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THE STORY SO FAR Half a million dollars! This was the ransom Grundl, alias Clubfoot, head of a powerful gang of international «pies. demanded of Patricia Fane whose brother Jimmy Fane had fallen into his hands while on a secret diplomatic mission in Germany. Three men: Robert Dallas, an ex-British Army officer, Major Ned Hartigan, and Wolf von Konig, had been engaged by Patricia Fane to search for her brother whom she hoped to rescue before the American agents, who were also on his trail, found and arrested him for allegedly betraying his country. Dallas and Hartigan had traced Fane to a mysterious Diue pavilion m Baaen-oaaen, where the young American was in hiding with Arlette Lassagne, one of Grundt’s agents. But before they could rescue him, Fane was spirited away by Bartels, another of Grundt’s agents, who was attempting to double-cross his chief. And Patricia was drugged and carried away by Grundt, in her own plane, to his fortified castle, Baltasar, near Salzburg. While Dallas and Hartigan were speeding over the road to Salzburg, Patricia awakened to find herself a prisoner in Castle Baltasar, threatened with death if she did not agree to Grundt’s outrageous demands. "1 warn you that I am a bad person to defy,” Grundt told Patricia, and rang for the housekeeper to take her back to her room. As Patricia followed the housekeeper across the hall outside of Grundt’s office, the front door opened and a woman wrapped in a long dark cloak entered. It was the woman Patricia had seen in the pavilion at Baden-Baden — Arlette Lassagne! PART V It was long past breakfast time at the Goldene Rose when Robin and Ned, weary and unshaven after battling the wind and rain all night over mountain roads, reached Rodenbach. Wolf was waiting for them in the little inn parlor. His news was not encouraging. Bartels had not reappeared at the Villa Friedl; scouts from the mysterious organization of peasants which Maier, host of the Goldene Rose, controlled, were watching the house night and day. No foreign plane had landed at the Vienna aerodrome; there was a rumor that a strange machine had been heard above the Salzburg field about ten o’clock on the previous night but it had not come down there. “Maier is making enquiries,’’ Wolf ex plained in his stolid German way, “but in these mountains there are many places where a plane may hide. Grundt gone, Bartels gone, and, on t6p of all, the Fane girl kidnapped — the prospect is not rosy, zum Donnerwetter!” Dallas said, “There's always the Lassagne woman. She won't relinquish Fane in a hurry Illustration by JuIm Gotliab SOMEHOW. GRUNDT KNEW. HE MUST FORCE THIS GIRL TO TELL HIM THE CODE WORD Castle Baltasar — behind its sinister walls grim fate awaits Patricia Fane and her brother by Valentine Williams Fifth installment of a serial of spies and international intrigue — she hopes to marry him. If only we could pick up her trail again!” Wolf removed his pipe. “Ah,” he remarked slowly, “I was coming to that.” “You have news of her?” Wolf nodded. "Bad news, Bob. Early this morning, this side of the frontier, near Freilassing, masked men held up a car coming from Germany and carried off the driver, a woman driving herself. The kidnappers didn’t worry about taking the car, Maier says. A green sedan.” “That’s Lassagne’s car, right enough,” Ned dprlarpd railway and won’t be back until this after noon. I shall let you know.’’ The three men settled down to wait. Dallas refused to speak to Ned, but mooned about between the door and the window. Seeing which, the Major procured a pack of greasy cards from Frau Maier and sat down to kartt with Wolf. He also sent for a bottle of cognac, from which he refreshed himself at intervals. ‘‘You promised to lay off the liquor,’’ Dallas at last reminded him, to which the Major re torted that he hadn’t taken the pledge for life. "Just what do you mean by that?” de manded Dallas, flushing. Hartigan laughed sarcastically. ‘‘At our ‘‘Her name And address are on the dash, anyway," Wolf supplemented. Dallas groaned. “Clubfoot’s trick again. And our last chance gone!" A fat man in leather shorts a ppeared at the door. “Come in and meet my friends, Herr Maier,” said Wolf in German. The innkeeper saluted them gravely. "It’s about Bartels,” he explained in bis soft patois. Dallas leaped forward. “Well? ’ "In the middle of the night be sent his car to fetch Frau Eigl, a woman in the village who sometimes works for him at the Villa Friedl.” "And she went? Where?” the Englishman demanded eagerly. ' ‘She went, but where I can’t say, ibr the present. Her husband will be able to tell us more. But he works an early shift on the present rate of progress, we shall still be looking for young Fane a year from now.” "And his sister — don’t forget his sister!” the other rapped back. Violently the Major slammed his hand down on the table. "I ran her into this mess, sure. But she’d never have been snatched if you and Wolf had shown any sense in the first place. You had Clubfoot at your mercy, that night at Hamburg, but instead of blowing his ugly head off, you let him slip through your fingers. Now let me tell you something ..." "Oh, hell!” cried Dallas and, striding to the door, went out into the raw air. He was still pacing up and down the road in front of the inn when, half an hour later. Wolf (Continued on page 13)