The Ordway new era., 1913-05-16
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HE is not il7 he questioned.
you mean"
"Confidentialiy. Doctor" admitted.
how he is. He may be in excellent
health or he may have ceased to
exist"
Good God!' he exclaimed. and his
face was as white as his linen. e..
Our best information Is that he is
on a steamer-a tramp-bound for
China. but we have no particulars. and
worse still. no veridcation."
1t was neither fair nor consistent to
conceal longer from one SO justly In
terested the whole truth, and so. with
out reservation. l told Dr. Addison the
story. 90 m-
Before had quite concluded, Miss
Clement was announced. and when
she was shown into the library, in
stead Of permitting the physician to
leave. as he made offer Of doing.
presented him and insisted upon his
remaining.
II want you to tell Miss Clement
about your patient. Doctor" said.
Miss Clement is . very good friend
OF miss GrayDon's.
Graciously he complied. making 1t
quite clear that sedatives and sleep
would undoubtedly effect a prompt re-
covery.
"And now Miss Clement will tell us
something" I added. "She has had
patient. too. who died this morning, as
you may have seen by the afternoon
papers-the Eurasian who was shot
by McNish."
Up to that moment knew but little
of what Soy had divulged, for the mis-
phonic talks. had given us scarcely
more than promises Of important reve-
lations when opportunity could be
made for a meeting; and was impa-
tient for the fulfllment.
She had chosen q seat at some little
distance from US, but now, at my So
licitation. she accepted a more COM
Portable chair. which I placed in con-
Adential tuxtaposition with our own.
Its rather long story" she be-
gan, in her sweetly quiet voice. And
as 1t came to me piecemeal. I'm afraid
It will be rather disconnected. You
see this poor fellow suffered horribly
at times and when he was not suffer-
ing he was under the influence Of opi-
ates, 80 ordinarily l doubt that 1t
would be safe to accept asfact good
deal said under such circumstances. 1t
appears to me, however. that in his
case, these very conditions only
strengthen the probabilities; for his
mind seemed to hold only the one
theme, and his statements could hard
ly have been either spontaneous or
studied inventions. On the other
hand, they were rather a sort of invol-
untary recital Of the particulars Of
subject which had engrossed him for
years to the exclusion of almost every
thing else"
DR.. Addison nodded his head. en-
couragingly. Il quite understand,
Miss Clement" he said. And l. too.
assured her that her reasoning ap-
peared to me logical.
ut was significant" she continued.
that SO far as I could fix dates, he
made no references at all to any hap
pening prior to sixteen years ago. The
tragedy of that time was the begin
ming Of what think I may call his
mania. Everything he told me had to
do with 1t. 1t came at the beginning.
at the apex, and at the end Of every
revelation"
"The tragedy of sixteen years ago?"
inquired the physician.
"The tragedy of what has been
called The Sable Lorcha," I remind
ed him.
"Oh, yes, Of course"
you know of that. then?" asked
Miss Clement. And briefly ran over
what Yup Sing had told me.
John Soy, I understand, was the
cook whom McNish imprisoned in the
galley" I added.
"It seems he broke his way out just
as the lorcha was sinking. McNish
had waited until he had gone to his
bunk for his usual hop, and had
chosen the hour he was sleeping to
get away and scuttle the vessel. For
five days Soy floated about on bit of
wreckage without food or drink, and
was finally picked up by a proa and
taken back to Macao at the mouth Of
the Canton river, where. after weeks
of delirium, he told his story of the
lorcha's fate. From that day the search
for McNish began. 1t seems that he
had a partner an Irishman. named
Moran, who for a time was suspected
of having been in the conspiracy; for,
you must remember, it was thought
then that the sinking Of the lorcha had
been planned from the first. the idea
being that 1t was simply scheme to
get the passage money from the poor
coolies, and then drown them"
"HorribIe!' calculated the ply
sician.
But the Chinese are just" the mis-
siopary continued. They discovered
that a certain United States cruiser
that had been warned Of the attempt
ed smuggling. did, on that particular
day. give chase to lorcha. which