The Ordway new era., 1913-03-21

the incidents that seemed to us inex-
plicable. Did you ever hear Of amyl
pearls?"
OF course I had heard something OF
amyl pearls. and l said 20.
They are glass capsules." added.
"and contain liquid which smells
like bananas. They use them, be-
lteve, In heart attacks. by crushing
them in a handkerchief and tnhaling
the drug" .r
But 1t was not the same drug, Eve
lyn explained. Miss Clement had told
her all about 1t. She doubted that 1t
was an amyl, at all, though 1t was put
up in the same fashion, and released
In the same way. and 1t was like an
amyl, In that It was extremely vola-
tile.
Miss Clement has never seen one
Of them" Evelyn continued, but
some of the Chinese have told her Of
them. and of the wonders that they
perform. She says the chemical.
whatever 1t is. is very expensive and
SO they are seldom used. but that in
China. especially in secret govern
ment enterprises. they are employed
on occasion. The effect Is seemingly
to make invisible the person who
uses them. Really. they don't do any
thing Of the sort: for they are moth
ing more nor less than capsules, filled
with a peculiarly-acting anesthetic-
an anesthetic 80 quick and powerful
in its action that the victim falls into
insensibility without warning. and
emerges. after an interval Of ten or
twelve minutes, without knowing that
he lost consciousness or that more
than a single second has elapsed"
THE idea seems ingenious" l re-
turned. l was interested. surely. but
very far from convinced. But" l
objected. how is 1t that the anaes-
thetizer is not anaesthetized himself?
"Oh. he doesn't break the pearls un-
der his own nose," Evelyn explained.
HE casts them. The slightest con
cussion fractures the shell, and every
one within a certain radius drops in
stantly into temporary trance"
"And the swine before whom the
pearls are cast, do they drop to the
ground to rise again when the ten or
twelve minutes are concluded?"
ridiculed
"Oh, not at all. Your muscles are
not relaxed You stand or sit as IL
turned suddenly to stone. II your arm
Is extended. for instance, 1t remains
in that position until the effect
ceases She was very much In earn
est. and tried to persuade me that.
aided by these pearls. 1t would be
very easy matter to commit all three
of the depredatory acts which had SO
amazed and shocked us.
am the last man to regard any
thing as impossible in this day Of won
ders, yet l was by no means willing to
accept such a solution merely on the
hearsay evidence OF n woman who had
spent n decade and half amongst the
Chinese Of New York City.
Eyes. Evelyn" said. tolerantiy, "it
is worth considering. and at the first
opportunity I shall look into 1t. But
Just now there must be more impor-
tant matters for you and me to dis
cuss. Did Miss Clement. by any
chance. see Yup Sing?"
At the question the girls pale
cheeks flushed to her temples and her
violet eyes blazed.
II asked her to see him, and she
did," was her anwer. II thought she
might learn from him when and where
you parted, and what led up to the
plight in which you were found. But
he told her that you had failed to
keep an engagement with him. He In
that you had come to China
town intent upon making trouble. and
ended by declaring that he had no
time to devote to answering the CO.
nundrums Of such harebrained
American as you had proved your
self Did you ever hear Of such i'm
pertinence? wanted Miss Clement
to take me to him that I might tell
him what thought of his outrageous
conduct, but she refused. She says
he stands very high amongst his peo-
pie. and that 1t is not well to antag-
onize him."
smiled at her Indignation. After
ALL" l said, "he Isn't so much to
blame. must have cut rather undig-
nitied figure chasing Mr. Johnson
Doyers street. and then fall
ing down cellar stairs. When l am
able to get out again. shall go to
Mr.. Yup and apologize"
But before I was able to get out
again, changed my mind. To be
quite definite I changed It that same
evening. when, In reading the reports
of O'Hara, the detective who for near
ly two weeks had been shadowing the
red giant. Philetus Murphy. ! came
upon this entry:
:" -. At 5:27 he entered the
Mott street store OF the Yup Sing Com
pany. remaining until G:42. when he
came out with tall, thin. well-dressed
said to be Yup Sing. him
self. Together they went to Ching
restaurant on Doyers street.
From there a Chinaman known as
NJ, xr,itk