_Q
I - -
THE
TEETH OF THE TIGER
V. BY J
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSLATED BT
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATT03
1— —t—; 1
V
CHAPTI-iSt 1 • ’ u'iE. (Conti, led.)
The do*' li'" serge;. „ had
flung him: t it he .ween him and the
door and was blocking his way.
“Yes, half a moment * * * I am
not of your opinion. It’s far bet
ter that you should wait until the
prefect comes.”
“But I don’t care a hang about
your opinion!”
“May be; but you shan’t pass.”
“What! Why, Alexandre, you
must be ill!”
“Look here, chief,” said Mazer
oux feebly. “What can it matter
to you? It's only natural that the
prefect should wish to speak to
you.”
“Ah, it's the prefect who wishes
is it? * * * Well, my lad, you can
tell him that f am not at his or
ders, that 1 am at nobody’s orders,
and that, if the president of the re
public, if Napoleon I himself were
to bar my way * * * Besides, rata!
Enough said. Get out of the
road! ’ ’
“You shall not pass!” declared
Mazeroux, in a resolute tone, ex
tending his arms.
“Well, I like that!”
“You shall not pass.”
“Alexander, just count 10.”
“A hundred, if you like, but
you shall not. * * *”
“Oh, blow your catchwords!
Get out of this * # *”
He seized Mazeroux by both
shoulders, made him spin round
on his heels and, with a push, sent
him floundering over the sofa.
Then he opened the door.
“Halt, or I fire!”
It was Mazeroux, who had
scrambled to his feet and now
stood with his revolver in his hand
and a determined expression on
his face.
Don Luis stopped in amazement.
The threat was absolutely indif
ferent to him, and the barrel of
that revolver aimed at him left
him as cold as could be. But by
what prodigy did Mazeroux, his
former accomplice, his ardent dis
ciple, his devoted servant, by what
prodigy did Mazeroux dare to act
as he was doing?
Perenna went up to him and
pressed gently on the detective’s
outstretched arm.
“Perfect’s orders?’’ he asked.
“Yes,” muttered the sergeant,
nncomfortably.
“Orders to keep me here until
he comes?”
“Yes.”
“And if I betrayed an intention
of leaving, to prevnt me?”
“Yes.”
“By every means?”
“Yes.”
“Even by putting a bullet
through my skin?”
“Yes.”
Perenna reflected; and then, in
a serious voice:
“Would you have fired, Mazer
oux?”
The sergeant lowered his head
and said faintly:
“Yes, chief.”
Perenna looked at him without
anger, with a glance of affection
ate sympathy; and it was an ab
sorbing sight for him to see his
former companion dominated by
such a sense of discipline and
duty. Nothing was able to prevail
against that sense, not even the
fierce admiration, the almost at
tachment which Mazeroux re
tained for his master.
“ rm not angry, Mazeroux. In
fact. 1 approve. Only you must
tell me the reason why the pre
feet of police-”
The detective did not reply, but
his eyes wore an expression of j
such sadness that Don Luis j
started, suddenly understanding.;
“No,” he cried, “no! * * * It’s
absurd * * * he can’t have thought 1
that! * * • And you. Mazeroux, do:
you believe me guilty?”
“Oh, I, chief, am as sure of you!
as I am of myself! # * * You don’t
take life! * * • But. all the same,
there are things • * * coincidences
“Things • • • coincidences
• • *" repeated Don Luis slowly.
lie remained pensive; and, in a
low voice, he said :
“Yes. after all. 1 here’s truth in
what you say. * * * Yes. it all fits
In. * * Why didn't I think of it?
• * * My relations with Cosmo
Moruingtori, my arrival in Paris
in time for the reading of the will,
my insisting on spending the night
here, the fact that the death of
9
the two Fauvilles undoubtedly
gives me the millions. * • * And
then * * * and then * * • why, he’s
absolutely right, your prefect of
police I * * * All the more so as
* * •Well, there, I’m a goner!”
“Come, come, chief!”
“A dead goner, old chap; you
just get that into your head. Not
as Arsene Lupin, ex-burglar, ex
convict, ex-anything you please—
I’m unattackable on that ground
—but as Don Luis Perenna, re
spectable man, residuary legatee,
and the rest of it. And it’s too
stupid! For, after all, who will
find the murderers of Cosmo,
Verot, and the two Fauville, if
they go clapping me into jail?”
“Come, come, chief-”
“Shut up! • * • Liston!”
A motor car was stopping on the
boulevard, followed by another. It
was evidently the perfect and the
magistrates from the public prose
cutor’s office.
Don Luis took Mazeroux by the
arm.
“There’s only one way out of
it, Alexandre! Don’t say you went
to sleep. ’ ’
“I must, chief.”
“You silly ass!” growled Don
Luis. “How is it possible to be
such an ass! It's enough to disgust
one with honesty. What am I to
do, then?”
“Discover the culprit, chief.”
“What! • * * What are you
talking about?”
Mazeroux, in his turn, took him
by the arm and, clutching him
with a sort of a despair, said, in a
voice choked with tears:
“Discover the culprit, chief. If
not, you’re done for • • * that’s
certain * * * the prefect told me so.
* * * The police want a culprit
* * * One has got to be found.
* * * It's up to you to find him.”
I “What you have, Alexandre, is
[a merry wit.”
“It’s child’s play for you, chief.
You have only to set your mind
to it.”
“But there’s not the last clue,
you ass! ’ ’
“You’ll find one # * * you must
* * * I entreat you, hand them
over somebody. * * * It would be
more than I could bear if you were
arrested. You, the chief, accused
of murder! No, no. * * • I en-1
treat you, discover the criminal
and hand him over. * * * You
have the whole day to do it in
* * * and Lupin has done greater
things than that!”
He was stammering, weeping,
wringing his hands, grimacing
with every feature of liis comic
face. And it was really touching,
this grief, this dismay at the ap
proach of the danger that threat
ened his master.
M. Desmalions’ voice was heard
in the hall, through the curtain
that closed the passage. A third
motor ear stopped on the boule
vard, and a fourth, both doubtless
laden with policemen.
The house was surrounded, be
sieged.
Perenna was silent.
Beside him, anxious faced, Maz
eroux seemed to be imploring him.
A few seconds elapsed.
Then Pfcrenna declared, deliber
ately :
“Looking at things all round,
Alexandre, 1 admit that you have!
seen the position clearly and that!
your fears are fully justified. If;
1 do not manage to hand over the
murderer or murderers of Hippo-J
lyte Fauville and his son to the po-1
lice in a few hours from now. it is !
1, Don Luis Perenna, who will be1
lodged in durance vile on the eve
ning of this Thursday, the first of!
April.”
CHAPTER IV.
THE CLOUDED TURQUOISE.
It was about 9 o’clock in the
morning when the prefect of po
lice entered the study in which the
incomprehensible tragedy of that
double murder had been enacted.
lie did not even bow to T*on
Imis; and the magistrates who ac
companied him might have
thought that Don Luis was merely
an assistant of Sergeant Mazer
oux, if the chief detective had not
made it his business to tell them,
in a few words, the part played
by the stranger.
M. Desmalions briefly examined
the two corpses and received a
rapid explanation from Mazeroux.
I Then, returning to the hall, he
j went up to a drawing room on the
I first floor, where Mme. Fauville,
who had been informed of his vis
: it, joined him almost at once.
Perenna, who had not stirred
; from the passage, slipped into the
j hall himself. The servants of the
j house, who by this time had
j heard of the murder, were cross
ing it in ever'- direction. ITo went
down the . .V stairs leading to a!
ground f.’-or landing, on which I
the front, opened'.
There wi re two men there," 01
whom one said:
“You can’t pass.”
“But-”
“ You can’t jiasr; 1’ - ^ are our
orders. ’ ’
“Your orders? Who gave
them?”
“The prefect himself.”
“No luck,” said Perenna, laugh
ing. “I have been up all night
and I am starving. Is there no way
of getting something to eat?”
The two policemen exchanged
glances an done of them beckoned
to Silvestre and spoke to him.
Silvestre went toward the dining
room and returned with a horse
shoe roll.
“Good,” thought Don Luis,
after thanking him. “This settles
it. I’m nabbed. That’s what I
wanted to know. But M. Desma
lions is deficient in logic. For, if
it’s Arsene Lupin whom he means
to detain here, all these worthy
plain clothesmen are hardly
enough; and, if it’s Don Luis Per
enna, they are superfluous, be
cause the flight of Master Perenna
would deprive Master Perenna of
every cliance of seeing the color of
my poor Cosmo’s shekels. Having
said which, I will take a chair. ’ ’
He resumed his seat in the pass
age and awaited events.
Through the open door of the
study he saw the magistrates pur
suing their investigations. The
divisional surgeon made n first ex
amination of the two bodies and
at once recognized the same symp
toms of poisoning which he him
self had perceived, the evening be
fore, on the corpse of Inspector
Verot.
Next, the detectives took up the
bodies and carried them to the ad
joining bedrooms which the fath
er and son formerly occupied on
the second floor of the house.
The prefect of police then came
downstairs; and Don Luis heard
him say to the magistrates:
“Poor woman! She refused to
understand. * * * When at last she
understood, she fell to the ground
in a dead faint. Only think, her
husband and her son at one blow!
t> # * poor thing!”
From that moment Pcrenna
heard and saw nothing. The door
was shut. The prefect must after
ward have given some order
through the outside, through the
communication with the front
door offered by the garden, for
the two detectives came and took
up their positions in the hall, at
the entrance to the passage, on the '
right and left of the dividing cur
tain.
“One thing’s certain,” thought
Don Luis. “My shares are not
booming. What a state Alexandre
must be in ! Oh, what a state!”
At 12 o’clock Silvestre brought
him some food on a tray.
And the long and painful wait
began anew.
In the study and in the house,
the inquiry, which had been ad
journed for lunch, was resumed.
Pcrenna heard footsteps and the
sound of voices on every side. At i
last, feeling tired and bored, he
leaned back in his chair and fell
asleep.
It was 4 o'clock when Sergeant
Mazeroux came and woke him. As
he led him to the study, Mazeroux
whispered:
"Well, have vou discovered
him?”
■' Whom?”
“The murderer.”
“Of course!” said Pcrenna.
“ It’s as easy a« shelling pease!”
“That’s a good thing!” said
Mazeroux, greatly relieved and
failing to see the joke. “But for
that, as you saw for yourself, you
would have been done for.”
Don Luis entered. In the room
were the public prosecutor, the ex
amining magistrate, the chief de
tective, the local commissary of
police, two inspectors, and three
constables in uniform.
Outside, on the Boulevard
Suehet. shouts were raised; and,
when the commissary and his
three policemen went out, by the;
prefect’s orders, to listen to the!
crowd, the hoarse voice of a news- i
boy was heard shouting:
“The double murder on the
Boulevard Suehet! Pull particu
lars of the death of Inspector
Verot! The police at a loss!-”
Then, when the door was closed,
all was silent.
“Mazeroux was quite right,”
thought Don Luis. “It’s 1 or the
other one : that’s clear. Unless the
words that will be spoken and the
facts that will come to light in the
course of this examination supply
mo with some flue that will en
able me to give them the name of
that mysterious X, they'll surren
der me this evening for the peopla
to batten on. Attention, Lupin, old
chap, the great game is about to
commence!”
He felt that thrill of delight
which always ran through him at
the approach of the great strug
gles. This one, indeed, might be
numbered among the most terrible
that he had yet sustained.
He knew the prefect’s reputa
tion, his experience, his. tenacity,
and the keen pleasure which he
took in conducting important in
quiries and in personally pushing
them to a conclusion before plac
ing them in the magistrate’s
hands; and he also knew all the
professional qualities of the chief
detective, and all the subtlety, all
the penetrating logic possessed by
the examining magistrate.
The prefect of police himself
directed the attack. He did so in
a straightforward fashion, with
out beating about the bush, and in
a rather harsh voice, which had
lost its former tone of sympathy
for Don Luis. His attitude also
was more formal and lacked that
geniality which had struck Don
Luis on the previous day.
“Monsieur,” he said, “circum
stances having brought about that,
as the residuary legatee and rep
resentative of Mr. Cosmo Morn
ington you spent the night on this
ground floor while a double mur
der was being committed here, we
wish to receive your detailed evi
dence as to the different incidents
that occurred last night.”
“In other words, Monsieur la
Prefet,” said Perenna, replying
directly to the attack, “in other
words, circumstances having
brought about that you authorized
me to spend the night here, you
would like to know if my evidence
corresponds at all points with that
of Sergeant Mazeroux?”
“Yes.”
“Meaning that the part played
by myself strikes you as sus
picious?”
M. Desmalions hesited. His eyes
met Don Luis’ eyes; and he was
visibly impressed by the other’s
frank glance. Nevertheless he re
plied, plainly and bluntly:
“It is not for you to ask me
questions, monsieur.”
Don Luis bo^ed.
“I am at your orders, Monsieur
le Prefet.”
“Please tell us what you
JVIip .
Don Luis thereupon gave a
minute account of events, after
which M. Desmalions reflected for
a few moments and said:
“There is one point on which we
want to be informed. When you
entered this room at 2:30 this
morning and sat down beside M.
Fauville, was there nothing to tell
you that he was dead?’’
“Nothing, Monsieur le Prefet.
Otherwise, Sergeant Mazeroux and
I would have given the alarm.”
“Was the garden door shut?”
“It must have been, as we had
to unlock it at 7 o’clock.”
“With what?”
“With the key on the bunch.”
“But how could tlie murderers,
mining from the outside, have
opened it?”
“ With false keys.”
“Have you a proof which allows
vou to suppose that it was opened
ivith false keys?”
“No, Monsieur le Prefet.”
“Therefore, until we have
proofs to the contrary, we are
bound to believe that it was not
opened from the outside, and that
the criminal was inside the
bouse.”
“But, Monsieur le Prefet, there
ivas no one here but Sergeant
Mazeroux and myself! ’ ’
There was a silence, a pause
ivhose meaning admitted of no
loubt. M. Desmalions' next words
?ave it an even more precise value.
“You did not sleep during the
night?”
“Yes, toward the end.”
“You did not sleep before, while
von were in the passage?”
“No.”
“And Sergeant Mazeroux?”
Don Luis remained undecided
For a moment; but how could he
hope that the honest and scrupu
lous Mazeroux had disobeyed the
dictates of his conscience?
He replied:
“Sergeant Mazeroux went to j
sleep in his chair and did not wake
until Mme. Fauville returned, two
fiours later.”
Then' was a fresh silence,
ivhicli evidently meant:
“So. during the two hours when
Sergeant Mazeroux was asleep, it
was physically possible for you to
open the door and kill the two
Families.”
The examination was taking the
course which Perenna had fore
seen; and the circle was drawing
closer aud closer around him. His
adversary was conducting the con
test with a logic and vigor which
he admired without reserve.
tCominueU Ne.vi \\ tet, j
r ^ ^ •••♦•• + **• • »*f
Progress Without Germany.
From the Delineator.
Everybody wondered, you will recall, wbat we would do without
German scientists. We d all been brought up to believe that we were
deeply dependent on them for scientific progress in all lines. When
we all get time to think of something besides war, we’ll be astonished
at the progress made by our chemists, our engineers and our medical
men, as well as by countless other men of research ability who have
hitherto been submerged by the “Made-in-Germany” slogan that
has obsessed the world.
Just in passing, Dr. Simon P. Flexner, of the Rockefeller institute
of New York, reports the discovery of a substitute for salvarsan,
hitherto the only known cure for certain disease. Salvarsan was a
Germany discovery. Dr. Flexner also announces the wonderful dis
covery that tetanus or lockjaw, hitherto practically incurable, can be
cured by an injection into the veins of a 4 per cent solution of ordinary
epsom salts!
Yes, it looks as if we could muddle along, if Germany will only
give us time.
Robert Lansing, in Munsey’s Maagzine.
For a long time there has been manifested a stronger and stronger
feeling that the American republics constitute a group which is more
closely bound together than other nations of the world, because of
iheir common ideals and common aspirations—-a feeling which haa
been emphasized by their geographical isolation from other countries.
J believe that this consciousness of unity is today general throughout
North and South America, and that it has become and will increasingly
be a powerful factor in our political and commercial intercourse. It
is the bond of sympathy which draws together tlic 21 republics of
our western world and makers of them the American family of
nations.
We term this feeling the “Pan-American spirit,” and from it
springs the policy of Pan-Americanism which the American govern
ment has so strongly advocated and will continue to advocate and
follow in its intercourse with its neighbors.
Pan-Americanism is more unselfish and broader in its scope than
the Monroe doctrine. It is international and not national in its con
ception. Its ideal is helpfulness and cooperation; and real helpful
ness and effective cooperation demand intimate knowledge and
mutual sympathy.
To that end all' who believe in the Pan-American doctrine should
allow no opportunity to pass which will unite us more closely com
mercially, industrially and socially with our American neighbors.
Even today, when some of the nations of North and South America
are at war with Germany, and others, by severing diplomatic rela
tions, have registered their i wot <»••<« against the flagrant violations of
law and humanity of which the German government has been guilty,
while others still continue to be neutral in the great conflict, the
Pan-American spirit lives; and it will live so long as the republics
of this hemisphere remain uncontaminated by the evil impulses which
plunged Europe into war.
i NEW CHIEF OF ARMY j
,j KIN OF WASHINGTON j
From the New York Times.
They are about to put the youngest
major general at the head of the general
staff of the United States army, and new.s
dispatches from Washington hail the
move as a big advance in speeding up our j
war work. Those who know Maj. Gen.
Peyton Conway March, the man selected
to become .acting chief of staff and later :
to succeed General Bliss as permanent j
chief, with promotion to a full general- j
ship, say that from the time he entered i
West Point and played on the first, foot- j
ball bairn i!n- military academy ever had.
his record litas been one of aggressiveness,
initiative, organizing power, and a pas
":v»n for getting a thing done.
During the Spanish-American war, in
(he fighting about Manila, the fire from
u blockhouse on a hill just outside the
American r,ne« boeanv- so threatening
that General MacArthur saw it would
have to be stopped at once. He called
for a commanding officer who would vol
unteer to take the enemy position.
'‘I wi:i.” shouted Captain March, and be
fore the words were well out of his mou,th
he was over the embankment with half
a hundred of his men behind him. They
Were artillerymen and had no arms ex
cept revolvers. According to the rules,
a charge against a fortified position with
revolvers couldn’t succeed. But Captain
March did it. That is the way he has t
always worked.
It is generally known that General
March went over with Pershing to have
complete charge of the American artil
lery forces on tiie front. The newspapers
during the last few days have borne
testimony of the effectiveness of the
American artillery methods, and officers
and civilians returningly lately from
France have brought back word of the
hnpression General March has created by
energy and skill in organization of his
branch of thi*• service.
An expert knowledge of general fight
ing conditions is one of the valuable
'nullifications of (he new chief of staff.
iTc knows from first hand how our meth
od- of training have worked out. He
knows the practical necessities of equip
ment—what should he pushed and what
may wait.
There is the unanimous opinion among
army men that March is the best man
for the high place to which he has been
assigned. There is also that unanimity,
already mentioned, as to his strictness.
Beyond those two points you can get
a little variety of opinion, according to
the age of the officer questioned. If It is
an older man. on the active or retired list,
under whom March has served, he will
ted you that the general is a great
teacher Men who were young officers
in tin* so-called days of the “old army,”
before the heavy artillery regiments
ceased to exist as such, and who served
then under March in the old 5th and
6th artillery, think of him in very much
the same way as university graduates
think of a favorite old professor who
made them work like dogs but gave them
the essentials of their after success.
other officers shamelessly take the
•'T-told-you-so*’ altitude after the fact.
They knew all the time that some day
Peyton <\ March would be the head of
the army, although they didn’t think it
would come so soon.
“How did you know It?”
“Just because he had it in him.’’ is the
unsatisfactory answer given In lieu of a
detailed character analysis of the man.
Some can go a little further.
“General March.” said one brigadier,
“always had the makings of a chief of
general staff in him because he could
Be*- the army as a whole. He was and is
a great artilleryman. The artillery is his
special branch of the service, but he
always has had interest and love to
spare for the infantry and cavalry and
engineers. He is both a scientific spe
cialist and an all round soldier.”
The first time that General March
brought back something from abroad was
in 1904, when he returned from his post as
one of the American military observers
assigned teo General Kurokl’s army in the
Russo-Japanese war. He was then a
ea.pt.Un af artillery attached to the first
• i
division of the general staff and accom
panied Major General Crowder, then a
colonel and chief of that division of staff.
They were both with Kurokt at the Yalu.
When the Spanish-Ainerican war began.
General March, then a first lieutenant in
the regular army, had just been gradu
ated from the artillery school at Fort
Monroe. He was thus well prepared, and
when John Jacob Astor gave a battery for
service in the Philippines, March was
made a captain of volunteers and put In
command.
The Astor battery was one of the nota
ble organizations of the war. Made up
from volunteers In New York, it was
largely composed of college men and at
iracted the attention of the country hardly
in less degree than Roosevelt’s Rough
Riders. March was himself,, perhaps,
prouder of the fact that he got his men
to the Philippines and back again with
out a death through disease than he was
of the exploits of the battery In eervicet
The father of the chief of the general
staff and the other March brothers was
Francis Andrew March, the philologist
and chief Anglo-Saxon scholar in Amer
ica and for many years professor ,,f
Dngllsh at Dafayette. An uncle of ths
general was Moncure D. Conway, another
of the noted Intellectuals and a great
leader of the liberal movement In religion
a generation ago.
The new chief of the general staff can
trace two lines of relationship with George
Washington. General March's grandfather.
Walker Peyton Conway, was the son f
John Moncure Conway and Catherine
Walker Peyton, a daughter of Col. Valen
tine Peyton, who fought in the revolu
tion. The latter's wife, Mary Bailey Wash
ington was the sister of Col. William
Washington, a cousin twice removed of
George Washington. The grandfather of
Mary Bailey Washington and Georgs
Washington was the same man.
The other line of relationship which
connects General March with Washing
ton runs back through the Moncure aid
Daniel families to Hannah Ball, half sis
ter of the mother of Washington. Through
these same families the general Is con
nected with Sir Walter Raleigh.
Wages Soaring In Japan.
From tho Columbus Dispatch.
Higher wages, Shorter hours and In
creased cost of raw materials is putting
an end to the cheap products of Japan.
The bugaboo of cheap labor and long
hours that our business men have been
seeing when looking toward Japan and
thinking of Industrial competition, is fad
ing away. According to a commercial
agent who has Just returned from Japan,
wages have advanced 26 per cent within
the last year, and hours have been short
ened 10 per cent. Further Increases in
wages and further reductions In working
hours is expected. He says he no longer
fears Japanese competition for he believe*
that It will not be long until the Japanes*
manufacturer must meet the American
manufacturer upon more nearly equal
grounds. Tho Japanese peril never did
exist to any alarming extent. TJiere never
was any danger of war between the two
nations and Japan never stood any chanco
of robbing the American manufacturer of
his trade. There la a place In the sun for
both the United States and Japan, and
they will find their places. The American
workman can hold his own against all tn#
world as he has been holding it. and
Japan was never so foolish and wnl never
be eo foolish as to run the risk of losing
her best customer. The United State*
takes 76 per cent of Japan’s exports, and
the wily little fellow from across th*
Pacific understands what that means.
Some More Censoring.
From the Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph.
A school girl was required to write an
essay of 260 words about a motor ear. She
submitted the following:
"My uncle bought a motor car. He waa
riding In the country when It busted up a
hill. I think this Is about 20 words. Th*
other 230 are what my uncle said when
he was walking back to town.
1