“I will repeat your own words at that time. You said: ‘I will make things warm for the person who commits crimes, and takes advantage of the inexperienced, young or aged.’ Crimes are various, however. Your success in that life was not without laurels; in this, I hope your mission is different and on a higher plane. You did much harm. You are now here to aid us in securing proof which will eventually bring the ‘Plunger from Kansas’ to meet justice—for spite. He went out of the other life like a flash—whether by his own hand or by the hand of some wrathy creditor, man never knew.
“The many homes made desolate by his dishonest schemes must eventually be compensated for their losses. Time is the great adjuster of all wrongs; and the Plunger’s time is not far distant.”
“Your statements are true, my friend Julio, in every detail. You have partially only guessed my mission to Chihuahua, however. Yes, I did harm. I am searching for one I loved in that life, who suffered much from the abuse of certain countrymen of her own, then residing in Chihuahua. Aye, from myself.”
“In truth,” said Julio, “I am certain you will locate her in this city before long.”
“The great circle in which Time moves shows our planet nearing its perihelion, and for the next ninety days the great scientist, Guillermo Gonzales, and his able assistant, to whom I am now speaking, will be able to demonstrate to the world the effect of your great discovery, ‘The Liquid from the Sun’s Rays,’ or perhaps better known as ‘Memory Fluid,’” said Miss Motuble.
“Aye,” assented Julio. “No such means has ever been in the hands of man, by which he can effectually bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice.”
“And it matters not,” continued Miss Motuble, “of how long standing the crime is.”
“Not in the least; not in the least,” continued her host. “In fact, we are thinking of trying to run down every person who participated in that ancient and inhuman crime of silencing the musical voice of Lot’s wife.”
“If that is done,” laughed Miss Motuble, “the truth of the story will be proven; but to spend one’s time trying to prove such an absurd story is a sin. Besides I admit that the story is of too long standing, for you and me to interest ourselves in it. I am here for the sole purpose of making existence warm for the many I knew in other lives, who failed to get justice meted out to them then. Indirectly only am I connected with the punishment of the ‘Plunger from Kansas.’ Yet revenge prompts the motive.”
Further conversation between them was interrupted by the entrance of first, a little girl with beautiful flowers to sell, followed by Mr. Niksab, and two other men, one an elderly, bald-headed, dissipated looking man, who carried his hand on the side of his cheek. His face was spotted and his mouth stood open.