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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1916)
3 ARTHUR STRINGER,. NOVELIZED FROM THE PATHE PHOTO PLAY OF THE GAME NAME TTT1 THE STINDAT OltEGONIAN, PORTXAXD. 3IAY 21, 191C. 8INOPSI8. ENOCH GOLIE7N Urea with his wife and daughter In a modern Eden until their home on "Windward Island-' Is Invaded by Dr. Ludvrls" PalidorL Palldorl, by threats, compromises the wife In his effort to steal the secret of the Island. Golden discovers them, drives the wife from him, and not only crashes Palldorl's hand that caressed her. but brands his faoe. Palidorl In revenge opens tha flood gates of the Island and escapes with Marjory, the child. Golden and his wife narrowly escape. Twelve years later Marrory has crown Into beautiful young womanhood. Golden Is a hardened millionaire. aJldorl. or aa he now calls himself. Ierar, turns the girl over to Casavantl, the "tenderloin" princeling, bat she la rescued by a mvaterioua stranger who wears a laughing- mask. He tells her he la the, "HammiT of God." The cirl la taken to Oolden's home by the stranger and thrust Into Golden'a study. Bat Just as he discovers who she Is she Is spirited away again. ManUy. his frivolous young secretary, traces her to the "Owl's Nest," where Legar and his evil companions live. She is rescued from there by the mysterious stranger by the remarkable expedient of encasing her In a brandy cask and driving off with her. Lesar then threatens Golden with robbery, and after setting off an explosion under the Third National Bank calmly walks away with 50,000 under the guise of a forged letter. He escapes with the money. Manley l kidnaped from Golden'a heme to the Owl'a Nest by Legar. He es capes. In the meantime Margery has been locked in the big vault at Golden'a home by Legar, who escapes with the missing half of the chart Indicating the treasure on Windward Island. The Laughing Mask, hiding In Legar's limou sine, snatches this from his hands, however, and escapes. Manley returna to the house and. with the aid of Margorys trained parrot, who repeats the aafe combination, releases Margory alive, but unconscious. Golden receives the "Bpotted V arnlng" from Legar, demanding that he give him the missing portion of the treasure chart of Windward Island. Be laughs at the warning and sends Margory to his sister's country home for safety. En route the machine collides with Legar' s auto, and Margory is res cued by the' Mysterious Mask, who takes ber to her mother. Golden, fearing Margory la in Legar's hands, and receiving a final warning from Legar, keeps the' demanded appointment on the 24th floor of the Central Tower building. Manley arrives on the scene, after a thrilling ride In an aeroplane to the Tower roof. In- time to see Golden struggle with a dark figure. The bit of yel low paper escapes their grasp and flutters to the street below. Manley grap ples with a third figure. Golden clutches for the elusive paper on the edge of the abyss and then a dark figure slides ever the cornice and drops 800 feet to the street below. Who fellT By a bit of strategy the Laughing Mask makes his escape with the much desired section of the chart, after Leg ar has discovered It in the hands of a negrees charwoman, who had found it In the waste basket in one of her of fices. He safely returns Margory to her father's home. An antique Japanese armor set, presented to the household by a rather mysterious guest. Count Lugl da Espares, bothers Manley, whose suspicions are founded when he sees the right hand of 'the set. containing a knife, raise over the breast of Margory, dozing In a library chair. Be shoots into the ornament. A scream of pain results. Investigation proves that someone's arm had been stuck through the portieres Into the armhole. The butler, long under suspicion, la found In his room, writhing In pain. A strange, masked figure enters Into the struggle, and the butler escapes, Manley and the other opponent falling to the bottom of the stairs. The stranger escapes Manley, convinced the stranger Is none other than tha Count. In Bon-, plused to see the nobleman walk cool ly Into the room. Manley declares to Golden and Margory: "He la merely, the guy who put the laugh In Laughing Mask." n .J r'v -x K f, t'C. . 1 , em ':-v fjcS- I"' , ! c - - . - , j: i fi r S ff'K 't7;i,'h li; S " - -it .' : . . - ' . ..x .-;'.. - - .. "V. 7iVV,. . . -1 ,-.': . . - . ' - ' . Kri " Nr- ih.iiiirrt sin am "fcfrrf-nnfmMfifrrtirfinnrs iirtiiiiTiiiwiekih iiw Minrnsi lafls-ifftrti - "-i tgj iiaiiiYiiiirieas"inriiinitiWMiiiiiMiwru - - niiia"ftHi 'mim"i i mil iinnnt . qJt WW - - '"" ' 'g y Jr BEGIN THE GREATEST OP A I.L MOTION riCTCRE SERIALS TODAY. "Tha Iron Claw" has but reached the eighth episode. Ee grln this installment today and provide for the ninth by order Ins your next week's paper at once. If you like a thrill in each paragraph you'll enjoy "The Iron Claw." "V EIGHTH EPISODH, But if you trust me in what I am do- The Stroke of 12. - lneT. in what I have done, you will gee T-INOCH GOLDEN had never been that 1 am working only for your hap M . known as a half-hearted fighter. V7 fi? Sfocts o" 6 ocf ci TTi&rc? Were Jvs 7ome-i lYien ftfaryor't Cbud Ae3X. Davy, we'll a-tve him a welcome that he'a going to remember!" Two hours later, as Enoch Golden stood with his daughter at his side receiving their guests, it wouIU have taken a particularly penetrating eye to detect any dark undercurrent of in trigue to that rippling tide of color and mirth which eddied about them. 8o punctilious was Golden in his hearty hand-grasp to each of those incoming visitors that Margory herself made note of this newer phase in her father's character. Side by side with a Flemish nun walked a Paris Apache, then came a ' Montenegrin peasant and a flowing robed Oriental Swami. then a red sashed pirate and a velvet-clad Vene tian Doge. Then, following a man on "lifters," who laughingly proclaimed himself to be Hully Geo. the Chinese Giant, came an equally tall figure In & gold-braided Arabian burnoose. This figure, for all its height, was strangely stoop-sjjouldered. moving with a dig nity of step which went well with the voluminous "drapery in which It was clad. And Manley watched closely aa this stately Arabian chieftain, bow-In? gravely to Golden, reached out two ungloved hands to greet the two hands which his host extended to him. About these hands he saw' at a glance there could be nothing doubtful. They were most unmistakably fleeh and blood. But Manley had little time to give further thought to the scene, for at that moment he became aware of tha fact that Da Esparcs had slipped away to another part of the house and dur- was, in fact, of that pertinacious breed who fight best when half de feated. And as he grew into a fuller realization of the virulence of Julea Legar's hatred for him and his house, he proceeded to take more effective steps to protect himself. But the mere posting of a couple of paid sentinels about his doors did not mark the limit of his activities. He strove for still more substantial pro tection by installing; in one of the upper rooms of his house a huge piness Mysterious as that plan was, it de ration, promptly called up headquarters car, cut oft the girl's avenue of retreat, gave ene glance toward the water be- ake of your happiness I would venture J"s tha,t. niffht Manley had determined ana made the startling discovery that Another four advanced on her from the low him. Yet. as he poised there, ready many things more terrible!" eloped through an incident. which Boon no ucb message had gone in to the bridge-end, at the same time that a t0 le4p Da Espares leveled his weapon brought things down to the plane of " '"c fifth man leaped to the running board and fired. The TJablddea Guest. The gallant Count Lulgl Da Espares, he would keep an eye on his enigmat ical foreign friend. But Instead of following Da Espares, on discovering him stepping quietly into the deserted . . i . . I n n.4m.A- I. . . n n aTltfl RMN.fl T f .Tmrr . With tha II T iue practical, r or wnen me masons " " " ...... u,.? un - ,f , . .v.tn . . ' , ; . . A . , and Ironworker, who w. comnietina- ear, hastening to a conference with teur. Manley could hear the shrill scream ln vlew ot hl9 much-talked-of victory J'brary the alert-eyed young eecretary the Installation of the new Golden central office itself. In another five Even as he stared at that onlckly or tne lrl "-nd tne hout t th tar" on the turnpike bridge, found himself Promptly retreated to the quarter where vault returned from their midday meal minutes, on learning from Wilson over shifting scene Manley could make out tle mn. the great splash of the tuna- forced to the not uncongenial role of a . " J." 8 dictaphone was con a far from attractive stranger stole tn w!r ht Da Espares and Margory the figure of Legar himself. He could bl,n8" it catapulted down in the hero. And thst discreet nobleman took ceaied. There, on placing this watch into the house at their heels And when nad already left the house in the lim- see the Iron Claw reach out for the running water, -ine next moment advantage or the nign esteem in wnicn r. . " a,'"IIC' nao- David Manley happened to catch sight ousine. Manley had his car filled with startled figure of the girl, crouched the captain and his uniformed squad he momentariTy stood to push through the satisfaction of catching the faint of this stranger deep in talk with armed plainclothes men from the cen- back against the bridge railing, even m the Greenock clubhouse were to completion certain arrangements for Jum , volces; Much of thit guarded Count da Espares, he promptly Jumped tral ofrice and was speeding out as his own cart wheels leaped'from the charging across the bridge. Joining In the costume ball on which he seemed Jalit ta ,lns D,llce ln the library Man- m th rn,i,Kn h.f b- . i-.t through the city as fast as a motor approach to the. bridare timbers them- wth their plainclothes colleagues al- to have set his heart. ley could not overhear. But he caught . m aw l it A nnuiri rnrrv him. Am tYimv awAnf nn th seivefl. tTa rnuu rV.aira .i- r.. TTm- read torcinir the last, of Lefcar'a adher- Knowinjr what he knew, the aecre burglar-proof vault of chromium steeL centrate all hls earUep gcotch mlatB dusty approach to the bridge they even pares' sudden leap from the waiting ent to flight. And as Manley made his tary still regarded that impending func- The installation of so ponderous vault, however, involved much material strengthening of a structure not pri marily designed for the support of seven-ton safes, and for days a small body of expert workmen had been busy putting In pillars and girders and dis guising these ponderous supports under a veneer of mahogany ceiling beams and oriental teakwood columns. In the ornamentation of the latter, in fact, the owner of the house found a valued assistant in Count Luigi Da Espares, who, with his finished taste and his knowledge of the fine arts, advanced many suggestions for beautifying what might otherwise have been an unsight ly and cumbersome innovation. It was Margory Golden, even more than her father, to whom Da Espares. ln these small efforts, looked for gratitude. And the more Margory Golden saw of that gallant young anti ouarian the more mysteriously Im pressed she became. David Manley, who was not alto gether ignorant of this new turn ln the tide of events, found little to add to his happiness in this evergrowing of suspicion. aw that they were none too soon. . limousine. Manley, on beholding ftils. ww"ra giinjmering nmoiuins non as a uanser in ouguue, jusi aa no For Da Espares' visitor unmistak- For already, in the bright afternoon cry of warning to the plain- and Margory Golden he could hear the still nursed very substantial doubts as ably bore the earmarks of the unkempt "untight, they could make out a glim- clothes men about Jilm, for he could nervous soos as sne teanea to me actual oeain or Legar. denizen of the hop Joint and the Bow- merlng limousine as it came to a stop Plainly see the glint of a revolver in weatwy against, me cringe railing ana ery saloon. Manley felt assured f at the end of the bridge.' They could D Espares' hand. . wept. the fact that he had seen that evil- see a somewhat hesitating and white- It was a brief fight, but a bitter one, "Did you kill hlmT" she asked with looking face before. faced girl step from this limousine at n much of it escaped Manley's atten- a voice tremulous with horror as Da "What is this man doing here?" he the same moment that they caught tion. .The one thing that held him Espares stepped to her side, asked as he confronted the intruder. sight of a group of men emerge quick- transfixed was the sudden vision of Da" "Your enemy is dead!" was the lat- But Da Espares turned his answer ly from the shrubbery at the end of the Espares dodging through the iron glr- ter's quiet-toned reply. "He sank at. to Margory, who had Just entered. bridge Itself. , ders in sudden pursuit of Legar. as the once. And this time he will never, re- "This, Miss Golden," said Da Espares, 7 latter, breaking free from his enemies, turn." "is" the man of whom I spoke to you. These men, spreading out fanlike, ran to the opposite aide of the bridge. . "Oh. It' terrible!" quavered the over- As your friends here protests, this man wePt past the limousine ln which Da There, seeing retreat on either quarter taxed glrL has been a tool of Legar's. But he has Espares and the chauffeur were still already cut off. that roaster criminal "Terrible, indeed!" softly acquiesced tired of being the servant of so evil a seated. Four of them, rounding the nimbly mounted the iron railing and the man at her side. "But for the man. He now seeks to have the state ' " extend its pardon to him. And aa a price for this-pardon he is willing to deliver into our hands Jules Legar!" "And Just how?" demanded the skep tical Manley, "is this beautiful plan of delivering Legar to be carried out?" "Quite , simply, monsieur." was Da Espares' tranquil reply. "But even this, I must repeat, is a matter which more closely cooncerna Miss Golden and her father." "Mr. Manley has earned the right to "Then the plan has worked?" asked the anxious voice of Da Espares. "Without a hitch." answered the other" voice. ' "The girders have been So fixed was Manley ln his suspicion, cut through and the bomb placed!" however, that he Insisted on a confer ence with Enoch Golden himself. For that conference be wrung small conso lation for his suspicions and even scan tier encouragement for his apprehen sion. It was true. Golden admitted, that the work on his newly ' installed 'And the clock fuse adjusted?" "Yea." "But what was it set for?" "For the stroke of 12?" answered tha unknown voice. "By that time the crowd will be at the table, eating!" "But how," asked the anxious voice Beri.Hur Lampman. intimacy between Margory and her be Included in any secrets which may guest. For Manley, by this time, did involve the capture of Legar," Margory more than merely mistrust Da Espares; Golden quietly assured the faintly smil- he hated him. - ins Coun who bowed in acquiescence. These vague misgivings of Manley's And realizing the note of authority ln extended even to the costume dinner- that reply, he outlined the plan in as dance which this esthetic foreigner un- few words as possible, dertook to engineer for Margorys That plan, with Red Egan as their amusement. And in talking over his emissary, was not a complicated one. plans with Golden himself, as the latter This renegade from egar's gang was was making ready for one of his hurr to go to his old-time chief and report Tied trips to Washington, the young that Margory Golden might be found at nobleman even ventured the hope that such and such a spot at such and such this fete might be made the occasion of a time. She would be alone. And to an even more auspicious announce- -Legar and his ' men, waiting there, it ment. would seem a simple enough matter to "What d'you mean by that?" de-"' recapture the, girl. But that capture manded the astounded financier. "Are would never be effected. For a squad you trying to tell me that you want of police would be held there, in hiding, to marry my daughter?" and when the moment arrived they "That Is the honor of whch I have would promptly surround Legar and his dreamed " was Da Espares' quietly in- men and put them where they belonged. . toned reply. "And how do you feel about it?" de- "Well. the point is, has my Margory manded Manley, swinging about to the been dreaming along the same line?" slightly frowning girl. "That I canot venture to say," re- "Count Da Espares and I will carry Plied that unctuously gallant suitor. out this plan and we will carry It out. "Well, in America that's about the 1 hope, quite as successfully as we may first thing that counts! And I grUe8g carry out still other plans. And in the we'd better call off this courtshlsr talk Count's hands I shall always feel that until we find out how the arirl feela 1 am fully Protected!" about it." ' The disappointed, but not disheart ened count. accordingly proceeded quietly yet earnestly to sound Mar gory Golden herself as to her feelings ln the matter. But here, too h waa David Manley, thus dllsmissed, had the dubious satisfaction Of knowing that he had once more made a mess of things. Yet he did not remain altogether In active. He watched his chance and met with a reply which, if graciously Quietly Installed a dictaphone in the worded, was at least noncommittal "Then you will at least permit me to hope?" persisted her soft-voiced wooer. The girl turned on him one of her entrancingly Inconsequential smiles. It room, attaching the transmitter-disk to the under Bide of the desk ledge where Da Espares did most of his talking, and running hi3 well-hidden wires down through the floor to a linen closet, which the ever-dependable Wilson was a smile which he sometimes found threw open for him. There Manley made It no easy matter to understand. "Your hopes. I'm afraid, are something- I have very little influence over." "But you at least know that I wish to bring you happiness, that I was your friend in the past, that always ln the future I want to be your friend!" "But when friendship . remains masked, it remains harder to understand!" the discovery that police headquarters had actually been communicated with and that the feint for Legar's capture, however its end, was intended to carry every sign of sincerity. Before another hour slipped by, how ever, Manley made two further discov eries. The first was that the appointed time for the coup had been suddenly . changed to an hour earlier. The secend was that the trap for Legar waa not By many a shadowed trail he walked And heard the woodland as it talked; He heard the brown grouse chide her young, And solved tat song the hermit Bung. Sure, life was just a happy day To lend, or spend, or throw away I Yet when he came at length to town, Drab houses crowded in to frown; He knew no word a man might say, Save yea and nay, and nay and yea; And the free heart that chummed the wood Grieved in the city's solitude. Pent up at night by door and wall. It grieved the forest waterfall." And most it grieved the clean, sweet hush. When morning fires the mountain brush. 17 By many a sun-flecked trail in dream He saw the tawny panther gleam; Or watched three firs, against blue heaven. Call back the glow of sunset seven; To him in dreams the pine jay's call Smote clamor from the canyon wall. The street below was dark with dread Men walked with drunken, stupid tread; Where the blurred light beat back a space, Had flitted thrice some woman's face; . Sprawled by the alley wall there lay A murder or the careless day. But in his dreams he reached the cool, Clear comfort of the hidden pool, And deeply drank, and watched the mink In startled poise upon the brink. vault waa not completed. But he had of Da Espares, "could we get Legar caused his daughter enough trouble in inside?' her day, he also protested, without The sound of a triumphantly quiet morjifying the girl by countermanding laugh came over the little instrument, the orders which already showed every "Legar is already here!" announced sign of turning his home into a second the other. Eden Musee. And foreigners were "Hush! Not so loud!" wnrned Da mostly fools, he admitted, but because Espares. And from that point on it was this young Jackanapes of a Count had only broken phrases that trickled into proved himself a finished hand with the the hidden listener's ear. ladies w-as no reason why he shouldn't ... "Came as an Arab chief, get a fair deal for drowning a crook ... Nicchia the Dago acrobat on his like Legar. back. . . yes. under cloak. "But I tell you I don't believe Legar could hold out both hands . . . and is drowned!" was Manley's passionately never even suspected . . beins repeated protest. "I don't believe Da watched ... can't afford to lose Espares shot him. or even tried to shoot this tirde!" him!" Again came the sound of the quietly "Well, he certainly went into that triumphant laugh. And it was Da Es- rlver and wentUnder, and unlesa the pares' voice that sounded clearly the man's a skipjack and a sawfish rolled in one, he's atill there! For that police captain and six of his men saw him go there!" And that seemed to end the matter as far as the acrimonious old million aire was concerned. Manley. in'-fact. had given up any hope c. further argu- ashore ment on the question when a trivial yet disquieting incident occurred, and in occuring brought about a slight change in Enoch Golden'a attitude. This inci dent Involved the receipt of a strange missive bearing the signature fit that elusive interloper in the affairs of the house ot Golden known as the Laugh ing Mask. It read as follows: "Count Luigi Da Espares is not only an impostor, but also your enemy, And as a friend I herewith warn you that he Is not y be trusted." 5 "Then the mask may be withdrawn, to be set along the wooded road leading and withdrawn sooner, than ' you ex- up to the clubhouse of the Greenoch poet." golf links, as first decided upon. But "Just what does that mean?" asked Margory Golden was to motor alone to the clear-eyed girl, studying his face, the west end of the turnpike bridge and "It means that I am about to make there encounter her old-time enemy of a move which will deliver you and your father from his enemy. And this time I think the plan will succeed." "What plan?" "That I cannot yet explain to you. the Iron Claw. And the police. Da Espares assured her, had been duly warned as to the change of location. Manley, on overhearing that decla-i ni There wends a trail that leads along Ey firs that swing in titan song; Its rocks are rivets of the range, Its ways are rough, its camps are strange? "Yet life is just a happy day, To lend, or spend, or throw away! Come, landlord, take your score of him Through morning's murk the sun is dim- Nor can you host another day The lad of yea, and nay and yea. Tis far it lies and leagues f-rom here He drinks no stirrup stoup of beer . He looks and leans toward the star That pales above a cleaner bar. Nay, take the coin and leave him go i The lad who loves the forest sol Even this epistle, which bore only the emblem of a Laughing Mask for i .... a mt.kt Vi t- . iiB.n arr,ntd aa - ouely weakened ot no great impon-a-wt-e nu h h Golden been the recipient of still an other communication. This time It was a telephone message from a stranger acknowledging himself to he an active colleague of the Iron Claw. "Legar may be gone," said the un known voice over the wire, "but his work la going to go on. and don't you forget it! You still hold that chart. If the chief didn't get his chart be fr.ro, ha cashe.1 in I'm the aruy who's going to get it!" turesque one than the slight figure of "All right." was Golden's shouted re- a young private secretary in soraav. hat sponse. "You come up here and get It! disheveled evening clothes. For when And at the same time you'll get what the merriment about the great crowded you deserve! For I'm going to atop this table was at Its height an unexpected sort of work." my blacklee friend. If it and uninvited guest strode in thro-isa next moment. "But how did he work that bridge fall?" . . . "long dive ... came up under a lumber schooner's stern and hung to rudder. chain ... down with tide ... an hour later ... swam . .. launch to Oyeter Joe's!" Manley did not wait for more. Mid night, he knew, was already too peril-, ously close for half measures. By the time he reached the upper Hour, ln fact, he found Enoch Golden already head ing the grand march to the great table running almost the full length of the huge room opening off the conserva tory. The next moment he saw Da Espares himself step hurriedly yet smil ingly to the side of Margory Golden and take their places in that gayly colored line that rippled with laughter and movement as the orchestra once more struck up. Then, remembering what he had overheard about mysteri- girders and planted bombs, Manley likewise remembered tha newly-installed vault and the fact that Legar's final object was the possession of a certain paper which that vault held. And he slipped out through the door, and "on through the empty con servatory, frantically wondering Just what his first move to avert that im pending catastrophe should be. The figure which intervened ln that crisis, however, was a much more pic- takes the last breath out of my body and the last dollar out. of my pocket!" Then, having slammed down the re ceiver, the deliverer of that ultima tum promptly sent for his secretary. "I. want extra guards put around this house!" was Golden's command. "And I want nobody to come into It who can't be accounted for. the wide door and confronted the com pany there assembled. This figure wore a dust-stained motor coat and cap. But the most conspicuous feature ot his at tire was the yellow mask which covered his face. Equally Conspicuous was the' huge blue-barreled revolver which he firmly held in his right hand. Thi weapon, in fact, glinted menacingly in "That's exactly what I want you. to the strong light as the stranger's left do, what I ask you to do. That's our hand was suddenly lifted for silence, one chance, if what I suspect proves to be the case! You can disguise faces "Ladles and gentlemen." he pre in an affair like this tonight, but. you claimed in a clear voice, "this lntru can't disguise a lost hand. So the one sion I fear, may shock you. But you thing you must do is to stand there are about to be shocked in a much more and see that' every man who comes serious way. On the stroke of 13 there into this house cornea with a sound ls to be an accident here, perhaps some hand." .. thing much graver than an accident, ia which it is my great deeire that you Golden stood slowly shaking his head up and down ln comprehension. Then he turned wfth a morose smile to the younger man. "And If our Iron Claw la there. should not participate! So I must ask each and every one of you to leave this room and this house as quietly, yet aa XCoacludsii on Page -i
