Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-01-12
nost unprepossessing and fiendish fe-

OUT or my depth. They were so jum-
pled. SO m~ultltudinous. n so diverse
l read of the Nedas. the Upanishads.
the -Brahmanas; of metaphysical alb
stractlons too tenuous to grasp of
karna or action, of maya or illusion.
n L know not what tangled tumble
of ghosts and demons, demi-gods. and
ueltled saints. household gods, village
gods. tribal gods, universal gods, with
their countless shrineS and temples.
and din OF diScordant rites Vt last.
in despair. ! gave it UP and turned to
the book on crystallomancy.
Here, ut least, was something COM
prehelslhle, ii rot altogether peliev-
able. and ] read With interest of the
antiquity of crystal gazing as a means
OF inducing hallucination for the pur-
pose OF seeking information not to be
gained by any normal means. / read
OF its use in China in Assyria, in
itsyDt, IN Arabia, in India, in Gireece
anu Rome; OF how it's practitioners in
the Middle Ages were looked upon as
heretics and burn. at the stake or
broken on the wheel: of the famous DR..
Dee, and so down to the present time.
Ihe servers or scers sometimes used
mirrors. sometimes vessels filled With
water, but usually a polished stone. and
hefyl was especially esteemed.
The effect of gazing at these intent
~ for a time was to abstract the mind
from normal sensory Impressions. and
10 induce u state OF partial hypnosis,
during which the scryer claimed he
could perceive in the crystal dream
pictures of great ~vividness, scenes at
II distance. occurrences of the past,
and of the future.
Was still deep in this, when l
heard Il step outside. the door opened,
and Godfrey came IN. He smiled wnen
he saw what l was doing.
How have you been getting along?:'
he asked.
Not very well," and threw the
book back on the table. The crystal
gazing isn't SO bad-one can under
stand that; but the tumble of abstrac-
tions which the Hindus call religion is
too much for me. 1 didn't know it was
so late" l added, and looked at my
watch: but it was not yet IL O'Clock.
I'm earlier than usual" said Cod
trey. II cut loose as soon as l could.
because l thought we'd better talk
things over. l saw Simmonds in town
tonight"
"Ah,' l said: "and what did he tell
you?"
Nothing l didn't know already. The
police have discovered nothing new
or. if they have, they're keeping it dark
until tomorrow. Simmonds did, how
ever. regale mo with his theory of the
case. He says the murder was done
SAI4iSi ny one OIL Iue f1lnUuS OF by
young Swain"
What do you Think" 1 asked.
I'm inclined to agree with Sim
monds." said Godfrey grimly. with
the emphasis or the Hindus," he add
ed. seeing the Doh on my face. II
don't believe Swain had any hand In
it,"
Neither do L." I agreed. heartily. In
fact such a theory is too absurd to
discuss
Just the same" said Godfrey, Slow
~, I'm glad he didn't touch Vaughan.
II he had happened to seize him by the
neck. while they We're struggling to-
prints G~oldberger found had happened
to be Swain's-things would have
looked bad for him. I'm hoping they'll
turn out to belong to one of the Hin
dus-but. as l said to Goldberger. I'm
afraid that's too good to be true"
Which one of the Hindus?" / asked.
oh. the Thug, of COURSE"
l sat bolt upright.
The Thug?" / echoed.
Didn't o get that faro and Cod
frey picked up one of the books and
ran rapidly through the pages. You
remember VIC found him squatting on
the floor with a rag and a tooth and
a bone in front of him?'
YES"
And do you remember how the yogi
described them. when Goldberger asked
him about them"
Very distinctly-he called them the
attributes of Kali"
Now listen to this: The Thugs
are a religious fraternity. committing
murders in honor of Kali. the wife
of silva. who, they believe, assists them
and protects them. Legend asserts
that she presented her worshipers with
three things, h hem of her lower gar
ment to use as a moose, a rib to use as
Il knife. and q tooth to use as a pick
AK in burying the victims He glanced
at me. and then went on: ".But the
knife was little used, for The religious
character of. an assassination came to
depend more N more upon it's blood
less character. and for this a nose was
used. The aversion to bloodshed be-
came in time so great that many sects
Of Thuggee consider 1t defiling to touch
human blood" He closed the book
and threw it or the table. Don't you
think that proves the case?"
Yes" said. th%oughtfully. And the
yogi--is he also q Thug?"
"Oh. no; a White Priest of silva
could be a Thug. The worship
OF silva and of Kali are the very OBJ
posites of each other. The Saivas are
ascetics. That u.s." he added. In another
tone. If the fellow is really a Saliva,
and not just Il plain fraud"
"All these fellows are frauds, more
or less, aren' they?" 1 questioned.
NO." was Godfrey's unexpected an
swer; t real yogin are no doubt
sincere: but n real yogi wouldn't waste
his time on u soft Drained old man,
and fire s%kyrockets off al midnight to
impress him. MY own opinion is that
this fellow is u fakir-a juggler, a
sleight of hand man-and, of course,
\ crook
"Well?' 1 asked. as Godfrey stopped
, and failed to continue.
Well that's as far as I've got. oh.