Newspaper Page Text
THE YALE EXPOSITOR, THURSDAY. NOVEMBERS 1916. AUTHOR. OF THE OCCASIONAL OFFENDER." -THE WIRE TAPPERS," "GUN RUNNERS," ETC NOVELIZED FROM THE PAT HE PHOTO PLAY OF THE SAME NAME SYNOPSIS. On Windward Island Palldorl Intrigues lira. GoUlt'ii Into un ujipea ranee of evil wMcli cHiist's CuliU-n to capture and tor ture the Italian by biamlinw his face and crushing his hand. I'alUIort floods the Is land and kidnaps Ooldcn'.s little daughter MiirRcry. Twelve years later in New York a Masked One rencues Maipery from I-e-par ami takes htr to her father's home, wlicme she is recaptured. Marprerv's moth er fruitlessly implores Golden to find their daughter. The I.auphtns Mask again takes Marpery away from I.ejrar. Lcear Bends to Golden a warning anl 11 demand for a portion of the chart of Windward Island. MaiKery meets her mother. The chart Is lost in a fit; lit between Manley und one of I.enar's henehmen, but is re covered by the Laughing Mask. Count Da Kspurf figures in a dubious attempt to entrap Iepar and claims to have killed him. Golden' house is dynamited during a masked ball. I-egar escapes but Di Esparea Is crushed In the ruins. NINTH EPISODE Arrows of Hate. Doctor Anstett stared down at the oundle of delicately carved arrows. They were as 6lendcr as a bistoury blade and scarcely longer than a darn ing needle. Then he looked up at his risltor. "So you really object to telling me your name," he said as he carefully restored tho fragile darts to their re ceptacle of capped bamboo. "Unless It's essential, I'd prefer not to," was the stranger's quiet-toned re ply "Then why did you bring these things to me?" asked the doctor. "Because I understood you were the most eminent toxicologist In America. And I was anxious to know whether or not those innocent-looking arrows In your hand were really poisoned." The doctor's smile was a grim one. "Well, they were poisoned, all right! ft is difficult, of course, to say Just what the nature of this venom is. Cut that does not interest mo as much as the question of where you obtained possession of such remarkably deadly little missiles." For a moment or two the stranger remained silent. "To be quite candid, doctor, these arrows were stolen." "But from whom?" "From the foreign valet of a man who has unmistakably provid himself an enemy to society." "And is that why you have asked me to clean and neutralize them with Buch scientific exactitude?" "It is." "And now that their fangs have been drawn, so to speak, what do you prorose to do with them?" "Return them to their owner." "To what end?" "To the end that any nefarious plan which he may be about to execute will not bring death where that criminal desires to bring it!" The abstracted-eyed doctor watched his visitor as the latter prepared to take his departure. Had Doctor Anstett been less Inter ested In remarkable poisons and raoro Interested In remarkable rersons, h might have kept on the trail of this mysterious stranger, and, in doing so he might have discovered that these envenomed arrows of mystery wero the rightful property of one unright eous Mauki, the personal servant of that elusive master criminal known as Jules Legar. Legar's campaign to discredit the Laughing Mask was a characteris- tically audacious one. It even em braced a number of artfully forged let ters, duly signed by the Laughing Mask and left in surroundings which caused both perplexity and alarm to the city police. One note, found beside the body of a murdered inker, briefly explained that crime by tne declaration that the dead man had always robbed the poor and so earned the end which overtook him even though this Included the rf&nylnf away of a n6t Inconsiderable portion t bis worldly wealth. A gam fcfr tr a irrauaent Inspector met The Huge Slatternly Figure Hurled It self Upon Him. a similar fate. The complex machin ery of the law was set in motion and far-reaching efforts were made for the rounding up of this somewhat too au tocratic Laughing Mask. One of these efforts Included a visit on Enoch Golden by Lieutenant Kibby and three of his men from the detec tive bureau. Golden, the lieutenant pointed out, was in a position to help the authorities out of a predicament by telling all he knew about thi3 sumo mysterious stranger. "But I don't know any more about this Laughing Mask than you do!" protested tho old financier. "Surely you have at least some the ory as to the Identity of the man." "I thought I had. once or twice. And my daughter thought she had. But wo were off the track, each time." "One moment, please," cut In tho lieutenant as ho suddenly rose to his feet and strode across the room. He stepped out through the portiered doorway, stared down the hallway, and returned to the room again. "Are you aware of tho fact that a young woman has been standing there listening to every word we said?" Tho deep-lined face of the aged finan cier sviowed no perceptible change. "My daughter, undoubtedly," retort ed Golden. "For the girl's about as Interested in this case, you see, as we are ourselves!" Margery's Interest In the mysterious case of the Laughing Mask, indeed, would havo been brought promptly home to that somewhat puzzled police lieutenant had he been able to give less attention to Enoch Golden and more to the puzzled-eyed girl who had stood momentarily arrested at the en trance to her father's library. For as she moved on down the shadowy hallway she found herself confronted by that lnterruptive but all too fa miliar figure of the Laughing Mask himself. He made a gesture for si lence as she started back in alarm. Then he nodded his dominoed head In the direction of the library door. "Now, perhaps, you will understand why it has not been easy for me to explain Just who I am!" "But you must explain," gasped the bewildered girl. "They are saying terrible things about you, things which I know to be untrue." "Do you trust me?" "I want to," was the whispered an swer. t'Then will you continue to trust me?" asked the man in the mask. "I don't think I can." was tho girl's hesitating answer, "until you can trust me!" "You mean that I must unmask?" But Margery Golden's reply to that question was never uttered. For as she was about to speak, her volatile maid, Celestine, stepped Into the hall behind her, beheld the mysteriously masked figure, and promptly filled the house with a ringing Gallic scream. "Mon Dieu, it is the Laughing Mask!" she shrilled ns she ran down the hall, giving tho alarm. And her alarm, unreasoning as It seemed, was fully shared by the Laughing Mask himself. He swung about, darted through a doorway, and disappeared from sight as Golden and his retainers and his official visitors came flocking out to the scene of that disturbance. Two minutes later Margery Golden, hearing a shout from Kibby's men above stairs, followed that officer to the scene of the sudden tumult. There, to her alarm, she saw three men strug gling with a figure which she prompt ly recognized as the Laughing Mask himself. "We've got him!" gasped one of his captors as Lieutenant Kibby confront ed him. "What'll we do with him?" asked his other captor. "First thing, tear that fool mask off!" commanded the lieutenant. ' But that command was not carried into execution. For Margery Golden, catching sight of the Laughing Mask's fallen revolver, ran to where it lay and took possession of it. The next moment It was leveled straight at the heart of the detective whoso hand had been lifted to the yellow domino cov ering his prisoner's face. "Stop!" commanded the girl. "Put down that gun, you!" prompt ly commanded Kibby, purple with In dignation. Not until your men release that prisoner," wa9 her deliberate response. "Yes, you, both of you," she continued, menacing the officers of the law with the revolver. "Stand back from him! Still further back! Now you," she added, turning to the Laughing Mask, "walk out through that door! Go out, and go at once!" " So Intently did the watch that dis appearing figure that the movements of the adroit and much-experienced Lieutenant Kibby, sidling stealthily along the wall beside her, entirely es caped her attention. When he leaped for Margery Golden's tense figure, he made sure of his distance and, sure of his mark In d)ing so. He promptly and none too gently wrested the re volver from her grasp, at the same moment that Enoch Golden himself ULoae pwu&c through Ue 03 dooz. T rope yon endcrstand now why you've never got your Laughing Mask!" was the Irate officer's cry as he swung the gir'. about so as to face her equally irate father. "Well, we'll get him," thundered the gTim-willed old millionaire, "or he'll never walk out of this house alive!" Even as he spoke tho renewed sound of shouts camo to them from above. It was Wilson the butler who called to Golden and the group at his heels as ho went floundering up the stairs. "He's gone into Manley's room, sir!" cried that vastly disturbed old serv ant. "And he locked the door as he went!" "Well, Manley himself's In there," panted the owner of the house as he hurried on to his secretary's door. "He's typing my International direc tor's reports." But the sounds that camo from within the room in no way suggested such sedentary pursuits as typewrit ing. "They're fighting, sir!" called out Wilson, with his old oar cocked close to the door panel. "My word, sir, but they're at it, 'ot and 'eavy!" By the time one of Kibby's detec tives had caught up a chair and bat tered In that door all sounds of com bat had ceased. And the astonished group, crowding into the dismantled chamber, saw only an open window, an overturned table and a room empty of all life. "But Manley, Where's Manley?" de manded tho still panting owner of tho house. "Wait!" cried Kibby himself as he crossed to tho closet door against which leaned a "high boy," for about this door his trained eye had detected certain betraying tremors and agita tions. It took him but a moment to push tho "high boy" to one side. Then, flinging open the door, he had the satisfaction of beholding the recum bent figure of David Manley, bound and gagged on the closet floor. Helping hands soon released the un happy prisoner. "I tried to 6top him." he 6ald, a lit tle thickly. "And this is what I got for it!" But Lieutenant Kibby was no longer interested In Manley. "Two of you men go out through this window," he commanded, "and round up that man before he gets He Knew Even Before She Spoke away! The rest of you people get a cordon round this block before It's too late!" They were off again like a pack of beagles striking a new scent, leaving the dilapidated and somewhat discon solate Manley to his own thoughts and devices. As he sat there, feeling about his bruised body with a gently Inter rogative finger, Margery Golden stepped timidly In through his still open door. "Don't get up," Eho said quietly as she crossed to his side. But before she could speak again the two detec tives came clambering and puffing in tnrough the open window. Their mis sion, it was plain to see, had been a fruitless one. "You can bo thanked for this," cried the heavier of the two men. "You, flashln' a gun on officers o the law when they're tryln' to do their duty!" . "And you're goin to ray for gettln' free with fire arms, young woman, or I'll eat my hat!" avowed his equally Indignant companion. But David Manley suddenly staunched that flow of accusatory dec lamation. "You get out of here," commanded that Irate and somewhat dilapidated youth, "and get out quick!" "What have you got to do with that girl?" demanded the heavier of the threatened officers. "I've got a lot to do with that girl as I'll show you If you don't get where you belong Inside of three seconds!" "Aw, leave the gink to his ravin's!" said the shorter man, wearily, as the two left the room. "I guess I was wrong there, when I started to crow about having so much to do with you and your affairs,'' Man ley said as he looked a little wistfully Into her slightly smiling face. "Why flo you say you were wrong?" (tie asked. "Because every time I do try to help you out I only seem to make a mess of things," was his disconsolate an swftr You've succeeded la proving that you're really the best friend I hare. the best friend I could have!" "But friendship, don't you see,. Is hardly enough," he declared as she turned quietly away. "Then some day, perhaps, li may even be something more" she called softly back to him before clipping out through the open door. The Deadly Decoy. If David Manley was blindly and un reasonably happy, all that day and the next, he succeeded in keeping his hap piness to himself. It was not a propitious time, he know, for the air ing of emotions so essentially per sonal. There was still a shadow over the house of Golden, a shadow which gave small promise of passing away until fate or accident ended the activ ities of one Jules Legar. There was, too, a shadow In Manley's heart, a shadow of doubt as to how far he was justified In accepting Margery Golden's words as he had accepted them. So as he talked with her the following day he was conscious of a vague constraint which reminded him there were still reservations to be re spected and confidences to be with held. This was brought keenly home to Manley as Wilson carried In to the girl sitting so close to him a sealed note which she opened and read In silence. That this note brought a somewhat disturbing messago to her was only too evident. And whatever that message, It was equally evident, she Intended to keep it to herself. "No bad news, I hope?" remarked Manley, rather dejectedly studying her face. "Not altogether was the girl's eva sive reply. Margery Golden smiled a little as she folded up the note. She was still smiling a3 the tore the paper In two, again and still again. One small riece of that paper fluttered from her fingers and fell half way between her and the still frowning young 'secretary. He stared down at It captiously, almost sullenly. Then his eyes slowly widened, for clearly Inscribed on that scrap of paper he saw one-half of the sign of the Laughing Mask. She then walked slowly across to the open firo and tossed into it the note which she had already torn into fragments. Manley stood watching her as Bhe ordered Train and the limousine and That It Was Margery Golden. then called for her hat and coat. lie had much to say, but for once he saw that silence was golden. The moment he was alone, however, he quickly crossed to the fireplace, dropped down on his hands and knees, and there peered closely at tho charred remnants of the note which had been tossed on the coals. Three or four of the fragments he even rescued with the help of a brass fire shovel. He turned them about delicately and studied them patiently. On one ho deciphered tho words "you will come." On another he managed to make out "am 111." The only re maining portion of uncurled carbon on which he could discover any trace of writing had lost its center. But on what remained of it ho could read "CS Washl re." "63 Washington Squire!" he an announced. And five minutes later found him seated in a taxlcab. Ho had Just crossed Fourteenth street, sweeping south, when ho caught sight of the Golden limousiue, empty with the exception of Train at the wheel, sweeping northwest. Tills disturbing discovery, once he had reached the square, took him up the stone steps of a ruinous mansion long given over to artists' studios and workshops of a meaner order. He had climbed three flights of stairs, and climbed them with all tho Etcalth!ne83 of a flat looter, when ho came to a door which held out more promise than the others. For behind this door ho could distinctly hear tho sound of voices. As he squatted down and peered through the keyholo he heard a girl's muffled scream followed by-a throaty laugh of triumph. And the moment he heard that laugh he kne ir It to beLegar's. Yt at the same moment he made a second end even more diverting dis cover. This was that a ponderous and h"wny-armed woman, advancing with elephantine lurches along the i half lighted hallway, was shouting outl floor, for his head wa swimming diz sbrlll calls of warning as she came. 1 rily inri bands of te eeemed con Manley for one brief tecoad nuraed I striding aia cheat TA Leveled Straight at the the delusion that those warnings were Intended for his own ear. it was not until tho huge and slatternly figure tlung itself upon his still crouching shoulders that he awakened to the fact that he was being attacked, the startled eavesdropper found himself flung bodily through the suddenly opened door, even before he could draw his revolver. For he knew now beyond doubt that he was in the terri tory of the enemy. He knew that still another trap had been set for the un wary. He knew it, even before he caught sight of Legar himself and Margery Golden shrinking close to the wall at his side. It was on Legar that he fixed his eye as ho whipped out his firearm and steadied himself with one hand against tho broken wall. Legar saw that revolver leveled at his body. He saw the look on Man ley's colorless face. He knew what was coming. He did not stop to argue; he did not even turn to flee. But as he 6tood there, with his deep-set eyes .xed on Manley's face, his long right arm that terminated in its claw of iron shot out and caught at the arm of the girl still crouching so close to the wall be side him. But even quicker was Man ley's discovery of Legar's intentions to swing the body of the girl about in front of his own as a human shield. And Manley, while tho path was still clear, leveled his gun and tired. There was a shout, half of horror and half of rage, as Legar went down in a heap, his wooden arm-end thump ing on the rough flooring like a mal let as he fell. And at the same mo ment that the brawny-armed amazon boldly struck Manley's right arm up towards the ceiling, that startled band of Legar's followers united in a rush for the assailant of their leader and chief. In tho first two rHlnuts of tnat al together hopeless struggle Manley had lost both his gun and his ccat. In the next minute he had lost Lis breath. In the next his liberty itself was gone, for these worthies lot no time in tying and trussing him up as neaMy as a French chef trusses a capon. As he was rudely backed away to where Margery Golden, equally corded and tied, already stood, he heard oue cl the men behind him speak. "Did he croak the chief?" "Naw, he's still breathin'!" "Then we gotta get him outa here. . . . Pip. you call a taxi. We gotta get him back to his own 'Malina', or there'll be hell to pay!" "How about this gun boob and the rib?" "Gag 'era and throw 'era Into that bathroom there! And If youse turn on the gas by accident, I guess It's go In' to 6ave us all a lot o trouble!" The Creeping Message David Manley, for all tho predica ment confronting him, tried to school himself to calmness. Closo beside him, bound and gagged like himself, he could feel the Inert body of Margery Golden. But what most disturbed hlra was the gas Jet that stood out from the green-papered wall high above his head. That had been the finishing touch at the hamis of his enemies. He looked carefully about the room, point by point. It was nothing but a commonplace bathroom, with a door on one side and a small window high up In the wall on the opposite side. He found nothing, in that methodic inventory of his surroundings, to re vive the slowly dying embers of hope. Ho could neither move tior call out. But there was still a ry of sending a message out to the world. He worked and floundered about un til he was in a sitting position. Then he worked his way closer to the enamel bathtub, leaning, ranting and helpless over Its edge, for a moment or two, as a drunken man leans over a cell cot. Then energy again revived In him. He slowly a:id rainfully edged further and further over Into the bath tub, like a cut worm rounding a leaf edge, until with his forehead he was able to push and bunt the loose drain plug into Its socket. Then, once more withdrawing from the bathtub, he di rected his attention to the nearer of the two taps that stood at Its head. He had the use of neither hand nor foot, to turn that tap. Tut by tne pressure of his own skull against the tarnished brass tap handle he was finally able to throw the faucet open. Then he sank wearily back to the Heart of the Detective. He lay there watching as the water from the overflowing tub trickled to tho floor, pooled in the worn undula tions of the boards, and crawled on again, in search of some avenue of capo. And he watched it as it moved. fr on its sinuous back, he remem bered. it carried his message of deliv erance, his hope of life. Finding a unused ventilator flue, the water foun tained joyously down on the head of long haired artist hard at work on a canvas. That artist, after speechlessly cod templating the deluge, ran shouting to the hallway, where he was Joined by his model and by fellow artist from neighboring studios. When they found their investiga tions barred by a locked door, they broke it In. While they were sniffing suspiciously about the outer room, however, their efforts to reach the source of that deluge were being an ticipated by a more stealthy figure, which, clambering monkeyllko up the narrow iron fire escape, climbed still higher to the small window and promptly broke it in. Manley, rousing himself at th sharp sound of the breaking glass, turned about to behold the face of a narrow-eyed and dark-skinned stranger in tho square of light about him. Even as he stared up at this exotic, face with its uncanny fringe of jet black hair he raw the unknown Intruder draw a slender tube from under his coat. To this tube the stranger fitted a small arro-.v scarcely longer than a darning needle. Then, placing the tuba to hi3 mouth, he sent the slender dart whistling down through tho air, where it fixed itself in tho wooden flooring not three Inches from Margery Gold en's head. Instinctively, as Manley witnessed that Incomprehensible attack, as he vaguely awoke to the meaning of the strange performance, ho crawled to tho girl's side. There ho tried to shield her helpless body with his own. But after that he rememberpd little. He awakened later to the sound of a woman's soft sob3 close beside his aching head. And he knew, even be fore she spoke, that It was Margery Golden. "It's no use, doctor," she was for lornly crying out to the figure nearer the foot of tho bed. "I saw that man, and I know it was Mauki. And ns soon ns I saw him I knew Lrgar had sent him. had sent hlra with tho same poisoned arrows that once killed an informer In the Owl's Nst!" "But this man isn't dead," protest ed the doctor. "No. but he will die." "Now, j-oung lady, this won't do. you know," the man of medicine tried to reassure tho quietly weeping girl. "And If you leave me with him for a few minutes I'll make another exam ination. And then we'll know the worst!" "I'd rather stay with him to the last." said the white-faced girl. "But if you'll come back. In ten min utes!" quietly announced the man who was not used to having hl3 sugges tions crossed. And he held the door for the unhappy girl as she passed un steadily out. Manley, tho next minute, lifted hi head from the rillow. "Say, doctor, what's this about m dying?" he demanded. "That all depends on one point.' was tho doctor's reply as h gingerly took up one of the slender arrows, nc longer than a darning needle. "And the rolnt Is whether or not we can find an -antidote for the poison that wfn smerred on those outlandish blow' gun darts. But tho next point Is, how do you feel?" "I might feel worse!" The man of medicine looked puz zled. "Well, that seems to be the strange part of this case. The Infection must bo a very Insidious one. Even thf wounds themselves show no signs of toxlcation. So you wait here a min ut until I get my Instrument bag' When that somewhat bewildered man of medicine returned with hla ba he found David Manley sitting tip Ir bed,' poring frowningly over a sheet of paper which he held In his hand. "Who threw this note on my bed?" demanded his patient, with a Igor that was tinlooked for in the dying It was the doctor's turn to frown a? he took the eheet of paper from the other's hand. -I drew the fangs from Mauki's blow gun," read the message thre In scribed, "his arrows beM no poison, and vou are safe. . . , The Laugh ing tfa-k." (TO BS GOK1XNXEXX1 THE HRY SWAMP Ey ERNEST A. YOUNG. Illrtui Muybry's old ryes wandered out the brttrn! fid'H and slopes whilo he pulled conn ntt illy :it his clay pipe. "What is tin; use of wurryln', LiizriV" he ask d. "Stuff is growin' like smoke nil over the furni," he chirped. "It's growin' while we're asleep, Elizsi. Then there's the swtunp. You minded what your father said when lie give you the deed tt the place th'- day we was married. That swamp, after it's been dreened and the stumps dug out and the s'ilo plowed and h:irrerel,' nays your fu llier, 'will produee bijrger crops than all tho rest t the farm put together.'" Dora Maybry s'iirhed anxiously na she heard what her father n.".d mother were saying, for she knew that what she had so long dreaded was about to conio to paks (Jeorgo Carson, who married her sl.-ster Louie, was going to fetch a gang of laborers frnm thu city and start ditching and draining the Maybry swamp. Mr. Maybry could never fee enough of George nor hear enough of his dis course, which was full of the worldly wisdom of the town-bred man. Mr. Maybry disliked farm work, and It was his luck to have no boys to grow up and relieve him of the Irksonm chores. Dora was helpful, both in doors and out, and it was owing to her willingness to do the milking lie did not sell the last one of his cows. This was harder for the girl than she confided even to her mother; but she told John Porter everything, and perhaps the things at home becoming harder to endure, as they did, made his calri sympathy sweeter than it would have been had the journpy to ward their wedding day been smoother. George Carson sent Louise and tho children out to the Maybry farm every summer to stay through the season. No account of the trouble or expense was ever taken, it being understood that George, In his own good time, was to superintend the much-talked-of work of converting the swamp into a fertile field. Many summers passed be fore the work was actually begun. All that followed came with a hurry that was bewildering to the slow-moving minds of the Maybrys. A gang of laborers dug and ditched, while a choice lot of standing timber was sold to pay the first cost of wages and ma (hlnery. Even Mrs. Maybry brightened up when so much seemed to be ao corr.plished from day to day. It was rt the end of the second week after the work was started that she said to Dora : "George says we ran sell the swamp outright for a big sura when he gets the ground into shape." "John Porter has no faith In It, mother," Dora answered. "John never liked George," said Mrs. Maybry. "It isn't that." Dora protested. "John went over the swamp a year ago, and he say stuff doesn't grow any better in soil that hr.ppens to be blnclc. I know, mother, that John doesn't pre tend t be scientific, but he tells me that swamp ran never be drained af long as its surface is three feet low r thnn Dargie's pond. He hated to speak of It, but be said last night ho thought you nuirht to know the truth before George wheedled you into mort gaging the farm to raise more money. Why, mother, wl.nt Is It?" Dorn ex claimed as Eliza. Maybry sank back in her chair, while a sudden pallor camo into her face. Dora let the face of her mother rest a en Inst her strong young shoulder, and by the hopeless clinging of Mrs. May bry to her the girl vas told that John's warning had come too late. George, Louise, and the children had gone into town that morning, and the paper that he had persuaded the May brys to sign went with them. The moment that she was sure of the worst, Dora, went out to find John Porter. In the brief conference between Dora and John, the latter told her that th laborers had quit work In the Ewnnip that forenoon. "Good reason why." he explained. "Carson didn't pay their wages last week. I've been thinking for some time that I ought to step In and stop Ceorge Carson from beggaring your folk:?. But I didn't want to meddle." John took the first train to the city ! the next morr.ing. In the rfternonn. j just before sunset. Dorn walked to I the little station to meet him. for sho was anxious to know even the worst. He met her out by the crossing and si lently drew her hind within his arm In n way ho had never clone before. When they were away from the station be bent and ksed her on the lips. In that way be told her that Iip had been too late to got the paper from Georgo Carson. "I've decided what we will do." he said ns they walked slowly through th twilight. "Flrt. there will be the wedding that we l ave put off too lonjr already. Then I'll pay off thlsrlHlm on your mother's farm and we'll stay nnd take care of them. Of course. It would be happier for us to take them to my place ottr's I mean. But they would be homesick therr." "How about your little truck farm, John?' Dora pleaded. "I'll have to sell that for the money. But then," he added with a brave at tempt to make a Joke' out of it, 'I'll have to make ip for the other, sort of truck m have to lose." (Copyright, 131(5, by th MeClure Newspa per Syndicate.) . . Fpaln has 002 plants for pnbllc eleo trie lighting and 973 for private use.