ferried over to Hong Kong by the Shogun or some other
ship, and cabled thence to waiting Christendom.

Drayton had his own reasons for wishing to see the remains, then Vinton,
and later Ray, and as his movements were closely followed, the wits of
the correspondents were sorely taxed. But the examination was to be
resumed at nine. A rumor was running wild that Miss Ray herself was to
be summoned to appear, and Drayton had to be dropped in favor of a more
promising sensation.

It began with dreary surgical technicalities. The heavy bullet had
traversed the ascending aorta "near its bifurcation," said Brick, who,
though only an autopsical adjunct, was permitted to speak for his
associates. Death, said he, had resulted from shock and was probably
instantaneous. No other cause could be attributed. No other wound was
discovered. No marks of scuffle except "some unimportant scratches" on
the shoulder. The bullet was found to weigh exactly the same as those of
the unexploded cartridges in poor Maidie's prized revolver, and though
Brick would gladly have kept the floor and told very much more, the
provost-marshal as gladly got rid of him, for, despite the unwillingness
of the medical officers at the Cuartel de Meysic, Connelly had been
trundled down to Ermita in a springy ambulance and was presently
awaiting his turn.

The moment his coming was announced, Connelly was ushered in and Brick
shut off short.

A nurse and doctor were with the sturdy little Irishman, and he needed
but brief instruction as to what was wanted. Taken to the trestle and
bidden to look upon the face of the deceased and say, if he could, who
it was, Connelly looked long and earnestly, and then turned feebly but
calmly to the attentive array.

"If it wasn't that this looks much thinner," said he, "I'd say it was a
man who 'listed with our detachment at Denver last June, about the first
week. The name was Foster. He disappeared somewhere between Sacramento
and Oakland, and I never saw him again."

Questioned as to whether there was any mark by which the recruit could
be known, Connelly said that he was present when Foster was physically
examined, and he never saw a man with a whiter skin; there wasn't a mark
on him anywhere then that he could remember. Bidden to tell what he knew
of Foster, the young artilleryman was given a seat, and somewhat feebly
proceeded. Foster was bound to enlist, he said, was of legal age and
looked it; gave his full name, his