The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-20

all in the chemists trade, you know.
We were supposed to have dealings with
his satanic majesty a few hundred years
| ago."
| What Is this white dust that is fall
| ing?" asked Amy, IA ntly.
| 1t was like the fine,t ashes, and it set
tied almost imperceptibly upon every
! thing. The sleeve of my black coat was
| gray with it. / shook it off with a shud-
| der.
| IT had a trifing explosion here" said
| Oswald What you smell is called phos-
| phoric anhydride. The powder is some
what more complex I'm afraid couldn't
make its composition quite clear to you
without going into an explanation that
would be tedious"
i've never seen your laboratory" said
Walworth. Would you mind my looking
| in 1t must be interesting
with all the pleasure in life" said the
| chemist
He unlocked the door between the two
rooms, and Walworth and Outland enter
ed. Oswald stepped back and whispered
| to me:
It's all right Don't worry. I've dis
posed of him"
! Amy and 1 looked into each others
| faces. l never saw any one else so pale
as she was, but she had the strength to
| take Oswald's hand in both of hers,
while shudder,ng at the awful m racle
| he had performed. There was nothing
IN the laboratory that could afford the
slightest clue to Harberts disappearance.
Walworth spent five minutes there in
thin pretense of examining the apparatus.
We returned to Oswalds room, where l
saw Walworth and Outland exchange
whispers.
Can you come with us, Mr.. Cheever?"
ask ed the lawyer Il think we really
ought to make search for Harbert."
| l did not dare refuse. From Oswald's
manner 1 judged that he was anxious
we should all be gone. Amy went with
me to my office, and waited there while
! OutIand, Wa.worth and ] made a futile
| search. First we went to the main en-
trance of the building where the uniform
ed employe on duty reported that Har-
bert had not gone out. This did not sur
prise any of US, but the subsequent fail
ure to find any trace of him in the build
ing completely mystified both Walworth
and Outland.
In truth 1t was little less mysterious to
me, for by no means of which l ever
heard can a human body be reduced to
vapor and fine powder that will float
upon the air. and in the space of Is
minutes at the most 1t was the more
| stupefying to me because in Oswald's
room there was but little apparatus and
no great quantity of any reagent. There
was no furnace at all, no means of pro-
ouclng heat except the little Bunsen bur
ners that one sees in every laboratory
Surely my friend possessed an awful Sc
cret which he shared with few of his
fellowmen.
The search was over in an hour. for
| the construction of the building was ex-
ceedingly simple. I had begun 10 suffe,
intense pain from my wound, which. how
ever, / had found to be of even less erov.
! Ivy than had SUPPOSE. The bullet had
| been DETECTED. and had passed hair
round the body. just under the skin. tt
extraction would be easy. but should not
W TOO long delayed I could see thu.
Walworth was debating In his mind tho
advlsaoi!ity of making a charge agaire,
me. obviously he was perfectly certain
OF his facts. My demeanor had hetravalI
| me- 10 his keen and practiced Observe,
tioi' only his utter nabi'itv TO suggest
an eNpianalon OF the bodv's disappearance
prevented him from causing nv arrest
Eventually he decided not TO do so ~
once left the building with Amy onI
we went to the nearest phvsioian's offina
Where my injury was dressed We tben
went TO her aunt's house. where we mass
eu the evening. ] was able to go 10 INV
own apartments about midnight. A eew
minutes after my arrival Walworth an
peared ACCOMPANIED by an officer from
ponce headquarters / was arrested FIR
me murder Of my enemy. I did not no.
tity Amy of this misfortune until the
toiowlng morning. for nothing could have
oeen done. l was questioned by the de-
tectlve. who made the arrest, and toll
the story of an accidental injury. 1t was
perfectly obvious that he did not believe
me.
Il think you two men had a row" he
said; and you'd have done a mighty
sight better to tell the truth in the be-
ginning"
l was distinctly of the same opinion.
but the time had passed That night in
a cell was the most wretched of my life.
had not one pleasant thought Even
love was misery. for I had brought the
dearest and truest woman In all the
world to grief that might be endless.
About 10 o'clock the following morning I
was summoned to the office of the chief
OF detectives, and there to my surprise.
was Oswald. lie was chatting pleasantly
with the formidable official, and one would
have said that they were old friends,
agreeaby met.
"Mr. Oswald has told me everything"
said the chief, smilingly. as he extended
his hand. II guess you won't have any
more trouble. now that Harbert's re-
mains are so neatly disposed Of"
! gaped with establishment. and my
knees shook under me.
You see. this was the way of t." said
Oswald lighting a cigar. "When you
brought your friend into my office, he
looked pretty bad. His forehead was
black as your hat. and he had a scratch
on the front part of his scalp-a scratch.