The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1916-04-13

just then the sentry at the door saluted
and Simmonds stepped into the room.
l saw him shake his head in answer
to Godfrey's questioning look and knew
that Silva had not been found. Then
brought him forward to Miss Waugh
an and introduced him.
Mr.. Simmonds," l explained, has
been in charge Of this case; and 1t
was he who arranged TO watch the
II know" broke in Miss Vaughan,
clasping Simmonds' hand warmly. AN
ME told me all about 1t this morning.
don't know how to thank you, Mr..
Simmonds.'
"Oh, it wasn't me, especially" pro-
tested Simmonds, red to the ears. 1T
was really Godfrey there, and Mr.. Les
ter. They were worried to death"
We were rather worried" Godfrey
admitted; especially after we saw you
at that midnight fireworks party"
You saw that?' she asked quick
ly; but how :"
"Oh, we had seen the show every
night for a week. 1t was its failure to
come off last night which first told US
something was wrong"
Well" said Miss Vaughan, with q
deep breath, sitting down again and
1T seems to me that you have a story
to tell, too! But I'll tell mine first.
Where shall begin?"
Begin" suggested, at the moment
when you first suspected the plot"
That was when you were telling
me Of Freds arrest. When you told
me Of the handkerchief and then Of the
plotting against him. And then, quite
suddenly, thought Of something"
You jumped up" said, "as though
you were shot, and ran to the book
case over there and got down that al
bum Of finger prints, and found that
SWANS were missing. That seemed to
upset you completely"
1T did; and I will tell you why
My father for many years had been q
collector of finger prints. All of his
friends were compelled to contribute;
and whenever he made a new acQuatn-
lance, he got his prints, too, II he could.
He believed that ones character was
revealed in ones finger prints. 1t was
sort of hobby; but it was, for some
reason, distasteful to Senior Silva. He
not only refused to allow prints to be
made Of his fingers, but he pooh poohed
my fathers theories, and they used to
have some terrific arguments about 1t.
One night, after particularly hot ar
gument Senior Silva made the asser-
ton that he could, by hynotic sugges
ton, cause his servant Mahbub to re-
produce any finger prints he desire.
Mahbub's finger tips had been manip-
ulated in some way, when he was a
child, so that they showed only q Sc
ries Of straight lines"
Yes" 1 said his prints were taken
at the inquest"
Father said that if Senior Silva could
show him proof Of that assertion, he
would never look at finger printes
again. Senior Silva asked for a week
in which to make a study Of the prints,
in order to impress them upon his
memory; at the end Of that time the
test was made. 1t was most eXtraOr-
binary one. Senior Silva, father and
sat at the table yonder, under the
light, with the book Of prints before
US. Mahbub was placed at a little
table in the far corner, with his back
to us, and Senior Silva proceeded to
hypnotise him. 1t took only moment
for he could hypnotise Mahbub by
pointing finger at him. He said NAH
bub was a splendid subject, because
he had hypnotised him hundreds Of
times, and had him under perfect con-
troll. Then he placed an ink pad on
the table in front Of him-nOthing else.
My father wrote his name and the date
upon the top sheet Of pad Of paper,
and Senior Silva placed 1t before Nah
bub. Then he sat down with u.s. Sc
lected a page Of prints, and asked us
to concentrate our minds upon 1t. At
the end of a few moments, he asked
me to bring the pad from before Nah
bub. I did so, and we found the prints
upon 1t to be Identical with those on
the page we had been looking at Ny
father touched them with his finger
and found that they were fresh, as the
ink smeared readily. His name was
on the corner Of the page, where he
had written it. There could be no
doubt that in some way Mahbub had
been able to duplicate the prints.
Senior Silva repeated the experiment
with another set Of prints and then
with another. I think there were six
altogether and every one of them was
successful"
was SWANS one of them" asked
Godfrey.
mo; but when Mr.. Lester told me
that Fred was suspected because of
those finger prints, the thought flashed
into my mind that If Senior Silva and
Mahbub could initiate those Of other
people, they could initiate Fred's, too;
and when l looked at the album and
found that sheet torn out, 1 was sure
that was what had happened"
And so you decided to stay in the
house, to win Senior Silva's confidence
by pretending 10 become convert, anu
to search for evidence against him."
said. THAT was a brave thing to do,
Miss Vaughan"
Not so brave as you think" she
objected, shaking her head. Il did not
believe that there would be any real
danger, with the three servants in the
house Only at the last did I realize
the desperate nature of the man.
She stopped and shivered slightly.
Tell us what happened" l said.
1T was on Sunday afternoon" she
continued, that I went to Senior Silva
and told him that l had decided to
carry out my fathers wish, renounce
the world, and become a priestess of
silva. I shall never forget the fire in
his eyes as he listened-they fairly
burned into me-"
"Ah!" said Godfrey. $50 that was
it,"
She looked at him inquiringly.
Except upon on hypothesis" he ex-
planned, that action on your part
would have embarrassed Silva, and he
would have tried to dissuade you. He
had lett him by your fathers will this
valuable place and 100000 If money
had been all he sought, that would
have satisfied him, and he would have
tried to get rid Of you. That he did
-