The Ely miner., 1915-07-30
SIXTEENTH EPISODE
TIE CRYPTIC RING.


time in the only work outside of the
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 all Chinatown
agog. 1t was, indeed, very bewilder
ing case. A Chinaman named Ii
Chang, leader of the Chang Wah Tong
had been poisoned, but so far no one
had been able to determine what poi
son it 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 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 knock at the door announced
the arrival of DR.. Leslie, anxious for
some result.
Have you been able to find out any
thing yet?" he greeted Kennedy Gag
erly as Craig looked up from his mi
croscope.
Kennedy turned and nodded. Your
dead man was murdered by means OF
aconite, of which, you know, the active
principle is the deadly alkaloid aconi
tine"
There are several treatments fol
aconite poisoning" ruminated Ken
nedy. 81 would say that one of the
latest and best is digitalin given hypo,
dermically." He took down bottle
of digitaliD from cabinet, adding,
"only it was too late in this case"
Just what the relations were be
tween Long 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, Wu 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 Tons
headquarters, the new leader and sew
eral of his most trusted followers were
now plotting revenge. Long Sin, they
believed. was responsible for the mur
der, and, with truly Oriental guile
they had obtained a hold over WI
F'ang'S secretary.
Their plan decided on, the China
men left the headquarters and made
their way separately uptown. They
reioined one another in the shelter o
a rather poor house, before which wa:
board fence, in the vicinit-- of :
fashionable apartment house. A mo
ment's conference followed, and thel
the secretary glided away.
WI had taken another apartment
uptown in one of the large apartment
houses near parkway.
There Long Sin was now engaged
in making all possible provisions fo
the safety Of his master. Anyone
who had happened to glance UP at th'
roof of the tall apartment building
might have seen Long Sins figure sill
houetted against the sky on the top o
the mansard roof near fagpole.
He had just finished fastening to tn,
fiagpole stout rope which stretched
taut across an areaway some twent.
or thirty feet wide to the next build
II, 70 cf tn oh inn
ney. Again and again he tested ii
and finally with a nod of satisfaction
descended from the roof and went t,
the apartment of WI.
There, alone, he paused for a few
minutes to gaze in wonder at the cryI
tic ring which had been the net resul
so far of his effoass to find the mil
lions which Bennett, as the Clutchin,
Hand. had hidden. He wore it, strange
Iy enough, over his index finger, an,
as he examined it he shook his hea,
in doubt.
Neither he nor his master had We
been able to fathom the significance o
the ring.
Long Sin thought that he was unot
served. But outside. looking througl
the keyhole. was Wu's secretary. VIII
had stolen in on the mission whicl
had been set for him at the Ton
headquarters.
Long Sin went over 80 desk an,
opened a secret box in which WI ha
placed several packages of none.