The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1913-07-12

that I was working on the right track
and that sooner or later the person
desired would show up. But in the
meantime the detective and myself
must find the key to this collection OF
material. We mv7t know what to use
for various persolN and we must know
the prices that we're paid. Hour after
hour We spent that night, searching
everywhere, looking even under the
carpets for what we knew must be
somewhere about the place. Alem
Hail did not keep all his information
In his head, we felt sure Of that. He
did not depend on his memory for the
earning Of his money and we knew
that sooner or later we would find his
book of symptoms And sure enough,
about daybreak, my detective came
forth from a closet, bearing with him
a small, closely written notebook. Anx-
iously we turned the pages. There we
saw names, addresses, prices-in fact,
a complete history Of every client who
followed the occult teachings Of Alem
Hail, the mystic. There were those
who sought love and who paid for
their love potions at prices worth
while. There were others who sought
power-and paid for 1t. There were
still others who attempted to pene-
trate the veil which separates this
world from the next, and under this
heading we found the name Of Mrs.
Charles.
Some way, that day, my detective,
CARRIED in the robes Of Alem Hail, and
myself, dressed in the costume Of an
Indian woman. whose sole duty was to
answer the bell and to roll her eyes
and speak iabbering, gibberish
tongue, managed to work with those
who came for their seances. And we
gave those seances, We delivered the
love potions, and we threw in free Of
| charge things Of which Alem Hail
had never dreamed. II ever there was
a day Of real mystic freefor-all TOM
foolery, it was that one. More than
once that day / gritted my teeth to
keep from laughing. More than once
that laughter would be choked back
by queer look in the face Of the eli
ent-as fear would enter our hearts
that it was suspected that something
was wrong, that the real Alem Hail
was not before them in the dimmed,
| darkened room, after all. We were
playing a dangerous game, we knew
| that We felt that even though we
had arrested Alem Hail, that we had
sufficient evidence to send him over
the road again for being fakir and
a thieving fortune teller, that we had
| not yet saved the woman we had start
ed out to save. Did you ever knew
that such a person will trust the man
| who is robbing her implicitly, no mat
/ ter what happens? We knew that if
we proclaimed to the world that Alem
Hail had been arrested and that he
was charged with stealing money,
| there would not be one of the victims
who would come forward to testify
against him. More than that, there
/ would be those who would look upon
him as a martyr and who would even
| furnish money to aid him make his
fight for freedom. And most impor-
tant of these was Mrs. Charles. We
| must wait for her. We must play the
| game to the best Of our ability and
bide our time until the opportunity
cane to set her so hard against Alem
Hail that she would be willing to do
anything, now that her eyes were
opened. A week passed. Still we
floundered on, giving palm readings,
gazing into the crystal globe and do
ing anything whichy the key book des-
ignated as being necessary for those
who came to be duped. We gave ad-
vice on business matters-attemptin
to make 1t such advice that it would
do no harm. We gave advice In love
matters. We handed out tablets and
potions to make men and women hap
py and handsome, knowing that they
were nothing but colored water or
bread pills. And all the time we
hoped for that moment when Mrs.
Charles would come. We were also
getting anxious for another reason. In
| that week or more Of work we collected
money, Of course. The job Of keeping
books on it, so that it might be re-
turned when the case was over, had
fallen to me, and 1t was making me
stay up late nights.
"Then came the test. The telephone
rang one night, late. had been work
ing over my books, attempting to
straighten out the list of persons who
had paid in money during the day
and to whom it must be returned. I
looked at the clock, it stood exactly
at midnight. A voice which seemed
to have a familiar ring to it came over
the phone.
Allen Hail, please it. said. I
reused the detective He answered the
telephone and saw that the face was
wrinkled as he said All right and
hung up the receiver.
"'What is it?' I asked.
".A woman he answered, who
merely said Il am ready" Do you
SUPPOSE
"I am sure Of it, I answered. I
recognized her voice as being similar
to that of her daughters. We must