The Ghost Makers

Again, Rajah Brahman clapped his hands thrice. Like sheep, the students of the master arose and bowed. One by one, they filed through a curtained door that led to an outer room. Imam Singh stalked after them, to usher them from the sacred premises. Rajah Brahman was alone. A strange man amid strange surroundings! Yet this luxurious abode, with all its fashionable glory of the East, was located in one of the highest stories of a New York skyscraper. The Callao Hotel, Manhattan's newest and tallest apartment building, had been chosen by Rajah Brahman as his residence. Money meant nothing to this man of wealth, who brought great and unfathomable messages from the Yogi of the Himalayas.

Within ten minutes after the servant had departed, Imam Singh returned to interrupt his master's soliloquy. He approached the throne and spoke a few words.

The rajah arose and went into another room, the entrance of which was hidden behind the tapestries in the corner. This was his consultation room. It was as exotic as the room which he had just left. Beneath the dim lights a huge crystal ball glittered upon the lap of a smaller Buddha. The fragrance of incense pervaded the room.

A small cushioned throne was in the corner. There the rajah took his seat and waited, the sole occupant of a weird pagan shrine. The curtains opened across the room. A man slipped through and approached the seated figure.

The newcomer was Professor Raoul Jacques, the medium who had conducted the seance at which Herbert Harvey had been slain.

Rajah Brahman motioned his visitor to a chair. Jacques glanced furtively toward the curtained doorway as he sat down. In a low, excited voice he began to speak.

"I got your message," he said. "I had to be careful coming here, though, because they may still be watching me. You know about the trouble I got into."

Rajah Brahman spoke. His voice was low and solemn, as impressive as his appearance and his environment.

"You have made a grave mistake," he said. "This disturbance in your circle may cause untold harm. You were not wise to act as you did. You should have concluded your seance when you encountered difficulty."

"I didn't know what was coming," declared Jacques. "I've had a few funny things happen before, and that luminous dagger was always a good stunt. It was planted on Harvey, and he slipped it to me. I didn't think there was going to be a fracas.

"I was trying to get the other guy, but he slipped away. There I was in a jam, for sure!

Lucky for me the cops didn't get wise to those gags on the chair. They let me go. They were sure I couldn't have been loose. I stuck to my story, and had a lucky break with it—"

"That was the only wise procedure that you used," declared Rajah Brahman. "It was, indeed, fortunate that your statement was not doubted."

"It pretty near floored me," replied Jacques, "when the whole crowd stuck with me. I knew that some of them would tell the same story that I did; but I thought that a few would say something about the fellow who got away. I couldn't spill that story myself.

"It was lucky that one of them had enough sense to figure the real dope. A fellow named Castelle told a detective that he thought there was another bird. Now they are looking for him, and I guess they figured he did it."

"You have arranged for your believers to join my circle of enlightenment?" questioned Rajah Brahman.

"That's all been fixed," replied Jacques. "They are all good, and I have all the dope that Harvey gave me.

"There's one good customer that was coming to my next seance — a man named Telford — that Harvey dug up for me. I have the inside dope here with me" — he drew an envelope from his pocket — "and I want to get rid of it."

He extended the envelope toward Rajah Brahman, but the Hindu master held up his hand reprovingly.

"Rajah Brahman needs no such information," he declared solemnly. "You may give it to my servant as you leave, since you fear that its possession might work to your disadvantage. That is sufficient. Go, and be cautious in your deeds."

Professor Jacques slunk from the room. Rajah Brahman laughed. After all, such fakers as Professor Jacques were superstitious. Despite the fact that they knew their work was trickery, they were ready to believe that some one more intelligent than themselves might actually possess a true psychic power. Rajah Brahman had ended with the first of his special visitors. The appearance of Imam Singh told him that another had arrived. At the rajah's command, the servant left the room. Anita Marie entered. This woman, who was ordinarily so domineering, was now abject and subdued. Even more than Professor Jacques, she was impressed by the importance of Rajah Brahman. She did not even attempt to speak until she had received his nod.

"The woman is acomin' here," Anita Marie began. "She visited me to-night, and she wants to see you very much."

"Have her eyes been opened to the light?" questioned Rajah Brahman.