CHAPTER IV
THE VENGEANCE OF WU FANG
Elaine was still in the power of Wu Fang.
Kennedy had thwarted the Chinese master criminal in his search for themillions amassed by the Clutching Hand. But any joy that we might havederived from this success was completely obscured by the fear that Wumight wreak some diabolical vengeance on Elaine.
It was a ticklish situation. In fact, I doubt whether Craig would havediscovered the treasure at all, if our pursuit of Wu and Long Sin thenight before had not literally forced us into doing so.
Nor were Kennedy's fears unfounded. Wu and Long Sin had scarcelyreached the secret apartment back of the deceptive exterior of theChinatown tenement, when the subtle Chinaman began to contemplate hisrevenge.
Long Sin was smoking a Chinese pipe, resting after their hurriedflight, while Wu, the tireless, was seated at a table at the other endof the room. At last Wu Fang took up a long Chinese dirk from the tablebefore him, looked at it, turned it over, felt its edge. It was keenand the point was sharp. He rose and deliberately walked across to adoor leading into a back room.
On a couch lay Elaine and with her, as a guardian, was Weepy Mary whomthe Clutching Hand had used to lure her to the church where the fakedrecord of her father's marriage was supposed to be. Indeed, though Wuhad lost the Clutching Hand's millions, he had seen his chance and hadfallen heir to what was left of Bennett's criminal organization.
As Wu, the Serpent, entered and advanced slowly towards Elaine, shecrouched back from him in deadly fear. He stopped before her without aword and his menacing eye seemed to read her very thoughts.
Slowly he drew from under his robe the Chinese dirk. He felt the edgeof it again and gazed significantly at Elaine. She shrank back evenfurther, as far as the divan would permit.
It was a critical moment.
Just then Long Sin entered. "One of the five millions waits outside,"he reported simply, with a bow.
Wu understood. It had been a pleasant fiction of his that although hedid not, of course, absolutely control such a stupendous organizationhe could, by his subtle power, force almost unlimited allegiance fromthe simple coolies in that district of China from which he came.
Out in the front room, just a moment before, a knock at the door haddisturbed Long Sin, and a Chinese servant had announced a visitor. LongSin had waved to the servant to usher him in and a poorly clad cooliehad entered.
He bowed as Long Sin faced him. "Where is the master?" he had asked.
Long Sin had not deigned to speak. With a mere wave of his hand, heindicated that he would be the bearer of the message, and had followedWu through the door of the back room.
So, almost by chance, Wu was interrupted in the brutal vengeance whichhad first come to his mind. He sheathed the knife and, still without aword, went back into the main room, giving a nod to Weepy Mary to guardElaine closely.
Wu eyed the coolie until the newcomer could almost feel the master'spenetrating gaze, although his head was bowed in awe. Quickly thecoolie thrust his hand under his blouse and drew forth a package. Withanother bow, he advanced.
"For your enemies, oh master," he said, handing the package over to Wu.
For the first time since the loss of the treasure, Wu Fang seemed totake an interest in something besides revenge. The coolie started toopen the package, removed the paper wrapper, and then a silk wrappinginside. Finally he came to a box, from which he drew a leather pouch,each operation conducted with greater care as it became evident thatthe contents were especially precious in some way. Then he took fromthe pouch a small vial.
"What is it?" demanded Wu Fang, as the coolie displayed it.
The coolie drew forth now a magnifying glass and a glass slide. Openingthe vial with great care he shook something out on the slide, thenplaced it under the lens.
"Look!" he said simply.
Wu bent over and looked. Under the lens what had formerly seemed to bemerely a black speck of dirt became now one of the most weird anduncanny little creatures to be found in all the realm of nature. Itseemed to be all legs and feelers moving at once. A normal person wouldhave looked at the creature only with the greatest repugnance. Wuregarded it with a sort of unholy fascination.
"And it is?" he queried.
"What the white man calls the African tick which carries the recurrentfever," answered the coolie deferentially.
A flash of intense exultation seemed to darken Wu Fang's sinister face.Several times he paced up and down the room, as he contemplated thesight which he had just seen. Then he came to a sudden determination.
"Wait," he said to the coolie, as he moved slowly again into the backroom.
Long Sin had remained there. With Weepy Mary he was guarding Elainewhen Wu Fang reentered. Elaine was thoroughly aroused by this time.Even the fact that Wu no longer held the murderous dirk did not serveto reassure her, for the look on his face was even more terrible thanbefore.
He smiled cunningly to himself.
"Suffering is a state of mind," he said in a low tone, "and I havedecided that it would be poor revenge for me to harm you. You are free."
Nothing could have come as a greater surprise to Elaine. Even Long Sinhad not expected any such speech as this. Elaine, however, waswonder-stricken.
"Do you--do you really mean it?" she asked, scarcely able to believewhat her ears heard.
Wu merely nodded, and with a wave of his hand to Long Sin indicatedthat Elaine was to be released.
Long Sin, the slave, did not stop to question his master, but merelymoved over to a closet and took out the hat and wraps which Elaine hadworn when she had been kidnapped in the up-town apartment. He handedthem over to her and she put them on with trembling hands.
No one stopped her and she nerved herself to take several steps towardthe door. She had scarcely crossed half the room.
"Wait!" ordered Wu sharply.
Was he merely torturing her, as a cat might torture a mouse? Shestopped obediently, afraid to look at him.
"This will be the vengeance of Wu Fang," he went on impressively."Slowly, one by one, your friends will weaken and die, then yourfamily, until finally only you are left. Then will come your turn."
He stopped again and raised his long lean forefinger. "Go," he hissed."I wish you much joy."
He turned to Long Sin and whispered a word to him. A moment later, LongSin drew forth a large silken handkerchief and tied it tightly overElaine's eyes. Then he took her hand and led her out. There was to beno chance by which she could lead a raiding party back to the den inwhich she had been held.
I don't think that in all our friendship I have ever seen Kennedy soutterly depressed as he was when we returned after the discovery of thevast fortune which Bennett had cleverly secreted. I came upon him inthe laboratory the next morning while he was trying to read. He hadlaid aside his scientific work, and now he had even laid aside his book.
There seemed to be absolutely nothing to do until some new clue turnedup. I placed my hand on his shoulder, but the words that wouldencourage him died on my lips. Several times I started to speak, buteach time I checked myself. There did not seem to be anything thatwould be appropriate for such an occasion.
A sharp ring at the telephone made both of us fairly jump, so nervoushad we become. Kennedy reached over instantly for the instrument in thevague hope that at last there was some news.
As I watched his face, it changed first from despair to wonder, andfinally it seemed to light up with the most remarkable look of reliefand happiness that one could imagine.
"I shall be right over," he cried, jamming the receiver down on thehook, and in the same motion reaching for his hat and coat. "Walter,"he cried, "it is Elaine! They have let her go!"
I seized my own hat and coat in time to follow him and we dashed out ofthe laboratory.
The suspense under which Aunt Josephine had been living had told onher. Her niece, Elaine's cousin, Mary Brown, who lived at Rockledge,had come into the city to comfort Aunt Josephine and they h
ad beensitting, that morning, in the library. Marie, the maid was busy aboutthe room, while Aunt Josephine talked sadly over Elaine's strangedisappearance. She was on the verge of tears.
Suddenly a startled cry from Jennings out in the hall caused bothladies to jump to their feet. They could scarcely believe what theyheard as the faithful old butler cried out the name.
"Why--Miss Elaine!" he gasped.
An instant later Elaine herself burst into the room and flung herselfinto Aunt Josephine's arms. All talking and half crying from joy atonce, they crowded about her. Breathlessly she answered the questionsthat flew thick and fast.
In the excitement Aunt Josephine had seized the telephone and calledour number. She did not even wait to break the good news, but handedthe telephone to Elaine herself.
We left the laboratory on the run, too fast to notice that just aroundthe building line at the corner stood a limousine with shades drawn.Even if we had paused to glance back, we could not have seen Wu Fangand Long Sin inside, gazing out through the corner of the curtains.They were in European dress now and had evidently come prepared forjust what they knew was likely to happen.
In all the strange series of events, I doubt whether we had ever madebetter time from the laboratory over to the Dodge house than we didnow. We were admitted by the faithful Jennings and almost ran into thelibrary.
"Oh, Craig!" cried Elaine, as Kennedy, almost speechless, seized her byboth hands.
For a few seconds none of us could speak. Then followed a veritableflood of eager conversation.
I watched Elaine carefully, in fact we all did, for she seemed, inspite of the excitement of her return, to be almost a complete nervouswreck from the terrible experiences she had undergone.
"Won't you come and stay with me a few days up in the country, dear?"urged Mary at last.
Elaine thought a moment, then turned to Aunt Josephine.
"Yes," considered her aunt, "I think it would do you good."
Still she hesitated; then shyly looked at Kennedy and laughed. "You,too, Craig, must be fagged out," she said frankly. "Come up there withus and take a rest."
Kennedy smiled. "I shall be delighted," he accepted promptly.
"You, too, Mr. Jameson," she added, turning to me.
I hesitated a moment and Kennedy tried to catch my eye. I was justabout to speak when he brought his heel down sharply on my toe. Ilooked at him again and caught just the trace of a nod of his head. Isaw that I was de trop.
"No, thank you," I replied. "I'm afraid I'd better not go. Really, Ihave too much work staring at me. I can't get away--but it's very kindof you to think of asking me."
We chatted, then left a few moments later so that Kennedy could pack.
Around the corner from the laboratory, as we dashed out, had been, as Ihave said, Wu Fang and Long Sin looking out from the limousine. Nosooner had we disappeared across the campus than their driver startedup the car and they sped around to our apartment.
Cautiously they alighted and walked down the street. Then making surethey were not observed, they entered and mounted the stairs to ourdoorway. Long Sin was stationed down the hall on guard while Wu Fangdrew from his pocket a blank key, a file and a candle. He lighted thecandle and held the key in its flame until it was covered with soot.
Then he inserted the key in the keyhole, turned it and took the keyout. Working quickly now, he examined the key sharply. In the soot wereslight scratches indicating where it struck and prevented the turningof the lock. He filed the key, trying it again and again. Finally hefinished, and opened the door. Beckoning Long Sin, he entered our rooms.
As they stood there, Wu Fang gazed about our living-room, keenly. Hewas evidently considering where to place something, for, one afteranother, he picked up several articles on the desk and examined them.Each time that he laid one down he shook his head.
Finally his eye rested on the telephone. It seemed to suggest an ideato him and he crossed over to it. Carefully holding down the receiveron the hook, he unscrewed the case which holds the diaphragm, whilewith his clever fingers he held the rest of the instrument intact. Thenhe removed from his pocket the vial which the coolie had given him andplaced its contents on the diaphragm itself. Quickly now he replacedthe receiver, and, having finished their work, Long Sin and Wu Fangstealthily crept out.
A second time, as we approached our apartment after the visit toElaine, we were too excited to notice the limousine in which were Wuand Long Sin. But no sooner had we entered than Long Sin left the carwith a final word of instruction from his master.
Up-stairs, in the apartment, Kennedy began hurriedly to pack, and Ihelped him as well as I could. We were in the midst of it when thetelephone rang and I answered it.
"Hello!" I called.
There was no response.
"Hello, Hello!" I repeated, raising my voice.
Still there was no answer. I worked the hook up and down but could getno reply. Finally, disgusted, I hung up.
A moment later, I recall now, it seemed to me as though some one hadstuck a pin into the lobe of my ear. Still, I thought nothing of it inthe excitement of Kennedy's departure, and went to work again to helphim pack.
We had scarcely got back to work, when the telephone bell jangledagain, and a second time I answered it.
"Is Mr. Kennedy there?" came back a strange voice.
I handed the instrument to Craig.
"Hello," he called. "Who is this?"
No response.
"Hello, hello," he shouted, working the hook as I had done and, as inmy case, there was still no answer.
"Some crank," he exclaimed, jamming down the receiver in disgust andreturning to his packing.
Neither of us thought anything of it at the time, but now I recall thatI did see Kennedy once or twice press the lobe of his ear as thoughsomething had hurt it.
We did not know until later that in a pay station down the street ourarch enemy, Long Sin, had been calling us up and then, with a wickedsmile, refusing to speak to us.
. . . . . . .
It was about a week later that I came home late one night from theStar, feeling pretty done up. Whatever it was, a violent fever seemedto have come on me suddenly. I thought nothing of it, at first, becauseI soon grew better. But while it lasted, I had the most intenseshivering, excruciating pains in my limbs, and delirious headache. Irecall, too, that I felt a peculiar soreness on the ear. It was alllike nothing I had ever had before.
Indeed the next morning when I woke up, I felt a lassitude that made itquite hard enough even to lounge about in my bath-robe. Finally,feeling no better, I decided to see a doctor. I put on my clothes witha decided effort and went out.
The nearest doctor was about half a block away and we scarcely knewhim, for neither Kennedy nor I were exactly sickly.
"Well," asked the doctor, as he closed the door of his office andturned to me. "What seems to be the matter?"
I tried to smile. "I feel as though I had been celebrating not wiselybut too well," I replied, trying to cheer up, "but as a matter of factI have been leading the simple life."
He sounded me and pounded me, looked at my tongue and my eyes, listenedto my heart and lungs, though I don't think he treated my symptoms veryseriously. In fact, I might have known what he would do. He talked alittle while on generalities, diet and exercise then walked over to acabinet, and emptied out a few pills into a little paper box.
"Take one every hour," he said, handing them to me, and carefullyreturning the bottle to the cabinet so that I could not see what was onthe label. "Cut your cigarettes to three a day, and don't drink coffee.Four dollars, please."
I suppose I ought to have been cured, and in fact I was cured--of goingto that doctor. I paid him and went back to the apartment, my head soonin a whirl from a new onset of the fever.
I managed to get back into my bath-robe, and threw myself down on thedivan, propped up with pillows. I had taken the pills but they had nomore effect than sugar o
f milk. By this time, I was much more deliriousand was crying out.
I saw faces about me, but I did not see the faces which were actuallyout by our hall door. Wu Fang and Long Sin had waited patiently fortheir revenge. Now that they thought sufficient time had elapsed, theyhad stolen stealthily to the apartment door. While Long Sin watched, Wulistened.
"The white devil has it," whispered Wu Fang, as he rejoined his fellowconspirator.
How long I should have remained in this state, and in fact how long Idid remain, I don't know. Vaguely, I recall that our acquaintance,Johnson, who had the apartment across the hall, at last heard my criesand came out to his own door. He needed only a moment to listen at oursto know that something was wrong.
"Why, what's the matter, Jameson?" he asked, poking his head in andlooking anxiously at me.
I could only rave some reply, and he tried his best to quiet me."What's the matter, old man?" he repeated. "Tell me. Shall I send for adoctor?"
Somehow or other I knew the state I was in. I knew it was Johnson, yetit all seemed unreal to me. With a great effort I gathered all myscattered wits and managed to shout out, "Telegraph Kennedy--Rockledge."
By this time Johnson himself was thoroughly alarmed. He did not lose asecond in dictating a telegram over the telephone.
. . . . . . .
At about the same time, up at Rockledge, Kennedy and Elaine, with hercousin Mary Brown, were starting out for a horseback ride through thehills. They were chatting gaily, but Kennedy was forcing himself to doso.
In fact, they had scarcely gone half a mile when Kennedy, who wasriding between the two and fighting off by sheer nerve the illness hefelt, suddenly fell over in half a faint on the horse's neck. Elaineand Mary reined up their horses.
"Why, Craig," cried Elaine, startled, "what's the matter?"
The sound of her voice seemed to arouse him. He braced up. "Oh,nothing, I guess," he said with a forced smile. "I'm all right."
It was no use, however. They had to cut short the ride, and Kennedyreturned to the house, glad to drop down in an easy chair on the porch,while Elaine hovered about him solicitously. His head buzzed, his skinwas hot and dry, his eyes had an unnatural look. Every now and then hewould place his hand to his ear as though he felt some pain.
They had already summoned the country doctor, but it took him some timeto get out to the house. Suddenly a messenger boy rode up on hisbicycle and mounted the porch steps. "Telegram for Mr. Kennedy," heannounced, looking about and picking out Craig naturally as the personhe wanted.
Kennedy nodded and took the yellow envelope while Elaine signed for it.Listlessly he tore it open. It read:
CRAIG KENNEDY,
c/o Wellington Brown, Rockledge, N. J.
Jameson very ill. Wants you. Better come.
JOHNSON.
The message seemed to rouse Kennedy in spite of his fever. His faceshowed keen alarm, which he endeavored to conceal from Elaine. But herquick eye had caught the look.
"I must see Walter," he exclaimed, rising rather weakly and going intothe house.
How he ever did it is still, I think, a mystery to him, but he managedto pack up and, in spite of the alternating fever and chills, made thejourney back to the city.
When at last Craig arrived at our apartment, it must have seemed to himthat he found me almost at death's door. I was terribly ill and weak bythat time, but had refused to see the doctor again and Johnson hadmanaged to get me into bed.
Ill himself, Kennedy threw himself down for a moment exhausted. "Whendid this thing come on Walter?" he asked of Johnson.
"Yesterday, I think, at least as nearly as I can find out," replied ourfriend.
Craig was decidedly worried. "There's only one person in New York tocall on," he murmured, pulling himself out of bed and getting into theliving-room as best he could.
"Is that you, Godowski?" he asked over the telephone. "Well, doctor,this is Kennedy. Come over to my apartment, quick. I've a case--twocases for you."
Godowski was a world-famous scientist in his line and had specializedin bacteriology, mainly in tropical diseases.
As Kennedy hung up the receiver, he made his way back again to thebedroom, scratching his ear. He noticed that I was doing the same in mydelirium.
"Has Walter been scratching his ear?" he asked of Johnson.
Johnson nodded. "That's strange," considered Craig thoughtfully. "I'vebeen doing the same."
He turned back into the living-room and for a moment looked about.Finally his eye happened to fall on the telephone and an idea seemed tooccur to him.
He went over to the instrument and unscrewed the receiver. Carefully helooked inside. Then he looked closer. There was something peculiarabout it and he picked up a blank sheet of white paper, dusting off thediaphragm on it. There, on the paper, were innumerable little blackspecks.
Just then, outside, Dr. Godowski's car drew up and he jumped out,swinging his black bag. Not being acquainted with what we were goingthrough, Godowski did not notice the almond-eyed Chinaman who waswatching down the street.
"How do you do, doctor," greeted Craig faintly, at the door.
"What seems to be the difficulty?" inquired the doctor eagerly.
"I don't know," returned Craig, "but I have my suspicions. I'm too illto verify them myself. So I've called on you. Look at Jameson first,"he added.
While Godowski was examining me, Craig managed to get out hismicroscope and was looking through it at the strange black specks onthe paper. There, under the lens, he could see the most remarkable,almost microscopic creature, all legs and feelers, a most viciousobject.
Weak though he was, he could not help an exclamation of exultation athis discovery, just as Godowski had finished with me.
"Look!" he cried, calling the doctor. "I know what the trouble is,Godowski."
He had started to tell, but the excitement of the journey and theexertion were so great that he could hardly mumble.
"Here--look--on this paper," he cried. "From the telephone--"
He had risen and was handing the paper to the scientist when hisweakness overcame him. He fell flat on his face on the floor anddropped the paper, spilling the contents.
Godowski, now thoroughly alarmed, bent over Craig. But the delirium hadovercome Kennedy, too.
Unable to make any sense out of Craig's broken wanderings, Godowskilost no time in taking samples of our blood.
Then he hurried away to his laboratory in his car. As he did so,however, Long Sin leaped into a taxicab which was waiting and followed.
. . . . . . .
In Godowski's laboratory, where he was studying tropical diseases, thebacteriologist set to work at once to confirm his own growingsuspicions.
From a monkey which he had there for experimental purposes, he drew offsome blood samples. Then, with the aid of his assistant, he took theblood samples he had obtained from us. The monkey's blood, under themicroscope, seemed full of rather elongated wriggling germs of apeculiar species. In and out they made their way among the bloodcorpuscles each like a dart aimed at life itself.
Then he took the samples of our blood. In them were the samegerms--carried by that gruesome tick!
"The spirillum!" he muttered. "They are infected with African recurrentfever. The only remedy is atoxyl, administered intravenously, after themanner of Professor Ehrlich's famous '606'."
Godowski had rung the call box hastily for a messenger, when Long Sin,who had managed stealthily to creep up to the doctor's laboratorywindow, scowled, through at the action--then moved away.
While his assistant gathered the apparatus, the doctor wrote:
MISS ANNE SEPTIX, 301 W. --th St.
Please go at once to the apartment of Craig Kennedy,--Claremont Ave.Surgical case.
GODOWSKI, M. D.
The boy arrived finally and the doctor gave him a generous tip to hurrywith the note.
He had not turned the corner, however, wh
en Long Sin appeared. Subtlyhe played on the boy's cupidity to get him to deliver a note of hisown, even offered to deliver the boy's note for him. The flash of afive dollar bill made the rest easy.
As the boy disappeared on a fake errand, Long Sin, with the real notehurried down-town, smiling wickedly.
"They have discovered the fever, Master," he reported in the den.
Wu was beside himself with rage. Before he could speak, however, LongSin spread out Godowski's message. "But I have this," he added.
It took merely a glance to suggest to Wu a new plan of action. He roseand moved quickly into the back room. "Come," he ordered Weepy Mary."You must dress up as a nurse--immediately."
Quickly she donned one of the numerous disguises while Wu planned hiscampaign.
"Here," he directed when she was ready, handing her a little vial. "Youmust infect every instrument the doctor uses on Kennedy andJameson,--see?"
She nodded and a moment later was on her way uptown.
. . . . . . .
Meanwhile Godowski himself had arrived at our apartment, much to therelief of our friend Johnson, and was unpacking his instruments.
Quickly he improvised two operating tables, and placed one of us oneach. Then, with his assistant, he put on his white robes, mask, glovesand other precautions for asepsis, setting out the apparatus for theintravenous administration of the drug that would kill the spirillum.Godowski was busy with the atoxyl, mixing it in a normal salt solution.He would drop in a few drops of an acid, then a few drops of analkaline solution, so as to keep the mixture neutral. Finally, hepoured the solution into a container, to the bottom of which wasattached a long tube. This container he raised high over our heads,clamping the tube.
Then he fastened a tiny needle to the end of the tube, so that it couldbe inserted in our arms, catching skillfully a vein--a very difficultpiece of work in which he excelled. The liquid would then flow by theforce of gravity from the container down through the tube, through thehollow needle and into the vein where it would act on the germs of thefever.
They had finished their preparations and were waiting for Miss Septix."She ought to be here, now," muttered Godowski impatiently, looking athis watch.
Just then a cab drove up outside.
"Perhaps that is she," he exclaimed. "It must be."
A few moments later the door of the apartment opened. His face showedhis disappointment. It was a stranger.
"Miss Septix is ill," she introduced, "and sent me to take her place."
The doctor looked about. "Very well, then," he said briskly, seeing hispreparations. "Are you ready to go ahead?"
She nodded and threw off her coat that covered her immaculate whiteuniform.
The specialist plunged whole-heartedly into his work of saving us now."Hand me that needle, please," he directed the false nurse.
She moved over to the table near-by and took it up, pausing only longenough to dip it secretly into a vial she carried with her.
"Please hurry," repeated the doctor.
She turned from the table and handed it to him. He adjusted it andalready held it poised for the thrust which was not to cure but topoison us further.
"Weepy Mary!" cried a frightened voice at our door.
Elaine had been deeply alarmed by the sudden illness of Kennedy and themessage from Jameson. No sooner had Kennedy gone, than it flashed overher that Wu Fang had predicted something like this.
"The threat!" she exclaimed, seeking her cousin. "Mary, I must go tothe city--right away."
On the next train, then, she had been speeding back to New York, and,arriving at the station, she realized that there was not a moment tolose. She called a cab, drove directly to our apartment, and hurriedin, without even ringing the bell.
One glance at the improvised hospital was enough to alarm her. But thesight that had transfixed her was of a woman whose face she rememberedonly too well, though Kennedy and I had never seen her.
"Please, Miss," began Godowski's assistant, trying to quiet Elaine,while Godowski turned in vexation to his work.
"No, no!" repeated Elaine. "This woman is no nurse. She is a criminal!"
Godowski paused. It was true he did not know the woman. He gazed fromElaine to Weepy Mary in doubt.
The game was up. Weepy Mary dropped a piece of gauze which she hadsoaked in the solution from the vial which Wu had given her and boltedfor the door.
So sudden was her flight that no one was quick enough to stop her. Shemanaged to reach the hall and slam the door. Down she rushed to thestreet, Godowski's assistant after her.
There, awaiting, was Long Sin's car. She leaped in and was off in amoment. The assistant had just time to dive at the running-board. Buthis grip was poor and Long Sin easily threw him off.
"You--you fool!" he hissed at Mary, as soon as the danger of pursuitwas over and the assistant had gone back into the apartment.
"Oh, sir," she begged, "it was not my fault. Miss Dodge camein--unexpectedly--she recognized me. If I had not fled, they would havecaught me--perhaps you, too."
Long Sin was furious. He threatened her and she cowered back. However,there was nothing to be gained by that and he subsided and drovequickly down-town.
The excitement more than ever alarmed Elaine now. "Tell me," sheappealed to Dr. Godowski, "what is the matter?"
"In some way," he replied quickly, "they have become infected by thebite of an African tick which carries spirillum fever."
"She got away, in a cab," panted the assistant, returning.
Godowski raised his hands in despair. "I was just about to start," hecried. "Everything is ready. I can't send for another nurse. Everyminute counts."
Elaine had thrown off her coat and hat. Her sleeves were up in a momentand before the doctor knew what she was about she was scrubbing herhands in the antiseptic wash.
"Only--show me--what to do," she cried. "I will be the nurse!"
. . . . . . .
Several days later, when we had recovered sufficiently from thediabolical attack that had been made upon us, Kennedy was again at workin the laboratory, while I was writing. We still felt rather weak, butGodowski's skill had pulled us out all right.
Our speaking-tube sounded and I knew that it was Elaine and AuntJosephine.
"How do you feel?" inquired Elaine anxiously, as she almost ran acrossthe laboratory to Craig.
"Fine!" he exaggerated, brightly.
"Really?" she repeated anxiously.
"Look!" he said, turning to his microscope.
He took some blood from a test tube in our electric incubator andplaced a drop on a slide. It was some of the blood infected by thegerms carried by the tick.
"That is how our blood looked--before the new nurse arrived," hesmiled, while Elaine looked at it in horror.
Then he pricked his arm and let a drop smear on another slide.
"Now look at that--perfectly normal," he added.
"Oh--I'm so glad," she exclaimed radiantly.
"Normal--thanks to you. You saved us. You were just in time," criedCraig taking both her hands in his.
He was about to kiss her, when she broke away. "Craig," she whispered,blushing and looking hastily at us.
Aunt Josephine and I could only smile at the disgusted glance Craiggave us, as he thrust his hands in his pockets and wished us a thousandmiles away at that moment.