17 In the Name of the Law
18 The Old Housekeeper's Last Comment





Chapter 1

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MOUNTAINS




If I speak of myself in this story, it is because I have been deeply
involved in its startling events, events doubtless among the most
extraordinary which this twentieth century will witness. Sometimes I
even ask myself if all this has really happened, if its pictures
dwell in truth in my memory, and not merely in my imagination. In my
position as head inspector in the federal police department at
Washington, urged on moreover by the desire, which has always been
very strong in me, to investigate and understand everything which is
mysterious, I naturally became much interested in these remarkable
occurrences. And as I have been employed by the government in various
important affairs and secret missions since I was a mere lad, it also
happened very naturally that the head of my department placed In my
charge this astonishing investigation, wherein I found myself
wrestling with so many impenetrable mysteries.

In the remarkable passages of the recital, it is important that you