Unflinchingly the scientist pressed the sharp edge of the large knife
against the waxen-like neck of the object before him with the result he
expected. Instead of dissecting a corpse, Julio cut into a wooden model
over which was a thin coating of wax.
“See,” he said to the Governor, “see; the prophecy of Julio is true. The
aggressive señorita is surely not in the Motuble tomb.”
“Nor for that matter,” said the Governor, “in any other tomb. I am fully
convinced, and the law must take its course immediately. A model of wax
only occupies the Motuble tomb.”
Señor Guillermo Gonzales fastened the glass plate securely on; the
policemen led their prisoners out of the tomb; the Governor and Señor
Guillermo Gonzales followed, and Julio Murillo locked the tomb securely
and placed the key in his pocket. As an extra assurance that no one
could enter the tomb and carry away the proof of Marriet Motuble’s dual
action, the Governor ordered two extra policemen, who had arrived in the
cab ordered for the prisoners, to guard the tomb, and under no
circumstances to let anyone enter.
Strange to say, Señor Jose M. Martinez and Don Enrique Arellano entered
the policeman’s cab without any protest whatever, and at a rapid rate
were taken to the central police court when their disguises were at once
removed, and their names were entered as follows: Jesus Marie Hernandez,
occupation a priest, alias Don Enrique Arellano; Francisco R. Cantu y
Falomir, occupation a gentleman, alias Jose M. Martinez. After the above
registration was completed, they were placed in separate cells and left
to their own reflections.
The Governor and his two companions were quickly taken to his own
private home, where they soon learned that many callers had been there
during his absence, and several left, very angry, because he was not to
be seen.
The President had sent to the Governor, a few minutes before they
arrived, a large envelope which contained many sheets of paper closely
written.
The three men took supper together, and over their meal discussed their
experiences of the day, and at its close went straight to the Governor’s
private study to read the President’s statement. The Governor handed the
envelope to Julio, who opened it carefully and read as follows:
“FRIENDS AND COMRADES: A wonderful change has come over me within the
last eight hours. A change so delicious that no one but he who has
experienced the same feeling can begin to understand it. It is the
knowledge that comes to one of a previous existence.
“To be plain, my friends, I _remember_, thanks to your wonderful ‘Memory
Fluid.’
“I was in this city one hundred and fifty years ago, in the employ of
the United States Secret Service. I arrested, by the assistance of a
little girl—Catalina Martinet—a counterfeiter who had evaded the law for
years, all the while living in the Republic of Mexico in the guise of a
mining man.
“That arrest was a big feather in my cap. I was promoted and my salary
raised largely.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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