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I was quite ready when, over the coffee, Kennedy contrived to make some excuse for us, promising to call again and perhaps to visit the Erickson plantation. In the secrecy of our room in the little hotel, Craig was soon deeply buried in making use of his traveling laboratory. As he worked I could no longer restrain my impatience. "What about that little bottle of keratin?" I asked, eagerly.
"In the room more keratin more seeds." It was Kennedy. He had taken advantage of the confusion to make a search which otherwise might have been more difficult. Together we struggled back to our shelter. Just then came a crash, as the hotel crumpled under the fierce stress of the storm. Out of the doorway struggled a figure just in time to clear the falling walls.
Finally, however, he managed to dissolve it in ammonia. "Relatively high amount of sulphur," he muttered, after a few moments more of study. "Keratin, I believe." "A poison?" I asked. Kennedy shook his head. "No; harmless." "Then what is it for?" He shrugged his shoulders. He may have had some half-formed idea, but if he did it was still indefinite and he refused to commit himself.
Even a few drops, such as might be soaked up in this way, might be fatal. The new and interesting phase, to me, is that they were all carefully coated with keratin. Really, they are keratin-coated enteric capsules of nitro-benzol, a deadly poison." I looked at him, aghast at what some of us had been rescued from by his prompt action.
It is used much in hot countries in order to introduce drugs into the intestines in the treatment of the tropical diseases that affect the intestines." He paused and devoted his entire attention to his work, but he had told me enough to assure me that at least the bottle of keratin I had found had proved to be a clue. I waited as long as I could, then interrupted again. "What are the seeds?"
"Oh yes," he replied, not looking up from the tests he was making. "Well, keratin, you know, is also called epidermose. It is a scleroprotein present largely in cuticular structures such as hair, nails, horn. I believe it is usually prepared from pieces of horn steeped in pepsin, hydrochloric acid, and water for a long time. Then the residue is dissolved in ammonia and acetic acid."
"The only obstacle between the transfer of the arms and success was the activity of an American consulate. Those lighters were not to carry goods to other islands. They were really destined for Mexico. It was profitable. And the scheme for removing opposition was evidently safe." Kennedy was holding up another bottle of keratin and some fruit seeds.
"But what's its use?" I demanded. "You said it was harmless." "Why, the pepsin of the stomach won't digest it," he returned. "For that reason its chief use is for coating what are known as 'enteric capsules. Anything coated with keratin is carried on through the stomach into the intestines.
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