The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-01-17

heavy hand on his shoulder.
q guess you'd better come and show me,
be said.
a Il 6.4s Chanler Rao, with contented
smile on his handsome features and
substantial Cheque in his pocket, was seated
opposite to me in a reserved compartment
of the train back to town.
Il trust my noble preserver is satisfied"
he said, in his lazy Eastern fashion.
Quite satisfied as TO the result, / re-
piled; "but rather puzzled about the
process"
"And yet it is so simple, he said. 1T is
a method pTactised in India for generations
past. As thus: Suppose you are great
Sdliib over there. One of your many serv-
ants has committed a crime. You question
them closely with all your skill. But, alas
no good-servants everywhere, even In
in my own dear country, are ready liars
They all say 'No!'-wjth protests most in
dignant Then what shall you dor You
send for the Magic Man, whom they all fear.
He comes and calls for rice. He bids each
servant fill his mouth with the rice, hold it
for a moment, and then spit it out. Now,
at a single glance, he Can point out the cul-
prit.
"For why? Fear-the fear of the impend-
ing detection--has parched the tongue OF
the guilty one. The other portions of rice
when spit out are wet--very wet; but not
so that from the mouth Of him who is guilty
of the crime. His mouthful of rice is almost
as dry as when it went in.
Il had to prepare means more delicate
and fine. The little Cachets-they are
celluloid, perforated; filed with a special
material very drawing-what you call abb
sorbent to moisture. Most accurately do
they register which mouth is dry So Is the
marvel explained.
"But," I said, at last running in the
objection that was in my mind, "surely the
test is very risky one. With nervous PEG
pie mere excitement and fright will check
the flow of saliva quite as effectively as tho
consciousness of real guilt"
Gin the East, neverl" said Chanler.
''No Hindu is ever afraid unless he has
reason to be-why should he? But in the
West il is different. What you call your
nerves are overstrained, and liable TO ell
sorts OF fits and starts. One never knows.
And it makes dificultics-it did to-day.
There were t1V0 dry cachets."
"The pale under-housenaid7 I sug-
gested.
dyes" said Rao; Louise. She gave
me much alarm, for she furnished the second
dry cachet. For moment was up the
tree, and feared the method had failed; then
/ bethought me-perchance she is a con
federate. 1t was only the interference Of
your sister, the lady of the house, that
showed me how, since Louise had been away
till this very day, she could not be con-
Cerned. From that point all was perfectly
plain and cock-sure; my man was marked"
"And the explosion" limited. al
Rao smiled indulgently. Ff~|s
"Ah-that, he said, "was perhaps what
you would call little trick. Yet, again, not
without purpose / do not choose that
everyone should know the how; the explo-
sion covered up the method, and put specta-
tors on the wrong scent. And it had a
further object. When once your man is
seriously disturbed and anxious, with the
nerves, as one says, on the stretch and qui-
yer, there is nothing like a sudden bang and
flash to throw him altogether of the balance
and self-contrOl. And il was so here. You
noted-did you notS-that the guilty one
was trembling and almost on his knees even
before had time to point him out"
And vet there is one thing that seems to
me quite inexplicable," said. Glow did
you get to know Of the robbery at all? 1t
was 50 extraordinary-you writing to me
like that, just when we were about TO send
for detective"
My noble physician has the right to
learn the whole truth said Chanler Rao
"He wrote my prescription on the back OF
his gracious sisters letter."