abdomen made that gentleman gasp with pain. Shirley's expression
was triumphant, but the professor regarded him with an expression
of terror.

"Oh! Ugh!--What-did-you-do-to me?" he murmured thickly, when he
was at last able to speak.

"Merely demonstrated the beginning of the death punch which I
named. That pressure if continued for half a minute would have
been fatal."

"I wish you would teach me that," was the physician's natural
request, as he nodded with a wry face.

"Impossible, my dear sir, for I learned it, according to the
Oriental custom under the most sacred obligations of secrecy.
One must advance through the whole course, by initiatory
degrees, before learning the final mysteries of the samurais.
Now, we have a working hypothesis. The girls could never have
accomplished this. One man and one alone must have killed the
three, although doubtless with confederates. Yamashino assured
me that there were only six men in this country who knew it
beside myself. We must find an Orientalist!"

Shirley paced the floor, but his meditations were interrupted by
the arrival of the Coroner and his physician. Van Cleft hurried
into the room with them, to present the doctor, who exchanged a
formal greeting with the men he had met twice before that week.

"A sad affair, Professor," observed the Coroner nervously,