“I want to show you something, Cleves. May we step into the house?”
They went into a little lamplit living-room. Recklow handed a newspaper clipping to Cleves: the latter read it, standing:
“Had Deadliest Gas Ready for Germans
“‘Lewisite’ Might Have Killed Millions
“Washington, April 24.—Guarded night and day and far out of human reach on a pedestal at the Interior Department Exposition here is a tiny vial. It contains a specimen of the deadliest poison ever known, ‘Lewisite,’ the product of an American scientist.
“Germany escaped this poison by signing the armistice before all the resources of the United States were turned upon her.
“Ten airplanes carrying ‘Lewisite’ would have wiped out, it is said, every vestige of life—animal and vegetable—in Berlin. A single day’s output would snuff out the millions of lives on Manhattan Island. A drop poured in the palm of the hand would penetrate to the blood, reach the heart and kill the victim in agony.
“What was coming to Germany may be imagined by the fact that when the armistice was signed ‘Lewisite’ was being manufactured at the rate of ten tons a day. Three thousand tons of this most terrible instrument ever conceived for killing would have been ready for business on the American front in France on November 1.
“‘Lewisite’ is another of the big secrets of the war just leaking out. It was developed in the Bureau of Mines by Professor W. Lee Lewis, of Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., who took a commission as a captain in the army.
“The poison was manufactured in a specially built plant near Cleveland, called the ‘Mouse Trap,’ because every workman who entered the stockade went under an agreement not to leave the eleven-acre space until the war was won. The object of this, of course, was to protect the secret.
“Work on the plant was started eighteen days after the Bureau of Mines had completed its experiments.
“Experts are certain that no one will want to steal the sample. Everybody at the Exposition, which shows what Secretary Lane’s department is doing, keeps as far away from it as possible.”
When Cleves had finished reading, he raised his eyes in silence.
“That vial was stolen a week ago,” said Recklow gravely, “by a young man who killed one guard and fatally wounded the other.”
“Was there any ante-mortem statement?”
“Yes. I’ve followed the man. I lost all trace of him at Palm Beach, but I picked it up again at Ormond. And now I’m here, Cleves.”
“You don’t mean you’ve traced him here!” exclaimed Cleves under his breath.
“He’s here on the St. Johns River, somewhere. He came up in a motor-boat, but left it east of Orchard Cove. Benton knows this country. He’s covering the motor-boat. And I—came here to see how you are getting on.”
“And to warn us,” added Cleves quietly.