The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1927-07-22

WAS SITduSleu, HUI ny Il HUUSS at dii,
but by tourniquet-a little stick-a
lead pencil perhaps-run through the
two loops and twisted
Look here !" he cried the next mo-
ment, with rising excitement. Heres
the rest of the instrument"
He held out for my inspection a
long straight-stemmed briar pipe, and
was able to see, just at the base of
the bowl, shiny, circular indenta-
ton. The CHASTITY clearness Of the
demonstration of the murderer's meth
cd sickened me little, and dropped
the pipe rather quickly.
My chief was pacing up and down
the room. talking to himself. 81 never
believed in that noose-not really be-
lieved in it."
"You are undoubtedly right about
It," said /, 'but is the discovery i'm
portant? Does it make any real diff
ference?"
"That depends on the point Of view"
said he. ITO the late Henry Morgan.
I suppose 1t made no difference at all.
To an ethnologist, it makes all the
difference in the world. The eau
casian uses the moose. With him 1t
has been the instrument of execution,
of murder and of suicide from time
immemorial. But there are other
races that never heard of it. The
aborigines in my part Of the world
never did. With them it was always
this" He caught up the string as he
spoke, and jerked it taut in both
hands. cts the instrument of cere-
monial murder. They used to send
widows out of the world this way, I'M
til the British government put u stop
to that etiquette"
Then, and only then, did l realize
the Importance of the discovery. "And
the girl at the hospital?' 1 questioned.
"Would those two loops be familiar to
herr"
He nodded gravely. "I'll tell you
this" said he, "Pm glad I'm under no
obligation to report to Ashton until I'm
ready"
HSIl IlC uil q SHil ANlSAioli tiiAies
He put the thing back in the drawer
where he had found it, closed the
drawer, Strengthened up, with shrug
of his broad shoulders, and said. in
obviously good faith: "Come, let's be-
gin"
Rather to my surprise, the doctor
made straight for the waste-paper bas-
ket, growled little at the "fOOls" who
had emptied it. and patiently gathered
together the few scraps that were left,
some clinging in the interstices Of the
basket, some Uttered about the floor
outside
AS bent over to help him, he held
out an irregular bit of thick white
paper for my inspection. "He was
queer geographer. sure enough" was
his comment. "He tore up his maps.
This is part of one. There's a fact
which might we'll have struck previous
Investigators as curious. but apparent
ly did not. If he. tore them up, it was
because he was through with them.
And if he could get through with them
so that he could be sure he wouldn't
want them any more, it was because
Ihey were meant to serve him some
single, definite purpose. When they
had so served it, or had failed to serve
1t, then he destroyed them to get them
out of the way. That's logical, isn't
it,"
Absolutely, so far as I can see."
Presently he carried another scrap
over to the draughting table, scruti-
nized it's bare surface rather infinitely,
and then offered this second morsel of
paper for my inspection.
"Well, that's one thing he did with
his maps. He pinned them down on
this table of his with thumb-tacks."
He pulled open little drawer in
the table, took out first some pencils.
rulers and compasses, and finally a
rectangular cOntrivance made of wood
en- rods, with flexible joints at the
corners.
do you know what this is?' he
asked. For a wonder did, and he
did not That was situation which
arose but rarely.
"It's a pantOgraph," said I. Its
used for copying on an enlarged or
reduced SCALE You can set the scale
to anything you like"
"Thats what 1t means, them" said
the doctor, turning away from the
table, with a nod of satisfaction. "He
spread his maps out here, and when
they weren't on large enough scale
to suit him, he drew them up bigger,
and then tore them up. No that
won't do. There's some intervening
process. He needed those charts on a
larger scale than he could get, and he
enlarged them until they suited that
unknown purpose of his. But of that
purpose itself, we've found no trace.
We may never find trace, but If he's
left a clew to it anywhere, l think we
may hope to find it.
(TO BE CONTINUED)