Clifton High School - Rotunda Yearbook (Clifton, NJ)

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THE REFLECTOR LUIAH. JOIN BOB TREMONT. CAN SAIL SURE SUAVE MAT- TER BEARER. ALL STAND. NOW TELL MOWER. YELL YOUR THRAT BARK. FRED SOWED BARLEY. OMELET BREAD FED VEGETABLES STEER STEAKS. SWATISCA. TEN CHAINS CREAKED. SWIM HERE FOR REAP HARVEST EN- TWINED GUILLOTINE. He then collected the letters and they formed this message: TAKE IT TO S. S. VULCANIA. TELEGRAPI-I JOE CARVER AT NEW YORK FOR ORDERS. THE SERPENT. I've got something here, Dunn. It makes sense except for the last part. Listen while I read it. He read the message eagerly. That must be right, Casey. I got the Hrst sentence the same as that. But what is the 'it?' Maybe it's the snake. And what is the Serpent? I think maybe that's the name of the leader of a gang. He may be in China. That reference to Joe Carver in New York makes it look like an international affair. I'm going to send a follow-up cable to Nanking, asking if any gang with a leader by that name has been working there. Come to think of it, Casey, that Chink had a little green serpent tattooed on his left shoulder. Maybe it's the sign of some secret organiza- tion. Casey sent the cable, adding that the serpent might be the insignia of some organization. He then had an inspiration. l'Listen, Dunn, I think Iill send a telegram to this Joe Carver in New York and sign it Ah Sen. I can tell him to send the return to one of the Constable's houses. I'l1 try and squeeze as much information as pos- sible from him without exciting his suspicions. XVe might discover some- thing, and I don't think much can be lostf, Following this, Inspector Casey dispatched a telegram to Joe Carver, asking for further instructions. He also asked whom he should give the snake to on board the Vulcania. This message was sent in the same code as the one which was found on the Chinaman. Guess that's all for tonight, Dunn. I want to have a look at that Chink first thing in the morning. Those telegrams ought to be here by that time with some information. Casey locked up his safe and the two men departed for their re- spective homes. It was about ten o'clock when Casey arrived home. He went straight to bed, hoping to get a good night's rest. The fates destined otherwise, however, and he lay restlessly in bed for two hours. Finally he decided to go back to the ofhce. The telegrams might be there, and if so, he could plan his course of action before morning. Casey entered the building, spoke to the officer in charge of the desk, and went up to his office. He entered and, as he was about to switch on the light, his attention was drawn to the window by a slight sound. A Thirty

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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

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THE REFLECTOR dark shape, vaguely resembling a human form, loomed up. Casey pressed himself against the wall and waited. The shape slowly raised the window, stepped inside the room, and moved toward the desk. At that moment Casey leaped. He landed atop the form, which he now discerned as being that of a man, and bore him to the floor. A brief scrimmage fol- lowed, during which Casey felt a sharp edge slash through his clothing into his shoulder. He gained an advantage over his adversary just as two policemen came into the room and switched on the light. The policemen, who had been alarmed by the sounds of violence which had come down to them from above, grabbed the struggling stranger. Casey rose to a sitting position and surveyed the scene before him. Between the two burly policemen was a quivering Chinaman. XVho are you? What do you want? questioned Casey in a trem- ulous voice. Shaking in every limb, the Chinaman replied, Me Sam Long. I lookie Ah Sen's telegram. Take him down and lock him up, boys. I'1l see him later. But wait! Take his coat and shirt off, I want to see his left shoulder. Ha, just as I thought. Thereis another one of those little green serpents. Set him down and watch him, boys. I want to question him now.., The Chinaman was placed in a chair facing the inspector, and one policeman stood on each side of him. He hastened to replace his clothing, as though he wished to cover the tattoo. 'QNOW listen, Chink, you had better tell me the truth or it will go hard with you for breaking this window. Yes, insplector, I tellie tluthf' Does thatf' asked Casey, pointing to the Chinaman's shoulder, uin- dicate that you belong to some secret organization?,' Yes What's the name of the organization? The Ancient and Honorable Order of the Serpentf' Are you and this man we picked up acquainted? Yes, What's his name? Ah Sen. Are you two the London represenatives of this organization? Yes, W7hat does your organization specialize in doing?,' Smuggling dope into the United States. Was that what Ah Sen was to take to someone on the Vulcania? Yes.,' Where did he have the dope concealed? The dope was secleted in box that held snakef, Who was he to give it to? Ronald Hope, in Stateroom 7S6.,' Who's Joe Carver in New York? Thirty-on