La Grande evening observer., July 11, 1917, Image 3

"WEDNESDAY JULY 11, 1917.
txcaiir4aijTa.ti.T--j
(This serial story Is being shewn
and Thursday at Colonial theatre.
the Colonial Theatre.)
! ,; 8YNOPSI8.
On Windward Island Palldorl Intrigue
Airs. Golden Into an appearance ot evil
which cause Golden to capture and tor
iture the Italian by branding; his face and
crushing tils hand. Palldorl floods the Is
land and kidnaps Oolden's little daughter
Margery. Twelve years later In New York
a Masked One rescues Margery from Le
STar and takes her to her father's home,
whence she Is recaptured. Margery's
mother fruitlessly Implores Golden to And
their daughter. The Laughing Mask
gain takes Margery away from Legar.
Legar sends to Golden a warning and a
.demand for a portion of the chart of
w lndward Island. Margery meets . her
mother. The chart Is lost in a fight be
'tween Manley and one of Legar's hench
men, but Is recovered by the Laughing
Mask. Count Da Espares figures In a
dubious attempt to entrap Legar and
claims to have killed him. Oolden's house
la dynamited during a masked ball. Le
gar escapes but Da Espares Is crushed In
rthe rulnB. Margery rescues the Laughing
Mask from the police. Manley finds Mar
aery not Indifferent to his love. He saves
4ur from Manke's poisoned arrows.
TENTH EPISODE
THE LIVING DEAD
Tm opposed to your plan, sir,"
Enoch Golden declared with heat, "and
I always wiir be opposed to it!"
David Manley, as he stared across
the table at the ruffled old millionaire,'
tried to control himself to patience.
"But you acknowledge that you are.
equally opposed to Legar's intrusions,
Into this house, to having his secret
agents planted about at your elbows.'
But when I work out a plan that offers
reasonable promise ot trapping Le
gar and his men; you stop the whole
business by declaring it's lacking in.
-dignity!"
"Dignity is something which depart
ed from this house the day Legar first
Corced his way into it! ".was Golden'a
bitter retort.
"Precisely!" cried young Manley.
Tils whole campaign has been one of
Intimidation, ot threats and assaults
nd reprisals. They have been try
ing to fight us with terror. So my
.contention Is, why not give them" a
'dose of their medicine? Why not
fight them with their own weapons,
and in doing bo, perhaps go them one
tetter?"
"But I can only repeat my convic
tions that your plan can't succeed!"
.protested the tremulous-voiced old
-financier. '
"Why not leave that to me?" cut in
young Manley, with his first touch of
impatience.
"I've left a good many things to you,
Tavy; but I don't encourage men to
cplan their own funerals!"
"Yet I've thought this out, sir, and
I maintain that it's worth a try. You
.know as well as I do that these men
who work with Legar are an Ignorant
and illiterate lot. They're not afraid
of force. But when yon confront them
'With the supernatural, you get them
face to face with something they can't
understand. And what they can't un
derstand they are going to be afraid
-Of!" ' " ! " :
"And you think you're going , to
'frighten 'em away with a casket!"
"I'm going to make them believe that
David Manley, having departed this
life because of an attack on hlB per
son by one Mauki, with poisoned ar
rows. Is about to be duly interred in
-the Golden mausoleum, and "
"But you couldn't even get a wax
rfigure that would, fool a five-year-old
Child! You couldn't "
"I've already got the figure, inter
irupted Manley. "And It strikes me as
toeing an exceptionally perfect one."
"But what's all this funeral business
o lead to?" demanded the old finan-
"It leads to the fact that Legar. and
bis men will be .duly informed of my
death, for I want all the servants In
this house to pass before the casket
and see me in it And Legar's spy
Trill be one of them. So Legar, you 1
may be sure, will get the facts as soon
as they are known. He will be tipped
off as to the day and hour of the
funeral. He will also be told that the
cortege, say of three carriages, is to
proceed to the Golden mausoleum, and
-that Margery Golden is to go in one
of the carriages. And that lonely spot
will strike him as precisely the right
.pot for making a coup."
"And what do we gain by tnatT
"We'll fill our big thirty-thousand
-dollar mausoleum with thirty big police
men, nd round up the gang before
Legar can even smell a rat."
But Enoch Golden remained uncon--vlnced.
"Well, It may be a brilliant plan,
but you can please leave me out of it,"
lie finally announced. f
"That's just what I've been asking
for," explained Manley. "All I want la
to be allowed to conduct it in my own
way."
David Manley, however, did not con
duct that strange funeral altogether
In his own way. Carefully as every
detail had been planned, there were
one or two minor features which at
the time escaped his attention.
The most inconspicuous and yet the
most vital of these was, perhaps, the
personality of the driver of the third
carriage in that small cortege which
rwended its way so decorously from the
Golden home. For under the funereal
joutfit of this placid-eyed driver re
in motion pictures every Wednesday
Read it in the Observer and see it at
posed the stalwart body of a certain
One-Lamp Louie, long known among
his associates as an habitue ot the
Owl's Nest and an underground agent
for Jules Legar himself.
Now One-Lamp Louis gave no prom
ise of either active or passive inter
ference with these duly appointed mor
tuary exercises until the city itself
had been left well behind. - Then,
awakening to the fact that they were
traversing a desirably sequestered
stretch ot road, he watched Intently
for certain prearranged signals from
his one-armed accomplice. Immediate
ly after the discovery of those looked
for signs the spirited team driven by
One-Lamp Louie showed unexpected
yet unmistakable evidences of restlve
ness. .
. But there was a limit to what that
team of spirited blacks would endure.
And they suddenly, to all Intents and
purposes, determined to follow their
own liqe ot travel at their own rate
of speed, for, as the driver sat on the
box apparently sawing on' the reins,
that exasperated team plunged sud
denly forward, swerved across the
road, and went galloping down a tree
screened bypath which was little more1
than a cart trail winding In and out
through slopes of greensward , and;
shrubbery.
Half a mile deeper in that shrub-
bery this runaway team would surely
have reached the spot where a black
limousine stood hidden away in the
shadow of laurel-copse, had not still
another and an equally unheralded fac
tor entered ' into the situation. This
factor took the form of a high-power,
roadster in which was seated a man;
wearing a yellow mask. His irrup
tion into that orderly little procession,'
Indeed, proved as abrupt as One-Lamp.
Louie's eruption from it- And he;
seemed plainly suspicious of both'
Louie's motives and movements, for
he lost no time in swinging from the
highway and plunging recklessly after
the runaway carriage.
.As his car approached the runaway
cab that "mysterious stranger, known
as the Laughing Mask, stepped to the
running-board of his roadster, leaning
far out as the two swerving vehicles
drew together. One-Lamp Louie, what
ever he may have thought of that ap
proach, had little means of evading
it. To swing off what narrow road re
mained before him seemed frankly
suicidal. To lash his team to greater
effort was already out ot the question.
To take his hands from the reins,
even, along that uncertain road, was
equally foolhardy. So the strange race
went on, the swaying and bounding
cab with a white-faced girl tossed
about under its hood, the leaping and
lurching roadster, every second draw
ing closer down on its quarry-yet
every second threatening to turn tur
tle over one of the grassy embank
ments above which it shuddered and
slewed. V: '"'
It -was the Laughing Mask, leaning
far out from bis running-board, who
threw open the cab-door and called
sharply to the startled girl.
"Quick," he commanded. '
For one moment she hesitated.
Then she reached out for the unsteady
hand groping for her.
The next moment she found herself
sitting back, a little breathless, in the
leather-upholstered seat of the road
ster and the man in the Laughing j
Mask smiling down at. her. - -.
.
The Black Watch.
A number of things had happened
and were happening to disconcert, if
not to discourage, the redoubtable Le
gar. That astute young -adventuress,
Betsy Le Marsh, alias Williamsburg
Elsie, who. with the aid of divers
forged recommendations, had installed,
herself in the Golden household, re
peatedly and stubbornly reported that
David Manley was dead.
Williamsburg Elsie also expressed
a strong desire to migrate from the
house In which she found herself so
inquisitive a' maid, since that house,
she declared, was too full of "queer
things" for her comfort
When, at Legar's suggestion, she
had tried to "pump a needleful o'
dope" into her altogether unsuspecting
mistress, a dead man's face had sud
denly appeared between her and the
bedroom door. And on two different
occasions, after midnight, when she
had ventured down to the housekeep
er's telephone to send in a secret mes
sage to Legar himself, she bad found
herself confronted by a ghost in white.
Nor was Betsy Le Marsh the only
malcontent. Even Red Egan himself,
one of the1 best "cold-steel" men in
all the group that clustered about the
Owl's Nest, had of late shown unmis
takable signs of mental disturbance.
A dead nfbn's ghost, he declared, had
looked in through one of the head
quarters' windows. Red Egan, it ia
true, had promptly emptied his six
shooter at that phantasmal Intruder,
but with nothing more to show for it
than a shattered wlndow-sash and six
panes of broken glass.
When the master-criminal, to put
an end to all such absurdities, had by
the force of many dire threats and
oaths compelled both One-Lamp Louis
and Red Egan himself to repair to thi
Golden mausoleum and verify the con
; tents of the mysterious casket there
deposltCd, Red Scan had returned with
the preposterous story ot a white sheet
suddenly descending out of the black
ness ot the vault and whisking One
Lamp Louie out ot reach and also out
of sight. And since the once valiant
Red Egan showed so craven a spirit
that nothing short of a quart ot three
star brandy could tranquility his shak
en nerves, and since One-Lamp Louie
showed no signs of returning from
the mysterious realms into which
the afore-mentioned white sheet bad
whisked him, Legar promptly and
wrathfully decided to take the matter
Into his. own hands. He would lay
this ghost, he announced, or something
would go smash in the process. ;
But he had no intention ot approach
ing that Intimidating mausoleum with
out due and definite preparation. With
him he took a powerful pocket flash
light, a Colt automatlo pistol and a
couple of extra clips of cartridges,
iiut the Instrument on which he re
posed the most confidence was a gun
metal disk little bigger than a pocket
aneroid, Borne three Inches in diame
ter and no thicker than a man's hand.
This innocent-looking disk, which
could be slipped into a vest pocket as
easily as a timepiece, was known to
the habitues ot the Owl's Nest as the
Black Watch. '
While actually nothing more than
a small-sized hand grenade, its claim
to distinction lay in the tremendous
explosive power which stood com
pressed between its slender metal
Walls. ' ; '. ;
Legar was not a coward. Yet as he
stood In the clammy midnight air of the
Golden mausoleum and quietlyremoved
the screws that held the top on the.
black casket beside him, he found that
combination of silence and gloom and
unsavory surroundings a little more of
a strain on his nerves than he had
anticipated. -Yet as he lifted back the
sable cover ot the casket he did so
with a hand that was still steady.
!?': ill fesst&i
II eTttttttftttttf "'I
When She Tried to "Pump a Needleful o' Dope" Into Her Mistress, a
i--i4.v.;.i fey..' , r -.'- Dead Man's .Face .Appeared.,' ;--. v Wii' v ;
Thence he took up his flashlight, and
pressing close to the coffin's side,
stood studying the pallid face that lay
surrounded by its even more pallid
drapery of white satin.
He stared at that pallid face long
and intently. He stared at it with stu
dious and narrowing eyes. Then he
did a strange and an inexplicable
thing.
Lifting his maimed right arm that
ended in its shank of steel, be brought
it down with a crash on the glass
cover of the casket. Then, as though
infuriated by some unreasoning hatred
for the pallid face still staring so im
passively up at him, he struck again.
This time the blow fell directly on the
bead between the white satin swath
Jngs. But that flailing arm, Instead of
striking a human head of flesh and
bone, crashed down through a thin
shell of fiber and tinted wax.
Legar, focusing his light on that
shattered mask, emitted a short bark
of triumph as the meaning of it all
came home to him. He leaned for
several minutes over the violated cas
ket, staring at it with insolent yet ab
stracted .eyes, pondering just what
move could lie beyond bo intricately en
gineered a subterfuge. And the an
swer to that question came more
promptly and more directly than he
had anticipated. For as he stood
there, turning a piece of the wax-covered
tissue medltativoly over in his
fingers, the electric bulbs that strung
the mausoleum roof broke into sudden
light From different quarters of that
shadowy building, at the same time,
stepped a group of hidden officers,
headed by David Manley himself.
So quickly and so quietly did that
transformation take place, indeed,
that the man leaning over the casket
had neither time nor chance to change
his position. He merely blinked a lit
tle stupidly at the revolver which
glimmered in Mauley's hand. Then,
with a gesture that seemed equally
Btupld, he reached for his watch and
held the heavy gun-metal case medi
tatively between his fingers.
"Stick 'em up!" Manley was at the
same time commanding with a curt
head movement towards Legar's
hands. "It may have taken some
work, but this la the time we gather
you in!" u
Legar. laughed as he confronted hit
enemies.
"Do you want to take me alive?'
"Alive or dead, I'm going to take
you!" i
"Then take this first," cried Legar.
,: At the same moment that he spoke
the left hand la which he still held
what seemed to be a black . metal
watch case swung forward. And as
that object which so closely resembled
a black watch hurtled through the air,
Legar flung himself flat on his face
along the vault flooring. , Then the
black watch struck.
The next moment the walls of that
ponderous structure ot marble and
sandstone seemingly built to defy time
Itself, lifted bodily in the air, like the
hull of a torpedoed dreadnaught
Then, following the roar ' and rumble
ot that vast detonation, came the mo
mentary catastrophlo sllonce which
so strangely and yet so inevitably suc
ceeds a. calamity too glgantio and too
abrupt to be understood. , ' .
.,' That ominous silence, however, last
ed only for a few seconds. Out ot it
arose muffled calls and thin cries for
help, followed, by answering shouts
from many . different points in the
darkness as rescuing hands set ' to
work on the ruins.
And out of those ruins, while this
work was going on, emerged two
bruised and tattered figures strangely
divergent in appearances. The first
figure, worming its way out through
the interstices ot crumbled rock and
I cement, as cautiously and as silently
as a wounaea oiacKsnaae migm orawi
from a cave, bore an iron claw at the
end of its right arm and betrayed an
unmistakable desire to creep away in
to the darkness before being observed,
) The second man, who, on recovering
consciousness found himself encaged
between two fallen pillars of marble
topped by one of the roof slabs, experi
enced no little difficulty in emerging
to the open, so closely were these pro
tecting pillars wedged about him.
- But as he worked his bruised body
--".a ...
through that Giant's Causeway of bro
ken rock, he felt grateful enough, re
membering what had happened, to be
still alive. And sore as he was In
body, be was even more bruised In
spirit at the memory ot the fact that
his enemy, Jules Legar, had at tbe
last moment escaped from his clutch.
The Lake f Fire.
Legar, lucky as his escape had been,
knew that bis margin of safety was
still too narrow for much immediate
comfort of either mind or body. So
he crawled away as best be could,
nursing his strength when he came to
cover and going on again when some
passing light showed that cover to be
none too dense. But he did not give
up until he had reached higher
ground. There he was able to hide
himself in a thicket t.nd rest for an
hour or two.
But to remain In that neighborhood
until morning, he knew, would be out
'of the question. About that whole
suspected area, he felt, the police
would surely throw a cordon, and the
resource of disguise was no longer at
his disposal. Already from where he
lay, he could see dozens of moving
lamps of workers about the mauso
leum ruins. ' He could also see the
glow of a powerful pair of headlights,
apparently on a motor car threading
its way to the scene of the explosion.
And to the north he could even more
distinctly see the fiery tongues of the
chimney flares above the Westlngliam
foundry, where hundreds of tollers,
turning night into day, worked about
the great blast furnaces and cauldrons
ot molten metal.
In a foundry such as that, be sud
denly remembered, lay bis best
chance for escape. Disheveled as he
was, he could pass unnoticed among
those sooty workers. And when the
night shift went off, he told himself,
he could slip away In their midst, un
noticed and unchallenged. And If the
worst came to the worst he could
crawl Into biding somewhere about
tbe tangle of machinery under that
foundry roof itself, and there lay up
until he knew the coast was clear
again, with the chance of stealing a
puddler's "jumper" for a disguise and
a dinner pail or two full ot food for a
9
i
V 9
All this Legar might hare done, one
might have done without great diffi
culty, had not a trace of his older ob
session of hate impinged on his clear-,
ly outlined course ot action.
He was once more himself, by this
time, walking with a limp that was
scarcely discernible. But as he stole
down from the higher ground and
made bis way back towards the West
ingham chimney flares he became
once more conscious of the whiter
glare along the roadside, he was so
cautiously skirting. This, he remem
bered, as he stole nearer, came from
the headlights ot a stalled limousine.
Then he made a second and a more
startling discovery. He knew, even
before he caught sight of Train work
ing over his helpless car, that it be
longed to Enoch Golden. But what
actually drew him closer to the spot
was . a glimpse of Margery Golden her
self, in a gray fur motor coat, as she
stepped from the body of the car and
came full into the glare o? the head- j
lights, closer beside her stooping '
chauffeur.
"Are we stalled?" he could hear the
girl ask.
"We'll be oft again in a minute or
two, Miss Margery," was Train's pre-'
occupied reply. ' ". . ' : .
"But I can't stand here helpless,"
protested the girl. ' "I can't wait. I .
must know what has happened to Da
vid Manley." ...
"Whatever it was. Iff over and;
done by this time."
"But he may .be dead. . He may be '
lying crushed under, those fallen pit-'
lars. I must go on. Tell father I ,
couldn't wait, that I've gone ahead ,
on foot!" '
Legar, crouching back in the shaw
ows, heard these hurried words and
as hurriedly acted on them. Slinking :
back through tbe bushes, he swung
about and followed the girl through j
the darkness. ;
Yet it was not until the girl had
passed well out of hailing distance
of the headllghted car that Legar j
circled even more hurriedly forward
and swung in again to intercept her.
She was trudging, a little breath
lessly, up a sandy slopo, with her
straining eyes still fixed on the mov
ing lanterns about the ruined mauso
leum. . '
Then, swinging apparently out of
the empty air about her, a circle of
steel, suddenly encompassing her arm.
brought her to an abrupt stop.
With one quick movement Legar
tore the motor veil from her head,
twisted it into a , coll, and flung it
about her neck. , And all the while the
Iron Claw, grappling at her arm, held
her as a steel trap might
She was already dizzy with pain
when Bhe heard the sharp crack of a
revolver shot close over her shoulder.
This was followed by a quick shout
and a muttered oath. She felt herBelf
forcibly flung from Legar's arms Into
the arms of , another man . panting
breathlessly up the sandy, slope. She
could see this man, even as he held
her from falling, stop to level his gun
at the . fleeing figure ot Legar. She
could see him shoot again, and still
again, at the same moment that Train
and the plunging automobile - came
throbbing and panting up to the scene,
the electrlo lamps throwing out their
wavering, long columns of white light
as they came. Then the stranger, ar
rested by certain gasping and gur
gling sounds from the throat of the
half-garroted girl in bis arms, stooped
down and tore the constricting veil
away from the slender, white column
of her neck. ' And Margery, ripening
her eyes, saw that it was the Laugh
ing Mask bending above her. ;
"It .was Legar!" she . gasped as
Train followed by her father, came
panting up-to where they stood.
"And there he goes now!" cried the
Laughing Mask, pointing down the i
long lane of light columnlng out from
the car's lamps. Across that narrow i
river of light, they could catch a j
glimpse of a tall figure skulking off1
into the darkness. ' '
"Follow that man with your car," .
the Laughing Mask suddenly cried out
to the chauffeur. V I !
"No car could travel through coun
try like that!" protested Train.
"Then keep your lights on tho main
road to the west here, so as to pick
him up if he tried to break through
on that side. I'll swing around by the
foundry yards and head him off in the
east!"
And the next moment the man in
the yellow mask had disappeared in
tbe darkness. Golden and his daugh
ter stood staring after him.
Two minutes later the blackness
that had swallowed him up was
stabbed by a, series of flame flashes,
followed by the repeated bark ot a
revolver. From the gloom still nearer
the Bhadowy piles of the Westtngham
foundry came an answering series of j
shots. i
"That means he's making for the ,
foundry, sir!" cried the excited Train
as he swung his car about.
"Then, for God's sake, get us there,
as quick as you can, commanuoa
Enoch Golden as the car lurched and
pulsed and crawled on between the
broken shrubbery, in perilous search
for some open pathway.
But both Legar and his pursuer
were by this time well beyond their
line of vlBion. That desperate-minded
master criminal, In fact, realizing
that bis enemy was pressing close at
his heels, mounted a slag pile, dropped
flat, and emptied his revolver Into the
darkness, where the Laughing Mask
should have been.
But the wary pursuer, dropping low
beside an empty pitch barrel, held his
fire and waited. The moment he
heard the crisp sound of footsteps
along the slag slope be once more
took up the pursuit.
That pursuit led through a narrow
lane between great plies ot structural
iron. It led through en abandonee"
boiler room, then on through a dimly
lighted and low-roofed structure ot
pulleys and lathes, and from there te
the brighter lighted and higher1 rooted;
metal room of the foundry Itself, I
There, beside glowing furnaces half
naked men tolled over incandescent
annealing boxes and cauldrons of mol- .
ten metal. There gigantic track,
cranes swung bowls of liquid fire front t
crucibles to mold beds. - '
And there the harried Legar, be-(
wildered by the sudden bright light, I
ran like a pelted hound down the,
sandy paths between forge and coke
oven and cauldron crane. There, see-
lng his way blocked by a group of
round-eyed Lithuanians, he swung,
catlike, up into the iron network of
the cable bridges, with his pursuer
still close at his heele. And there, .
midway across that smoke-stained
roof, that echoed with the tumult of
thunderous hammers and directly over
a king cauldron of molten steel, the
two men came together.
There Legar, with his metal claw
hooked securely into the iron network
above his head, swung about and
faced his enemy. 'And there, on that
grimy bridge high above the equally
grimy workmen who left their forgee
and lathes and cauldrons to witness
the struggle, the two enemies, who
had so long and bitterly opposed each
other, found themselves face to face
for their final struggle.
Yet the man in the yellow .mask
seemed the cooler headed of the two, .
tor as Legar struck snarling at his
face he ducked low . on his narrow
perch and at the , same moment
whipped his revolver from the side
pocket of his coat. Yet Legar, with
a movement equally prompt, kicked
vlciouBly at the fingers clustered about
the gun-butt before the weapon itself
could be brought Into use. The next
moment that weapon fell with a hiss
and splash into the lake of molten
metal beneath them.
Then the struggle became one of
tendon against tendon, of straining
muscle against muscle, ot empty
handed mortal strength pitted against
mortal strength. There, like animals
ot the wild, high in some Amazonian ;
eyrie, the two strangely entangled
figures . fought and struggled and
clawed and struck. .
In the matter of mere physical
strength Legar seemed to have the
advantage. And wbat under ordinary
circumstances might have proved a
disability could now be' turned to his
advantage. For the iron claw at the
end ot his right arm, hooked securely
into the network ot steel behind him, .
held him there without effort and .
without strain. ' His opponent, on the
other hand, found it no easy task to
make sure of his perch above that
ever-intlmldating cauldron ot molten
metal. - His arm shook with the ten
sion imposed on his overtaxed mus
cles. His fingers became numb with
pain, threatening to lose their pre-
hensilo power, and even as he fought
he weakened to a realization that he
muBt change his hold. ; -t i- '
It was as he maneuvered to bring
about this shift of position that the
eVer-watchful Legas, alert for the most
trivial advantage, saw ,' his chance.
Swinging his body suddenly free from
its footing on the narrow ledge of
metal where he stood, he pendulumed
towards his momentarily unstable op
ponent, throwing his feet forward and
upward, as he did so, with all the force
of a football player kicking a double
punt s i v.""'"'' '';.'-. "V1'. .-V !
The force of this unlooked-for im-.
pact was too much for the man in the
mask. He tottered back, caught fran
tically at a soot-covered steel bar be
side him, dropped the full length of its
diagonal course before he could make
sure ot his clutch, and came into vio
lent collision with the heavy Iron
block of a crane ladle. There, half
stunned by the blow, he fell sprawling
across a polished steel cable which
drooped floorward between the' block
and its empty metal pot. He tried to .
clutch that cable as he fell, but his
speed proved too great and his over
taxed fingers were too weak. As he
fell along its polished surface, how
ever, It offered sufficient resistance to
carry his limp body beyond the peril
of that open lake of molten metal,
which, his frantic brain kept telling
him, meant death. And as he dropped
weakly from the cable loop to a pile
of molding sand lying between a cast
ing box and an empty spill trough, a
score of watching men gave utterance
to a shout of relief and a score of
waiting hands were there to help him
to his feet.
So intent were those astounded iron
workers on watching that perilous fall,
however, that they paid scant atten
tion to the second figure climbing spi
derlike higher along the blackened
ironwork of the blackened roof. They
caught no glimpse of him as he scram
bled, sooty and panting, through the
ventilating flue that opened on the
roof itself. Nor did any eye follow
him as he crept, gorillalike, along the
perilous slope of that roof until he -came
to the end of the building. Along
this end he found a lightning rod, run
ning from the peak of its root to the
ground. He promptly tested the
strength of this wire, satisfying him
self carefully, foot by foot, by means
ot one hand and an iron hook which
struck and clung to the metal with the
vicious tenacity of an eagle's claw.
When he reached the ground, still
breathing heavily, he looked cautious
ly about. Then;' making sure he was
not observed, be slipped into the shad
ow of a pile of iron ingots, once more
waited and listened, and then, crouch
ing low, crossed tbe foundry yard and
climbed the high board fence sur
rounding It And a moment later the
darkness of the night had swallowed
him up.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
II
; &
III
1