e ghastly mystery. But she did not know this. Hervey told his story
with all the cunning of a man who appreciates the results which attach
to the effect of his words. He lost no detail which could further his
ends.

"Grey, on his deathbed, alluded to the notice in the paper. He did so
in answer to your question as to who had shot him?"

"Yes."

"He was perfectly conscious?"

"Yes."

"Some time before he died you and he had discussed this notice, and he
told you he was meditating a coup in which that notice had afforded
him his principal clue." The girl nodded, and Hervey went on. "Grey
was a Customs officer. All his works centred round contraband. No
other work came into his sphere of operations. Very well, the clue
which that notice afforded had to do with some illicit traffic. The
question is, What was the nature of that traffic? Here is the obvious
solution. 'Yellow booming.' What traffic is known by such a title as
'Yellow' in this country? There is only one. Traffic in Chinese! The
smuggling of Chinese across the border. And this traffic was booming.
Operations were being successfully carried out. Where? The rest is
easy. Somewhere in Grey's district. 'Slump in Grey' could only mean,
under the circumstances, that Grey's supervision was avoided; that the
work was carried out in spite of him. You know--everybody knows that
Chinese are smuggled into Canada at many points along the border, and
that opium is brought in at the same time. Thus the poll tax and the
opium tax are avoided by men who make a living out of this traffic.
The profit is worth the risk. There is a fortune in smuggling opium.
The authorities are endeavouring to put it down. It is well known that
our cities are swarming with Chinese for whom no poll tax has been
paid. And yet the legitimate importation of opium does not increase.
Rather has it decreased in consequence of the prohibitive tax imposed
upon it. Still, these Chinese must have their opium. This then was the
coup poor Grey meditated. He had discovered a hotbed of opium
smuggling. If he succeeded in rounding the smugglers up, it meant a
great deal to his future prospects. Is that all plain?"

"Yes, yes; go on."

The girl's eyes were gleaming strangely. She followed every word her
brother said with an intentness which boded well for the result of his
efforts. The careful array of arguments was speciously detailed. Now
she waited for what was still to come without any attempt at
conc