Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1915-07-09
Quite impossible, sir"

Ing with an electric torch.
mo reaction at ALL" the latter nut.
tered. This isn't an ordinary poison.
anyway
The professor, who had been stand,
Ing on one side. suddenly gave vent to
soft exclamation.
Wait" he whispered Wait! |
have an idea"
He hurried off to his stateroom.
The doctor was porting over volume
OF tabulated poisons Quest was still
watching his tubes Lenora sat upon
the couch Suddenly the professor
reappeared. He was carrying small
notebook In his hand, his manner be-
trayed some excitement He closed
the door carefully behind him
Il want you all he begged, ito
listen very carefully to me. You will
discover the application of what am
going to read when | am finished,
Now, II you please
This. he began, rs the diary of a
! tour made by Craig and myself in
northern Egypt some fourteen years
ago. Here Ia the first entry Of i'm
port
MONDAY-Twenty nine miles southeast
CT Port Said We have stayed for two
days at a little Mongar village have
today come to the definite Inclusion that
atifl rnp J..,,t
zens OF this country.
TUESDAY Craig and have been
little uneasy today These Mongars
into whose encampment we have found
our way, are one Of the straneest and
fiercest OF the nOmad tribes They are
descended. without doubt from the an
cient Mongoans, who invaded this coun-
try some seven hundred years before
Christ, but have preserved In marvellous
way their individuality as a race. They
have the narrow eyes and the thick nose
base Of the pure Oriental also much OF
his cunning One of their special weak
nesses seems TO be the invention Of the
most hideous forms Of torture, which
they apply remorselessly 10 their enc
mics.
WEDNESDAY This has been a won
l must place on record as an act OF great
bravery by Craig, my servant Early this
morning, man eating lion found his
way into the encampment The Mongars
behaved like arrant towards They He'd
right and left leaving the chiefs little
daughter Feerda, at The brutes mercy
Craig, who Is by no means an adept In
the use Of firearms chased the animal as
he was making of With the child and
more by good luck than anything else
managed to wound II mortalY He
brought the child back to the enCamp
ment Just as the chief and the warriors
OF the tribe returned from hunting eS
pedition, Our position here Is now abso-
lutely secure We are treated like gods
and appreclating my weakness for all
matters OF science, the chief has today
explained to me many OF the secret mys-
teries Of the tribe Amongst other things
he has shown me a wonderful secret pol
son, known only to this tribe, which they
call VeedemZoo 1t brings almost instant
death and Is exceedingly difficult TO trace
The addition OF sugar causes a curious
condensation and resolves II almost to
white paste The only antidote Is sub
stance which they use here freely and
which is exactly equivalent to our cam
phor,
The professor closed his book
Quest promptly rang the bell
Some sugar" he ordered, turning
to the steward
They waited In absolute silence
The suggestion which the professors
disclosure had brought to them was
stupefying, even Quests fingers as
moment or two later he rubbed two
knobs OF sugar together SO that the
contents should fall into the tubes OF
bouillon, shook The result WAS
magical. The bouillon turned to
strange shade OF gray and began
slowly to thicken
1T is Mongar poison" the profess
sOr cried. with breaking voice
They all looked at one another,
Craig must be here amongst US"
Quest muttered
And the bouillon," Laura cried,
clasping Quests arm, the bouillon
WAS meant for you!"
There seemed to be, somehow,
among all OF them, a curious indis-
position to discuss this matter. Sud
denly l.enora, who MAS sitting on the
lounge underneath the portfolio. put
out her hand and picked up card
which was lying by his side. She
glanced at 1t, ct first curiously Then
she shrieked
"A messagel" she cried "A mes
sage from The Hands! Look"
They crowded around her. In that
same familiar handwriting was
scrawled across the face Of the card
these few words
To Sanford Quest
You have escaped this time by a
chance Of fortune, not because your
wits are keen, not because Of your
own shrewdnessi simply because
Fate WllIed it. II will not be for long,
Underneath was the drawing OF the .
clenched hands.
There is no longer any doubt
LenoTa said calmly Craig is on
board. He must have been on deck
a few minutes ago 1t was his hand .
which placed this card on the port
hole Listen What's that?
There was a scream from the deck
They all recognized Laura's voice,
Harris was out of the stateroom first,
but they were all on deck within ten
seconds Laura was standing with
one hand clasping the rail her hand
fiercely outstretched towards the low
er part of the promenade deck
Through the darkness they heard the
sound of angry voices
What is it, Laura" Lenora cried
She swung round upon them
Craig" she cried Craig! |
saw his face as | sat in my chair
there, talking to the captain. | saw
a mans white face nothing else. He
must have been leaning over the rail
He heard me call out and he dlsap
reared