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Page 60
"I never heard of the use of snake venom before," I remarked,
settling back in the cushions--"that is, deliberately, by a
criminal, to poison anyone."
"There are cases," replied Craig, absently.
"Just how does the venom act?"
"I believe it is generally accepted that there are two agents
present in the secretion. One is a peptone and the other a
globulin. One is neurotoxic, the other hemolytic. Not only is the
general nervous system attacked instantly, but the coagulability
of the blood is destroyed. One agent in the venom attacks the
nerve cells; the other destroys the red corpuscles."
"You suspected something of this kind, then, when you first
examined Stella Lamar?"
"Exactly! You see, the victim of a snake bite often is unable to
move or speak. Doctor Blake observed that in the case of the
stricken star. Her nerves were affected, resulting in paralysis
of the muscles of the heart and lungs and giving us some symptoms
of suffocation. Then the blood, as a result of the attack of the
venom, is always left dark and liquid. That, too, I observed in
the sample sent me from Tarrytown.
"The snake," Kennedy continued, "administers the poison by fangs
more delicate than any hypodermic. Nature's apparatus is more
precise than the finest appliances devised for the use of a
surgeon by our instrument makers. The fangs are like needles with
obliquely cut points and slit-like outlets. The poison glands
correspond to the bulb of a syringe. They are, in reality, highly
modified salivary glands. From them, when the serpent strikes, is
ejected a pale straw-colored half-oleaginous fluid. You might
swallow it with impunity. But once in the blood, through a cut or
wound, it is deadly."
"There could be no snake in this case," I remarked. "The fangs of
a serpent make two punctures, don't they; while here there was
just the one scratch--"
"Of course there were no fangs when the deed was actually done,"
he rejoined, impatiently. "We've traced everything to the needle
in the portieres and it is my belief that it was part of an all-
glass hypodermic with a platinum-iridium point. It could hardly
have been anything like the coarser syringe used by Werner, nor
do I think it possible that the point of an ordinary needle would
hold sufficient venom, since it would dry and form a coating like
the incrustation on the inside of the ampulla McGroarty found."
"That was the venom?" I asked.
"Yes, I found it in the ampulla and in the stain on the portiere
where the needle had pierced through."
"The towel, though--"
"Is something else. First thing in the morning we'll follow that
up, as I promised you. Meanwhile let's concentrate on motives."
A long line of private cars and taxicabs outside Jacques'
testified to the popularity of the restaurant. At the door stood
a huge, bulking negro resplendent in the glaring finery of his
uniform. It seemed to me that people literally were thronging
into the place, for it was cleverly advertised as a center of
night life.
Inside, the famous darky jazz band was in full swing. There was
lilt and rhythm to the melody produced by the grinning blacks,
and not a free arm or foot or shoulder or head of any of them but
did not sway in time to their syncopated music.
We were shown to a table on a sort of gallery or mezzanine floor
which extended around three sides of the interior. Below, in the
center, was the space for dancing, surrounded by groups and pairs
of diners. Stairs led to the balcony on both sides, as though the
management expected none of their guests to resist the lure of
the dance between courses. The band, I noticed, was at the
farther end, on an elevated dais, so that the contortions of the
various players could be seen above the heads of those on the
floor.
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