friends, he passed through the door which their host held open.
"With young Craig as an assistant, you prepared, in the loneliest
part of the Hackensack Meadows, some kind of poison which, I
believe, can be made with safety only in the open air."

The foreigner smiled and shook his head.

"Not with safety, even then," he said. "But go on."

"You found that your man was coming to New York. Knowing that he
would probably put up at the Palatia or the Nederstrom, you reserved
rooms for him at both, and took an office across from each. As it
was hot weather, you calculated upon his windows being open. You
watched for him. When he came you struck him down in his own room
with the poison."

"But how?" It was the diplomat who interrupted.

"I think with a long blow-gun."

"By George!" said Bertram softly. "So the spirit-wand of bamboo was
a blow-gun! What led you to that, Average?"

"The spirit rappings, which the talky woman in the Bellair Street
apartment used to hear. That and the remnants of putty I found near
the window. You see the doors opening through the whole length of
the apartment gave a long range, where Mr.--er--Smith could
practice. He had a sort of target on the window, and every time he
blew a putty ball Mrs. Doubletongue heard the spirit. Am I right,
sir?"