Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1916-04-13

just then the sentry at the door saluted
and SlmnondS 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.
MI. Simmonds," l explained. has
been in charge of this case; and it
was he who arranged TO watch the
house, for fear some harm would be-
Il know" broke in Miss Vaughan,
clasping Simmonds' hand warmly. An
ME told me all about it this morning.
| don't know how to thank you, MI.
~Simmonds.'
"Oh, it wasn't me, especially" pro-
tested Simmonds, red to the ears. 1T
was really Godfrey there, and Mr.. Les
ter. They We're worried to DEATH"
W. We're rather worried" Godfrey
admitted; especially after we saw you
at that midnight fireworks party"
You saw that?" she asked quick
ooh, 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"
We'll" said Miss Vaughan, with a
deep breath, sitting down again and
motioning us to follow her example;
it seems to me that you have a story
to tell, too! SUIT I'll tell mine first.
Where shall 1 begin?"
Begin" l suggested, "at the momen
when o first suspected the plot"
THAT was when you We're telling
me of Fred's arrest. When you told
me of the handkerchief and then of the
finger prints, l knew that someone was
plotting against him. And then, quite
suddenly, 1 thought Of something"
you jumped up" ! said, las though
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 l will tell you why.
My father for many years had been a
collector of finger prints. All of his
friends Were compelled to contribute;
and wheneNer he made new acquain-
lance, he got his prints, too, ii he could.
He believed that ones character was
revealed in ones fineer prints 1t was
a sort of hobby; but 1T was, for some
reason, distasteful to II 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 solne terrific arguments about it.
One night, after a particularly hot ar
gunent, Senior Silva made the asseE-
ton that he could, by hynotic Sugges-
ton, cause his servant Mahbub to re-
produce any finger prints he desire.
4Iahhub's finger tips had been manip-
uiated in some way, when he was q
Iaffld, so that they showed only a sc
Iries of straight lines"
Yes" | said, his prints were taken
Fat the inquest"
FEATHER said that if Senior Silva could
show him proof of that assertion, he
would never look at finger printes
again. Senor Silva asked for a week
in which to make n study of the prints,
u So l,LI +-- ,,-,a. la,,z AGO., III.
I memory; at the end nf that time the
test WAS made. 1t NVas a most eXtEaor-
iNt,inary me. Sen&r Silva, father and
I sat at the table .Mondcr, under the
light, with the book of prints before
US. Mahbub was placed at a little
table in the far corner, with his back
Ino us, n Senior Silva proceeded to
~hypnotise him. 1t took only a moment,
IEor ne could ~hypEOtise Mahbub by
pointinS g finger at 1aim. He said Nah
hub was a splendit subject, because
he a hypnotised MIN hundreds of
zines, ana had him tlnder perfect CON
troll. Then he placed an ink patl on
the table in front of ilim-nothing else.
My father wrote his clame and the date
upon the top sheet nf a pad of lR,per,
and Senior Silva placed it before Nah
bub. Then he sat down with us, Sc
lected a page of prints, and asked us
to concentrate our minds upon it. Al
the nj of q few moments. he asked
me to bring the pad from before Mah
bub. l did SO, and We found the prints
upon it to be identical with those on
the page we had been looking at. My
father touched them with his fin ger
and found that they were fresh, as the
ink smeared readily. His nam 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.
.Copor cti)uo rapootoI rsha ay,o,;oo-+
with another set of prints and then
with another. l think there were six
altogether, and every one of them WAS
successful
WAS Swain's one Of them % asked
Godfrey.
NO; but when Mr.. Lester told me
.that Fred was suspected because of
those finger prints, the Thought flashed
rrrto my mind that if Senior Silva and
Nlsthbub could initiate those of other
people, they could initiate Fred's, too;
and when / looked at the album and
found that sheet torn out, I was sure
THAT was what had happened"
And so you decided to stay in the
house, to win Senior Silva's confidence
! by pretending to become a nye and
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 ahat there would be any real
danger, with the three %seTvants in the
house. Only at the asst did l realize
the desperate nature of the man.
She stopped and shivered slightly.
Tell US what happened" / said.
ut was OF Sunday afternoon" she
, continued, that l went to Senior Silva
and told him that l had decided to
; carry cut my ather's wish, renounce
the world. and become a priestess of
silva. | shall never forget the fire in
his eyes as he listened-they fairly
burned into me"
"Ah!" sale Godfrey. so that was
it,"
She looked at him i~nquiringIy.
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 n $1,000 900. If money
had been all he sought, that would
have satisfied him, and he would have
tried to get rid of you. Tha he did
nOt--that his ayes burned with 90 par