y levity.

"What do you mean by that?" Goldberger demanded.

"Mahbub is of the cult of Kali, who is the wife of Siva," said the
yogi, touching his forehead reverently as he spoke the words. "He
spent the night in adoration of her attributes."

Goldberger's stenographer was having his difficulties; the pencils of
the reporters were racing wildly in unison; everyone was listening
with strained attention; there was, somehow, a feeling in the air that
something was about to happen. I saw Godfrey write a line upon a sheet
of paper, fold it, and toss it on the table in front of Goldberger.
The coroner opened it, read the line, and stared at the impassive
Mahbub, who stood beside his master with folded arms, staring over the
heads of the crowd.

"In other words," said Goldberger, slowly, "your attendant is a Thug."

The yogi bowed.

"Yes," he said, calmly; "Mahbub is Thuggee."

CHAPTER XIV

THE FINGER-PRINTS

A shiver ran through the crowd, like a gust of wind across a field of
wheat. The words, "Mahbub is Thuggee," seemed to rend the veil which
obscured the tragedy. Surely it was clear enough, now: here was a man
killed by Thuggee's peculiar method, and here was the Thug. It was as
simple as two and two!

Every eye was on the bare-legged Hindu, impassive as ever, staring
straight before him. The camera-men hastily pushed in fresh plates and
trained their machines upon him. Two policemen edged close to his
side.

But Francisco Silva looked about him with scornful eyes, and presently
he opened his lips as though to speak, and then he closed them.

Goldberger seemed perplexed. He looked as though, while rolling
smoothly along the road toward a well-understood goal, he had suddenly
struck an unforeseen obstacle. The possibility of Mahbub's guilt
seemed to interfere with some theory of his own. He called Simmonds
and the district attorney to him, and they exchanged a few low words.
Then he turned back to the witness.

"I should like to question your attendant," he said. "Will you
translate for me? I have not been able to find a Hindu interpreter."

Silva bowed his consent.

"Ask him, please, where he spent Thursday night."

There was a brief interchange between Silva and Mahbub, then the
former turned to Goldberger.

"It was as I thought," he said. "He spent the night in the worship of
the attributes of Kali."

The coroner opened an envelope which lay on the table at his elbow and
took out a piece