The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-09-15

! automobile a large case. He set this
on the floor. and his first movement
was to proceed to the glass doors,
| thrust them open, survey the space af-
| forded, and then point 10 the table
Move it." he said tersely, and Lott
! carried it into the adjoining apartment.
! There was gas there, and the doctor
! lit a jet. Then he carried his case
| into the room, closed the doors, and
| drew from the case a glass head with
air tubes at the top He sprinkled
some deodorizing acid about the room
from a bottle, put on pair OF gloves,
took out a microscope and proceeded
to his strange task
The foreigner paid no attention to
all this. Marvel did not seem par
| ticularly interested. We four were
| left in the outer room, but could dis
Germ the doctors activities through
| the connecting door. l noticed Lott
glide to the side Of his master, |
caught the words:
The man is from a banana rails
| ing country"
Your sixth sense tells you that,
does ito" responded Marvel lightly.
Then it must be South America"
| How true that instructive sense of
odor, of which Lott made a theory,
was correct, the examination of the
satchel by the doctor would soon tell
| The illustrious savant rapidly pulled
| forth its contents. 1t held nothing
but a few worn garments. Selecting
a skull cap from the litter, upon
this the doctor focused his micro
! scope. There were flashes of finely
mirrored plates and instruments, the
! application of acids, a mixture of the
scrapings Of the wool from the cap,
massed in a little lake of chemicals.
| Then the doctor closed the satchel,
poured a new bottle Of some disinfect-
! ing agent over it, and replacing his
analytical gear In its case, came out
into the larger room.
Peru he said simply to Marvel.
Southern part. The germs are the
baclli. peculiar to that country
| alone. And to the falling sickness
particularly prevalent there. You will
! yet come before the great societies,
Lott" he added admiringly. You di-
/ agnosed it right-a banana country,
| and the pestilential faint. The man
! should talk Spanish he supplement-
| ed. with a keen glance over the for
| eigner.
But he doesn't" responded Marvel
| tersely. Il know what to do now.
| Thanks. doctor"
He glanced at Lott and motioned me
to follow him and DR.. Horn. At the
street Marvel dismissed the latter
with a nod, proceeded along briskly.
| hailed the first taxi we met, gave a
brief direction, and We were whirl-
! ed away to a street in the foreign
| quarter.
The taxi halted in front of row of
| old buildings. Their occupants were
incongruous One little store bore a
| window full of more varieties of sau-
sages than | expected to exist in the
entire world There was store given
over to Hungarian wines, a Japanese
restaurant and two curio shops.
These were reminders of worlds
fair years, of stranded importations,
and Marvel seemed to know them
like book. 1t was not five minutes
before he reappeared from one of
the curio stores. A swarthy man In a
fez was with him. We were again
| whirling along to our terminus, the
hotel
1t was all SO swift, SO silent, so i'm
ressive-Marvers resistless rush of
| ideas and events, carrying me along
| irresistibly-that it reminded me Of
the changing scenes Of motion pic
| ture film. The curio man was usher
| ed into the room where we had left
Lott and the other. He viewed the
| foreigner with a measuring glance,
and spoke half a dozen words in
| tongue-twisting dialect.
! In an instant the foreigner was
| transformed. Eyes, frame and soul
seemed to awake. He uttered joy
| full cry and flung himself on his knees,
clasping those Of the curio man, jab-
| boring away twixt sobs Of delight and
| tears Of relief.
| Marvel softly rolled cigarette
with those def hands Of his, which
with equal facility could slip ring
upon the dainty finger Of a debutante
or snap pair of handouts around the
| brawny wrists of a burglar. | knew
| he OWNED the end of circumstance
and the beginning of coherency.
| There was a rapid colloquy between
| the foreigners. Then there was a
| whispered conversation carried on by
Marvel and the curio man in corner
| of the room. The latter returned to
! the prisoner. Some animated discus
sion ensued. And then the foreigner
did a quite remarkable thing.
He removed his shoes, and for the
first time | noticed how broad and how
thick were the soles. Their owner
looked appealingly at the curio man.
who nodded reassuringly. as though
promising protection. The former
took a shell-like article from his peck
ct, stripped back the edge of each sole,
tore them lengthwise, and from those
hiding places produced two oblong
rigid articles cased and encased in
cushions of the softest wool.
l watched Marvel as he received
these, placed them in his pocket, and
made a motion to Lott, who In turn