Evening star., 1922-02-24
n n EANWHILE Kennedy '

NI very busy at the town hall.
He had a miscroscope and
slides and test tubes and
chemicals for testing things, and l
don't know what all. for there was
not time to initiate me into all the
mysteries. He tested the water from
the various driven wells and in the
water tank. and the milk from the
cows. He tried to find out what food
had come in from outside, though
there was practically none. for the
hall was self supporting. There was
no stone he left unturned.
When l rejoined him that night he
was clearly pcrplexed.
There is only o.. ling left as
far as ! have been able to discover
after one days work" he said. after
the day. "Jim Risbee never drank
the water from his own wells. He al
ways drank a bottled water shipped
down from CAMP of his in New
York state, where he had remark
able mountain. spring. l tested a
number of the fun bottles at the hall.
but they were perfectly. pure. There
" =
in any of them. Then ii occurred to
me that. after all. that was not the
thing to do. L should test the empty
ones. But there weren't any empty
ones, They told me they had all
been taken down to the freight sta
ton yesterday to be shipped back to
the olmp. ] hope they haven't gone
yet. Let's drive around and see II
they are there.
The freight master was just leav-
ing, but when he learned We were
from the hall he consented to let us
examine the bottles. They were
corked and in wooden cases. which
protected them perfectly. by the
light of the station lamps ana lhe all
of a pocket lens Kennedy examiner
them on the outside and satisfied
himself that after being replaced in
the wooden cases the bottles them-
selves had nol been handled.
"Wfll YOU let me borrow some or
these bottles tonight he asked the
agent. I'll give you my word that
they will he returned safely tomor-
row. If necessary. I'll get an order
for Them
The station agent reluctantly
yielded. especially as small green
banknote figured in the transaction.
Craig and j tenderiy lifted the big
bottles in their cases into our trap
and drove back to our rooms in the
/
on to see us drive up with 4 lot OF
empty iive-gallon bottles and carry
them upstairs. but l had long ago
given up having any fear of pNhilc
opinion in carrying out anything
Craig wanted
the night Craig carefully swabbed
out the bottom and sides of each
bottle by inserting little piece of
cotton on the end of long wire.
Then he squeezed the water out OF
the cotton swab on small glass
slides coated with agar-agar,. or
Japanese seaweed, a medium in
which germ cultures multiply rap
idly. He put the slides away in
little oven with an alcohol lamp
which he had brought along, leav-
ing them to remain over night at
blood heat.
had not iced all this time that
he was very particular not to touch
my of the bottles on the outside.
AS for me, l wouldn't have touched
them for the world. In fact. l was
getting so 1 hesitated to touch any
thing. / was almost afraid to
breathe. though 1 knew there Was
not danger of infection in touching
the bottles that made Craig SO care
full, He had noted, in the dim light
Of the station lamps, what seemed
to be finger marks on the bottles.
and they had interested him. in
fact. had decided him on a further
investigation of the bottles
"I am now going to bring out
these very faint finger-prints on
the bottles" remarked Craig, pro-
ceeding with his examination in the
better light of our room. Here is
some powder known to chemists as
gray powder''-mercury and chalk
1 sprinkle It over the faint mark
ings, so. and then ! brush it off
with a camel'shair brush lightly.
That brings out the imprint much
more clearly, as you can see. For
instance, if you place your dry
thumb on piece of white paper
you leave no visible impression. IT
gray powder is sprinkled over the
spot and then brushed off distinct
impression is seen. If the impress
sion of the fingers is left on some
thing soft, like wax, it is often best
to use printers ink to bring out the
ridges and patterns of the finger
marks. And so on for various ma
terials. Quite a science has been
built up around finger-prints.
II wish l had that enlarginG cam
era which 1 have in my laboratory.
However. my ordinary camera will