- " THE WILMINGTON DISPATCH SATURDAY AFTERN OON, DECEMBER 22; 1317 v ? " c ;,
1
PAGE TWO
ARTHUR B. REEVE
I.
r
.it'-
If
v.
(Copyrifih. K:r, 1-y Tie McClure Nowsr-apcr
. . H i i - i - i , . 1 : . ..Mr ..-.,,1.1 c li lid
ot,-r ;n
Tliink of It-five
exf)lo3io?.3 or-. Ave succ- ssivo
days.
and P.C- a. ililC-
c: clue.
had t-rcsonten i card bear -
Our visitor
,ltr -t!, n.-nnr- of Dc-.iitM MacU'od, c'.ik-t
of the Nilropolis I'owtk-r Coinpusiy" .S
liat he was
rj t'AvL3 ;miii.-,l-:u. Muuui j nave at:rac-tf-a aiienuo1. tcit-vic-i j PP4 ngn. rri -
eroritlv worried ovt- tiie ease about j furrolinded by a barbed-wire fence, six
i ' . , , , T wr( .l Jfeet hi-h and constructed in a' manner
-which he had at la,t bcn xoiced to con . cirnilar to tlie fences Jn proteet-
sult Kennedy. in pricn-c.mps in var-timea. At vari-
s h" 'poke, I remembered bavins read : oi:s places along' the sevcrprl miles of
in the despatches about the explosions.; fence saics were pced. with armed
m tnc u.u siiardr. M&ny Other .features, were sag-
but the accounts had been so nieaei , Pstive of war.time3. One that Impress-
I L nt-- -- " ' j
that I had not realised that there was
anything especially unusual about them,
for it was at the time when accidents in
and attacks on munitions plants were of
common occurrence.
"Why." went on MacLeod, "the whole
business is as mysterious as if there
were some phantom destroyer at work!;0f new money. Originally, tnore had
The men are so frightened that they
threaten to quit. Several have been
killed. There's something strange about
that, too. There are ugly rumors of poi
sonous gases being responsible, quite as
much as the explosions, though, so far,
I've been able to find nothing in that
notion."
"What sort of place is it?" asked Ken
nedy, interested at once.
'Well, you see," explained MacLeod,
"since the company's or.smefs has in
creased so fast lately, it has been forced
to erect a now plant. Perhaps you have
heard of the Old Grove Amusement Park,
which failed? It's not far from that."
MacLeod looked at us inquiringly ".nd
, Kennedy nodded to go on, though I am
sure neither of us was familiar with the
1 place. "They've called the new plant
' Nitropolis rather a neat name for a
' powder-works, don't you think?" re
Fumed MacLeod. "Everything went
': along all right until a few days ago.
Then one of the buildings, a storehouse,
; -was blown up.
We couldn't be sure that I
it was an accident, so we redoubled our
precautions. It was of no i:
That
Ftarted it. The very next day another
building was blown up, then another,
until now tnu:e have been five of them.
,' Wlvrt TPy happen today Heaven only
. knows
can."
I want to get bark as soon as I I
"Rather too frequent. I must admit
to
be cc Incidences," rcmarkeel Kennedy.
"Xo; they can't all be accidents," as
serted MacLeod, confidently. "There's too
great regularity for that. I think I've
considered almost everything. I don't
see how they can be from bombs placed
by workmen. At least, its not a bit j
likely. Besides, the explosions all occur ,
jjn broad daylight, not at night. We'ni-j
;very careful about the men we em;.ioy,
' and they're watched all the time. The
company has a guard of its own. twen-ity-five
picked men, under me all honor
fv.V.y discharged United States array
. JKCI!."
'You have formed no theory of your
ow:;7 ' waciied Kennedy.
MacLeod paused, then drew from his
pocket the clipping of a despatch from
thc front in which one of the war correspondents-
reported the destruction of
;wire entanglements with heat supposed
Jto have been applied by the use of re
;' fleeting mirrors.
"I'm reduced to pure speculation," he
remaiked. "Today they seem to be re-
viving jill the ancient practices. Maybe
' tome one is j,oing at it like Archimedes."
el inpo.ssiLlc," returned Craig, hand
ing twek to clipping.
"Could it be so"ie one who i.i project
ing i ,1'Liily .--iro'e:; force which causes
the- f-xp!os:cns'.'" I put in. mindful of a
Trevioj-? cv.k: of Kennedy's. "We all
' k:: ;w tiiat inventors have been working
for year.- onth-j idea of making explo
sives obsolete and guns junk. If some
ore' har hit on a way of guiding an elec-
Ti'- wnve through the air and cohcen
i rating fit a point, munitions-plants
could be wiped out."
M-cIed looked anxiovsly from me to
Kennedy, but Crair betrayed nothing by
hir, f '.e-.; rx-'.-pt his interest.
"5?eme-UiT!'f; I hive imagined I heard a
T-ffu": ;. iVint. whirring noirse in the air,"
. h-? -r.- i i r-l thoushtfuUy "I thought of
)r-t ' in men on the watch for lr-
ri;:-:, h " they've never seep' a trace of
rn"-.
Tt might be some power either like
!.e added, shaking the clipping.
-v ; .-.
""r I:
:f th.it which Mr. Jameson sug-
"!:'.: something like that you meant,- I
r r::u n-.o, v. hen you called St a 'phantom
''.r'.roycr' a moment agof asked Ken-
reflv.
MacLeod nodded.
"If yor.'r i!it'-rfted." lie pursued, has
tily, "and feel !:ke uoing down there to
look things over, I think the best place
; ror you to go would be to the Sned
den:;'. They're some people who have
re-n a eh'i'"-c to make a little money
out of tlrr bccirn. Many visitors are now
icmin,' and going on business connect
ed with the new works. They have
rtaricl a boarding-house or, rather,
Mrs. Sneddon has. There's a daughter,
. iro, who pe -ems to be very popular."
-..'ennedv gtenfod whimsically at m
"Well. V."a!tr-r," he remarked, tenta
tively, "entirely aide o?v the young
l.idy, this ought to mak v. good story
'or the Star."
Indeed it ou-ht!" I reph1. enthusi
i!5:tira!!y. ,
"Then you'll go down to . itropolis?"
rjueried MnfTod. eagerly. "You can
catch a Ira In that will pet you there
about noon. And the company will pay
you well."
"MacLeod, with the mystery. Miss
Snedden, and the remuneration, you are
irresistible," smiled Kennedy.
"Thank you," returned (he detective.
'Ydu won't regret it. I ean't tell you
how- much relieved I foej to have some
one else, and, above all, yourself, on
the case. You can get. n train in half
,en hour. I think it would be best for
iyou to go as though you had no connee-
,' tion with me at least for the present."
Kennedy agreed, and MacLeod excus-
, rd himself, promising to be on the train,
alt gh hot to ride with us, in ease we
j should' he the target of too inquisitive
j eyes.
For a few minutes, while our taxicab
was coming, jennrjy considered
thoughtfurly-what the company detec
tive had said. ' By the time the vehicle
had arrived he had hurriedly packed up
some apparatus. In two larsre trrin
, ofWhich it fell to my lot to carry.
The trip down to. Nitropolis was unin
I teresting. and we arrived at the little
J station shortly after noon. MacLeod
) was on the train,, but did "not speak to
;us, and It was ' perhaps just as well,
! for the;abmen and others hanging about
the station vcrc
arrival:? .tntiinj- cu-i v. M Vnclod must ,
liaye attractr-d atienuo . ' e Eciecteo
or were, rat!:c!-, "3c-?etpJ by one .-of the
cabn.on an.f. iVvcti ftnjrvdfately to the
SiK.'dtiivi hisa-r. Our cover, w'iia, as Crais
jand I had ."ccldotl. to porjj as two r.cws-.j
; paper tii-n from New yor-, that bc:n;5 ,
! the casiet v
r.y to nceoiint for any unaae
inieii:Ft we imgnt -snow m tninjrs.
The iowd:r cuirtpany's fli't was situ-
j ate,l on a kirtre tract of land which was
etl l1s nl0St was that each workman had
to carry a pass similar, almost, to a
passport. Thi3 entire fence, we learned,
wa3 ratrolled day and night by armed
guards.
A ial!c or so from the plant, or Just
outside the main gate, quite a settle
ment had grown up, like a mushroom.
almost overnight the product of a noon
been only one house ror some distance
about that of the Sneddens. But now
there were scores of hour.es, mostly these
of officials and managers, some of them
really pretentious affairs. MacLeod him
self lived in one of them, and we could
see him ahead, of us, being driven home.
Just at present, however, it was the
Snedden house that interested us most,
for we felt the need cf getting ourselves
established in this strange community.
It was an old-fashioned farm-house and
i had -been purchased very cheaply by
Snedden several years before. He had
altered it and brought it. up to date, and
the combination of old and new proved
to be typical of the owner as well as .
the house.
Kennedy carried off well the critical
situation of our introduction, and we
found ourselves welcomed rather than
scrutinized as intruders.
Garfield Snedden was much older than j
his second wife. Ida. In fact, she did
no
t seem to he much older than Sncd
n s daughter Gertrude, whom Mac-1
de
Leod had already mentioned -a dashing,
young ladyv never intended by nature to j
vegetate in the rural seclusion that herj
father had sou
ught before the advent or.
the powder-works. Mrs. Sneddon was
one of those ' capable women who can
manage a man without ni;; hnoingii..
indeed, one re-it mat aneunen. uv
somewhat of both student and dreamer. !
needed a manager.
"T'm clad vour train was on time, i
bustled Mrs. Snedden. "Luncheon will'
be ready in a few moments now."
We had barely time to look about be
fore Gertrude led us into the dining-room
and introduced us to the cner ooaraers.
Knowing human nature. Kennedy was
careful to be struck with admiration and
amazement at everything we had seen in j
our hrief whirl through Nitropolis. It 1
: was not a difficult -or entirely assumed
fool-In either whpn nnp realized that.
. . r aut ti,c hofnrp tliA rt-
gion had been nothing better than an al
most helpless wilderness of scrub-pines.
We did not have to wait long before
tne subject uppermost in our minds was
brought up the explosions,
Among the boarders there were at least
wo who, from the start, promised to ne
interesting as well as important. One
was a tall, slender chap named Garret
sor. whose connection with the company,
I gathered from the conversation, took
him often on important matters to New
York. The other was an older man.
Jackson, who seemed to be connected
with the management of the works, a
reticent fellow, more given to listening
to others than to talking himself.
"Nothing has happened so far today,
anyhow," remarked Garretson. tapping
the back of his chair with his knuckle,
as a token of' respect for that evil spirit
who seems to be exorcised by knocking
wood.
"Oh." exclaimed Gertrude, with a lit
tle half-suppressed shudder. "I do hope
those terrible explosions are at last
over."
"If I hnd my way." said Garretson,
savagely, "I'd put this town under mar
tial law until they were over."
"It may come to that," put in Jack
sen, quietly
"Quite in keeping with the present ten
dency of the age." agreed Snedden, in a
tone of philosoohical disagreement.
"I don't think it makes much differ
ence how you accomplish the result.
Garfield." chimed in his wife, "as long
as you accomplish it. and it is one that
should be accomplished."
Snedden retreated into the refuge of
silence.
It needed no second sight to discover
that both -he and Gertrude were deeply
interested in each oth--r. Garretson was
what Broadway would call "a live one,"
and. though there is nothing essentially
wrong in that fact, I fancied that I de
tected, now and then, an almost ma
ternal solicitude on the part of her step
mother, who seemed to h watching both
the voung man and her husband alter
nately. Once 'Jackson and Mrs. Snedden
exchanged glances. There seemed to be
some understanding between them.
The time to return to the works was
approaching, and we all rose. Somehow,
Gertrude and Garretson seemed naturally
to gravitate toward the door together.
Some distance from the house there
was a large barn. Part of it had been
turned into a garage, where Garretson
kept a fast ear. Jackson, also, had a
roadster, in fact, in this new community,
with its superabundant new wealth, ev
erybody had a car.
Kennedy and I sauntered out after the
rest. As we turned an angle of the house
we came suddenly upon Garretson in his
racer, talking to Gertrude. The crunch
of the gravel under our feet warned
them before we saw them, but not before
we could catch a glimpse of a warning
finger on the rosy lips of Gertrhde. As
she saw us she blushed ever so slightly.
"You'll be late!" she cried, hastily.
Mr. Jackson has been gone five minutes."
"On foot," returned Oarret.on, noncha
lantly. "I'll overtake him in thirty sec
onds." Nevertheless, he did not wait
longer, but swung up the road at a pace
which was the admiration of all speed
loving Nitropolitans.
Craig had ordered our taxicab driver
to stop for us after lunch, and, without
exciting suspicion, managed to stowaway
the larger part of the; contents of our
grips in his car.
Still without openly showing our con
nection with MacLeod, Kennedy sought
out the manager of the works, and,
though scores, of correspondents and re
porters from various newspapers had
vainly applied for permission to inspect,
the plant; somehow we seemed to receive
the freed6m of the place and without ex
citing suspicion.'
Craig's first move was to look the plant
over. As we approached it our attention
was instantly attracted to the numerous
one-story galvanized-iron buildings that
appeared to stretch endlessly in every di
rection. They seemed to be of a tempo
rary nature, though the power-plants, of
fices and other necessary buildings vwere
very substantially built. The framework
of the factory, traildlnsns was nothing: feut
Wftert iiflvm- tit, vkW-.ttKtfailitnf isfcrvV pvp n I
! tlP Rlnfifin WCtV KM T WatCMinK nCW. - ' -r : . r - , J;:; . . . , ,
aiTlval rtnVt-any ) v. Vnclod must , ; ' .. .-, . ' - "V- " ' . . ' I
iI.TV.-i. vm". - -- . ill I H 6raal-jfc Mi- Ui i,? U V! n 3 . M M ti M . . N t3 H U . S W ST
Snalon Our cover, waa. as urais : 1 W L a,.18.-;!L-2lra : . Ja&. :tk : I.I
r-.v.u j ...,
I " - ' - - . " -
the sides- seoEied to be re-.novab:.- The
Rodrs.' liQ'.Yevpt-. 'gvv;oi concrete, yfg
'"They' serve -the'r purpose well," -b-
about. --Explosions at P'owdci- mills
fretfucnt, trtynoff.
rVi'tcr an expi?
there is vc:y little debr'B to clear aX:
as yc;;. i. ay imagine. These fcui'. t
ar
ire easy-' $&$Z$5$
keep a
poses, as well as materials fcr any emer
gency." .".-"..&
One felt instinctively the hazard p the
employment. Every where" were ' ;slg'ris
telling what not and wh;.t to ,At'V.pn'e
that stuck id 'my xrj'.nd -"'It' fofetfcr
to be careful than sorry' Throughout
the. plant at frequent intervals were first
aid stations with kits for all p . of ac
cidents. incIfidiV? flespira torsi HbiJvrorl-
men were often overcome by : ciherl ; or.
ilcohol fumes. ' Eyet-ything4;s'
1 fT.1'r;piatitM 4-WiArB
minimize the hazard, yet one' could not
escape the conviction that human life
and limb were as much a cost of produc
tion in this Industry asfuel and raw ma
terial. !
Once, in our wanderings about the
plant, I recall we ran across both Gar
retson and Jackson in one of the offices.
They did not see us, but seemed to be
time it seemed to be Jackson who was
What it was we could not guess, but this
talking very earnestly about something,
doing most of the talking. Kennedy
watched them as they parted. . .
"There's- something peculiar under the
surface with those people at the boarding
house," was all he observed. "Come;
over there, about an eighth of a niile, 1
think I see evidences of the latest of the
explosions. Let's look at it."
MacLeod had evidently, reasoned that,
sooner or later, Kennedy would appear.1"
this part of the grounds, and as we passed
nni rtf the shnns hf inined lis.
- - .
"Vmi mpntlAnoil onmptli i n n, nhnilt. 'rll
mors of poisonous gases," hinted Praig,'
as we waiked along
"Yes," assented MacLeod; "I don't
know what there is in it. I suppose you
know that there is a very polsonotgasf;
carbon monoxide, or carbonic oxide, form
ed in considerable quantity by -the ex
plosion of several of the powders com
monly used in shells. The gas has the
curious power f combining with the
blood ad refusing to let go, thus keep
ing out the oxygen necessary for life.
It may be that that is what accounts
for what we've seen that it is actual
poisoning to death of men not killetl by
the immediate explosion."
We had reached the scene of - the pre
vious day's disaster. No effort had yet
been made to clear it up. -Kennedy went
over it carefully. What it way he, found
I do not know, but he had not spent
much time before ho turned to me.
"Walter," he directed, "I . wlsh( you
would go back, to the office near' the gate,
where I left that paraphernalia we
brought down. Carry it over let me see
there's an open
-' aee there, On,, that
there.' ' '--'
packages was both
I was glad to reach
Heated. -v- '
for me there 'wita
x opened the pack
he took a thin j steel
p in the center of, T:he
he attached,. a! frame
knoll. I'M join y.
Whatever was i
bulky and heavy
the hillside he h
Craig was w
MacLeod, and -- -ages.
Prom 1 1
rod, which he
open space. 17
and to the f:
what looked like; four
,nes. Attached to 'the
.,.13 tubular, was anoak
reversed me;
frame, which
little arrangement of - hard
rubber and metal . wMcJi'.twyi.tltetick of the rocket.- .Eagerly 'Kennedy
ears. For some time Kennedy's . face
wore a set. far-away expression, as if he
were studjing something.
"The explosions seem always to. occur
th,e mitJ(i: of the afternoon," observed
MacLeod, fidgeting apprehensively.
Kennedy motioned petulantly for
A a FT! T . - - - 3 m -m - m -m m. m m
si
lence. Then sudd
-m t us ' 1 , 1 - - '.
iiia ctit aim. .gaaesaiwHt narpiy,
' - " i
the air,
her
Macl-ecd "miiF .1
X strained our eyes,
fhere va nothin 'vtaTb!. -'. . - , -
' "TIis Is an Riiti-airciaft listening pos :
vch as the French . Use. explained
Crri?, hurriedly. "Between the' horns
and "the microphone, 'la' Che .'box you can
catch the huia of an engine, even when
it is muffled. If tliere'3 an aeropiarie or
a EcppeUn about, this 'thing woujd locate
it." ' ' ' ' ' '..
Still, there was nothing that we could
see, though how the sound was just per
ceptible to the ear if one' strained his at -
ten f ion a bit. I listened. It was plain
in the detector; yet nothing was visible.
What strange power could it be that wo
could not see or feel in boad daylight?
JUfst 'then came ' a low rumbling, and
then'' a tcrrifie roar from the -direction
"Tliere's something 1 in
i-O,' "I can l'.cur til".
Tfllene tofdf . tne plant. Vc swung about in timo
The phantom destroyer had delivered his blow
to see a huge cloud of debris lifted liter
ally into the air above the tree-tops and
dropped to earth again. The silence that'
succeeded the explosion was eloquent.
The phantom destroyer had delivered his
blow again.
"The distillery where we make the de-:
natured alcohol!" cried MacLe.od, gazing
with tense face as from other, buildings,
we could see men pouring forth, panic
stricken. The silence was punctured by
shouts. Kennedy bent over his detector.
"That same mysterious buzzing," he
muttered, "only fainter."
Together we hastened. now toward the
distillery, another, of those corrugated
iron buildings. It had been completely
demolished. Here andjthere lay a dark,
still mass. I shuddered. They were
men!
As we ran toward the ruin we crossed
a baseball field which the company had
given the men. I looked back for Ken
nedy. He had paused at the wire back
stop behind the catcher. Something
caught in the wires interested him. By
the time I reached himhe had secured
it a long, slender meetal tube, cleverly
weighted, so as to fall straight.., -
"Not a hundred per jceht oA hits, evi
dently,"' he muttered. J "Sl, one was
enough."
"What is it?" asked MacLeod.
"An incendiary' pastille. On contact,
the nose burns away anything it hits,
goes right through corrugated .iron. It
carries- a charge Of thermit ignited by
this piece of magnesium rjbbon. You
know what thermit will penetrate with
its thousands of degrees of heat. Only
the nose of this went -through the netting
and never touched a thing. This didn't
explode anything,? but another one did.
Thousands of gallons of alcohol did the
rest." :
Kennedy had picked up his other pack
age as we ran, and wks now busily-7 un
wrapping it. I looked about at the crowd
.that had collected; and saw that there
was nothing We could do to help. Once
I caught sight of Gertrude's face. She
was pale, and seemed eagerly searching
for some ,one. Then, in the crowd, I lost
her. I turned to MacLeod. He was
plainly overwhelmed. Kennedy was grim
ly -silent and at ' work on something he
had jammed into the ground!
"Stand ' back!" he cautioned, as he
touched a match to the thing. With a
muffled explosion, something . whizzed
and shrieked up into the air like a' sky
rocket. ' ' .
Far above, I oould now see . a thing
open out lfke a parachute, .whilje .below it
trailed something that might have been
followed the pirachute-as,tne wind waft-
ed it aloh:
andj it sank- slowly io the
earth. When, at last, h ' f-efiloved It I
saw that between the parachWeana the
stick was fastened a"1' small, peculiar
camera.
1 1'A Scheimpflug . multiple camera," he
explained :as tig- seized' it almost" raven
ously. "Is there a place in town where I
- cars, set the films la th:s def ipeo
f
j ' ilfieLieod, himself excited, now, nuurcu
1 us from the scene or U)e expjsion.to a
I local' drugf store. , which convbined most
i or ;.ir,e lunctions oi a general siowvbu
bemg able to improvise a- aarkroom in
Which Kennedy cauld work'. .'
" it was some time after the excitement
over the explosion had quieted down that
MacLeod and 1, standing impatiently be
fore the drug ;: 1 store, saw Snedden wildly
feaiing down the street in" his car. He
saw vis and pulled up at the curb with a
.( jerk,"
''Where's Gertrude?" he shouted, wild
ly, "Has any, one secnmy daughter?"
Breathlessly he explained that he had
been out, "had returned to find his house
deserter!, Gertrude gone, his wife gone,
even 'Jackson's ear gone from the barn.
He had been to the works. Neither Gar-N
again.
retson nor Jackson had been seen since
the excitement of the explosion, they told
him. Garretson's racer was gone, too.
There seemed to have been a sort of
family explosion, 'also.
Kennedy had heard the loud talking
and had left his work to the druggist to
carry on and joined us.
In almost no time, so -accurately did he
keep his fingers on the fevered pulse of
Nitropolis, MacLeod had found out that
Gertrude had been seen driving away
from the company's grounds with some
one in Garretson's car, probably Garret
son himself. Jackson had been seen hur
rying down the street. Some one, else
had seen Ida Snedden ifi Jackson's car,
alone.
Meanwhile, over, the wire, MacLeod had
sent out descriptions of the four people
and the two cars, in the hope of Inter
cepting them before they could be plunged
into the obscurity of any nearby city,
Not content with that, MacLeod- and
Kennedy -started out in the former's car.
while I climbed in with Snedden, and we
began a systematic search of the roads
out of Nitropolis. (
As we sped along, I could not help
feeling, though I said nothing,- that,
somehow, the strange disappearances
must have something to do with the mys
terious phantom destroyer.
fWe were coming down the river, or
rather, the bay, after a fruitless search
of unfrequented roads and were approach
ing the deserted Old Grove Amusement
Park, to which excursions used, years
ago, to come in boats. No one could
make it pay, and It was closed and go
ing to ruin. There had been some hint
that Garretson's racer might have disap
peared down this unfrequented river road.
,A,s we came to a turn in the road, we
could see Kennedy and MacLeod in their
car, coming up. Instead of keeping on,
however, " they turned into' the grove,
Kennedy leaning far over the running
board as MacLeod drove slowly, following
his directions, as though Craig were
tracing something.
With a hurried exclamation of sur
prise, Snedden gave our car the gas and
shot ahead,, swinging around after them.
They were headed, following some kind
of tire-tracks, 'toward an old merry-go-round
that was dismantled and all board
ed up. They heard us coming and
stopped. f
"Has any. one told you that Garretson's
car went down the river road, too?" call
ed Snedden, anxiously.
"No; but some one thought he saw
Jackson's car come down here," called
back MacLeod. ' ''
"Jackson's?" exclaimed Snedden.
"Maybe both are right," I ventured, as
we came closer. "What made you turn
in here?" ' ; -
"Kennedy thought he saw fresh tire
tracks running into the grove."
We were all out cf our cars by this
time, and examining the soft roadway
with Craig. It was evident to aiiy bne
that a car had been run in, and Inot SO
very long ago, in the direction of the
merry-go-round. ...
We followed the tracks on foot, bend
ing about the huge circle of a building
until we came to the side away front the
road... The tracks seemed to run right in
under the boards.
Kennedy approached and touched the
boards. - They were -loose. Some one had
evidently been there, had' taken them
down, and put them up. In fact, by the
marfcs on them, it seemed as though he
had made a practice of doing so.
MacLeod and Kennedy unhooked the
boardifig, while Snedden looked on in a
sort cf daze. They had Taken down only
two or 'three sections, which indicated
that that whole side might similarly be
removed, when I heard a "low, startled
exclarpation from Snedden.
We peered in. There, in the half-light
of the gloomy interior, we could see a
car. Before we knew it Snedden had
j darted past, us. An instant later I dis- j "Telegram for Mrs. Snedden," an
I tinsuished what his more'senstive eveinouneed the hov
tinguished what his more'senstive eye
had seen a-woman, all alone in the car,
motionless.
"Ida!" he cried.
There was no answer.
"She she's ' dead!" he shouted.
It was only too true. There was Ida
Snedden, seated in Jackson's car in the
old deserted building, all shut up -dead.
Yet her face was as pink as if she were
alive and the blood had been whipped into
her cheeks by a walk in the cold'Tvind.
We looked at one another, at a loss.
How did she get there :u:d why? She
must have come there voluntarily. No
one had seen any one else with her in
the car.
Sneelden was now almost beside him
self.
'Tli-f ni.tiinnn .i,-.,-..sv ultiirlir ' t.
luisiui iuhco ircvci "Ji.re D1116U 1 "C UIUUgllL I1UUHJ LU lilt! lUIClUiy 1110 alai'lll-
wailed. "My daughter Gertrude gone j ing possibilities of applying modern sci-n-now
my wife dead. Confound that young tine devices to criminal uses. Mew modes
fellow Garretson and Jackson,, too
Where arc they? AVhy have they fled?
The scoundre'p-rthey have stolen my
.Whole family. Oh, what shall I do? what
shall I do?"
Trying, to quiet Snedden, at the same
time we began to look about the build
ing. On one side was a small stove, in
which were still the dying coals of a
fire. Near by were a work bench, some
tools, pieces of wire, and other material.
Scattered about were pieces of material
that looked like celluloid. Some cne evi
dendy used the place as a secret work
shop. Kennedy picked up, a piece of the
celluloid-like stuff and carefully touched
a match to it. I did not burn rapidly as
celluioid does, and Craig seemed more
than ever interested. MacLeod himself
was no mean detective. Accustomed to.
action, he hsel an idea of what to do.
"Wait here!" he called back, dashing!
out. "T'm going to the nearest house up
the road or help. I'll be back in a mo
ment." '
We heard him' aek and turn his car
and shoot away. Meanwhile, Kennedy
was looking Jackson's roadster over
carefully. He tapped the gas tank in the
rear, then opened it. There was not a
drop of gas in it. He lifted up the hoed
and looked inside at the motor. What-
ever he saw there, he saiel nothing',
1-inally, by siphoning some gas from
Sncdden's tank and making some adjust-
nents, he seemed to have thescar in a
eontution tor it to run. tie wras just aoout
to start it when MacLeod returned, car
rying a canary birJ in a cage.
"I've telephoned to town," he an
nounced. "Some one will be here soon
now. Meanwhile, an idea occurred to me,
and I borrowed this bird. Let me see
whether the idea'-i any good."
It might, perhapsj have been ten min
utes after MacLeod returned, and during
that time he hael never taken his eyes
off the bird, when 1 began to feel a little
drowsy. A word from MacLeod roused
me.
"There's carbon monoxide in the air,
Kennedy!" he exclaimed. "You know
how this gas affects birds."
"It must be that this stove is defective,"
pursued MacLeod, picking up the poor
little bird and carrying it quickly into
the fresh air, where it could regain its
former liveliness. Then, when he re
turned, he added, "There must be some
defect in the stove or the draught that
makes it send out the poisonous gas."
"There's some -gas," agreed Kennedy.
"It must have cleared away mostly,
though, or we couldn't stand it our
selves." It was quite late in the afternoon when,
at last, people came from the town and
took away both the body of Mrs. Sned
den and Jackson's car. Snedden could
only stare and work his fingers, and after
we had seen him safely in the, care of
some one we could trust Kennedy. Mac
Leod, and I climbed into MacLeod's car
silently.
"Surely that fellow must have my pic
tures developed by this time," considered
Kennedy. "Shoot back there."
"They came out beautifully all except
one," reported the druggist, who was
sehnewhat of a camera fiend rimself.
"That's a wonderful system, sir."
Kennedy thanked him for his trouble
and tookMhe prints. With care he pieced
them together, until he had several suc
cessive panoramas of the' country taken
from varidus elevations of the parachute.
Then, with a magnifying glass, he went
Over each section minutely.
"Look at that!" he pointed out at last
with the Sharp tip of a pencil on one
picture.
In what looked like an open space
among some trees was a tiny figure of a
man. It seemed as if he were hacking at
something with an a. What the some
thing was did not appear in the picture.
"I should say that it was half a mile,
perhaps a mile, farther away than that
grove," commented Kennedy, making a
rough calculation.
"On the old Davis farm," considered
MacLeod. "Look and see if you can't
make out the ruins of a house somewhere
nearby. It was burned many years ago."
"Yes, yes," returned Kennedy, excited
ly; "there's the place! Do you think we
can get there in arear before It's dark?"
"Easily." replied MacLeod.
At last, in a large, cleared field, we
cane upon a most peculiar heap of debris.
As nearly as I could make out, it was a
pile of junk, but most interesting junk.
As he looked at it, Craig's face display
ed a smile of satisfaction.
"Looka as though it might have been
an aeroplane of the tractor type" he
vouchsafed, finally.
"Surely there couldn't have been an ac
cident," objected MacLeod. "No aviator
could Jiave lived through it, and there's
no body." "
"No; it was purposely destroyed," con
tinued Craig. . "It was Janded ,here from
somewhere else for that porppse. That
was what the man in the picture was do
ing with the ax. After the last explosion
something happened. He Brought the ma
chine here to destroy the evidene'e."
"But," persisted MacLeod, "if there had
been an aeroplane hovering about we
should have seen it in the air, passing
over the.; works at the-time ofthe ex
plosion." , ' x " .
Kennedy picked the pieces, significantly.
"Some one about here has Kept abreast
of the times, if not ahead. See; the planes
were- of. this non-inflammable, celluloid
that made It virtually transparent :;ah4
visible only at a few "hundred feef In: thd
air. The aviator eouU
drop those pastilles ac-.
seen. The engine had on
muffler poxes. He would i-.-.-.
heard; too, except for that do:
detector."
fl uny
newi
: n un-
-irship1
MacLeod and I could but stare at each
other, aghast. . jca
It. was growing dark rapidly, and, with
some difficulty, we retraced our steps to
the point 'where we had left the car w9
whirled back to the town, and, of course
to the Snedden house. '
Snedden was sitting in the parlor when,
we arrived, by the body of his wife star
ing, speechless, straight before himwhiio
several neighbors were gathered about
trying to console him. We had scarcely enl
tered when a messenger-boy came up the
path from the gate. Both Kennedy and
MacLeod turned toward him, expecting
some reply to the numerous messages ol
aiarm sent out earner in the afternoon.
nounced the boy.
"Mrs. Snedden?" qv.?ried Kennedy, sur
prised, then quickly: "Oh yes, that's all
right. I'll take care of it."
He signed for the message, tore it
open, and read it. For a moment his
face, which had been clouded, smoothed
out, and he took a couple of turns up and
down the hall, as though undecided.
Finally he crumpled the telegram ab
stractedly and shoved it into his pocket.
We followed him as he went into the par
lor and stood for several moments, look
ing. fixedly on the strangely flushed face
of Mrs. Snedden.
"MacLeod," he said, finally, turning
gravely toward us, and for the present,
seeming to ignore the presence of the
"others, "this amazing series of crimes lias
I i. .
and processes seem to bring new men
aces." "Like carbon-monoxide poisoning?" sug
gested MacLeod. "Of course it has long
been known as a harmful gas but "
"Let us see,' interrupted Kennedy.
"Walter, you were. there when I examined
Jacksons car, There was not a drop or
gasoline in the tank, you will retail.
Even the water in the radiator v.-as low.
I lifted the hood. Some one must have
tampered with the carbureter. It was ad
justed, so that the amount of ' air in the
mixture was reduced. More than that,
I don't know whether you noticed it or
not, but the spark and gas were set su
that, when I did put gasoline in the- tank,
I had but to turn the engine over and it
went. In other words, that car had in en
standing there, the engine running, unt;!
it simply stopped for want of fuel." lie
paused while we listened intently, then
resumed. "The gas engine and gas mo
tor have brought with them another of
those unanticipated menaces of v!.:.-!i t
spoke. Whenever .the explosion of the
combustible mixture is incomplete or of
moderated intensity a gas of which little
is known may be formed in considerable
quantities.
"In this case, as in several others tint
have come to my attention, vapors arir
l ine- from the combustion must have einit-
ted certain noxious products. The fumes
! that caused Ida Sneddon's death we re not
j of carbon monoxide from the stove. T.lac-
, L,eod. They were splitting products ot
gasolene, which are so new to science
that they have not yet been named.
"Mrs. Snedden's death, I may s:v for
the benefit of the coroner, was due to the ,
absorption of some of these unidentified
gaseous poisons. They are as deadly as
a knife-thrust through the- heart,, under
certain conditions. Duet to' the. non
oxidation of some of the elements of gaso
lene, they escape from the exhaust of ev
ery running gas engine. In the open air.
where only a whiff or two would be in
haled now and then, they are not dan
gerous. But in a closed room they may
kill in an incredibly short time. In fact,
the condition has given rise to an en
tirely new phenomenon which some cne
has named 'petromortls.' "
' etromortis?" repeated Snedden, who.
for the first time, began to show interest
in what was going on abouthim. "Then
it wa,s an accident?"
"I did not say it was an accident," cor
rected Craig. "There Is an old adage
that murder will out. And this expres
sion of numan experience is only repeatei
in what we modern scientific detectives
are doing. No man bent on the commis
sion of a crime can so arrange the cir
cumstances of that crime that it will aft
erward appear, point by point, as an ac
cident." Kennedy had us all following him
breathlessly- now.
"I do not consider it an accident," h?
went on, rapidly piecing together tho
facts as we had foundhem. "Ida Sned
den was killed because she was getting
too close to some one's secret. Even at
luncheon, I could see that she had dis
covered Gertrude's attachment for Gar
retson.. How she heard that, following
the excitement of the explosion this after
noon, Gertrude and Garretson" had disap
peared, I do not pretend to know. But it
is evident that she did heaiv that she went
out and tooly Jackson's car, probably to
pursue them. If we have heard that they
went by the river oad, she might have
heard it, too.
"In all probability she came, along just
in time to surprise some one working en
the other side of the old mcrry-go-romid
structure. There can be no reason to con
ceal the fact longer. From that deserfe l
building some one was daily launching a.
newly designed Invisible aeroplane. As
Mrs. Snedden came along, she must have
been just in time to see that person at !.;;
sepret hangar. What happened I do not
know, except that she must have run the
car off the river road and into the build
ing. The person whom she found rr.r.st
have suddenly conceived a method' of get
ting her out of the way and making it
look like an accident of some kind per
haps persuaded her to stay in the car
with the engine running while he went
off,;and destroyed the aeroplane whiea
was damning evidence now."
Kennedy drew from his pocket the tele
gram which had just arrived, and spread
it out flat before us on a table. It was
dated Philadelphia, and read:
Mrs. Ida Snedden, Nitropolis:
Garretson and Gertrude were married
today. Have traced them to the Woicott.
Try to reconcile Mr. Snedden.
- HUNTER JACKSON-
I saw at once that part of the story.
It was Just a plain love-affair that had
ended in an elopement at a conven-ent
tim. The fire-eating-Garretson had bem
a'fraid of the Sneddens 'and Jackson, who
was their friend. Before I could even
think further, Kennedy had drawn out
the films taken by the rocket camera.
"With the aid of a magnifying glass,
he was saying 'I can get Just enough of
the lone figure in this picture to identify
it. These .; are the, crimes of a crazed
pacifist, on whose mind had so long
dwelt on the,, horrors of r-"
- "Look out!" shouted MacLeod, leapin.
In front of Kennedy.
The. strain of the revelation had been
too much. Sneddeh a raving maniac
had reeled forward, wildly and impotent
ly, at the man who had exposed him.