The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1908-05-02

~1UTWARDLY the book accorded
III Ill with its surroundings. In
IL that place of desolation and
" death 1t typihed the petty neat
ness OF Office processes. Properly placed
II should have been found on desk.
with pens. rulers and other parapher-
MALTA forming exact angles or parallels
TO II. IL was a quarto, bound In mar
bled paper. with black leather over
ed its ownership or uses, but through
one corner, blackened and formidable
In its contrast to the peaceful purposes
OF the volume, hole had been bored.
The agency of perforation was obvious.
\ bullet had made IT,
Seen something of life. reckon"
said Trendon as the captain turned the
volume about slowly in his hands.
And of DEATH" returned Captain
Parkinson solemnly. DO you know
rrendon. | almost dread to open thisT'
"Pshaw!" returned the other what
is IL 10 usY''
He threw the cover back Neatly let
tered on the inside. i'm the fine and
slightly angular writing characteristic
II the Temonic scholar. was the leg
md. Karl augustus Schermerhoru
ll01ia Spruce street. Philadelphia. IA"
Tie opposite page was blank. Cap
ain Parkinson turned half a dozen
leaves.
German" he cried in note OF dis
appointment ."Can you read German
script"
after n fashion" replied the other
Lets see rs wonnte sechs--und
trelssig untcriacke." he said. Why
last it. was the man running Il haber-
dashery? What have three dozen UNI
dershirts to do with this?'
"A memorandum FOR outfitting prob
ably" suggested the captain. Try
here"
Chemical fcrmulae." said Trendon.
Pages of 'em. The devil. Can't make
thing of it,"
We'll. here's something In English"
Good" sail the other. BY combin-
ing the hypersulphate of iridium with
heated to 1000 {. and combining with
picric acid IN the proportions described
in formula Y Is. reaction. the nature
of which | nave not fully determined.
follows This must he performed with
extreme care owing TO the unstable ma
ture of the benzcne compounds"
''Picric acid? Benzene 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
DIR. 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 Or.
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. For
companions he chooses gang of cut
threats that the world would never
miss in case anything went wrong.
Possibly it was some trial of the nm
ished product that started the erup-
ton even. DO you seeT"
Don't explain enough" grunted
Trendon. Deserted ship, Billy Ed
wards. mysterious lights, Slade and
his story-~ny explosives In those?
Good enough far as it goes. Don't go
far enough"
at certainly leaves gaps" admitted
the other.
He turned over few more pages.
Formulate. formulate, formulate.
What's thisf Here a-e some marginal
annotations."
"Unbehasslich.p read Trendon. Lets
see, that means highly unsatisfactory.
or words to that effect. Hi. Here's
where the old man loses his temper.
Listen May the devil take Carroll
and Crum for careless'-h 'm-well, pig
dogs Now, where do Carroll and
Crum come inT"
They're a firm Of analytical chem
lists in Washington" said the captain.
when | was on the ordnance board
| used to get their circulars"
Fits In. Whati 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, sprawliug in
huge. ragged characters TIE full length.
Trendon stumbled among them indig-