Adventure, December 1914 — page 38: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

36 Pure aconitin is probably the most actively poisonous substance with which we are acquainted, and if administered hypodermically the alkaloid is even more poweriully poisonous than when taken by the mouth. As in the case of most of the poisonous alkaloids, aconitin does not produce any decidedly character- istic post-mortem appearances. There is no way to distinguish it from other alkaloids, in fact no reliable chemical test. The physiological effects are all that can be relied on. Owing to the exceedingly toxic nature, the small- ness of the dose to produce death and the lack of tests for recognition, aconitin possesses rather more interest in legal medicine than most other poisons. It is one of the few substances which in the present state of toxicology might be criminally administered and leave no positive evidence of the crime. If a small but fatal dose of the poison were to be given, es- pecially if it were administered hypodermically, the chances of its detection in the body after death would be almost nil. I had scarcely finished reading when Dr. Leslie entered. “Have you discovered anything yet?” he asked anxiously. . “T am convinced that the murders have been committed by the use of aconite,”’ re- plied Kennedy slowly. Dr. Leslie looked at him keenly amoment. “Then you'll never be able to prove any- thing in the laboratory,” he remarked. I glanced at him quickly, as the diabolical nature of what had taken place sank into my mind. Here was a poison that defied de- tection, a criminal so clever that he might never be brought to justice. Kennedy, however, appeared unruffled. ‘There are more ways of catching a criminal, Leslie,” he said quietly, ‘‘than are set down in the text-books.”’ CHAPTER X THE AIR TERROR 1) LESLIE had scarcely left us when the door to the laboratory was flung open and Burke dashed in with a telegram which he spread open before Kennedy, add- ing— “Can you go?” It was from Sinclair, who had returned to Westport, and was evidently written in haste and without regard for tolls. Come out immediately. Having trouble with machine I was to deliver to Government. Bring Kennedy. ‘““H-m,”’ mused Kennedy. “I wonder what it is now?”’ Adventure “Can’t say,” answered Burke. ‘The train service is rotten in the middle of the day, though. We can’t get anything until noon. Can you go?” “TI shall have to go, I imagine,” replied Craig, deliberately cleaning up his labora- tory-table. I folded up the message and handed it back to Burke. “How about the mechanicians he em- ploys?” I asked, voicing a thought which I had had before, but had not expressed. ‘“There’s only one,” answered Burke. “T’ve watched him, and I’m convinced that he’s as honest as gold. That was why I said nothing about him when we were out there before. No, this Sinclair affair was an outside job, all right, though what could have happened now is more than I can guess.” “Ts there anything more about Morelos?”’ asked Kennedy. ‘Nothing yet. a lot of the men last night, after you left, but so far no Morelos. By the way, before I got that message from Sinclair I thought I’d nose around that Mexican cabaret. The waiter up there tells me it is pretty de- serted. That’s another reason why I am anxious to go to Westport. It’s barely possible that some of your friends, Ruiz and the rest, may be out there.”’ Kennedy had finished his clean-up and to- gether we left the laboratory, much to Burke’s relief, and made our way to the station. We were all in a state of impatience by the time we reached Westport, and fortunately Sinclair had taken care of expediting mat- ters by having his car meet us at the depot. The quick spin through the country re- stored our equanimity and by the time we reached Sinclair’s we were ready to plunge into work again. | ‘‘What’s the matter?” asked Craig as we pulled up and the inventor came rapidly across the lawn to meet us. “Matter enough,” he returned. ‘‘Every- thing seems to be going wrong, and I’m hanged if I can see any reason for it. Just as if I didn’t have troubles enough already, the aeroplane won’t work properly. Let me show you what I mean.”’ He led the way over to the hangar where on a runway or slide rested the air-ship. “T have been all over the thing,” he ex- plained. ‘There isn’t a part of the machine I COmiclboo® We landed the goods and (C@