engaged the receiver tightly, fitting closely about +it. + +Then he took up a watch-case receiver to listen through in place +of the regular receiver. + +"Who is it?" he answered. + +Apparently the voice at the other end of the wire replied rather +peevishly, for Kennedy endeavoured to smooth over the delay. I +wondered what was going on, why he was so careful. His face showed +that, whatever it was, it was most important. + +As he restored the telephone to its normal condition, he looked at +me puzzled. + +"I wonder whether that was a frame-up!" he exclaimed, pulling a +little cylinder off the instrument into which he had inserted the +telephone receiver. "I thought it might be and I have preserved +the voice. This is what is known as the telescribe--a recent +invention of Edison which records on a specially prepared +phonograph cylinder all that is said--both ways--over a telephone +wire." + +"What was it about?" I asked eagerly. + +He shoved the cylinder on a phonograph and started the instrument. + +"Professor Kennedy?" called an unfamiliar voice. + +"Yes," answered a voice that I recognized as Craig's. + +"This is the detective agency employed by Mr. Whitney. He has +instructed us to inform you that he has obtained the Peruvian +dagger for which you have been searching. That's all. Good-bye." + +I looked at Kennedy in blank surprise. + +"They rang off before I could ask them a question," said Craig. +"Central tells me it was a pay station call. There doesn't seem to +be any way of tracing it. But, at least I have a record of the +voice." + +"What are you going to do?" I queried. "It may be a fake." + +"Yes, but I'm going to investigate it. Do you feel strong enough +to go down to Whitney's with me?" + +The startling news had been like a tonic. "Of course," I replied, +seizing my hat. + +Kennedy paused only long enough to call Norton. The archaeologist +was out, and we hurried on downtown to Whitney's. + +Whitney was not there and his clerk was just about to close the +office. All the books were put away in the safe and the desks were +closed. Now and then there echoed up the hall the clang of an +elevator door. + +"Where is Mr. Whitney?" demanded Craig of the clerk. + +"I can't say. He went out a couple of hours ago." + +"Did he have a visit from one of his detectives?" shot out Craig +suddenly. + +The clerk looked up suspiciously at us. + +"No," he replied defiantly. + +"Walter--stand by that door," shouted Craig. "Let no one in until +they break it down." + +His blue-steel automatic gleamed a cold menace at the clerk. A +downtown office after office hours is not exactly the place to +which one can get assistance quickly. The clerk started back. + +"Did he have a visit from one of his detectives?" + +"Yes." + +"What was it about?" + +The clerk winced. "I don't know," he replied, "honest--I don't." + +Craig waved the gun for emphasis. "Open the safe," he said. + +Reluctantly the clerk obeyed. Under the point of the gun he +searched every compartment and drawer of the big chrome steel +strong-box which Whitney had pointed out as the safest place for +the dagger on our first visit to him. But there was absolutely no +trace of it. Had we been hoaxed and was all this risk in vain? + +"Where did Mr. Whitney go?" demanded Craig, as he directed the +clerk to shut the door and lock the safe again, baffled. + +"If I should try to tell you," returned the man, very much +frightened, "I would be lying. You would soon find out. Mr. +Whitney doesn't make a confidant of me, you know." + +It was useless. If he had the dagger, at least we knew that it was +not at the office. We had learned only one thing. He had had a +visit from one of his detectives. + +As fast as the uptown trend of automobiles and surface cars during +the rush hour would permit, Kennedy and I hurried in a taxicab to +the Prince Edward Albert in the hope of surprising him there. + +"It's no use to inquire for him," decided Craig as we entered the +hotel. "I still have the key to that room, 827, next to his. We'll +ride right up in the elevator boldly and get in." + +No one said anything to us, as we let ourselves into the room next +to Whitney's. A new lock had been placed on the door between the +suites, but, aside from the additional time it took to force it, +it presented no great difficulty. + +"He wouldn't leave the dagger here, of course," remarked Kennedy, +as at last we stepped into Whitney's suite. "But we may as well +satisfy ourselves. Hello--what's this?" + +The room was all upset, as though some one had already gone +through it. For a moment I thought we had been forestalled. + +"Packed a grip hastily," Craig remarked, pointing to the marks on +the bedspread where it had rested while he must literally have +thrown things into it. + +We made a hasty search ourselves, but we knew it was hopeless. Two +things we had learned. Whitney had had a visit from his +detectives, and he had gone away hurriedly. An anonymous telephone +message had been sent to Kennedy. Had it been for the purpose of +throwing us off the track? + +The room telephone rang. Quickly Craig jumped to it and took down +the receiver. + +"Hello," he called. "Yes, this is Mr. Whitney." + +A silence ensued during which, of course, I could not gather any +idea of what was going on over the wire. + +"The deuce!" exclaimed Kennedy, working the hook up and down but +receiving no response. "The fellow caught on. Something must have +happened to Norton, too." + +"How's that?" I asked. + +"Why," he replied, "some one just called up Whitney and said that +Norton had got away from him." + +"Perhaps they're trying to keep him out of the way just as they +are with us," I suggested. "I think the thing is a plant." + +Down the hall, Kennedy stopped and tapped lightly at the door of +810, the de Moche suite. I think he was surprised when the +Senora's maid opened it. + +"Tell Senora de Moche it is Professor Kennedy," he said quickly, +"and that I must see her." + +The maid admitted us into the sitting-room where we had had our +first interview with her and a moment later she appeared. She was +evidently not dressed for dinner, although it was almost time, and +I saw Kennedy's eye travel from her to a chair in the corner over +which was draped a linen automobile coat and a heavy veil. Had she +been preparing to go somewhere, too? The door to Alfonso's room +was open and he clearly was not there. What did it all mean? + +"Have you heard anything of a report that the dagger has been +found?" demanded Kennedy abruptly. + +"Why--no," she replied, greatly surprised, apparently. + +"You were going out?" asked Kennedy with a significant glance at +the coat and veil. + +"Only for a little ride with Alfonso, who has gone to hire a car," +she answered quickly. + +I felt sure that she had heard something about the dagger. + +We had no further excuse for staying and on the way out, now that +he had satisfied himself that Whitney was not there, Craig +inquired at the office for him. They could tell us nothing of his +whereabouts, except that he had left in his car late in the +afternoon in a great hurry. + +Kennedy stepped into a telephone booth and called up Lockwood, but +no one answered. Inquiry in the garages in the neighbourhood +finally located that at which Lockwood kept his car. There, all +that they could tell us was that the car had been filled with gas +and oil as if for a trip. Lockwood was gone, too. + +Kennedy hastily ordered a touring car himself and placed it at a +corner of the Prince Edward Albert where he could watch two of the +entrances, while I waited on the next corner where I could see the +entrance on the other street. + +For some time we waited and still she did not come out. Had she +telephoned to Alfonso and had he gone alone? Perhaps she had +already been out and had taken this method of detaining us, +knowing that we would wait to watch her. + +It must have been a mixture of both motives, for at length I was +rewarded by seeing her come cautiously out of the rear entrance of +the hotel alone and start to walk hurriedly up the street. I +signalled to Craig who shot down and picked me up. + +By this time the Senora had reached a public cab stand and had +engaged a hack. + +Sinking back in the shadows of the top, which was up, Craig +directed our driver to follow the hack cautiously, keeping a +couple of blocks behind. There was some satisfaction, though +slight, in it, at least. We felt the possibility of the trail +leading somewhere, now. + +On uptown the hack went, while we kept discreetly in the rear. We +had reached a part of the city where it was sparsely populated, +when the hack suddenly turned and doubled back on us. + +There was not time for us to turn and we trusted that by shrinking +back in the shadow we might not be observed. + +As the hack passed us, however, the Senora leaned out until it was +perfectly evident that she must recognize us. She said nothing but +I fancied I saw a smile of satisfaction as she settled back into +the cushions. She was deliberately going back along the very road +by which she had led us out. It had been an elaborate means of +wasting our time. + +She did not have the satisfaction, however, of shaking us off, for +we followed all the way back to the hotel and saw her go in. Then +Kennedy placed the car where we had it before and left the driver +with instructions to follow her regardless of time if she should +come out again. + +Surely, I reasoned, there must be something very queer going on, +if they were all it to eliminate us and Norton. What had happened +to him? + +Kennedy hastened back to the campus, late as it was, there to +start anew. Norton was not in his quarters and, on the chance that +he might have sought to elude Whitney's detectives by doing the +unexpected and going to the Museum, Kennedy walked over that way. + +There was nothing to indicate that anybody had been at the Museum, +but, as we passed our laboratory, we could hear the telephone +ringing inside, as though some one had been trying to get us for a +long time. + +Kennedy opened the door and switched on the lights. Waiting only +long enough to jam the receiver down into place on the telescribe, +he answered the call. + +"The deuce you will!" I heard him exclaim, then apparently whoever +was talking rang off and he could not get them back. + +"Another of those confounded telephone messages," he said, turning +to me and taking the cylinder off. "I looks as though the ready- +letter writer who used to send warnings had learned his lesson and +taken to the telephone as leaving fewer clues than handwriting." + +He placed the record on the phonograph so that I could hear it. It +was brief and to the point, as had been the first. + +"Hello, is that you, Kennedy? We've got Norton. Next we'll get +you. Good-bye." + +Kennedy repeated the first message. It was evident that both had +been spoken by the same voice. + +"Whose is it?" I asked blankly. "What does it mean?" + +Before Craig could answer there was a knock at our door and he +sprang to open it. + + + + +XXII + +THE VANISHER + + +It was Juanita, Inez Mendoza's maid, frantic and almost +speechless. + +"Why, Juanita," encouraged Kennedy, "what's the matter?" + +"The Senorita!" she gasped, breaking down now and sobbing over and +over again. "The Senorita!" + +"Yes, yes," repeated Kennedy, "but what about her? Is there +anything wrong?" + +"Oh, Mr. Kennedy," sobbed the poor girl, "I don't know. She is +gone. I have had no word from her since this afternoon." + +"Gone!" we exclaimed together. "Where was Burke--that man that the +police sent up to protect her?" + +"He is gone, too--now," replied Juanita in her best English, sadly +broken by the excitement. + +Kennedy and I looked at each other aghast. This was the hardest +blow of all. We had thought that, at least, Inez would be safe +with a man like Burke, whom we could trust, detailed to watch her. + +"Tell me," urged Kennedy, "how did it happen? Did they carry her +off--as they tried to do the other time?" + +"No, no," sobbed Juanita. "I do not know. I do not know even +whether she is gone. She went out this afternoon for a little +walk. But she did not come back. After it grew dark, I was +frightened. I remembered that you were here and called up, but you +were out. Then I saw that policeman. I told him. He has others +working with him now. But I could not find you--until now I saw a +light here. Oh, my poor, little girl, what has become of her? +Where have they taken her? Oh, MADRE DE DIOS, it is terrible!" + +Had that been the purpose for which we had been sent on wild-goose +chases? Was Inez really kidnapped this time? I knew not what to +think. It seemed hardly possible that all of them could have +joined in it. + +If she were kidnapped, it must have been on the street in broad +daylight. Such things had happened. It would not be the first +disappearance of the kind. + +Quickly Kennedy called up Deputy O'Connor. It was only too true. +Burke had reported that she had disappeared and the police, +especially those at the stations and ferries and in the suburbs +had been notified to look for her. All this seemed to have taken +place in those hours when the mysterious telephone calls had sent +us on the wrong trail. + +Kennedy said nothing, but I could see that he was doing some keen +thinking. + +Just then the telephone rang again. It was from the man whom we +had left at the Prince Edward Albert. Senora de Moche had gone out +and driven rapidly to the Grand Central. He had not been able to +find out what ticket she bought, but the train was just leaving. + +Kennedy paced up and down, muttering to himself. "Whitney first-- +then Lockwood--and Alfonso. The Senora takes a train. Suppose the +first message were true? Gas and oil for a trip." + +He seized the telephone book and hastily turned the pages over. At +last his finger rested on a name in the suburban section. I read: +"Whitney, Stuart. Res. 174-J Rockledge." + +Quickly he gave central the number, then shoved the receiver again +into the telescribe. + +"Hello, is Mr. Whitney there?" I heard later as he placed the +record again in the phonograph for repetition. + +"No--who is this?" + +"His head clerk. Tell him I must see him. Kennedy has been to the +office and--" + +"Say--get off the line. We had that story once." + +"That's it!" exclaimed Craig. "Don't you see--they've all gone up +to Whitney's country place. That clerk was faking. He has already +telephoned. And listen. Do you see anything peculiar?" + +He was running all three records which we had on the telescribe. +As he did so, I saw unmistakably that it was the same voice on all +three. Whitney must have had a servant do the telephoning for him. + +"Don't fret, Juanita," reassured Kennedy. "We shall find your +mistress for you. She will be all right. You had better go back to +the apartment and wait. Walter look up the next train to Rockledge +while I telephone O'Connor." + +We had an hour to wait before the next train left and in the +meantime we drove Juanita back to the Mendoza apartment. + +It was a short run to Rockledge by railroad, but it seemed to me +that it took hours. Kennedy sat in silence most of the time, his +eyes closed, as if he were trying to place himself in the position +of the others and figure out what they would do. + +At last we arrived, the only passengers to get off at the little +old station. Which way to turn we had not the slightest idea. We +looked about. Even the ticket office was closed. It looked as +though we might almost as well have stayed in New York. + +Down the railroad we could see that a great piece of engineering +was in progress, raising the level of the tracks and building a +steel viaduct, as well as a new station, and at the same time not +interrupting the through traffic, which was heavy. + +"Surely there must be some one down there," observed Kennedy, as +we picked our way across the steel girders, piles of rails, and +around huge machines for mixing concrete. + +We came at last to a little construction house, a sort of general +machine-and work-shop, in which seemed to be everything from a +file to a pneumatic riveter. + +"Hello!" shouted Craig. + +There came a sound from a far corner of a pile of ties and a +moment later a night-watchman advanced suspiciously swinging his +lantern. + +"Hello yourself," he growled. + +"Which way to Stuart Whitney's estate?" asked Craig. + +My heart sank as he gave the directions. It seemed miles away. + +Just then the blinding lights of a car flashed on us as it came +down the road parallel to the tracks. He waved his light and the +car stopped. It was empty, except for a chauffeur evidently +returning from a joy ride. + +"Take these gentlemen as far as Smith's corner, will you?" asked +the watchman. "Then show 'em the turn up to Whitney's." + +The chauffeur was an obliging chap, especially as it cost him +nothing to earn a substantial tip with his master's car. However, +we were glad enough to ride in anything on wheels, and not over- +particular at that hour about the ownership. + +"Mr. Whitney hasn't been out here much lately," he volunteered as +he sped along the beautiful oiled road, and the lights cast +shadows on the trees that made driving as easy as in daylight. + +"No, he has been very busy," returned Craig glad to turn to +account the opportunity to talk with a chauffeur, for it is the +chauffeur in the country who is the purveyor of all knowledge and +gossip. + +"His car passed us when I was driving up from the city. My boss +won't let me speed or I wouldn't have taken his dust. Gee, but he +does wear out the engines in his cars, Whitney." + +"Was he alone?" asked Craig. + +"Yes--and then I saw him driving back again when I went down, to +the station for some new shoes we had expressed up. Just a flying +trip, I guess--or does he expect you?" + +"I don't think he does," returned Craig truthfully. + +"I saw a couple of other cars go up there. House party?" + +"Maybe you'd call it that," returned Craig with a twinkle of the +eye. "Did you see any ladies?" + +"No," returned the chauffeur. "Just a man driving his own car and +another with a driver." + +"There wasn't a lady with Mr. Whitney?" asked Craig, now rather +anxious. + +"Neither time." + +I saw what he was driving at. The Senora might have got up there +in any fashion without being noticed. But for Inez not to be with +Whitney, nor with the two who must evidently have been Lockwood +and Alfonso, was indeed strange. Could it be that we were only +half right--that they had gathered here but that Inez had really +disappeared? + +The young man set us down at Smith's Corner and it proved to be +only about an eighth of a mile up the road and up-hill when +Whitney's house burst in sight, silhouetted against the sky. + +There were lights there and it was evident that several people had +gathered for some purpose. + +We made our way up the path and paused a moment to look through +the window before springing the little surprise. There we could +see Lockwood, Alfonso, and Senora de Moche, who had arrived, after +all and probably been met at the station by her son. They seemed +like anything but a happy party. Never on the best of terms, they +could not be expected to be happy. But now, if ever, one would +have thought they might do more than tolerate each other, assuming +that some common purpose had brought them here. + +Kennedy rang the bell and we could see that all looked surprised, +for they had heard no car approach. A servant opened the door and +before he knew it, Kennedy had pushed past him, taking no chances +at a rebuff after the experience over the wire. + +"Kennedy!" exclaimed Lockwood and Alfonso together. + +"Where is Inez Mendoza?" demanded Craig, without returning the +greeting. + +"Inez?" they repeated blankly. + +Kennedy faced them squarely. + +"Come, now. Where is she? This is a show-down. You may as well +lay your cards on the table. Where is she--what have you done with +her?" + +The de Moches looked at Lockwood and he looked at them, but +neither spoke for a moment. + +"Walter," ordered Kennedy, "there's the telephone. Get the +managing editor of the Star and tell him where we are. Every +newspaper in the United States, every police officer in every city +will have the story, in twelve hours, if you precious rascals +don't come across. There--I give you until central gets die Star." + +"Why--what has happened?" asked Lockwood, who was the first to +recover his tongue. + +"Don't stand there asking me what has happened," cried Kennedy +impatiently. "Tickle that hook again, Walter. You know as well as +I do that you have planned to get Inez Mendoza away from my +influence--to kidnap her, in other words--" + +"We kidnap her?" gasped Lockwood. "What do you mean, man? I know +nothing of this. Is she gone?" He wheeled on the de Moches. "This +is some of your work. If anything happens to that girl--there +isn't an Indian feud can equal the vengeance I will take!" + +Alfonso was absolutely speechless. Senora de Moche started to +speak, but Kennedy interrupted her. "That will do from you," he +cut short. "You have passed beyond the bounds of politeness when +you deliberately went out of your way to throw me on a wrong trail +while some one was making off with a young and innocent girl. You +are a woman of the world. You will take your medicine like a man, +too." + +I don't think I have ever seen Kennedy in a more towering rage +than he was at that moment. + +"When it was only a matter of a paltry poisoned dagger at stake +and a fortune that may be mythical or may be like that of Croesus, +for all I care, we could play the game according to rules," he +exclaimed. "But when you begin to tamper with a life like that of +Inez de Mendoza--you have passed the bounds of all consideration. +You have the Star? Telephone the story anyhow. We'll arbitrate +afterward." + +I think, as I related the facts to my editor, it sobered us all a +great deal. + +"Kennedy," appealed Lockwood at last, as I hung up the receiver, +"will you listen to my story?" + +"It is what I am here for," replied Craig grimly. + +"Believe it or not, as far as I am concerned," asserted Lockwood, +"this is all news to me. My God--where is she?" + +"Then how came you here?" demanded Craig. + +"I can speak only for myself," hastened Lockwood. "If you had +asked where Whitney was, I could have understood, but--" + +"Well, where is he?" + +"We don't know. Early this afternoon I received a hurried message +from him--at least I suppose it was from him--that he had the +dagger and was up here. He said--I'll be perfectly frank--he said +that he was arranging a conference at which all of us were to be +present to decide what to do." + +"Meanwhile I was to be kept away at any cost," supplied Kennedy +sarcastically. "Where did he get it?" + +"He didn't say." + +"And you didn't care, as long as he had it," added Craig, then, +turning to the de Moches, "And what is your tale?" + +Senora de Moche did not lose her self-possession for an instant. +"We received the same message. When you called, I thought it would +be best for Alfonso to go alone, so I telephoned and caught him at +the garage and when my train arrived here, he was waiting." + +"None of you have seen Whitney here?" asked Kennedy, to which all +nodded in the negative. "Well, you seem to agree pretty well in +your stories, anyhow. Let me take a chance with the servants." + +It is no easy matter to go into another's household and without +any official position quiz and expect to get the truth out of the +servants. But Kennedy's very wrath seemed to awe them. They +answered in spite of themselves. + +It seemed clear that as far as they went both guests and servants +were telling the truth. Whitney had made the run up from the city +earlier in the afternoon, had stayed only a short time, then had +gone back, leaving word that he would be there again before his +guests arrived. + +They all professed to be as mystified as ourselves now over the +outcome of the whole affair. He had not come back and there had +been no word from him. + +"One thing is certain," remarked Craig, watching the faces before +him as he spoke. "Inez is gone. She has been spirited away without +even leaving a trace. Her maid Juanita told me that. Now if +Whitney is gone, too, it looks as if he had planned to double- +cross the whole crowd of you and leave you safely marooned up here +with nothing left but your common hatred of me. Much good may it +do you." + +Lockwood clenched his fists savagely, not at Kennedy but at the +thought that Craig had suggested. His face set itself in tense +lines as he swore vengeance on all jointly and severally if any +harm came to Inez. I almost forgot my suspicions of him in +admiration. + +"Nothing like this would ever have happened if she had stayed in +Peru," exclaimed Alfonso bitterly. "Oh, why did her father ever +bring her here to this land of danger?" + +The idea seemed novel to me to look on America as a lawless, +uncultured country, until I reflected on the usual Latin-American +opinion of us as barbarians. + +Lockwood frowned but said nothing, for a time. Then he turned +suddenly to the Senora, "You were intimate enough with him," he +said. "Did he tell you any more than he told us?" + +It was clear that Lockwood felt now that every man's hand was +against him. + +I thought I could discover a suppressed gleam of satisfaction in +her wonderful eyes as she answered, "Nothing more. It was only +that I carried out what he asked me." + +Could it be that she was taking a subtle delight in the turn of +events--the working out of a curse on the treasure-secret which +the fatal dagger bore? I could not say. But it would not have +needed much superstition to convince any one that the curse on the +Gold of the Gods was as genuine as any that had ever been uttered, +as it heaped up crime on crime. + +We waited in silence, the more hopeless as the singing of the +night insects italicized our isolation from the organized +instruments of man for the righting of wrong. Here we were, each +suspecting the other, in the home of a man whom all mistrusted. + +"There's no use sitting here doing nothing," exclaimed Lockwood in +whose mind was evidently the same thought, "not so long as we have +the telephone and the automobiles." + +These, at least, were our last bonds with the great world that had +wrapped a dark night about a darker mystery. + +"There are many miles of wire--many miles of road. Which way shall +we turn?" + +Senora de Moche seemed to take a fiendish delight in the words as +she said them. It was as though she challenged our helplessness in +the face of a power that was greater than us all. + +Lockwood flashed a look of suspicion in her direction. As for +myself, I had never been able to make the woman out. To-night she +seemed like a sort of dea ex machina, who sat apart, playing on +the passions of a group of puppet men whom she set against each +other until all should be involved in a common ruin. + +It was impossible, in the silence of this far-off lonely place in +the country, not to feel the weirdness of it all. + +Once I closed my eyes and was startled by the uncanny vividness of +a mind-picture that came unbidden. It was of a scrap of paper on +which, in rough capitals was printed: + +BEWARE THE CURSE OF MANSICHE ON THE GOLD OF THE GODS. + + + + +XXIII + +THE ACETYLENE TORCH + + +Do you suppose he really had the dagger, or was that a lie?" I +asked, with an effort shaking off the fateful feeling that had +come over me as if some one were casting a spell. + +"There is one way to find out," returned Craig, as though glad of +the suggestion. + +Though they hated him, they seemed forced to admit, for the time, +his leadership. He rose and the rest followed as he went into +Whitney's library. + +He switched on the lights. There in a corner back of the desk +stood a safe. Somehow or other it seemed to defy us, even though +its master was gone. I looked at it a moment. It was a most +powerful affair, companion to that in the office of which Whitney +was so proud, built of layer on layer of chrome steel, with a door +that was air tight and soup-proof, bidding defiance to all yeggmen +and petermen. + +Lockwood fingered the combination hopelessly. There were some +millions of combinations and permutations that only a +mathematician could calculate. Only one was any good. That one was +locked in the mind of the man who now seemed to baffle us as did +his strong-box. + +I placed my hand on the cold, defiant surface. It would take hours +to drill a safe like that, and even then it might turn the points +of the drills. Explosives might sooner wreck the house and bring +it down over the head of the man who attacked this monster. + +"What can we do?" asked Senora de Moche, seeming to mock us, as +though the safe itself were an inhuman thing that blocked our +path. + +"Do?" repeated Kennedy decisively, "I'll show you what we can do. +If Lockwood will drive me down to the railroad station in his car, +I'll show you something that looks like action. Will you do it?" + +The request was more like a command. Lockwood said nothing, but +moved toward the porte-cochere, where he had left his car parked +just aside from the broad driveway. + +"Walter, you will stay here," ordered Kennedy. "Let no one leave. +If any one comes, don't let him get away. We shan't be gone long." + +I sat awkwardly enough, scarcely speaking a word, as Kennedy +dashed down to the railroad station. Neither Alfonso nor his +mother betrayed either by word or action a hint of what was +passing in their minds. Somehow, though I did not understand it, I +felt that Lockwood might square himself. But I could not help +feeling that these two might very possibly be at the bottom of +almost anything. + +It was with some relief that I heard the car approaching again. I +had no idea what Kennedy was after, whether it was dynamite or +whether he contemplated a trip to New York. I was surprised to see +him, with Lockwood, hurrying up the steps to the porch, each with +a huge tank studded with bolts like a boiler. + +"There," ordered Craig, "set the oxygen there," as he placed his +own tank on the opposite side. "That watchman thought I was +bluffing when I said I'd get an order from the company, if I had +to wake up the president of the road. It was too good a chance to +miss. One doesn't find such a complete outfit ready to hand every +day." + +Out of the tanks stout tubes led, with stop-cocks and gauges at +the top. From a case under his arm Kennedy produced a curious +arrangement like a huge hook, with a curved neck and a sharp beak. +Really it consisted of two metal tubes which ran into a sort of +cylinder, or mixing chamber, above the nozzle, while parallel to +them ran a third separate tube with a second nozzle of its own. + +Quickly he joined the ends of the tubes from the tanks to the +metal hook, the oxygen tank being joined to two of the tubes of +the hook, and the second tank being joined to the other. With a +match he touched the nozzle gingerly. Instantly a hissing, +spitting noise followed, and an intense, blinding needle of flame. + +"Now we'll see what an oxyacetylene blow-pipe will do to you, old +stick-in-the-mud," cried Kennedy, as he advanced toward the safe, +addressing it as though it had been a thing of life that stood in +his way. "I think this will make short work of you." + +Almost as he said it, the steel beneath the blow-pipe became +incandescent. For some time he laboured to get a starting-point +for the flame of the high-pressure torch. + +It was a brilliant sight. The terrific heat from the first nozzle +caused the metal to glow under the torch as if in an open-hearth +furnace. From the second nozzle issued a stream of oxygen, under +which the hot metal of the door was completely consumed. + +The force of the blast, as the compressed oxygen and acetylene +were expelled, carried a fine spray of the disintegrated metal +visibly before it. And yet it was not a big hole that it made-- +scarcely an eighth of an inch wide, but clean and sharp as if a +buzz-saw were eating its way through a plank of white-pine. + +With tense muscles Kennedy held this terrific engine of +destruction and moved it as easily as if it had been a mere pencil +of light. He was the calmest of all of us as we crowded about him, +but at a respectful distance. + +"I suppose you know," he remarked hastily, never pausing for a +moment in his work, "that acetylene is composed of carbon and +hydrogen. As it burns at the end of the nozzle it is broken into +carbon and hydrogen--the carbon gives the high temperature and the +hydrogen forms a cone that protects the end of the blow-pipe from +being itself burnt up." + +"But isn't it dangerous?" I asked, amazed at the skill with which +he handled the blow-pipe. + +"Not particularly--when you know how to do it. In that tank is a +porous asbestos packing saturated with acetone, under pressure. +Thus they carry acetylene safely, for it is dissolved and the +possibility of explosion is minimized. + +"This mixing chamber, by which I am holding the torch, where the +oxygen and acetylene mix, is also designed in such a way as to +prevent a flash-back. The best thing about this style of blow-pipe +is the ease with which it can be transported and the curious +purposes--like this--to which it can be put." + +He paused a moment to test what had been burnt. The rest of the +safe seemed as firm as ever. + +"Humph!" I heard one of them, I think it was Alfonso, mutter. I +resented it, but Kennedy affected not to hear. + +"When I shut off the oxygen in this second jet," he resumed, "you +see the torch merely heats the steel. I can get a heat of +approximately sixty-three hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and the +flame will exert a pressure of fifty pounds to the square inch." + +"Wonderful!" exclaimed Lockwood, who had not heard the suppressed +disapproval of Alfonso, and was watching, in undisguised +admiration at the thing itself, regardless of consequences. +"Kennedy, how did you ever think of such a thing?" + +"Why, it's used for welding, you know," answered Craig, as he +continued to work calmly in the growing excitement. "I first saw +it in actual use in mending a cracked cylinder in an automobile. +The cylinder was repaired without being taken out at all. I've +seen it weld new teeth and build up worn teeth on gearing, as good +as new." + +He paused to let us see the terrifically heated metal under the +flame. + +"You remember when we were talking to the watchman down there at +the station, Walter?" he asked. "I saw this thing in that complete +little shop of theirs. It interested me. See. I turn on the oxygen +now in the second nozzle. The blow-pipe is no longer an instrument +for joining metals together, but for cutting them asunder. + +"The steel burns just as you, perhaps, have seen a watch-spring +burn in a jar of oxygen. Steel, hard or soft, tempered, annealed, +chrome, or Harveyized, it all burns just about as fast, and just +about as easily under this torch. And it's cheap, too. This +attack--aside from what it costs to the safe--may amount to a +couple of dollars as far as the blow-pipe is concerned--quite a +difference from the thousands of dollars' loss that would follow +an attempt to blow a safe like this one." + +We had nothing to say. We stood in awe-struck amazement as the +torch slowly, inexorably traced a thin line along the edge of the +combination. + +Minute after minute sped by, as the line burned by the blow-pipe +cut around the lock. It seemed hours, but really it was minutes. I +wondered when he would have cut about the whole lock. He was +cutting clear through and around it, severing it as if with a +superhuman knife. + +With something more than half his work done, he paused a moment to +rest. + +"Walter," he directed, mopping his forehead, for it was real work +directing that flaming knife, "get New York on the wire. See if +O'Connor is at his office. If he has any report, I want to talk to +him." + +It was getting late and the service was slackening up. I had some +trouble, especially in getting a good connection, but at last I +got headquarters and was overjoyed to hear O'Connor's bluff, Irish +voice boom back at me. + +"Hello, Jameson," he called. "Where on earth are you? I've been +trying to get hold of Kennedy for a couple of hours. Rockledge? +Well, is Kennedy there? Put him on, will you?" + +I called Craig and, as I did so, my curiosity got the better of me +and I sought out an extension of the wire in a den across the hall +from the library, where I could listen in on what was said. + +"Hello, O'Connor," answered Craig. "Anything from Burke yet?" + +"Yes," came back the welcome news. "I think he has a clue. We +found out from here that she received a long distance message +during the afternoon. Where did Jameson say you were--Rockledge?-- +that's the place. Of course we don't know what the message was, +but anyhow she went out to meet some one right after that. The +time corresponds with what the maid says." + +"Anything else?" asked Craig. "Have you found any one who saw +her?" + +"Yes. I think she went over to your laboratory. But you were out." + +"Confound it!" interrupted Craig. + +"Some one saw a woman there." + +"It wasn't the maid?" + +"No, this was earlier--in the afternoon. She left and walked +across the campus to the Museum." + +"Oh, by the way, any word of Norton?" + +"I'm coming to that. She inquired for Norton. The curator has +given a good description. But he was out--hadn't been there for +some time. She seemed to be very much upset over something. She +went away. After that we've lost her." + +"Not another trace?" + +"Wait a minute. We had this Rockledge call to work on. So we +started backward on that. It was Whitney's place, I found out. We +could locate the car at the start and at the finish. He left the +Prince Edward Albert and went up there first. Then he must have +come back to the city again. No one at the hotel saw him the +second time. + +"What then?" hastened Craig. + +"She may have met him somewhere, though it's not likely she had +any intention of going away. All the rest of those people you have +up there seem to have gone prepared. We got something on each of +them. Also you'll be interested to know I've got a report of your +own doings. It was right, Kennedy, I don't blame you. I'd have +done the same with Burke on the job. How are you making out? What? +You're cracking a crib? With what?" + +O'Connor whistled as Kennedy related the story of the blow-pipe. +"I think you're on the right track," he commended. "There's +nothing to show it, but I believe Whitney told her something that +changed her mind about going up there. Probably met her in some +tea room, although we can't find anything from the tea rooms. +Anyhow, Burke's out trailing along the road from New York to +Rockledge and I'm getting reports from him whenever he hits a +telephone." + +"I wish you'd ask him to call me, here, if he gets anything." + +"Sure I will. The last call was from the Chateau Rouge,--that's +about halfway. There was a car with a man and a woman who answers +her description. Then, there was another car, too." + +"Another car?" + +"Yes--that's where Norton crosses the trail again. We searched his +apartment. It was upset--like Whitney's. I haven't finished with +that. But we have a list of all the private hacking places. I've +located one that hired a car to a man answering Norton's +description. I think he's on the trail. That's what I meant by +another car." + +"What's he doing?" + +"Maybe he has a hunch. I'm getting superstitious about this case. +You know Luis de Mendoza has thirteen letters in it. Leslie told +me something about a threat he had--a curse. You better look out +for those two greasers you have up there. They may have another +knife for you." + +Kennedy glanced over at the de Moches, not in fear but in +amusement at what they would think if they could hear O'Connor's +uncultured opinion. + +"All right, O'Connor," said Craig, "everything seems to be going +as well as we can expect. Don't forget to tell Burke I'm here." + +"I won't. Just a minute. He's on another wire for me." + +Kennedy waited impatiently. He wanted to finish his job on the +safe before some one came walking in and stopped it, yet there was +always a chance that Burke might turn up something. + +"Hello," called O'Connor a few minutes later. "He's still +following the two cars. He thinks the one with the woman in it is +Whitney's, all right. But they've got off the main road. They must +think they're being followed. + +"Or else have changed their destination," returned Craig. "Tell +him that. Maybe Whitney had no intention of coming up here. He may +have done this thing just to throw these people off up here, too. +I can't say. I can tell better whether he intended to come back +after I've got this safe open. I'll let you know." + +Kennedy rang off. + +"Any news of Inez?" asked Lockwood who had been fuming with +impatience. + +"She's probably on her way up here," returned Craig briefly, +taking up the blow-pipe again. + +Alfonso remained silent. The Senora could scarcely hide her +excitement. If there were anything in telepathy, I am sure that +she read everything that was said over the wire. + +Quickly Craig resumed his work, biting through the solid steel as +if it had been mere pasteboard, the blow-pipe showering on each +side a brilliant spray of sparks, a gaudy, pyrotechnic display. + +Suddenly, with a quick motion, Kennedy turned off the acetylene +and oxygen. The last bolt had been severed, the lock was useless. +A gentle push of the hand, and he swung the once impregnable door +on its delicately poised hinges as easily as if he had merely +said, "Open sesame." + +Craig reached in and pulled open a steel drawer directly in front +of him. + +There in the shadow lay the dagger--with its incalculably valuable +secret, a poor, unattractive piece of metal, but with a +fascination such as no other object, I had ever seen, possessed. + +There was a sudden cry. The Senora had darted ahead, as if to +clasp its handle and unloose the murderous blade that nestled in +its three-sided sheath. + +Before she could reach it, Kennedy had seized her hand in his iron +grasp, while with the other he picked up the dagger. + +They stood there gazing into each other's eyes. + +Then the Senora burst into a hysterical laugh. + +"The curse is on all who possess it!" + +"Thank you," smiled Kennedy quietly, releasing her wrist as he +dropped the dagger into his pocket, "I am only the trustee." + + + + +XXIV + +THE POLICE DOG + + +Craig faced us, but there was no air of triumph in his manner. I +knew what was in his mind. He had the dagger. But he had lost +Inez. + +What were we to do? There seemed to be no way to turn. We knew +something of the manner of her disappearance. At first she had, +apparently, gone willingly. But it was inconceivable that she +stayed willingly, now. + +I recalled all the remarks that Whitney had ever made about her. +Had the truth come out in his jests? Was it Inez, not the dagger, +that he really wanted? + +Or was he merely the instrument of one or all of these people +before us, and was this an elaborate plan to throw Kennedy off and +prove an alibi for them? He had been the partner of Lockwood, the +intimate of de Moche. Which was he working for, now--or was he +working for himself alone? + +No answer came to my questions, and I reflected that none would +ever come, if we sat here. Yet there seemed to be no way to turn, +without risking putting ourselves in a worse position than before. +At least, until we had some better plan of campaign, we occupied a +strategic advantage in Whitney's own house. + +The hours of the night wore on. Midnight came. This inaction was +killing. Anything would be better than that + +Suddenly the telephone startled us. We had wanted it to ring, yet +when it rang we were afraid of it. What was its message? It was +with palpitating hearts that we listened, while Craig answered. + +"Yes, Burke," we heard him reply, "this is Kennedy." + +There came a pause during which we could scarcely wait. + +"Where are you now? Cold Stream. That is about twelve miles from +Rockledge--not on the New York road--the other road. I see. All +right. We'll be there. Yes, wait for us." + +As Craig hung up the receiver, we crowded forward. "Have they +found her?" asked Lockwood hoarsely. + +"It was from Burke," replied Kennedy deliberately. "He is at a +place called Cold Stream, twelve miles from here. He tells me that +we can find it easily--on a state road, at a sharp curve that has +been widened out, just this side of the town. There has been an +accident--Whitney's car is wrecked." + +Lockwood seized his elbow. "My God," he exclaimed, "tell me--she +isn't--hurt, is she? Quick!" + +"So far Burke has not been able to discover a trace of a thing, +except the wrecked car," replied Kennedy. "I told him I would be +over directly. Lockwood, you may take Jameson and Alfonso. I will +go with the Senora and their driver." + +I saw instantly why he had divided the party. Neither mother nor +son was to have a chance to slip away from us. Surely both +Lockwood and I should be a match for Alfonso. Senora de Moche he +would trust to none but himself. + +Eagerly now we prepared for the journey, late though it was. No +one now had a thought of rest. There could be no rest with that +mystery of Inez challenging us. + +We were off at last, Lockwood's car leading, for although he did +not know the roads exactly, he had driven much about the country. +I should have liked to have sat in front with him, but it seemed +safer to stay in the back with Alfonso. In fact, I don't think +Lockwood would have consented, otherwise, to have his rival back +of him. + +Kennedy and the Senora made a strange pair, the ancient order and +the ultra-modern. There was a peculiar light in her eyes that +gleamed forth at the mere mention of the words, "wreck." Though +she said nothing, I knew that through her mind was running the one +tenacious thought. It was the working out of the curse! As for +Craig, he was always seeking the plausible, natural reason for +what to the rest of us was inexplicable, often supernatural. To +him she was a fascinating study. + +On we sped, for Lockwood was a good driver and now was spurred on +by an anxiety that he could not conceal. Yet his hand never +faltered at the wheel. He seemed to read the signs at the cross- +roads without slackening speed. In spite of all that I knew, I +found myself compelled to admire him. Alfonso sat back, for the +most part silent. The melancholy in his face seemed to have +deepened. He seemed to feel that he was but a toy in the hands of +fate. Yet I knew that underneath must smoulder the embers of a +bitter resentment. + +It seemed an interminable ride even at the speed which we were +making. Twelve miles in the blackness of a country night can seem +like a hundred. + +At last as we turned a curve, and Lockwood's headlights shone on +the white fence that skirted the outer edge of the road as it +swung around a hill that rose sharply to our left and dropped off +in a sort of ravine at the right beyond the fence, I felt the car +tremble as he put on the brakes. + +A man was waving his arms for us to stop, and as we did, he ran +forward. He peered in at us and I recognized Burke. + +"Whe-where's Kennedy?" he asked, disappointed, for the moment +fearing he had made a mistake and signalled the wrong car. + +"Coming," I replied, as we heard the driver of the other car +sounding his horn furiously as he approached the curve. + +Burke jumped to the safe side of the road and ran on back to +signal to stop. It was then for the first time that I paid +particular attention to the fence ahead of us on which now both +our own and the lights of the other car shone. At one point it was +torn and splintered, as though something had gone through it. + +"Great heavens, you don't mean to say that they went over that?" +muttered Lockwood, jumping down and running forward. + +Kennedy had joined us by this time and we all hurried over. Down +in the ravine we could see a lantern which Burke had brought and +which was now resting on the overturned chassis of the car. + +Lockwood was down there ahead of us all, peering under the heavy +body fearfully, as if he expected to see two forms of mangled +flesh. He straightened up, then took the lantern and flashed it +about. There was nothing except cushions and a few parts of the +car within the radius of its gleam. + +"Where are they?" he demanded, turning to us. "It's Whitney's car, +all right." + +Burke shook his head. "I've traced the car so far. They were +getting ahead of me, when this happened." + +Together we managed to right the car which was on a hillock. It +sank a little further down the hill, but at least we could look +inside it. + +"Bring the lantern," ordered Kennedy. + +Minutely, part by part, he went over the car. "Something went +wrong," he muttered. "It is too much wrecked to tell what it was. +Flash the light over here," he directed, stepping over the seat +into the back of the tonneau. + +A moment later he took the light himself and held it close to the +rods that supported the top. I saw him reach down and pull from +them a few strands of dark hair that had caught between the rods +and had been pulled out or broken. + +"No need of Bertillon's palette of human hair to identify that," +he exclaimed." There isn't time to study it and if there were it +would be unnecessary. She was with him, all right." + +"Yes," agreed Lockwood. "But where is she now--where is he? Could +they have been hurt, picked up by some one and carried where they +could get aid?" + +Burke shook his head. "I inquired at the nearest house ahead. I +had to do it in order to telephone. They knew nothing." + +"But they are gone," persisted Lockwood. "There is the bottom of +the bank. You can see that they are not here." + +Kennedy had taken the light and climbed the bank again and was now +going over the road as minutely as if he were searching for a lost +diamond. + +"Look!" he exclaimed. + +Where the Whitney car had skidded and gone over the bank, the +tires had dug deep into the top dressing, making little mounds. +Across them now we could see the tracks of other tires that had +pressed down the mounds. + +"Some one else has been here," reconstructed Kennedy. "He passed, +then stopped and backed up. Perhaps they were thrown out, +unconscious, and he picked them up." + +It seemed to be the only reasonable supposition. + +"But they knew nothing at the next house," persisted Burke. + +"Is there a road leading off before you get to the house?" asked +Kennedy. + +"Yes--it crosses the line into Massachusetts." + +"It is worth trying--it is the only thing we can do," decided +Kennedy. "Drive slowly to the crossroads. Perhaps we can pick out +the tire-prints there. They certainly won't show on the road +itself. It is too hard." + +At the crossing we stopped and Kennedy dropped down on his hands +and knees again with the light. + +"There it is," he exclaimed. "The same make of anti-skid tire, at +least. There was a cut in the rear tire--just like this. See? It +is the finger-print of the motor car. I think we are right. Turn +up here and run slowly." + +On we went slowly, Kennedy riding on the running-board of the car +ahead. Suddenly he raised his hand to stop, and jumped down. + +We gathered about him. Had he found a continuation of the tire- +tracks? There were tracks but he was not looking at them. He was +looking between them. There ran a thin line. + +He stuck his finger in it and sniffed. "Not gas," he remarked. "It +must have been the radiator, leaking. Perhaps he ran his car into +Whitney's--forced it too far to the edge of the road. We can't +tell. But he couldn't have gone far with that leak without finding +water--or cracked cylinders." + +With redoubled interest now we resumed the chase. We had mounted a +hill and had run down into the shadows of a valley when, following +in the second car, we heard a shout from Kennedy in the first. + +Halfway up the hill across the valley, he had come upon an +abandoned car. It had evidently reached its limit, the momentum of +the previous hill had carried it so far up the other, then the +driver had stopped it and let it back slowly off the road into a +clump of bushes that hid a little gully. + +But that was all. There was not a sign of a person about. Whatever +had happened here had happened some hours before. We looked about. +All was Cimmerian darkness. Not a house or habitation of man or +beast was in sight, though they might not be far away. + +We beat about the under-brush, but succeeded in stirring up +nothing but mosquitoes. + +What were we to do? We were wasting valuable time. Where should we +go? + +"I doubt whether they would have kept on the road," reasoned +Kennedy. "They must have known they would be followed. The hardest +place to follow them would be across country." + +"With a lantern?" I objected. "We can't do it." + +Kennedy glanced at his watch. "It will be three hours before there +is light enough to see anything by," he considered. "They have had +at least a couple of hours. Five hours is too good a start. Burke- +-take one of the cars. Go ahead along the road. We mustn't neglect +that. I'll take the other. I want to get back to that house and +call O' Connor. Walter, you stay here with the rest." + +We separated and I felt that, although I was doing nothing, I had +my hands full watching these three. + +Lockwood was restless and could not help beating around in the +under-brush, in the hope of turning up something. Now and then he +would mutter to himself some threat if anything happened to Inez. +I let him occupy himself, for our own, as much as his, peace of +mind. Alfonso had joined his mother in the car and they sat there +conversing in low tones in Spanish, while I watched them +furtively. + +Of a sudden, I became aware that I missed the sound of Lockwood +beating about the under-brush. I called, but there was no answer. +Then we all called. There came back nothing but a mocking echo. I +could not follow him. If I did, I would lose the de Moches. + +Had he been laying low, waiting his opportunity to get away? Or +was he playing a lone hand? Much as I suspected about him, during +the past few hours I had come to admire him. + +I sent the de Moche driver out to look for him, but he seemed +afraid to venture far, and, of course, returned and said that he +could not find him. Even in his getaway, Lockwood had been +characteristic. He had been strong enough to bide his time, clever +enough to throw every one off guard. It put a new aspect on the +case for me. Had Whitney intended the capture of Inez for +Lockwood? Had our coming so unexpectedly into the case thrown the +plans awry and was it the purpose to leave them marooned at +Rockledge while we were shunted off in the city? That, too, was +plausible. I wished Kennedy would return before anything else +happened. + +It was not long by the clock before Kennedy did return. But it +seemed ages to me. + +He was not alone. With him was a man in a uniform, and a powerful +dog, for all the world like a huge wolf. + +"Down, Searchlight," he ordered, as the dog began to show an +uncanny interest in me. "Let me introduce my new dog detective," +he chuckled. "She has a wonderful record as a police dog. I got +O'Connor out of bed and he telephoned out to the nearest suburban +station. That saved a good deal of time in getting her up here." + +I mustered up courage to tell Kennedy of the defection of +Lockwood. He did not seem to mind it especially. + +"He won't get far, with the dog after him, if we want to take the +time," he said. "She's a German sheep dog, a Schaeferhund." + +Searchlight seemed to have many of the characteristics of the +wild, prehistoric animal, among them the full, upright ears of the +wild dog, which are such a great help to it. She was a fine, +alert, upstanding dog, hardy, fierce, and literally untiring, of a +tawny light brown like a lioness, about the same size and somewhat +of the type of the smooth-coated collie, broad of chest and with a +full brush of tail. Untamed as she seemed, she was perfectly under +Kennedy's control and rendered him absolute and unreasoning +obedience. + +They took her over to the abandoned car. There they let her get a +good whiff of the bottom of the car about the driver's feet, and a +moment later she started off. + +Alfonso and his mother insisted on going with us and that made our +progress across country slow. + +On we went over the rough country, through a field, then skirting +a clump of woods until at last we came to a lane. + +We stopped in the shadow of a thicket. There was an empty summer +home. Was there some intruder there? Was it really empty? + +Now and then we could hear Searchlight scouting about in the +under-brush, crouching and hiding, watching and guarding. We +paused and waited in the heavily-laden night air, wondering. The +soughing of the night wind in the evergreens was mournful. Did it +betoken a further tragedy? + +There was a slight noise from the other side of the house. Craig +reached out and drew us back into the shadow of the thicket, +deeper. + +"Some one is prowling about, I think. Leave it to the dog." + +Searchlight, who had been near us, was sniffing eagerly. From our +hiding-place we could just see her. She had heard the sounds, too, +even before we had, and for an instant stood with every muscle +tense. + +Then, like an arrow, she darted into the underbrush. An instant +later, the sharp crack of a revolver rang out. Searchlight kept +right on, never stopping a second, except, perhaps, in surprise. + +"Crack!" almost in her face came a second spit of fire in the +darkness, and a bullet crashed through the leaves and buried +itself in a tree with a ping. The intruder's marksmanship was +poor, but the dog paid no attention to it. + +"One of the few animals that show no fear of gun-fire," muttered +Kennedy, in undisguised admiration. + +"G-r-r-r," we heard from the police dog. + +"She has made a leap at the hand that holds the gun," cried +Kennedy, now rising and moving rapidly in the same direction. "She +has been taught that a man once badly bitten in the hand is nearly +out of the fight." + +We followed also. As we approached we were just in time to see +Searchlight running in and out between the legs of a man who had +heard us approach and was hastily making tracks away. As he +tripped, the officer who brought her blew shrilly on a police +whistle just in time to stop a fierce lunge at his back. + +Reluctantly, Searchlight let go. One could see that with all her +canine instinct she wanted to "get" that man. Her jaws were open, +as, with longing eyes, she stood over the prostrate form in the +grass. The whistle was a signal, and she had been taught to obey +unquestioningly. + +"Don't move until we get to you, or you are a dead man," shouted +Kennedy, pulling an automatic as he ran. "Are you hurt?" + +There was no answer, but, as we approached, the man moved, ever so +little, through curiosity to see his pursuers. + +Searchlight shot forward. Again the whistle sounded and she +dropped back. We bent over to seize him, as Kennedy secured the +dog. + +"She's a devil," ground out the prone figure on the grass. + +"Lockwood!" exclaimed Kennedy. + + + + +XXV + +THE GOLD OF THE GODS + + +"What are you doing here?" demanded Craig, astonished. + +"I couldn't wait for you to get back. I thought I'd do a little +detective work on my own account. I kept getting further and +further away, knew you'd find me, anyhow. But I didn't think you'd +have a brute like that," he added, binding up his hand ruefully. +"Is there any trace of Inez?" + +"Not yet. Why did you pick out this house?" asked Kennedy, still +suspicious. + +"I saw a light here, I thought," answered Lockwood frankly. "But +as I approached, it went out. Maybe I imagined it." + +"Let us see." + +Kennedy spoke a few words to the man with the dog. He slipped the +leash, with a word that we did not catch, and the dog bounded off, +around the house, as she was accustomed to do when out on duty +with an officer in the city suburbs, circling about the backs of +houses as the man on the beat walked the street. She made noise +enough about it, too, tumbling over a tin pail that had been +standing on the back porch steps. + +"Bang!" + +Some one was in the house and was armed. In the darkness he had +not been able to tell whether an attack was being made or not, but +had taken no chances. At any rate, now we knew that he was +desperate. + +I thought of all the methods Kennedy had adopted to get into +houses in which the inmates were desperate. But always they had +been about the city where he could call upon the seemingly +exhaustless store of apparatus in his laboratory. Here we were +faced by the proposition with nothing to rely on but our native +wit and a couple of guns. + +Besides, I did not know whether to count on Lockwood as an ally or +not. My estimation of him had been rising and falling like the +barometer in a summer shower. I had been convinced that he was +against us. But his manner and plausibility now equally convinced +me that I had been mistaken. I felt that it would take some +supreme action on his part to settle the question. That crisis was +coming now. + +I think all of us would willingly have pushed Alfonso forward. But +the relations of the de Moches with Whitney had been so close that +I no more trusted him than I did Lockwood. And if I could not make +out Lockwood, a man at least of our own race and education, how +could I expect to fathom Alfonso? + +It seemed, then, to rest with Kennedy and myself. At least so +Craig appraised the situation. + +"You have a gun, Walter," he directed, "Lockwood, give yours to +Jameson." + +Lockwood hesitated. Could he trust being unarmed, while Kennedy +and I had all the weapons? + +Craig had not stopped to ask Alfonso. As he laid out the attack he +merely tapped the young man's pockets to see whether he was armed +or not, and finding nothing faced us again, Lockwood still +hesitating. + +"I want Walter," explained Craig, "to go around back of the house. +It is there they must be expecting an attack. He can take up his +position behind that oak. It will be safe enough. By firing one +gun on each side of the tree he can make enough noise for half a +dozen. Then you and I can rush the front of the house." + +Lockwood had nothing better to suggest. Reluctantly he handed over +his revolver. + +I dropped back from them and skirted the house at a safe distance +so as not to be seen, then came up back of the tree. + +Carefully I aimed at the glass of a window on the first floor, as +offering the greatest opportunity for making a racket, which was +the object I had in mind. + +I fired from the right and the glass was shattered in a thousand +bits. Another shot from the left broke the light out of another +window on the opposite side. + +The house was a sort of bungalow, with most of the rooms on the +first floor, and a small second story or attic window. That went +next. Altogether I felt that I was giving a splendid account of +myself. + +From the house came a rapid volley in reply. Whoever was in there +was not going to surrender without a fight. One after another I +plugged away with my shots, now bent on making the most of them. +With the answering shots it made quite a merry little fusillade, +and I was glad enough to have the shelter of the staunch oak which +two or three times was hit squarely at about the level of my +shoulders. I had never before heard the whirr of so many bullets +about me, and I cannot say that I enjoyed it. + +But my attack was what Craig wanted. I heard a noise in the front +of the house, as of feet running, and then I knew that in spite of +all he had given me the least dangerous part of the attack. + +I plugged away valiantly with what shots I had left, then leaving +just one more in the chamber of each gun, I hurried around in the +shadow, my blood up, to help them. + +With the aid of the officer, they had just forced the light door +and Searchlight had been allowed to leap in ahead of them, as I +came up. + +"Here," I said to Lockwood, handing him back his gun, "take it, +there is just one shot left." + +I, at least, had expected to find one, perhaps two desperate men +waiting for us. Evidently our ruse had worked. The room was dark, +but there seemed to be no one in it, though we could hear sounds +as though some one were hastily barricading the door that led from +the front to the room at which I had been firing. + +Lockwood struck a match. + +"Confound it, don't!" muttered Craig, knocking it from his hand. +"They can see us well enough without helping them." + +"Chester!" + +We stood transfixed. It was a woman's voice. Where did it come +from? Could she be in the room? + +"Chester--is that you?" + +"Yes, Inez. Where are you?" + +"I ran up here--in this attic--when I heard the shots." + +"Come down, then. All is right, now." + +She came down a half ladder, half flight of steps. At the foot she +paused just a moment and hesitated. Then, like a frightened bird, +she flew to the safety of Lockwood's arms. + +"Mr. Whitney," she sobbed, "called me up and told me that he had +something very important to say, a message from you. He said that +he had the dagger, in his safe, up in the country. He told me +you'd be there and that you expected me to come up with him in his +car. I went. We had some trouble with the engine. And then that +other car--the one that followed us, came up behind and forced us +off the bank. Mr. Whitney and I were both stunned. I don't +remember a thing after that, until I woke up here. Where is it?" + +I listened, with one eye on that door that had been barricaded. +Was Lockwood really innocent, after all? I could not think that +Inez Mendoza could make such a mistake, if he were not. + +Lockwood clenched his fists. "Some one shall pay for this," he +exclaimed. + +There was the problem--the inner room. Who would go in? We looked +at each other a moment. + +The room in which we were was a living room, and perhaps, when +there were visitors in the little house, was a guest-room. At any +rate, on one side was a huge davenport by day which could be +transformed into a folding bed at night. + +Lockwood looked about hastily and his eye fell on the door, then +on this folding bed. + +With a wrench, he opened it and seized the cotton mattress from +the inside. With his gun ready he advanced toward the barricaded +door, holding the mattress as a shield, for his experience in wild +countries had taught him that a cotton mattress is about as good a +thing to stop bullets as one could find on the spur of the moment. + +Kennedy and the officer followed just behind, and the three threw +their weights on the door almost before we knew what they were +about. + +"Chester--don't!" cried Inez in alarm, too late. "He'll--kill +you!" + +The excitement had been too much for her. She reeled, fainting, +and I caught her. + +Before I could restore the davenport to something like its +original condition so that we could take care of her, the first +onslaught was over. + +Three guns were sticking their blue noses into the darkness of the +next room. + +"Hands up!" shouted Craig, "Drop your gun! Let me hear it fall!" + +There followed a thud and Kennedy, followed by Lockwood and the +officer entered. + +As they fumbled to strike a light, I managed to open a window and +let in some fresh air, while the Senora, for once human, loosened +the throat of Inez' dress and fanned her. + +Through the open door, now, I could hear what was going on in the +next room, but could not see. + +"It was you, Lockwood," I heard a familiar voice accusing, "who +was in the Museum the night the dagger disappeared." + +"Yes," replied Lockwood, a bit disdainfully. "I suspected +something crooked about that dagger. I thought that if I made a +copy of the inscription on the blade, I might decipher it myself, +or get some one to do it for me. I went in and, when a chance +came, I hid in the sarcophagus. There I waited until the Museum +was closed. Then, when finally I got to the place where I thought +the dagger was--it was gone!" + +"The point is," cut in Craig, interrupting, "who was the +mysterious visitor to Mendoza the night of his murder?" + +He paused. No one seemed to be disposed to answer and he went on, +"Who else than the man who sought to sell the secret on its blade, +in return for Inez for whom he had a secret passion? I have +reasoned it all out--the offer, the quarrel, the stabbing with the +dagger itself, and the escape down the stairs, instead of by the +elevator." + +"And I," put in Lockwood, "coming to report to Mendoza my failure +to find the dagger, found him dead--and at once was suspected of +being the murderer!" + +Inez had revived and her quick ears had caught her lover's voice +and the last words. + +Weak as she was, she sprang up and fairly ran into the next room. +"No--Chester--No!" she cried. "I never suspected--not even when I +saw the shoe-prints. No--that is the man,--there--I know it--I +know it!" + +I hurried after her, as she flung herself again between Lockwood +and the rest of us, as if to shield him, while Lockwood proudly +caressed the stray locks of dark hair that fluttered on his +shoulder. + +I looked in the direction all were looking. + +Before us stood, unmasked at last, the scientific villain who had +been plotting and scheming to capture both the secret and Inez-- +well knowing that suspicion would rest either on Lockwood, the +soldier of fortune, or on the jealous Indian woman whose son had +been rejected and whose brother he had himself already, secretly, +driven to an insane suicide in his unscrupulous search for the +treasure of Truxillo. + +It was Professor Norton, himself--first thief of the dagger which +later he had hidden but which Whitney's detectives had stolen in +turn from him; writer of anonymous letters, even to himself to +throw others off the trail; maker of stramonium cigarettes with +which to confuse the minds of his opponents, Whitney, Mendoza, and +the rest; secret lover of Inez whom he demanded as the price of +the dagger; and murderer of Don Luis. + +Senora de Moche and Alfonso, behind me, could only gasp their +astonishment. Much as she would have liked to have the affair end +in a general vindication of the curse she could not control a +single, triumphant thrust. + +"His blood," she cried, transfixing Norton with her stern eyes, +"has cried out of Titicaca for vengeance from that day to this!" + +"Want any help?" + +We all turned toward the door as Burke, dust-covered and tired, +stamped in, followed by a man whose face was bandaged and bloody. + +"I heard shots. Is it all over?" + +But we paid no attention to Burke. + +There was Whitney, considerably banged up by the fall, but lucky +to be alive. + +"I tried to shake him," he explained, catching sight of Norton. +"But he stuck to us, even on our detours. Finally he grew +desperate--forced my car off the road. What happened after that, I +don't know. He must have carried me some miles, insensible, and +dumped me in the bushes again. I was several miles up the hill, +tramping along, looking for a road-house, when this gentleman +found me and said I had gone too far." + +Senora de Moche turned from Lockwood and Inez who were standing, +oblivious to the rest of us, and stared at Whitney's bruised and +battered face. + +"It is the curse," she muttered. "It will never-- + +"Just a moment," interrupted Craig, drawing the dagger from his +pocket, and turning toward Inez. "It was to your ancestor that the +original possessor of the secret promised to give the 'big fish,' +when he was killed." + +He paused and handed the dagger to her. She touched it shuddering, +but as though it were a duty. + +"Take it," he said simply. "The secret is yours. Only love can +destroy the curse on the Gold of the Gods." + +THE END + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE GOLD OF THE GODS *** + +This file should be named goldg10.txt or goldg10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, goldg11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, goldg10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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