Newspapers / The Warren Record (Warrenton, … / Feb. 6, 1917, edition 1 / Page 4
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M it THE WAltSilN ItEdonD TUKsBAy FEBRUARY t, igtf ' - I I ' 'I i "" 4 , 1 1 'AUTridft. 6! TH iASiCJrVAL OFFBNDE1V -THE WIRE TAPPERS' UN RUNNERS? ETC NOVELIZED FROM THE PATHS PHOTO PLAY OF Tf IS SAKS NASfX SYNOPSIS. ! On Winward Island PaJidori intrigues 'Mr. Golden into an appearance of evil which causes Golden to capture and tor ;tur the Italian by branding his face and crushing- his hand, .faiiaon nooas mm in land and kidnaps Goiden's little daughter Marg-ery. Twelve years later in New York a Masked One rescues Margery from Le ffar and takes her to her father's home, whence she is -recaptured. Margery s mother fruitlessly implores Golden to find their daughter. The Laughing Mask again, takes Margery away from Legar. Legar sends to Golden a warning and a demand for a portion of the chart of "Windward Island. Margery meets her tnether. The chart is lost in a ngni d- twun Manley ana one or J-gar s nen-n-.en, but is recovered by the Laughing Mask. Count Da Espares ngures in a dubious attempt to entrap Legar and iela'ms to have killed him. Goiden's house , dynamited during a masked ball. Le gar escapes but Da Espares is crushed in the ruins. Margery rescues the Laughing Mask from the police. Manley finds Mar gery not indifferent to his love. He save her from Mauki's poisoned arrows. Man ley plans a mod: funeral which fails to .accomplish the desired purpose, the cap Iture of the Iron Claw and his gang. Mar gery is saved from death at the hands of 'fhe Iron Claw by the Laughing Mask. An 'attempt by the Iron Claw to blow up tie -O'Mara eottage is . frustrated in the nick Jof time. The Laughing Mask ctiseloses :is Identity to Margery. I FOURTEENTH EPISODE The Plunge far Life. A Strang meod of happiness, as a re&soningas It wps inexplicable), seemed to have taken possession of Margery Golden. A less timorous light shone from the depths of her pool brown eyes. At all times of the day, toe, she could be heard singing about tike house. Thi? wayward blitheness of spirit was something more than a puzzle to her heavy-browed- father, who found little in the situation immediately con fronting him to cause him any undue lightness of heart. For that situation had unexpectedly taken on the form ef a defeat. After all Jules Legar's campaign for the possession of that pregnant scrap f parchment which carried the key te the secret of tlie lost treasure of Windward island, the long-fought-for document had suddenly disappeared from the Golden vault. And all evi dence pointed to the fact that it was the Laughing Mask who had stolen the chart and cipher code from the safe. Golden was in the midst of his seeond conference with the russet faced Captain Brackett of the head Quarters staff, when a telephone call eame for that official. " The talk over the wire was one-sided. Then with great deliberation the official hung up the receiver and swung about to Xaoeh Golden. "Well, we've got your Laughing Mask for you." "You've got him?" repeated Golden. "Our man Walcott located him by trailing his chauffeur. And before nightfall we can have him rounded up. "Where was he found?" "Just where you'd least expect a an of that character to be found. He's hiding in a cavo in the Hudson Palisades, nottten miles from where we're sitting at the moment, just above Celsman's village. And the faet he's ducked to a Malina like that bears out what we've always claimed, that Crossed to the Cliff Edge. jje's as. big acrook as this Iron Claw himself. For honest, men don't crawl into river caves V Vr Golden was about to reply in the af firmative to this self-obvious statement when he was interrupted by the" en trance of his daughter. "But suppose our fugitive," ' said the serene-eyed girl as she smiled down on the somewhat startled police captain "had enemies who seemed at the moment stronger than he was and ! at the same time found himself in pos session of something which it was es sential that ha should guard? Wouldn't it seem natural for him to go where he'd bo least likely to be found?" The russet-faced captain blinked stolidly up at her. "When an honest man has some thing it seems dangerous to hold, he ! i ? J a-' . -1 ' f I j V V - tfr-f ' " I- - i-hlr goes to the police for protection. Them a crook has made a haul, and is shaky about losing his swag, he beats it to his Malina, to his fence, the eame aa your friend the Laughimg Mask has done! And the sooner -we net the wheels moving and root that masked &round-hog out of his dugout the feet tr!M -' : "I'm ready," anaou ed Eneaa Gol den. With a gasp of suddea resolution Margery rang the bell, called for her roadster, and struggled into her hat :&nd coat, as she ran down the samd utone steps to the street. She sped - off through the etfy at a rate that was: an open and ohviaua violation of all 'the speed laws ' Ghe laughed rebelliously as,' oaoe free of the congested ferry traffic, she swung lightly past the oar in which she be held her own astonished father 'deeor ously seated, giving .him her dust as ishe mounted to the erest ef the Jersey hills and struck the road leading aorth 'nrard along the wind-bosomed river. Then as the swung past still an other hurrying ear the smile suddea ly died from her face. For she felt nuro that one of the fac in that ear was the faee of Jules Legar himsalf. She went on, from that moment, crowding every inch of speed out ef her car, exulting in the faet of its power, ignoring the shouts ef emleok ors as she swept up through Bslexiam'a village, took the turn In a smother ef dust, and brought the steaming road titer up sharp against a eedar-hedge (TowniB: the topmost ridge ef the liver cliffs. She leaped boldly threvgh the hedge and ran to the outermost lip of thd Palisades. There, euepiug her hands to her lips, she called oat a ningle name again and acala. From a ore vice in the broke reek face below her a figure wearing a yel low mask looked cautiously omt aad waved up to her with an equally cau tious signal. The next moment she was clambering nimbly yet carefully clown the ledge of broken rock. A pair of stalwart young arms ware waiting to hold her up. But she quick ly broke away from their elasp. "Quick, they are coming to eapture 3'ou!" "Who are?" : "The police. They have found out you are hiding here. And Legar also has found out!" The man in the mask darted back te u small table on which stood a shaded lamp. Ho bent quickly over and blew out the flame. This left thebaek of the cave in darkness. Then he ran back to where the girl still waited. "Do you trust me?" he asked. "I trust you in everything," was her reply. "Then listen! The water at the foot of this cliff is deep. It is a drop of a hundred feet. But it may be our only chance. Are you willing to take that leap with me?" "l trust you in verythiag," she told him, as she drew herself up. He held her there for a moment and them tilipped to the back of the eave. Whea he reappeared he carried a rough pine table in his arms. This he ulaoed on end lose to the eatranee ef the oave. , The next moment a shadow dark ened the mouth of the cave. Silhouet ted clear against the outer light they (tould see the stooping figure ef the Iron Claw. As he stood there, peering caution ly about the ledge of the rocksaelf, he was stealthily' joined by his fol lowers. "They're coming," ' the Laughing Mask whispered to Margery Goldoa, t.s he drew her closer in beside the rocky wall of the tunnel. Then, using the up-ended table as a screen, ho iidvanced with her toward the eave mouth, slowly, silent, foot by foot. They were within six feet of tk opening when Legar turned about to irive a word or two of command to his followers. Two figures, those of a masked man holding a slender girl firmly by the hand, , came running out of the cave. So suddenly did they come that they (scattered Legar's men as they ad vanced. And before those astounded men could reeover either their foot ing or their wits, the man in the mask, holding the girl elose to his side, had crossed to the cliff-edge and had taken a flying leap out into space. An involuntary gasp ef consterna tion hurst from that startled group ef jrangsters as they stood watching the clasped figures hurtle through the ;iir, strike the surface of the water clean, and go down into its blue depths. Then, after what seemed an Interminable - wait, a second shout, ;is involuntary, apparently, as the first burst from the watchers as they h- held the two ngures reappear, swin- ming stroagly side by side along tme, undulating surface of the water. But that shout was not a prolonged esteC It merged suddenly into calls and erie of a somewhat different character, for with that repeated shout Lefar aad his men had betrayed their positrem t a russet-faced police oaptaln and six Btalwart men at his heels. The next moment there was a ciargo te force down the broken faee of the cliff. And as the minions of the law descended on the cave-mouth the evil-eyed group gathered there erupted inte sudden life. There was a wild scramble up the rock-ledges, quick encounters and combats, blows and .counterblows, the impact of ash night-sticks on resounding skulls, the capitulating cry of half-stunned cap tives, -''.,,. --r;- But Legar fought, backed elose against the rock, with the ferocity of a wildcat, holding o2C every" attack and with his flailing . iron claw sweeping back every assailant. . Then, swing tag about, he leaped the eliff-faee, springing from reek to reek with the agility of a mountain goat. At the top of the cliff, when Eaeeh Golden himself, side by side with the police captain, attempted to bar that 4ight, the fugitive howled over these two rotund figures and bolted north ward along the topmost ridge ef the cliff, heading for the timber net more than a hundred yards away. But by this time two of the fleers, recovering their wind aad burning with- the indignities to which, they had been subjected, had caught sight of the fugitive and started in purvuit. They ran well, and they ran deter minedly. ' -Legar, realising that they were' gaining on him, and further real ising that ho' could net keep up his gait for long, veered suddenly toward the river, where a road-builders' tool shed stood at the extreme end of a rock-cut ; along the cliff-top. Through the doorway ef this shed ho darted, with his two pursuers, now joined by a third oSeer, net a hundred yards be hind him. Running to the far end ef the shack, ho sent his wooden arm crashing through the window, leaped to the sill, and stared out. Below him lay the. Hudson. . Crouching low, ho leaped out into space and then dropped like a plummet te the river below. The Oetepus Bomb. Margery faced the supreme dilemma of her life. The girl walked slowly to the stfll open wiadew and gazed out, bat the - 1 0 u 1 0 .... An Involuntary Gasp of Censternatlen Burst From Them. mental problem that engrossed her preoccupied her attention to tkqrT'S sic of everythiag else. Tksa a VwJ behind her spoke: Oan you see any ef them?" Margery turned to the man in the yellow mask, who stood close behind her. "No," said Margery, in answer to his question. "TTe have a few minutes' graee. Do you think It surely the wisest thing to do; do you think it nec essary beyond all doubt that I ge away with you? I know you must realise what that must mean te me I can net but think of father!" "I have. thought of everything you have sals everything you have even thought," said the Laughing Mask gently. "But it is no longer safe for you to stay here. I had to toll you this. And I had to get from your fa ther's vault the thing that will clear mo of some, at least, of the crimes Le gar - has fastened upan me Legar's confession." "Then, come, let us hurry," said Margery. The two of them then stole quietly down through the shadowy house te the library. The Laughing Mask went swiftty to the vault and in a moment its heavy door swung open. Cut the next min ute a tingle ef alarm swet through Margery's body, for the call bell of the telephone on the rosewood desk sud denly rang through the room. By this time the Laughing Mask was within the vault, but the shrfll ef that sell brought him out into the room. "Dent answer it!" warned the girL "But.. Wilson or another of the serv ants will surely eeme to answer it," ex plained the Laughing Mask as he moved toward the only door that he had not looked on entering the library. "The" confession have you get it?" asked Margery, not heeding what he had said, so great was the tension of her mind. "It is where it is safe," quietly re plied the Laughing Mask. "Then I'll shut the vault doer," she call. .' ' - 1 - He stood watching her as she ' crossed the room to the vault and swung to the heavy safe door. With an oddly birdlike movement of the head the girl stopped and stared in tently at his figure, clearly outlined against the dark folds of the portieres .behind him.. Then, instead of locking the vault door, she took four swift steps to the heavily carved-teakwood table to her right. "In another moment she had caught up a Roman lamp of !seHdIy cast bronze and, with all her oteeiagth, hurled it at the swaying por tiere behind him. "Legar!" was her ry. And at the same moment she ut sered a shrill cry of warning. It was time. From behind one of tho :folds of the portiere she had glimpsed an iron claw at the end of a proiernaturally long arm. And as this r iron claw was lifted high in the air she cried out as she caught sight of the .glint of a naked steel knife blade lie; warning was sufficient. Lightly the Laughing Mask leaped to one side. "By this tia?e Legar was in the room itself, and as he advanced b.s drew revolver from. Lis pocket. But the man in the mask was more .agile than : his enemy. , He swung Margery abeut in a twinkling and "whisked her back to the vault, where rith one tug of his free hand he Kwumg the vault door open. Legar fired, VLt the bullet ricocheted harmlessly against the open safe front of steel. 'Tather keeps a navy revolver in the "ein drawer of the vault her," whis pered Margery as the man In the mask pushed her more deeply into the shadow of the protecting door. M the moment that the- Laughing Mask swung about and tugged open the coin drawer Wilson and a round eyed footman; having heard the sound of . the - shot and having previously failed te get any answer to the tele phone, came running to the library door. But before they eould open that deer Legar, realizing that his time was short, had taken clatters irto his own haais. Charging bodily against the still half-open vault door, he swung it shut upon the Laughing Mask - and Margery -before they had time to rea&ee his intent. Then Legar threw i iv is?-' r m. as on the leek, spun the dial and wheeled areuad to cover the two white-faced and gapag-mcuthed servants with his revolver. With a Sourish of his rcvolvr he waved them to the door and' would 'have ' reached' ft himself had h not at that moment heard the entrance deer of the Golden mansion flung open and the neise of many feet sounding on the stairs a minute later. Slamming the room dcor shut upon Wilson and the footman, Legar, his look of triumph gene from his features, stared frantically around the room. He dashed to a Perugian panel screen of &aeieat design, its panels fashioned in sixteenth' century tapestry, and crouched behmd it, his revolver still in his hand. As Legar found this precarious hid ing plaee, the door of the room opened and Enoch Golden entered amid a clatter of hurrying feet and a babble of voices. Wilson, for the third time, tried to explain to his master what bad happened. - "Margery ! My daughter shut up in the vault, you say, Wilson?", cried her father. "Yes, sir, shut up in there with the man in the yellow mask, the man as these efieers, sir, have been looking for!" ; 14a strode over to the vault door. Sis feee was palo and he breathed hard as he stooped over the lock dial. The man in the yellow mask, if he felt any fear for the outcome of this his most precarious adventure among the innumerable strange predicaments that his self-appointed guardianship of Margery Golden had flung him into, gave expression to none; He reassured her gently and chided her, even, for her seeming lack of confidence in him. "Have yeu forgotten, my dear, that I have the confession of Legar ?" he whispered to her. "That alone means safety, for it will take care of most of the crimes which the Iron Claw has fastened upon me." . ' . -' He took from a pocket and hand- ! ed to the girl a little hard black j ovoid. In her hand,- it felt to her touch to be. like a cake of soap, only, there -Kjz , $;:J I were what seemed to ba tiny tentaolei I upon it. " ' The clicking levers were beginning to work more rapidly. In another mo ment the great vault door would swing open to what? "Quick, Margery," he whispered, "what I have just given you is what I have called the octopus bomb. It will save us, if the need should be dire, if there should be no other manner of escape." - As the man in the mask finished the rapidly spoken words the 'door of the vault "wung outward. Margery stepped forward. The detectives, with whom the room farmed, Paid no hed to Margery Their quarry emerged from the glcom of the vault a moment after her. . He glanced about from revolver muzzle "to revolver muzzle, all leveled at him. Margery glanced back at the Laughing Mask as he stood thus, facing this des perate denouement. Then she cried out Involuntarily, for one of the detec tives had approached the Laughing Mask, raised his hand to the mask it self and was about to tear it off. But the Laughing Mask stepped backward and with a ' gesture commandingly stopped him. "One moment, i you please, gentle men. There is no need for this. My, mask stays where it is. As for the crimes which you seem to think are matter for these revolvers I believe this confession of the Iron Claw ac counts for the chief of i,heui and, theref ore, J or the rest." The captain was about to glance at It, but turned to Golden for a word of instruction. The next moment, there was a crash at the other side of the room. -Legar had heard every. word from his hiding place behind the an tique screen and he knew that this was the most desperate case for his for tunes that had yet befallen. As the captain stretched forth his hand, ex tending the confession to Golden, Le gar, with a rush, dashed ast him, grasped the confession from his fingers and made for the window. Snatching his cap down . over hi3 eyes, hs plunged heaI first through the glass, shattering it to splinters. Legar had flashed across the room like a missile from" a catapult. Three of the detectives were knocked from their feet. The others gaped at the shattered window. The captain was the first to recover his wits. He shouted an angry command, one of his men threw up the battered sash and the rest leaped out. Inside the Golden library, the detec tive who had tried to disclose the Iden tity of the Laughing Mask was again intent upon solving this mystery. That is why he had remained behind. "It's no use, your time's corns. Off with the mask, I tell you!" " The Laughing Mask looked straight into the beady eyes before him and he saw that their gaze was -not of the sort that is open to argument or per suasion. Then he looked steadily on beyond to where Margery stood, be hind the detective. Margery understood his glance and interpreted his gesture aright. She deftly slipped the octopus bomb from her handkerchief, in which she had held -it, clutched tightly within her fingers, ever since she and the Laugh ing Mask had left the vault. As the detective strode forward to peer the more closely at what he expected to see reveated Margery hurled the bomb to the floor. The next moment the room was filled with an impenetrable cloud of black smoke. Completely it enveloped everyone and everything in the library. Gradually the black, scotlike pall rose to the high ceiling of the library, disclosing Margery, her father and the detective to one another. But the Laughing Mask had vanished. The de tective dashed to the door leading to the adjoining reception hall and flung it open. Golden followed and both ran through this spacious chamber and on to the stairs. Margery, still apprehen sive for the safety of the man in the yellow mask, ran after the searchers, who were fairly baffled. - As soon as all three were clear of the reception hall the Laughing Mask's head emerged from a laree ancient Roman- vase; swiftly, he climbed from out. its great sheltering bowl and stepped noiselessly back to the library. Silently the Laughing Mask . lifted the window and climbed over the sill. In another moment he had leaped to the ground below. But he had not reckoned upon tho quick discourager ment that overtakes that limp arm of the law known as a central office de tective. The half dozen of the type, with their chief, who had pursued Le gar when their revolvers failed to stop him, had quickly given up the chase. They were walking briskly when the captain quickly motioned to his men to hug the wall of the house. Some thing at the shattered window of the library had caught his attention. It was a man's back. The "man was astride the window sill. Th captain then reco&nizid the hat of the Laugh ing Mask. The captain halted his men, who were still some fifty feet from the window. The Laughing Mask straight-! ened up a3 he reached the - ground be neath the window, and, for an Instant, again he faced his enemies. But in a flash he turned and darted around the corner of the house. When the captain and his men reached the first house corner they stopped to search the Vista dewn the second house wall. Already the Laughing Mask was around the next corner and it did not dawn on the detectives that the man they were hunting would do : anything' but mako for the hedge as Le?ar hod 'done.,- As a fact, Legar T; where he had eluded i' ur uH:, ' - - n forth the confess! bilt so !oc. H9 held It to the -iight g0 t&; claw, he tore the paper o riireda. M The Laughing Mas1!, I toe had W the detectives. Tie ran vv h all tit fleetness of foot that hi i. a ;etic and slim strength -could 'r.uster, e beyend the Golden groaJaa and dev the nearest street tc tie Policy Hj As he reached the trao:a car, jtit from the barns, catue o ;. stop aBj the Laughing Mt&k- trr;..2d it at 4 leap. The conductor cf tt. o car h&4 gone to the signal box nearby. As ths T .... "jtt -)'( t I Oil Leaped to tho an I. man finished setting thf- signal Uis Laughing Mask saw the aioup of ds-1 tectives at the head of'th-i street at right angles to tho irack; iashi&g to wards, him. In another .ninute Xhj . would reach the car. He slipped his revolver-: cm his'eeat pocket and ran through Lsr car. TTiti a bound he was upon ' front plat form and slipped the c: )f th door f behind him. As the iman faced i about, the Laughinir 'Mai. s revolver s was thrust into his iactj. ; "Start the car now!" cried tie f Laughing Mask. Instead, the motoiman L.ted the con troller handle from Lh'3 tr nd would have struck the Laugt.inv Mask's re volver hand, but the Iat;.-jr stpp4 t back and thrust the motc man off tia platform with a terrifi? 3 icve of kU foot. The motorman trrJed ovr ia the dust of the roadv- -xi d before ke could regain his t-t thj Laughing Mask had the spare cor ti ller handle out of the tool box acd started the car at full speed. Leaving the controller box for an instant, he gazed bek vara. The de detectives had stopped a passing au tomobile and were i Ilm Juto it. Tke car, gained momentum, u.?.d sooa it careened along the rail.s swingiag around curves with two rl.eels in air and ever bettering its spet-c.. Nevertheless, he autoviobile, bw driven by one of tht- dcte. ives, could not to be outdistanced. 'A was now scarcely more than a hr.drt--d yarda be hind. The car was approach;' J.g anotfeec slight upgrade, preparr.t j7 to daik ing across the highest bi:V.ge oa the road. As the car strnc.c the lerel stretch of track at tho entrance to tie bridge abutment, zgein its .tiomcntua xJiHs .- i,. TV -si drove it at fresh spoec, Ivow it was gaining on the automobile as the ear full of detectives, ir us trn, atruck the upgrade. A naw pUn flaaked through the Laughing Mask's misd. He looked back to measure the dis tance between the car ar d tHe automo bile. The car gave a lu: ?h v s it struck the bridge switch-f tc i mother mo ment it had left the rails aad then tt hurtled against the gr.aro - 41, smaeied it and plunged down'r.,rd. As the car disappeared froBt tke sight of the detectives in ;he pursu ing automobile, Golden j, an invol untary cry. "Drive on over the evil of tke bridge," commanded Golden, "and let us go down below." The searchers went down the de clivity to the waterside and there lay "the wrecked trolley cp.r, smashed te splinters. The detectives scattered along the bank of tLe'ri.ar, huating for some sign of the Laughing Mask, but there was none. "We "have hunted all along tin shore," reported one of the detectives to the captain, "bat merp Is no sign of the Laughing Mark's body. It mwt have been carried or. down the river and over the falls." For the policemen and Golden, tee quest was ended. They drove back to the Golden mansion and, then tie captain and his men took ttieir leave. Golden, still somevhat unnerved at the fate that he Relieved had at last overtaken the Laughing Mask for ti eyes- make the brain an ap filing wit ness of what the ear3 wrvjd record only a meager impre; T a Golden mounted the stairs of hir- r.e, Margery, wide-eyed, cd at tke stairhead. What Gclr a.. -ia i just sesn was still pictured, in ;om3 sort, oa ia face. "Father,", she cried out, "what is it, what has happened?" "The Laughing Masir, 1 he ' aid, "has met a terrible death. ' And then he told her vhat he had seen. She looked into h'.? facs, in credulous,' amazed,, fccrroT-sfricke T "No! No! It can't Wine 7. out, like one in a frer zy. "I saw it with my eyes," her father. She gazed at him vi.car.tiy . ai?' fell into his arms, nor iirip shaken - by convulsive oTis. TO BE CONTLWJ;3) mvm
The Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.)
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Feb. 6, 1917, edition 1
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