Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-03-03

tain Parkinson turned half a dozen
leaves.
German he cried in a note of dis
appointment "Can You read German
script?"
"After a fashion, replied the other
Lets see Els wOnnte sechs-und-
dreissig unterjacke" he said why
blast it. was the man Running a haber
dashery? What have three dozen IN
dershirts to do with this?
"a memorandum for QUILTING prob
ably" suggested the captain. TRY
here"
Chemical formulae." said Trendon.
pages Of 'em. The devil! Can't make
a thing of it."
'Well, here's something in English"
Good" said the other by combin-
ing the hypersulphate of iridium with
the fumes arising from oxide of copper
heated to 1000 c. and combining with
picric acid in the proportions described
in formula X is, reaction. the nature
of which l have not fully determined,
follows. This must be performed with
extreme care owing to the unstable ma
ture of the benZene compounds"
"Picric acid? BenEene compounds?
Those are high explosives" said Cap
tain Parkinson I'VE should have Bar
nett go over this
Here's a name under the formula
DR.. A. Mardenter, Ann Arbor, Mich.
That explains its being in English.
Probably copied from a letter"
This must have been one of the eX
periments in the valley that Slade told
US Of" said the captain thoughtfully.
why, see here" he cried, with some
thing like eXultation, that's what DR..
Schermerhorn was doing here. lie has
the clew to some explosive so terrific
that he goes far out of the world to
experiment with its manufacture. Fo,
companions he chooses 4 gang of cut
Threats that the world would never
miss in case anything went wrong.
Possibly it was some trial of the fin
ished product that started the erup-
ton even. Do you see:"
Don't explain enough" grunted
Trendon. Deserted ship, Billy Ed
wards, mysterious lights. Slade and
his story-any explosives in those?
Good enough far as it goes. Don't go
far enough
+ 1T certainly leaves gaps" admitted
the other.
lie turned over few more pages.
'Formulae. formulate, formulate
WHAT'S this? Here are some marginal
annotationS.'
"Unbehasslich," read Trendon. Lets
see, that means highly unsatisfactory,
or words to that effect. Hi! Here's
where the old man loses his temper.
LiStenl May the devil take Carroll
! and Crum for careless'-hm-we pig
dogs Now, where do Carroll and
Crum come in?"
They're Il firm of analytical chem
lists in Washington said the captain.
when l was on the ordnance board
used to get their circulars"
Fits in. What? More English
, Worse than the German this is"
The writing. beginning evenly enough
at the top of page, ran along for a
line or two, then fell, sprawling in
, huge, ragged characters the full length.
! Trendon stumbled among them indig-
nantly.
"June /, 1904" he read. 1T is done.
/ Triumph German word) Eureka. Es
list gefullt From the Cant make out
| that world of the inspiration-God -lIke
solution of the world problems.
| Why, the old fool is crazy! And his
writing is crazier Can't make head
or tail of it."
The captain turned several more
pages. They We're blank. cat any
rate, it seems to be the end" he said.
81 should hope So" returned the 9th
err diSgustedly.
He took the book on his knees, fiut
tering the leaves between thumb and