Evening star., 1922-07-01
n A RSENIURETED hydrogen"
~ commented Craig. This is
~ the Marsh test for arsenic.
N

I// A RSENIURETED hydrogen"
~ commented Craig. This is
~ the Marsh test for arsenic.
That wall paper in Brix-
tons den has been loaded down with
arsenic, probably Paris green or
schweinfurth green. which is .aceto-
arsenite of copper. Every minute he
is there he is breathing arseniureted
hydrogen. Some one has contrived
to introduce free hydrogen into the
intake of his ventilator. That acts
on the arsenic compounds in the wall
paper and hangings and sets free
the gas I thought l knew the smell
the moment 1 got a Whit of it. Be
sides, 1 could tell by the jaundiced
look of his face that he was being
poisoned His liver was out of order.
and arsenic seems to accumulate in
the liver"
Slowly poisoned by minute guam
titles of gas 1 repeated in amaze
ment. Some one in that Red Broth
erhood is a diabolical genius Think
of it-poisoned wall paper!'
1t was still early in the forenoon
when Kennedy excused himself and.
leaving me to my own devices. dis-
appeared on one of his excursions
into the underworld of the foreign
settlements on the East Side. About
the middle of the afternoon he
reappeared AS far as / could learn.
all that he had found out was that
the famous. or rather Infamous. Prof.
Michael kumanova, one OF the lead
ers of the Red Brotherhood, was
known he somewhere IN TINS
country.
We lost no time in returning again
TO Woodrock late that afternoon.
Craig hastened to warn BriXton of
his peril from the contaminated
atmosphere Of the den, and at once
a servant was set to work with a
vacuum cleaner.
Carefully Craig reconnoitered the
basement where the eavesdroppinS
storeroom was situated. Finding it
deserted, lie quickly set to work
connecting the two wires of the gen.
eral household telephone with what
looked very much like a seamless
iron tube. perhaps six inches long
and three inches in diameter Then
he connected the tube alAo with the
private wire of Brixton In similar
manner.
This is a special repeating coil of
high efficiency" he explained in an
swer to my inquiry. 1T is absolutely
balanced as to resistance, number of
turns and everything. l shall run
this third line from the coil into
Brixton's den, and then. if you like
excursion down to the village, where
/ am going to install another similar
coil between the two lines at the
local telephone central station oppo-
site the railroad"
Brixton met US about o'clock that
hi n
parently, even the little change from
uncertainty to certainty so far had
had a tonic effect on him. l had.
however, almost given up the Illusion
that it was possible for us to be even
in the den without being watched by
an unseen eye 1t seemed to me that
no one who could conceive of talk
ing through an incandescent lamp
seeing, even through steel and ma
sontry, was not impossible.
Kennedy had brought with him
rectangular box of oak. in one of
square holes. AS he replaced the
camera-like box Of the detectaphone
with this oak box he remarked
."This is an intercommunicating te1e-
phone arrangement of the detecta-
phone. You see, it is more sensitive
than anything of the sort ever made made
before. The arrangement of these
little square holes is such as to make
them act as horns or magnifiers of a
double receiver. We can all hear at
once what is going on by using this
machine"
We had not been waiting long be-
fore a peculiar noise seemed to issue
from the detectaphone. 1t was as
though a door had opened and shut
hastily. Some one had evidently en-
tered the storeroom. A voice. called
up the railroad station and asked for
Michael Kronski, Count Wachtmann's s
chauffeur.
'It is the voice 1 heard last night"
Harry, do you know, it is Janeff. the
engineer who has charge of the steam
heating. the electric bells and every
thing of the sort around the place.
My own engineer-I'll land the fellow
in Jail before I'LL"
kennedy raised his hand. LET us
hear what he has to say" remonstrat-
ed Craig calmly. '1 suppose you have
wondered why I didn't just go dowQ
there last night and grab the fellow.
Well. you see now. 1t is my invaria-
This fellow is only one tool. Arrest
him, and as likely as not we should
allow the big criminal to escape?"
Hello, kronski!" came over the de-
tectaphone. This is Janeff. How
are things going?"
WachtmannS s cnauueur must nave
answered that everything was all
right.
you knew that they had discovered
the poisoned Wallpaper asked Janeff
A long parley followed. Finally,
Janeff repeated what apparently had
been his instructions. Now, let me
see," he said. "You want me to stay
here until the last minute so that 1
can overhear whether any alarm is
given for her? All right. You're
sure it is the o'clock train she is
due on? Very well. shall meet you
at the ferry across the Hudson. I'll
start from here as soon as I hear the
train come in. Well get the girl this
time. That will bring Brixton to
terms sure. Don't fail me. I'll be at
the ferry as soon as can get past the
guards and join you. There isn't a
chance of an alarm from the house.
I'll cut all the wires the last thing be-
fore leave. Goodbye"
All at once it dawned on me what
they were planning-the kidnapping
of Brixton's only daughter, to hold
her, perhaps, as a hostage until he
did the bidding Of the gang. Wacht-
mann's chauffeur was doing 1t and
using Wachtmann's car, too. Was
Wachtmann a party to it?
What was to be done? I looked at
oh r. ~. Ixy~ ~,.Y~