La Grande evening observer., June 06, 1917, Image 3

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 1917.
LA mA2toE EVENING OBSERVER.
PAGE THREO
(This serial story is being shewn
ana xnursaay ac loiomai theatre. .
the Colonial Theatre.)
l- 8YNOP8I8.
' On Windward Island Palldorl Intrigues
Mrs. Golden Into an appearance of evil
which causes Golden to capture and tor
ture the Italian by branding his fare and
crushing his hand. Palldorl opens the
dyke sates and Moods the Island and In
the general rush to escapo the flood kid
naps Golden's six-year-old daughter Mar-
fory. Twolva year's later in New York a
asked One calling himself "the Hammer
of God" rescues an eighteen-year-old girl
from the cadet Caaavantl, to whom Jules
Legar has delivered her, and takes her to
the home of Enoch Golden, millionaire,
whence Bhe Is recaptured by Legar. Iegar
and Stein are discovered by Mauley, Gul
den's secretary, setting fire to Golden's
buildings, but escape. Margory's mother
fruitlessly Implores Enoch Golden to
find their daughter. The Masked One
again takes Margory away from Legar.
Legar loots the Third National bank, but
again the Laughing Mask frustrates his
plans.
'v FIFTH EFISODE
TTHE INTERVENTION OF TITO
David Manley was not altogether
proud of his day's work. As he sat
tied and bound on the rough brick
floor beneath the Owl's Nest that once
flippant-minded young man even ac
knowledged that thlngB looked rather
bad for him. He had been made a
prisoner. The Iron claw of Legar had
reached suddenly out and closed about
him.
But David Manley did not altogether
give up. As he lay there, sore in body,
but even more battered in mind, ha
still spasmodically struggled with the
cords that held him hand and fpot.
The solitude of that unsavory den
did not add to his comfort The mere j
fact that Legar could see fit to leave a
prisoner thus unguarded impressed
the prisoner with the fact that his one
firmed enemy was only too well as
sured of his power. And the more
Manley thought of Legar and his meth-
jub me more umi maimer uguru dhhujb
to bewilder him. He knew that Legar
was the unrelenting and eternal enemy
of Enoch Golden, just as he had been
the enemy of Golden's daughter Mar
gory. The thought of Margory directed
Manley's mind back to the earlier
events of that strange day. He recalled
his long talk with that quiet-eyed girl
in the quiet-toned shadows of the
Golden library. It had been the first
talk between them into which the per
sonal note had entered. He had en
ijoyed that talk, for he had felt, as It
progressed, that the girl had begun to
realize he was lior friend, that he want
ed to be her friend. I
But the quietness of the Golden I
home had proved to be nothing more : back to him he and the green-feath-than
a lull which precedes the sud-' ered parrot had been tossed bodily
den storm. For, five minutes after he '. into the closed car, and, three minutes
had left the smiling girl, the Golden !
butler, with terror in his eyes, had whom the white-faced girl in the
come running to him saying there was ' library had so frantically telephoned,
a stranger in the hoiiBe, a stranger that mysterious limousine had speeded
who had been seen lurking about the off into the night, carrving not only
halls and had promptly disappeared Legar but the youth who had been so
at the sight of one of the servants. : presumptious as to attempt to inter
So Manley, forgetting everything else, j fere with Legar's exploits,
had promptly joined In the search for j But Manley did not altogether give
that mysterious intruder. And his first Up. His heart still had the resilience
thought, after doing so, had been for 0f youth. He still believed in his
Margory Golden. j atar.
Hurrying to the library to make sure What fretted Manley most, however,
of her safety, he had found her seated , waB his lack of freedom. Rolling a
at her father's desk, quietly talking utile over on his side, he studied min
ever the telephone. And there had ' utely the rough brick floor on which
been little in that scene not suggestive he lay. After this inspection he
of tranquillity. For blinking placidly : wormed his way carefully from side to
down from its perch beside her had Siae, lying face down and trying each
stood Tito, Margory Golden's newly row of exposed bricks with his shoe
acquired parrot, for which Manley him-. toe, in the hope of finding one of them
self had small love. This feeling was loose.
based, not so much on the malevolent ; He had elaborately tested eleven
air of wisdom surrounding that green- rows before he found any reason for
bodied fllcher of human phrases, as on hope m this direction. A chill of ex
the somewhat disturbing trick, taught citement ran through his tired body,
it by somo earlier master, of seeking m fact, as he discovered one brick
put gas Jets and turning them on the which seemed less securely embedded
moment it was freed from its chain. , m cement than were Its fellows. He
Yet as it had stood close beside the worked at it patiently, laboriously,
girl so busily talking over the tole- kicking away Bmall particles of plas
phone it had Beemed as companionably ter, thumping it with his boot heel,
innocent as a canary. And it had prying at it with his solo until It
turned to blink sagely at Manley as the rocked free in its row. Then came
girl, apparently unconscious of his the even sterner task of shifting It
presence, had crossed to the mahogany- from its place. This he did by turning
faced vault set In the library wall and about and lying close to it, on his side,
proceeded to open its ponderous door, bo that the fingers of his tightly im
This had startled Manley not a little, prisoned hand might come in contact
for the combination of that vault was
a secret Jealously guarded by Golden,
a secret utmnown 10 Niamey uiuibbh.
It was not until she stood with the
massive door swung open that Manley
had confronted her. But she showed
no embarrassment at his sudden inter
ruption. "My father has Just phoned from
Philadelphia," she explained. "There
are certain papers he must have for
his conference with the Regent Trust
company tomorrow."
"But when did you find out how to
open that door?" had been Manley's
inquiry.
"Two minutes ago, over the tele
phone," had been the girl's reply.
"Then the sooner that door 1b shut
and locked again the better," he had
warned her.
"Why?" she had asked, for the first
time conscious of his excitement
"Because there's an unknown man
biding somewhere In this house, and
heaven only knows what he's after,
in times like these!"
Even as he had spoken Manley had
detected an unnatural fullner.s about
the portiere draping the side door to
in motion pictures every Wednesday
Kead it in the Observer and see it at
the library. And on the polished par
quet floor at the bottom of that portiere
the toe of a man's shoe bad been
plainly visible. Yet Golden's secre
tary had waited until the girl bad
closed and locked the vault door. Then
he had leaped for the figure behind
the drapery. ,
But that Intruder behind the drapery
had apparently not been altogether
unconscious of the danger confronting
him. He had at the same moment
side-stepped nimbly through the quick
ly opened door, throwing an approach
ing and suddenly hysterical housemaid
aside as he had swept past her. The
redoubtable Wilson, who had also at
tempted to block his exit, had even
more promptly gone down, knocked
flat by one fierce blow. It bad been
then, and then only; that Manley dis
covered the identity of the intruder.
He had caught sight of the scarred
face, which even an ample beard failed
to screen. He had seen the right
arm of wood which ended in Its sin
ister iron hook, and all doubt as to his
enemy had vanished.
But this discovery had In no way
interfered with Manley's pursuit of
that audacious Intruder.
It had not been a pretty fight, that
band-to-hand contest between the slim
bodied youth and the scar-faced ex
ploiter of evil, but it had been a des
perate one. As Manley, pressing stub
bornly on, had struggled to close in
on his opponent, Legar had discreetly
and nimbly backed away until he
found the double house door :t3elf
barring his farther retreat,
Tiiore-
upon he had promptly shattered the
plate-glass backing the iron grill work
on the hinges, and had actually swung
one of these doors open before Manley
could gather himself together and
spring bodily on his escaping enemy.
They had gone down the broad steps
together, locked arm in arm, fighting
and clawing as ferociously as midnight
cats in a tenement court. And Man
ley, with one hand on Legar's leathery
throat, would surely have won, -had
not a closed car glided up to the curb
along which thoy were writhing and
panting and rolling. From that car a
yellow-faced Italian known as. Scoop
had taken a prompt and active rrt in
the encounter. He had withhold
finalities, however, until Manley was
uppermost. Then, with a quickly
drawn "billy" he had blackjacked that
youth into utter indifference as to
Legar and mysteriously waiting limou-
slue and all the rest of the world.
Before Manley's senses had come
before the arrival of the police for
with its edges. Time after time it fell
back, but In the end he triumphed.
Yet It was not this unearthed brick
which Interested him. His attention
was directed towards the rough-edged
parallelogram where that brick had
originally rested, for the corners of
this opening, he soon realized, pro
vided him with a saw edge which in
time might serve to abrade and cut
through the stoutest of cotton rope.
But the consolation of this hope did
not stay with him long. For even as
he started to work, his movements
were interrupted by the sound of a
key In the heavy Iron lock on the door
that shut him in. He rolled over
quickly, twisting about so that his ap
parently inert body covered both the
looBened brick and the spot from
which it had been taken. He con
tinued to He there as though in a Bleep
of exhaustion, for his veiled eyes bad
already caught sight of the two heavy
featured ruffians advancing into the
room.
"Let the poor boob sleep," warned
the larger man, in a husky whisper.
"He's goln' to cash in before mornln'l"
"But I'm sick o' markin' time down
in this rat bole. Why can't Legar get
back here where he belongs and do bia
own stickup work?"
'.' "1 toll vou thA rtnn'a tin fn thn flnl.
den house maktn' bis haul when the
coast's clear! And if you wake that
kiug there you'll have to cut out the
red-eye and keep bUBy chokln' off hli
holler!"
Manley could hear their shuffling
feet as they recrossed the rough floor
ing and then the scrape and rasp of
the rusty lock as they once more
turned the key in the door. But the
moment they were gone he was once
more busy with the cotton rope about
his wrists, for what he had overheard
increased his passion for liberty.
When a man, however, Is still youth
fully blind enough to believe in bis
start, to nurse the delusion that some
special genius has singled him out and
watches over him, he is not easily dis
couraged. Yet discouragement came,
and came in a form most unexpected,
even before Manley's hands were free.
' It came, in fact, in the form of a
green-bodied parrot creeping stealthily
through the rusty cross-bars grilling
the transom above the locked door.
He watched the bird slip into the
room, climb along the rusty iron gas
Jet deliberately turn It on.
Manley knew what this meant, and
It spurred him tp even more frantlo
efforts to saw through the cords, still
holding him a prisoner, for already
the fumes of the escaping gas were
reaching his nostrils.
When one strand of it had parted,
and he had uncoiled the rest of it from
his ankles, his bead was swimming
and his legs were unable to support
him. So he crossed the room on .his
hands and knees, caught at the rusty
gas pipe for support and painfully
drew himself upright. His trembling
hand .went out, found the gas jet, and
turned it off. And the next moment
he fell face down on the rough floor,
and lay there in a gray daze of weak
ness. How long he lay there he could not
tell. But he was aroused by the sound
of thick voices from the outer cham
ber, punctuated by the shrill cries of
an angry and scolding woman. He
pulled himself together and possscssed
himself of the brick bat, as a wcap6n.
He waited, scarcely breathing, as
the door was flung open. So quick,
however, was the entrance of the first
Intruder that Manley could not lift his
missile before the darkness had swal
lowed up that shifting shadow. But
standing in the lighted doorway was a
second man, crouched low and leaning
forward with blinking eyes, a blue-barreled
navy revolver In his hand. Man
ley, eying that evil face as a sharp
shooter eyes his target, let fly with his
Sat Tied and Bound
poised brick, and let fly with all his
force.
The stooping man went down like a
clouted rabbit, without a sound. But
even as he fell the first Intruder, at
the far end of the room, Btruck a
match. And at that second figure
Manley lot drive with the only mlBsile
at hand.
The heavy glass lamp, hurled true,
sent man and match against the case
side In a shower of oil and broken
glass. But Manley did not wult to wit
ness the result of that second assault.
He leaped for the door, caught up the
blue-barreled revolver from the hand
of the stunned man on tho threshold,
and drove for the heavier door at the
end of the outer chamber.
But this door he found to be locked.
He was on tho point of starting back
in search of a timber heavy enough to
batter down that barrier when all
movement was arrested by an uproar
of sound that fairly drove the breath
from his body. For the shower of oil
that fell about the lighted match at
the vaulted end of the side chamber
had sunk into the litter of rubbish
beside the powder cases, had burst in
to flames and Bad crept closer about
those wooden cases until the licking
tongues of heat bad reached the explo
sive. Yet even as Manley stood there,
fighting for breath, a second surprise
both confronted and engulfed him.
Following close on that telltale roar
of sound c i me an even more bewilder
ing rush of water, tearing through the
low-roofed cellar like a thousand
hounds let oose. And he knew then
that the c plosion had broken down
the walls between him and the East
river at high tide.
He leaped in the direction of the
door, in the hope of getting it closed.
He was still struggling frantically
LIS? illt ,jtSEK
at this door when a heard a voice,
and at first be thought tt was a human
voice, crying Bhrilly through the
gloom. .
"Let me out!" was the frantlo cry
close above him. "Let me out!" Grop
ing and pawing along the wall, his
hand came in contact with (he rung
of a narrow iron ladder. He caught at
, this ladder and drew himself up, for
he now stood shoulder high In the
ever-mounting flood. On the topmost
rung, as be mounted, he found a shak
ing and feathered body clinging stub
bornly to the rusting iron, beating
with Its beak on the hollow sounding
boards above his head.
In a flaBh Manley himself was shoul
dering up against these boards.
There was the sound of a rending
staple, and in another moment he was
swarming up through the ruptured
trap door, catching at the parrot as he
went
The Figures of Fate. '
Margory Golden, . alone in her fa
ther's library stared apprehensively
about that massively furnished room
as though dreading that some new
terror might leap out at her from its'
shadowy corners. She was unnerved
not only by the disquieting disappear
ance of David Manley but also by the
thought that she was still so surround
ed by the tides of evil.
As Bhe sat there, deep in thought,
she was depressed by the sudden sus
picion that some one of the many
servants in that house was a traitor
to his master, , Yet as she checked
them over, one by one, she found noth
ing on which to ground this ghostly
suspicion! She remembered tbat she
had once been suspicious even or Man
ley himself, of this serlous-mlnded
friend who hid his true feelings be
hind a mask of light-hearted irrelev
ancies. And there were things in
which she herself had not been alto
gether candid with him. There was,
for instance, the matter of Tito, the
Amazon parrot She had not confided
to Manley the fact tbat in that bird,
Btumbled across in a fancier's shop,
she had found an old friend, a friend
dating back to her unhappy days in
the Owl's Nest. And she sighed aloud
as she gathered up the papers on the
rosewood desk and turned to the vault
to which she had forgotten to restore
them.
"Twenty-one, thirty, forty-two, six
ty," she repeated, recalling her fath
er's instructions over the wire. "For
ward and back and forward and back
again, for it's a four movement dial,
whatever that may mean!"
The vault door opened, obedient to
the combination, and seeking out the
inner compartment marked "J" she
in the Owl's Nest.
restored the papers to their place.
Her hand was still on the open vault
door when the shrill call of the tele
phone bell sounded through the quiet
room.
She crossed to the desk and took up
the receiver.
"Do you know who is speaking?"
demanded a voice which sent a thrill
of apprehension through her forward
stooping body. And the question was
repealed as Bhe sat silent, staring be
fore her.
"Yes," she finally answered, trying
to steady her voice. "It's Legar."
Tho wire brought his answering
laugh close Into her ear.
"You know the voice, I see. And I
think you know the man. So liston to
what I have to say. I've got your
friend Manley, and he'll stay where
I've got him. And unless you want
him turned out of here with about
half of that pretty face of his burned
to a crisp, you'll do what I tell you
to do. Do you understand? I'll Bear
him worse than I was scarred, if you
try any tricks with me in this!"
"In in what?" demanded the white
faced girl.
"In exactly one-half hour I want you
to walk past the Soldiers' monument
and hand me a paper. That paper is
somewhere In your father's vault. It
is one half of a code list and chart,
on a square of yellow manllla. Do you
understand?"
"But how am I to know this paper?"
asked the terrified girl, fencing for
time.
"It's a chart, a map, one half of the
map of Windward island. For old
Golden wasn't euch a fool as he
seemed" and again the venomous
laugh sounded low over tho wire. "If
your father had got hold of, my half of
that map a little earlier in the game
he wouldn't have needed to dig for
i.mrr. i i mm n I in m,tl--.41UUj.lW i i f
: t-, 447 t
Legar and His
ten years through that sand, looking
for his precious treasure! Now it's
my chance, and I want that paper.
And unless you want your secretary
to come home a rather unpleasant
thing to look at, you're going to have
that map in my hands in half an hour.
So toll me quick, what your answer is.
Do I get it?"
For one moment the girl sat silent,
breathing quick through parted lips.
"Yes, I'll bring it," she at last said
over the wire. Then she sat motion
less, with her hands gripping the desk
edge for several minutes. When she
moved it was with the quickness of a
sudden and clear-cut decision.
"Give me police headquarters," she
called out as Bhe caught up the re
ceiver. The next minute she was ex
plaining to the desk olilcial at Center
street the news of Legar's latest
threat and the need of forestalling it.
Then, after another Interval of studi
ous thought, she crossed to the vault
and began a hurried search for the
document which Legar had described
as being stored away there.
She found it at last, in a package of
faded deeds and papers to do with
Windward island, and while one
glance at it persuaded her that it was
indeed a chart of the island, the fact
that It represented only one-half of
this Island tended to convince her that
Legar had spoken the truth.
But she had no time to deliberate
over that discovery, for her next
move, she felt, should be to call the
servants and warn them against any
midnight intrusions.
She crossed to the rosewood desk to
carry out this plan, and her finger
was oven extended to press the bell
button when a sudden soft move
ment at her shoulder caused her to
swing snarpiy about,
Confronting her, with a slightly tri
umphant smile on his deep-scarred
face, stood Legar himself.
"I am intruding, I know," he began
in his suavely acidulated tones, "but
there was a possibility, you see, of
your friends in uniform interrupting
our meeting beside the Soldiers' mon
ument!" The girl's fingers, as she edged
away along the desk, closed determin
edly on the scrap of manllla paper
still held in her hand. The vault door,
she saw, was also still open. But that
was not the thought troubling her.
The vague fear at the back of hor
mind was whether or not she was too
late to save Dave Manley from the
danger threatening him. And Bhe
edgod still farther away.
Her movement was arrested by the
ringing of the telephone bell close be
side her.
"Answer that phone!" he suddenly
commanded.
The next moment a great load '
seemed to lift suddenly from her
heart, and a renewed wave of audacity 1
swept through her body, for the voice
that spoke to her over the wire was '
the triumphant voice of Manloy him-1
self. Manley declaring that he was
free and that he would hurry back as
fast as wheels could carry him.
"Who spoke then?" cried Legar, his j
face clouded by a move which appar
ently was an unexpected one from his
standpoint But the wine of hope now
singing through the girl's veins made
her more crafty, more ready to face
Legar with his own weapons. Instead
of answering him her hand moved out
to the boll button, for with the ring
ing of that boll, Bhe felt, would suroly
como help. And once the slip of ma
nllla was back in the vault, and the
door locked, she now had little to fear
from Legar. So when she fell back.
as ho sprang forward to strike her-fc
hand from the boll, she saw that her I
retreat lay in the direction of the j
vault door.
Her pursuer, however, wbb In no
mood for equivocation. He seemed
suddenly to foresee her Intention. For
without warning he leaped towards
her, as an animal leaps for its prey.
And with one sweep of his maimed
arm the iron hook at its end was
snared deep In tho folds of her cloth
ing. "Give mo that map!" he Bald, In a
voice husky with blind and unreason
ing rage.
Margory Golden, however, had no
intention of giving him the map In
question. She fought against him,
with all the strength at her command,
knowing that any moment now would
bring tho needed help.
But Legar, with his band on her
throat hurled her back against the
heavy vault door, shook hor as a tor
rler Bhakes a rat, Bnatched the yellow
sheet from hor fingers, flung her stag
Confederates.
gering into the maw of the open vault, ,
and with a throaty and beastlfke oryj j
of triumph swung the great steel door;
Bliut, even as the partly-dressed Wll- I
son ran gaping in through the library
door. Yet Legar took time to throw '
back the tumbler lever and spin the
dial before turning to confront that
wide-eyed servant . Then, hearing '
other approaching steps, he dove
through the second door, scurried like
a pelted hound through shadowy
rooms, slipped eel-like through a
quickly opened window and escaped
to the street
There he ran for a dark-bodied car
standing in the deep tree shadows,
and with a gasp of relief flung himself
up into the cushioned seat.
As he did so a masked figure sitting
crouched close back in the hooded
gloom of that seat suddenly threw .out
a hand and garroted the startled Le
gar against the leather upholstery, on
which he began to writhe like a cater
pillar on a cabinot pin. But with an
equally ' deft second movement the
man in the yellow mask snatched the
oblong manllla paper from his oppo
nent's hand.
"This," blandly announced the man
of mystery as his garroting fingers re
laxed and he stepped down to the run
ning board, "is one of the rare mo
ments when I have the pleasure of
trumping your ace!" ' i
And the all but apoplectic Legar lay
back gasping tor breath as that stran
ger dropped lightly from the speeding
car and vanished shadowlike Into the
night.
At the home of Enoch Golden, in the
meantime, the terrified Wilson had re
gained both his feet, his presence of
mind and a presentable portion of his
dignity. His frantic shouts for help
had brought the rest of the servants
flocking to the library, and his equally
frantlo efforts to describe what had
taken place did not add to the peace
of that Utle group from below stairs.
"I tell you, Tlbbins, Miss Margory'a
locked in that vault, and there's no
one In the 'ouse as knows 'ow to open
it!"
Cries of horror burst from that sud
denly arrested circle.
"Someone telephone for the police!"
cried the ' second man, as Wilson
shouldered out through the group
swarming and gesticulating about the
vault door. "Yes, the police!"
He had the instrument in his shak- '
ing hand when the door opened and
David' Manley stepped quickly in, with
Tito, the green-bodied parrot, on his
arm.
"What's wrong here?" was the new
comer's sharp demand.
"It's Miss Margory, sir," began the
quaverlng-volced butler.
"Well, what about Miss Margory?"
"She's locked in that vault, sir, and
no one in the 'ouse knows the combi- -nation!"
"Good God!" cried Manley, sudden
ly transfixed. Then he ran to the
vault door, flinging the others aside.
Flinging oil his coat, he bent over
the dial. The silent group circled
about him. And still he worked,
worked with every nerve on edge,
every sense alert, for time, he knew,
was precious. -.!..
"I said silence there!" he called
out sharply, for his whole mind was
directed to the faint click of metal
against metal in front of him. But
louder than before the green-bodied
bird on its broken perch repeated Its
cry.
"Twenty-one thirty forty-two
sixty!" was the shrill and monotonous
cry of the parrot, with one eye cocked
cellingward.
Manley suddenly wheeled about.
"What In God's name does that par
rot mean? . . . Walt! . . . It Is . . .
it must be" But instead of finishing
that declaration he repeated the
bird's cry. 'Twenty-one, thirty, forty
two, Bixty."
In the next breath he was facing the
vault door, with his trembling fingers
turning and spinning the glimmering
dial. ,,;,..
Then, without breathing, and with
colorless face, his hand grasped the
tumbler levor. And not one of that
group moved as he put on that lever
the pressure that would tell the tale.
It was Colestine the parlor maid
who indorsed her Latin temperament
by falling back in a dead faint as the
metal door swung open. But no one,
at that momont, was thinking of Celes
tine. x .
"It's all right," Manloy called from
the darkness of the inner vault. "She's
alive Bhe'll be around In a minute
only somebody got some waterl"
(To Be Continued.) .