Barbour County index., 1909-04-21

suppose i lHneflteQ from my Ia
ther love of the occult, as it has
been my favorite study since youth
When I saw an advertisement in the
paper that a genuine worker of black
magic, as laid down in the Lemegeton,
had located in Chicago, and offered his
services to whoever required them,
lost nc time in looking him up. did
not altogether like the locality the
address took me to, but I've been in
many worse one in Calcutta looking
up fakir who was said to perform
the mango trick better than any of his
fellows.
Il found typical magician's den
on the top floor of an otherwise va
cant building. At first / did not recog.
nize Stephanovitch in the person of
the magician. There were seyera.
persons in the room and he dismissed
them in turn and left me until the
last. Then 1 saw who it was. That
is the last remember very clearly up
to the time you gentlemen rescued me.
must have been hypnotized or
drugged or something, and I suppose
have been prisoner in that house
| ever since
Twice was permitted to send mes
sages to Miss Watrous, but by Steph-
anovitch's orders they were limited to
the seals of the spirits. l used two
which l was pretty sure Miss Watrous
would know, as we had studied black
magic together, but without her IA
Tiers knowledge. Besides, she had
Grimoire and could look them up.
| About two days ago Stephanovitch
came to me and said: You will now
send to the young woman who is
called Miss Watrous the seal of the
dread spirit Glasyalabolas that she
may know that ere the sun rises on
the third day from now you will be
dead I did so and l remember no
more until awoke bound, looking into
his eyes which were peering at me
through the holes in the wall. The
rest you know.
But how, Mr.. Clarke, do you ac-
count for the other message Miss Wa
trous received telling her to come to
me?"
You have cleared that up for me,
Mr.. King, as we'll as several other
points which bothered me. Stephano-
vitch's sole reason, probably, in per-
mitting you to write was to obtain her
address, so that he might at the prop.
er time send her decoy letter. But
l do not understand why he should
have delayed his revenge for a month
when he had you in his power and
had the means to find Miss Watrous."
Il think l can explain it," said King
What date is this?"
We told him.
"Ah, l suspected so. 1t is 20 years
| ago to-day that The Brothers of the
Left Hand Path were broken up. But
Mr.. Clarke, 1 am interested to know
how you found us and how you az
peared just at the right time"
THAT is simple enough" answered
Clarke. The clue to the case plainly
! lay in the seals which you drew. This
put me on the right track. When !
found 1t was black magic, 1 went at
| once to the one man in Chicago who
would know every worker of the art
| who might be in the city. This man
is Ramon Zingaro. He is a gypsy and
is an adept at the art himself. ]
have Romany blood in me and l speak
his language. Besides, he is beholden
to me for many favors. He was one
of the persons who also answered the
advertisement and was in the room
when you came"
But your disguise!" 1 exclaimed.
THAT, l am afraid, was a bit of
harmless vanity on my part, but 1 am
now convinced that it was fortunate,
| for nothing else would have been as
safe or as effective. 1t was only this.
Black Magic for something like
thousand years has been striving to
call forth the devil 1t is safe to say
that never before tonight has an in
vocation been answered. l was lit
| tie curious to know just what effect
would be created should his Satanic
majesty appear in his own proper per-
son."
But the costume?" I persisted.
ooh, that was simple. A Chester
| field coat covers a multitude of sar-
torial sins. Boards and mustaches
are easily carried in the pocket and
! little chewing gum does the rest.
When We had seen Stephanovitch
safely deposited in a cell and the ex-
plantations had been concluded, King
said:
Without putting you gentlemen un-
der the pledge of absolute secrecy, l
ask that nothing of this be given to
the papers and that no names be di-
vulged. My reason for this is that
my mother is of the most noble birth
in Russia and>is intensely proud"
But" said the inspector, you will
have to appear against this man."
Cannot that be avoided?"
''Well," said the inspector thought
fully, "if it's a matter of great impor-i
tance to you we can book him on a
vagrancy charge. That will hold him