Charlevoix county herald., 1918-06-28
prepared Tor IT'S reception.

| picpdicu lOf llb TtCcptlOu.
Dual lowered the feet to the floor.
Heffy and drew the shoulders I'D
onto the back of the chair. Semi
placed his sinewy hands on the dead
mans hips, and while we held him
steady, forced them backward, as one
might bend rusty hinge, so that they
bent slowly and slipped into the seat
of the chair.
Holding them there with one hand,
he took each partly flexed knee and
bent 1t down and backward until Ute
Charley appeared to be sitting with
his back to the window, waiting for
the return of Osborne with the mir
rors and probe.
In fact, we all waited.
Semi and Laredo and Heffy dropped
into chairs. Myself, walked over to
the window, the lower sash of which
was of semi-opaque glass, and stood
gazing up through the clear pane Of
the upper frame to the blue of the
outer sky.
! wondered what Connie was doing
how she felt!
/ hadn't seen her since the night be-
fore, because / hadn't wished to in
trude into that suite of sorrow where
she had remained while Miss Win.
garde slept after Dual had lulled her
first wild grief of bereavement. I
wondered If, perhaps, she were not
lying down and resting, and / hoped
she was.
Then the door opened and Osborne
came in with the laryngoscope, its re-
Hector, the probe, and a tongue de-
pressor and mouth-gag, which he laid
out on the table from which we had
just lifted Charley.
Dual rose and Joined him. He
nodded. "Good," he approved. "You
brought all we shall need, think"
He took up the gag and came over
to the dead man in the chair, drawing
up seat for himself directly facing.
Separating the Indians lips he insert
ed the blades of the little instrument
between the strong teeth and forced
them apart with little clicking of the
rachet-catch. The Indians mouth
gaped open and exposed the tongue
blush in color and swollen, like that
Of parrot.
Osborne, watching him, lifted the re-
Hector and extended it toward him.
Semi took it, manipulated its strap.
adjusting it to his head, and slipped 1t
into position so that it's reflecting sur
face stood like a Cyclopean eye above
his own; reached up and drew 1t about
on its ball-joint, until its central hole
exactly covered his right eye, and
hitched his chair closer still to the
body in the chair.
Sunlight was coming through the
window. Dual caught a ray on the
reflector and threw it back into the
mouth, held wide by the gag. It
swaged and flickered, searching out
the reddish blue cavity, steadied and
played on the back of the throat in
tiny circle which brought out the swol-
len veins under the membranes.
Dual put out hand backward to-
ward the physician.
Like trained surgical assistant, o.
uOl uc was ISduy, anu udhuCu bhO
tiny throat mirror on its long, slended
handle. Semi took it, and the tongue
depressor which he had laid on his lap
at first.
Slipping the latter over the tongue
he forced it down, thrust the tiny glass
into the mouth and back into the ray
of the mirror on his forehead, turning
and twisting it this way and that, to
at last hold it steady and peer intently
at the diminutive reversed picture 1t
revealed.
For long minute he continued to
gaze into the lifeless cavity of the
throat; then without words beckoned
Osborne to him. The physician came,
bent and peered along the luminous
ray to the surface of the mirror. 1t
seemed to me that he started slightly.
His face swung from what he had
seen and he looked squarely at Dual.
His eyes had come open, his lips were
slightly parted. His entire expression
was that of one deeply affected by
some totally unexpected sight or, &C.
currence. AS their eyes met, Semi
Dual shook his head shortly.
Osborne's eyes narrowed again and
he turned them back into the Indians
throat without word. l could see
Heffy and Laredo watching the two
closely, and myself wondered what
in all reason they could have lighted
upon to excite their evident interest.
However, Semi Dual offered no ex-
PLANTATION.
CONTINUED Next Week.