The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-09-10

a new book may by a simple experiment
satisfy himself of the possibility of doing
this
What was the subject which the person,
who had apparently looked at no other part
of the volume, had been studyingi
l gfsnoed carelessly down at the printed
page, and the first word saw was "Strych-
MIA" Strychnia, poisonl Wild thoughts
ooursed instantaneously through my brain.
l saw that the chapter which some
one had been studying with the closest
care-fcr the pages were well thumbed-was
that in which the whole subject of poisoning
by means of strychnia, the symptoms the
dose, the fatal period, and the post norton
! appearances are treated with mastery pre-
csion.
What did IL meant Let my reader place
himself in my position, prisoner absolutely
at the mercy Of a man whom honestly be-
lieved to be capable of any crime, il he
wishes to understand the dark and terrible
fancies which forthwith took possession of
my brain. Who could have bought this
book merely in order to study the subject of
poisoning by strychnia with an innocent in
tentionf That was the first question l asked
myself Once more remembered the awful
words of Gregson. Was it possible that
murder was really about to be done at Great
Lorton Halls Nay, as the man whom l
knew to be the only one likely to commit
such crime was on board the Golden Hawk
at this moment, might it not be the case that
the crime had already been committed, and
that while he was flying from justice lie had
carried me with him to prevent my being of
any service to Daisy or her unclel And if
there had been murder, who was the victims
Was it the millionaire! Or was it-could il
be--my darling2
sat daZed and helpless for time under
the horror of this new train of thought But
l was now face to face with problem which
demanded the full use of all my faculties If
l were to deal with it to any useful purpose. 1
must treat it with all the GOODNESS and deliber-
alton of which l was capable. Gently closing
the book, flung my cigar aside, and going
to the bath room bathed nov head in the
cool, refreshing water OF which there was
apparently an unlimited supply. Then l
came beck to my seat and carefully tried an
experiment " hich had occurred to me-
Laying the closed book ON its back on the
palm of my hand allowed it again to fall
open at its own will. Once more it opened
at page $50, and again 1 read that first sem
tence of the page, which describes how "The
patiens complains of choking sensation,
and OF thirst and dryness Of the throat; but
the effort to drink often occasions rigid
spasms of the muscles of the jaw. Some
times there is foaming at the mouth, and the
froth may be tinged with blood" ETC., etc.
repeated the experiment in another man.
ner; the result was the same tried it again
and again, and always the volume opened at
the same page. Yes, it was quite clear to me
now that the owner Of this book had bought
it for the simple purpose of studying the
subject of poisoning by means of strychnia.
All the pages of this volume, it is true, were
cut open but it was only ut this part of it
that there were any of those unmistakable
signs which showed that it had been read
and studied withcare again and again.
Tread the whole chapter through with at
tention, and it says something, think, formy
command over my own nerves that did not
forthwith fancy that I was myself suffering
from that feeling of suffocation" which is
described as the earliest symptom after the
poison has been swallowed. For could not
drive cut of my mind the possibility that this
accidental discovery might have the deepest
personal interest for myself. Ii had fallen
into the hands of murderer, what assurance
had / that he might not try his frightful
arts upon mes The thought was one that it
was difficult to face with composure. l be-
gan to realize what is the lot Of the captive
who lies in peril of his life. and who is power
less to defend himself against the unknown
doom which may be hanging over him.
Terrible was the long night through
which | now passed. The gale had evil
IDENTIFY risen to great height; and the mo-
ton Of the vessel was such as to be distress
ing even to the most experienced of sailors
In place of the dead silence of the morning
my prison cell was now filed with that in
describable tumut of sound that marks the
progress of o battle between good vessel
and raging sea. / could hear the shrek
of the wind and the roar of the waves, while,
even above these sounds rose that constant
grooming and creaking of tho straining tim
bers which showed how hardly the ship was
beset by the storm. l could feel too the
fury of the blows which each successive
wave delivered against the side Of the yacht
A storm at sea is an awful thing to the
landsman at tho best of times. Let my
reader try if he can conceive what this
storm was to me-held like n rat in trap in
the middle of The laboring vessel.
Yet despite my fears and tho tumuit all
around me, l slept, and my sep was
strangely free from those hideous dreams of
which l had been apprehensive When l
awoke at last the bright light of the electric
lamp had disappeared, and some faint rays
from the cutter sky were entering my cabin
through the funnel which served the pur-
pose of window. 1 looked at my watch
and discovered that it was nine o'clock To
my great joy, too, found that the sea had
fallen, and that the yacht was making COM
paratively steady progress through the
waters.
1t is no part Of my purpose 10 infct the
whole story of my Imprisonment upon the
reader. Nothing, indeed. could be more
monotonous-or more terrible in its monot-
ony-than the manner in which my days
were passed. Thrice during this second day
/ was visited by Flinter, bringing food. l
hardly spoke to him, and he made no at
tempt to open q conversation with me.
was still absorbed in an attempt to put to-
gether the various pieces of that strange
puzzle the first bit of which that had been
put into my hands was my meeting with
Daisy and Gregson at the York railway sta
ton, and the last the discovery of the pas
sage on strychnia in the work on forensic
medicine. That there was some strange
unity of significance in oil that had hap