Clifton High School - Rotunda Yearbook (Clifton, NJ)

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THE REFLECTOR ed the stairs. He encountered Sergeant Dunn, who was bursting with ex- citement. Come along with me and look out for this box, ordered Casey and tell me what you discovered as we walk along. He-he-heis not deadf, stuttered Dunn, as he walked along breath- lessly. 'KThey think he was only in a trance, but his mind's been af- fected and he just mutters incoherently. He was searched thoroughly, but all they could find was a telegram written in code. I sent it to Mac. He can dope it out if anyone can. What else did you find? gruffly asked Casey. What does he say? Where is he now?', We found that he has one brown and one blue eye. He just says- 'Ah Sen, Chang-sha., He also has a small mark on his right thumb. It looks like a snake bite. I left him at the hospital with a police guard. XVhere're we going, inspector? Golly, I'm hungry. I ain't had any supper yetf' Stick around, Dunn, stick around. Looks to me like we're going to have a full night. Listen, Dunn, we're headed for Moniker's, you know, the guy at the Zoo. I think something alive is in this box! Here we are, in through this gate. Hello, Casey. You and your friend come into my office here. I have facilities for taking care of your box. Put it on this table. Casey put the box on a marble table in the center of the room. Moniker placed a framework covered with wire netting over the box, and by means of a small door in the box and a long-handled knife, he cut the string tied around the box and knocked off the cover. A hissing sound came from within, and the head of a large rattlesnake showed it- self. XVell, Iill be -lv gasped Inspector Casey, and to think that I near- ly opened that box! Xvonder where the thing came from. UA very good specimen, Casey. Er-suppose I keep him for you until this thing is cleared up? Moniker spoke cautiously, with an eye for business. Good idea, Reggie, good idea. You may keep him, for the present. Come on, Dunn, we've plenty to do on this case. As Casey spoke he opened the door and, with a hearty farewell, went out into the darkness, followed by Dunn. As they walked back, Casey was lost in deep thought. However, he roused himself as they passed a restaurant, much to Dunnis gratification. They entered, and, while waiting for their order, Casey outlined his plan of action. When we get back to headquarters you beat it up to Mac's oiice. See if he's got any dope on that telegram. I,m going to look up that 'Ah Sen, Chang-sha.' Maybe it's a town. Also that two-colored eye busi- ness. Hastily they finished their meal and again headed for headquarters. Here we are, Dunn, see you laterlv Twenty-eight J

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THE REFLECTOR The Serpent I l?1I'IAT,S the idea of sending us out on a night like this?,' snarled Inspector Casey, as he plodded along in company with two bobbies were answering a call sent into headquarters. The call was from Limehouse district, and stated that a French car without lights had been parked in the middle of Blackwold Road for three hours. The day was typical of London in February. It was about four in the afternoon, but darkness had already descended upon the city. A dense fog added to the disagreeable weather, and water dripped from the huddled tenements, forming pools in the street. Chinamen glided silent- ly from shelter to shelter, looking neither right nor left. I? l if Ill!! fl Sergeant Dunn. Several minutes of silence ensued. The Q7 Ill r df. Here she is,', announced Dunn, soon after they had turned into Blackwold Road. He took his note-book from his pocket and jotted down what Inspector Casey considered of importance. Mercedes car, light tan trimmed with brown, left rear fender bent. The inspector then opened the car door. With a cry he leaped back. What's this! Dunn moved so that his line of vision penetrated the interior of the darkened car. Slouched behind the wheel was a human shape. Casey struck a match, and by its aid illuminated the interior and lit the dome light in the car. Closer examination of the body revealed that it was a Chinaman. Looks as if heis done for, Dunnf, whispered Casey, Better call a Wagon. While Sergeant Dunn was hurrying to a nearby upubv to summon a patrol wagon, Casey examined the rest of the car. He found no blood or traces of violence in the car, but on the back seat was a perforated box about the size of a hat box. He lifted the box up, and as he did so a rustling sound came from within. Non-plussed, he returned the box to its former position just as Dunn appeared. Before any further investigation could be made the patrol wagon ar- rived. The Chinaman was transferred to this and taken away. Ser- geant Dunn accompanied the wagon to supervise a more thorough ex- amination of the man. Inspector Casey drove the car to the police garage and, after leaving it with orders that it should not be touched, he took the mysterious box very cautiously and headed straight for his of-- fice. He reached his oflice and settled down in his chair with the box on his desk. By the aid of the strong light of his desk lamp, he discerned a moving form beneath the perforations of the box. Inspector Casey de- cided that he had better take precautions before opening the box, so he called up his friend, Reginald Moniker, curator of the London Zoo, who had been his assistant in many previous cases. Casey explained the situa- tion to the curator, who invited Casey to come over to his residence, which adjoins the Zoo. Holding the box at arms length, Casey descend- Twenty-seven

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THE REFLECTOR They separated, and Casey went up to his ofhce. He got out a book of maps and turned to China. He found Chang-sha on a tributary of the Yangtze River, about five hundred miles from Nanking. Casey called up the police doctor, asked whether having two different colored eyes was hereditary, and received an afhrmative answer. Next, he sent a cablegram to the British Consul at Nanking inquiring about Chang-sha, a missing person by name of Ah Sen who belongs to a family which has one brown and one blue eye, and if any Oriental poison is known which stops the heart action for a few hours, and how this poison is adminis- tered. Dunn entered just as Casey was hanging up the receiver of the telephone. He spoke at once. Nothing yet. Mac exhausted all his methods of solving the mes- sage except the one, two, three, four. You know that one. He gave me the telegram. Thought you and I could dope it out. Mac Went home. Said if the one, two, three didn't work to call him up.', l'Well, all we can do is to have a try at it. Sit down there, Dunn, and let me have the telegram. You can make a copy of it and we will work separately. Here's some paper. Huh, it's from Nanking. Iill read it to you.', This is what Casey saw on the familiar yellow blank before him: TOME MADE RAKE HERE. IS AT. TEAR MOP. SAM. SAUL. VIVIAN BULL KILLED BUTCH CATARET MORNING JONSONIA CONSERVATORY. SWASTICA. TWIST BEND BELL WIRE BRINGING HORROR AETERXVARD LOLLILOP AL- LELUIAH. JOIN BOB TERMONT. CAN SAIL SURE SUAVE MATTER BEARER. ALL STAND. NOW TELL MOWER. YELL YOUR THROAT BARK. FRED SOWED BARLEY. OMELET BREAD FED VEGETABLES STEER STAKES. SWASTICA. TEN CHAINS CREAKED. SWIM HERE EOR REAP HARVEST EN- TWINED GUILLOTINE. Say Dunn, just what are the characteristics of the One, two, three, four. I'm a little hazy on it at present. Well, inspector, each group of words separated by a period should denote one word of the message. A word that is used more than once alone usually denotes the end of a sentence. Now take one group of words in the message. The second letter of the second word is the second letter of the word in the message, and so on. Now let's try it on this one. It may run according to form, and then again we may have the Wrong method altogether. Inspector Casey copied the message onto a piece of paper and then underlined the first letter of the first word, the second letter of the second, etc., until it looked like this: TOM MADE RAKE HERE. IS AT. TEAR MOP. SAUL, VIVIAN BULL KILLED BUTCH CARTARET MORNING ,TON- SONIA CONSERVATORY. SWASTICA. TWIST BEND BELL WIRE BRINGING HORROR AFTERWARD LOLLILOI3 ALLE- Twenty-nine