The Poisoned Pen (From the Craig Kennedy series)

he Inter-River Transit," I remarked to Kennedy as I sketched

e, throwing a letter down on my desk. He ha

brief, as Jack's letters always were. "I have a case here at the tunnel that I am sure will appeal to you, my own case, too," it read. "You can go as far as you like with it, but get to the bot

does interest me. Whe

ho had not taken off his

rouble? Did you see in the society news this morning the announcement of Jack's

rouble, whatever it was, at the tunnel, though I d

and a strapping Irishman met us. "Is thi

e is Mr. Ort

r. The doctor have just took him out of the medical lock, an' he said if you was to

happened?" exclaimed Kenned

ylinder, lying horizontally, in which was a floor with a cot and some strange paraphernalia. On the cot lay Jack Orton, drawn and contorted, so c

e groaned. "No, I don't want to go back into t

but hearing us he op

of me? I'm a pretty sight. How are you? And how are you, Walter? Not too vigorou

asked, glancing blankly

touch of the 'bends' from working

say nothing. I, at least, wa

, fellows. Look at me! Do you think such a wreck as I am now

r friends in the hospital to-night, but for a few hours I think you had better rest. Gentlemen, if yo

iry chap, of just the build for tunnel work, where fat is fatal, he added: "This i

re we can get to him something has happened. The plot thickens before we are well into it. I t

nto his mood, and we walked block after block scarcely exchanging a word. His only remark, I recall, was, "Walter

as leaving. Evidently she had been visiting some one of whom she thought a great deal. Her long fur coat was flying carelessl

an with her say soothingly, "and you must k

and bowed. He returned our bows and handed h

uced us," muttered Kennedy, as

rse kept arranging and rearranging to ease his pain. The Irishman whom we

s. I sent her home with Capps. She oughtn't to be out alone at this hour, and Capps is a good fellow. She's known him a long time. No, Paddy, put down your hat. I want you to stay. Paddy, by the way, fellows, is my right-hand ma

we will show Taylor, my prospective father-in-law and the president of the railroad company from which I too

t the faintest touch of undue familiarity. "Look what

aig, do you know how I found him? Crawling over the f

e'll finish that tunnel an' beggin' yer pardon, Mr. Orton, marry that gurl, too. Didn't I see her with tears in her eyes right in this room when he wasn't lookin', and a smile when he was? Sure, ye'll be all right," continued Paddy, slapping his side and thigh. "We all get the bends more or less-all us sand

e, nothing to do with the bends?" asked Kennedy,

men, and lots of the poor fellows have died, too. You know, of course, how the newspapers are roasting us. We are being called inhuman; the

pounds. You see, we have struck the very worst part of the job, a stretch of quicksand in the river-bed, a

e were wurkin' at low pressure, in the rock, before we sthruck this sand. There's somethin' wrong, sir, or ye wouldn't be here yer

time. You may or may not know it, but there is some doubt about the validity of their franchise after a certain date, provided the tunnel is not ready for operation. Well, to make a long story short, you know there are rival

dences of rival influences hind

ing the time-limit of the franchise another year. Of course, if it had gone through it would have been fine for us. But some unseen influence blocked the company at every turn. It was subtle; it

of it, for it was in the article wh

the river so that we could work from each shore to it, as well as from the island to each shore, really from four points at once. And then, when everything was going ahead

ysm of the bends seized hi

to go down into the tun

ne," replied Orton, alm

so int

ddy will be glad to do the hono

onded the faithful Paddy, "an' it's a s

ng we shall be on hand. Jack, depend on us. We wil

s exploits. You're a pair of bricks, you are. Good-bye, fellows," and his han

ind reverting through the whirl of events to the glimpse of pain I had caught on the delic

uld see the old restless fever for work which came into his eyes whenever he had a case which interested him more than usual. I knew ther

I'm going to the laboratory and the university library. Be ready

leep. I think he had been dreaming out his course of action. At any rate, breakfast was a mere i

whispered conversation, Craig stowed the box away behind the switchboard of the telephone central, after attaching it to the various wire

e. If it had not been for Paddy, I fear we should have seen very little, for Shelton was not only secretive, but his explanations were such that even the editor of a technical journal would have had to blue pencil them considerably. However, we gained a pretty good idea of the tunnel work

and the tunnel doctor examined us and extracted a written statement that we went down a

," called Paddy, opening an

but could not catch the message, and in a minute he joined us. By this time I had formed the

the waves playing in the glad sunlight, we entered a rude construction elevator and dropped from the surface to the bottom of a deep shaft

hiss as of escaping steam. Pound after pound to the square inch the pressure slowly rose until I felt sure the drums of my ears would burst. Then the hissing noise began to dwindle down to a wheeze, and

breath of the tunnel. Every few feet an incandescent light gleamed in the misty darkness. After perhaps

at Paddy, the nasal ring o

urtain," he

unnel start to flood, the other half of the emergency cur

the "shield"-which is the head by which this mechanical mole advances under

ht and telephone wires were strung all about. These and the tools and other things strewn along the

ter overhead. At some points in the sand we could feel the air escaping, which appeared at the surface of the river overhead in bubbles, indicating to those passing in the river boats just how far each tunnel heading below had proceeded. When the los

rate, while Kennedy and Paddy were still crawling about the shield, he stoo

e waiting for Kennedy, I absently reached into my pocket and pulled out a cigarette and lighted it. It burned amazingly fast, as if it were made of tinde

d as he ground the cig

s dangerous to smoke

ing my anger at his manner. "

nd Orton's a fool to let

a voice inquire over my shoulder. It was

s reckless, and that he would hurt himself more by one s

tude for my own health. I could just barely catch his words over the tunnel telephone some feet away. I thought he said that everything was

constant level necessary. I saw Kennedy give a hurried glance about, as if to note whether any one were looking at us. No one was. With a quick motion he reached down. In his hand was a stout litt

ck, our curiosity satisfied by this glimpse of one of

ennedy, stopping suddenl

suppose," said I. "Let's whis

t if I had been whistli

't have

, you are indeed learn

istle in com

ennedy chaffing me for my ignorance. I was glad to see Paddy's huge form loom

nough of the air? It seems very smelly to me this mornin'-I don't blame ye. I

needn't stay down any

ll that is necessary-a

d of us. I think you ca

ave you do it than to

bends. Roughly, half a minute should be consumed in coming out from each pound of pressure, though for such high pressures as we had

he tunnel. The second half he did slowly, and it was indeed tedious, but it was safe. There was at first a hissing sound when he opened the valve, and it grew colder in the lock, since ai

s air again. We gazed out across the river with its waves dancing in the sunlight. There, out in the middle, was a wreath of bubbles on the water. That marked the end of t

, near the medical lock, as it is called-that big steel cylinder over there, where we found Orton. The best cure for the bends is to go back under the air-recompression they call it. The renewed pressure causes the gas in the blood to contract again, and thus it i

ouple of hours we dropped in on Orton at th

k of the case?" h

ertain things in motion which will give us a prett

t his lip nervously and looked out of the sun

ght to increase your anxiety, Ja

drew a letter from his pocket. Laying it flat on t

hat," h

opper, but they talked so low that I could hear nothing, though I know they were talking about you and the tunnel. When they came out, I had no time to escape, so I slipped behind a portiere. I heard father say: 'Yes, I guess you are right, Morris. The thing has gone on long enough. If there is one more big accident we shall have to compromise with the Inter-River and carry on the wor

ed by the envelope, and Orton wo

is afternoon, be over at your office at four. Be sure to have Shelton and Capps there, and you can tell Mr. Taylor that you have something very important to set before hi

s working nervously, and as we parted he merely said: "Of course, you'll be

l. Kennedy was there, too, grim and silent. We sat watching the two indicators beside Orton's desk, which showed the air pressure in the two tubes. The needles were vibrating ever so little and

glancing at Orton's desk clock. "Taylor will be here pretty soon, and I wan

t as a large town car pulled up outside the tunnel works. A tall, distingu

had seen him often at investigations

these blueprints, Walter. There, that's a little better. If I had known she was coming I would at least have had the place swept out. P

quickly crossing to his chair to lay a restraining hand on

oming?" he asked eagerly. "I would

ously around at the samples of tunnel parapher

and when I tried to excuse myself for a business appointment, demanded which

d direct means of being there, but he said nothing, and

e have been and are having altogether too many accidents in the tunnel, too many cases of the bends, too ma

r-compressors and an occasional shout of a work

erfectly clear, I will say that there are five things that must, above all others, be looked after in tunnel work: the air pressure, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, the length of the shifts which th

made, and the amount in the air is not excessive. The shifts are not even as long as those prescribed by the law. The

k, followed by a puzzled expression that plainly indicated that he would l

under the pressure. In coming out of the 'air' if the nitrogen is not all eliminated, it stays in the blood and, as the pressure is reduced, it expands. It is just as if you take a bottle of charged water and pull the cork suddenly. The gas rises in big bubbles. Cork it again and the gas bubbles cease to rise and finally disappear. If you make a pin-hole in the cork the gas will e

table. The others regarded it curiously, b

have since analysed it. The quantity of carbon dioxide is approximately what it should be-not high enough of itself to

in Orton quickly

stituent of air. But th

sake, what did you

d Kennedy, "a very peculiar m

e mixture?"

t the end of the tunnel were not blow-outs at

st at this

all back all the men from the tunnel until the cause for the p

hand on his arm. "One moment, Orton," he said. "Let's hear Professor Kennedy out.

hat sort of flash oil is use

xty-degree Fahrenheit flash

ng air down into the tun

rai

o pockets where oil, moistu

dy," he said with a sort

er up. Like a skilful lawyer, Kennedy dropped that

s call up on the telephone and let some one know when you

Capps, quickly reco

tchboard you will find a small box which you saw me carry in there this morning and conne

d a large disc of thin steel, like those used by some mechanical music-boxes, only without any perfora

gaphone horn, sticki

a voice: "Number ple

all you. Try them again

tra

y, is an instrument known as the telegraphone, invented by a Dane named Poulsen. It records conver

the entire day's conversations over the telephone, preserved on this disc. I could wipe out the

e south tube with those men Orton has sent nosing around here. I'll let you know when I

ntly at Kennedy, as he

ing used in the machinery-not really three-hundred-and-sixty-degree oil. The water-jacket had been tampered with, too. More than that, there is a joint in the pipe leading down

rade oil-and they are ignited. What takes place is the same thing that occurs in the cylinder of an automobile where the air is compressed with gasoline vapour. Only here we have compressed air charged with vapour of oil. The flame proceeds down the pipe-exploding through the pipe, if it happens to be not str

ility of the men for the bends. Capps knew about it. He was careful while he was there to see that the air was made as pure as possible under the circumstances. He was so careful th

suddenly seizing his telephone. "Operator, give

had been only a few bubbles on the surface of the water, I could see what looke

only to be met by a group of blanched-faced workers who

l we come back. Orton, while we are gone, go over the entire day's record on the telegr

. In front of the closed door of the lock, an excited group of men was gathere

s beatin' 'em back with the stick. Now, he's got the door clear and has dragged one poor fellow in. It's Jimmy Rourke, him with the eig

l out safely without the loss of a life he'll save

ncy curtain to work, the frantic efforts of the men, in panic, all to crowd through the narrow little door at once; the rapidly rising water-and above al

ait for the air in the lock to be exhausted. When, at last, the door at our end of the lock swung open, the men with a cheer seized Paddy and, in spite

Vivian Taylor was standing defiantly, with burning eyes, facing Capps, w

o rise, "listen. Have you still that pl

aphone, while we all crowded a

I have argued Taylor and Morris into the right frame of mind for it, if we have one more big accident. What's that? How is my love affair? Well, Orton's in the way yet, but you know why I went into this deal. When you put me into his place after the compromise, I think I will pull strong with her. Saw her last ni

rom one or two of the

d pulled me with him qu

apps out quick before the rest of the men wake up to what it'

in the rear move quickly aside, and off came their muddy, frayed hats.

nd turning to Taylor, who followed her closely,