Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-01-06
, THE COCKTAIL CLASSES

was bestowing the favor of her smile
rather on Burleigh.
Erickson was standing beside Sydney.
while we were not far away. Evil
IDENTIFY he had been saving up a speech
for the occasion and was now pre-
pared to deliver it.
Mr.. sydney he began with wave
of his arm that seemed to include US
all. 1T Is a pleasure to welcome you
here to our island. Last night 1t oc-
CURED to me that We ought to do some
thing to show that we appreciate it.
You must come to dinner tonight at
my villa here in town. You are all In
vited-all of us who have become SO
enjoyably acquainted on this voyage.
which / shall never forget. Believe
me when I say that it will be even
more a tribute to you personally than
because of the official position you are
to hold among us"
1t was a graceful invitation. more
able Of framing. Sydney could do
nothing less than accept and thank
him cordially. as we all did.
While we were thanking Erickson I
saw that Whitson had taken the oc-
casion also to thank Mrs. Erickson,
with whom he had been talking, just
a bit apart from the group. He made
no secret Of his attention. though /
them at such . time. When she start
ed TO rejofn the group / noted that she
had forgotten her handbag. which lay
near where she was sitting.
picked it up to restore 1t. Some un-
eontroliab}e curiosity prompted me, as
all were still looking at the town, to
open the bag. Inside was little bottle
OF grayish liquid. Hastily / pulled Off
the cap of my fountain pen and poured
into 1t some of the liquid. Whether
either she or any one else had observed
me was not going to run any chances
OF being seen. 1 called a passing stew
ard: Mrs. Erickson forgot her bag" I
said: you'll find her over there with Mr.
Whltson. She betrayed no anxiety as
she received it.
l lost no time in getting to Kennedy
and telling him what I had founi. and
rev moments later he made an ex-
cuse to go to our stateroom, as eager
as to know what was in the bottle.
First he poured drop of the LIQUID
from the cap of my fountain pen in
some water 1t did not dissolve Sue
cessiVely ne tried alcohol, ether. then
pepsin. None had any effect on it. Final
~ he dissolved 1t In ammonia.
relatively high amount Of sulphur"
ne muttered. after few moments more
of study. "Keratin. l believe"
Poison" asked
Craig shook his head. mo, harmless
Then what Is it forg'
he may have had some haIf-formed
idea. but all he did was to place the
same in his travelling laboratory cloae
and lock 1t. and we were ready To he
taken ashore Nearly every one had gone
ashore by the time we returned to the
deck Whitson was there yet. talking
10 the captain: for the shipping at the
port interested him.
KENNEDY seemed eager now to get
ashore, and we went. ACCOMPANIED by
Whitson. and after some difficulty, es-
taoiisned ourselves at a small hotel.
Burke was waiting for u.s. and IL, spite
OF his playing the role Of travelling
salesman managed to direct us about
80 that we might as quickly as possible
PICK up the thread of the mysterious
death OF Dwight. It did not take us long
to gather such meager fnforipa ton as
there was about the autopsy that HAD
followed the strange death Of Syiney's
predecessor.
No trace OF anything out of thu. way
had been found. and there the n,atter
had rested. except for suspicion One
OF our first visits was to the American
consulate. where Sydney. by virtue of
ms n special commission. had established
to the mysterious death of Dwight
Al that we were able to discover. after
sc!ne hours Of patient inquiry. was
that Dwight had suffered from great
prostration. marked cyanosis. conyuI
sions and coma. Whether the result
of some strange disease or a poisnn
no one was prepared to say. Ali that
was " known was that the blow. II blow
We ran across Whitson once or
twice during the day, busiIy engaged
renewing acquaintances with mer-
chants and planters he had known
before, but do not recall having seen
either Burleigh or Leontine, which
thought rather strange. for the town
was small and strangers few.
Erickson had invited us to come ,ata
in the afternoon to the dinner ana we
did not delay In getting there. His
house proved to be verftabse palace.
abruptly from the shore The Erick.
sons were proud of their homo. an weil
they might be. In spite of the com
plants we had heard Nanette utter
and the efforts OF Erickson Il, sell his
holdings. Mrs. Erickson proved to he
charming hostess. and the hort ex-
tended hospitality such as ono but
rarely meets.
Burleieh arrived proudly with Leon