The Ordway new era., 1915-07-23
SIXTEENTH EPISODE
THE CRYPTIC RING.

THE CRYPTIC RING.
Kennedy had been engaged for some
time In the only work outside of the
Dodge case which he had consented to
take for weeks.
Our old friend. DR.. Leslie. the coro-
-ner, had appealed to him to solve a
very ticklish point in a Tong murder
case which had set an Chinatown
agog. It was. indeed. very bewilder.
fng case. A Chinaman named Ii
Chang, leader Of the Chang Wah Tong.
had been poisoned, but 80 far no one
had been able to determine what pol
son 1t was or even to prove that there
had been a poison, except for the fact
that the man was dead. and Kennedy
had taken the thing up in q great
measure because Of the sudden turn
in the Dodge case which had brought
US into such close contact with the
Chinese.
had been watching Kennedy with
interest, for the Tong wars always
make picturesque newspaper stories.
when q knock at the door announced
the arrival of Dr. Leslie, anxious for
some result.
Have you been able to find out any
thing yokf' he greeted Kennedy eag-
erly a. Craig looked up from his mi
croscope.
Kennedy turned and nodded. '.Your
dead man was murdered by means OF
aconite. Of which. you Aaow, the active
principle il the deadly alkaloid aeoni-
tine."i IL. .aspFsgt $500 jSi+ 70 81
"There are ssesfsl treatments for
aconits poisoning" ruminatedl Ken
nedy. II would say that one Of the
latest and best In digitalin given hypo-
dermicafsy." He took down bottle
of digitalin from a cabinet. adding,
"only it was too late in this case"
. -
Just what .he relations were be-
tween Ions Sin and the Chong Wah
Tong have never been able to deter
mine exactly. But one thing was GER
tain: Long Sin on his arrival in New
York had offended the Tong, and now
that his master, WI Fang. was here
the offence was even greater, for the
criminal society brooked no rival.
In the dark recesses Of poorly fur
nished cellar, serving as the Tong
headquarters. the new leader and sew
eral of his most trusted followers were
now plotting revenge. Long Sin, they
believed, was responsible for the muir
der, and, with truly Oriental guile,
they had obtained a hold over WI
Fang's secretary.
Their plan decided on, the China
men left the headquarters and made
their way separately uptown. They
rejoined one another in the shelter OF
. rather poor house. before which was
q board fence, in the vicinity OF a
fashionable apartment house. A mo-
ment's conference followed, and then
the secretary glided away.
WI had taken another apartment
uptown in one Of the large apartment
houses near q parkway.
There Long Sin was now engaged
in making all possible provisions for
the safety of his master. Anyone
who had happened to glance up at the
roof of the tall apartment building
might have seen Long Sins figure sill
houetted against the sky on the top Of
the mansard roof near a fagpole.
He had Just finished fastening to the
Aagpols Q stout rope which stretched
taut ACROSS an areaway some twenty
or thirty feet wide to the next build
ing, where 1t was fastened to q chin
ney. Again and again he tested It,
and finally with nod of satisfaction
descended from the roof and went to
the apartment Of WI. q.
There, alone, he paused for few
minutes to gaze in wonder at the cryp-
tic ring which had been the net result
30 far of his efforts to find the mill
lions which Bennett, as the Clutching
Hand, had hidden. He wore It, strange
" enough. over his index finger, and
as he examined 1t he shook his head
In doubt. --'' ~ ''''
Neither he nor his master had yet
been able to fathom the significance OF
the ring
Long Sin thought that he was unob-
served. But outside. looking through
the keyhole. was wu's secretary, who
had stolen in on the mission which
had been set for him at the Tong
hsadquarters.
Long Sin went over to desk and
epsneA secret box in which WI had
plassA ssvssal packages Of money