"Observe me, and you will learn my purpose!"
Dr. Medjora went to a closet and returned with a hammer, a large staple, and a long chain. Mr. Barnes watched him closely, with no suspicion of what was to follow. The Doctor stopped at a point immediately opposite to the door, and stooping, firmly fastened the chain to the floor by nailing it down with the large staple, which was long enough to reach the beam under the boarding. He then stood up again. Taking a hypodermic syringe from his pocket, and also a small phial, he carefully filled the barrel, and was about to inject the fluid into his arm, when Mr. Barnes ejaculated:
"I thought that you said you would not commit suicide?"
"I have no such intention. In one moment I will explain my purpose to you. Meanwhile watch me!"
With dexterous skill he plunged the point into one of the larger veins, and discharged the fluid carefully, holding a finger over the wound as he withdrew the needle to prevent any escape. If Mr. Barnes was astonished by this, he was more surprised at what followed. The Doctor stooped and picked up the ends of the chain, which the detective now observed terminated in handcuffs. These the Doctor slipped over his wrists, and snapping together the spring locks, thus virtually imprisoned himself.
"What does this mean?" said Mr. Barnes. "I do not understand."
"Of course not," said the Doctor. "You are accustomed to deal with brainless criminals. Despite your boast, science is beyond you. I will explain: My object in thus chaining myself to the floor, is to insure your safety."
"My safety?"
"Yes! In less than half an hour I will be a raving maniac. If not restrained, I might do you an injury."
"Impossible!" cried the detective, incredulous.
"You will see! I ask in exchange for my thoughtfulness in preventing myself from harming you, that when I shall have become irresponsible, you will suggest the idea that I felt this attack of insanity coming on, and took these precautions for the sake of others. Will you do this?"
"Certainly! If——" Mr. Barnes stopped, confused by his thoughts.
"There is no if about this. I do not deal in chances. I have never yet made an error, and you will see that my prediction will be fulfilled. But time, precious time, is passing, and I have much to say before I lose my reason. You have heard of hydrophobia, have you not? And of Pasteur's experiments?"
"Yes! I have read what the newspapers have said."
"The investigators in this field have discovered that the virus of this disease is located in the brain, spinal marrow, and nerves of infected animals. They have also extracted the virus, and by inoculation produced hydrophobia in other animals. Along similar lines I have extensively experimented in connection with insanity. In the first place, I argued that insanity is due to a specific poison, a toxalbumen, and that this poison is a result of parasitical action. If I could isolate that poison, and the germ which causes it, I would understand the etiology of insanity. The discovery of an antidote would then be an almost assured consequence. To be able to cure insanity, would be a proud distinction for the discoverer of the method. I am convinced that I have the secret almost within my grasp. The preparation which I have injected into my veins is a formula of my own. I have named it 'Sanatoxine'!"
"Sanatoxine?"
"Yes! The word means 'poison to sanity,' and my Sanatoxine will produce insanity, unless I have made some mistake, which is unlikely. Hereafter, when the proper antitoxine shall have been discovered, it will be a simple matter to cure insanity. The patient will be given a proper dose of Sanatoxine, to convert his malady into a curable form of the disease, and then the antitoxine will counteract the poison which has deprived him of the use of his reasoning faculties."
"If you have made such a wonderful discovery," said the detective, "then you should not destroy your own reason, thereby depriving the world of the benefits of your knowledge. In this you commit a greater crime than that with which you stand charged!"
"Do I? Suicide is a crime within the definitions of the Penal Code, but there has been no enactment against self-inflicted insanity. But I must tell you how Sanatoxine is produced, and then explain how posterity may yet benefit by my discovery. One of the curable forms of insanity is delirium tremens. The worst of these cases are truly maniacal neuroses. I have seen a man die of such an attack, and a few minutes later I removed his brain and spinal marrow. These I macerated, and from them I extracted the virus which is the cause of the malady. I have inoculated the lower animals with it, and I have seen results which satisfy me that my deductions are correct. This cannot be absolutely known, however, until my Sanatoxine is tried on human beings. That important step in the advancement of science has just been made. If I become insane, my theory will have ample proof. For the future, Leon must complete my work. Among my papers he will find my views and formulas. It is inevitable that he will solve the riddle."
"But you sacrifice yourself, merely to test an experiment? You introduce into your own system a preparation abstracted from such a horrible source! It is fearful to think about!"
"Let me see," said the Doctor, consulting his watch. "Ten minutes have passed, and there is scarcely a rise of temperature. Singular!" He mused over the problem for a moment, and a shade of anxiety passed across his features, as he murmured, "What if I have made a mistake? No! No! It is impossible! Utterly impossible!" Reassured he turned again to Mr. Barnes:
"I mentioned awhile ago that I should need your assistance. You have said that I make a sacrifice. From the ordinary standpoint that is true, though not from my own. Suicide would have brought me death, an experience for which I yearn, with a longing based upon scientific curiosity, which perhaps you cannot comprehend. But I am equally desirous of knowing by personal experience what it means to be insane. Death will come to me in time, therefore I need not interfere, but insanity might never have been my lot, had I not pursued the course which I have followed. To-morrow you will be obliged to explain what you have witnessed, and the favor I ask is this. Do not render my self-sacrifice useless, by relating to others those horrible suspicions, the consequences of which I am so desirous of escaping. Be as merciful as the law, and keep silent that the innocent may not suffer. May I count upon you to do this?"
"Dr. Medjora, I cannot yet believe that you will succeed in this horrible experiment; but if you do, of course I would not harm others by arousing useless suspicions. If you escape from the law, you need have no fear of what I should do."
"I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Again he consulted his watch. "Twenty minutes gone, and still no alteration. What if I should fail? No! No! Failure is impossible! Mr. Barnes, another matter. My son is my natural heir, but I do not wish him to know it. Even without your story, Judge Dudley might hesitate to let Leon marry his daughter, if he knows him to be son of mine. There may be a doubt against me lurking in some corner of his brain, which would be vivified if he learned my secret. You will not reveal it?"
"No!"
"I thank you. The boy will not suffer. I have left a will in his favor, and there is another paper making him the guardian of my estates should I lose my reason. You see I have contemplated my experiment for a long time, and all my preparations are complete. The Judge has arranged to give Leon my name legally. So all will be well! All will be well! All my plans successful! I lose my reason without complaint! But, time is passing, and my reason remains! A horrible thought comes over me! I have made a mistake! By all the eternal torments, I have made a mistake, and here I am chained up so that it is impossible for me to rectify the error! They say I am an egotist, yet I have so little remembered my own mental superiority, that I actually have thought that a dose of Sanatoxine which would unseat the reason of an ordinary man, would effect me. Fool! Fool! Fool! How could I forget that I, Emanuel Medjora, the Wizard, am not as other men? How can my reason be destroyed by so small a dose as that which I have taken? But stop! There may be yet one chance! There may be more in the phial! Where is it?" His excitement increased as he gave vent to his thoughts aloud, as though Mr. Barnes were not present. Now he looked eagerly about, and at last saw the bottle at some distance from him on the floor. Mr. Barnes also saw it, and stepped forward to pick it up. Instantly the Doctor sprang towards him, grasping the hammer which had lain within his reach.
"Touch that phial at your peril!" he screamed. "I will brain you as mercilessly as I would a rat! That phial is mine! Its contents are mine! Valuable only to me and to science! My experiment must succeed! It must! It must! It shall!"
Glaring at Mr. Barnes, who stood back awed by his threatening attitude, the Doctor moved towards the bottle, but, as he stooped to reach for it, the chains tightened and impeded his progress.
"The chains! I had forgotten the chains! Ha! I have never forgotten before! Perhaps my reason is yielding already! No! No! I feel that I have full sway over all my faculties! I must have that phial!"
He stooped to his knees, and stretched and writhed and twisted, in his efforts to reach the bottle. But ever it was just beyond his grasp.
"I will have it! I will! I will!" he muttered, gritting his teeth with such force that one of them was broken. But he took no heed of the accident. Down on his back he turned, and, by a wriggling motion, soon lay extended at full length, his feet reaching as far as the chains about the wrists permitted, his arms being stretched backward beyond his shoulders. He could now reach the bottle with his feet, but it was impossible for him to see it, the position of his arms rendering it very difficult for him to hold his head and shoulders high enough from the floor, so that his own body would not impede his vision. However, he did accomplish his purpose, and Mr. Barnes was amazed to see him at last clutch the phial with his two feet. Then began a series of contortions which were painful to see. With the utmost care the Doctor drew his feet slowly up, dragging the phial nearer and nearer, meanwhile crying out in a sort of hysteria:
"It is mine! I will have it! I will succeed! The Wizard never failed!Never! Never! No! No! Never! Never!"
Once, as he moved his feet, the phial slipped from them and rolled away again.
"Come back!" he shrieked. "Come back! Stop! Stop!" he cried, as though addressing a living thing. It ceased to roll, and with a cry of joy he found that he could still reach it. Again he slowly worked it towards him. Inch by inch he managed the coveted phial, until at last he assumed another position. Springing up from the floor he reached backward with one foot and touched it.
"Now it is mine! Mine! Mine!" His voice was shrill, and there was a passionate tone of exultation that smote Mr. Barnes to the heart. It was terrible to stand by and see the desperate effort which this man made to accomplish that from which all men shrink in horror. Slowly the Doctor proceeded with his task, until at last he was able to reach the phial with his hands. Swiftly stooping, as a hawk descends upon its prey, he grasped the little bottle.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! I have it! It is mine! The Wizard never fails!"
His laugh of joy had scarcely died away, before he uttered a most terrific shriek, and threw the phial from him, crying:
"Empty! Great God! It is empty!"
He stood silent and motionless for a moment. Then his eyes turned in the direction of Mr. Barnes, and he glared at him in such a way that the detective felt uncomfortable. Suddenly he burst forth with a tirade of abusive language.
"You! You are the cause of all this! You are the prying miscreant that has made all my trouble! I will have your life! I will drag you into the crypt of my great ancestor, and tear out your heart on the stone of sacrifice that still exists in there!"
He dashed forward with such force that the chains, reaching their limit suddenly, jerked him back so violently that he fell. As he did so his hand chanced to touch the hammer, which he had laid aside while trying to secure the bottle. With a shriek of joy that made Mr. Barnes shiver, he sprang up, holding the hammer aloft.
"I am chained! Chained! But you shall not escape! Take that!"
Swiftly he hurled the hammer, but Mr. Barnes, suspecting his purpose, dropped to his knees, and the missile went harmlessly over his head.
"Balked! Balked! I have failed! But I am the Wizard and I will succeed! Ha! Ha! Ha!" His laugh now filled the room. "You wonder how! I am chained and you think that you are safe! Ha! Ha! Ha! You are a fool! You do not know me! I am Emanuel Medjora! I am powerful. I will rend these chains, and then your life shall pay!"
He turned, and wrapping the chains around his two arms, he braced his feet against the floor, and tugged with all his might.
He pulled, and swayed from side to side. He savagely jerked the chains, and then again he grasped one with both hands, but his efforts appeared to be in vain. But so much power did he display, that, as his back was turned, Mr. Barnes decided that it would be safer to prepare for flight. He therefore cautiously advanced towards the door, and there paused, ready, however, to dart out on the instant should it be necessary.
Still the Doctor tugged and jerked and rattled the chains, shrieking and laughing demoniacally at intervals. Presently, with a shout of triumph, he did burst one of the chains. Turning towards Mr. Barnes, he shouted:
"You see! I am the Wizard! I do what I please! You did not think that I could break it! Ha! Ha! Ha! You do not know Emanuel Medjora! He accomplishes what he wills! The will controls the muscles, and the mind controls the will! But now through my brain a liquid fire courses that makes my mind doubly powerful! I feel that I am getting stronger every moment! In another second I will snap this last chain as easily as you would break a cord! Then, then,—Ha! Ha! Ha! I'll have your heart out! Ha! Ha! Ha! I have an idea! I'll kill you now!"
He rushed forward as far as the remaining chain would permit, and extending the other arm, to which dangled the end of the chain which he had broken, he drew it back and then switched the dangling links viciously towards Mr. Barnes, narrowly missing him. As he saw that even now he could not reach the detective, he uttered a cry of rage, and again and again endeavored to strike him with the dangling chain. But it was useless. Mr. Barnes was beyond his reach. Finally, with a cry of despair, the Doctor threw himself in a heap upon the floor, now weeping, now laughing, and shrieking madly:
"They say I am a Wizard! Ha! Ha! Ha! A Wizard! I a Wizard, and I cannot kill a man! Such a simple thing, and yet I cannot do it! A Wizard! I a Wizard! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
His Sanatoxine experiment had proven successful. Dr. Emanuel Medjora was a maniac!
An Artist in Crime
"One may safely say that it ranks with the best detectivenovels yet published in this country."—Boston Times.
"'An Artist in Crime' is the best detective story which hasbeen published in several years."—New Haven Palladium.
A Conflict of Evidence
"This particular book is the best of its kind, and just what its title sets forth…. It is a masterpiece of consistent theory and will bear reading any time and any place."—Omaha Excelsior.
A Modern Wizard
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK & LONDON.
All apparent printer's errors retained.