The needle had been driven clean through the heart.
On the point of it was a bright yellow spot.
The doctor, after some trouble, drew it forth. How it had been driven into the body was a mystery. The doctor made a hasty examination of the other bodies, and from the heart of each he drew forth a similar instrument of death.
“Never before,” he said, “have I seen so unique a manner employed in putting a fellow creature out of the world. The five pieces of steel have pierced almost in the same spot, the deviation being less than one-sixteenth of an inch. One thing is certain, these men all died instantly.”
“Why are you certain?” asked Nick. “Might they not have died before these murderous needles were driven into their hearts?”
“Such a thing is impossible,” said the doctor. “They all died in the same way.”
Nick Carter was puzzled.
If Jack Weeden was the murderer he had chosen a strange way to slay his victims.
Had these men been enticed to his place? And, if so, how? Had they been drugged?
The doctor said they had not, but that the yellow spot on the point of each needle was Ewara, a powerful poison, which is used by the fanatics in India.